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| Singer Randy Travis pleads guilty to DWI, gets probation Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 06:25 PM PST  DALLAS (Reuters) - Grammy Award-winning country singer Randy Travis on Thursday pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and was sentenced to two years probation for an incident in which Texas State Troopers found him lying naked near his crashed car. Travis, 53, was ordered to serve at least 30 days at an in-patient alcohol treatment facility and was not charged for threatening the troopers who arrested him August 7 in Tioga, Texas, about 60 miles north of Dallas. Travis' blood alcohol level was more than double the legal limit in Texas when he was arrested, authorities said. ... Full Story | Top |
| "30 Rock" closes its doors with a sentimental farewell Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 06:22 PM PST  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Emmy-winning TV comedy "30 Rock" bowed out after seven seasons on Thursday with bittersweet farewells but giving all its zany characters a happy ending. The satirical show-within-a-show about the inside workings of a fictional television sketch series saw Tina Fey's hapless writer Liz Lemon try to round up her unruly cast for a last hurrah. ... Full Story | Top |
| Afghan ''Buzkashi Boys'' bank on Internet campaign for Oscar trip Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 04:46 PM PST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The teenage stars of an Oscar-nominated short film from Afghanistan hope to walk the red carpet at the Academy Awards in February thanks to donations that are pouring in to pay for their travel. A representative for the "Buzkashi Boys" film said on Thursday that an online campaign is two-thirds of its way to the $10,000 needed for 14-year-olds Fawad Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz to travel from Kabul to Los Angeles in time for Hollywood's biggest night on February 24. ... Full Story | Top |
| Geraldo Rivera ''Truly Contemplating'' New Jersey Senate Run Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 04:31 PM PST LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Geraldo Rivera said Thursday he is "truly contemplating" running for one of New Jersey's U.S. senate seats as a Republican. The Fox News host said on his radio show that he would run against incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg or Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a likely candidate for the seat if the 89-year-old Lautenberg steps down. "I mention this only briefly, fasten your seatbelt," Rivera said. "I mentioned this only briefly to my wife ... but I am and I've been in touch with some people in the Republican Party in New Jersey. ... Full Story | Top |
| 'Girls' Star Zosia Mamet Taps Into 'Darkness' of 20-Somethings in 'Really Really' Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 03:58 PM PST LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Zosia Mamet could have spent her hiatus from "Girls," shooting a movie, racking up guest spots on TV or doing commercials. Something lucrative that would have helped push her rising star farther into the stratosphere. But Mamet, whose father David Mamet lobbed lit sticks of dynamite at American theater more than three decades ago with his profane portraits of battered male egos in dramas like "American Buffalo" and "Glengarry Glen Ross," decided that the time was right to make her own mark on stage. ... Full Story | Top |
| Beyonce says sang along to pre-recorded track at inauguration Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 03:03 PM PST  NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Singer Beyonce said she sang along to a pre-recorded track at the inauguration of President Barack Obama, but delivered a stirring a cappella version of the U.S. national anthem at a Super Bowl news conference on Thursday. She also said would be singing live at the half-time show of the National Football League championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens at the Superdome on Sunday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Former New York mayor Ed Koch moved to hospital intensive care Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 02:26 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch was moved to a hospital intensive care unit on Thursday, his spokesman said, in a sign that his health could be deteriorating. Koch spokesman George Arzt said the 88-year-old politician, who earned a reputation for being as outspoken as he is colorful, was being moved so his cardiologist could better monitor his condition. Koch has been treated at New York-Presbyterian Hospital on and off since January 19. Koch was re-admitted to the hospital on Monday after complaining of shortness of breath. ... Full Story | Top |
| Arab-American groups call Coke Super Bowl ad ''racist'' Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 02:24 PM PST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Arab-American groups have sharply criticized a Coca-Cola Super Bowl ad depicting an Arab walking through the desert with a camel, and one group said it would ask the beverage giant to change it before CBS airs the game on Sunday before an expected audience of more than 100 million U.S. viewers. "Why is it that Arabs are always shown as either oil-rich sheiks, terrorists, or belly dancers?" said Warren David, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, or ADC. ... Full Story | Top |
