LONDON (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's tetchy and uncompromising appearance at a British inquiry into phone hacking could come back to haunt him this week when politicians give their verdict on the scandal at his defunct News of the World newspaper.
Three days of grilling at the Leveson judicial press inquiry last week extracted few new facts from Rupert and his son James as the 81-year-old casually threw out insults at politicians and described himself as a victim of a corporate cover-up.
That appearance will only increase pressure on a powerful parliamentary committee to be harsh in its verdict on the scandal, putting Murdoch's News Corp further on the defensive.
'The timing of the select committee report, following the week we've just had at Leveson, is crucial,' a person familiar with the thinking and mechanics of the committee, told Reuters.
'Anyone putting their name to an amendment that supports Rupert and James, or dilutes the criticism of Rupert and James, would look very different now than they would have done a week ago.'
Another person familiar with the situation said the report had become much more critical in recent months.
The committee will meet on Monday to vote and agree the final wording for the report, which had originally been expected late last year. It will be published on Tuesday.
Murdoch shut the 168-year-old News of the World in July after journalists and investigators admitted hacking the phones of ordinary people, crime victims and politicians to gather exclusive and salacious news.
INFLUENCE
The evidence from the Leveson inquiry could particularly increase the pressure on members of the committee from Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party, traditionally seen as close to the world's most powerful media tycoon.
The release of emails between James Murdoch and his top London lobbyist suggesting possible influence over the government led to the resignation of a senior ministerial aide and demands for the minister himself to quit.
The committee is expected to criticize James Murdoch for his handling of News Corp's British newspaper arm and is considering whether to implicate Rupert Murdoch for his influence over the wider company culture.
A tough report could make it harder for 39-year-old James Murdoch in his role as News Corp's deputy chief operating officer after the damage the company has already taken to its value and reputation.
Committee members believe Murdoch staff have shown little respect for the parliamentary system and accused them at one point of suffering from 'collective amnesia'.
Since the committee has to be careful of criticizing any of the people arrested over phone- and computer-hacking and bribery to avoid prejudicing court cases, the criticism of the Murdochs may be even more pointed. They have not been arrested.
Rupert Murdoch told the Leveson inquiry on Thursday that staff within the News of the World had hidden the hacking scandal from himself, James and ex-News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks, a protégée of his.
He put the blame on the journalists and the paper's former top lawyer and said he wished he had shut the paper sooner. He brushed off any suggestion that he could be held responsible for a culture that allowed criminality to flourish.
'I think Rupert showed his true lights... belligerent, testy, laying the blame everywhere but himself and passing the buck,' Roy Greenslade, who worked under Murdoch at the Sun and Sunday Times, told Reuters.
(Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
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Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Obama, Kimmel target Kardashian at Correspondents dinner
April 29 (TheWrap.com) - Lindsay Lohan may have gotten more attention than any other guest before Saturday night's White House Correspondents Dinner, but Kim Kardashian was the celebrity who took the most hits from the dais during the annual event.
Host Jimmy Kimmel, for instance, remembered last year's dinner, which took place after President Obama had dispatched a team that would track down and kill Osama bin Laden. 'If you're looking for the greatest threat to America right now, she's right there,' he said, pointing into the audience. 'She's Kim Kardashian.'
As the reality-TV star laughed, Kimmel scolded the president. 'When you took office, the Kardashians had one reality show,' he said. 'Now they have four. This is not a good trend.'
But Kimmel saved his best ammunition to mow through the Republican presidential candidates:
Mitt Romney: 'When I think of Mitt Romney, I don't think of Etch-a-Sketch. I think of Twister: One foot on red, one on blue and both hands on green.'
Rick Santorum: 'I guess it wasn't Rick's year. Rick's year was 1954.'
Ron Paul: 'To me, Ron Paul looks like the guy who gets unhooded at the end of every 'Scooby Doo' episode.'
Newt Gingrich: 'It's great to see the Gingriches here tonight, because I guess that means the check cleared.'
And on the GOP: 'I think that Abraham Lincoln has a vision of what the Republican Party would become in 150 years,' he said, 'and he shot himself.'
The jibes aimed at Kardashian -- which also included Kimmel's suggestion that Obama had Navy Seal Team Six outside the Kardashian compound in Beverly Hills disguised as the Denver Nuggets 'so they can sneak in undetected' -- were among the spiciest in the comic's 20-minute monologue, which stuck mostly to politics and tweaked the president only slightly more often than it took aim at his Republican critics.
As for the guest of honor's own remarks, President Obama was perhaps not as biting as last year, when he went after guest Donald Trump for continually raising questions about Obama's birth certificate.
And he got perhaps his best laugh with a jibe at himself and a recently dredged-up confession from his 'Dreams From My Father' autobiography that he ate dog meat as a child in Indonesia. 'What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?' he asked. 'A pit bull is delicious.'
This time around, the president -- who has attended the annual dinner every year that he's been in office -- used some of his sharpest lines in a pre taped opening bit, in which his voice was heard from 'backstage' on a microphone that was purportedly left open.
And his targets included, yes, Kim Kardashian.
'Seriously, guys, what am I doing here?' said Obama's voice to an unseen aide. 'I'm the President of the United States, and I'm opening for Jimmy Kimmel?...Why am I telling knock-knock jokes to Kim Kardashian? What is she famous for, anyway?'
The crowd was typically varied for a WHCD, with guests including Lohan, Kardashian, George Clooney, Steven Spielberg, Kevin Spacey and cast members from 'Glee' and 'Modern Family,' alongside a host of politicians and Washington insiders.
Or, as Kimmel said, 'Here is one room we have members of the media, politicians, corporate executives, advertisers, celebrities...Everything that is wrong with America is here tonight.'
For a host the dinner, held at the Washington Hilton, is a minefield of sorts. The event has been criticized for showcasing a too-chummy relationship between the White House and those who cover it. But it is also slammed when its emcee plays too rough, as some thought Stephen Colbert did in 2006 when his comments caused several Bush administration staffers to walk out.
The correspondent's association responded by booking the considerably creakier Rich Little the following year, the first time that comic impersonator had hosted the dinner since the Reagan administration. Since then the gig has gone to Craig Ferguson, Wanda Sykes, Jay Leno and Seth Meyers.
Kimmel continued the tradition of taking jabs at the Chief Executive as he sat only a few feet away, poking fun at Obama for the compromises he's made and the disappointment some supporters feel.
'He has guided us through some very difficult times and paid a heavy price for it,' said Kimmel. 'There's a term for guys like President Obama. Maybe not two terms, but one.'
Later, pointing out that the dog who starred in 'The Artist' was a guest, Kimmel added, 'Uggie can roll over on command. He's a Democrat.'
He also jabbed at conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh ('For the right wingers, here's the difference between Bill Maher and Rush Limbaugh: the people who watch Bill Maher know he's an asshole') and then skewered the GOP when he said he had a new theory that John Wilkes Booth did not, in fact, assassinate Abraham Lincoln.
In his own speech, President Obama took gentler shots at his rivals, beginning when he noted how many members of Congress were in attendance.
'I've tried to be civil and not take any cheap shots,' he said, 'and that's why I want to thank all the members who took a break from their exhausting schedule of not passing any laws to be here tonight.'
After referring to the large Hilton ballroom -- 'or, as Mitt Romney would call it, a little fixer-upper' -- he congratulated the Huffington Post on winning a Pulitzer Prize.
'You deserve it, Arianna,' he said to founder Arianna Huffington. 'There's no one else out there linking to the kind of hard-hitting journalism that the Huffington Post is linking to every day.'
And the president also revealed that the conspiracy theorists who think he's ready to unleash a secret agenda if he wins a second term are right.
Among the items on that agenda, he said: 'In my first term, I sang Al Green. In my second term, I'm going with Young Jeezy...In my first term, we repealed the policy known as 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' In my second term, we will replace it with a policy known as 'It's Raining Men.''
At the end of their speeches, both Kimmel and Obama paid tribute to the press, with the president calling 'a free press that isn't afraid to challenge and criticize' one of the traditions 'that make us greater than the challenges we face.'
Kimmel closed the night by suggesting, 'If we truly want to overcome the problems that we face, we have to do it together. It doesn't matter if you're black, like President Obama, or white, like President Obama, or red, like President Obama's agenda.'
Then he mentioned a grade-school teacher, Mr. Mills, who predicted that Kimmel would never amount to anything. 'I'm about to high-five the President of the United States,' he said. 'Eat it, Mills.'
Host Jimmy Kimmel, for instance, remembered last year's dinner, which took place after President Obama had dispatched a team that would track down and kill Osama bin Laden. 'If you're looking for the greatest threat to America right now, she's right there,' he said, pointing into the audience. 'She's Kim Kardashian.'
As the reality-TV star laughed, Kimmel scolded the president. 'When you took office, the Kardashians had one reality show,' he said. 'Now they have four. This is not a good trend.'
But Kimmel saved his best ammunition to mow through the Republican presidential candidates:
Mitt Romney: 'When I think of Mitt Romney, I don't think of Etch-a-Sketch. I think of Twister: One foot on red, one on blue and both hands on green.'
Rick Santorum: 'I guess it wasn't Rick's year. Rick's year was 1954.'
Ron Paul: 'To me, Ron Paul looks like the guy who gets unhooded at the end of every 'Scooby Doo' episode.'
Newt Gingrich: 'It's great to see the Gingriches here tonight, because I guess that means the check cleared.'
And on the GOP: 'I think that Abraham Lincoln has a vision of what the Republican Party would become in 150 years,' he said, 'and he shot himself.'
The jibes aimed at Kardashian -- which also included Kimmel's suggestion that Obama had Navy Seal Team Six outside the Kardashian compound in Beverly Hills disguised as the Denver Nuggets 'so they can sneak in undetected' -- were among the spiciest in the comic's 20-minute monologue, which stuck mostly to politics and tweaked the president only slightly more often than it took aim at his Republican critics.
As for the guest of honor's own remarks, President Obama was perhaps not as biting as last year, when he went after guest Donald Trump for continually raising questions about Obama's birth certificate.
And he got perhaps his best laugh with a jibe at himself and a recently dredged-up confession from his 'Dreams From My Father' autobiography that he ate dog meat as a child in Indonesia. 'What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?' he asked. 'A pit bull is delicious.'
This time around, the president -- who has attended the annual dinner every year that he's been in office -- used some of his sharpest lines in a pre taped opening bit, in which his voice was heard from 'backstage' on a microphone that was purportedly left open.
And his targets included, yes, Kim Kardashian.
'Seriously, guys, what am I doing here?' said Obama's voice to an unseen aide. 'I'm the President of the United States, and I'm opening for Jimmy Kimmel?...Why am I telling knock-knock jokes to Kim Kardashian? What is she famous for, anyway?'
The crowd was typically varied for a WHCD, with guests including Lohan, Kardashian, George Clooney, Steven Spielberg, Kevin Spacey and cast members from 'Glee' and 'Modern Family,' alongside a host of politicians and Washington insiders.
Or, as Kimmel said, 'Here is one room we have members of the media, politicians, corporate executives, advertisers, celebrities...Everything that is wrong with America is here tonight.'
For a host the dinner, held at the Washington Hilton, is a minefield of sorts. The event has been criticized for showcasing a too-chummy relationship between the White House and those who cover it. But it is also slammed when its emcee plays too rough, as some thought Stephen Colbert did in 2006 when his comments caused several Bush administration staffers to walk out.
The correspondent's association responded by booking the considerably creakier Rich Little the following year, the first time that comic impersonator had hosted the dinner since the Reagan administration. Since then the gig has gone to Craig Ferguson, Wanda Sykes, Jay Leno and Seth Meyers.
Kimmel continued the tradition of taking jabs at the Chief Executive as he sat only a few feet away, poking fun at Obama for the compromises he's made and the disappointment some supporters feel.
'He has guided us through some very difficult times and paid a heavy price for it,' said Kimmel. 'There's a term for guys like President Obama. Maybe not two terms, but one.'
Later, pointing out that the dog who starred in 'The Artist' was a guest, Kimmel added, 'Uggie can roll over on command. He's a Democrat.'
He also jabbed at conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh ('For the right wingers, here's the difference between Bill Maher and Rush Limbaugh: the people who watch Bill Maher know he's an asshole') and then skewered the GOP when he said he had a new theory that John Wilkes Booth did not, in fact, assassinate Abraham Lincoln.
In his own speech, President Obama took gentler shots at his rivals, beginning when he noted how many members of Congress were in attendance.
'I've tried to be civil and not take any cheap shots,' he said, 'and that's why I want to thank all the members who took a break from their exhausting schedule of not passing any laws to be here tonight.'
After referring to the large Hilton ballroom -- 'or, as Mitt Romney would call it, a little fixer-upper' -- he congratulated the Huffington Post on winning a Pulitzer Prize.
'You deserve it, Arianna,' he said to founder Arianna Huffington. 'There's no one else out there linking to the kind of hard-hitting journalism that the Huffington Post is linking to every day.'
And the president also revealed that the conspiracy theorists who think he's ready to unleash a secret agenda if he wins a second term are right.
Among the items on that agenda, he said: 'In my first term, I sang Al Green. In my second term, I'm going with Young Jeezy...In my first term, we repealed the policy known as 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' In my second term, we will replace it with a policy known as 'It's Raining Men.''
At the end of their speeches, both Kimmel and Obama paid tribute to the press, with the president calling 'a free press that isn't afraid to challenge and criticize' one of the traditions 'that make us greater than the challenges we face.'
Kimmel closed the night by suggesting, 'If we truly want to overcome the problems that we face, we have to do it together. It doesn't matter if you're black, like President Obama, or white, like President Obama, or red, like President Obama's agenda.'
Then he mentioned a grade-school teacher, Mr. Mills, who predicted that Kimmel would never amount to anything. 'I'm about to high-five the President of the United States,' he said. 'Eat it, Mills.'
Friday, April 27, 2012
Nobel winner Pamuk opens novel museum in Istanbul
ISTANBUL (Reuters Life!) - Nobel prize-winning Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk realizes a long-nurtured dream on Saturday with the opening of an actual 'Museum of Innocence' - a collection of relics of a half-century of ordinary life - as depicted in his 2008 novel of the same name.
Pamuk set out 'not to do a spectacular or monumental museum but something in the backstreets, something that represents the daily life of the city,' he told a news conference after a press preview.
Situated in a bright, wine-red building in the district of Cukurcuma, the Museum of Innocence houses real and fabricated artifacts from everyday Turkish life between 1950 and 2000, in an homage both to the novel and to Pamuk's Istanbul.
'Our daily lives are honorable, and their objects should be preserved. It's not all about the glories of the past,' he said. 'It's the people and their objects that count.'
He conceived of the museum more than a decade ago, at the same time he came up with the idea for the novel. A New York Times bestseller, 'The Museum of Innocence' was his first book after winning the 2006 Nobel prize for literature.
The book tells the story of Kemal, who hoards ordinary items to recapture the happiness he felt during a passionate but ill-fated love affair.
