Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts

Large coats a mainstay for next winter from Milan






MILAN (AP) — Many of the fashions displayed on the Milan runway Thursday had a yesteryear appeal — but with a contemporary edge.


Coats are a mainstay for next winter, many of them oversized with accentuated cuffs — part of a trend toward architectural references in clothing. Fur coats and jackets make the biggest comeback in many a season, perhaps appealing to new markets in cold weather climates, and certainly fitting for the snowy Milan weather.






Many of the styles, from the flared skirts to belted suits, recalled couture favorites from earlier fashion eras. However, the styles were updated by paring down the silhouette and using coarse fabric for elegant wear that in the past has been associated with silkier materials.


Spandex gave a modern glint to looks, including form-fitting dresses, jumpsuits and turtleneck tops, which were softened with sewing details or by coupling them with softer materials like fur and cashmere. For romantic looks, there was lace paired with leather or animal prints for a new twist. Gold lame and sequins add luxury to sensual evening wear.


The palette featured a lot of blues, green, red, some white and flashes of yellow along with mainstay black.


Hardy, practical shoes were a mainstay, but designers aren’t neglecting pretty looks and are still coming up with sandals, pumps and feminine slippers and booties.


Bags tend to be large, but not huge, and no few have a Mary Poppins practicality.


PRADA


The Prada finale was a long luxurious mink coat with ample collar and cuff like the ones the Hollywood divas used to wear in the 1950s. Underneath the model wore a sheer see-through silk dress.


It was only the showiest item of the winter collection presented Thursday evening, based on yesteryear luxury, from the opulent coats to the gilded gowns to the mink wraps.


Miuccia Prada season after season has a fashion vision, and follows it through regardless. This round she revisits vintage couture in a contemporary context.


Coats have extra wide cuffs and are often belted at the waist and flared toward the bottom. Skirts come in wide ballerina styles, as do some the dresses. The jumper dress is another 1950s look, which Prada revisits, even for evening, not to mention the many coat dresses in the collection.


Totally Prada, and anything but retro, was the uneven hemline (one side much longer than the other) that the designer used for daytime belted sheaths as well as gilded, belted gowns.


Fabrics ranged from coarse tweeds to shimmering metallic materials, plus leather and fur. Crocodile takes on new importance when used not only for bags, but also for skirts and even a suit.


The latest Prada shoe, either a sandal or a bootie, has a thick high heel, but a heavy rubber sole.


The sides of the voluminous bags in tweed and leather, including crocodile, were folded in such a way to give the impression of a feline face, perhaps inspired by a video of a cat that was part of the background of the show.


FENDI


Fendi is to fur what Ferrari is to cars. Yet given current concerns about animal rights, the brand has moved from the lavish fur coats that were all the rage in the 1980s to a more discreet way of interpreting fur as fashion.


Fendi creative director Silvia Venturini, daughter of one of the company’s five founding sisters, opted for wisps of fur used as hair decorations, bracelets, or charms hanging from Fendi bags.


Fur also appeared as inserts in a skirt or a dress, or sheered and fashioned into a cozy, but not showy, jacket. Long fur, usually goat, also seen on other runways during Milan’s preview showings, was used to make up a skirt or a cape.


For decades, German born designer Karl Lagerfeld has been working with Fendi, adding his flamboyant designing talent to their creative genius.


This round he offered a constructed slim silhouette, with accentuated shoulders and a knee-length hemline. The look is sophisticated rather than sexy and used deep, dark shades of red and blue, which along with black are becoming the staple colors for next winter.


In the accessory department, Fendi chose to reinvent its iconic handbags, from the clutch bag — this time furry — to a modern version of the Mary Poppins bag.


The shoes are sure to be a winter hit. Whether a pump, a boot or a lace-up, each pair was elaborately decorated, some in fur, and comes with a pointed toe and a glistening mirrored high heel.


BLUGIRL


Blugirl has looks for women feeling both demure and daring at the same time — mixing traditional tartan, peek-a-boo lace and bold leopard prints.


The women’s wear collection for next winter, took as its muse the British style icon Alexa Chung. The label described Chung’s style as “midway between tradition and urban accents, ultra-cosmopolitan, always cool.”


Designer Anna Molinari’s collection started off with a preppy coed look: green, red and navy plaid skirts, sometimes pleated, or pencil pants paired with oversized green sweaters, pullovers or cardigans. Shoes were leather ankle boots, worn with short, dark socks.


The outfits transitioned into more feminine territory. A tartan-printed taffeta bubble skirts paired was with a ruffle-neck lace shirt and topped with a loose-fitting leopard-print jacket, leading off an array of looks combining plaid, lace and leopard. Here the preferred shoe was the pump.


The collection finished with a flash of gold, with sequined evening dresses and skirts.


Dragon and swan motifs gave a nod to Chung’s British-Chinese heritage. Commanding dragon shaped necklaces and Chinese-style jackets offered Asian flair, while sequined kissing swans on evening wear were reminiscent of an English park.


The looks were finished with small shoulder bags in leopard print, tartan or sequins, strapped across the body for the stylish girl-on-the-go.


MAX MARA


The German Bauhaus design school gave a sophisticated clientele functional yet elegant design in everyday objects, like chairs and teapots, as well as living and working spaces. On the runway in Milan, Max Mara struck the same note of functional elegance in its Bauhaus-inspired women’s wear show.


The collection for next winter was, fittingly, highly structured.


The coats alone were a feat of layered and textural complexity. A hooded overcoat, worn open over the shoulders with empty sleeves hanging, accompanied another interior jacket with a nubby texture.


Often, the overcoat sleeves were rolled up to reveal another layer of, say, spandex, which contrasted with the satiny coat lining. Leather patches emphasized rounded shoulders.


Max Mara’s heritage of practical luxury was highlighted by its focus on new camel fabrics for their coats, including spun alpaca and mouflon wool. From super-functional camel, the color palette then progressed to a deep yellow and onward to decidedly urban shades of gray, black and midnight blue — a nod to the Bauhaus inspiration.


The silhouette ranged from skinny pencil skirts paired with long sweaters for the office or loose-fitting pajama pants for relaxed afternoons. Shoes emphasized comfort — sneakers — but were built from luxury materials like suede and leather. Boston bags were made from leather and crocodile prints.


DSQUARED2


Both the masculine and feminine sides of the DSquared2 label were shouting over each other for attention.