| Boosted by James Bond, MGM to announce $650 million debt deal Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 02:03 PM PST  (Reuters) - MGM, the studio behind the James Bond movie franchise, will close a $650 million refinancing of its debt on Friday, reducing the likelihood that the filmmaker will file a contemplated initial public offering in the next few months. MGM, which emerged from bankruptcy in 2010, will use the debt to replace its existing $500 million credit line and to repay studios that have advanced it funds for joint production on films such as "Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", which was released in movie theaters on December 14 date and has sold $294.1 million of tickets in the U.S. and Canada. ... Full Story | Top |
| Roseanne Barr to Star in, Produce New Series for NBC Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 01:27 PM PST NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - NBC is betting on the up-again-down-again Roseanne Barr, signing the television icon to an overall deal that calls for her to develop a show she will star in and produce for the network. She will executive produce the series with Steven Greener, with whom she collaborated on "Roseanne's Nuts" for Lifetime. As part of the deal, Barr also will guest star in a three-episode arc on NBC's "The Office" as talent agent Carla Fern. She will help Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) pursue the career in show business he has always dreamed about. That arc begins filming this week. ... Full Story | Top |
| Relativity Buys Into Jim Carrey Heist Comedy ''Loomis Fargo'' Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 01:22 PM PST  NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Relativity Media has acquired worldwide rights to the Jim Carrey heist comedy "Loomis Fargo," which it will finance, produce and distribute, the studio announced on Thursday. Jared Hess, who co-wrote and directed "Napoleon Dynamite," will direct the movie from a script by Emily Spivey that also counts Chris Bowman and Hubbel Palmer as writers. Inspired by true events, it tells the story of four Southerners who stole nearly $20 million from an armed Loomis Fargo truck in 1997. ... Full Story | Top |
| ''Warm Bodies'' Review: Zombified ''Romeo & Juliet'' Lurches With Life Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 01:16 PM PST LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Not every movie has to homer it out of the park. "Warm Bodies," a surprisingly genial and clever little zombie-teen romance mash-up, qualifies as a solid base hit. And that's plenty good enough for a release during the winter of every moviegoer's discontent. Based on a 2011 novel of the same name by Isaac Marion, this tale of star-crossed teenage lovers, one of whom is inconveniently a member of the walking dead, is very loosely based on Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet. ... Full Story | Top |
| Amazon Orders 5 Children's Shows to Pilot Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 12:57 PM PST LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Amazon is continuing to beef up its original programming, ordering five potential children's series to pilot, including shows from the creators of "Blue Clues" and "Rugrats," the company announced on Thursday. "Creative Galaxy," "Oz Adventures," "Teeny Tiny Dogs," "Tumbleaf" and an untitled J.J. Johnson project will join six other comedy pilots on Amazon Instant Video. Viewers can watch for free and give their feedback - after which Amazon will decide what shows get series orders. No launch date has yet been scheduled for the pilots. ... Full Story | Top |
| Whitney Houston anniversary to be marked with TV Grammy special Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 12:27 PM PST  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Grammy organizers plan to mark the first anniversary of the sudden death of Whitney Houston with a behind-the-scenes TV show on how they scrambled to honor the singer just 24 hours after she died. The Recording Academy said on Thursday that the hour-long special entitled "The Grammys Will Go On: A Death in the Family" will air on February 9, the day before the 2013 Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. ... Full Story | Top |
| Time Warner Cable beats on high-speed data demand Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 11:41 AM PST  (Reuters) - Time Warner Cable Inc, the second largest U.S. cable operator, posted a fourth-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates, helped by robust demand for high-speed data services. Time Warner Cable and larger rival Comcast Corp have been increasingly relying on internet services to drive growth as they continue to lose cable TV subscribers. Time Warner said residential high-speed data revenue for the quarter rose 17.2 percent due to price increases and more subscribers opting for higher-priced services. ... Full Story | Top |