The real life museum contains odds and ends that Pamuk collected from Cukurcuma junk shops, family and other donors. There are china dog figurines, old shaving kits and a wind-up film projector. A toothbrush collection, which features in the novel, was contributed by its real-life owner.
Pride of place goes to Kemal's lover's 4,213 cigarette butts, lovingly dated, archived and gently pinned to a canvas that occupies a full wall. Pamuk described the painstaking process of vacuuming out the tobacco to prevent worms.
The space was originally meant to open with the book's publication, but was beset with delays. It took Pamuk - working closely with a team of architects, artists and product designers - another four years to complete the project.
His Nobel prize money of more than 1 million euros did not fully cover costs, he said, declining to specify the exact cost of the museum. Royalties from the book will go towards upkeep.
While the project is distinctly personal, Pamuk insisted it is not autobiographical.
His protagonist Kemal is far too obsessed with his love and his compulsive hoarding to pay much attention to the social and political upheaval around him. His story takes place in Istanbul in the 1970s, a decade bookended with coups.
Pamuk, 59, is among Turkey's best selling writers. His work, including 'My Name Is Red,' 'The Black Book' and the memoir 'Istanbul,' has been translated into some 60 languages.
He was charged with 'insulting Turkishness' in 2005 for remarks he made about the World War One massacre of Armenians and the state's fight against Kurdish separatism since 1984. He was acquitted.
Pamuk is now at work on a new book told from the view of a street vendor eking out a living in one of sprawling Istanbul's shantytowns. His first book, 1982's 'Cevdet Bey and His Sons,' is now being made into a serial for television.
(Editing by Peter Graff)
Pamuk set out 'not to do a spectacular or monumental museum but something in the backstreets, something that represents the daily life of the city,' he told a news conference after a press preview.
Situated in a bright, wine-red building in the district of Cukurcuma, the Museum of Innocence houses real and fabricated artifacts from everyday Turkish life between 1950 and 2000, in an homage both to the novel and to Pamuk's Istanbul.
'Our daily lives are honorable, and their objects should be preserved. It's not all about the glories of the past,' he said. 'It's the people and their objects that count.'
He conceived of the museum more than a decade ago, at the same time he came up with the idea for the novel. A New York Times bestseller, 'The Museum of Innocence' was his first book after winning the 2006 Nobel prize for literature.
The book tells the story of Kemal, who hoards ordinary items to recapture the happiness he felt during a passionate but ill-fated love affair.
The real life museum contains odds and ends that Pamuk collected from Cukurcuma junk shops, family and other donors. There are china dog figurines, old shaving kits and a wind-up film projector. A toothbrush collection, which features in the novel, was contributed by its real-life owner.
Pride of place goes to Kemal's lover's 4,213 cigarette butts, lovingly dated, archived and gently pinned to a canvas that occupies a full wall. Pamuk described the painstaking process of vacuuming out the tobacco to prevent worms.
The space was originally meant to open with the book's publication, but was beset with delays. It took Pamuk - working closely with a team of architects, artists and product designers - another four years to complete the project.
His Nobel prize money of more than 1 million euros did not fully cover costs, he said, declining to specify the exact cost of the museum. Royalties from the book will go towards upkeep.
While the project is distinctly personal, Pamuk insisted it is not autobiographical.
His protagonist Kemal is far too obsessed with his love and his compulsive hoarding to pay much attention to the social and political upheaval around him. His story takes place in Istanbul in the 1970s, a decade bookended with coups.
Pamuk, 59, is among Turkey's best selling writers. His work, including 'My Name Is Red,' 'The Black Book' and the memoir 'Istanbul,' has been translated into some 60 languages.
He was charged with 'insulting Turkishness' in 2005 for remarks he made about the World War One massacre of Armenians and the state's fight against Kurdish separatism since 1984. He was acquitted.
Pamuk is now at work on a new book told from the view of a street vendor eking out a living in one of sprawling Istanbul's shantytowns. His first book, 1982's 'Cevdet Bey and His Sons,' is now being made into a serial for television.
(Editing by Peter Graff)
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Ex-president George H.W. Bush opens up for HBO film
(Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush, who has never written a memoir, has told his story in his own words for an HBO documentary to be broadcast on television in June.
HBO said on Thursday that the documentary, called '41' to reflect Bush's position as the United State's 41st president, sees Bush reflecting on his childhood, family and a life that took him from World War Two navy aviator to CIA director, vice-president and the White House.
It was filmed over a 17-month period at Bush's Kennebunkport, Maine summer home and his presidential library in Texas, and will be aired two days after he marks his 88th birthday on June 12.
HBO said Bush agreed to take part in the documentary after meeting writer and director Jeffrey Roth and seeing his documentary film 'The Wonder of It All' about the Apollo moon walkers. The film is executive produced by long-time family friend Jerry Weintraub.
Bush was U.S. president from 1989 to 1993. Although he released a collection of letters and diary entries in 1999, he has not written an autobiography or memoir of his years in power.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
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HBO said on Thursday that the documentary, called '41' to reflect Bush's position as the United State's 41st president, sees Bush reflecting on his childhood, family and a life that took him from World War Two navy aviator to CIA director, vice-president and the White House.
It was filmed over a 17-month period at Bush's Kennebunkport, Maine summer home and his presidential library in Texas, and will be aired two days after he marks his 88th birthday on June 12.
HBO said Bush agreed to take part in the documentary after meeting writer and director Jeffrey Roth and seeing his documentary film 'The Wonder of It All' about the Apollo moon walkers. The film is executive produced by long-time family friend Jerry Weintraub.
Bush was U.S. president from 1989 to 1993. Although he released a collection of letters and diary entries in 1999, he has not written an autobiography or memoir of his years in power.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
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Thursday, April 19, 2012
Oprah not among Time's Most Influential People
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Oprah Winfrey has been on Time's list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World every year the magazine has published the list... until now. After being included by Time for nine years, more times than any other influencer, Winfrey is missing from the just-released 2012 list.
In the past year, Winfrey has ended her syndicated daytime talk show, pulled the plug on Rosie O'Donnell's OWN show, and announced layoffs as OWN struggles for ratings.
Among those who snagged spots on the list for the first time are Claire Danes, Mitt Romney, Tim Tebow, Louis C.K., Kristen Wiig, Jeremy Lin, Matt Lauer and 'The Help' stars Jessica Chastain and Viola Davis.
Besides Winfrey, other people who've made multiple appearances on the Time list include Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (seven times each), Steve Jobs (five times) and Bill Clinton (four times).
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
In the past year, Winfrey has ended her syndicated daytime talk show, pulled the plug on Rosie O'Donnell's OWN show, and announced layoffs as OWN struggles for ratings.
Among those who snagged spots on the list for the first time are Claire Danes, Mitt Romney, Tim Tebow, Louis C.K., Kristen Wiig, Jeremy Lin, Matt Lauer and 'The Help' stars Jessica Chastain and Viola Davis.
Besides Winfrey, other people who've made multiple appearances on the Time list include Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (seven times each), Steve Jobs (five times) and Bill Clinton (four times).
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
A Minute With: Carly Simon on writing songs and books
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Singer-songwriter Carly Simon, 66, known for 1970s smash hits like 'You're So Vain,' is being honored this week with the prestigious ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) Founders Award.
The award comes four decades after Simon released her first solo record, the self-titled 'Carly Simon' with the break-through hit 'That's the Way I've Always Heard it Should Be,' followed quickly by her 'Anticipation,' album and then 'No Secrets' with the single, 'You're So Vain.'
The winner of multiple Grammys and an Oscar for her song 'Let the River Run' from the 1988 film 'Working Girl,' Simon is the daughter of the late Richard Simon, co-founder of book publisher Simon & Schuster. She also has penned five childrens books and is currently working on an autobiography.
Simon spoke with Reuters by phone from her house in Martha's Vineyard about her upcoming book, her fear of performing and her battle with breast cancer in 1997-1998.
Q: Did having cancer affect your career, your creativity and writing?
A: 'There's a bigger story about the breast cancer than the cancer. It's about relationships.'
Q: How did your relationships change?
A: 'I wasn't treated well. I think I was let go of certain jobs and affiliations. It was very confusing but everything was smoothed over because people are smart and don't want you to be hurt. People were saying it's got nothing to do with that. It is hard to disregard.
Q: How did you deal with that?
A: 'It was like I was the disappearing woman. When I went to the Grammys that year, I noticed how many people avoided me. There were a lot of people who were just not looking at me. It was the first time I was out in public since I'd been diagnosed. The record that I had (just) put out had been dropped and the head of my record label didn't look at me. It's like there were masks on. I had disappeared in the audience. Some people were so scared they moved away from me in their hearts and minds.'
Q: What did you work on after that?
A: 'Then I went into a wonderful period where I did some work for Disney on the Pooh films. It was about three years of work. They were not big movies, but I got a lot of good feeling in my heart. And then I moved lock, stock and barrel to Martha's Vineyard ... moving to the Vineyard was like coming home to Tara. The land held me in its embrace.'
Q: Do you plan to sing at the ASCAP event? It's well known that you are stage shy.
A: 'My whole life has been very much led by the fact that I have a handicap. I have a bad stammer. When I was a child it was much, much worse. And when you see me talk, it's worse. I have ticks in my face when I talk. I'm going to sing a song at the ASCAP event. It's not easier when I sing.'
Q: That's must be very difficult. How do you deal with it?
A: 'There was no specific remedy for it when I was a kid, so I never coped with it. I just had my mom's lap. I would sit on her lap and cry all the time. I'd be so embarrassed and afraid to go to school. When my nervous system was bad, my mom would just say 'Sing it.' I started living an opera beginning when I was 7. I would sing as much as I could or start tapping my hand on my thighs. As long as there was a rhythm, I could get through it.'
Q: You think it would have been easier now?
A: 'It's another thing that people didn't know that much about. If 'The King's Speech' had come out when I was in high school, then people would have had more understanding about stuttering.'
Q: Sounds like you've had some difficult times in spite of all your success.
A: 'I've had a very glorious and glamorous and wonderful life and a very scary and handicapped existence, which is promoted by fear. It's made for a very pointy edge on my fear knife. As a result, I could disappear from the scene or be open and talk about it so that people can identify with it.'
Q: What makes you happy these days?
A: 'I have a wonderful partner, a man who is a surgeon. He's a very Type A personality, but I can't imagine a surgeon not being that way. He's great. His name is Richard and he's handsome and he's brilliant and very dear and loving.'
Q: And how's your work?
A: 'I'm trying to spend the rest of the year getting completed with the book. I'm not sure how I'll sell it, either as a memoir or an autobiography. I have an agent. It seems like everyone is writing memoirs or everyone in the music business is. Hopefully, by the time mine comes it will have died down. But this is not as (crucial) as the writing of the story.'
Q: Does writing a book feel the same as writing a song?
A: 'Yes. It's like baking. Writing books is like a combination of writing a song and a letter. I love writing songs. It's my love.'
(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Bob Tourtellotte)
This article is brought to you by MATCHMAKING.
The award comes four decades after Simon released her first solo record, the self-titled 'Carly Simon' with the break-through hit 'That's the Way I've Always Heard it Should Be,' followed quickly by her 'Anticipation,' album and then 'No Secrets' with the single, 'You're So Vain.'
The winner of multiple Grammys and an Oscar for her song 'Let the River Run' from the 1988 film 'Working Girl,' Simon is the daughter of the late Richard Simon, co-founder of book publisher Simon & Schuster. She also has penned five childrens books and is currently working on an autobiography.
Simon spoke with Reuters by phone from her house in Martha's Vineyard about her upcoming book, her fear of performing and her battle with breast cancer in 1997-1998.
Q: Did having cancer affect your career, your creativity and writing?
A: 'There's a bigger story about the breast cancer than the cancer. It's about relationships.'
Q: How did your relationships change?
A: 'I wasn't treated well. I think I was let go of certain jobs and affiliations. It was very confusing but everything was smoothed over because people are smart and don't want you to be hurt. People were saying it's got nothing to do with that. It is hard to disregard.
Q: How did you deal with that?
A: 'It was like I was the disappearing woman. When I went to the Grammys that year, I noticed how many people avoided me. There were a lot of people who were just not looking at me. It was the first time I was out in public since I'd been diagnosed. The record that I had (just) put out had been dropped and the head of my record label didn't look at me. It's like there were masks on. I had disappeared in the audience. Some people were so scared they moved away from me in their hearts and minds.'
Q: What did you work on after that?
A: 'Then I went into a wonderful period where I did some work for Disney on the Pooh films. It was about three years of work. They were not big movies, but I got a lot of good feeling in my heart. And then I moved lock, stock and barrel to Martha's Vineyard ... moving to the Vineyard was like coming home to Tara. The land held me in its embrace.'
Q: Do you plan to sing at the ASCAP event? It's well known that you are stage shy.
A: 'My whole life has been very much led by the fact that I have a handicap. I have a bad stammer. When I was a child it was much, much worse. And when you see me talk, it's worse. I have ticks in my face when I talk. I'm going to sing a song at the ASCAP event. It's not easier when I sing.'
Q: That's must be very difficult. How do you deal with it?
A: 'There was no specific remedy for it when I was a kid, so I never coped with it. I just had my mom's lap. I would sit on her lap and cry all the time. I'd be so embarrassed and afraid to go to school. When my nervous system was bad, my mom would just say 'Sing it.' I started living an opera beginning when I was 7. I would sing as much as I could or start tapping my hand on my thighs. As long as there was a rhythm, I could get through it.'
Q: You think it would have been easier now?
A: 'It's another thing that people didn't know that much about. If 'The King's Speech' had come out when I was in high school, then people would have had more understanding about stuttering.'
Q: Sounds like you've had some difficult times in spite of all your success.
A: 'I've had a very glorious and glamorous and wonderful life and a very scary and handicapped existence, which is promoted by fear. It's made for a very pointy edge on my fear knife. As a result, I could disappear from the scene or be open and talk about it so that people can identify with it.'
Q: What makes you happy these days?
A: 'I have a wonderful partner, a man who is a surgeon. He's a very Type A personality, but I can't imagine a surgeon not being that way. He's great. His name is Richard and he's handsome and he's brilliant and very dear and loving.'
Q: And how's your work?
A: 'I'm trying to spend the rest of the year getting completed with the book. I'm not sure how I'll sell it, either as a memoir or an autobiography. I have an agent. It seems like everyone is writing memoirs or everyone in the music business is. Hopefully, by the time mine comes it will have died down. But this is not as (crucial) as the writing of the story.'
Q: Does writing a book feel the same as writing a song?
A: 'Yes. It's like baking. Writing books is like a combination of writing a song and a letter. I love writing songs. It's my love.'
(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Bob Tourtellotte)
This article is brought to you by MATCHMAKING.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Jolie fame to highlight humanitarian crises: UNHCR
GENEVA (Reuters) - Film star Angelina Jolie will use her powerful box office fame to draw attention to some of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday.
Jolie, who has already served more than 10 years as goodwill ambassador for the U.N2005 interview with The Boston Globe wh. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is taking on a new role as special envoy for large-scale crises that cause huge numbers of civilians to flee their homelands.
