Beyonce brings electricity at Super Bowl halftime

Lights out? Blame Beyonce‘s electrifying performance.

If naysayers still doubted Beyonce‘s singing’s talents — even after her national anthem performance this week at a press conference — the singer proved she is an exceptional performer at the Super Bowl halftime show.

Beyonce opened and closed the performance belting songs, and in between she danced hard and heavy — and better than most contemporary pop stars.

She set a serious tone as she emerged onstage in all black, singing lines from her R&B hit “Love on Top.” The stage was dark as fire and lights burst from the sides. Then she went into her hit “Crazy In Love,” bringing some feminine spirit to the Super Dome as she and her background dancers did the singer’s signature booty-shaking dance. Beyonce ripped off part of her shirt and skirt. She even blew a kiss. She was ready to rock, and she did so like a pro.

Her confidence — and voice — grew as she worked the stage with and without her Destiny’s Child band mates during her 13-minute set, which comes days after she admitted she sang to a pre-recorded track at President Barack Obama‘s inauguration less than two weeks ago.

Beyonce proved not only that she can sing, but that she can also entertain on a stage as big as the Super Bowl’s. She was far better than Madonna, who sang to a backing track last year, and miles ahead of the Black Eyed Peas’ disastrous set in 2011.

Beyonce was best when she finished her set with “Halo.” She asked the crowd to put their hands toward her as she sang the slow groove on bended knee — and that’s when she the performance hit its high note.

“Thank you for this moment,” she told the crowd. “God bless y’all.”

Her background singers helped out as Beyonce danced around the stage throughout most of her performance. There was a backing track to help fill in when Beyonce wasn’t singing — and there were long stretches when she let it play as she performed elaborate dance moves.

She had a swarm of background dancers and band members spread throughout the stage, along with videotaped images of herself dancing that may have unintentionally played on the live-or-taped question. And the crowd got bigger when she was joined by her Destiny’s Child band mates.

Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams popped up from below the stage to sing “Bootylicious.” They were in similar outfits, singing and dancing closely as they harmonized. But Rowland and Williams were barely heard when the group sang “Independent Woman,” as their voices faded into the background.

They also joined in for some of “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” where Beyonce‘s voice grew stronger. That song featured Beyonce‘s skilled choreography, as did “End of Time” and “Baby Boy,” which featured Beyonce‘s all-female band, balancing out the testosterone levels on the football field.

Before the game, Alicia Keys performed a lounge-y, piano-tinged version of the national anthem that her publicist assured was live. The Grammy-winning singer played the piano as she sang “The Star Spangled Banner” in a long red dress with her eyes shut.

She followed Jennifer Hudson, who sang “America the Beautiful” with the 26-member Sandy Hook Elementary School chorus, an emotional performance that had some players on the sideline on the verge of tears.

The students wore green ribbons on their shirts in honor of the 20 first-graders and six adults who were killed in a Dec. 14 shooting rampage at the school in Newton, Conn.

The students began the song softly before Hudson, whose mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew were shot to death five years ago, jumped in with her gospel-flavored vocals. She stood still in black and white as the students moved to the left and right, singing background.

___

Follow Mesfin Fekadu on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MusicMesfi n

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World Chefs: Thomson dishes up Washington state from Seattle to Spokane

NEW YORK (Reuters) – When food writer Jess Thomson moved to Seattle, Washington, she expected to find the adventuresome cooking for which the city is famous. But she admits to being pleasantly surprised by the rich diversity of the rest of the state.

The 150 recipes in her book “Dishing Up Washington” attempt to capture the authentic regional flavors of the entire state, from Seattle to Spokane, Yakima to Walla Walla.

“It is a total food heaven,” said Thomson, cookbook author, recipe developer and food blogger. “I knew it would be delicious but I’m not sure I knew how much would be available here and how constantly I would be bombarded with really great food.”

She spoke to Reuters about discovering the distinctive foods of Washington and the state’s climate and locavore tradition.

Q: Is this your first cookbook?

A: “This is my fourth cookbook; three in my name, one that I ghostwrote.”

Q: Did you write the recipes for this book?

A: “The book is a little bit unique because it is about 60 percent recipes that I’ve written inspired by the state’s ingredients and about 40 percent recipes by chefs, farmers and artisans from all over the state.”

Q: What was your purpose with this book?

A: “I wanted to show not just best restaurants but ingredients that drive those restaurants — what it’s like to run a potato farm and the simple potato soup the farmer’s mother makes, which is super warming, super delicious but not high-falutin chef-y approach that I think many Seattle chefs might have taken … I wanted to show the guy who grows saffron on the Olympic peninsula, and the tomato grower in northeastern Washington. She doesn’t have a restaurant but she’s important to the state because she grows these really fantastic tomatoes.”

Q: How would you characterize the cuisine of Washington State?

A: “It’s adventuresome coastal cooking that depends heavily on local ingredients.”

Q: Which ingredients are typical of the state?

A: “Stone fruits like peaches and cherries are huge here; tree fruits like apples and pears; fish and shellfish, mainly crab, oysters, mussels, and salmon. Then there’s really great dairy and cheese, mostly from the northwestern part of the state. The state is also well known for larger crops like grapes, wheat and beef.”

Q: How does Seattle’s famously rainy climate affect the cuisine?

A: “The state is sort of divided by the Cascade Mountains into two distinct climates: the wet half towards the west and the drier half towards the east … (But) there’s a giant misconception about the rain here. Boston gets more rain than Seattle, but Seattle gets it almost every day of the week in winter. From a food perspective this is a very good climate for growing. Drought is not really an issue here. On the eastern side drought is an issue but many areas there get more than 300 days of sunshine in a year, so the growing season is very long and the conditions are great.”

Q: What accounts for the strong locavore tradition?

A: “Because it’s available. Farmers’ markets near me are open the year round. In February maybe I can’t buy cherries but I can buy great kale, radicchio and hazelnuts. I think it’s such a vibrant community because the weather allows us to get food year round. The food world doesn’t shut down from November to April here.”

Q: Who is your book aimed at?

A: “I wanted to make it approachable for people cooking anywhere. The chef recipes are a little more complicated and difficult. The recipes that I’ve written are much simpler … This book also an edible tour guide to the state. People tell me they’re using it as a travel guide, keeping it in their car as a way of deciding what restaurants to go to in Seattle and the state.”