The collection for next winter featured over-the-top masculine tailoring balanced with oversized jewels.


For daytime, the look was gangster chic, with loose-fitting men’s double-breasted suits worn with nothing more than a dickey underneath and topped with exaggerated bowler hats — pink with purple ribbon. Pencil skirts paired with belted jackets, one with layered, architectural lapels.


But for nighttime, the mood was more speak easy slinky with silky dresses with an asymmetrical, trailing feather boa hemline or a fur stole — a favorite on Milan runways this season.


Designing twins Dean and Dan Caten showed at night for the first time in a while, giving up their closing day slot.


JUST CAVALLI


Designer Roberto Cavalli drew inspiration for his second line “Just Cavalli” collection, from a recent trip to Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, at the foot of the Himalayas.


“Riches there are measured by the values of happiness,” the designer said ahead of the show, which had an ethnic, almost hippie feel to it.


Almost the entire collection came in subdued native prints, fashioned in anything from tunics over pants to colorful evening gowns. Accessories included long silk necklaces like the ones worn by the Bhutan nobility, and a backpack to replace the more urban handbag.


Many designers are featuring fur this round of preview shows, including Cavalli who used it mainly to trim the hoods of his winter parkas. That was enough to draw the wrath of a small group of animal rights activists who disrupted the show holding up signs in Italian saying, “Your fashion is our death,” until they were forcibly removed.


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“Amour” director’s take on death could have a Hollywood ending






LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Austrian director Michael Haneke will arrive at the Academy Awards ceremony with his stark drama “Amour” vying for a surprising five Oscars including Best Picture, despite its distinctly non-Hollywood ending.


The French-language film that tackles death and aging is up against Best Picture favorites “Lincoln” and “Argo” on February 24, as well as competing for Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress.






No foreign language film has won the top prize in the 85-year history of the Academy Awards.


But “Amour” and its journey to the Oscars could have a happy ending as it is pegged as favorite for Best Foreign Language Picture, an award for which Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” was nominated in 2010.


“Amour” is Austria’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film.


Haneke, 70, who is one of Europe’s top directors and a master of the unhappy ending, admits “Amour” is not easy viewing, focusing on the physical and psychological suffering at the end of life.


The film details the everyday struggles and indignities of elderly Parisian couple Anne and Georges as they confront Anne’s slide toward death.


“It’s no walk in the park, but it’s difficult and serious, and that makes it contemplative,” Haneke told Reuters by phone from Madrid, where he is directing the Mozart opera “Cosi Fan Tutte.”


In “Amour,” Georges, played by veteran French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant, cares for bed-ridden Anne, played by Emmanuelle Riva, who has difficulty moving and speaking following a stroke.


One day when Anne is particularly beset by pain, Georges suffocates her, presumably out of love and to end her suffering.


Riva, 85, earned a Best Actress nomination for her role and made Hollywood history as the oldest actress to be nominated for the leading female award.


PERSONAL EXPERIENCE


Haneke, known for 2001′s “The Piano Teacher” and 1997′s “Funny Games” and its 2007 Hollywood remake, said the story was motivated by an aged aunt in poor health who asked him to help her commit suicide.


“I loved her very much and to watch her suffer was very difficult, but I certainly couldn’t help her (kill herself) because I’d be thrown in jail,” Haneke said. “Personally, I don’t believe I could’ve done it anyway.”


Haneke’s aunt killed herself at the age of 93.


Amour” has already won wide acclaim, winning the top honor at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and Best Foreign Language Film at Hollywood‘s Golden Globe Awards in January.


The film is vying for the Best Foreign Language Oscar alongside “Kon-Tiki” from Norway chronicling Thor Heyerdahl’s 1947 trans-Pacific expedition on a raft; Chilean political drama “No,” with Gael Garcia Bernal; Danish period drama “A Royal Affair”; and “War Witch,” a Canadian drama about an African child soldier.


Critics have applauded “Amour” for its heart and tenderness, but have cautioned moviegoers about the bleak storyline as Anne slowly dissolves on screen.


The New York Review of Books’ Francine Prose called the drama the “ultimate horror film … far scarier and more disturbing” than classics such as “Psycho” and “The Shining.”


Tom Long at The Detroit News echoed those sentiments: “In many ways it’s the best horror film I’ve ever seen. At the same time, it’s hard to recommend; I believe I will be struggling to forget this film as long as I live.”


Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun-Times, cautioned, “Old age isn’t for sissies, and neither is this film.”


Haneke noted how audiences have found “Amour” mirrors their own experiences, as it did his own.


“I believe that it has been a bit exaggerated how the film has been portrayed as so shocking, but the truth is always shocking … we all grow old and nearly all of us get sick,” he said.


“People have said it’s just like what happened to me and my family. It indeed crosses generations as young people see how their grandparents die, become ill or simply suffer, and now their parents are in the same situation. It’s a matter that affects everyone.”


(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Belinda Goldsmith and Vicki Allen)


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British actor Hugh Grant announces birth of second child






LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hugh Grant announced on Saturday that he had become a father for the second time after Tinglan Hong gave birth to a baby boy.


“In answer to some journos (journalists),” the British actor posted on the social media website Twitter, “am thrilled my daughter now has a brother. Adore them both to an uncool degree. They have a fab mum.”






“And to be crystal clear. I am the Daddy,” he added in a second tweet.


Grant, 52, who is best known for such films as “Notting Hill” and “About a Boy,” did not reveal the child’s name on Twitter.


The actor and Hong had their first child in 2011, when his spokeswoman said in a statement that the baby girl was the result of a “fleeting affair” but Grant “could not be happier or more supportive.”


Days later, Hong won a court injunction in Britain “prohibiting harassment” of her and the child after she said paparazzi had made her life unbearable. Grant is a strident critic of Britain’s tabloid newspaper culture.


On his Twitter message on Saturday, Grant mentioned that the press had obtained his baby boy’s birth certificate and were making inquiries. “Now I’ve confirmed … hoping my family will be left in peace,” he wrote.


(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Paul Simao)


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Cage channels caveman in animated film ‘The Croods’






BERLIN (Reuters) – DreamWorks Animation‘s new 3D adventure “The Croods” brings the prehistoric age to the 21st century in the form of a dysfunctional family of cave dwellers forced to flee the comforts of home and search out a new life in the unknown.