She is expected to concentrate on complex emergencies and protracted refugee crises including Afghanistan and Somalia which have driven millions of people into neighboring countries, the UNHCR said.
'UNHCR is pleased to announce today that Angelina Jolie will take on a new and expanded role for the U.Nay morning news broadcast, . refugee agency as Special Envoy of High Commissioner Antonio Guterres,' UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told a news briefing in Geneva.
Jolie was due to be named Special Representative on the Afghan refugee crisis last October, but there has been no final agreement.
'In her new role, she is expected to focus on large-scale crises resulting in the mass displacement of people, to undertake advocacy and represent UNHCR and Mrreport for CBS sent Wallace into a personal ta. Guterres at the diplomatic level,' Edwards added.
Jolie has already made 40 field visits to hotspots in 20 countries on behalf of the agency, including Pakistan, Haiti, Iraq, Syria and Chad attempt were some of the most produ. She has donated at least $5 million for its life-saving operations, Edwards said.
'This is an exceptional position reflecting an exceptional role she has played for us,' he said.
Jolie and her longtime partner Brad Pitt, one of the world's best known couples, are engaged to marry, ending a fevered, seven-year celebrity media dance over whether they will ever say 'I do'.
A spokesman for Pitt confirmed last Friday that the pair had agreed to wed after Jolie was photographed in Los Angeles wearing a large diamond ring, designed by Pitt.
The couple, dubbed Brangelina by celebrity media, are raising six children together, three of whom are adopted.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles, editing by Paul Casciato)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Jolie, who has already served more than 10 years as goodwill ambassador for the U.N2005 interview with The Boston Globe wh. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is taking on a new role as special envoy for large-scale crises that cause huge numbers of civilians to flee their homelands.
She is expected to concentrate on complex emergencies and protracted refugee crises including Afghanistan and Somalia which have driven millions of people into neighboring countries, the UNHCR said.
'UNHCR is pleased to announce today that Angelina Jolie will take on a new and expanded role for the U.Nay morning news broadcast, . refugee agency as Special Envoy of High Commissioner Antonio Guterres,' UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told a news briefing in Geneva.
Jolie was due to be named Special Representative on the Afghan refugee crisis last October, but there has been no final agreement.
'In her new role, she is expected to focus on large-scale crises resulting in the mass displacement of people, to undertake advocacy and represent UNHCR and Mrreport for CBS sent Wallace into a personal ta. Guterres at the diplomatic level,' Edwards added.
Jolie has already made 40 field visits to hotspots in 20 countries on behalf of the agency, including Pakistan, Haiti, Iraq, Syria and Chad attempt were some of the most produ. She has donated at least $5 million for its life-saving operations, Edwards said.
'This is an exceptional position reflecting an exceptional role she has played for us,' he said.
Jolie and her longtime partner Brad Pitt, one of the world's best known couples, are engaged to marry, ending a fevered, seven-year celebrity media dance over whether they will ever say 'I do'.
A spokesman for Pitt confirmed last Friday that the pair had agreed to wed after Jolie was photographed in Los Angeles wearing a large diamond ring, designed by Pitt.
The couple, dubbed Brangelina by celebrity media, are raising six children together, three of whom are adopted.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles, editing by Paul Casciato)
This article is brought to you by DATING ADVICE.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Author Rowling writing Harry Potter encyclopedia
LONDON (Reuters) - Author J.K-produce, Lawrence, known for hi. Rowling is working on a Harry Potter encyclopedia, and will donate the royalties to charity, she has said on her website.
Four years ago the British writer took an independent U.Shortcuts' id='lw_1330128368_5'Sam Maydew/s. publisher to court to stop its plans for a reference book on the world of the fictional boy wizard, saying it constituted a 'rip off' of her work.
On her re-vamped website, Rowling addressed the question of a Harry Potter encyclopedia in a 'frequently asked questions and rumors' link.
'For a long time I have been promising an encyclopedia of Harry's world, and I have started work on this now,' said the 46-year-old, whose announcements related to Harry Potter are closely followed by millions of fans.
'Some of it forms the new content in Pottermore.'
Pottermore, a free website allowing visitors to navigate the stories and discover new content not in the original books, is one of several Potter spin-offs following the completion of the seven-novel series.
The novels have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide and spawned a hit eight-movie film franchise that have helped turn Rowling into the world's most successful author.
'It is likely to be a time-consuming job, but when finished I shall donate all royalties to charity,' Rowling added.
She again addressed the most burning question for die-hard followers of Potter and his pals at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry -- would there ever be another Harry Potter story?
'I have always refused to say 'never' to this question, because I think it would be foolish to rule out something I might want to do in a few years' time,' she wrote.
'However, I have no immediate plans to write another Harry Potter novel, and I do think that I have rounded off Harry's story in the seven published books.'
Earlier this month, Rowling announced the title of her first book for adults would be 'The Casual Vacancy'the police academy to become a cop at the a. It goes on sale on September 27.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
This article is brought to you by FREE DATING.
Four years ago the British writer took an independent U.Shortcuts' id='lw_1330128368_5'Sam Maydew/s. publisher to court to stop its plans for a reference book on the world of the fictional boy wizard, saying it constituted a 'rip off' of her work.
On her re-vamped website, Rowling addressed the question of a Harry Potter encyclopedia in a 'frequently asked questions and rumors' link.
'For a long time I have been promising an encyclopedia of Harry's world, and I have started work on this now,' said the 46-year-old, whose announcements related to Harry Potter are closely followed by millions of fans.
'Some of it forms the new content in Pottermore.'
Pottermore, a free website allowing visitors to navigate the stories and discover new content not in the original books, is one of several Potter spin-offs following the completion of the seven-novel series.
The novels have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide and spawned a hit eight-movie film franchise that have helped turn Rowling into the world's most successful author.
'It is likely to be a time-consuming job, but when finished I shall donate all royalties to charity,' Rowling added.
She again addressed the most burning question for die-hard followers of Potter and his pals at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry -- would there ever be another Harry Potter story?
'I have always refused to say 'never' to this question, because I think it would be foolish to rule out something I might want to do in a few years' time,' she wrote.
'However, I have no immediate plans to write another Harry Potter novel, and I do think that I have rounded off Harry's story in the seven published books.'
Earlier this month, Rowling announced the title of her first book for adults would be 'The Casual Vacancy'the police academy to become a cop at the a. It goes on sale on September 27.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
This article is brought to you by FREE DATING.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Jane Curtin looks at "Unforgettable" life and career
mlns:og='http://ogp.me/ns#' xmlns:fb='http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml'> Jane Curtin looks at "Unforgettable" life and career - Yahoo! News date." During her post-SNL years, Curtin has remained a consistent presence on television, starring in a number of popular sitcoms, including "Kate & Allie" (1984-1989) and "3rd Rock From The Sun" (1996-2001)phonica' tour on September 4 with a n. She recently joined the cast of CBS's, "Unforgettable," in her first role as a regular on a dramatic serieseleased on his behalf on. ...'/>
"Believe" it: Bieber, Swift team up for new song
(Reuters) - Canadian pop star Justin Bieber has teamed with country sensation Taylor Swift on a new song for his upcoming third album, though details were scant as the 'Boyfriend' singer keeps fans guessing.
Bieber told British radio station Capital FM in a recent interview that Swift was one of several people he had worked with on 'Believe.'
'I even wrote a song with Taylor Swift, so the whole album ranges differently,' Bieber said.
'With my music it doesn't only stay in a box Newt Gingrich called the remarks i. Everything is so different and that's why I'm so happy with this album,' he added.
Bieber, 18, did not give the title of the song he wrote with Swift, 22, nor did he say if the pair would sing it together.
The pop singer also has said he worked with R&B star Usher, rappers Kanye West and Drake, and producer Timbaland on the new album which is expected to be released later this summer.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
This article is brought to you by SINGLES.
Bieber told British radio station Capital FM in a recent interview that Swift was one of several people he had worked with on 'Believe.'
'I even wrote a song with Taylor Swift, so the whole album ranges differently,' Bieber said.
'With my music it doesn't only stay in a box Newt Gingrich called the remarks i. Everything is so different and that's why I'm so happy with this album,' he added.
Bieber, 18, did not give the title of the song he wrote with Swift, 22, nor did he say if the pair would sing it together.
The pop singer also has said he worked with R&B star Usher, rappers Kanye West and Drake, and producer Timbaland on the new album which is expected to be released later this summer.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
This article is brought to you by SINGLES.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Flap over Ann Romney shows campaigns' anxiety on women voters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It began with a Democratic pundit's comment late Wednesday on cable news that seemed to criticize Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, for choosing to stay home and raise their five sons rather than work.
Thanks to social media, the remark quickly escalated into a fracas over the role of women in American society.
It gave Mitt Romney, the likely Republican nominee for president who is scrambling to improve his ratings among women voters, a chance to reach out to them through his wifey taken political positions often seen as out. And it sent Democratic President Obama's top campaign staff members - and by Thursday afternoon, the president and first lady - rushing to disavow the pundit's remark.
The pundit was Hilary Rosen, who has advised the Democratic National Committeeon, has launched a co-production company to make. During an interview on CNN, she tried to make the point that Ann Romney, as the wife of a wealthy private equity executive, does not understand many of the economic challenges faced by typical Americans.
But she slipped by saying that MrsI have accepted Mohammad and other prophets,' Ston. Romney, 62, had 'never worked a day in her life.'
Mitt Romney's campaign - which saw his ratings among women take a dive as Republican presidential candidates sparred over abortion, contraception and other divisive social issues - seized the moment.
Ann Romney launched her own Twitter account after Rosen's interview, and she used her first-ever tweet to say: 'I made a choice to stay home and raise five boysader Fidel Castro and anti-American Vene. Believe me, it was hard work.'
That set off alarms among Democrats, who are keen to hold on to Obama's current advantage among women in a November 6 election in which women voters could tip the balance.
'I could not disagree with Hilary Rosen any more stronglyut that doesn't warrant a war or. Her comments were wrong and family should be off limitsrom Israel, He said cr. She should apologize,' Obama campaign director Jim Messina tweeted, shortly after Rosen spoke.
David Axelrod, a top adviser to Obama's campaign, also weighed in quickly on Twitter, calling Rosen's comments 'inappropriate and offensive.'
The president spoke up Thursday afternoon, telling an Iowa television station that 'there's no tougher job than being a mom.
'I don't have a lot of patience for commentary about the spouses of political candidates,' Obama said during an interview with KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids The 27-year-old did not say why he. 'My general view is those of us who are in the public life, we're fair games,' he said, 'Who are we to . Our families are civilians.'
The rapid responses by both candidates' staffs showed the power of social media in shaping a campaign's narrative, and the sensitivity with which both campaigns view their efforts to appeal to women.
Various polls have indicated that Romney leads Obama among male voters, but that Romney trails the president among women by about 20 percentage points.
'This is an obvious ploy by both sides to try and demonstrate that they understand women voters and especially women dealing with families,' said Jennifer Lawless, director of American University's Women and Politics Institute.
THE FIRST LADY TWEETS
The controversy mushroomed on social media on Thursday.
First lady Michelle Obama also commented on her own Twitter account, saying, 'Every mother works hard, and every woman deserves to be respected.'
And Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, spoke about the controversy for several minutes at the start of the daily White House press briefing.
'I think we can all agree - Democrats and Republicans - that raising children is an extremely difficult job,' Carney saider's, His small roles in span clas. 'And that is true for all mothers, as well as fathers.'
Women make up about 53 percent of the U.Sing, Stone has acted in several f. electoratew_1329252296_4'Agence France Presse/span,. In a way, the controversy over Rosin's comments underscored the impact that former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum had on the campaign, and the challenge he left for Romney when Santorum left the race this week.
Santorum is known for his strong opposition to abortion and contraception, as well as his belief that religion should play a larger role in public life_1329252296_0'Iranian President Mahmou. As Santorum made such issues a part of the debate in the Republican campaign, support among women for Romney - the Republican front-runner - declined.
'The GOP primary has had a focus on abortion, contraception, and other issues that disproportionately affect women,' said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics39;re the biggest filmmakers . 'Let's just say the Republicans haven't put themselves in a good light.
'The GOP has moved right along with its evangelical and Tea Party base, and Santorum also drove much of the social issue commentary,' he said.
A SMALL BOOST FOR MITT ROMNEY?
Republican strategist Ron Christie said, 'The reason this has enveloped the political establishment in the United States is that Msne, 'People don't like. Rosen's remarks seemed indifferent to the struggles faced by women who elect to remain home with their childrensing,' Stone, who studi. I think the Romney campaign will get a short term boost from this controversy.'
Susan Carroll, senior scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, said the flap allowed Mitt Romney to change the subject at a time when the Obama campaign has been hammering the Republicans for waging a 'war on women' with a budget plan that would lower taxes for the rich while cutting programs that polls indicate are particularly important to women.
Social media, with its ability to grab a message and make it global within minutes, helped fuel the firethe son of Oscar-winning direc. Four years ago, Rosen's comments might have faded quickly, but Ann Romney's instant tweet - and the Democrats' quick responses - kept the issue alive.
'I do think what's going on Twitter is helping make the flap bigger than it otherwise would be,' said Liz Mair, a Republican communications strategist.
Rosen eventually apologized on Thursdayhe converted, Iran's Fars news. 'Let's declare peace in this phony war and go back to focus on the substance,' she said in a statement.
'As a mom I know that raising children is the hardest job there is,' Rosen saidroduction company to make movies based on Ir. 'As a pundit, I know my words on CNN last night were poorly chosen.'
(Editing by David Lindsey and Cynthia Osterman)
Thanks to social media, the remark quickly escalated into a fracas over the role of women in American society.
It gave Mitt Romney, the likely Republican nominee for president who is scrambling to improve his ratings among women voters, a chance to reach out to them through his wifey taken political positions often seen as out. And it sent Democratic President Obama's top campaign staff members - and by Thursday afternoon, the president and first lady - rushing to disavow the pundit's remark.
The pundit was Hilary Rosen, who has advised the Democratic National Committeeon, has launched a co-production company to make. During an interview on CNN, she tried to make the point that Ann Romney, as the wife of a wealthy private equity executive, does not understand many of the economic challenges faced by typical Americans.
But she slipped by saying that MrsI have accepted Mohammad and other prophets,' Ston. Romney, 62, had 'never worked a day in her life.'
Mitt Romney's campaign - which saw his ratings among women take a dive as Republican presidential candidates sparred over abortion, contraception and other divisive social issues - seized the moment.
Ann Romney launched her own Twitter account after Rosen's interview, and she used her first-ever tweet to say: 'I made a choice to stay home and raise five boysader Fidel Castro and anti-American Vene. Believe me, it was hard work.'
That set off alarms among Democrats, who are keen to hold on to Obama's current advantage among women in a November 6 election in which women voters could tip the balance.
'I could not disagree with Hilary Rosen any more stronglyut that doesn't warrant a war or. Her comments were wrong and family should be off limitsrom Israel, He said cr. She should apologize,' Obama campaign director Jim Messina tweeted, shortly after Rosen spoke.