Northwest Crab Chowder

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 yellow onion, finely chopped

4 stalks celery, cut into quarter-inch slices

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (about 7 medium), cut into half-inch chunks

2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1 (15-ounce) can fish broth

1 (8-ounce) bottle clam juice

1.5 pounds Dungeness crabmeat, chopped

6 servings

1. Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, and thyme. Salt and pepper to taste, and cook, stirring, until the vegetables start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, milk, cream, fish broth and clam juice. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes.

2. Transfer about 2 cups of the vegetables to a food processor or a blender, blend until smooth, and return to the pot. Stir in the crabmeat, cook for 5 minutes longer, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve piping hot.

(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Doina Chiacu)

(This story corrects spelling of Thomson in slug, headline and throughout)

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Mike Tyson’s Controversial ”Law & Order: SVU” Episode Moved Up a Week

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – NBC is sticking with its decision to cast Mike Tyson in an upcoming episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” In fact, it’s moving the episode up a week from its original air date.

Tyson’s guest spot on “SVU” – which sparked outrage online, in light of Tyson’s rape conviction – will air February 6. The episode was originally scheduled to air on February 13.

On the episode, former boxing champ Tyson plays Reggie Rhodes, a murderer on death row who was the victim of a difficult childhood. (Andre Braugher, most recently of ABC’s “Last Resort,” also guest-stars.)

After news of the episode broke, a petition was posted on Change.org, urging NBC to cast someone other than Tyson in the role, or to pull the episode altogether.

“Am I the only one who remembers that Mike Tyson was CONVICTED and sent to prison for raping Desiree Washington?” Marcie Kaveney, an abuse survivor and advocate who started the petition, wrote in her online plea. “I am sorry but I see this as just another way to clean-up his image.”

“While we understand Mr. Tyson has served his time; it seems as though the only person who will benefit from his guest appearance will be him,” the petition, addressed to various NBC executives as well as “SVU” creator Dick Wolf and showrunner Warren Leight, reads. “There are many sexual assault survivors as well as others who consider your decision to be in poor judgment. Mr. Tyson has never publicly apologized to his victim nor has he admitted his crime. In fact, he has publicly ridiculed his victim.”

The petition has so far amassed more than 12,000 signatures.

In 1992, Tyson was convicted of raping beauty pageant contestant Washington. Sentenced to six years in prison, he ultimately served three.

NBC had no comment for TheWrap on why the episode was rescheduled. However, an individual with knowledge of the shuffle told TheWrap that, contrary to earlier reports, the rescheduling is unconnected to the fact that One Billion Rising, a protest in support of female abuse victims, is scheduled to take place the day after the original air date.

Tyson has dabbled in show business in recent years, appearing in cameos in “The Hangover” movie franchise, and performing in a one-man show, “Undisputed Truth,” which is scheduled to begin a tour next month.

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Relativity Buys Into Jim Carrey Heist Comedy ”Loomis Fargo”

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Relativity Media has acquired worldwide rights to the Jim Carrey heist comedy “Loomis Fargo,” which it will finance, produce and distribute, the studio announced on Thursday.

Jared Hess, who co-wrote and directed “Napoleon Dynamite,” will direct the movie from a script by Emily Spivey that also counts Chris Bowman and Hubbel Palmer as writers. Inspired by true events, it tells the story of four Southerners who stole nearly $ 20 million from an armed Loomis Fargo truck in 1997.

“Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels and John Goldwyn are producing the movie while Danny McBride, Jody Hill, Michael Aguilar, Kevin Messick are executive producing with Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh and president Tucker Tooley.

Brett Dahl will oversee the project for Relativity, which is aiming for an April start to production.

Carrey can next be seen in “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,” which will premiere at South by Southwest before it theatrical release. Relativity just acquired Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut “Don Jon’s Addiction” at Sundance and will next release the romantic thriller “Save Haven.”

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UK’s Prince Charles takes first “Tube” trip since 1986

LONDON (Reuters) – Four million Londoners cram onto the city’s Underground passenger railway nearly every day, but it is a rarer event for Prince Charles. He rode the British capital’s bustling commuter network on Wednesday for the first time since 1986.

The heir to the British throne and his wife Camilla took a one-stop journey from Farringdon to King’s Cross on the Metropolitan Line as part of celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of a transport service affectionately known to Britons as the “Tube”.

The short journey was a rare enough event to cause some confusion at the prince’s press office, which initially said he had last ventured onto the Tube in 1979.

“This is just to let you know that it has come to our attention that The Prince of Wales has travelled on the London Underground more recently than 1979. In 1986 The Prince and Princess of Wales travelled by tube to Heathrow Airport to open Terminal 4,” a spokeswoman said in an email to media.

“We’re sorry that our previous information was incorrect. Our archives of Royal engagements prior to 1988 are not computerized and in this particular instance a search under ‘The Prince of Wales takes the Tube’ did not bring up an event which had been logged as the ‘official opening of Terminal 4′.”

(Reporting By Estelle Shirbon, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Muse to play anniversary gig for War Child charity

LONDON (Reuters) – British rock band Muse will headline a gig in London next month to mark the 20th anniversary of War Child, a charity that aims to protect young victims of conflicts around the world.

The gig on February 18 at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire will be the fifth time War Child has staged a concert in association with the BRIT Awards, Britain’s top pop honors which take place this year at the O2 Arena on February 20.

War Child is to receive the inaugural Special Recognition Award at the ceremony, while Muse has been nominated for best British group and best British live act.

Muse’s song “Survival” was chosen as the official song for the Olympic Games in London last year.

The BRIT Awards Concerts at the 2,000-capacity Empire have raised more than 600,000 pounds ($ 945,000) for War Child and included performances from Coldplay, The Killers, Blur and Kasabian.

“We are proud to have a continuing association with War Child, who have been doing amazing work over the last 20 years,” said Muse lead singer Matt Bellamy.

“It’s great to see their efforts being recognized at this year’s BRITs and we are really looking forward to playing this special show for them,” he added in a statement.

War Child UK says it has changed and saved the lives of some 800,000 children in war-affected countries including Bosnia, Rwanda, Afghanistan and Iraq.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White)

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Conference suggests ways Broadway can be better

NEW YORK (AP) — A conference on how to make the Broadway experience better for theatergoers has come up with some prescriptions: Be brave in the stories that are told onstage and embrace youth and technology.

“Broadway, I don’t think, has boldly gone where it needs to,” said “Star Trek” actor George Takei, riffing off his old show’s motto. “I have a sense that Broadway hasn’t entered into the 21st century.”