“Never not be afraid” and “Fear keeps us alive” are the mantras for Grug, the ape-like father voiced by Nicolas Cage and whose first instinct is always to find a cave, block up the entrance and stay there as long as possible.






But while he seeks to protect his brood from giant, hyena-like predators lurking in the shadows, his teenaged daughter Eep (Emma Stone) is desperate to spread her wings, and it is her curiosity that leads the Croods to the other main character Guy.


Guy introduces the Croods to fire and to a new way of thinking, and when the world literally falls apart around them they flee the collapsing deserts and canyons to find a lush, tropical world full of exotic yet dangerous creatures.


Flying pink piranha birds devour walking whales in seconds, while tiny monkeys with giant fists use Grug as a punch bag.


Much play is made of the first modern family coming up with the first pair of sunglasses (out of stone), the first pet, and the first photograph – made by smashing a flat rock against the Croods’ faces and leaving indentation marks.


For Cage, the appeal of “The Croods”, which hits theatres in March and has its premiere at the Berlin film festival on Friday, was that the themes were recognizable today.


“The first thing I thought was ‘Gee, I really hope I don’t look like that’,” he told reporters, referring to Grug’s less-than-flattering features.


“But what I really like about the relationship that Emma and I have in the movie is that it’s a relationship that I think many families can relate to – the over-protective father, the teenaged daughter who wants to have some adventure.”


“THE CROODS” 2?


While “The Croods” is about discovering ourselves, leaving our comfort zone and learning to let go of loved ones, Cage warned against seeing the action-packed comedy as too much more.


“For me to go about any movie as a message movie is going about it the wrong way,” said the 49-year-old, whose prolific career has spanned action, arthouse and romance and included a best actor Oscar for the 1995 film “Leaving Las Vegas”.


“To me it’s more reflection, to be a mirror in some way of what we are feeling as families all over the world.”


“The Croods” has been nearly a decade in the making, and is the first title by DreamWorks, behind hit franchises like “Kung Fu Panda” and “Madagascar”, to be distributed by 20th Century Fox after the deal with Paramount Pictures ended.


Asked whether it could form the basis of another lucrative series, co-director Chris Sanders said he had so much extra material left on the cutting room floor from the first movie that it would be relatively easy to do if required.


Cage added: “I would like to see another adventure with the Croods.”


With its end-of-the-world atmosphere, and news on Friday of a meteor exploding over central Russia, the cast were asked what their final film project might be if they knew the end was nigh.


“What haven’t I done yet?” Cage replied. “I’d like to be in a musical. I think I’d do a musical if it was the last movie I ever did in the world, singing and dancing while everything is exploding.”


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


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‘Melrose’ actress gets 3 years for deadly NJ crash






SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) — A former “Melrose Place” actress who was drunk when her SUV plowed into a car and killed a woman was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison, infuriating the victim’s relatives, who had hoped for the 10-year maximum.


“What a travesty!” the victim’s husband, Fred Seeman, yelled after the sentence was read.






“This is not justice,” the victim’s 26-year-old son, Ford Seeman, told the judge before he stormed out of the courtroom.


A jury in November convicted Amy Locane-Bovenizer of vehicular homicide in the 2010 death of 60-year-old Helene Seeman in Montgomery Township.


Locane-Bovenizer will be eligible for parole after 2 1/2 years and will be credited the 81 days she has already served. She also had her license suspended for five years and will be on probation for three years after her release. She must pay several thousand dollars in fines.


Locane-Bovenizer, who didn’t testify at the trial, appeared in 13 episodes of TV’s “Melrose Place” and in movies including “Cry-Baby,” ”School Ties” and “Secretary.”


Prosecutors say she was driving with a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit when her SUV slammed into a Mercury Milan driven by Fred Seeman as he was turning into his driveway. Fred Seeman’s wife, Helene, was killed, and he was seriously injured.


During the trial, the defense argued that Fred Seeman was making a slow turn, which contributed to the crash. They maintained that it was an accident, not a crime.


The defense also shifted blame to a third motorist who they say distracted the actress by honking at her and chasing her after being rear-ended. They said the chase led Locane-Bovenizer to drive 20 miles over the speed limit on a dark two-lane road.


The judge lowered the maximum sentence citing the hardship on Locane-Bovenizer’s two young children. One has a serious medical and mental disability. The defense went into detail about how her sick child was deteriorating physically and psychologically since the actress’ incarceration and about how a prolonged sentence would make it worse.


“I’m just glad her little girls will have their mother back soon,” Locane-Bovenizer’s mother, Helen Locane, said as she walked out of the courtroom.


In an emotionally charged statement, Fred Seeman told the court that the defense contention that his vehicle was turning slowly added “salt on the wound,” and he said he was appalled that Locane-Bovenizer took no responsibility for killing his wife.


The actress, in turn, apologized to Seeman’s family and said she did take full responsibility.


“I am truly sorry for all of the pain I have caused,” she said, struggling to get through her statement, as she looked toward the family that packed one side of the courtroom while her friends and family packed the other. “My own suffering will never go away.”


Judge Robert Reed said that he had no sympathy for the actress but that the children should not suffer even more because of her actions.


The Seeman family said after the sentencing that the decision was a “mockery” and only added to the suffering they’ve endured since the accident.


“What’s one more punch in the gut?” Ford Seeman said.


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“Under the Dome” to stream on Amazon days after CBS airing






NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – They won’t be able to watch every episode right away, “House of Cards” style, but Amazon customers will be able to watch episodes of the Stephen King miniseries “Under the Dome” four days after they air on CBS.


The companies announced the agreement Monday for the series from Steven Spielberg‘s Amblin Television, which will premiere on CBS on June 24.






Amazon Prime members will have free, unlimited streaming of all the series’ episodes four days after their initial broadcast. Episodes will also be available for purchase and download exclusively at Amazon Instant Video.


The series tells the story of a small Maine town suddenly sealed off from the world by a large, transparent dome. It based on King’s 2009 book of the same name.


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Keep breasts, buttocks under wraps, CBS tells Grammy performers






LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Grammy performers have been told to cover up at Sunday’s big music awards show, and keep their buttocks, nipples and genitals under wraps. Their politics can’t show either.


In a “wardrobe advisory,” broadcaster CBS also asked musicians and audience members likely to appear on camera at the February 10 Grammy Awards ceremony to avoid wearing brand names on T-shirts as well as clothing with political or activist slogans.






