Kiss

A new study showing an estimated 7% of American teens and adults carry the human papillomavirus in their mouths may help health experts finally understand why rates of mouth and throat cancer have been climbing for nearly 25 years. The evidence makes it clear that oral sex practices play a key role in transmission. The new data, published online Thursday by the Journal of the American Medical Assn., are the first to assess the prevalence of oral HPV infection in the U.S. population.

Selena Gomez opened up Friday morning about the moment that just made her die inside -- though hordes of Beliebers might not really believe her experience was that harrowing. Pushed by Ryan Seacrest to spill the dish on her kiss-cam moment with Justin Bieber at the L.A. Lakers-San Antonio Spurs game Tuesday night, Gomez didn't exactly stand by her man. "That was probably the most humiliating thing that has ever happened to me," she said. "Probably. "  See? Watching the kiss-cam is all fun and games, until someone gets hurt.

While most of us have Christmas on our minds, Universal Studios Hollywood is already planning for next Halloween. > Halloween Horror Nights 2011: Review | Photos | Celebrities   Universal has been conducting an online survey to gauge fan interest in 50 movie and television properties as potential haunted maze themes for Halloween Horror Nights 2012. The annual post-Halloween poll offers fans a glimpse into what could be on the horror horizon at Universal.

“Kissing Circles,” Mounir Fatmi's latest exhibition at Shoshana Wayne Gallery, consists of altered photographs, animated video projections, custom metal saw blades, and abstract images made out of coaxial cables. It all seems a bit random at first, but the puzzle pieces eventually come together, resulting in an intriguing dissection of Hollywood cinema as a nexus of romance and mechanization. The most compelling element is a sequence of stills of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in "Casablanca.

Pat Boone would like to set the record straight: He never had a clause in his movie contract at 20th Century Fox that he wouldn't kiss his leading ladies. To prove it, he ticks off a list of actresses he kissed, including Diane Baker in 1959's "Journey to the Center of the Earth", Barbara Eden in 1961's "All Hands on Deck", Debbie Reynolds in 1964's "Goodbye Charlie" and even sex kitten Ann-Margret in the 1962 musical "State Fair. " Still, he jokes, "I guess my love scenes didn't set the screen afire.

Organizers of a Michael Jackson tribute concert dropped KISS from the lineup after receiving widespread criticism for booking the band despite critical comments toward the late pop singer by bassist Gene Simmons. The announcement Tuesday came a day after Global Live Events announced KISS would join the show planned for Oct. 8 in Cardiff, Wales. Fans, media and the singer's estate quickly noted that Simmons has said in recent years that he was convinced Jackson molested children.

"A Passionate History" (May 8) neglected a very important kind of kiss: the diplomatic kiss. So often we are given to witness, via television news, heads of state meeting, embracing and exchanging kisses on their cheeks. This is so important a formality in the relations between nations. It is a show of nonbelligerence and friendship. It was refreshing a while back to see two grown men such as Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin seal their accord with kisses. And who says men kissing men is improper?

THE day I received an e-mail from a married male acquaintance that he signed with an "XO" was the day I realized I didn't know what "XO" meant anymore. I usually reserve my own XOs -- which, as an admittedly pathetic attempt at originality, are actually XXs -- for female friends, and they typically mean either "I like you," "I love you" or "I'd write more if this e-mail wasn't 37th on a list of 200 that I need to respond to."

When the USS Oak Hill pulled into its Virginia port this week after a three-month deployment, the sailor who stepped off and bestowed the customary first homecoming kiss on a waiting loved one made history. Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta greeted her girlfriend, Citlalic Snell, on the pier with a kiss and embrace, making them the first same-sex couple to be chosen by the Navy for this very public moment. The crowd cheered. It was a small but significant sign of progress in the U.S. military.

Americans will gather for a group "kiss-in" in Times Square and buglers across the country will play the military funeral tune "Taps" on Saturday in the first national day of remembrance for the World War Two generation. This year's event comes on the 65th anniversary of what Americans call V-J Day, marking the victory over Japan that ended the war in 1945. The celebration was immortalized in Alfred Eisenstaedt's photograph of an unidentified sailor kissing nurse Edith Shain in Times Square.