The second TEDxBroadway conference on Monday brought together 16 speakers — producers, marketers, entrepreneurs, academics and artists — to try to answer the question: “What is the best Broadway can be?”

“We use the word ‘best’ because the goal of today is to go right past better all the way to the extent of what is possible, even if it seems a little bit outlandish,” said co-organizer Jim McCarthy, the CEO of Goldstar, a ticket retailer.

TEDx events are independently organized but inspired by the nonprofit group TED — standing for Technology, Entertainment, Design — that started in 1984 as a conference dedicated to “ideas worth spreading.” Video of the Broadway event will be made available to the public.

While the health of Broadway is good, with shows yielding a record $ 1.14 billion in grosses last season, some speakers noted that total attendance — 12.3 million last season — hasn’t kept pace, meaning Broadway isn’t always attracting new customers.

Three speakers — one the sister of Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg — argued that new technology means the stage experience doesn’t need to be confined to the four walls of the theater and so can grow new audiences.

David Sabel, who has helped drive the National Theatre of Great Britain into the digital age, pointed out that broadcasts of his stage shows on movie screens across the world haven’t dampened demand at the box office and have actually have themselves become profitable.

“I think in our business, digital is uniquely not a threat but an opportunity,” he said. “What if we could open it up and invite a much greater audience in to speak with us?”

Randi Zuckerberg said the Broadway community could increase visibility by having auditions for minor parts via YouTube, have live tweeters backstage, offer crowd funding to knit people to productions, give walk-on parts for influential figures or even make the Playbills electronic.

“Why should Broadway be limited by physical space? By ticket prices? By the same shows, over and over?” she asked. “Instead of having just a small sliver of the world come to Broadway, why not bring a small piece of Broadway to the entire world?”

And Internet guru Josh Harris said producers need to open the entire process to the outside world, including video cameras backstage to capture actors getting ready and even having the orchestra pit filled with people interacting with the audience via their electronic devices.

The annual gathering centered on Broadway is the brainchild of three men: McCarthy; Ken Davenport, a writer and producer; and Damian Bazadona, the founder of Situation Interactive. It drew 400 people to the off-Broadway complex New World Stages and into the theater where “Avenue Q” usually plays.

Takei in the past few years has grown 3.3 million Facebook friends and leveraged them into audience members to “Allegiance,” his new musical about Japanese-Americans during World War II,

“If I can do it, Broadway certainly can,” the 65-year-old said. “Broadway is at its best when it embraces all of the technological advancements of the time and starts making a lot of friends on social media. Then, as we say on ‘Star Trek,’ Broadway will live long and prosper.”

Thomas Schumacher, the president of the Disney Theatrical Group, slammed the pretentious way some in the theatrical community look at more mainstream shows and scoffed at their disdain for making the audience experience more fun.

“Populism has its own manifest destiny and we need to embrace that,” said Schumacher, who called for a big tent of theatrical options on Broadway and especially shows for children who will return as adults. “What I ask you to do is embrace this audience and maybe even embrace the sippy cup.”

Terry Teachout, drama critic at The Wall Street Journal, soberly pointed out that 75 percent of all Broadway shows fail and then asked that more producers roll the dice on quality.

“If you can’t count on getting rich, then forget playing it safe. Why not take a shot at being great?” he asked. “If there’s ever a time for you to shoot high, this is it. Don’t start out settling for safe. Gamble on great.”

Kristoffer Diaz, the playwright of the Pulitzer Prize finalist “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” urged producers to embrace different voices, as they did with “In the Heights” and “Rent.”

“Women, writers of color, transgender, lesbian, gay and bisexual — we need to keep hearing these stories. We need to hear them on Broadway,” he said. “It becomes a lot harder to dismiss somebody out of hand if you’ve spent a couple of hours investing in their story.”

Two speakers with specialty knowledge outside Broadway urged the community to not just focus on putting on a great show.

Susan Reilly Salgado, who has worked with famed restaurant owner Danny Meyer, said his success is not only about creating tasty dishes. Meyer, she said, makes the whole evening fun.

“To say that, in a restaurant, it’s all about the food discounts everyone else who touches the customer experience,” she said. “The best way to get people to come back to you over and over is to create an all-encompassing experience.”

Erin Hoover, the vice president of design for Westin and Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, said Broadway theaters could take a page out of the innovations brought to hotel lobbies, which are now comfortable, inviting and offer new sources of revenue. “The experience for the show really starts at the door.”

Customer service was also a theme touched on by Zachary A. Schmahl, an actor-turned-baker who created Schmackary’s Cookies in his apartment and has watched it grow into a thriving business.

“Customer service is something that people are missing in New York,” he said. “It’s so important in our single-serving culture to be that business that has a heart and a soul alongside a quality product.”

One returning speaker was Vincent Gassetto, the principal of a high-performing public middle school in a tough area of the Bronx, who urged those in attendance to make sure Broadway was on the radar of his best and brightest students.

“It’s in everybody in this room’s best interest that they have an awareness of this industry or we’re never going to win that talent war,” he said. “We’re all going to be competing for them.”

Though the speakers came from different backgrounds and emphasized different prescriptions, they did seem to agree with Daryl Roth, the Pulitzer Prize-winning producer of seven plays, including “Clybourne Park.” She challenged the crowd to think of Broadway in more than just dollars and cents.

“If we share the deep belief that theater matters, that theater can change us and ultimately change the world, then isn’t that the best Broadway can be?” Roth asked.

___

Online:

http://www.goldstar.com/tedxbroadway

___

Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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‘Argo,’ Lawrence, Day-Lewis win at SAG

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The CIA thriller “Argo” continues to steamroll through awards season, winning the top honor for overall cast performance at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

SAG’s lead-acting honors Sunday went to Jennifer Lawrence won for her role as a troubled widow in a shaky new relationship in the lost-souls romance “Silver Linings Playbook” and Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War epic “Lincoln.”

The supporting film awards Sunday went to Anne Hathaway of “Les Miserables” and Tommy Lee Jones of “Lincoln.”

“It occurred to me — it was an actor that murdered Abraham Lincoln,” said Day-Lewis, a solid front-runner to join an exclusive list of three-time acting Oscar winners. “And therefore, somehow it is only so fitting that every now and then an actor tries to bring him back to life again.”

The SAG cast win came a day after “Argo” claimed the top honor from the Producers Guild of America, whose winner often goes on to claim best picture at the Academy Awards. “Argo” also was a surprise victor two weeks ago at the Golden Globes, where it won best drama and director for Ben Affleck.

