Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts

Arnold Schwarzenegger is back, but can he flex Box-Office muscle?






LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Arnold Schwarzenegger is back at the box office, but will anyone notice? We’ll find out on Friday, when he debuts as a kick-ass small-town sheriff in “The Last Stand,’ his first starring role in nine years.


When Schwarzenegger famously delivered his “I’ll be back” line in 1984, it was as a time-traveling android in “The Terminator.” Following his stint as California governor and a very messy divorce from Maria Shriver complete with love child, his return as a box-office force seems almost as unlikely as his role as a time-traveling android.






But Hollywood has embraced the return of California’s 65-year-old former “Governator.” He has three films coming out in the next 12 months and Universal is developing “Triplets,” a sequel to the Danny DeVito-Schwarzenegger comedy “Twins,” as well as another “Conan the Barbarian” movie.


But whether the movie going public is as excited as Hollywood about Arnold‘s return is an open question.


Lionsgate is distributing “The Last Stand,” an action film with a reported $ 50 million budget.


Directed by Korean director Kim Jee-woon and written by Andrew Knauer and Jeffrey Nachmanoff, “The Last Stand” is the tale of an aging border-town lawman drawn into a showdown with a drug cartel kingpin. Johnny Knoxville, Forrest Whitaker and Eduardo Noriega co-star. It was produced by Leonardo Di Bonaventura and was acquired by Lionsgate back in 2009 before Schwarzenegger was involved. Liam Neeson was attached to star at one point.


Lionsgate has proven adept at marketing genre films, including “The Expendables” and Tyler Perry franchises, and last year’s “The Possession,” and that will help “The Last Stand.” Distribution chief Richie Fay tells TheWrap he’s confident Schwarzenegger‘s return will connect with the public.


“I’ve been in a number of screenings and at the premiere,” Fay told TheWrap Tuesday, “and the reaction to the film has been great. People are laughing at his one-liners, they seem very comfortable with Arnold back on the screen in his action mode.”


Fay has reason to be bullish. Schwarzenegger‘s most recent screen appearance was in another Lionsgate entry, the ensemble action film “The Expendables 2,” last August. That one has taken in more than $ 300 million worldwide. And he’ll be back – there we go, again – with Sylvester Stallone in “The Tomb,” for Lionsgate‘s Summit Entertainment in September.


Others aren’t so sure.


“I can’t see this film opening to more than the mid-teen millions,” Exhibitor Relations senior analyst Jeff Bock told TheWrap. “There’s not a lot of negative buzz, but people aren’t dying to see him come back, either. Bottom line, I don’t think he’ll inspire anywhere the level of passion he once did at the box office.”


If Lionsgate is to make money on “The Last Stand,” it appears foreign will be critical; analysts see the film topping out at $ 30 million domestically.


Schwarzenegger is still a big deal overseas,” Bock said, “and that’s where this movie will make or break itself.


I could easily see it doing double whatever it does in the U.S.”


At this point in his career, the stakes for Schwarzenegger may be higher than they are for the studios. His paycheck for “The Last Stand” is reportedly in the $ 8 million to $ 10 million range, with some potential profit participation. That’s about half of what he commanded in his heyday for the “Terminator” films, “True Lies” and “Total Recall.”


Schwarzenegger‘s box-office clout was beginning to fade prior to his heading to Sacramento in 2003. His last film, “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” made $ 150 million domestically for Warner Bros. in 2003, but his two previous movies, “Collateral Damage” and “The Sixth Day,” topped out at $ 40 million and $ 34 million respectively.


Hollywood’s expectations have changed, too. Most of Schwarzenegger‘s hits were big summer movies, with budgets well over $ 100 million. “The Last Stand” cost half that, and its release on a moderate 2,800 screens in January, typically a soft time for new releases, is no accident. “Ten,” Schwarzenegger‘s third film, is scheduled for release on January 24, 2014, by Open Road Films.


The Last Stand” is the first of three upcoming openings for action movies with older stars. Warner Bros. is opening “Bullet to the Head,” starring Stallone, on February 1. Bruce Willis stars in “A Good Day to Die Hard” from Fox on February 15.


Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Arnold Schwarzenegger is back, but can he flex Box-Office muscle?
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-back-but-can-he-flex-box-office-muscle/
Link To Post : Arnold Schwarzenegger is back, but can he flex Box-Office muscle?
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Poet Sharon Olds wins T.S. Eliot award






LONDON (Reuters) – American poet Sharon Olds won the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry on Monday for “Stag’s Leap”, a critically acclaimed collection that traces the end of her marriage 15 years ago.


The annual award, celebrating its 20th anniversary, goes to what a panel of poets decides is the best collection of verse published in the United Kingdom and Ireland each year, and is considered to be one of the world’s top poetry prizes.






Stag’s Leap, published in Britain by Jonathan Cape, was chosen from a record 131 submissions and a shortlist of 10.


“From over 130 collections, we were particularly impressed by the strong presence of women on the list and were unanimous in awarding the 2012 T.S. Eliot Prize to Sharon Olds‘ Stag’s Leap,” said Carol Ann Duffy, chair of the judges.


Duffy, also Britain’s poet laureate since 2009, called the work “a tremendous book of grace and gallantry which crowns the career of a world-class poet.”


Olds wins a cheque for 15,000 pounds ($ 24,000) for the prize, which is administered by the Poetry Book Society and supported by the estate of leading 20th century poet T.S. Eliot whose works include “The Waste Land”.