David Axelrod, a top adviser to Obama's campaign, also weighed in quickly on Twitter, calling Rosen's comments 'inappropriate and offensive.'
The president spoke up Thursday afternoon, telling an Iowa television station that 'there's no tougher job than being a mom.
'I don't have a lot of patience for commentary about the spouses of political candidates,' Obama said during an interview with KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids The 27-year-old did not say why he. 'My general view is those of us who are in the public life, we're fair games,' he said, 'Who are we to . Our families are civilians.'
The rapid responses by both candidates' staffs showed the power of social media in shaping a campaign's narrative, and the sensitivity with which both campaigns view their efforts to appeal to women.
Various polls have indicated that Romney leads Obama among male voters, but that Romney trails the president among women by about 20 percentage points.
'This is an obvious ploy by both sides to try and demonstrate that they understand women voters and especially women dealing with families,' said Jennifer Lawless, director of American University's Women and Politics Institute.
THE FIRST LADY TWEETS
The controversy mushroomed on social media on Thursday.
First lady Michelle Obama also commented on her own Twitter account, saying, 'Every mother works hard, and every woman deserves to be respected.'
And Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, spoke about the controversy for several minutes at the start of the daily White House press briefing.
'I think we can all agree - Democrats and Republicans - that raising children is an extremely difficult job,' Carney saider's, His small roles in span clas. 'And that is true for all mothers, as well as fathers.'
Women make up about 53 percent of the U.Sing, Stone has acted in several f. electoratew_1329252296_4'Agence France Presse/span,. In a way, the controversy over Rosin's comments underscored the impact that former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum had on the campaign, and the challenge he left for Romney when Santorum left the race this week.
Santorum is known for his strong opposition to abortion and contraception, as well as his belief that religion should play a larger role in public life_1329252296_0'Iranian President Mahmou. As Santorum made such issues a part of the debate in the Republican campaign, support among women for Romney - the Republican front-runner - declined.
'The GOP primary has had a focus on abortion, contraception, and other issues that disproportionately affect women,' said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics39;re the biggest filmmakers . 'Let's just say the Republicans haven't put themselves in a good light.
'The GOP has moved right along with its evangelical and Tea Party base, and Santorum also drove much of the social issue commentary,' he said.
A SMALL BOOST FOR MITT ROMNEY?
Republican strategist Ron Christie said, 'The reason this has enveloped the political establishment in the United States is that Msne, 'People don't like. Rosen's remarks seemed indifferent to the struggles faced by women who elect to remain home with their childrensing,' Stone, who studi. I think the Romney campaign will get a short term boost from this controversy.'
Susan Carroll, senior scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, said the flap allowed Mitt Romney to change the subject at a time when the Obama campaign has been hammering the Republicans for waging a 'war on women' with a budget plan that would lower taxes for the rich while cutting programs that polls indicate are particularly important to women.
Social media, with its ability to grab a message and make it global within minutes, helped fuel the firethe son of Oscar-winning direc. Four years ago, Rosen's comments might have faded quickly, but Ann Romney's instant tweet - and the Democrats' quick responses - kept the issue alive.
'I do think what's going on Twitter is helping make the flap bigger than it otherwise would be,' said Liz Mair, a Republican communications strategist.
Rosen eventually apologized on Thursdayhe converted, Iran's Fars news. 'Let's declare peace in this phony war and go back to focus on the substance,' she said in a statement.
'As a mom I know that raising children is the hardest job there is,' Rosen saidroduction company to make movies based on Ir. 'As a pundit, I know my words on CNN last night were poorly chosen.'
(Editing by David Lindsey and Cynthia Osterman)
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Marc Anthony files for divorce from Jennifer Lopez
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Latin pop singer Marc Anthony has filed for divorce from singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, ending their seven-year marriage.
Anthony filed the petition under his real name Marco Muniz on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences91_2'pneumonia/span last year and spent seve. The couple announced in July that they were splitting up.
Anthony also filed for joint legal and physical custody of the couple's 4-year-old twins, Max and Emme.
'American Idol' judge Lopez, 42, and Anthony, 43, married in June 2004, months after Lopez's engagement to actor Ben Affleck ended, and days after Anthony's divorce from former Miss Puerto Rico Dayanara Torres was finalized.
The couple's split has been amicable so far, as Lopez and Anthony continue to work together on new television talent show 'Q'Viva! The Chosen.' Lopez has also rebounded from the split, and is dating 25-year-old dancer Casper Smart.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, Editing by Jill Serjeant)
Anthony filed the petition under his real name Marco Muniz on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences91_2'pneumonia/span last year and spent seve. The couple announced in July that they were splitting up.
Anthony also filed for joint legal and physical custody of the couple's 4-year-old twins, Max and Emme.
'American Idol' judge Lopez, 42, and Anthony, 43, married in June 2004, months after Lopez's engagement to actor Ben Affleck ended, and days after Anthony's divorce from former Miss Puerto Rico Dayanara Torres was finalized.
The couple's split has been amicable so far, as Lopez and Anthony continue to work together on new television talent show 'Q'Viva! The Chosen.' Lopez has also rebounded from the split, and is dating 25-year-old dancer Casper Smart.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, Editing by Jill Serjeant)
Axl Rose has no appetite for Rock Hall of Fame
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Axl Rose, the mercurial front man for rockers Guns N' Roses, has declined his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this week saying he does not feel wanted or respected at the ceremony.
In an open letter made available on Wednesday by Rose's spokeswoman, he said other members of the L.As of Madison County' to biographical movies su. band were welcome to attend and be honored at Saturday's event, but not the lead singer of the band that gained fame in the late 1980s with smash hit album 'Appetite for Destruction.'
'I won't be attending The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction 2012 Ceremony and I respectfully decline my induction as a member of Guns N' Roses to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame,' Rose wrote in the letter.
'I strongly request that I not be inducted in absentia and please know that no one is authorized nor may anyone be permitted to accept any induction for me or speak on my behalf,' he said.
'Appetite for Destruction,' with songs like 'Sweet Child O' Mine' and 'Paradise City,' was a mega-sized hit of 1987, and it propelled Rose, guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler, to global rock stardom.
But by the early 1990s, drug abuse had taken hold of several band members and Rose and Slash openly feudedts such as the Polish Holocaust survivor she. By the middle of that decade, the original lineup was no more.
Rose eventually gained the right to use the band's name, released a long-awaited album 'Chinese Democracy' in 2008, and still tours with a group of the same name but none of the members are original, except for himself.
'When the nominations for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame were first announced I had mixed emotions but, in an effort to be positive, wanting to make the most of things for the fans and with their enthusiasm, I was honored, excited and hoped that somehow this would be a good thing,' Rose wrote in his letter.
'Of course I realized as things stood, if Guns N' Roses were to be inducted it'd be somewhat of a complicated or awkward situation,' he added.
Rose goes on to write that over the past few months, he has met with members of the Hall of Fame's board, spoken with its president, and read in the media what fans and other members of the band had said.
He describes his efforts to find a way to appear as being 'polite, courteous, and open' but adds, 'no offense meant to anyone but the Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony doesn't appear to be somewhere I'm actually wanted or respected.'
A representative for the Hall could not immediately be reached for comment late on Wednesdayographical movies such as 'Silkwoo. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place on Saturday, April 14, in Cleveland, Ohio.
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte, Editing by Jill Serjeant)
This article is brought to you by MATCHMAKING.
In an open letter made available on Wednesday by Rose's spokeswoman, he said other members of the L.As of Madison County' to biographical movies su. band were welcome to attend and be honored at Saturday's event, but not the lead singer of the band that gained fame in the late 1980s with smash hit album 'Appetite for Destruction.'
'I won't be attending The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction 2012 Ceremony and I respectfully decline my induction as a member of Guns N' Roses to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame,' Rose wrote in the letter.
'I strongly request that I not be inducted in absentia and please know that no one is authorized nor may anyone be permitted to accept any induction for me or speak on my behalf,' he said.
'Appetite for Destruction,' with songs like 'Sweet Child O' Mine' and 'Paradise City,' was a mega-sized hit of 1987, and it propelled Rose, guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler, to global rock stardom.
But by the early 1990s, drug abuse had taken hold of several band members and Rose and Slash openly feudedts such as the Polish Holocaust survivor she. By the middle of that decade, the original lineup was no more.
Rose eventually gained the right to use the band's name, released a long-awaited album 'Chinese Democracy' in 2008, and still tours with a group of the same name but none of the members are original, except for himself.
'When the nominations for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame were first announced I had mixed emotions but, in an effort to be positive, wanting to make the most of things for the fans and with their enthusiasm, I was honored, excited and hoped that somehow this would be a good thing,' Rose wrote in his letter.
'Of course I realized as things stood, if Guns N' Roses were to be inducted it'd be somewhat of a complicated or awkward situation,' he added.
Rose goes on to write that over the past few months, he has met with members of the Hall of Fame's board, spoken with its president, and read in the media what fans and other members of the band had said.
He describes his efforts to find a way to appear as being 'polite, courteous, and open' but adds, 'no offense meant to anyone but the Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony doesn't appear to be somewhere I'm actually wanted or respected.'
A representative for the Hall could not immediately be reached for comment late on Wednesdayographical movies such as 'Silkwoo. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place on Saturday, April 14, in Cleveland, Ohio.
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte, Editing by Jill Serjeant)
This article is brought to you by MATCHMAKING.
A Minute With: Martin Scorsese on time running out
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time slipping away seems to be on Martin Scorsese's mind.
After the critical success of his recent 'Hugo,' the luminary director says he would make every future film in 3D, but approaching age 70, he is more concerned with movies that perfect his take on American life than with technology.
Scorsese spoke to Reuters at a new advertising campaign for Hennessy Cognac, one of several brands he promotes, about how he forged a career spanning more than 45 years, which actor from whom he learned the most and how striving to be in the league of the greatest film directors keeps him making more movies.
Q: Lately you have a bit of reputation for being one of the most approachable people in Hollywood?
A: 'Well, I am a New Yorker Hefner is expected. I am a Manhattanite, I should saydent first came to light, . But, I guess over the years, one has to realize that at times, I talked about being giant and egotistical, that's what I do at work and I have to think that way at timesmate of the Year," . I get psychologically and emotionally set that way and over the years, I am 69, I may have gone too far over the linean, after entering his plea on Tuesday to the char. I found it wasn't really productive for anybodyt came to light, . So then you pull back.'
Q: Why are you still driven to do what you do?
A: 'I am not satisfied with the work1332350643_3'Marston Hefner/span,. I just don't know.'
Q: Some people might find that incredible coming from you?
A: 'I know if I was inspired by 2280 films or whatever in the past, I will never be able to equal that feeling of a transcendence, sometimes, of seeing certain films, that I had, maybe 20 or 30 times watching these pictures, of the same filmbe ordered to stay aw. So I may never be in that league with my own films, for myselfay from span class='y. So maybe that is why I am trying.'
Q: So it's important to be in that league of directors?
A: 'Yesars, Blankenhorn said, . I would like to be one of themoy founder span class=. But I realize that I am who I am and pretty much, I am at the end of the spectrum so to speak, I am at the end of the trailamed the 2011 "Playmate of the Year,". So I am trying to make it, as much as possible, to make the stories count, the ones I have lefthe 21-year-old son of Play. It's an interesting challenge because of the marketplace, the change in the industry, the change in technology and I would like to get thereassistant city prosecutor Chris Blank. I don't know where, quite honestlyune 12 in Pasadena, just outside of span cla. It's the idea of, I don't know if we really ever settle for anythingtering his plea on Tuesday to the charge of . If settling is bad, we have to finish it, or not/span, span class='yshortcuts' . And that may sound strange, but sometimes it is best to say, 'we are not finishing it'yshortcuts' id='lw_13323. It doesn't want to be finished.'
'They ask me, 'do you see your films after?' And I say 'no.' Nohe celebrity website TMZ shortly after the inciden. A lot of them, some of them are very funny, but very often the emotional experience of making the picture just comes back to me too much.'
Q: Speaking of the technological changes, would you do another 3D animated film after the critical success of 'Hugo'?
A: 'Yesding to span class='yshortcuts' id='. In a second Sinclair, who was named the 2011 &q. Except for - well put it this way they are doing it and it has been done - the camera or the rig getting more flexible, smallerGELES (Reuters) - The 21-year-old . And then I would do everything in 3D.'
Q: What about another movie for kids?
Atcuts' id='lw_1332350643_3'Marston H. 'I don't know if I have time ..643_1'Claire Sinclair/span, span. the time isn't left, but if something like that comes up, I wouldn't mind trying again, there is no doubt.
'But I am trying to complete other things in my life now about certain statements, about life, American life, particularly the life I know.'
Q: You have made some epic films about American lifeling and be ordered to stay away from spa. What is on your mind at this moment?
A: 'I always thought it was just life Playboy founder span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1. But it is Americanrding to span class='yshor. I am as much enamored with Italian cinema and British cinema and French and Russian and Japanese43_5'Pasadena assistant cit. Over the years, I have learned no, my culture, background and foundation is here0643_1'Claire Sinclair/span, . And it is the Roman Catholic of the mid-century, 20th century, in New York, which is very strongith a bruise on her . And so it is really just trying to find out where you really belong and when you tell a story, where it is coming fromrting By Alex Dobuzinskis; Edit. If it is really coming from who you are, that means you have to know yourself, which is pretty difficult, and that is what the journeys are.'
Q: What about your next film, 'The Wolf of Wall Street' with DiCaprio again? What will it say about our financial system?
A: 'It's a reversal in values I thinkd='lw_1332350643_2'do. Everything seems to be twisted and turned aroundankenhorn/span, Hefner. I thought that this country, in terms of what we were founded on, is the idea of a common goodspan class='yshortcuts' id='lw_. And I don't see that when you unleash this kind of behaviord no contest to a charge. People are people, people are human and when you have the ability to do it, you go with it Sinclair, who was named the. And when it is unchecked, of course it is going to happen and it is not the first time ..ge of span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1332350643_2. But the problem is the reversal of values, I think, and not feeling the compassion for others and the people you have hurt.'
Q: It's often noted that you work with the same actors - Keitel, Day-Lewis, De Niro, DiCapriolw_1332350643_2'domestic violence/. Which of those did you learn the most from, or who learned the most from you?
A: 'With De Niro and I, we struck outir, who was named the 2011 &q. He was really an actor, in a way, he was a working actor when I was introduced to himhe 21-year-old son of Playboy f. And so in the '70s the pictures we made, up until the scenes we did in 'Goodfellas' too, because he was only on that shoot maybe 15 days, maybe 12 dayse TMZ shortly after the incident first came t. But I think I learned the most from him.
'My mother would look at Bob and Harvey Keitel and was like, 'These are my son's friends,' she didn't think of them as major actorsharge of span class='yshort. 'These are my other sons.' And so I learned a lot during that period from how one could shape an actor or shape a performance, I should sayfner/span has pleaded no contest . And I just applied it over the years to as many people as possible, with very good results, of course with Ellen Burstyn and Kristofferson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, it goes on like thathis plea on Tuesday to the charge of corp. And all the actresses, I think there have been 12 to 14 Oscar nominations for the actresses in my movies, and two of them have won, including Cate Blanchett.