The award momentum positions “Argo” for a rare feat at the Feb. 24 Oscars, where it could become just the fourth film in 85 years to be named best picture without a nomination for its director.

“To me this has nothing to do with me, it has to do with the incredible people who were in this movie,” said Affleck, who also stars in “Argo” and accepted the SAG prize alongside his cast.

It was a brisk, businesslike and fairly bland evening as the actors union handed out honors to a predictable lineup of winners who generally had triumphed at earlier Hollywood ceremonies or past SAG shows.

“Now I have this naked statue that means some of you even voted for me, and that is an indescribable feeling,” ”Silver Linings” star Lawrence said after explaining she earned her SAG card at age 14 by filming a spot for MTV.

Hathaway won for her role as a doomed single mother forced into prostitution in the adaptation of the stage musical based on Victor Hugo’s epic novel. Her win came over four past Oscar recipients — Sally Field, Helen Hunt, Nicole Kidman and Maggie Smith.

“I’m just thrilled I have dental,” Hathaway said. “I got my SAG card when I was 14. It felt like the beginning of the world. I have loved every single minute of my life as an actor. … Thank you for nominating me alongside incredible women and incredible performances.”

Jones, who was not at the show, won for his turn as abolitionist firebrand Thaddeus Stevens in the Civil War epic. The win improves his odds to become a two-time Academy Award winner. He previously won a supporting-actor Oscar for “The Fugitive.”

On the television side, with “30 Rock” ending its run, its stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin won the SAG awards for best comedy performers. It was Baldwin’s seventh-straight win, while Fey earned her fifth SAG prize.

“Oh, my God. It’s ridiculous,” Baldwin said. “It’s the end of our show, which is sad. Everybody is sad about that. It was the greatest experience I’ve ever had.”

Fey gave a plug for the show’s finale airing Thursday, noting that it’s up against “The Big Bang Theory.”

“Just tape ‘The Big Bang Theory’ for once, for crying out loud,” Fey said.

“Modern Family” won for best overall cast in a TV comedy show. Accepting for the cast, “Modern Family” co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson offered thanks to the makers of “30 Rock” and another departing series, “The Office,” saying “you all have set the comedy bar so high.”

Ferguson joked that if the “30 Rock” or “The Office” stars need jobs, they should contact the “Modern Family” casting director.

The TV drama acting awards went to Claire Danes of “Homeland” and Bryan Cranston of “Breaking Bad.”

“It is so good to be bad,” Cranston said.

“Downton Abbey” won the TV drama cast award.

Julianne Moore’s turn as Sarah Palin in “Game Change” earned her the TV prize for best actress in a movie or miniseries. Kevin Costner won for best actor in a movie or miniseries for “Hatfields & McCoys.”

Fey, who memorably spoofed Palin herself in “Saturday Night Live” sketches, said backstage that Moore’s performance was “incredible. She really disappeared into the character, she did a real film acting job. You wouldn’t want a sketch acting job in that movie.”

Earlier, the James Bond adventure “Skyfall” and the fantasy series “Game of Thrones” picked up prizes for best stunt work, honors announced on the red carpet before the official SAG Awards ceremony.

JoBeth Williams and Scott Bakula announced the winners, noting the value of stunt players, who often are overlooked for their contributions to film and television.

“The stunt men and women of our union are critical to the work that gets done,” Bakula said. “They keep us healthy, they keep us alive, they keep us working. They keep our shows working.”

The SAG honors are the latest show in a puzzling Academy Awards season in which Hollywood’s top prize, the best-picture Oscar, looks up for grabs among several key nominees.

Honors from the actors union, next weekend’s Directors Guild of America Awards and Saturday night’s Producers Guild of America Awards — whose top honor went to “Argo” — typically help to establish clear favorites for the Oscars.

But Oscar night looks more uncertain this time after some top directing prospects, including Affleck for “Argo” and Kathryn Bigelow for “Zero Dark Thirty,” missed out on nominations. Both films were nominated for best picture, but a movie rarely wins the top Oscar if its director is not also in the running.

Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” would seem the Oscar favorite with 12 nominations. Yet all of the triumphs for “Argo” leave the Oscar race looking like anybody’s guess.

The SAG honors at least should help to establish solid front-runners for the stars. All four of the guild’s individual acting winners often go on to receive the same prizes at the Academy Awards.

The SAG cast prize has a spotty record at predicting the eventual best-picture recipient at the Oscars. Only eight of 17 times since the guild added the category has the cast winner gone on to take the best-picture Oscar. “The Help” won the guild’s cast prize last year, while Oscar voters named “The Artist” as best picture.

Such past guild cast winners as “The Birdcage,” ”Gosford Park” and “Inglourious Basterds” also failed to take the top Oscar.

Receiving the guild’s life-achievement award was Dick Van Dyke, who presented the same prize last year to his “The Dick Van Dyke Show” co-star, Mary Tyler Moore.

After waiting on stage for a prolonged standing ovation to end, Van Dyke said, “That does an old man a lot of good.”

___

Associated Press writers Beth Harris, Christy Lemire and Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

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Opera about Nazi atrocity shown in Austria

VIENNA (AP) — Thousands of children were murdered by the Nazis because they fell short of the Aryan ideal. On Friday, a hushed audience gathered in Austria’s Parliament to watch the world premiere of an opera depicting how the Nazis methodically killed mentally or physically deficient children at a Vienna hospital during World War II.

The killings were part of a greater campaign that led to the deaths of about 75,000 people — homosexuals, the handicapped, or others the Nazis called “unworthy lives” — and served as a prelude to the Holocaust.

Austrians played a huge role in these and other atrocities of the era — nearly 800 children were killed at Vienna’s Spiegelgrund psychiatric ward — and Friday’s premiere of the opera “Spiegelgrund” was the latest installment of a national effort to atone for such acts in word and deed.

The timing was picked to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, which will be observed worldwide Sunday, and the performance was streamed live on the Internet for international audiences. But the parliamentary venue was chosen for a particularly Austrian reason: as a reminder of how the country’s politicians fomented the atmosphere of intolerance and authoritarianism that allowed Hitler’s troops to walk in in 1938, and a determination to not let history repeat itself.

Composer Peter Androsch said his focus on the era was in part born of his own family’s history. His great grandfather died in a Nazi concentration camp. Androsch said the fact that that was hidden for generations “says a lot about conditions in totalitarian regimes and should serve as a reminder for me and many others.”