When her marriage ended, Olds, now 70, promised her children she would not write about the divorce for 10 years. In fact, it took her 15 years to get around to publishing a collection which some critics said was her best yet.


“Olds, who has always had a gift for describing intimacy, has, in a sense, had these poems thrown at her by life and allowed them to take root: they are stunning – the best of a formidable career,” wrote Kate Kellaway in The Observer.


The critic added that the collection was surprisingly kind considering its subject matter.


In “Unspeakable”, from Stag’s Leap, Olds writes:


“He shows no anger,/I show no anger but in flashes of humor/all is courtesy and horror. And after/the first minute, when I say, Is this about/her, and he says, No, it’s about/you, we do not speak of her.”


Olds was born in San Francisco in 1942 and her first collection of poems, “Satan Says” (1980), received the inaugural San Francisco Poetry Center Award.


She went on to win a string of other prizes and currently teaches creative writing at New York University.


(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)


Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Poet Sharon Olds wins T.S. Eliot award
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/poet-sharon-olds-wins-t-s-eliot-award/
Link To Post : Poet Sharon Olds wins T.S. Eliot award
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Justin Timberlake releases ‘Suit & Tie,’ first single in 5 years






LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop star Justin Timberlake unveiled on Sunday his first single in more than five years, “Suit & Tie,” featuring rapper Jay Z and producer Timbaland and said a new album would be released later in 2013.


Timberlake, 31 and newly married to actress Jessica Biel, had teased his fans last week with a cryptic tweet saying “I think I am ready” and linking to a video showing him walk into a studio.






Timberlake, a six-time Grammy winner and former member of boy band N’Sync, took a break from music after his 2006 album “Futuresex/Lovesounds” and worked as an actor in movies such as “The Social Network.”


He said in an open letter on his website that the new album is titled “The 20/20 Experience” but gave no further details.


(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Jon Boyle)


Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Justin Timberlake releases ‘Suit & Tie,’ first single in 5 years
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/justin-timberlake-releases-suit-tie-first-single-in-5-years/
Link To Post : Justin Timberlake releases ‘Suit & Tie,’ first single in 5 years
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Gawker editor A.J. Daulerio leaving, John Cook to replace him






LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Gawker editor-in-chief A.J. Daulerio is leaving the site and reporter John Cook will replace him, Cook told TheWrap on Thursday.


Daulerio, who started at Gawker Media’s sports site Deadspin, oversaw the network’s flagship publication through a period of record growth.






“A.J.’s tenure at Gawker has been much like him: bold, infuriating, unpredictable… and often brilliant,” the site’s founder Nick Denton said in a staff memo, obtained by New York magazine. “I mean, I really don’t fully understand: AJ breaks all the usual rules of orthodox management and has still been the most successful editor of Gawker.com.”


Cook has long been one of the media gossip site’s most doggedly blunt writers and reporters. In August, he published a trove of hundreds of internal memos from Bain Capital, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s former private equity firm.


“John Cook is the most experienced reporter on the team, a surprisingly powerful opinion writer and a gossip of the most refined kind,” Denton wrote. “He has natural authority.”


It was not immediately clear when the management changes would take place.


Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Gawker editor A.J. Daulerio leaving, John Cook to replace him
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/gawker-editor-a-j-daulerio-leaving-john-cook-to-replace-him/
Link To Post : Gawker editor A.J. Daulerio leaving, John Cook to replace him
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Simon Rattle to quit Berlin Philharmonic in 2018






BERLIN (Reuters) – Renowned British conductor Simon Rattle said on Thursday he would step down as head of the prestigious Berlin Philharmonic in 2018 when his current contract with the orchestra expires and before he turns 64.


“In 2018 I will be nearly 64 years old,” the 57-year-old said in a statement on the Philharmonic’s website. “As a Liverpool boy, it is impossible not to think of the Beatles’ question ‘Will you still need me… when I’m 64?’” he joked.






“This was not an easy decision. I love this orchestra and therefore wanted to tell them my decision as early as possible.”


Rattle, known for his youthful energy, his readiness to take risks and his mop of curly grey hair, took over the Berlin Philharmonic, one of the world’s leading orchestras, in 2002.


The first Briton to hold a post previously associated with such giants of German music as Herbert von Karajan, Rattle has sometimes upset music traditionalists in his adopted land with his love of experimentation and his unorthodox approach.


Rattle has described his sometimes turbulent relationship with the Berlin Philharmonic as “a love affair”.


Critics have accused him of lacking appropriate German gravitas in such a high-profile cultural role and of caring more about the public image of the orchestra than about the music.


But his many supporters have welcomed efforts to reach out to new audiences as well as his success in forging relations with other orchestras around the world, including Venezuela’s Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra.


“With his outstanding musicality and creativity he has filled new listeners with enthusiasm for the orchestra every day and has shaped the national and international perception of the Berliner Philharmonic as a vital cultural ambassador for Berlin,” said Martin Hoffmann, the orchestra’s general manager.


Rattle, who studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, worked as conductor of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in central England for 18 years before moving to Berlin.


(Reporting by Gareth Jones; editing by Mike Collett-White)


Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Simon Rattle to quit Berlin Philharmonic in 2018
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/simon-rattle-to-quit-berlin-philharmonic-in-2018/
Link To Post : Simon Rattle to quit Berlin Philharmonic in 2018
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Seattle bankruptcy hearing to decide Tully’s sale






SEATTLE (AP) — The auction for beleaguered coffee company Tully’s will likely conclude Friday in federal bankruptcy court, with an ownership group led by actor Patrick Dempsey in position to take over the chain. But Starbucks isn’t’ out of the running.