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez showed they could get busy after keeping busy, kissing each other during a Los Angeles Lakers game Tuesday night in front of the crowd and, of course, a few eager cameras. Plus Gomez brought the man some nachos -- what's not to love? The two had gotten their share of prime-time face time first, with Bieber appearing on "The Voice" to introduce a clip for his new single "Boyfriend," and Gomez performing her “Hit the Lights” on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars.

Anytime "Kiss Cam" flashes on the Staples Center scoreboard, Kobe Bryant's usually in a team huddle or on the court. This time, Bryant was caught in the stands during the Kings-Canucks playoff game on Sunday sitting next to his daughters, Natalia and Giana. The Lakers star immediately looked surprised, laughed at being featured on the scoreboard and then gave his daughter a big kiss on the cheek and a hug.    It's a good thing Bryant was sitting next to his daughters, Natalia and Giana, instead of his estranged wife Vanessa, who sat on the other side.

There's no such thing as regular-season vengeance for an embarrassing playoff ouster the previous year. But the Lakers have put together a portfolio of victories against the Dallas Mavericks this season, winning four and losing none, the latest a 112-108 overtime win Sunday at Staples Center. It's interesting mainly because they might play each other in the first round of the playoffs, which are finally coming soon in this chaotically compressed lockout season. It's also something - eye-opening?

Gene Simmons knows a thing or two about night life, and now he has a new gig: bar owner. The KISS leader is one of three principals behind the recently remodeled, music-focused craft beer spot Rock & Brews, and keeping his attention at one of its outdoor bar stools is no easy task. Two sentences into explaining why chefs are the new rock stars, a pair of onlookers capture Simmons' eye. He stops the interview, and waves two young women into the sidewalk-adjacent El Segundo beer garden.

There are two ways to survive in Hollywood: play by the rules or make up your own. Jennifer Westfeldt learned more than a decade ago that it's far more satisfying to do it her own way. The 42-year old flitted among television, low-budget movies and theater over her career, but she has found the most success in the films she wrote for herself: playing a heterosexual girl exploring a gay relationship in "Kissing Jessica Stein" and as a woman testing...

Max Raabe is up to something new, which is news itself. The ever-elegant German singer and bandleader has forged a two-decade career resurrecting and performing lost or forgotten Weimar Republic-era compositions from the 1920s and '30s. However, Raabe and his Palast Orchester arrive for local concerts Wednesday and Thursday with a new album called "One Cannot Kiss Alone" that consists of songs written in the current century and largely by Raabe himself. In planning and making the record, Raabe was focused on a question that emerged during his musicology efforts.

I absolutely cannot believe a 6-year-old boy was suspended from school on the grounds of sexual harassment after kissing a girl on the cheek at his school (Sept. 25)! I don't call that harassment. I call it normal childhood development. Looks like the administrators of that school have some growing up to do themselves. I think they should go sit in the corner and not move until they get a grip! MICHELLE COOK Northridge Although it's now fashionable to be anti-"politically correct," I was outraged by your Sept.

A new study showing an estimated 7% of American teens and adults carry the human papillomavirus in their mouths may help health experts finally understand why rates of mouth and throat cancer have been climbing for nearly 25 years. The evidence makes it clear that oral sex practices play a key role in transmission. The new data, published online Thursday by the Journal of the American Medical Assn., are the first to assess the prevalence of oral HPV infection in the U.S. population.

Far from the lights of Hollywood, Las Vegas is the town where you star in your own movie — especially on New Year's Eve. Big stars host the partying there, and Ministry of Gossip tracked down Stevie Wonder and Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am and Fergie, all of whom are hosting events, to talk New Year's Eve do's and don'ts and just how that midnight kiss is supposed to go down — if you're lucky enough to nab one. Stevie Wonder, performing at...