At the premiere — a hauntingly effective hour-long performance — legislators were joined in the audience by diplomats, Holocaust survivors, former Spiegelgrund patients and other invited guests in an ornate chamber lined with Ionic columns and used for special legislative sessions.

Spiegelgrund survivor Friedrich Zavel was in the audience. He was brought to the clinic in 1940 after being accused of homosexuality. Now 83, he still shudders when he speaks of his ordeals: humiliation, solitary confinement and torture.

The “Wrap Treatment” consisted of orderlies binding a child first in two sheets soaked in ice water, then two dry sheets, followed by waiting for days without food and drink until the body warmth dried the sheets. There also were beatings and injections that either made the child vomit or left him unable to walk for days.

Asked Friday how he felt about the wrongs done to him, Zavel said: “I know neither revenge nor hate.”

The opera itself was more of an oratory. Backlit in gloomy purple and red, and accompanied by strings, flute, percussion and a harpsichord, a trio slipped into each other’s roles in an allegorical depiction of how all are victims and perpetrators.

Thus a white-coated doctor embodying “The Law” switched from vocalizing about Sparta’s doctrine of letting weak newborns die to singing a child’s ditty before moving to the role of “Memory” — singing broken phrases that harken back to the horrific experiences of the victimized children. The two other singers shifted roles accordingly as a narrator dryly recited facts reflecting the atrocities committed.

“On some days, so many children were killed that the orderlies had to pile the little bodies on a wheelbarrow,” narrator Karl Sibelius intones in one sequence before reading a letter from a mother addressed to an institute doctor and pleading for the return of her son.

Bass Robert Holzer was “The Law,” and sopranos Katerina Beranova and Alexandra Diesterhoeft sang “Memory” and “Children’s Song” respectively. All were very solid.

Parliament President Barbara Prammer said the nation could no longer focus only on glorifying its past.

“We can’t choose our history,” she told The Associated Press.

___

AP video journalist Philipp Jenne contributed.

___

Online: www.sonostream.tv

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Arhoolie Records set highlights 50 years of roots-music

BOSTON (Reuters) – Chris Strachwitz discovered the first performer for his Arhoolie Records label by quizzing roadside field hands, a prosperous cotton farmer named Mr. Tom Moore, and a man called Peg Leg at a railroad station in Navasota, Texas.

As Strachwitz tells it, Peg Leg identified a highway worker and former tenant farmer who entertained local folks: Mance Lipscomb.

“Mance Lipscomb, Texas Sharecropper and Songster,” was recorded in 1960 in the musician’s shotgun house, and it launched Lipscomb into the surging U.S. folk-music revival.

It also launched German-born Strachwitz on a half-century career of uncovering and popularizing vernacular “roots music” of the Americas. That includes the blues of black Americans, the Zydeco of Louisiana’s Creoles, Mexican norteño and Tejano conjunto music, and other styles that spring from deep cultural wells and get crowds dancing in obscure rooms.

“I probably should have become a detective,” Strachwitz told Reuters in a telephone interview. “Meeting all these people was an intriguing adventure. I didn’t have to go on a safari, hunting for elephants or something. I hunted musicians.”

Some of the performers who Strachwitz tracked down on his back-road and honky-tonk rambles, and others influenced by him and his records, gathered two years ago in Berkeley, California for a 50th anniversary concert run.

The three-night run was released this week as “They All Played for Us,” a 4-CD set and photo book that showcases Arhoolie‘s mosaic of musicians.

“They had confidence in the music that they made,” Grammy-winning recording artist Taj Mahal said. “It wasn’t predicated on selling a million or millions … it’s what made them happy. Chris – most of his records were about that.”

Mahal and fellow roots-music pioneer Ry Cooder joined the performers at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse for the anniversary. Others included the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band, bluegrass master Peter Rowan, norteño stars Los Cenzontles, the Treme Brass Band from New Orleans and The Campbell Brothers, a “sacred-steel” guitar gospel group.

GATHERING A MUSICAL FAMILY

Strachwitz, who said he fell in love with records as a child in pre-war Germany and came of age in southern California, gathered his musical family in several ways. He scoured record stores and listened to regional ethnic radio programs.

Strachwitz learned of bluesman “Black Ace” Turner when he inquired at a street-corner gambling game. Blues legend “Lightning” Hopkins took him to see a cousin, Clifton Chenier, who later rose to acclaim as the “King of Zydeco.”

Strachwitz named Arhoolie after a type of work song, a field holler, that had deep roots in African-American musical culture.

He was asked to describe the unique attributes of each musical style he recorded. But instead he cited a common thread.

“I think it’s the powerful rhythm,” he said. “They were all dance music – real dance music, not this boogaloo shit. And it’s sort of honky-tonk music, it’s just free flowing, rhythmic, stuff. With some good singing on top of it.”

He recorded in his living room, kitchens, beer joints and churches. “I didn’t give a damn about acoustics. I’d record in an outhouse if I had to,” he said.

He made sure his musicians got their due. Strachwitz recalled giving an appreciative Fred McDowell a royalty check for the Rolling Stones’ cover version of “You Gotta Move.”

“Fred McDowell enjoyed his life so much just playing for people, and after we got him the money … from the Rolling Stones, he said. ‘Well, I’m glad them boys enjoyed my music.’”

The 50th anniversary concert and recording were fundraisers for the Arhoolie Foundation, which supports folk culture and is advised by Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and others. Projects include films, instrument donations, and digital transfers of more than 50,000 records and cassettes in the collection Strachwitz donated of Mexican and Mexican-American music.

A “SONGCATCHER” STRUGGLING TO STAY IN BUSINESS

Arhoolie Records and writer Adam Machado won a Grammy award last year for “Hear Me Howling,” an anthology of the Bay Area music scene culled from Strachwitz‘s recordings.

But Arhoolie, based in El Cerrito, California, is struggling. Strachwitz said. He called himself more of “songcatcher” than businessman.

“I’ve been trying to survive basically on the publishing royalties. I haven’t got a salary from Arhoolie in years and now they can’t even afford to pay the rent anymore,” he said.

But there will always be songs to catch and backwaters to explore, Mahal said. The folk-music scene is still vibrant and house concerts are supporting a wave of new talent to be discovered, he said.

And the legacy Strachwitz created will endure.