Dempsey — dubbed “McDreamy” in the “Grey’s Anatomy” hospital TV drama — claimed victory last week after an auction.






But a company that teamed up with Starbucks to bid for the Tully’s chain filed an objection Wednesday. AgriNurture Inc. says it’s still willing to proceed with its combined bid with Starbucks of about $ 10.6 million. The bid from Dempsey’s company, Global Baristas LLC, was for $ 9.2 million.


Tully’s has 47 shops in Washington and California with more than 500 employees. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October.


Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Seattle bankruptcy hearing to decide Tully’s sale
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/seattle-bankruptcy-hearing-to-decide-tullys-sale/
Link To Post : Seattle bankruptcy hearing to decide Tully’s sale
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Architecture writer Ada Louise Huxtable, awarded first Pulitzer for criticism, dead at 91






LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Ada Louise Huxtable, the architecture critic who was awarded the first Pulitzer Prize for criticism, has died. She was 91.


Huxtable, who was the architecture critic for the New York Times from 1963 to 1982 and, later, the Wall Street Journal, died Monday at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, the Journal reported.






Huxtable was a firm believer in the power of tall buildings to enhance a city and decried the cookie-cutter suburban developments springing up around New York in the 1960s.


“The promise of… a new, improved suburbia in the greater metropolitan area, the dreams of beauty and better living are mire in mud,” Huxtable wrote in Newsweek magazine. She added that these suburban landscapes – including those in Staten Island “could not be better calculated to destroy the countryside if….planned by enemy action.”


In her final piece for the Journal – a look at the renovation plans for the landmark New York Public Library, dated December 3, 2012 – Huxtable wrote: “Buildings change; they adapt to needs, times and tastes. Old buildings are restored, upgraded and converted to new uses. For architecturally or historically significant buildings with landmark protection, the process is more complex; subtle, subjective and difficult decisions are often required. Nothing, not even buildings, stands still.”


A native New Yorker, Ada Louise Landsman was born March 14, 1921, the daughter of a doctor. She graduated from Hunter College in 1941. A year later, she married L. Garth Huxtable, an industrial designer, and together they produced tableware for the Four Seasons Hotel.


Throughout the 1940s, she continued graduate school at New York University but was more interested in her work as a curatorial assistant for architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art.


From 1950 to 1963, she contributed articles to “Progressive Architecture” and “Art in America.” She became the first architecture critic of the Times in 1963. She wrote more than 10 books. Her early essays were collected in the book “Will They Ever Finish Bruckner Boulevard?”


She was awarded the first Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1970. In 1981 she was awarded a MacArthur genius grant.


She also served for a time a juror for the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s highest honor.


Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News




Read More..

Oprah to interview Armstrong for Jan. 17 show






LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lance Armstrong has agreed to an interview with Oprah Winfrey in which he is to address allegations he used performance-enhancing drugs during a career in which he won seven Tour de France titles.


According to Winfrey’s website on Tuesday, this will be a “no holds-barred interview.” It will be the first with Armstrong since his cycling career crumbled under the weight of a massive report by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. The report detailed accusations of drug use by Armstrong and teammates on his U.S. Postal Service teams.






It’s unclear if the interview at Armstrong’s home in Austin, Texas, has already been taped. Nicole Nichols, a spokeswoman for Oprah Winfrey Network & Harpo Studios, declined comment.


The show will be broadcast Jan. 17 at 9 p.m. EST on OWN and Oprah.com.


Armstrong has strongly denied the doping charges that led to him being stripped of his Tour de France titles, but The New York Times reported Friday he has told associates he is considering acknowledging the use of performance enhancers.


The newspaper report cited anonymous sources, and Armstrong lawyer Tim Herman told The Associated Press that night he had no knowledge of Armstrong considering a confession.


Earlier Tuesday, “60 Minutes Sports” reported the head of USADA told the show a representative for Armstrong offered the agency a “donation” in excess of $ 150,000 several years before an investigation by the organization led to the loss of Armstrong’s Tour de France titles.


In an interview for the premiere on Showtime on Wednesday night, USADA chief executive Travis Tygart said he was “stunned” when he received the offer in 2004.


“It was a clear conflict of interest for USADA,” Tygart said. “We had no hesitation in rejecting that offer.”


Herman denied such an offer was made.


“No truth to that story,” Herman wrote Tuesday in an email to the AP. “First Lance heard of it was today. He never made any such contribution or suggestion.”


Tygart was traveling and did not respond to requests from the AP for comment. USADA spokeswoman Annie Skinner said Tygart’s comments from the interview were accurate. In it, he reiterates what he told the AP last fall: He was surprised when federal investigators abruptly closed their two-year investigation into Armstrong and his business dealings, then refused to share any evidence they gathered.


“You’ll have to ask the feds why they shut down,” Tygart told the AP. “They enforce federal criminal laws. We enforce sports anti-doping violations. They’re totally separate. We’ve done our job.”


Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Oprah to interview Armstrong for Jan. 17 show
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/oprah-to-interview-armstrong-for-jan-17-show/
Link To Post : Oprah to interview Armstrong for Jan. 17 show
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

‘Downton,’ ‘Girls,’ ‘Idol’ and more this January






NEW YORK (AP) — Where once the post-holiday schedule was a blizzard of chilly reruns, January is aburst with premieres and finales.