| Agency MP & Silva lands Premier League TV rights in Middle East Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 09:50 AM PST LONDON (Reuters) - TV sports rights firm MP & Silva has trumped larger rivals Abu Dhabi Media (ADM) and Al Jazeera to win a three-year contract to distribute English Premier League soccer in the Middle East and North Africa. The Premier League announced the agreement with the international media agency on Thursday, the latest in a series of rights deals expected to bring the League a total windfall of more than 5 billion pounds ($7.9 billion) in 2013 through 2016. ... Full Story | Top |
| One more newspaper for Buffett, this time in Greensboro, N.C Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 09:26 AM PST  (Reuters) - Warren Buffett added another newspaper to his growing chain at Berkshire Hathaway, scooping up The News & Record in Greensboro, North Carolina from Landmark Communications. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in a release on Thursday from BH Media Group, the division of Berkshire that operates its newspapers. The News & Record has a daily circulation of about 58,000, fitting nicely with BH Media's other newspapers, which are similar in size. Buffett is on a buying spree and has amassed 30 daily newspapers in Texas, Virginia, Nebraska, Iowa and other states in the U.S. Southeast. ... Full Story | Top |
| Book Talk: Backpacker-photographer shows China through unfiltered lens Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 07:33 AM PST  TORONTO (Reuters) - Tom Carter found himself homeless, jobless, with little money and 6,000 miles from home after answering a job posting on Craigslist that turned out to be a scam. But rather than return to San Francisco, Carter found a teaching job along China's Yellow River Delta, which is a world away from Beijing and Shanghai. Two years later, in 2006, he saved enough to embark on a 35,000-mile (56,325-km) two-year journey to every corner of China that inspired his 600-plus page photography book, "China: Portrait of a People. ... Full Story | Top |
| There's gold in luxury ads: Magazine publishers see sales gains Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 04:04 AM PST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Glossy products still look best on the glossy page. Advertising for luxury brands is driving increases in first-quarter ad pages at big magazine publishers, a welcome dose of good news for companies that have grappled with layoffs, restructurings and general malaise in a business whose fortunes have fallen as the online world has grown. Conde Nast, Hearst Magazines, Time Inc and Rodale all expect a rise in ad pages sold in their magazines for the first quarter. ... Full Story | Top |
| Translater's toil turns James Joyce opus into Chinese sellout Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 03:42 AM PST SHANGHAI (Reuters) - During the eight years it took Dai Congrong to translate "Finnegans Wake" into Chinese, she read numerous versions of the dictionary, took voluminous notes, and fought off despair and opposition from her husband. But her work on the first Chinese translation of the complex, stream-of-consciousness James Joyce opus about an Irish family paid off when the first print run of 8,000 sold out within weeks of hitting store shelves in December. "It was dull and depressing during the first two years," the 41-year-old literature professor at Shanghai's Fudan University told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Wispelwey: Loneliness of the long-distance cellist Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 03:21 AM PST 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. ... Full Story | Top |
| BSkyB to offer sports channels online for daily fee Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 02:33 AM PST  LONDON (Reuters) - BSkyB will offer its popular sports channels online for a daily fee, seeking new customers to offset slowing growth at its core pay-TV service amid sluggish consumer spending. Sky, Britain's dominant pay-TV group which provides fixed-line telephony, TV and broadband to 10.7 million households, has adapted its strategy during the economic downturn after years of chasing new subscribers to its core TV offering. ... Full Story | Top |
| New York Times says targeted by China hackers after Wen report Thursday, Jan 31, 2013 12:29 AM PST  BEIJING (Reuters) - The New York Times said on Thursday that Chinese hackers had "persistently" attacked its computers over the past four months since the paper published a story on Premier Wen Jiabao, but sensitive material related to the report was not accessed. The New York Times said the attacks coincided with its report last October that Wen's family had accumulated at least $2.7 billion in "hidden riches". China said at the time the report smeared his name and had ulterior motives. ... Full Story | Top |
| KKR, Apax to bid for Vivendi's GVT: report Wednesday, Jan 30, 2013 11:18 PM PST PARIS (Reuters) - Private equity firms KKR and Apax Partners are teaming up to bid for French media group Vivendi's Brazilian telecoms subsidiary GVT, according to a Bloomberg report citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter. The KKR-Apax group is said to be willing to pay as much as 5 billion euros ($6.8 billion) for GVT, below Vivendi's asking price of 8 billion, the report said. BTG Pactual Group, Latin America's largest investment bank, is "still considering" whether to join the bid, it added. The group would be bidding against U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
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