Chris Martin

Chris Martin of Rancho Santiago College signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Chapman College, a Rancho Santiago official said Thursday. Martin, a 6-foot-2 guard, averaged 14.9 points and 3.4 assists a game last season for the Dons. He was a two-time All-Orange Empire Conference selection. Mike Oden, a reserve center for the Dons, signed a letter of intent with Christ College Irvine. Oden, 6-7, averaged 4.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game last season.

Von Shuler scored 25 points and Roger Middleton added 20 along with 10 rebounds to lead Chapman College to a 97-88 victory over the visiting East Melbourne National Team Wednesday. Chapman pulled away to a 49-38 halftime lead and never relinquished it. Chris Martin had 11 points and four rebounds and Andre Hill added 10 points for Chapman. Steve De La Veaga had five three-pointers in nine attempts and led all scorers with 29 points for the Australian team.

When Honda Motor Co. rolled out its latest-generation Civic hybrid, it was sold as the automaker's green car of the future. But five years into production, Honda has discovered that its high-tech batteries can die years early, a potentially expensive flaw that the automaker has been addressing with a software update that many owners claim has made the car less environmentally friendly. Jason Marchesano of Overland Park, Kan. said the battery in his 2007 Civic hybrid started losing its ability to hold a charge last year.

From "Animal House" to "Entourage," reverse-opening car doors have long been Hollywood code for cool. Automakers have once again gotten the message about "suicide doors" -- though you're not likely to see that phrase in any advertising campaigns. After all but disappearing from car design in the 1970s, the distinctive clamshell-style doors are staging a comeback, led by popular vehicles such as the Honda Element and the Toyota FJ Cruiser.

An A-list army gathered in Los Angeles on Friday for "Stand Up to Cancer," the biennial live fundraiser, backed by Hollywood and aired across the big four TV networks that works to raise money for cancer research. Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Michael Douglas, Joe Manganiello, Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift and Jessica Biel all appeared on the broadcast, executive produced by telethon vet Joel Gallen and actress Gwyneth Paltrow. "Up until the end, he was the love of my life," Paltrow shared with the audience at downtown's Shrine Auditorium, regarding her father Bruce who passed away in 2002 from oral cancer.  The commercial-free hour saw performances from Swift, Tim McGraw, Alicia Keys and a prerecorded number from Coldplay, led by Paltrow's husband, Chris Martin.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Chris Martin returned three kickoffs for touchdowns and the Grand Rapids Rampage scored a team-record 56 points in the first half in their 84-49 victory over the Avengers on Sunday. James MacPherson was 17 for 30 for 215 yards and five touchdowns, and Martin finished with 249 yards on kickoff returns for the Rampage (2-2). Martin returned the opening kickoff 55 yards for a touchdown.

Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin, boyfriend of actress Gwyneth Paltrow, allegedly clashed with a photographer on a popular tourist beach in Sydney and will appear in an Australian court. The popular British band had played at a music festival in the vicinity over the weekend. The Daily Telegraph reported Monday that Jon Lister, a 47-year-old freelance photographer, followed the singer to nearby Seven Mile beach Sunday, where Martin went surfing.

It won't be long before the American Music Awards and then the Grammys salute pop music's big-selling artists, but this year their cult counterpart also will get some air time. The third annual Shortlist Music Prize, which honors albums that have sold fewer than 500,000 copies, will be televised for the first time -- via taped broadcasts of the Oct. 5 event -- on MTV2.

Celebrities have been giving their babies strange and fanciful names since before Moon Unit Zappa was born. Famous offspring include Daisy Boo, Speck Wildhorse, Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q and Fifi Trixibelle. These days, the biblical--from Adam to Zion--is in vogue, an example being Moses, son of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin. Makes you wonder what names some other folks would have been saddled with if their parents had been reading the testaments before the stork arrived.