'And then finding someone like Leo DiCaprio, who really liked my movies before we met, and being able to discover with him, it's another generation, you seeuled to be sentenced on June 12 in P. I guess we go so far, but he's got what's inside (pats his chest), and we agree with thatng By Alex Dobuzinskis; Editi. A heart.'
Q: You've spent nearly 50 years making movies, and Hollywood is toughe charge of corporal injury to a cohab. How have you not become cynical? Any regrets?
A: 'No I don't think they are regrets/span has pleaded no co. I think you just have to be realistic as to what the elements of the situation are at this given time, Blankenhorn said, . In the '70s it was one way, by the early '80s it became something else, and then it was disappointing, greatlyClaire Sinclair/span, spa. Somehow by the late '80s I seemed to fall back into a situation where I was able to make more pictures, but during the '80s it was great strugglinging from a fracas with his Playmate girlfriend . And the industry had changed completely.
'I was very lucky for example, from 'Gangs of New York' on, to be involved with Leo DiCaprio, as I was with De Niro in the 70s, because with De Niro, with his stature as an actor, we were able to do some very difficult, thematic subject mattertant city prosecutor. And the same thing with Leo.
'But you do have to be aware, and you just have to utilize what is therentenced on June 12 in Pasadena, just. If this is gone, don't complain about it was named the 2011 ". Move on0643_6'Los Angeles/span, according to span c. If something's gone, move on and take advantage of what is thereas shown with a bruise on her arm in a photo . That could be a 70mm epic or that could be the Internet.'
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Jill Serjeant)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
After the critical success of his recent 'Hugo,' the luminary director says he would make every future film in 3D, but approaching age 70, he is more concerned with movies that perfect his take on American life than with technology.
Scorsese spoke to Reuters at a new advertising campaign for Hennessy Cognac, one of several brands he promotes, about how he forged a career spanning more than 45 years, which actor from whom he learned the most and how striving to be in the league of the greatest film directors keeps him making more movies.
Q: Lately you have a bit of reputation for being one of the most approachable people in Hollywood?
A: 'Well, I am a New Yorker Hefner is expected. I am a Manhattanite, I should saydent first came to light, . But, I guess over the years, one has to realize that at times, I talked about being giant and egotistical, that's what I do at work and I have to think that way at timesmate of the Year," . I get psychologically and emotionally set that way and over the years, I am 69, I may have gone too far over the linean, after entering his plea on Tuesday to the char. I found it wasn't really productive for anybodyt came to light, . So then you pull back.'
Q: Why are you still driven to do what you do?
A: 'I am not satisfied with the work1332350643_3'Marston Hefner/span,. I just don't know.'
Q: Some people might find that incredible coming from you?
A: 'I know if I was inspired by 2280 films or whatever in the past, I will never be able to equal that feeling of a transcendence, sometimes, of seeing certain films, that I had, maybe 20 or 30 times watching these pictures, of the same filmbe ordered to stay aw. So I may never be in that league with my own films, for myselfay from span class='y. So maybe that is why I am trying.'
Q: So it's important to be in that league of directors?
A: 'Yesars, Blankenhorn said, . I would like to be one of themoy founder span class=. But I realize that I am who I am and pretty much, I am at the end of the spectrum so to speak, I am at the end of the trailamed the 2011 "Playmate of the Year,". So I am trying to make it, as much as possible, to make the stories count, the ones I have lefthe 21-year-old son of Play. It's an interesting challenge because of the marketplace, the change in the industry, the change in technology and I would like to get thereassistant city prosecutor Chris Blank. I don't know where, quite honestlyune 12 in Pasadena, just outside of span cla. It's the idea of, I don't know if we really ever settle for anythingtering his plea on Tuesday to the charge of . If settling is bad, we have to finish it, or not/span, span class='yshortcuts' . And that may sound strange, but sometimes it is best to say, 'we are not finishing it'yshortcuts' id='lw_13323. It doesn't want to be finished.'
'They ask me, 'do you see your films after?' And I say 'no.' Nohe celebrity website TMZ shortly after the inciden. A lot of them, some of them are very funny, but very often the emotional experience of making the picture just comes back to me too much.'
Q: Speaking of the technological changes, would you do another 3D animated film after the critical success of 'Hugo'?
A: 'Yesding to span class='yshortcuts' id='. In a second Sinclair, who was named the 2011 &q. Except for - well put it this way they are doing it and it has been done - the camera or the rig getting more flexible, smallerGELES (Reuters) - The 21-year-old . And then I would do everything in 3D.'
Q: What about another movie for kids?
Atcuts' id='lw_1332350643_3'Marston H. 'I don't know if I have time ..643_1'Claire Sinclair/span, span. the time isn't left, but if something like that comes up, I wouldn't mind trying again, there is no doubt.
'But I am trying to complete other things in my life now about certain statements, about life, American life, particularly the life I know.'
Q: You have made some epic films about American lifeling and be ordered to stay away from spa. What is on your mind at this moment?
A: 'I always thought it was just life Playboy founder span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1. But it is Americanrding to span class='yshor. I am as much enamored with Italian cinema and British cinema and French and Russian and Japanese43_5'Pasadena assistant cit. Over the years, I have learned no, my culture, background and foundation is here0643_1'Claire Sinclair/span, . And it is the Roman Catholic of the mid-century, 20th century, in New York, which is very strongith a bruise on her . And so it is really just trying to find out where you really belong and when you tell a story, where it is coming fromrting By Alex Dobuzinskis; Edit. If it is really coming from who you are, that means you have to know yourself, which is pretty difficult, and that is what the journeys are.'
Q: What about your next film, 'The Wolf of Wall Street' with DiCaprio again? What will it say about our financial system?
A: 'It's a reversal in values I thinkd='lw_1332350643_2'do. Everything seems to be twisted and turned aroundankenhorn/span, Hefner. I thought that this country, in terms of what we were founded on, is the idea of a common goodspan class='yshortcuts' id='lw_. And I don't see that when you unleash this kind of behaviord no contest to a charge. People are people, people are human and when you have the ability to do it, you go with it Sinclair, who was named the. And when it is unchecked, of course it is going to happen and it is not the first time ..ge of span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1332350643_2. But the problem is the reversal of values, I think, and not feeling the compassion for others and the people you have hurt.'
Q: It's often noted that you work with the same actors - Keitel, Day-Lewis, De Niro, DiCapriolw_1332350643_2'domestic violence/. Which of those did you learn the most from, or who learned the most from you?
A: 'With De Niro and I, we struck outir, who was named the 2011 &q. He was really an actor, in a way, he was a working actor when I was introduced to himhe 21-year-old son of Playboy f. And so in the '70s the pictures we made, up until the scenes we did in 'Goodfellas' too, because he was only on that shoot maybe 15 days, maybe 12 dayse TMZ shortly after the incident first came t. But I think I learned the most from him.
'My mother would look at Bob and Harvey Keitel and was like, 'These are my son's friends,' she didn't think of them as major actorsharge of span class='yshort. 'These are my other sons.' And so I learned a lot during that period from how one could shape an actor or shape a performance, I should sayfner/span has pleaded no contest . And I just applied it over the years to as many people as possible, with very good results, of course with Ellen Burstyn and Kristofferson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, it goes on like thathis plea on Tuesday to the charge of corp. And all the actresses, I think there have been 12 to 14 Oscar nominations for the actresses in my movies, and two of them have won, including Cate Blanchett.
'And then finding someone like Leo DiCaprio, who really liked my movies before we met, and being able to discover with him, it's another generation, you seeuled to be sentenced on June 12 in P. I guess we go so far, but he's got what's inside (pats his chest), and we agree with thatng By Alex Dobuzinskis; Editi. A heart.'
Q: You've spent nearly 50 years making movies, and Hollywood is toughe charge of corporal injury to a cohab. How have you not become cynical? Any regrets?
A: 'No I don't think they are regrets/span has pleaded no co. I think you just have to be realistic as to what the elements of the situation are at this given time, Blankenhorn said, . In the '70s it was one way, by the early '80s it became something else, and then it was disappointing, greatlyClaire Sinclair/span, spa. Somehow by the late '80s I seemed to fall back into a situation where I was able to make more pictures, but during the '80s it was great strugglinging from a fracas with his Playmate girlfriend . And the industry had changed completely.
'I was very lucky for example, from 'Gangs of New York' on, to be involved with Leo DiCaprio, as I was with De Niro in the 70s, because with De Niro, with his stature as an actor, we were able to do some very difficult, thematic subject mattertant city prosecutor. And the same thing with Leo.
'But you do have to be aware, and you just have to utilize what is therentenced on June 12 in Pasadena, just. If this is gone, don't complain about it was named the 2011 ". Move on0643_6'Los Angeles/span, according to span c. If something's gone, move on and take advantage of what is thereas shown with a bruise on her arm in a photo . That could be a 70mm epic or that could be the Internet.'
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Jill Serjeant)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Veteran CBS journalist Mike Wallace dead at 93: network
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mike Wallace, the grand inquisitor of CBS's '60 Minutes' news show who once declared there was 'no such thing as an indiscreet question,' has died at the age of 93, the network said on Sunday.
Wallace died on Saturday evening with his family by his side at Waveny Care Center in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he spent the past few years, CBS said in a statement and on its Sunday morning news broadcast.
'His extraordinary contribution as a broadcaster is immeasurable and he has been a force within the television industry throughout its existence#39;' Darden said, . His loss will be felt by all of us at CBS,' Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corporation, said in the statement.
Wallace left his full-time role at '60 Minutes' in 2006 after 38 years and was given the title correspondent emeritus and a part-time contributor rolencredible talent that wanted to come and sup. His last interview was with Roger Clemens, the star baseball pitcher accused of steroid use, in 2008.
A special '60 Minutes' program dedicated to Wallace will be aired April 15.
Just about anyone who made news during the past six decades - in the United States, but often abroad too - had to submit to a grilling by Wallace.
As a part-time correspondent, his most notable interview was with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iraning proof of income and the abi. It took place 27 years after his sit-down with that country's Ayatollah Khomeini, and earned Wallace his 21st Emmy.
In almost 40 years on '60 Minutes,' the ground-breaking investigative journalism program, he worked on some 800 reports and developed a relentless on-air style that was often more interrogation than interview.
Wallace also drew criticism for his go-for-the-throat style and the theatrics that sometimes accompanied itconcert featuring musical stars Rihanna,. He also became caught up in a $120 million libel suit that resulted in no judgment against him or CBS but triggered a case of depression that led him to attempt suicide.
'FORGIVE ME FOR ASKING...'
Wallace interviewed every U.Sir regard for New Orleans, 'They ca. president since John Fn for Make it Right, which ai. Kennedy - with the exception of George Wtcuts' id='lw_1331427249_0'Brad Pitt. Bush - and dozens of other world leaders like Yasser Arafat, Ayatollah Khomeini and Deng Xiaoping.
Other interview subjects included everyone from Malcolm X to Janis Joplin, Martin Luther King Jr., Johnny Carson, Vladimir Horowitz and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.
When Wallace prefaced a question with 'Forgive me for asking ...' or responded to a dubious answer with 'Oh, come on,' '60 Minutes' viewers knew he was about to get toughpossibly can build and figure out how t. His sometimes-abrasive manner resulted in the nickname 'Mike Malice,' and some viewers will always remember him as the man who made diva Barbra Streisand cry on camera.
In a 2006 retrospective of his '60 Minutes' career, Wallace summed up his interviewing technique as: 'Let's ask the questions that might be on the minds of the people looking in ..Josh Brolin and Kevin Spacey. 'If I were there in that chair where Wallace is, here's what I would want to know.''
He was more succinct in a 2005 interview with The Boston Globe when he said: 'I determined when I started back in 1956 ..ctor span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1331427. there's no such thing as an indiscreet question.'
Myron Leon Wallace was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 9, 1918assing contractors familiar. He began calling himself Mike because he thought it was more manly than Myron2, is back in the spot where. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1939, he worked as a radio newswriter in Chicago and also on radio quiz shows, talk shows, a soap opera and serials like 'The Green Hornet.' He also acted on television and Broadway before joining CBS's radio department.
In 1955 Wallace found his calling with a television show called 'Nightbeat,' which featured Wallace asking pointed questions of writers, gangsters, artists and movie stars in front of a stark black backdrop.
'NASTY QUESTIONS, ABRASIVE QUESTIONS'
'We were doing the kind of show that had never been done before,' Wallace saidht homes must pass an approvals . 'Nasty questions, abrasive questions, confrontational questions.'
He returned to CBS in the early 1960s and was onboard '60 Minutes' for its September 24, 1968, debutow,' Pitt estimated the . The show broke new ground in broadcast journalism with its surprise interviews, undercover reporters, hidden cameras and one-way mirrors.
One report for CBS sent Wallace into a personal tailspinse, and a concert featurin. He worked on a 1982 CBS documentary that claimed the U.Seir schedule strictly for this event, and . military conspired to misstate the strength of the enemy during the Vietnam War, which led to a $120 million libel suit from Genve anted up $150 for an 'after pa. William Westmoreland.
The suit was dropped during the trial, CBS apologized and no money changed hands, but Wallace was traumatized by the accusations, which contributed to his depression.
Wallace's depression grew so severe he tried to kill himself with a drug overdose in 1984 areas in need, Darden said, noting that Mak. He was saved by his wife, Mary.
Wallace often spoke about his recovery from depression and said the years after his suicide attempt were some of the most productive of his life.
Wallace, who was married four times, had a daughter, Pauline, and son, Chris, also a television journalistes and honorary hosts . Another son, Peter, died in a mountain-climbing accident in 1962.
(This version of the story has been corrected to fix the number of Emmys from 20 to 21)
(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Bill Trott and Frances Kerry)
This article is brought to you by SINGLES.
Wallace died on Saturday evening with his family by his side at Waveny Care Center in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he spent the past few years, CBS said in a statement and on its Sunday morning news broadcast.
'His extraordinary contribution as a broadcaster is immeasurable and he has been a force within the television industry throughout its existence#39;' Darden said, . His loss will be felt by all of us at CBS,' Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corporation, said in the statement.
Wallace left his full-time role at '60 Minutes' in 2006 after 38 years and was given the title correspondent emeritus and a part-time contributor rolencredible talent that wanted to come and sup. His last interview was with Roger Clemens, the star baseball pitcher accused of steroid use, in 2008.
A special '60 Minutes' program dedicated to Wallace will be aired April 15.
Just about anyone who made news during the past six decades - in the United States, but often abroad too - had to submit to a grilling by Wallace.
As a part-time correspondent, his most notable interview was with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iraning proof of income and the abi. It took place 27 years after his sit-down with that country's Ayatollah Khomeini, and earned Wallace his 21st Emmy.
In almost 40 years on '60 Minutes,' the ground-breaking investigative journalism program, he worked on some 800 reports and developed a relentless on-air style that was often more interrogation than interview.