Already, the much-adored British miniseries “Downton Abbey” has made its much-awaited season return Sundays on PBS.






On IFC on Fridays, the hilarious “Portlandia” is back for its third season of sketch comedy poking fun at the peculiarities of Portland, Ore., starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein.


And NBC‘s mystery melodrama “Deception” has arrived on Mondays. Meagan Good stars as a detective going undercover at the home of a rich family with whom she was once friendly, to investigate a murder within the clan.


On Tuesday, PBS’ “American Experience” begins a three-week documentary miniseries, “The Abolitionists,” spotlighting Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Brown and Angelina Grimke.


Also on Tuesday, the FX drama “Justified” is returning for its fourth season of Kentucky hill-country crime-fighting led by Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (series star Timothy Olyphant).


On Thursday, comedic action centers at the White House with the premiere of NBC‘s “1600 Penn.” Josh Gad (“The Book of Mormon”) stars as the goofball son of the incumbent U.S. president (played by Bill Pullman) who keeps the first family in a stir, yet manages to make everything turn out all right by the final fade-out.


The Gallaghers of “Shameless” are a much different family. In this dark comedy, William H. Macy stars as the boozy single father of a brood of kids who manage their ragtag Chicago homestead in spite of Dad’s overindulgences. Also starring Emmy Rossum, it returns Jan. 13 for its third season on Showtime.


Also on Jan. 13, HBO’s comedy “Girls” returns for a second season sure to be at least as ballyhooed, discussed and argued about as the first. Lena Dunham (who also writes, produces, directs and created the series) stars as one of a quartet of twentysomething gal pals in New York.


Right after “Girls,” HBO launches the second season of “Enlightened,” an affecting comedy starring Laura Dern as a confused New Age-y activist who’s bent on changing the world.


What was Carrie Bradshaw like before Sarah Jessica Parker and “Sex and the City”? Find out on “The Carrie Diaries,” which debuts on the CW on Jan. 14. AnnaSophia Robb stars as the high-school era Carrie in this likable prequel.


“American Idol” returns on Jan. 16 on Fox. Veteran judge Randy Jackson will be joined by Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban. Ryan Seacrest, as always, is the affable host.


After five seasons, Fox’s lovably inscrutable sci-fi series “Fringe” concludes its head-scratching run on Jan. 18. Stars include Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson and John Noble.


Fox’s bloody suspense drama “The Following” premieres Jan. 21. Kevin Bacon stars as a former FBI agent drafted back into service to chase a serial murderer and his vicious disciples.


My, how Spartacus‘ army has grown! Commanding thousands of freed slaves, Spartacus is primed to bring down the entire Roman Republic as the final season begins for “Spartacus: War of the Damned,” Jan. 25 on Starz. Liam McIntyre plays the rebel leader.


The world of “Dallas” will be rocked during its second season with the death of arch-villain oilman J.R. Ewing (played, of course, by Larry Hagman, who passed away in November while the series was in production). Also starring Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray, this rebooted (so to speak) version of the long-running CBS prime-time soap returns on TNT on Jan. 28.


FX weighs in with an edgy new drama “The Americans” on Jan. 30. It stars Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell as two KGB agents posing as the heads of a normal American household in the 1980s, as they work tirelessly to bring down the U.S. on behalf of Mother Russia.


On Jan. 31, NBC unveils a new medical drama “Do No Harm.” Steve Pasquale (“Rescue Me”) stars as a neurosurgeon with a great bedside manner who inconveniently shares a body with his sociopathic alter ego.


The same night, NBC closes the book on the brilliant mockery of “30 Rock.” This Tina Fey comedy wraps seven seasons of making fun of pop culture, modern life and especially its own real-life broadcast network — which, like the rest of the TV universe, has even more midseason goodies in store come February.


___


EDITOR’S NOTE — Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore(at)ap.org and at http://www.twitter.com/tvfrazier


Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: ‘Downton,’ ‘Girls,’ ‘Idol’ and more this January
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/downton-girls-idol-and-more-this-january/
Link To Post : ‘Downton,’ ‘Girls,’ ‘Idol’ and more this January
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Women dominate UK film’s “rising star” shortlist






LONDON (Reuters) – Actresses dominated the shortlist for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts‘ Rising Star awards on Monday, taking four of the five places.


Juno Temple, who appeared in the 2007 drama “Atonement”, and Andrea Riseborough, best known for her leading role in Madonna‘s biopic of Wallis Simpson “W.E.”, represent British interests on the list.






They are up against U.S. actress Elizabeth Olsen of the acclaimed 2011 drama “Martha Marcy May Marlene“, and Sweden’s Alicia Vikander, who starred in Danish period drama “A Royal Affair” and last year’s adaptation of the novel “Anna Karenina”.


Suraj Sharma is the youngest on the list at 19 and the sole male representative, having been picked from 3,000 hopefuls to star in Ang Lee’s recent 3D picture “Life of Pi” despite no previous acting experience.


The Rising Star Award is handed out on February 10 at the main BAFTA prize ceremony, Britain’s top film accolades. It is the only category voted for by the public, who can cast their votes at ee.co.uk/bafta.


Previous winners of the award aimed at spotting stars of the future include James McAvoy, Eva Green, Shia LaBeouf and Kristen Stewart.


