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| Singer Loretta Lynn puts out small house fire, prepares for tour Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 06:36 PM PST  By Tim Ghianni NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Country singer Loretta Lynn suffered minor burns on her hands putting out a small fire at her ranch near Nashville, but the incident will not keep the coal miner's daughter from performing in Texas on Friday, a representative said. Lynn, 81, snuffed a small fire on Tuesday in the sun room of her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, which is about an hour's drive west of Nashville, Will Rourk, manager at the Loretta Lynn Ranch, told the Tennessean newspaper. Rourk told The Tennessean Lynn was watching television when she heard a crackling sound and smelled smoke in another room. Full Story | Top |
| Hollywood Oscar campaigns: A civil affair in a wide-open field Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 05:09 PM PST  "I feel that this year is more exhausting than ever," said Tim Gray, the awards editor at trade publication Variety, noting the number of high-quality films among the best picture nominees. This year, nine films will compete for the best picture Oscar, which will be handed out on March 2 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles. "I think it works on the supposition, 'Leave no stone unturned,'" he said, noting how stars and directors have been attending screenings and question-and-answer sessions, sometimes more than one per day, to reach some 6,000 Oscar voters. Full Story | Top |
| From bathrooms to museums: odd sets for Oscar statuettes Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 05:06 PM PST  The most valuable piece of hardware in Hollywood is the 13-and-a-half-inch (34-cm) golden Oscar statuette, so it is no surprise recipients of the top film honors keep theirs in a variety of safe spots. Emma Thompson, a two-time winner for "Howards End" and "Sense and Sensibility," has stowed her Oscars in the bathroom, or rather loo, of her London abode. And it's nice for them to have a go, pick them up." Cate Blanchett, a frontrunner for best actress for her role in "Blue Jasmine" for this Sunday's Academy Awards, has to pay to see her Oscar from "The Aviator." "My Oscar is in a film museum called ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) in Melbourne," the 44-year-old star said. "I get to pay a ticket and go see it every now and again." Winners of the 2,809 Oscars awarded so far may opt for the more mundane living room, like Charlize Theron for her "Monster" Oscar, or the office, the home for George Clooney's two awards for "Argo" and "Michael Clayton." But Jennifer Hudson created an award wall and put her statuette for "Dreamgirls" in a starring role. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Nominees for the 86th Academy Awards Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 04:29 PM PST (Reuters) - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will host the 86th annual Academy Awards, the film industry's highest honors, on Sunday at a ceremony in Hollywood. ... Full Story | Top |
| 'Frozen' album reclaims top spot for fifth time on Billboard 200 Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 01:43 PM PST  By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The soundtrack for Disney's hit animated film "Frozen" reclaimed the top spot on the weekly Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, becoming the first soundtrack in 15 years to notch more than five weeks at No. 1 on the chart. The last film soundtrack to spend more than five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 was 1998's "Titanic," which featured Celine Dion's hit "My Heart Will Go On" and held the top spot for 16 consecutive weeks, Billboard said. Two new entries cracked the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart this week. Overall album sales for the week ending February 23 totaled 4.8 million units, Billboard said, down 12 percent from the comparable week in 2013. Full Story | Top |
| A Minute With: Patton Oswalt on Spirit Awards and playing host Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 01:28 PM PST  By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - When it comes to hosting an awards show, Patton Oswalt has a few tricks up his sleeve that include keeping a celebrity-filled crowd on edge. The Virginia-born Oswalt, 45, has forged a career in comedy, with roles in TV sitcoms "The King of Queens" and "Two and a Half Men," and films such as 2011's "Young Adult" and last year's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." With his comforting, friendly and often neighborly vocal tone, Oswalt is also a regular voice actor and stand-up comedian. On Saturday, he will host the Film Independent Spirit Awards, a laid-back luncheon held in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, California, the day before Hollywood's Oscars night. Oswalt spoke to Reuters on hosting duties, the industry of independent film and how to break the ice with nominees. Full Story | Top |
| Cablevision beats Street on subscriber numbers, shares rise Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 01:10 PM PST Cablevision Systems Corp lost fewer video subscribers than expected in the fourth quarter and said the company expects growth in cash flow in 2014, which sent shares of the cable operator higher on Wednesday. "Cablevision is facing fewer customer losses with strong Verizon FiOS competition," said ISI analyst Vijay Jayant. The cable operator has the largest exposure to Verizon's pay TV service, which has been taking customers away from cable companies in recent years. Kristin Dolan, the president of Optimum Services at the company, said Verizon has been aggressive with its promotional pricing. Full Story | Top |