Wallace also drew criticism for his go-for-the-throat style and the theatrics that sometimes accompanied itconcert featuring musical stars Rihanna,. He also became caught up in a $120 million libel suit that resulted in no judgment against him or CBS but triggered a case of depression that led him to attempt suicide.
'FORGIVE ME FOR ASKING...'
Wallace interviewed every U.Sir regard for New Orleans, 'They ca. president since John Fn for Make it Right, which ai. Kennedy - with the exception of George Wtcuts' id='lw_1331427249_0'Brad Pitt. Bush - and dozens of other world leaders like Yasser Arafat, Ayatollah Khomeini and Deng Xiaoping.
Other interview subjects included everyone from Malcolm X to Janis Joplin, Martin Luther King Jr., Johnny Carson, Vladimir Horowitz and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.
When Wallace prefaced a question with 'Forgive me for asking ...' or responded to a dubious answer with 'Oh, come on,' '60 Minutes' viewers knew he was about to get toughpossibly can build and figure out how t. His sometimes-abrasive manner resulted in the nickname 'Mike Malice,' and some viewers will always remember him as the man who made diva Barbra Streisand cry on camera.
In a 2006 retrospective of his '60 Minutes' career, Wallace summed up his interviewing technique as: 'Let's ask the questions that might be on the minds of the people looking in ..Josh Brolin and Kevin Spacey. 'If I were there in that chair where Wallace is, here's what I would want to know.''
He was more succinct in a 2005 interview with The Boston Globe when he said: 'I determined when I started back in 1956 ..ctor span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1331427. there's no such thing as an indiscreet question.'
Myron Leon Wallace was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 9, 1918assing contractors familiar. He began calling himself Mike because he thought it was more manly than Myron2, is back in the spot where. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1939, he worked as a radio newswriter in Chicago and also on radio quiz shows, talk shows, a soap opera and serials like 'The Green Hornet.' He also acted on television and Broadway before joining CBS's radio department.
In 1955 Wallace found his calling with a television show called 'Nightbeat,' which featured Wallace asking pointed questions of writers, gangsters, artists and movie stars in front of a stark black backdrop.
'NASTY QUESTIONS, ABRASIVE QUESTIONS'
'We were doing the kind of show that had never been done before,' Wallace saidht homes must pass an approvals . 'Nasty questions, abrasive questions, confrontational questions.'
He returned to CBS in the early 1960s and was onboard '60 Minutes' for its September 24, 1968, debutow,' Pitt estimated the . The show broke new ground in broadcast journalism with its surprise interviews, undercover reporters, hidden cameras and one-way mirrors.
One report for CBS sent Wallace into a personal tailspinse, and a concert featurin. He worked on a 1982 CBS documentary that claimed the U.Seir schedule strictly for this event, and . military conspired to misstate the strength of the enemy during the Vietnam War, which led to a $120 million libel suit from Genve anted up $150 for an 'after pa. William Westmoreland.
The suit was dropped during the trial, CBS apologized and no money changed hands, but Wallace was traumatized by the accusations, which contributed to his depression.
Wallace's depression grew so severe he tried to kill himself with a drug overdose in 1984 areas in need, Darden said, noting that Mak. He was saved by his wife, Mary.
Wallace often spoke about his recovery from depression and said the years after his suicide attempt were some of the most productive of his life.
Wallace, who was married four times, had a daughter, Pauline, and son, Chris, also a television journalistes and honorary hosts . Another son, Peter, died in a mountain-climbing accident in 1962.
(This version of the story has been corrected to fix the number of Emmys from 20 to 21)
(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Bill Trott and Frances Kerry)
This article is brought to you by SINGLES.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Current TV files countersuit against Olbermann
. REUTERS/Fred Prouser' title='David Gregory (R), NBC News chief White House correspondent and host of "Race for the White House", and Keith Olbermann, host of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann", take part in the NBC News Decision '08 panel at the NBC Universal summer press tour in Beverly Hills, California July 21, 2008al aspirations will gel will h. REUTERS/Fred Prouser' class='lightbox9296b300e1e70b1a3eaedfd1b1a28dab lzbg'>Current and Olbermann, who hosted his program "Countdown" on the network, have been locked in a war of words and legal filings since last week, when Current fired the commentator claiming he had breached his contract.
The liberal firebrand sued the network on Thursday seeking as much as $70 million he says he is owed for compensation and an equity stake he was given in the fledgling network.
Current is run by its founder Joel Hyatt and former U.Se/images/transparent-95031,png' style. Vice President Al Gore.
In his suit, Olbermann launched a scathing attack on Hyatt and Gore, saying the network was plagued with problems and comparing it to "an unprofessional cable-access show."
In its counter-suit filed on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Current attorneys fired back, claiming Olbermann "willfully" failed to show up for work and did not help create new programming or promote the network as he'd agreed to do when taking the job roughly a year ago.
"Current seeks a determination that it is no longer obligated to pay a dime to Mr39;s presidential aspirations. Olbermann who, having already been paid handsomely for showing up sporadically and utterly failing to keep his end of the bargain, now seeks to be paid tens of millions more for not working at all," the network's attorneys wrote in their suit.
Among the key allegations Current cites is that Olbermann took unauthorized vacation time - the network said he worked only 19 of 41 business days in January and February - and refused to work on Current's U.Ss seeking the span class='ysho. presidential caucus and primary election coverage as he was asked to do.
Current claims it first notified Olbermann he was in breach of contract back in October of 2011, but problems persisted.
Olbermann joined Current in February 2011 after quitting his top-rated program on MSNBC, "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," a month earlier for reasons that have never been disclosed.
He was appointed chief news officer at Current, took an equity stake in the channel that was originally launched in 2005, and became its biggest celebrity draw.
But his nightly show attracted only an average 177,000 viewers - a fraction of the audience who watched him on MSNBC.
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; editing by Todd Eastham)
This article is brought to you by DATING.
Amanda Bynes arrested in LA for drunk driving
(Reuters) - Actress Amanda Bynes was arrested early Friday morning in the Los Angeles-area community of West Hollywood on suspicion of drunk driving after her car struck a sheriff's vehicle, a police spokesman said.
Bynes, 26, was taken into custody around 3 a.mHicks, The paper . after her black BMW apparently struck a Los Angeles County sheriff's patrol car that was stopped at an intersection, according to Lt of an apparent asthma attack, the newspaper repor. William Nash of the West Hollywood police station.
'There was minor paint transfer damage to both vehicless='yshortcuts' id='lw_13294521. An investigation was conducted at the scene, and .. In 201. Bynes was subsequently arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol,' Nash said.
No one was injured.
A representative for the actress was not immediately available for comment.
Bynes began her acting career as a child on the Nickelodeon TV's variety show 'All That,' where her success led to another series named for her, 'The Amanda Show.'
After starring in the TV show 'What I Like About You' and winning a Kids' Choice Award at age 15, Bynes segued into film with titles such as 'What a Girl Wants,' 'She's the Man,' and 'Easy A.' She has worked with the likes of Emma Stone, Colin Firth and Harry Connick, Jr.
Bynes also made a foray into singing, contributing two songs to the soundtrack of the 2007 movie 'Hairspray,' in which she also starred.
In 2010, Bynes announced her decision to retire from acting at age 24, tweeting that she no longer loved acting.
(Reporting By Andrea Burzynski; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
This article is brought to you by FREE PERSONALS.
Bynes, 26, was taken into custody around 3 a.mHicks, The paper . after her black BMW apparently struck a Los Angeles County sheriff's patrol car that was stopped at an intersection, according to Lt of an apparent asthma attack, the newspaper repor. William Nash of the West Hollywood police station.
'There was minor paint transfer damage to both vehicless='yshortcuts' id='lw_13294521. An investigation was conducted at the scene, and .. In 201. Bynes was subsequently arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol,' Nash said.
No one was injured.
A representative for the actress was not immediately available for comment.
Bynes began her acting career as a child on the Nickelodeon TV's variety show 'All That,' where her success led to another series named for her, 'The Amanda Show.'
After starring in the TV show 'What I Like About You' and winning a Kids' Choice Award at age 15, Bynes segued into film with titles such as 'What a Girl Wants,' 'She's the Man,' and 'Easy A.' She has worked with the likes of Emma Stone, Colin Firth and Harry Connick, Jr.
Bynes also made a foray into singing, contributing two songs to the soundtrack of the 2007 movie 'Hairspray,' in which she also starred.
In 2010, Bynes announced her decision to retire from acting at age 24, tweeting that she no longer loved acting.
(Reporting By Andrea Burzynski; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
This article is brought to you by FREE PERSONALS.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Creator of Porsche 911 sports car dies aged 76
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, the creator of Porsche's 911 sports car, has died at age 76, Porsche said on Thursday.
A grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who founded the Stuttgart-based sports car maker and developed the Volkswagen Beetle under a contract with the Nazis in the 1930s, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche invented the 911 model in 1963.
Originally labeled as 901, Porsche's two-seater classic model has since been upgraded over seven generations of the car with the latest version unveiled at last September's Frankfurt Auto Show.
Ferdinand Alexander Porsche quit the company's operational business in 1972, though stayed on as member of Porsche's supervisory boarde shuttle Challenger explodes sho. He was chairman between 1990 and 1993 when Porsche was still saddled with losses stemming from declining vehicle sales and towering development costs.
The company gave no cause for Porsche's deathas not sung in public sin. A cousin of Ferdinand Piech, the chairman of VW, Porsche was a member of the Porsche and Piech families who together control about 90 percent of common shares of Porsche SE, the holding company which holds about 51 percent of VW stock.
VW and Porsche agreed to combine in 2009 after Porsche racked up more than 10 billion euros ($13.06 billion) of debt in a botched attempt to take over VW.
Europe's biggest carmaker is in the process of buying the remaining 50.1 percent stake in Porsche's automotive business it does not own after the two companies dropped plans for a merger last September because of pending lawsuits in the United States/en_us/News/ap_webfe. ($1 = 0.7655 euros)
(Reporting By Andreas Cremer; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
A grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who founded the Stuttgart-based sports car maker and developed the Volkswagen Beetle under a contract with the Nazis in the 1930s, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche invented the 911 model in 1963.
Originally labeled as 901, Porsche's two-seater classic model has since been upgraded over seven generations of the car with the latest version unveiled at last September's Frankfurt Auto Show.
Ferdinand Alexander Porsche quit the company's operational business in 1972, though stayed on as member of Porsche's supervisory boarde shuttle Challenger explodes sho. He was chairman between 1990 and 1993 when Porsche was still saddled with losses stemming from declining vehicle sales and towering development costs.
The company gave no cause for Porsche's deathas not sung in public sin. A cousin of Ferdinand Piech, the chairman of VW, Porsche was a member of the Porsche and Piech families who together control about 90 percent of common shares of Porsche SE, the holding company which holds about 51 percent of VW stock.
VW and Porsche agreed to combine in 2009 after Porsche racked up more than 10 billion euros ($13.06 billion) of debt in a botched attempt to take over VW.
Europe's biggest carmaker is in the process of buying the remaining 50.1 percent stake in Porsche's automotive business it does not own after the two companies dropped plans for a merger last September because of pending lawsuits in the United States/en_us/News/ap_webfe. ($1 = 0.7655 euros)
(Reporting By Andreas Cremer; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)
This article is brought to you by RELATIONSHIPS ADVICE.
Oprah's next mission: Win advertisers with OWN vision
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oprah Winfrey appears in New York on Thursday before her most important audience: potential advertisers who will decide how many more seasons her struggling cable network has to promote her mantra to 'live your best life.'
The 'queen of talk,' having admitted in a CBS interview this week to '101 mistakes' in launching the Oprah Winfrey Network last year, must convince the media buyers who will crowd Lincoln Center that her formula of uplifting programs will attract more viewers than it did in its first year.
So far, her mix of interviews and feel-good programs has left the key audience of 25- to 54-year-old women less than thrilled who killed himself i. Ratings among them for the 15-month-old OWN are about what they were for the Discovery Health channel it replaced.
Last month, OWN, a joint venture with Discovery Communications, laid off 30 staff and canceled its heavily hyped Rosie O'Donnell talk show that it had hoped would provide a ratings boost.
OWN's stumbles have struck the network to its operational coresident Barack Obama/span and th. The aspirational message that fueled Winfrey's hugely successful syndicated daytime talk show for 25 years is not translating to a mass audience for the 24-hour cable channel.
'On cable, the networks that work are far from aspirational,' Brad Adgate, an analyst at advertising agency Horizon Media said, pointing to shows such as 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' or the 'Real Housewives' series.
'It has been difficult for aspirational shows (and) networks to get on track,' he said.
OWN did see a recent ratings boost as Winfrey added more air timeit on the Internet and. At the end of March, the network reported a 21 percent ratings increase for the first quarter compared with last year, with an average of 180,000 daily viewers.
The network's most-watched recent programs were Winfrey's interviews with Whitney Houston's family, Lady Gaga, rocker Steven Tyler and mega-church pastor Joel Osteen.
But few of OWN's other programs have built audiencesher admiration for t. Over the past year, the network averaged 50,000 viewers among women ages 25 to 54, slightly less than the 51,000 Discovery Health averaged in its last year, according to Nielsen data provided by Horizon Media.
Those numbers were less than the 98,000 women ages 25 to 54 who watched the male-skewing Spike TV, or the 69,000 who watched the Travel Channel during the same time period.
'This is a network that has some good momentum behind it,' OWN President Erik Logan said, previewing his pitch to ad buyerscan presidential candidate span class='ys. The channel will stick with the uplifting menu, he said, and will offer up Winfrey's recent interviews plus Saturday night programming such as 'Welcome to Sweetie Pie's' as shows that reflect her philosophy.
'As with any cable start-up, it is going to take time' to build audiences, Logan said.
Winfrey has said launching the network too early was one of her '101 mistakes.' She committed to working hard to fix the network [ID:nL3E8F28CW].
SUBSCRIBER FEES
In addition to its advertising revenue, OWN will collect subscriber fees from cable and satellite distributors of about 20 cents per subscriber per month, starting next year.
The company also just renewed a distribution agreement with Comcast Corp, which will add OWN to 3 million more homes'morale in the military and in the country at larg. Overall, the network will be available in 83 million homes nationwide, the same as competitor Bravo.
'We are trying to find the right combination of content and intention and entertainment, and strike the right balance,' Logan said.
Some industry experts believe Oprah Winfrey's network will come out of its ratings doldrumsy, but no,' she said,. 'There is a trial and error in cable programming,' said Jeff Gaspin, former chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment and cable industry veterana little cleavage can make a girl feel se. 'OWN went through theirs while everyone was watching.'
Oprah will have competition in the aspirational field.
Basketball great Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, for one, plans a network called Aspire aimed at delivering 'enlightening, entertaining and positive programming to African-American families.' The channel, which launches at the end of June, is a partnership between Comcast and GMC, the former Gospel Music Channel.