(This story has been refiled to change word in headline to “women” from “females”)


(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)


Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Women dominate UK film’s “rising star” shortlist
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/women-dominate-uk-films-rising-star-shortlist/
Link To Post : Women dominate UK film’s “rising star” shortlist
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Boyz II Men to Vegas for extended gig at the Mirage






(Reuters) – One-time boy band Boyz II Men is Vegas-bound for an extended stay at the Mirage hotel and casino, the group said on Friday.


The Grammy-award winning R&B trio will begin performances on March 1, with 78 shows slated through December 2013.






“We’ve been dreaming of this day since we performed an extended holiday show two years ago in Las Vegas,” said founding member Nathan Morris in a statement, adding “we can’t wait to take the stage in March and be a part of the Las Vegas community.”


Formed in 1990 and known for hits including “I’ll Make Love To You” and “End of the Road,” the group includes tenors Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman, in addition to baritone Morris.


With more than 60 million albums sold, it is reportedly the best-selling R&B group of all time.


(Reporting by Chris Michaud, editing by Jill Serjeant and Sandra Maler)


Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Boyz II Men to Vegas for extended gig at the Mirage
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/boyz-ii-men-to-vegas-for-extended-gig-at-the-mirage/
Link To Post : Boyz II Men to Vegas for extended gig at the Mirage
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Actor Dempsey: Coffee chain bid appears successful






SEATTLE (AP) — Actor Patrick Dempsey said it appears his bid to buy a small coffee chain has prevailed in a bankruptcy auction that included Starbucks Corp.


Late Thursday night, Dempsey announced that his company, Global Baristas LLC, made the winning bid for Tully’s Coffee. He noted in a KOMO-TV interview that a bankruptcy judge will have the final say on Jan. 11. Still, Dempsey tweeted “We got it! Thank you Seattle!”






Dempsey’s company will pay $ 9,150,000 for Tully’s and complete the purchase later this month after the court hearing, he said in a statement.


“I’m thrilled that we won and I’m even more excited about saving Tully’s Coffee and its hundreds of jobs,” he said. “Tully’s is a great company with committed employees, and with its base in Seattle, one of the world’s greatest cities, I’m confident we will be able to successfully build the brand and help grow the economy. “


Tully’s Coffee has 47 company-owned locations in Washington and California. The company, with more than 500 employees, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October.


Dempsey, who gained the nickname “McDreamy” on the TV show “Grey’s Anatomy” set in a fictional Seattle hospital, has said he wants to rescue the chain.


Seattle has been very good to me over my career, and I am honored to have the privilege to own Tully’s and work closely with the company’s employees,” he said in his statement.


After Thursday’s auction, Starbucks spokesman Zack Hutson confirmed his company participated and “is currently in a back-up position” for some of Tully’s assets. The final certification of the winning bid won’t occur until the Jan. 11 bankruptcy court hearing, Hutson said.


“We have to wait until next week to make sure everything — I believe the 11th — to make sure it’s all finalized,” Dempsey told KOMO-TV.


The Starbucks spokesman said his company made an offer for 13 of Tully’s company-owned stores in the Puget Sound region plus 12 outlets at Boeing Co. sites. Hutson said another bidder made an offer for all other assets — and is in a back-up position for those.


Also in the running was Baristas Coffee, which operates a chain of drive-thru espresso stands featuring female employees in skimpy outfits.


Both Starbucks and Tully’s are based in Seattle.


The auction process was not public.


Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Actor Dempsey: Coffee chain bid appears successful
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/actor-dempsey-coffee-chain-bid-appears-successful/
Link To Post : Actor Dempsey: Coffee chain bid appears successful
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Putin gives tax exile Depardieu Russian citizenship






MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted citizenship to Gerard Depardieu, the French movie star who is quitting his homeland to avoid a tax hike on the rich, the Kremlin said on Thursday.


The “Cyrano de Bergerac” actor bought a house across the border in Belgium last year to avoid a new tax rate for millionaires in France planned by Socialist President Francois Hollande but said he could also seek tax exile elsewhere.






Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Depardieu had applied for citizenship after Putin told reporters last month the actor would be welcome in Russia. “The citizenship could not have been granted to him without (such an) appeal,” Peskov added.


Russia has a flat income tax rate of 13 percent, compared to the 75 percent on income over 1 million euros ($ 1.32 million) that Hollande wants to impose in France.


Asked, whether Depardieu had plans to move to Russia, Peskov said it was up to him and was “absolutely not mandatory”. Putin did not speak to Depardieu before taking the decision, he added.


Depardieu’s publicist Francois Hassan Guerrar told Reuters he did not want to comment on the Russian announcement.


Depardieu, 63, had told friends he was considering three options to escape France’s new tax regime: settling in Belgium, relocating to Montenegro, where he has a business, or moving to Russia, French daily Le Monde reported in December.


Depardieu has also said he plans to hand in his French passport and social security card.


“Putin has already sent me a passport,” Le Monde quoted the actor as jokingly saying in December.


WELCOME IN RUSSIA


Depardieu is well-known in Russia where he has appeared in many advertising campaigns. He worked in the country in 2011 on a film about the eccentric Russian monk Grigory Rasputin.


In 2012 he was one of several Western celebrities invited to celebrate the birthday of Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed leader.


Muscovites said they would welcome Depardieu. “He is a normal guy, he is fond of drinking too, I suppose, the Russian way, so let him come here,” said resident Lev Nikolaevich.