“Please be sure that buttocks and female breasts are adequately covered. Thong type costumes are problematic. Please avoid exposing bare flesh under curves of the buttocks and buttock crack,” said the memo issued by CBS standards and practices department and obtained by entertainment industry website Deadline.com on Wednesday.


“Obscenity or partially seen obscenity on wardrobe is unacceptable for broadcast,” the note added.


The warning follows a lengthy court battle over indecency and obscenity standards on U.S. network television.


CBS, a unit of CBS Corp, was fined $ 550,000 by the Federal Communications Commission for airing a glimpse of Janet Jackson‘s breast when her costume slipped while singing at the Super Bowl half-time show in 2004.


The fine was later thrown out and that decision was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2012. CBS has expressed “deep regret” for the incident.


The annual Grammy Awards ceremony honors the best musicians of the year, but is also a major promotional showcase for rising stars and upcoming albums.


In 2010, singer Pink performed upside down in a flesh-colored bodysuit, while Rihanna last year wore a plunging black dress on the red carpet.


Performers at Sunday’s three-hour show in Los Angeles include Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Maroon 5, Frank Ocean, Alicia Keys and Elton John.


(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Doina Chiacu)


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Kiefer Sutherland named Hasty Pudding Man of the Year






LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Kiefer Sutherland has gained his share of accolades throughout his acting career, but none quite like this.


The “24″ star has been named 2013′s Man of the Year by Harvard University‘s Hasty Pudding Theatricals student society, succeeding “The Muppets” actor Jason Segel, who received the honors last year.






Sutherland will be feted with a roast on Friday at Harvard’s Farkas Hall, where he will receive his ceremonial Pudding Pot. If Hasty Pudding tradition is any indication, Sutherland will also dress at least partially in women’s clothes at some point during the event. Which is presumably a rare event for the actor.


“Inception” actress Marion Cotillard, who was named 2013′s Woman of the Year by the theatrical society, was honored at a January 13 ceremony, during which she led a parade through the streets of Cambridge, Mass.


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For “Life of Pi,” the secret to its sound is in the silence






LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Ang Lee‘s “Life of Pi” was a famously difficult movie to pull off, a philosophical and spiritual journey featuring a young protagonist (don’t work with kids) stranded on the open sea (don’t work on water) with his only companion, a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker (don’t work with animals).


Throw in a beloved bestselling book whose devoted fans would be comparing the adaptation to the novel, extensive special effects that included a menagerie of largely CG animals, and Lee’s decision to shoot in 3D for the first time, and only the truest of true believers would have dared suggest that the movie would end up an international hit with grosses approaching $ 450 million, and a critical favorite with 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and both sound categories.






For Oscar nominated sound mixers Doug Hemphill, Ron Bartlett and Drew Kunin, “Life of Pi” was both a technical challenge and a spiritual journey – as Hemphill termed it, “one of the most beautiful mixing experiences I’ve ever had.” Hemphill and Bartlett spoke to TheWrap about sound, silence and the particular challenges of an impossible movie that turned out to be possible after all.


What was your basic approach to the sound mix on “Life of Pi?”


Doug Hemphill: It was all based on the tacit understanding that the sound reflected Pi’s inner life and the arc of the story. That was our roadmap, but since Ang is incredibly creative, we took chances here and there and went to different places. And the way I always work, I try to stay in the audience. It’s not a technical job to me. It’s a job of feeling emotions and participating in the film and the story, and responding with sound as if I was an audience member. Would I like to have quiet here? Would I like to have some sound that would help tell the story better? It’s just a million choices that are sometimes based on your instincts.


You talked about the quiet, and a lot of the movie takes place in a setting that seems very quiet: the open sea, particularly when it’s calm.


Hemphill: There are so many things going on in the film, and one of them is the Buddhist idea that you can’t have anything until you lose everything. Ang said to me, “Sometimes in film there’s a desire to fill in the quiet spaces with something, and I don’t want to do that.” He wanted to have that quiet, and let people think and absorb, as Pi was doing in the film. It takes confidence to be able to do that.


Ron Bartlett: There were moments in the film where we really went with a more sparse, isolated feel. Out in the middle of the ocean we purposely dialed some things back and didn’t fill the track up with sounds for story reasons. Pi’s abandoned, he’s alone, he’s totally isolated, and we didn’t want to wrap a lot of sound around him.


Hemphill: That’s a maxim that was used throughout “Life of Pi” in the track. It’s like a writer saying, “Let the readers finish the sentence and bring themselves into the story.” Certainly with sound and music, when you hold back a little it can be just right for the story, because it doesn’t crowd the audience.


I spoke to composer Mychael Danna, and he said at first he sometimes found himself trying to put too many ideas into the music. But he had to learn to dial it back, and simplify what he was doing.


Hemphill: The whole film is like that. It’s not a literal movie about including the sounds of everything you see. It’s about what is necessary to tell the story and leave breathing room. Mychael was definitely very conscious of that, and I think he wrote one of the most beautiful scores I’ve heard in a long time. I can’t tell you the effect that score had on us when we were working on it.


Bartlett: The music was really the heart and soul of the film, and it was a dream gig to mix that kind of score. The challenge was to make it the best I could, because I had so much respect for it.


Let’s talk about the sequence in the movie where Pi and Richard Parker find themselves on an island occupied by tens of thousands of meerkats, all of them chattering away.


Hemphill: We were just laughing about that last night. Ang said to Eugene Gearty, who did the sound design, “OK, you’ve got 100,000 meerkats in the movie, Eugene. What are you going to do?” And Eugene knew it had better be good. He was out recording meerkats until he probably became the world’s leading expert in meerkat vocalizations.


Bartlett: He used some great tricks with the sound design to make it feel like a crowd. And there are so many different emotions running through that sequence. Pi is elated, he wakes up with the sound of the water lapping, and now he’s got land and water and food and everything’s great. And then he find that something weird is going on. So many different emotions, all in one sequence.


Was it tricky to find just the right balance in a sequence like that?


Hemphill: Very. Volume changes, revealing things but leaving the audience enough room to dive into the story – all the little adjustments make such a big difference. I’ll give you another example: One of our biggest challenges was when Pi and Richard Parker are in the lifeboat and they’re dying, and the tiger’s head is in his lap, and Pi says, “Can you feel the rain?” We worked hard to get the flat, dead-sounding rain plops, and have that be very sparse and funereal. And with Richard Parker’s vocals, we made a very conscious choice not to have any growls, just labored breathing and wheezing.