“Deep Americana (music) is a huge force and it has traveled out of our country to people around the world. It is a big source of comfort for a lot of people,” Mahal said.

“People like Chris Strachwitz have spent their lives making sure that that is so, and that these people don’t get lost in the shuffle, and drop through the cracks.”

(Reporting by Randall Mikkelsen, editing by Jill Serjeant)

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CBS orders pilots for “Bad Teacher,” Bruno Heller drama

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – A pilot based on the 2011 Cameron Diaz film “Bad Teacher” and a drama from “The Mentalist’ creator Bruno Heller have been ordered by CBS, an individual with knowledge of the orders told TheWrap on Wednesday.

“Bad Teacher” will be written and executive-produced by “My Name Is Earl” and “Community” veteran Hilary Winston, with Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, who were behind the film, executive-producing as well. Sam Hansen and Jimmy Miller will also executive-produce the pilot, which comes from Sony Pictures Television in association with the Mosaic Media Group, and follows a sexy, foul-mouthed divorcee who becomes a teacher to find her next husband.

“The Advocates,” written and executive-produced by Heller, revolves around a female lawyer and a male ex-con who team up as “victim advocates,” going to the very edge of the law to right wrongs and fight for the underdog. Warner Bros. is producing.

The new pilot orders follow on the heels of CBS ordering pilots for a small-screen adaptation of the Eddie Murphy film “Beverly Hills Cop” – which is being executive-produced by “The Shield” creator Shawn Ryan, and Murphy will appear in – as well as the sitcom “Friends With Better Lives” and the detective drama “Backstrom.”

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“Thrift Shop” bests Timberlake’s “Suit & Tie” on Billboard chart

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Justin Timberlake’s first single in five years – “Suit & Tie” – fell short of sales expectations for its first week and was kept from the top spot on the Billboard digital songs chart by a novelty rap act.

“Suit & Tie,” which features rapper Jay-Z, sold 314,000 downloads, according to figures released on Wednesday by Nielsen SoundScan.

Industry experts had expected about 350,000 downloads for Timberlake’s widely publicized single, which precedes a new album later in 2013 – his first since 2006.

But Timberlake, 31, who has been focused on building a Hollywood acting career, was dressed down on the digital chart by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ “Thrift Shop” featuring rapper Wanz, which sold some 341,000 downloads in the week ending on January 20.

It was the second consecutive week atop the digital songs chart for the novelty rap song about eschewing designer clothes for a second-hand look.

Timberlake will perform his first concert in five years during a private Super Bowl-related event in New Orleans on February 2, DirectTV announced on Wednesday. The invitation-only concert will not be shown on TV, the satellite providers said.

On the Billboard 200 album chart, rapper A$ AP Rocky’s debut album “Long.Live.A$ AP” entered at the top spot, selling about 139,000 units last week.

The New York rapper outpaced the child-focused compilation “Kidz Bop 23,” also in its first week, that features children performing recent pop hits.

“Kidz Bop 23″ sold 78,000 units last week and the series of albums have sold some 13.3 million albums since its 2001 debut.

TOMLIN TUMBLES

The soundtrack to musical-film “Pitch Perfect” landed at the No. 3 spot on the Billboard 200 and was followed by country-pop starlet Taylor Swift’s “Red” and singer Bruno Mars’ “Unorthodox Jukebox” in the top five.

The soundtrack to the stage-to-screen adaptation of musical “Les Miserables” fell to sixth from third, failing to capitalize on three big wins at the Golden Globe Awards, Hollywood’s second-biggest prize to the Oscars, on January 13.

Last week’s top album, “Burning Lights” by Christian singer-songwriter Chris Tomlin, tumbled to No. 22 on the chart. The album’s sharp fall was expected as opening week sales were largely boosted by pre-orders through churches and a national Christian convention, Billboard said.

Album sales for the past week totaled 4.97 million, down 2 percent from the same week last year, but year-to-date album sales were up 2 percent from 2012, totaling 16.32 million so far in 2013.

Some 27.82 million songs were downloaded last week, which was flat compared with the same week last year. A total of 91.17 million songs have been downloaded in 2013, a rise of 2 percent.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Mohammad Zargham)

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Walhberg: Boy band union is strong for summer tour

NEW YORK (AP) — For Donnie Wahlberg it’s not a matter of why now, rather “why not?”

The recording artist-turned-actor was referring to the news of a major tour with his New Kids on the Block, who’ll be joined this summer on “The Package Tour” by 98 Degrees and Boyz II Men.

“The state of the boy band union is strong,” Wahlberg joked Tuesday. “Even though technically we’re not really boy bands, but we’re OK with that, so we’ll accept it.”

The three bands sold millions of records in the 1980s and ’90s and helped usher in a wave of vocal groups that continues today.

The Boston-based NKOTB formed in 1984 and amassed ten Top 20 hits. They broke up in 1994 but got back together after a 14-year hiatus. Wahlberg said he feels the break coincided with the maturation of their fan base.

“They needed time to have families and husbands and children and get jobs and live their life,” Wahlberg said.

But now he sees his band’s music as a complement to the fans’ adult lives.

“We created an outlet for them to feel good about themselves and tap into that youthfulness that had been put to bed for a long time … you may be 40, but the euphoria of it makes you feel 14 all over again,” Wahlberg said.

The band also announced a new single, “Remix (I Like The),” which will be released Jan. 28, and a new album, “10,” which is out April 2.

That music will be a bit more mature than some of the band’s previous material, member Joey McIntyre said.

“It is about the decisions that a grown man makes and goes through, as opposed to singing songs like ‘Popsicle,’” he said.

Nathan Morris, one of the members of Boyz II Men, known since the early 1990s for such hits as “I’ll Make Love to You” and “End of the Road,” said the tour is going to be all about performing.

“If the boy band thing is attached, it’s wonderful, but for all of us in here, we’re ready to get out there and sing and perform,” he said. “That’s just what we do.”

Though 98 Degrees is the youngest group on the bill, it has been apart the longest, 12 years.

“So we’re excited to get back together and doing what we do,” member Nick Lachey said. “We feel reinvigorated by our bond and by our group, so we’re very excited by that.”

Wahlberg, who stars as Detective Danny Reagan on the CBS television series “Blue Bloods,” said the boy bands’ tour, kicking off May 31 in Uncasville, Conn., and continuing into July with more than 30 dates, is going to be “great.”

“You have three acts that have lots of records, lots of fans,” he said. “Fans that are anxious to sing those records and anxious to sing other bands’ records, too.”