'Oprah is a great inspiration but her mistake was naming it the Oprah Winfrey Network,' said Brad Siegel, vice chairman of the GMC and Aspire channelskey and shooting guns, 'I appreciate. 'People were expecting more of Oprah than they got.'
Johnson did not want his name on his channel, Siegel said, and instead will put the spotlight on promising African-American artists, writers and musicians with a series of video vignettes.
The harsh reality of TV life is that time may be running short for Oprah to use OWN as the platform from which she trumpets her messageing paranoid about her image when wear. Although Discovery says it has no intention of killing the channel, not everyone thinks OWN will reverse its decline.
'I'm not sure the channel makes it unless it expands its base beyond the aspirational, Oprah-type brand,' said Robert Thompson, a professor of TV and popular culture at Syracuse University.
'They need to find their 'Jersey Shore,' the show that will make people come to watch them,' he saidooting guns, 'I appreciate both those t. 'When MTV started doing 'Road Rules,' people at first said, 'where are the music videos?' Now, they have very successfully rebranded themselves.'
For now, advertisers are sticking with the doyenne of talk life if I were gay, but no,' she. Early sponsors have reaffirmed their commitment to the network, OWN's Logan said, and General Motors said the company planned to continue advertising on the channel.
'It will take a little more time to achieve the expectations that she initially set,' said Andy Donchin, director of national broadcasting for ad-buying agency Carat North America, which has bought time on OWN for its clientsen a crazy U,S, first daughter, . 'It's hard to bet against her because almost everything she touched turned to gold.'
(Reporting By Lisa Richwine and Ronald Grover; Edited by Peter Lauria and Maureen Bavdek)
This article is brought to you by FREE PERSONALS.
The 'queen of talk,' having admitted in a CBS interview this week to '101 mistakes' in launching the Oprah Winfrey Network last year, must convince the media buyers who will crowd Lincoln Center that her formula of uplifting programs will attract more viewers than it did in its first year.
So far, her mix of interviews and feel-good programs has left the key audience of 25- to 54-year-old women less than thrilled who killed himself i. Ratings among them for the 15-month-old OWN are about what they were for the Discovery Health channel it replaced.
Last month, OWN, a joint venture with Discovery Communications, laid off 30 staff and canceled its heavily hyped Rosie O'Donnell talk show that it had hoped would provide a ratings boost.
OWN's stumbles have struck the network to its operational coresident Barack Obama/span and th. The aspirational message that fueled Winfrey's hugely successful syndicated daytime talk show for 25 years is not translating to a mass audience for the 24-hour cable channel.
'On cable, the networks that work are far from aspirational,' Brad Adgate, an analyst at advertising agency Horizon Media said, pointing to shows such as 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' or the 'Real Housewives' series.
'It has been difficult for aspirational shows (and) networks to get on track,' he said.
OWN did see a recent ratings boost as Winfrey added more air timeit on the Internet and. At the end of March, the network reported a 21 percent ratings increase for the first quarter compared with last year, with an average of 180,000 daily viewers.
The network's most-watched recent programs were Winfrey's interviews with Whitney Houston's family, Lady Gaga, rocker Steven Tyler and mega-church pastor Joel Osteen.
But few of OWN's other programs have built audiencesher admiration for t. Over the past year, the network averaged 50,000 viewers among women ages 25 to 54, slightly less than the 51,000 Discovery Health averaged in its last year, according to Nielsen data provided by Horizon Media.
Those numbers were less than the 98,000 women ages 25 to 54 who watched the male-skewing Spike TV, or the 69,000 who watched the Travel Channel during the same time period.
'This is a network that has some good momentum behind it,' OWN President Erik Logan said, previewing his pitch to ad buyerscan presidential candidate span class='ys. The channel will stick with the uplifting menu, he said, and will offer up Winfrey's recent interviews plus Saturday night programming such as 'Welcome to Sweetie Pie's' as shows that reflect her philosophy.
'As with any cable start-up, it is going to take time' to build audiences, Logan said.
Winfrey has said launching the network too early was one of her '101 mistakes.' She committed to working hard to fix the network [ID:nL3E8F28CW].
SUBSCRIBER FEES
In addition to its advertising revenue, OWN will collect subscriber fees from cable and satellite distributors of about 20 cents per subscriber per month, starting next year.
The company also just renewed a distribution agreement with Comcast Corp, which will add OWN to 3 million more homes'morale in the military and in the country at larg. Overall, the network will be available in 83 million homes nationwide, the same as competitor Bravo.
'We are trying to find the right combination of content and intention and entertainment, and strike the right balance,' Logan said.
Some industry experts believe Oprah Winfrey's network will come out of its ratings doldrumsy, but no,' she said,. 'There is a trial and error in cable programming,' said Jeff Gaspin, former chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment and cable industry veterana little cleavage can make a girl feel se. 'OWN went through theirs while everyone was watching.'
Oprah will have competition in the aspirational field.
Basketball great Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, for one, plans a network called Aspire aimed at delivering 'enlightening, entertaining and positive programming to African-American families.' The channel, which launches at the end of June, is a partnership between Comcast and GMC, the former Gospel Music Channel.
'Oprah is a great inspiration but her mistake was naming it the Oprah Winfrey Network,' said Brad Siegel, vice chairman of the GMC and Aspire channelskey and shooting guns, 'I appreciate. 'People were expecting more of Oprah than they got.'
Johnson did not want his name on his channel, Siegel said, and instead will put the spotlight on promising African-American artists, writers and musicians with a series of video vignettes.
The harsh reality of TV life is that time may be running short for Oprah to use OWN as the platform from which she trumpets her messageing paranoid about her image when wear. Although Discovery says it has no intention of killing the channel, not everyone thinks OWN will reverse its decline.
'I'm not sure the channel makes it unless it expands its base beyond the aspirational, Oprah-type brand,' said Robert Thompson, a professor of TV and popular culture at Syracuse University.
'They need to find their 'Jersey Shore,' the show that will make people come to watch them,' he saidooting guns, 'I appreciate both those t. 'When MTV started doing 'Road Rules,' people at first said, 'where are the music videos?' Now, they have very successfully rebranded themselves.'
For now, advertisers are sticking with the doyenne of talk life if I were gay, but no,' she. Early sponsors have reaffirmed their commitment to the network, OWN's Logan said, and General Motors said the company planned to continue advertising on the channel.
'It will take a little more time to achieve the expectations that she initially set,' said Andy Donchin, director of national broadcasting for ad-buying agency Carat North America, which has bought time on OWN for its clientsen a crazy U,S, first daughter, . 'It's hard to bet against her because almost everything she touched turned to gold.'
(Reporting By Lisa Richwine and Ronald Grover; Edited by Peter Lauria and Maureen Bavdek)
This article is brought to you by FREE PERSONALS.
Guitar amplifier pioneer Jim Marshall dies aged 88
LONDON (Reuters) - Jim Marshall, who pioneered guitar amplifiers used by some of the greatest names in rock earning him the nickname 'Lord of Loud', has died aged 88.
'It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved founder and leader for the past 50 years, Jim Marshall,' said a statement on the company's website.
'While mourning the Guv'nor though, we also salute a legendary man who led a full and truly remarkable life.'
Tributes poured in for a man credited with helping to shape the sound of guitar rock.
'The news of Jim Marshall passing is deeply saddening,' former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash said in a message on Twitterool before she completed. 'R & R will never be the same w/out himre School/span in London auditioned he. But, his amps will live on FOREVER!'
His company said in a written tribute: 'Your memory, the music and joy your amps have brought to countless millions for the past five decades and that world-famous, omnipresent script logo that proudly bears your name will always live on.'
Born in London in 1923, Marshall started out as a drummer before going into business and founding Marshall Amplification in 1962.
He began making guitar amplifiers in Britain as a cheaper alternative to U.School 'led to her later success. imports, and soon after legendary musicians including Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton were using his equipment.
He is revered as one of the four forefathers of rock music equipment along with Leo Fender, Les Paul and Seth Lover.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, Editing by Christine Kearney)
This article is brought to you by SINGLES.
'It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved founder and leader for the past 50 years, Jim Marshall,' said a statement on the company's website.
'While mourning the Guv'nor though, we also salute a legendary man who led a full and truly remarkable life.'
Tributes poured in for a man credited with helping to shape the sound of guitar rock.
'The news of Jim Marshall passing is deeply saddening,' former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash said in a message on Twitterool before she completed. 'R & R will never be the same w/out himre School/span in London auditioned he. But, his amps will live on FOREVER!'
His company said in a written tribute: 'Your memory, the music and joy your amps have brought to countless millions for the past five decades and that world-famous, omnipresent script logo that proudly bears your name will always live on.'
Born in London in 1923, Marshall started out as a drummer before going into business and founding Marshall Amplification in 1962.
He began making guitar amplifiers in Britain as a cheaper alternative to U.School 'led to her later success. imports, and soon after legendary musicians including Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton were using his equipment.
He is revered as one of the four forefathers of rock music equipment along with Leo Fender, Les Paul and Seth Lover.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, Editing by Christine Kearney)
This article is brought to you by SINGLES.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Katy Perry 3-D concert movie to be released in July
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The makers of Justin Bieber's top-grossing concert film have moved on to another global pop star -- Katy Perry.
A 3-D documentary concert feature film billed as an on-and- off stage close up look at Perry and her 2011 California Dreams Tour began production more than year ago, Paramount Pictures said in a statement on Wednesday.
The movie, called 'Katy Perry: Part of Me,' is named after her new single 'Part of Me,' which was released in February and debuted at Nong her hands frenetically, skippin. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100.
The film, which will be released in cinemas in the United States on July 5, is being produced by Perry and directed by Jane Lipsitz and Dan Cutforth.
Perry, 27, said in the statement she was excited to 'reveal the highs and lows and nuts of bolts of this extraordinary rideions that were obtained,' . I promise you, after seeing this film, you will truly know me.'
Paramount and Perry, whose last album 'Teenage Dream,' produced such hits as 'Firework', 'California Gurls' and 'Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F),' teamed up for what is being promoted as the first big screen look at Perry's life and 124 performances on her tour.
Paramount and Lipsitz and Cutforth co-produced and distributed Bieber's concert film, 'Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,' which grossed nearly $100 million worldwide on a budget of $13 million.
A trailer for Perry's movie promised details on her religious upbringing, her struggles and pressures becoming a pop star, her marriage breakup with actor Russell Brand, as well as tour footage, including her telling the audience, 'Thank you so much for believing in my weirdness.'
(Reporting By Christine Kearney, Editing by Patricia Reaney)
This article is brought to you by FREE DATING SITE.
A 3-D documentary concert feature film billed as an on-and- off stage close up look at Perry and her 2011 California Dreams Tour began production more than year ago, Paramount Pictures said in a statement on Wednesday.
The movie, called 'Katy Perry: Part of Me,' is named after her new single 'Part of Me,' which was released in February and debuted at Nong her hands frenetically, skippin. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100.
The film, which will be released in cinemas in the United States on July 5, is being produced by Perry and directed by Jane Lipsitz and Dan Cutforth.
Perry, 27, said in the statement she was excited to 'reveal the highs and lows and nuts of bolts of this extraordinary rideions that were obtained,' . I promise you, after seeing this film, you will truly know me.'
Paramount and Perry, whose last album 'Teenage Dream,' produced such hits as 'Firework', 'California Gurls' and 'Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F),' teamed up for what is being promoted as the first big screen look at Perry's life and 124 performances on her tour.
Paramount and Lipsitz and Cutforth co-produced and distributed Bieber's concert film, 'Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,' which grossed nearly $100 million worldwide on a budget of $13 million.
A trailer for Perry's movie promised details on her religious upbringing, her struggles and pressures becoming a pop star, her marriage breakup with actor Russell Brand, as well as tour footage, including her telling the audience, 'Thank you so much for believing in my weirdness.'
(Reporting By Christine Kearney, Editing by Patricia Reaney)
This article is brought to you by FREE DATING SITE.
George Michael pens song about battle with illness
LONDON (Reuters) - George Michael is writing a song about his near-death battle with illness in a Vienna hospital last year, the British singer announced on Twitter on Wednesday.
Michael, 48, was diagnosed with severe pneumonia in November and treated in the Austrian capital where he was taken ill.
He was forced to postpone his tour and spent several weeks in hospital, describing his illness as 'touch and go'.
On his Twitter feed, he wrote: 'I've been a busy boy in the studio this week ..d against a large boulder, and unlike the . finally ready to write about what happened to me in Vienna ..hadid knew that he faced danger from. and how grateful I am to be given another chance to live and breathe alongside you all in this wonderful world that we share.'
He added that he wanted to repay the 'unending kindness' his fans had shown him with new music, and said he had begun to write the track which will be called 'White Light'.
The 'Careless Whisper' star announced last month that he was back in good health and would re-start his postponed 'Symphonica' tour in September.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
This article is brought to you by FREE DATING.
Michael, 48, was diagnosed with severe pneumonia in November and treated in the Austrian capital where he was taken ill.
He was forced to postpone his tour and spent several weeks in hospital, describing his illness as 'touch and go'.
On his Twitter feed, he wrote: 'I've been a busy boy in the studio this week ..d against a large boulder, and unlike the . finally ready to write about what happened to me in Vienna ..hadid knew that he faced danger from. and how grateful I am to be given another chance to live and breathe alongside you all in this wonderful world that we share.'
He added that he wanted to repay the 'unending kindness' his fans had shown him with new music, and said he had begun to write the track which will be called 'White Light'.
The 'Careless Whisper' star announced last month that he was back in good health and would re-start his postponed 'Symphonica' tour in September.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
This article is brought to you by FREE DATING.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Palin pans Julianne Moore in "Game Change" film
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sarah Palin gave a visible thumbs-down to actress Julianne Moore on Tuesday for her portrayal of Palin in the political docudrama "Game Change," but praised Tina Fey for her comic impersonation of the former Alaska governor.
The movie review came up during a NBC "Today Show" panel discussion on whether Ashton Kutcher was the right actor to play the late Apple chief Steve Jobs.
"Do any of you have experience of people being paid a lot of money to pretend they're you?" Palin asked the other panelists.
When the question of Moore's portrayal of Palin came up, Palin made a thumbs-down gesture, but said she hadn't seen the HBO film about the 2008 election, in which she was Republican presidential candidate John McCain's vice presidential running mate.
"I didn't see 'Game Change' because I don't waste my time on lies," Palin said.
She praised Fey, who repeatedly portrayed Palin, complete with characteristic upswept hair-do and glasses, on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" during the 2008 campaign.
In her dual role as guest and guest-host on the "Today" program, Palin first sat for an interview and then switched to comment on various segments of the show.
(Reporting By Deborah Zabarenko; editing by Christopher Wilson)
The movie review came up during a NBC "Today Show" panel discussion on whether Ashton Kutcher was the right actor to play the late Apple chief Steve Jobs.
"Do any of you have experience of people being paid a lot of money to pretend they're you?" Palin asked the other panelists.
When the question of Moore's portrayal of Palin came up, Palin made a thumbs-down gesture, but said she hadn't seen the HBO film about the 2008 election, in which she was Republican presidential candidate John McCain's vice presidential running mate.