As Ang said, Richard Parker has his head on Pi’s lap not because he’s his friend, but because he’s too weak to attack him.


Bartlett: Things were so exposed in the film that you had to have the exact right sound, the right level. Everything was magnified because of the sparseness at times. And then it would go the other direction, like the storm sequence or the shipwreck sequence, where you’re flooded with sounds. It goes from the sparsest raindrops to the hugest storm.


The two storms, though, play very differently onscreen.


Hemphill: Yeah. I’ve worked on a lot of movies with storm sequences, like “Master and Commander,” and the first storm sequence in “Pi” wasn’t a big action setpiece for me. It was about Pi being frightened and alone and separated from his family. So the storm had a real emotional content to me. It wasn’t about, “This is a Ferrari with the pedal to the metal.”


And for the second storm, we changed the paradigm. That storm was about Pi’s epiphany. Even though visually there was a huge storm, sonically it was the music that was telling the story and conveying the emotion. I was tasked with having a certain amount of what you saw in the soundtrack, because you see the storm. But what I chose to do was use filters to take frequencies out that would leave the music room and freedom to play, but still give the audience the sense of a storm under the music.


Bartlett: To rack focus, but respective of sound.


Hemphill: That’s what we do. To the layman I say, “You know how a cameraman racks focus to determine what you’ll be looking at? We do the same with sound.”


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Country singer Gary Allan bests Grammy nominees for Billboard No. 1






LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Country singer Gary Allan scored his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart on Wednesday, keeping Grammy-nominated favorites from the top spot.


Allan’s ninth studio album “Set You Free” sold 106,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan, garnering the singer his best sales week in his 17-year career.






The Billboard 200 is the album chart for all music genres.


Allan, 45, who is a staple within the country music scene, has notched three No. 1 albums in the Billboard country music chart.


The lead song from his new album “Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)” started gaining chart popularity in September last year, and Allan’s label decided to push forward the release of the album from March of this year to January.


Allan told Reuters the song struck a chord among audiences with its message of hope. “This is a time when our country needs hope and I think that’s why it’s doing so well,” he said.


Allan’s album kept Grammy nominees The Lumineers at No. 2 with their debut self-titled record, which was released last April but has steadily been rising on the charts after the band picked up two Grammy nominations.


The official “2013 Grammy Nominees” compilation album, the only other new record in this week’s top 10, landed at No. 4 this week after selling 41,000 copies, coming behind the soundtrack for last year’s comedy “Pitch Perfect.”


Allan’s reign atop the Billboard 200 is likely to be short-lived, for Canadian pop phenomenon Justin Bieber’s latest album, “Believe Acoustic” is set to debut at the top next week, making Bieber the youngest artist to score five No. 1 albums.


On the Digital Songs chart, rapper Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ “Thrift Shop” held onto the top spot for a third week, ahead of Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” at No. 2 and Lil Wayne’s “Love Me” at No. 3.


Justin Timberlake’s “Suit & Tie,” his first new single in five years, dropped from No. 2 to No. 8 this week on the Digital Songs chart.


(Editing by Philip Barbara)


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Mary Wells, singer of ‘My Guy,’ gets posthumous Rock Hall push






(Reuters) – Mary Wells, Motown Records‘ first female star who paved the way for the success of Diana Ross and The Supremes, shot to fame in the early 1960s only to fade away as a footnote of the longtime Detroit record label.


Now, some two decades after Wells’ death in 1992 at age 49, the singer who scored a No. 1 hit with “My Guy,” is receiving a push for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.






Peter Benjaminson, the author of the first Wells biography, “Mary Wells: The Tumultuous Story of Motown’s First Superstar,” has spearheaded the campaign for the singer, who he said has not received the recognition afforded to the likes of The Supremes or Martha and the Vandellas.


Benjaminson, 67, believes that aside from Wells’ merits as an R&B singer and as Motown’s first big female star, she deserves consideration as a pioneer who crossed the black-and-white racial divide in the United States.


“I think it’s unfair to have Mary, who set the path for so many superstars today, be excluded from an honor like this, which she should’ve gotten a long time ago,” Benjaminson told Reuters by phone from his home in New York’s Harlem neighborhood.


Wells was born into a broken household in Detroit in 1943 and contracted spinal meningitis and tuberculosis at a young age, which left her partially blind and deaf.


After graduating high school Wells set her sights on Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown, with a song she wrote herself, “Bye Bye Baby.”


“Gordy kept refusing (a meeting), but she kept persisting,” Benjaminson said. “Finally, he got so annoyed that he asked her to sing it right there … He was so impressed he signed her up the next day as a Motown singer.”


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“Bye Bye Baby,” rose to No. 45 on the Billboard Top 100 chart in 1960, a rare feat for a black, female singer, Benjaminson said.


“She really paved the way for the other women who came after, including Diana Ross,” Benjaminson said. “She showed how quickly a woman could rise on the charts with Motown.”


Wells was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and 1987, but never made the cut for induction.


“I don’t know what happened in 1986 and 1987, but she’s certainly due the honor this late in the game,” he said.


Benjaminson is hoping first to get Wells inducted into the Legends Hall of Fame at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, a prominent historical venue for African-American musicians.


“I think that would help in getting her into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” said Benjaminson, who hopes his book may play a role in resurrecting Wells’ reputation.


Benjaminson has set up a Facebook page called “Induct Mary Wells into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” that urges fans to send letters to the foundation that runs the Cleveland, Ohio-based Hall of Fame (http://www.rockhall.com/).


The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum was established in 1983 and has inducted some 700 performers, songwriters and record producers, chosen by some 600 artists, music historians and industry members.


After scoring other hits such as “You Beat Me to the Punch,” in 1962, Wells landed atop the chart for two weeks in 1964 with “My Guy,” her final Motown hit.


Wells left Motown at the height of her popularity over compensation issues and never found the same success again. She died in 1992 after a battle with throat cancer.


Benjaminson’s biography of Wells, published in November 2012, is his third book on Motown.


(Reporting by Kurt Anthony Krug in Detroit,; editing by Eric Kelsey, desking by G Crosse)


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Wispelwey: Loneliness of the long-distance cellist






LEIDEN, Netherlands (Reuters) – Dutch cellist Peter Wispelwey has recorded the haunting, delightful and soul-uplifting Bach Six Suites for Solo Cello three times and still he’s not finished.