___

John Carucci covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://www.twitter.com/jcarucci_ap

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“Django Unchained” producers order end to slavery action-figures

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The producers of Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” on Friday ordered a halt to the production of action figures based on the Oscar-nominated slavery movie after criticism that they were offensive to African-Americans.

The eight-inch (20-cm) dolls, which were intended for people 17 and older, included gun-slinging freed slave Django, his wife and cruel, white plantation owner Candie.

“Django Unchained” has been attacked by some African-Americans for its portrayal of slavery and its violence. Despite the controversy, the film was nominated for five Oscars, including best picture.

Civil rights leader Al Sharpton’s National Action Network was among the groups that criticized the action figures.

“Selling this doll is highly offensive to our ancestors and the African-American community,” K.W. Tulloss, president of the Los Angeles branch of National Action Network, told the New York Daily News.

“The movie is for adults, but these are action figures that appeal to children,” Tulloss told the paper. “We don’t want other individuals to utilize them for their entertainment, to make a mockery of slavery.”

The Weinstein Co, which produced “Django Unchained,” said in a statement on Friday that in light of the reaction to the dolls it had ordered production to stop.

“We have tremendous respect for the audience and it was never our intent to offend anyone,” the company said.

The action figures were sold by the National Entertainment Collectibles Association, which could not be reached for comment on Friday.

The producers noted that action figures have been produced for all of Tarantino’s past films, including his World War Two revenge fantasy “Inglourious Basterds” in 2009.

“Django Unchained” stars Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio and has taken in some $ 130 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices since its release on December 25.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey and Alex Dobuzinskis Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Beech)

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Manti Te’o to be interviewed by Katie Couric

NEW YORK (AP) — Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te‘o will be interviewed by Katie Couric, the first on-camera interview given by the All-American since news broke about the dead girlfriend hoax.

Te’o and his parents will appear on Couric’s syndicated talk show Thursday. ABC News announced the interview Sunday, but gave no details as to when it will take place and where.

Te’o gave an off-camera interview with ESPN on Friday night. He insists he was the victim of the hoax, not a participant. The Heisman Trophy runner-up said he had an online romance with a woman he never met and in September was informed that the woman died from leukemia.

Te’o told ESPN that the person suspected of being the mastermind of the hoax has contacted him and apologized.

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“Beasts of Southern Wild,” “Les Miz” among Costume Designer Award nominees

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Films as diverse as “Beast of the Southern Wild” and “Les Miserables” were among the nominees for the 15th annual Costume Designers Guild Awards announced Thursday by the organization.

Stephani Lewis was nominated for “Beasts” in the contemporary film category, along with Louise Stjernsward for “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” Mark Bridges for “Silver Linings Playbook,” Jany Temime for “Skyfall” and George L. Little for “Zero Dark Thirty.”

Paco Delgado was nominated in the period film group, along with Jacqueline West for “Argo,” Jacqueline Durran for “Anna Karenina,” Joanna Johnston for “Lincoln” and Kasia Walicka-Maimone for “Moonrise Kingdom.”

The winners of the seven competitive awards will be announced at a gala on Tuesday, February 19, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

A special Lacoste Spotlight Award will be presented to Anne Hathaway. Producer, writer, comedian and creator of “Saturday Night Live” Lorne Michaels will receive the Distinguished Collaborator Award. Honorary Career Achievement Awards will be presented to costume designers Judianna Makovsky and Eduardo Castro for their outstanding work in film and television.

The other nominees:

Fantasy Film

“Cloud Atlas,” Kym Barret, Pierre-Yves Gayraud;

“The Hunger Games,” Judianna Makovsky;

“Mirror Mirror,” Eiko Ishioka;

“Snow White and the Huntsman,” Colleen Atwood

Contemporary TV Series

“Girls,” Jennifer Rogien;

“Nashville,” Susie DeSanto;

“Revenge,” Jill Ohanneson;

“Smash,” Molly Maginnis;

“Treme,” Alonzo Wilson, Ann Walters

Period/fantasy TV Series

“Boardwalk Empire,” John Dunn, Lisa Padovani;

“Downton Abbey,” Caroline McCall;

“Game of Thrones,” Michele Clapton;

Made for TV Movie or Mini Series

“American Horror Story: Asylum, Season 2,” Lou Eyrich;

“Hatfields & McCoys,” Karri Hutchinson;

“Hemingway & Gellhorn,” Ruth Myers

Commercials

Capital One: Couture, Roseanne Fiedler;

Captain Morgan Black, Judianna Makovsky;

Dos Equis: Most Interesting Man in the World, Julie Vogel

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John Powers, author who wrote about growing up Catholic, dies

(Reuters) – John Powers, a U.S. author and motivational speaker who wrote about his experiences growing up Catholic in Chicago including the novel “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?” has died, his family said on Thursday.

Powers, 67, died late Wednesday of natural causes at his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, his daughter Jacey Powers said.

A product of a working-class neighborhood, Powers wrote what he called humorous social portraits in columns to novels, a musical based on “Black Patent Leather Shoes” and more recently wrote and performed one-man shows.

“He cherished every moment and lived with tremendous passion and motivated others to do the same,” Jacey Powers said.

Powers lived the last 25 years in Lake Geneva, spending almost all of his time writing on the front porch, she said.

“He had just finished rewriting his one-man show and wanted to put it up,” Jacey Powers said. “(He) was always looking for new ways to reinvent himself and to find the next challenge and to live life better.”

A self-described “horrible” student at a Catholic high school – his motivational speaking website says he graduated in the bottom 3 percent of his class – he liked to say he was the only student in school history to fail music appreciation.

Powers went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University Chicago, and a master’s and doctorate from Northwestern University and became a college professor himself for six years.

Other books by Powers include “The Last Catholic in America” and “The Unoriginal Sinner and the Ice-Cream God.”

Visitation and services are planned for Sunday at The Chapel on the Hill in Lake Geneva.

Powers is survived by his wife, JaNelle Powers, and daughters Jacey Powers and Joy Powers.

(Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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Eclectic opening for Sundance with films about Mideast, Chile, U.S. Southwest

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – The Sundance Film Festival opens Thursday with movies and documentaries from around the world, including a feature that examines the cultural divide between the Middle East and the United States.

The 10-day Sundance Film Festival, founded by actor-director Robert Redford and now in its 35th year, will showcase 119 films from 32 countries.