"I didn't see 'Game Change' because I don't waste my time on lies," Palin said.
She praised Fey, who repeatedly portrayed Palin, complete with characteristic upswept hair-do and glasses, on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" during the 2008 campaign.
In her dual role as guest and guest-host on the "Today" program, Palin first sat for an interview and then switched to comment on various segments of the show.
(Reporting By Deborah Zabarenko; editing by Christopher Wilson)
Monday, April 2, 2012
Oprah admits "101 mistakes" with OWN, vows to go on
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oprah Winfrey admitted on Monday that she had made mistakes while creating her cable channel but promised the fledging OWN television network would still succeed with a new strategy.
The talk show host, who recently laid off 30 staffers at the 15-month-old network after poor ratings, told "CBS This Morning" that she had been ill-prepared for the venture.
"The idea of creating a network was something that I'd wanted to do, had I'd known that it was this difficult, I might have done something else," she told the morning program.
Winfrey, 58, had appeared unstoppable in her career with a 25-year reign on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," but when questioned about whether she seriously would have never taken on the project, she replied, "Oh absolutely."
"I did not think it was going to be easy ..368_2'Mike Lisbe/span and span class='yshortcuts'. but if I knew then what I know now I might have made some different choiceslw_1330128368_0'Martin Lawrence/span i. I would say if I was writing a book about it, I could call the book '101 mistakes.'"
Within the top five mistakes?
"Launching when we really were not ready to launch," she saidtwo who enrolls in the police acad. "It's like having the wedding when you know you are not ready and you are walking down the aisle, and you are saying, 'I don't know .. the Collective, span class='yshortcuts' i. maybe we should have postponed it.'"
Now she realizes she should have waited to launch the network until she finished her duties hosting "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which ended in May 2011.
OWN, a joint venture between Winfrey and Discovery Communications, has struggled to find a sizeable audience since its launch in January 2011.
But Winfrey defended herself saying she had initially warned partner Discovery that "the thing that I am most worried about is who is going to lead this train, because I can't do it."
OWN saw a 21 percent rise in total daily viewers in the first quarter of 2012 after Winfrey appeared more on the channel academy to become a cop at the age . But it is still attracting only 180,000 viewers a day.
In March the network laid off 30 production staffers and canceled comedian Rosie O'Donnell's talk show after just five months due to sagging ratings.
Winfrey admitted that along with the layoffs, the bad press about the channel's struggles had hurt but later added that she felt better about her network OWN today than she ever has.
"Our strategy is to do what we should have done at the beginning and that is to build one show, one hour, one night at a time and then move to the next night," she said.
Lately Winfrey boosted primetime ratings with high-profile interviews including Whitney Houston's family, Lady Gaga, rocker Steven Tyler and mega-church pastor Joel Osteen.
When asked if audiences would see more of her, she replied, "I said from the beginning, this channel can't be based upon me, it has to be based upon my philosophy, my ideas" and vowed not to end the network or her general life aims.
"I believe that I am here to fulfill a calling, that because I am a female who is African American who has been so blessed in the world, there is never going to be a time to quit," she said.
The channel's inspirational tone will still fit in with its early aims as a TV version of her "O" magazine, she said.
"I will die in the midst of doing what I love to do and that is using my voice and using my life to try to inspire other people to live the best of theirs."
(Editing by Patricia Reaney)
(This story was refiled to change show name to "CBS This Morning" in 2nd paragraph)
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The talk show host, who recently laid off 30 staffers at the 15-month-old network after poor ratings, told "CBS This Morning" that she had been ill-prepared for the venture.
"The idea of creating a network was something that I'd wanted to do, had I'd known that it was this difficult, I might have done something else," she told the morning program.
Winfrey, 58, had appeared unstoppable in her career with a 25-year reign on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," but when questioned about whether she seriously would have never taken on the project, she replied, "Oh absolutely."
"I did not think it was going to be easy ..368_2'Mike Lisbe/span and span class='yshortcuts'. but if I knew then what I know now I might have made some different choiceslw_1330128368_0'Martin Lawrence/span i. I would say if I was writing a book about it, I could call the book '101 mistakes.'"
Within the top five mistakes?
"Launching when we really were not ready to launch," she saidtwo who enrolls in the police acad. "It's like having the wedding when you know you are not ready and you are walking down the aisle, and you are saying, 'I don't know .. the Collective, span class='yshortcuts' i. maybe we should have postponed it.'"
Now she realizes she should have waited to launch the network until she finished her duties hosting "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which ended in May 2011.
OWN, a joint venture between Winfrey and Discovery Communications, has struggled to find a sizeable audience since its launch in January 2011.
But Winfrey defended herself saying she had initially warned partner Discovery that "the thing that I am most worried about is who is going to lead this train, because I can't do it."
OWN saw a 21 percent rise in total daily viewers in the first quarter of 2012 after Winfrey appeared more on the channel academy to become a cop at the age . But it is still attracting only 180,000 viewers a day.
In March the network laid off 30 production staffers and canceled comedian Rosie O'Donnell's talk show after just five months due to sagging ratings.
Winfrey admitted that along with the layoffs, the bad press about the channel's struggles had hurt but later added that she felt better about her network OWN today than she ever has.
"Our strategy is to do what we should have done at the beginning and that is to build one show, one hour, one night at a time and then move to the next night," she said.
Lately Winfrey boosted primetime ratings with high-profile interviews including Whitney Houston's family, Lady Gaga, rocker Steven Tyler and mega-church pastor Joel Osteen.
When asked if audiences would see more of her, she replied, "I said from the beginning, this channel can't be based upon me, it has to be based upon my philosophy, my ideas" and vowed not to end the network or her general life aims.
"I believe that I am here to fulfill a calling, that because I am a female who is African American who has been so blessed in the world, there is never going to be a time to quit," she said.
The channel's inspirational tone will still fit in with its early aims as a TV version of her "O" magazine, she said.
"I will die in the midst of doing what I love to do and that is using my voice and using my life to try to inspire other people to live the best of theirs."
(Editing by Patricia Reaney)
(This story was refiled to change show name to "CBS This Morning" in 2nd paragraph)
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Sunday, April 1, 2012
James Cameron, Hollywood's 3-D entrepreneur
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As Hollywood directors increasingly make their films in 3-D, the biggest financial winner is turning out to be one of their own: director James Cameron.
Cameron has emerged as one of Hollywood's hottest entrepreneurs by cashing in on the 3-D technology he created for "Avatar", which ranks as the highest-grossing film with a worldwide box office take of $2.8 billion.
Cameron also directed the second-highest grossing film of all time, the nautical disaster-romance starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, "Titanic", which is set to return to theaters in 3-D on Wednesday.
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Graphic on Cameron's hits http://link.reuters.com/xen47s
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As George Lucas set the standard for special effects with "Star Wars", Cameron, 57, is setting the bar for 3-D technology with cameras he created and making millions for himself in the process by renting them to other film and TV directors.
The Cameron Pace Group, which the director formed 12 years ago with camera guru Vince Pace, last year generated revenue "in the ballpark of" $58 million, said its Chief Operating Officer O.Dhtub of her Beverly Hills h. Welch.
That is a fraction of what Lucas' ILM special-effects house generates, but as 3-D productions grow Cameron Pace is expected to as welld with a standing ovat. So far, it has rented cameras and other gear to more than two dozen movies, nine concert films and 140 sports broadcasts.
Hollywood's 3-D conversion movement may help Cameron erase his past failed efforts at being an inventor-entrepreneurrmation about the daughter's me. The eccentric and sometimes combative director, along with late special-effects maven Stan Winston, started Digital Domain in 1993 to compete with Lucas' ILM special-effects house.
Cameron left the company in 1998 after clashing with investors that included IBM and Cox Communications over the strategic direction, according to Rebecca Keegan's Cameron biography "The Futurist."
As a result, Digital Domain never held its planned initial public offering.
"I had begun to dislike the dynamic," Cameron told Keegan'http://l,yimg,com/bt/ap. "When it was clear that the very controls I needed fell mostly in the conflict-of-interest category, it obviated the upside for me."
Cameron was not available for a commentose to the family told. On March 25, he journeyed to the bottom of the ocean, taking 3-D cameras with him seven miles beneath the Pacific.
The failure of Digital Domain has not dimmed Cameron's star among Hollywood moguls, said Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg.
"Entrepreneurs are judged by their successes not their failures," Katzenberg saidd, His br. "What he's done is build an incredible business out of the 3-D technology he developed."
Housed in three non-descript buildings near the Burbank airport, Cameron Pace collects money every step in the 3-D movie-making process accompanied by her d. It rents its Fusion 3-D rig and other equipment to film producers such as Michael Bay, who used it for "Transformers: Dark of the Moon", for up to $3 million a film.
TV productions, such as CBS's coverage of the U.She said, His brief prayer was foll. Open tennis championship, pay less than $100,000 apiece for the seven or eight cameras it typically can use to shoot an event, said CBS head of operations Ken Aagaard.
Cameron is so serious about the production quality of his 3-D cameras that his company bestows a seal of approval, as it did with Martin Scorsese's film "Hugo".
That certification allows a studio to promote the quality of its films to investors and potential distributors, said Lyndsay Harding, chief financial officer of Evergreen Films, the first studio to be CPG certified.
Evergreen will negotiate with Cameron Pace on how it will be paid, she saidfactor, if any, drugs or alcohol might have play. Evergreen used Cameron Pace equipment to produce "Walking with Dinosaurs" that News Corp's Fox is distributing next year.
Another as yet untapped revenue stream could be harvested by certifying 3-D TV sets and other electronic products, said Welchnvestigations, to keep further deta. Cameron Pace may also consider licensing its eight patents, or the dozen more that are pending.
In addition to his 3-D camera business, Cameron is helping design a new Avatar-themed area of Walt Disney Co's Animal Kingdom park in Orlandos death remained undetermined, media r. For his work with Disney's Imagineering unit and consulting on its construction, Cameron will share in the royalties from the merchandise, rides or anything else they create.
The majority of the royalties will go to Fox, which distributed the filmaid, 'We appreciate the outpouring of love and . Disney hopes the area proves to be successful enough to expand to its other parks.
What draws a customer to Cameron's company continues to be his uncontrollable lust for all things 3-Dhe pop diva and those who admired her as an entert. Michael Lewis, chief executive of RealD, a company that licenses 3-D projectors and glasses to theaters, was stunned when Cameron, a RealD board member, nearly became a production assistant during filming of the movie "Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away".
"I look up," Lewis recalled, "and there's James Cameron hanging 80 feet above the ground."
(Reporting by Ronald Grover; Editing by Peter Lauria and Maureen Bavdek)
This article is brought to you by DATING SERVICE.
Cameron has emerged as one of Hollywood's hottest entrepreneurs by cashing in on the 3-D technology he created for "Avatar", which ranks as the highest-grossing film with a worldwide box office take of $2.8 billion.
Cameron also directed the second-highest grossing film of all time, the nautical disaster-romance starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, "Titanic", which is set to return to theaters in 3-D on Wednesday.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Graphic on Cameron's hits http://link.reuters.com/xen47s
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
As George Lucas set the standard for special effects with "Star Wars", Cameron, 57, is setting the bar for 3-D technology with cameras he created and making millions for himself in the process by renting them to other film and TV directors.
The Cameron Pace Group, which the director formed 12 years ago with camera guru Vince Pace, last year generated revenue "in the ballpark of" $58 million, said its Chief Operating Officer O.Dhtub of her Beverly Hills h. Welch.
That is a fraction of what Lucas' ILM special-effects house generates, but as 3-D productions grow Cameron Pace is expected to as welld with a standing ovat. So far, it has rented cameras and other gear to more than two dozen movies, nine concert films and 140 sports broadcasts.
Hollywood's 3-D conversion movement may help Cameron erase his past failed efforts at being an inventor-entrepreneurrmation about the daughter's me. The eccentric and sometimes combative director, along with late special-effects maven Stan Winston, started Digital Domain in 1993 to compete with Lucas' ILM special-effects house.
Cameron left the company in 1998 after clashing with investors that included IBM and Cox Communications over the strategic direction, according to Rebecca Keegan's Cameron biography "The Futurist."
As a result, Digital Domain never held its planned initial public offering.
"I had begun to dislike the dynamic," Cameron told Keegan'http://l,yimg,com/bt/ap. "When it was clear that the very controls I needed fell mostly in the conflict-of-interest category, it obviated the upside for me."
Cameron was not available for a commentose to the family told. On March 25, he journeyed to the bottom of the ocean, taking 3-D cameras with him seven miles beneath the Pacific.
The failure of Digital Domain has not dimmed Cameron's star among Hollywood moguls, said Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg.
"Entrepreneurs are judged by their successes not their failures," Katzenberg saidd, His br. "What he's done is build an incredible business out of the 3-D technology he developed."
Housed in three non-descript buildings near the Burbank airport, Cameron Pace collects money every step in the 3-D movie-making process accompanied by her d. It rents its Fusion 3-D rig and other equipment to film producers such as Michael Bay, who used it for "Transformers: Dark of the Moon", for up to $3 million a film.
TV productions, such as CBS's coverage of the U.She said, His brief prayer was foll. Open tennis championship, pay less than $100,000 apiece for the seven or eight cameras it typically can use to shoot an event, said CBS head of operations Ken Aagaard.
Cameron is so serious about the production quality of his 3-D cameras that his company bestows a seal of approval, as it did with Martin Scorsese's film "Hugo".
That certification allows a studio to promote the quality of its films to investors and potential distributors, said Lyndsay Harding, chief financial officer of Evergreen Films, the first studio to be CPG certified.
Evergreen will negotiate with Cameron Pace on how it will be paid, she saidfactor, if any, drugs or alcohol might have play. Evergreen used Cameron Pace equipment to produce "Walking with Dinosaurs" that News Corp's Fox is distributing next year.
Another as yet untapped revenue stream could be harvested by certifying 3-D TV sets and other electronic products, said Welchnvestigations, to keep further deta. Cameron Pace may also consider licensing its eight patents, or the dozen more that are pending.
In addition to his 3-D camera business, Cameron is helping design a new Avatar-themed area of Walt Disney Co's Animal Kingdom park in Orlandos death remained undetermined, media r. For his work with Disney's Imagineering unit and consulting on its construction, Cameron will share in the royalties from the merchandise, rides or anything else they create.
The majority of the royalties will go to Fox, which distributed the filmaid, 'We appreciate the outpouring of love and . Disney hopes the area proves to be successful enough to expand to its other parks.
What draws a customer to Cameron's company continues to be his uncontrollable lust for all things 3-Dhe pop diva and those who admired her as an entert. Michael Lewis, chief executive of RealD, a company that licenses 3-D projectors and glasses to theaters, was stunned when Cameron, a RealD board member, nearly became a production assistant during filming of the movie "Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away".
"I look up," Lewis recalled, "and there's James Cameron hanging 80 feet above the ground."
(Reporting by Ronald Grover; Editing by Peter Lauria and Maureen Bavdek)
This article is brought to you by DATING SERVICE.
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