Tennis champ Venus Williams lists midcentury house at a loss

Tennis superstar Venus Williams may be a champ, but that doesn't mean she's too proud to concede a loss.

Or is it only a wily strategy that she's just listed her sun-splashed Hollywood Hills pad at $101,000 less than she paid for it eight years ago? Real estate blog Curbed calls the $1,799,000 asking price a "meager play" for a three-bedroom midcentury post-and-beam home with panoramic canyon views. We can't help but wonder whether she's hoping to incite a bidding war.

Her home at 2521 Astral Drive in Los Angeles is just one of "numerous properties" that she and sister Serena own. As listing agent Christine Taylor told Zillow Blog: "They can't live in all of them, so she decided it was time to sell, especially now that the market is stronger again. This property was close to all the Hollywood activities, but she was not using it very much."

Anyway, Williams' website makes clear that her heart isn't really in L.A. the way it is in Florida -- where her interior design business, V Starr, is based, and where she owns an enormous estate with Serena ("They each have their own identical wings and share common areas," Trulia Luxe Living blog reports. In the "My Favs" section of her site, Venus writes: "Some cities speak to my heart more than others. For instance, I have a house in L.A. but I don’t really go out when I am there. But other places have something – some kind of energy – that makes me want to explore them."

Still, the athlete-cum-designer clearly put a lot into the L.A. house. "She really took her time and redecorated the entire thing in 2007 and 2008," Taylor told Zillow. "She put in a new deck, redid all the floors, added the fireplace and all the hardware is new."

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Kerry Washington and Her Husband Make Their Public Debut as a Married Couple

Sunday night was big for Kerry Washington.

The "Scandal" actress not only debuted her adorable baby bump on the red carpet of the Golden Globe Awards, but she and her husband, former NFL player Nnamdi Asomugha, also made their public debut as a married couple. Kerry's man did not accompany her on the red carpet, but he did escort her to the Weinstein Company and Netflix's official afterparty. According to sources, the duo were holding hands and smiling and were even captured on camera, marking their first public photo since getting married in a secret ceremony in Idaho back in June.

The press-shy lovebirds are rarely photographed together, and they managed to keep their relationship under the radar while they dated. The announcement of their nuptials surprised the media. And while most celebs are quick to show off their wedding-day photos, the 36-year-old and her hubby have still kept their bride-and-groom pics to themselves.

In fact, Kerry and Nnamdi are so tightlipped about their love that while her pregnancy was first speculated in October, she didn't confirm the news until Sunday's red carpet, telling Ryan Seacrest, "I feel like I have the best date of the night, my little accessory here."

Check out the vid to see Kerry and Nnamdi's first public photo as man and wife, and be sure to tune in to "The Insider" on TV tonight for the latest in entertainment news.

 By Hallie Stephens

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Lowest-Grossing Movie in 2013 (With a Box-Office Haul of Just $72)

In Hollywood, you win some and you lose some … and then you really lose some — just ask everyone involved with "Storage 24." The British sci-fi/horror flick grossed a less than whopping $72 at the U.S. box office.

No, we didn't forget any zeroes there.

Granted, "Storage 24" only played at one theater and only for one week, but something tells us there was a probably a reason for that.

The story revolves around a group of people trapped inside a London storage facility with "an unwelcome guest." Dun dun dun. Meanwhile, outside of the unit, the entire city is on lockdown because a military plane crashed and scattered classified documents all over the streets … or something.

The independently produced movie received a 22 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes — as rated by people who most likely saw it on DVD rather than the lonely few who trekked to the theater — not the worst rating ever received. But earning less in theaters than the cost of a new pair of sneakers is significant failure for any film.

So how did this ill-fated movie get started in the first place?

Like all movies start: with an idea. More specifically, "Star Trek Into Darkness" alum Noel Clarke was struck with inspiration.

"I was literally at a storage facility with a family member walking around the corridors thinking, 'This place is crazy,'" he explained to Movie Web. "There's no windows. There are the same lights — and if you walk too far and try to find your way back, you find yourself looking down a corridor and going, 'Where is everyone?' I thought, 'Wouldn't it be crazy if there was a serial killer that was killing people in one of these places?' One day I woke up and I was like, 'Don't be ridiculous. A serial killer is ridiculous. An alien would be better.'"

Clarke then co-wrote the script, gave himself the starring role, and got Johannes Roberts to direct. According to Clarke, it was Roberts who hired the rest of the cast, which included Colin O'Donaoghue ("The Rite"), Antonia Campbell-Hughes ("Bright Star"), Laura Haddock ("Captain America" and "The Inbetweeners Movie"), and a few others who are slightly more obscure.

But it seemed that even before the film's theatrical release in the United States, Clarke had some sense that it might not be a hit.

"You take the film for what it is. We had no money," Clarke told IndieWire before adding, "Even if it doesn't do great in the U.S. ... we'll plot and plan for the next one."

"A Perfect Man" starring Liev Schreiber and Jean Tripplehorn was the second-lowest-grossing film of the year, tallying a paltry $445, but since the budget for that project was undoubtedly much larger than "Storage 24"'s, the biggest box-office failure probably fared better (financially, at least) than the runner-up.

Still, it would be nice if Clarke's next effort can break sales into — at least — the triple digits.

Quoted from Elizabeth Durand Streisand

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