Putin has in the past touted good relations with France, which he visited in the summer, but the two nations have disagreed sharply on Syria and Putin is a frequent critic of the West. He had a tense summit with the EU last month and wants the bloc to move faster toward visa-free travel.


Russia does not require people to hand in their foreign passports once they acquire a Russian one. Many Russians have citizenship of other countries and travel without problems.


Depardieu could also request Belgian nationality but has not yet made such a request, said Georges Dallemagne, head of Belgium’s parliamentary committee that oversees naturalizations.


“As a Russian he could certainly remain in Belgium, he would possibly need the necessary visas but for a short period he could stay here,” said Dallemagne.


“He would need to request a residency permit for longer stays but as a Russian he should be able to get that. It depends on certain factors,” Dallemagne added.


France’s Constitutional Council last month blocked the planned 75 percent tax rate due to the way it would be applied – but Hollande plans to propose redrafted legislation which will “still ask more of those who have the most”.


(Writing by Megan Davies; Additional reporting by Steve Gutterman, Nikolai Isayev and Alexander Fedorov in Moscow, Catherine Bremer in Paris and Robert-Jan Bartunek in Belgium; Editing by Andrew Heavens)


Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Putin gives tax exile Depardieu Russian citizenship
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/putin-gives-tax-exile-depardieu-russian-citizenship/
Link To Post : Putin gives tax exile Depardieu Russian citizenship
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Paparazzo killed on freeway after photographing Justin Bieber’s car






(Reuters) – A celebrity photographer was struck and killed by a car on a Los Angeles highway on Tuesday after snapping photographs of a Ferrari registered to pop star Justin Bieber, police said.


Bieber wasn’t in his car, which had been pulled over by California Highway Patrol officers on Interstate 405 for suspected speeding, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Cleon Joseph said on Wednesday.






Highway patrol officers saw the 29-year-old paparazzo taking photographs of the scene on Tuesday evening and ordered him to return to his car for safety reasons, Joseph said.


The photographer, whose name was not released, refused to leave. After officers repeated their order, he was struck while trying to cross four lanes of traffic, Joseph said.


Charges were unlikely to be filed against the driver who struck the photographer, the officer said.


Bieber was stopped by police for speeding on a Los Angeles freeway last July. He told officers he was being hounded by paparazzi at the time.


Prosecutors charged a celebrity photographer under a California law that criminalizes dangerous driving when taking photos commercially, but a judge later dismissed those counts.


(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)


Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Paparazzo killed on freeway after photographing Justin Bieber’s car
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/paparazzo-killed-on-freeway-after-photographing-justin-biebers-car/
Link To Post : Paparazzo killed on freeway after photographing Justin Bieber’s car
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

ESPN’s Hannah Storm returns 3 weeks after accident






NEW YORK (AP) — ESPN anchor Hannah Storm returns to the air New Year’s Day, exactly three weeks after she was seriously burned in a propane gas grill accident at her home.


Storm suffered second-degree burns on her chest and hands, and first-degree burns to her face and neck. She lost her eyebrows and eyelashes, and roughly half her hair.






Storm will host ABC’s telecast of the 2013 Rose Parade on Tuesday. Her left hand will be bandaged and she said viewers might notice a difference in her hair texture where extensions have been added.


“I’m a little nervous about things I used to take for granted,” she said by phone this weekend from Pasadena, Calif. “Little things like putting on makeup and even turning pages on my script.”


The award-winning sportscaster and producer was preparing dinner outside her home in Connecticut on the night of Dec. 11 when she noticed the flame on the grill had gone out. She turned off the gas and when she reignited it “there was an explosion and a wall of fire came at me.”


“It was like you see in a movie, it happened in a split-second,” she said. “A neighbor said he thought a tree had fallen through the roof, it was that loud. It blew the doors off the grill.”


With her left hand, she tore off her burning shirt. She tried to use another part of her shirt to extinguish the flames that engulfed her head and chest, while yelling for help. Her 15-year-old daughter, Hannah, called 911 and a computer technician who was working in the house grabbed some ice as Storm tried to cool the burns.


Soon, police and rescue teams arrived at the house. Storm’s husband, NBC sportscaster Dan Hicks, also had returned home with another of the couple’s three daughters. As her mother was being treated, the younger Hannah calmly said something that, days later, her mom could laugh about.


“OK, Mommy, I’m going to do my homework now,” she said.


Storm was taken by ambulance to the Trauma and Burn Center at Westchester Medical Center and was treated for 24 hours.


“I didn’t see my face until the next day and you wonder how it’s going to look,” she said. “I was pretty shocked. But my overarching thought was I’ve covered events with military members who have been through a lot worse than me, and they’ve come through. I kept thinking, ‘I can do this. I’m fortunate.’”


Other than going to Christmas Eve Mass, Storm hadn’t been outside until her trip to California. ESPN reworked its anchor schedule while she was recovering, and NBC and the Golf Channel rearranged their staffing while Hicks attended to his wife.


Storm is set to host her fifth Rose Parade, with some changes. She’s left-handed, and taking notes is almost impossible. Dressing and showering are challenges, too.


Storm said that long before her accident, she’d been inspired by Iraq War veteran, actor and “Dancing With the Stars” winner J.R. Martinez, the grand marshal at last year’s parade. He was severely burned in a land mine accident while serving overseas.


One attraction of this year’s parade that she was eager to see — the Nurses’ Float, and she hoped to use that moment on air to thank everyone who had taken care of her.