His next, he says, is his “Lost in Translation” version, referring to the Bill Murray movie about an actor coming to terms with an alien culture in Tokyo.






Wispelwey is doing the same, flying into the Japanese capital for recording sessions in the early morning hours.


When it is released, he wants to strew CDs of portions of the Bach suites around Tokyo for people to find them, he told Reuters over a three-course dinner served during intervals as he performed in this Dutch university town.


“That’s my ideal,” he said. “I want the Tokyo preludes, the Tokyo gigues, the Tokyo allemandes.”


At this stage in his career, the 50-year-old Wispelwey who first fell in love with the cello’s growling sound at the age of two while listening to an amateur quartet in which his father played violin, can be indulged.


Growing up in a small country at a time when it did not have much of an established conservatory tradition, he more or less is a self-made cellist, though he has had several of the world’s best teachers, among them compatriot Anner Bylsma.


He made his name in the Netherlands by putting on recitals in his late teens of all the mainstream repertoire for solo cello, renting the hall himself, getting the tickets distributed and playing it all from memory.


He got his international credentials with his first 1990 recording of the Bach suites, for the Channel Classics label, which became one of the gold-standard versions.


His latest, and third version, is unique for tuning his baroque cello, with gut rather than modern steel strings, to a much lower pitch than A at 440 hertz, or slightly higher, which is the standard for modern orchestras, pianos, wind instruments and pretty much everything.


Wispelwey has done it at 397 hertz, a full tone below the modern A tuning, and a semitone, or half tone, below the usual baroque A which is 415 hertz.


There are theoretical reasons, including evidence it was the pitch Bach would have known. But more importantly, the sound world is different.


“If the general public comes in to hear the Bach suites on a baroque cello they need almost an hour just to adjust to that sound world and it’s not surprising,” he said, between gulps of food and before taking a shower to refresh for the continuation of one of the most demanding recital programs, for soloist and audience alike.


“We’re used to a steely, projecting laser beam of a sound and this has shades, it has color and it has the overtones. That’s why we can hear it. It has this very particular shine. but it’s a shine of nobility.”


Here’s what else he had to say about Bach’s appeal today, the mystical “Black Sarabande” and why it can sometimes seem a bit lonely being a cello soloist:


Q: What is it about Bach’s music, written in the early 18th century, that speaks to us three centuries later with such power, if not to say God-like authority?


A: “One is the magic of Bach. Even in the sparse notes of the cellos suites there is a narrative and it becomes more hypnotic the less you hear and the less you hear it filled in. It’s the hypnotic element of being carried away by so little. That said, the concentration of the listener is tunneled and first there’s an emotion of being narrowed but then the opposite happens.


“After an hour that tunnel gives suddenly way to the biggest panorama you’d ever want to see. It starts meaning everything, the small world becomes the big world and everything starts shining and becoming meaningful…Bach’s brain was all over the place all the time. That’s why we’re so eternally intrigued at what kind of creativity was at work there.”


Q: In the Suite No. 5, there’s a movement you call the “Black Sarabande”. Why?


A: “It’s painful, not nice. There is comfort in it but death is there. It’s about blackness, about dust and with the gut C string it sounds like dust, it sounds like throwing something into the grave or a last breath – it’s all there. The first four bars are a sort of solar system, all those notes hanging in space but they are somehow related…It’s dark and light and death and life. It’s so simple that its meaning expands in space. The simpler it is the more meaningful it seems to be.”


Q: Of course you don’t play only Bach – though you play these suites a lot. Two days from now you are doing a Schubert program and you also play modern composers like Ligeti and Crumb. Is it hard finding sufficient repertoire for an instrument which, let’s face it, has never been as big a crowd pleaser as the violin?


A: “It (Bach) does sound like you are playing really serious, profound music, so that’s good, and the other thing of course is the cello repertoire is so small that when we have six pieces by the greatest composer of all time, well, then, of course… There are 15 great cello concertos against 40 great violin concertos. The cello was emancipated (from its accompaniment role) late. Then look at the 20th century. We have Mstislav Rostropovich and suddenly we get this tsunami by the great composers…”


(Editing by Paul Casciato)


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Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace in talks for Soviet thriller






NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace are in talks to star in “Child 44,” a thriller that Ridley Scott and Michael Costigan are producing for Scott Free Productions, individuals with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap. “Safe House” filmmaker Daniel Espinosa will direct from a script by Richard Price, who is adapting Tom Rob Smith‘s novel.


Set in Josef Stalin‘s Soviet Union, the story follows Leo Demidov, a disgraced intelligence agent investigating a series of child murders. The paranoid Soviet government then becomes suspicious of his investigation.






The book, the first in a trilogy, is based on the true story of Ukrainian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo.


Hardy will play the officer and Rapace his wife.


The actors will first shoot “Animal Rescue,” a drama that Michael Roskam is directing for Fox Searchlight. Hardy, fresh off a year in big films such as ‘The Dark Knight Rises,” just wrapped “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Rapace, who appeared in 2012′s “Prometheus,” will next be seen in “Dead Man Down.”


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Despite previous beating, Rihanna back with Chris Brown






NEW YORK (Reuters) – It’s official: R&B diva Rihanna says she is back together with Chris Brown, who is still on probation for assaulting her in 2009, saying “It’s different now.”


“I decided it was more important for me to be happy,” Rihanna told Rolling Stone magazine in an interview published on Wednesday on its website.






“I wasn’t going to let anybody’s opinion get in the way of that. Even if it’s a mistake, it’s my mistake,” she said of her renewed romance with singer Brown, 23, that has prompted consternation from fans and celebrity media because of their history.


“After being tormented for so many years, being angry and dark, I’d rather just live my truth and take the backlash,” said Rihanna, 24, adding, “I can handle it.”


The couple’s reconciliation had been rumored for months, even before the pair unveiled a duet, “Nobody’s Business,” in November. That track was included on Rihanna’s latest album “Unapologetic.”


Brown pleaded guilty in 2009 to beating and punching Rihanna. He was sentenced to community service, anger management classes, given a restraining order and is still on probation.


The Barbadian singer told Oprah Winfrey in an emotional interview in August that she and Brown now had a “very close friendship,” and that she still loved him.


“When you add up the pieces from the outside, it’s not the cutest puzzle in the world,” Rihanna admitted to Rolling Stone, which hits newsstands this week with her gracing the cover above the headline, “Rihanna Crazy In Love.”