| Bieber bodyguard charged with snatching camera at Georgia arcade Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 12:07 PM PST  By David Beasley ATLANTA (Reuters) - One of pop singer Justin Bieber's bodyguards has been arrested and charged with stealing a photographer's $10,000 camera outside an arcade in an Atlanta suburb, police said on Wednesday. The 32-year-old guard, Hugo Hesny, was outside a children's play center and party business called the Funhouse late on Tuesday when he warned a photographer that he was too close to the teenage entertainer, the Sandy Springs Police Department said in a statement. "A confrontation ensued and the photographer attempted to leave the location, but at some point, the security guard caught up and took the camera," the police statement said. The incident was the latest in a string of legal problems involving 19-year-old Bieber, who last month was charged with driving under the influence, resisting arrest and using an expired license after Miami Beach police say they caught him drag racing. Full Story | Top |
| Lloyd Webber, Rice lose their touch in London as musicals close early Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 11:03 AM PST  By Michael Roddy LONDON (Reuters) - Two of the biggest names in British musicals, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, will close their latest shows early at the end of March, in a blow to the former partners' efforts to succeed separately in London's West End. Lyricist Rice and composer Lloyd Webber, who collaborated on such hits as "Evita", "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat", have suffered mixed reviews for their latest productions. Lloyd Webber's "Stephen Ward", which takes its name from an osteopath who was a central figure in the Profumo sex scandal in Britain in the 1960s, has been playing to half-full houses for the last month according to some reports. "I think the West End is giving a very clear message, a rather vulgar, cynical sort of money-grubbing message, to Tim Rice and to Lloyd Webber that it's time these two singles got together again," Sunday Telegraph theatre critic Tim Walker told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Renowned Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia dies at 66 Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 10:47 AM PST  By Raquel Castillo and Elisabeth O'Leary MADRID (Reuters) - Paco de Lucia, the influential Spanish guitarist who vastly expanded the international audience for flamenco and merged it with other musical styles, died suddenly of a heart attack on Tuesday evening in Mexico. The 66-year-old virtuoso, as happy playing seemingly impossible syncopated flamenco rhythms as he was improvising jazz or classical guitar, helped to legitimise flamenco in Spain itself at a time when it was shunned by the mainstream. Born Francisco Sanchez Gomez, he became famous in the 1970s after recording the bestselling album "Entre Dos Aguas", becoming the first flamenco musician to perform at Madrid's opera house Teatro Real in 1975. Paco's albums such as "El Duende Flamenco de Paco de Lucia" and "Almoraima" reinvented traditional flamenco. Full Story | Top |
| One Direction singer to make Doncaster Rovers debut Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 08:17 AM PST  (Reuters) - One Directon singer Louis Tomlinson will trade packed out music arenas for the Keepmoat Stadium on Wednesday when he makes his reserve team debut for English second-tier side Doncaster Rovers. "We've sold more than 4,000 tickets," Doncaster spokesman Steve Uttley was quoted as saying on the BBC. "The usual turnout for a match like this would be about 100." The 22-year-old joined the Championship side on a non-contract basis in August but was injured in a charity match which prevented him making his debut. ... Full Story | Top |
| Oscars pit gravitas of 'Slave' against pull of 'Gravity' Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 07:34 AM PST  By Mary Milliken LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - To historian Brenda Stevenson, a scholar on American slavery, "12 Years a Slave" is a masterful cinematic work that achieves more than any other film on slavery, so worthy that she plans to screen it in classes at her university, UCLA. It's the kind of validation "12 Years a Slave" has been earning from experts, critics, audiences and the film industry for six months now. The film from British director Steve McQueen appears to be the frontrunner for film's highest honor at Sunday's ceremony but has at least three factors conspiring against it: another high-quality, groundbreaking movie called "Gravity," the tricky math of Oscar voting and the film's own brutal depiction of American slavery. "One of the things I think Steve McQueen does extremely well is capture the violence of the institution." That unflinching portrayal of a real American story, that of the free black man Solomon Northup who is tricked and sold into slavery, may win on the gravitas scale. Full Story | Top |