Storm wants to anchor “SportsCenter” in Bristol, Conn., next Sunday. After that, the Notre Dame alum is ready to go in person to watch the No. 1 Irish play Alabama in the national championship game at Miami. She said the school reached out after hearing about her injuries and had been very supportive.


“More than anything, I feel gratitude,” she said. “Something like this really makes you appreciate everything you have, even the chance to wake up on New Year’s Day and do your job.”


Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: ESPN’s Hannah Storm returns 3 weeks after accident
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Lake Superior State’s 38th list of banished words






DETROIT (AP) — Lake Superior State University‘s 38th annual list of banished words:


fiscal cliff






— kick the can down the road


— double down


— job creators/creation


— passion/passionate


— YOLO


— spoiler alert


bucket list


— trending


— superfood


— boneless wings


— guru


Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Lake Superior State’s 38th list of banished words
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Hot spots draw believers, but not doomsday






As the sun rose from time zone to time zone across the world on Friday, there was still no sign of the world’s end — but that didn’t stop those convinced that a 5,125-year Mayan calendar predicts the apocalypse from gathering at some of the world’s purported survival hot spots.


Many of the esoterically inclined expected a new age of consciousness — others wanted a party. But, in some places said to offer salvation from the end, fewer people showed up than officials had predicted — much to the disappointment of vendors hoping to sell souvenirs.






Here are some key places being marked by the fascination over doomsday rumors:


MEXICO


In an area of Mexico that was once the ancient Mayan heartland, spiritualists gathered in the darkness before dawn on Friday to prepare white clothes, drums, conch shells and incense. They believed the sunrise would herald the birth of a new and better age as a vast cycle in the Mayan calendar comes to an end.


Many people who came to Yucatan for the occasion were already calling it “a new sun” and “a new era.”


FRANCE


According to one rumor, a rocky mountain in the French Pyrenees will be the sole place on Earth to escape destruction. A giant UFO and aliens are said to be waiting under the mountain, ready to burst through and spirit those nearby to safety. But there is bad news for those seeking salvation: French gendarmes, some on horseback, blocked outsiders from reaching the Bugarach peak and its village of some 200 people.


Eric Freysselinard, head of local government, said the security forces had “partially stopped the new age enthusiasts as well as curious people from coming to the area.”


Meanwhile, some Bugarach residents dressed up like aliens, with tinfoil costumes and funnels and fake antenna on their heads, strolling around their village Friday to make light of the rumored UFO prophecy.


RUSSIA


Doomsday rumors have prompted some people across Russia to stock up on candles, water, canned foods and other non-perishable foods. The apocalypse has proven a good business, with some shops selling survival aid packages that include soap and vodka.


In Moscow, salvation has also been promised in the underground bunker for the former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin — with a 50 percent refund if nothing happens. An underground stay was originally priced at 50,000 rubles ($ 1,625) but dropped to 15,000 ($ 490) a week ahead of the feared end.


The bunker, located 65 meters (210 feet) below ground, was designed to withstand a nuclear attack. Now home to a small museum, it has an independent electricity supply, water and food — but no more room, because the museum has already sold out all 1,000 tickets.


BRITAIN


Hundreds of people have converged on Stonehenge for an “End of the World” party that coincides with the Winter Solstice.


Arthur Uther Pendragon, Britain’s best-known druid, said he was anticipating a much larger crowd than usual at Stonehenge this year. But he doesn’t agree that the world is ending, noting that he and fellow druids believe that things happen in cycles.


“We’re looking at it more as a new beginning than an end,” he said. “We’re looking at new hope.”


Meanwhile, end-of-days parties will be held across London on Friday. One event billed as a “last supper club” is offering a three-course meal served inside an “ark.”


SERBIA


Some Serbs are saying to forget that sacred mountain in the French Pyrenees. The place to be Friday is Mount Rtanj, a pyramid-shaped peak in Serbia already drawing cultists.


According to legend, the mountain once swallowed an evil sorcerer who will be released on doomsday in a ball of fire that will hit the mountain top. The inside of the mountain will then open up, becoming a safe place to hide as the sorcerer goes on to destroy the rest of the world. In the meantime, some old coal mine shafts have been opened up as safe rooms.


On Friday a New Age group called “The Spirit of Rtanj” was holding a conference there. Participants, however, said they expect not the end of time but the start of a new time cycle. Locals turned out to sell brandy and herbs.


“There will be no tragedy, no doomsday,” said resident Dalibor Jovic. “It was supposed to happen at 12:12 and I think that time has passed. So, we can now go on with our lives and be happy to be alive.”


TURKEY


A small Turkish village known for its wines, Sirince, has also been touted as the only place after Bugarach that would escape the world’s end. But on Friday journalists and security officials outnumbered cultists. This outcome disappointed local business people who had prepared a range of doomsday products to sell, including a specially labeled Doomsday wine and Turkish delight candy whose “best before” date was Dec. 21, 2012. One restaurant prepared a special “last meal” menu that included a “heaven kebab” and “forbidden fruit dessert.”


ITALY


Another spot said to be spared: Cisternino, a beautiful small town in southern Italy in an area of trulli, traditional dry stone huts with conical roofs. The notion that Cisternino could be a safe haven at world’s end derives from an Indian guru, Babaji, who said “Cisternino will become an island” at world’s end. His followers built a community in Cisternino centered on an ashram built in 1979. Hotel bookings are up this weekend.