“You see us walking somewhere … and you think you know. But it’s different now. We don’t have those types of arguments anymore. We talk,” she said. “We value each other.”


But she noted that Brown is on probation with her as well, saying, “He doesn’t have the luxury of (messing) up again.”


“That’s just not an option … And I wouldn’t have gone this far if I ever thought that was a possibility.”


The interview was published three days after Brown’s latest dustup, which involved fellow musician Frank Ocean, over a parking space at a West Hollywood recording studio. Ocean has said he wants Brown prosecuted following the Sunday brawl.


In 2012 Rihanna was rated by Time and Forbes magazines as among the world’s and celebrity arena’s most powerful people.


(Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Philip Barbara)


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Singer Frank Ocean wants Chris Brown charged over brawl






LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rising R&B artist Frank Ocean wants fellow singer Chris Brown prosecuted following a brawl over a parking space at a Los Angeles-area recording studio, authorities said on Monday.


Brown is serving five years probation for assaulting his on-and-off girlfriend Rihanna in 2009 and risks having his probation revoked should charges be filed.






In the incident on Sunday, sheriff’s deputies responded to a call about a fight involving six men in West Hollywood. The deputies cited witnesses as saying that the Grammy-winning Brown, 23, punched Ocean during the brief altercation.


No charges have yet been filed, but Ocean “is desirous of prosecution in this incident,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff‘s spokesman Steve Whitmore.


Ocean, 25, who is nominated for best new artist and best record for “Thinkin Bout You” at the Grammys in February, said on Twitter on Sunday night that he “got jumped by Chris and a couple guys.” He said this resulted in a cut finger.


A representative for Brown has yet to comment.


The “Look at me Now” singer has attempted to rebuild his career and public image since 2009, but his entourage and that of Canadian rapper Drake were involved in a June 2012 brawl in a New York nightclub. No arrests or charges were brought in that case.


Brown and Ocean are both nominated in the best urban contemporary album category at the Grammys, which take place on February 10 in Los Angeles.


(Reporting by Eric Kelsey and Colleen Jenkins; Editing by David Brunnstrom)


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Rock singer Morrissey postpones six more shows due to bleeding ulcer






LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – British rock singer Morrissey is postponing six performances on his U.S. tour due to a bleeding ulcer, his spokeswoman said on Sunday.


Morrissey is expected to make a full recovery and thanks everyone concerned for their support during this time,” his representative Lauren Papapietro said in a statement.






Morrissey, the former lead singer for 1980s alternative rock band The Smiths, checked into Beaumont Hospital on Friday in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak, Papapietro said.


She declined to say if he remains hospitalized.


Due to his bleeding ulcer, Morrissey is postponing his upcoming shows in Asheville, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; Lawrence, Kansas; Clear Lake, Iowa; and Lincoln, Nebraska, Papapietro said.


He plans to resume his tour on February 9 in Las Vegas.


Due to an illness in his band, Morrissey, 53, canceled his show Thursday in Flint, Michigan, and postponed a Friday night performance in Minneapolis and another engagement set for Saturday night in Chicago, Papapietro said.


Morrissey, whose hits include “First of the Gang to Die” and “Irish Blood, English Heart,” toured North America last fall, played some shows in Australia and New Zealand in December and returned to the United States this month.


He kicked off his latest tour with a performance of his unreleased song “Action is My Middle Name” on “The Late Show with David Letterman” in New York.


(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Kevin Gray and Stacey Joyce)


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‘Hansel & Gretel’ nabs $19M, No. 1 at box office






LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters” cooked up $ 19 million in its opening weekend.


Paramount’s R-rated action film update on the classic fairytale topped the box office, according to studio estimates Sunday. “Hansel & Gretel” features Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as grown-up renditions of the title characters battling witches with crossbows.






Don Harris, Paramount‘s president of distribution, blamed icy weather on the East Coast for the film’s not-so-bewitching debut.


“We got dinged a little bit with the weather on Friday, but overall we’re pleased,” said Harris, who added that “Hansel & Gretel” performed solidly internationally, earning $ 25 million overseas.


Other films opening over the weekend in the U.S. and Canada didn’t fare as well. The crime thriller “Parker,” starring Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez, debuted in fifth place with $ 7 million, while Relativity Media‘s raunchy ensemble comedy “Movie 43″ opened in the seventh spot with $ 5 million.


Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian noted that it was the first time box-office grosses were down over last year after four up weekends.


Universal’s supernatural horror film “Mama” starring Jessica Chastain dropped to second place with $ 12.8 million in its second weekend.


Several best-picture Academy Awards contenders continued to benefit from Oscar buzz, as well as the motion picture academy’s decision to move up this year’s nomination announcement, giving nominees more time in theaters between the Jan. 10 nominations unveiling and the Feb. 24 ceremony.


“Having an Oscar nomination is like holding a lottery ticket,” said Dergarabedian. “It could pay off on Oscar night, but it’s already paying big dividends now. All this time between the Oscar nominations and the telecast is prime time for these movies to capitalize on their higher profile.”


“Silver Linings Playbook,” which is up for eight Academy Awards, came in third place over the weekend with $ 10 million. The film starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence is in its 11th weekend of release and earned $ 3 million overseas.


“Zero Dark Thirty,” the Osama bin Laden manhunt drama also starring Chastain, dropped to fourth place with $ 9.8 million. It’s competing in five categories at the Academy Awards and nabbed $ 3.6 million internationally.


“Django Unchained,” which is nominated for five Oscars, took in $ 5 million in sixth place, and the musical “Les Miserables,” which is up for eight Academy Awards, earned $ 3.9 million in the 10th position. It was the fifth weekend for both films. “Django” topped the international chart with $ 47.9 million in 65 total territories.


___


Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.


1. “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters,” $ 19 million ($ 25 million international).


2. “Mama,” $ 12.8 million.


3. “Silver Linings Playbook,” $ 10 million ($ 3 million international).


4. “Zero Dark Thirty,” $ 9.8 million ($ 3.6 million international).


5. “Parker,” $ 7 million.


6. “Django Unchained,” $ 5 million ($ 42.9 million international).


7. “Movie 43,” $ 5 million ($ 2.8 million international).


8. “Gangster Squad,”$ 4.2 million ($ 6.8 million international).


9. “Broken City,” $ 4 million ($ 500,000 international).