| Racial barriers still hold back Hollywood's black talent Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 04:19 AM PST  By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - When Halle Berry and Denzel Washington won the best-acting Oscar categories and Sidney Poitier was honored with a lifetime achievement award in 2002, the night was a watershed for black actors in Hollywood. Since then the debate about Hollywood diversity among the African American community has continued to ebb and flow, but one fact remains constant: nearly all black actors are still only being recognized by the Academy Awards for playing specifically black characters in film. Four movies from 2013 have served to animate that conversation during Hollywood's awards season: "12 Years A Slave," "Lee Daniels' The Butler," "Fruitvale Station" and "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom." Only the first, Steve McQueen's historical drama, made it to the Oscars. Full Story | Top |
| Mads Mikkelsen lends steely star power to Denmark's hunt for Oscar Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 04:18 AM PST  By Eric Kelsey LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Danish drama "The Hunt" has at least one advantage over its rivals in its bid to win the best foreign-language picture Oscar: the familiar face of Mads Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen, the 48-year-old star of NBC television thriller "Hannibal," is no unknown to Oscar voters. Mikkelsen's work in Hollywood and his association with the upper echelon of the Danish film industry underscore his ability to maintain a high profile in both the United States and his home country. "Denmark is a small country and if I can make two films a year (here), people start getting sick and tired of you," Mikkelsen said wryly. Full Story | Top |
| Former editor of Hong Kong newspaper stabbed amid media tensions Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 04:01 AM PST  By James Pomfret and Alice Woodhouse HONG KONG (Reuters) - A former chief editor of a major Hong Kong newspaper known for its critical reporting was stabbed and seriously wounded on Wednesday in an attack that has fuelled concerns about what many see as an erosion of media freedoms. A man in a helmet attacked Kevin Lau, former chief editor of the Ming Pao daily, in broad daylight on a leafy harbourfront street, slashing him in the back several times. The attack took place days after 6,000 journalists marched to Hong Kong's government headquarters to demand the city's leaders uphold press freedom against what they see as intrusions from mainland China in a politically sensitive year. Such an attack, however, aimed at wounding rather than killing, was widely interpreted as a warning to Hong Kong's vibrant media that has remained a bastion of critical reporting on China, a far cry from mainland China, where media are subject to heavy censorship and state control. Full Story | Top |
| Hong Kong brothers jailed for trying to blackmail 'Transformers 4' crew Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 01:36 AM PST  A Hong Kong man was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in jail and his brother got six months on Wednesday over an attempt to extort nearly $13,000 from American director Michael Bay and his crew during filming of "Transformers 4". Mak Chi-hang and his younger brother Mak Chi-shing refused to close their air conditioner repair shop or turn down loud music in October when the crew was about to start shooting a scene for the science fiction movie. A member of the crew had approached the brothers the day before and they had agreed to compensation of HK$1,000 ($129), the district court heard. When the crew refused, an argument ensued, scuffles broke out and the younger Mak elbowed a police officer. Full Story | Top |
| Meet Nigeria's Captain Rugged - a superhero who can dance Wednesday, Feb 26, 2014 01:12 AM PST  By Jeremy Gaunt LONDON (Reuters) - A new superhero is fighting for freedom, justice and the Nigerian way in the mean streets of Lagos. He is the inspiration for Jones's latest "blufunk" album release and, unusually, the subject of a graphic novel published along with it. The idea, Jones says, is to show off Nigeria's premier city to the outside world - as a place that is as arresting as Paris or London, yet also transformed by unshared oil wealth into a blight of shanty towns and homelessness. "Nigeria is one of the fastest growing economies but none of that is trickling down," Jones told Reuters in a telephone interview. Full Story | Top |
| FCC looks to ban joint TV ad-sales deals in same local market: WSJ Tuesday, Feb 25, 2014 10:40 PM PST (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission plans a proposal on media-ownership rules that would make it harder for broadcast companies to control two TV stations in the same local market by using the same advertising sales staff, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. U.S. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is likely to make the long-awaited order public in the coming weeks and a five-member commission is expected to vote on it next month, WSJ said. Under current rules, broadcasters typically are banned from owning two full-power TV stations in the same local market. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. PBS correspondent Miles O'Brien loses forearm after mishap Tuesday, Feb 25, 2014 09:05 PM PST Public television science correspondent Miles O'Brien had his left forearm amputated during emergency surgery earlier this month after suffering what he thought was a minor blow to his limb while packing up some equipment, he said on Tuesday. O'Brien, 54, chronicled the progression of his medical horror story, which unfolded at the end of a lengthy reporting trip to Japan and the Philippines, in an account posted on his personal blog site. The initial injury, caused by a storage case falling onto his arm, left the limb sore and swollen, but O'Brien said he thought it would heal on its own without medical attention. Full Story | Top |
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