“May in the Summer,” the U.S. dramatic competition opener, comes from writer-director Cherien Dabis, who caught the eye of Sundance organizers in 2009 with her directorial debut “Amreeka,” about a Palestinian family‘s experiences living in post 9/11 America.

Palestinian-American Dabis, 36, reverses the perspective on the Middle East, showing a Jordanian woman who has established a successful life in America but undergoes an identity crisis when she returns to her family in Jordan to plan her wedding.

“May in the Summer” will join U.S. documentary “Twenty Feet from Stardom” about back-up singers, Chilean drama “Crystal Fairy,” “Who is Dayani Cristal,” about a mysterious corpse found in the Arizona desert, and five short films as part of the opening day roster at the world’s leading independent film festival.

“We want the kind of films that will really set the tone for the rest of the festival. Those four films do that perfectly. They’re very different in what they are, but they collectively represent what’s going to be unfolding over the next days,” festival director John Cooper told Reuters.

OPENING UP TO THE WORLD

Festival organizers are making efforts this year to encourage more international stories and filmmakers to come to Sundance.

“They saw the value in the continuing changing world we live in and that even American stories are coming from all over the world,” Dabis said.

“The movie is a universal story that’s set in the Middle East, and we all know the Middle East is a place where we all need to expand our perceptions of what life is like there,” she added.

Sundance founder Robert Redford said the festival was all about encouraging diversity in filmmaking.

“As long as we go forward and we adapt to change, we keep in touch with our original purpose which is simply to support and develop new voices to be seen and heard,” Redford told reporters at a news conference on Thursday.

In addition to the usual film competition and premiere categories, festival organizers have expanded their slate of edgier films and projects, including actor James Franco’s sexually explicit films “kink” and “Interior. Leather Bar.”

There is also a thriving short film initiative, with more than 40 films showcased.

Outside of the films, Sundance has become a hot spot for the film industry to escape the hustle of Hollywood’s awards season and relax in Sundance’s more relaxed vibe.

Live music will feature prominently, with a spotlight on electronic dance music and four pop-up clubs featuring DJs such as Nero and Afrojack.

VIPs can take private snowboarding lessons or take part in the culinary event ChefDance, in a fusion of food and film.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant and Cynthia Osterman)

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Pregnant Kim Kardashian wants to be more private

NEW YORK (AP) — As the tabloids speculated about whether Jessica Simpson is expecting again (she is) and the media zeroed in on Kate Middleton‘s acute morning sickness, Kim Kardashian says it was nice to be out of the media spotlight during the early stages of her pregnancy.

“I’m obviously so happy for them, but if anything I loved the privacy,” the 32-year-old reality TV star said in an interview Wednesday.

That bit of privacy went out the window when Kardashian’s boyfriend, Kanye West, revealed during a Dec. 30 concert in Atlantic City, N.J., that they are expecting their first child together.

Now that the word is out, Kardashian says her motherly instincts have made her pull back from being so open about her personal life.

“I think that definitely kicks in where you’re like, ‘OK, I have to go in protect mode,’ and as ironic as it sounds, you live your life on a reality show but then when you grow up … certain things change your life that make you want to be more private and this is definitely one of them.”

The couple went public with their relationship in March.

Kardashian married NBA player Kris Humphries in August 2011 and their divorce is not finalized.

West rarely grants interviews, and the 35-year-old rapper is the ying to the Kardashian family’s “out there” yang. Kardashian says she is somewhat influenced by West’s approach.

“When you spend time with someone, you learn things from them, so I see what (his) views are in wanting to be private, so that’s a choice we make together as a family just in how we’re gonna raise our kid,” she said. “… But my personal experience of having really open relationships on the show, I’ve done that, and for me I feel like I got really scrutinized when people didn’t maybe understand my decisions at some point, so I feel like after that experience I’ve become more private more so than just like Kanye’s views or anything.”

Kardashian is due in July.

A new season of her reality show with her sister Kourtney, “Kourtney and Kim Take Miami,” premieres Sunday on E! (9 p.m. EST).

___

Online:

http://www.eonline.com/shows/kourtney_and_kim_take_miami

___

Alicia Rancilio covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow her online at http://www.twitter.com/aliciar

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Americans favor “Lincoln” for top Oscars: poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Director Ben Affleck and “Argo” may have been the big winners at the Golden Globes, but many Americans think Steven Spielberg and “Lincoln” should take home the top Oscars at next month’s awards.

Nearly a quarter of Americans questioned in an Ipsos poll for Reuters thought the Civil War drama “Lincoln” should win the Oscar for best picture at the 85th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on February 24. Spielberg was also their top choice for best director, with 36 percent choosing him.

Only 4 percent of Americans thought “Argo,” which depicts the rescue of American diplomats in Iran in the 1970s, should win the Academy Award for best picture.

The poll results have little if any implication for who will ultimately win the Oscars, which are voted on by movie industry professionals.

The Golden Globes are sometimes looked to for hints on the eventual Oscar victors, the biggest prizes in the film industry, as many Globe winners have gone on to Oscars success. But Affleck is not even in the running for best director after he was snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which announced its nominations last week.

Americans chose Daniel Day-Lewis as their clear favorite to follow up his Golden Globe win for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln with a best actor Oscar.

Twenty-two percent chose him over Denzel Washington in “Flight,” who polled 16 percent while Hugh Jackman, who won a Golden Globe for his role in the musical “Les Miserables” was third.

But the choice for best actress was less clear cut. Twelve percent of the 1,158 Americans polled voted for Naomi Watts as the distraught mother in the tsunami drama “The Impossible,” followed by 10 percent for Jennifer Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook” and 9 percent for Jessica Chastain in the search for Osama Bin Laden thriller, “Zero Dark Thirty.”

Lawrence won the Golden Globe on Sunday for best actress in a comedy or musical, while Chastain took home the prize for best actress in a drama.

“Lincoln” was also the top choice in the poll for the supporting categories, with Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field favorites for their performances in the film.

Comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who won praise for their first stint hosting the Golden Globes, will be a hard act to follow but 42 percent of Americans approved of the choice of outspoken comedian and creator of “Family Guy” Seth MacFarlane to helm the Academy Awards.

If given the opportunity to select the host for the Oscars, 15 of people said they would opt for comedian Billy Crystal, followed by 12 percent who chose Ellen DeGeneres while 10 percent wanted Steve Martin.

To view the full poll results go to http://link.reuters.com/deh35t

The poll, which was conducted online from January 11-15, has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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