10. “Les Miserables,” $ 3.9 million ($ 14 million international).


___


Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:


1. “Django Unchained,” $ 42.9 million.


2. “Skyfall,” $ 35.4 million.


3. “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters,” $ 25 million.


4. “Life of Pi,” $ 17.5 million.


5. “Les Miserables,” $ 14 million.


6. “Lincoln,” $ 10.7 million.


7. “Miracle in Cell No. 7,” $ 9.7 million.


8. “The Impossible,” $ 7.2 million.


9. “Gangster Squad,” $ 6.8 million.


10. “Wreck-It Ralph,” $ 5.9 million.


___


Online:


http://www.hollywood.com


http://www.rentrak.com


___


Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.


___


Follow Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang


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Kutcher takes on tech idol Steve Jobs in ‘jOBS’






PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Ashton Kutcher says playing Steve Jobs on screen “was honestly one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever tried to do in my life.”


The 34-year-old actor helped premiere the biopic “jOBS” Friday, which was the closing-night film at the Sundance Film Festival.






Kutcher plays the Apple Inc. founder from the company’s humble origins in the 1970s until the launch of the first iPod in 2001. A digital entrepreneur himself, Kutcher said he considers Jobs a personal hero.


“He’s a guy who failed and got back on the horse,” Kutcher said. “I think we can all sort of relate to that at some point in life.”


Kutcher even embodied the Jobs character as he pursued his own high-tech interests off-screen.


“What was nice was when I was preparing for the character, I could still work on product development for technology companies, and I would sort of stay in character, in the mode of the character,” he said. “But I didn’t feel like I was compromising the work on the film by working on technology stuff because it was pretty much in the same field.”


But playing the real-life tech icon who died in 2011 still felt risky, he said, because “he’s fresh in our minds.”


“It was kind of like throwing myself into this gauntlet of, I know, massive amounts of criticism because somebody’s going to go ‘well, it wasn’t exactly…,’” Kutcher said.


While the filmmakers say they tried to be as historically accurate as possible, there was also a disclaimer at the very end of the credits that said portions of the film might not be completely accurate.


Still, realism was always the focus for Kutcher, who watched “hundreds of hours of footage,” listened to Jobs’ past speeches and interviewed several of his friends to prepare for the role.


The actor even adopted the entrepreneur’s “fruitarian diet,” which he said “can lead to some serious issues.”


“I ended up in the hospital two days before we started shooting the movie,” he said. “I was like doubled over in pain, and my pancreas levels were completely out of whack, which was completely terrifying, considering everything.”


Jobs died of complications from pancreatic cancer.


Still, Kutcher was up to the challenge of playing Jobs, in part because of his admiration for the man who created the Macintosh computer and the iPod.


“I admire this man so much and what he’s done. I admire the way he built things,” Kutcher said. “This guy created a tool that we use every day in our life, and he believed in it when nobody else did.”


The film also shows Jobs’ less appealing side, withholding stock options from some of the company’s original employees and denying child support to the mother of his eldest child.


Kutcher still found the man inspiring. Jobs had a singular focus, Kutcher said, and felt like anyone could change the world.


“I don’t know if there’s ever been an entrepreneur who’s had more compassion and care for his consumer than Steve Jobs,” Kutcher said. “He wanted to put something in your hand that you could use and you could use it easily… and he really cared about that.”


___


AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy.


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Brooke Shields signs up for a hitch on Lifetime’s “Army Wives”






LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Brooke Shields has signed up for the Air Force – or at least the Air Force as it’s portrayed on “Army Wives.”


“Pretty Baby” star Shields will join the cast of the Lifetime series for its seventh season, the network said Thursday.






Shields will play Katherine “Kat” Young, a brash, brilliant Air Force colonel and crack C-17 pilot who clashes with Gen. Michael Holden (Brian McNamara) shortly after arriving at Joint Base Marshall Bring.


But after Young and Holden’s Air Force-Army rivalry gets underway, Holden discovers that Young has a tragic past — and more in common with him than he first thought.


The ABC Studios-produced “Army Wives” returns for its seventh season March 10 at 9 p.m. with a drastically revamped cast. In addition to Shields, singer/actress Ashanti, Torrey DeVitto of “Pretty Little Liars,” Bring It On” alum Elle McLemore and singer Jesse McCartney have joined the cast. Meanwhile, Kim Delaney has departed the series, and former series regular Sally Pressman will only appear “in several episodes” of the new 13-episode season.


“We’re all very excited about season seven, in which a new tribe emerges from the shadow of tragedy,” executive producer Jeff Melvoin said of the upcoming season on Wednesday.


TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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GLAAD protests Nat Geo’s collaboration with Boy Scouts






LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – The advocacy group backed a Change.org petition started by Will Oliver, a 20-year-old gay Eagle Scout, that calls on Nat Geo to air a disclaimer clarifying the network’s views before each episode of its new series, “Are You Tougher than a Boy Scout.” It debuts this spring.


“That National Geographic would brush aside countless gay teens suffering at the hands of the BSA, shrugging off injustice as just another ‘point of view,’ is irresponsible,” GLAAD president Herndon Graddick said in a statement. “By airing this program, National Geographic is providing support and publicity to an organization that harms young people simply because of who they are. If the network is truly committed to standing by its non-discrimination practices, it should have no problem airing a disclaimer to that effect.”






Nat Geo did not immediately respond to calls from TheWrap requesting comment.


But in a statement to GLAAD, the network said the show has “nothing to do with this debate” over the Boy Scouts’ LGBT policies.


“As it relates to our upcoming show with the Boy Scouts, we certainly appreciate all points of view on the topic,” Nat Geo said in the statement, “but when people see our show they will realize it has nothing to do with this debate, and is in fact a competition series between individual scouts and civilians.”


GLADD pointed to the Boy Scouts’ October 2012 Progress Report of its National Council Strategic Plan 2011-2015. It cites the Nat Geo series as a “strategic partnership” aimed at promoting the idea that “scouting is ‘cool’ with youth.”


The report states that the Scouts will begin working on marketing plans with National Geographic for “leveraging the show with Scouting audiences and audiences outside of scouting.”


“It’s all too clear that this show is just a marketing ploy, crafted by the BSA to boost dwindling membership and distract Americans from the Scouts’ long history of discrimination,” Graddick said. “National Geographic Channel is the means to that end and must therefore make it clear where the network stands.”


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