Mayor Donato Baccaro told the AP that the beauty of the place has inspired many foreigners to live there. “This confirms that this place has a special energy,” he said.


CHINA


A fringe Christian group has been spreading rumors about the world’s impending end, prompting Chinese authorities to detain more than 500 people this week and seize leaflets, video discs, books and other material.


Those detained are reported to be members of the group Almighty God, also called Eastern Lightning, which preaches that Jesus has reappeared as a woman in central China. Authorities in the province of Qinghai say they are waging a “severe crackdown” on the group, accusing it of attacking the Communist Party and the government.


U.S.


Dozens of Michigan schools canceled classes for thousands of students to cool off rumored threats of violence and problems related to doomsday. The fears were exacerbated by the recent shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, which “changed all of us,” the school system in Genesee County said. “Canceling school is the right thing to do.”


___


Associated Press writers Florent Bajrami in Bugarach, France; Mansur Mirovalev in Moscow; Peppino Ciraci in Cisternino, Italy; Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; Paisley Dodds in London; and Dejan Mladenovic in Mount Rtanj, Serbia, contributed to this report.


Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Hot spots draw believers, but not doomsday
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Singer Travis pleads not guilty to assault






SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) – Country singer Randy Travis pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault in a municipal courtroom in the Dallas suburb of Plano on Friday, his lawyer said.


Lawyer Peter A. Schulte told Reuters his client is “absolutely not guilty of this crime.”






Police say Travis assaulted a man in a church parking lot in Plano in August while attempting to intervene in a disagreement between a woman he was with and the woman’s estranged husband.


“He was actually being a good Samaritan at the time, stepping in to save two women from being assaulted,” Schulte said. He said the woman Travis was with and his daughter were being harassed by two men.


The charge against Travis carries a maximum $ 500 fine and no jail time. The case is set for trial March 11.


The altercation occurred during a bad stretch for the 53-year-old Grammy winner. Earlier in August, Travis was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after he was found lying naked near his wrecked car along a north Texas highway. He also was accused of threatening to shoot and kill the troopers investigating the case, according to a police report.


The North Carolina-born country singer, known for hits such as “Forever and Ever, Amen,” also was arrested in February for drunken driving while sitting in his car in the parking lot of another north Texas church.


Schulte said Travis has been doing well since the two August incidents. He said his client was upbeat as he left the courtroom Friday.


“He turned and wished everybody who was there a merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year,” he said.


(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Bill Trott)


Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Singer Travis pleads not guilty to assault
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Christmas box-office haul paces Hollywood for record year






LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A strong Christmas-day box office performance by musical “Les Miserables” and western “Django Unchained” put Hollywood on pace to set an all-time box office record with $ 10.8 billion in annual revenue, box-office tracker Hollywood.com said on Wednesday.


Universal Pictures‘ star-studded “Les Miserables” took in a weekday Christmas record of $ 18.2 million in the United States and Canada when it opened on Tuesday, according to studio estimates of weekday ticket sales.






Quentin Tarantino‘s spaghetti western “Django Unchained,” starring Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio, hauled nearly $ 15 million for The Weinstein Co.


Studios “are definitely on the road to a record year with $ 10.8 billion expected (up 6 percent over last year and beating the previous record of $ 10.6 billion in 2009),” Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian told Reuters in an email, adding that the number of tickets sold should climb 6 percent from 2011 to 1.36 billion.


Dergarabedian credits a successful marketing year for studios as a chief reason for the projected box-office record, as well as spring and summer smashes “The Hunger Games” and “The Avengers” helping boost revenue.


“It was not just the fact that most of the movies delivered, it was the timing of their release dates and the marketing was obviously effective as well with social media continuing to provide an outlet for the movie-going peer group to talk about their favorite flicks,” Dergarabedian said.


“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” based on the J.R.R. Tolkein classic fantasy novel, brought in $ 11.4 million on Christmas day after ruling the box office with nearly $ 37 million in sales over the weekend.


Billy Crystal family film “Parental Guidance” debuted in fourth place with about $ 6.4 million in Christmas sales while Tom Cruise’s “Jack Reacher,” which featured author Lee Child’s character in an investigation into a sniper shooting, was fifth with some $ 5.3 million.


“The Hobbit” was distributed by Time Warner Inc’s Warner Bros. Studio. News Corp’s 20th Century Fox released “Parental Guidance” and Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom, released “Jack Reacher.” Universal Pictures is owned by Comcast Corp.


(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Edited by Ronald Grover and Andrew Hay)


Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Christmas box-office haul paces Hollywood for record year
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..

Britain’s royal family attends Christmas services






LONDON (AP) — Britain‘s royal family is attending Christmas Day church services — with a few notable absences.


Wearing a turquoise coat and matching hat, Queen Elizabeth II arrived at St. Mary Magdelene Church on her sprawling Sandringham estate in Norfolk. She was accompanied in a Bentley by granddaughters Beatrice and Eugenie.






Her husband, Prince Philip, walked from the house to the church with other members of the royal family.


Three familiar faces were missing from the family outing. Prince William is spending the holiday with his pregnant wife Kate and his in-laws in the southern England village of Bucklebury. Prince Harry is serving with British troops in Afghanistan.


Later Tuesday, the queen will deliver her traditional, pre-recorded Christmas message, which for the first time will be broadcast in 3D.


Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News





Title Post: Britain’s royal family attends Christmas services
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment




Read More..