Eminem - merican rapper, record producer, and actor

Marshall Bruce Mathers III better identified by his stage name Eminem, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Eminem speedily gained popularity in 1999 with his major-label debut album, The Slim Shady LP, which won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. The following album, The Marshall Mathers LP, became the fastest-selling solo album in United States history. It brought Eminem increased popularity, including his own record label, Shady Records, and brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition.

The Marshall Mathers LP and his third album, The Eminem Show, also won Grammy Awards, making Eminem the first artist to win Best Rap Album for three consecutive LPs. He then won the award again in 2010 for his album Relapse and in 2011 for his album Recovery, giving him a total of 13 Grammys in his career. In 2003, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Lose Yourself" from the film, 8 Mile, in which he also played the lead. Eminem has scored over 1 billion vision on his official Vevo page on Youtube. Eminem is the most popular personality ever on Facebook with over 29 million likes.

Birth name	Marshall Bruce Mathers III
Date of Birth	October 17, 1972
Place Of Birth	Saint Joseph, Missouri, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, Record producer, Actor, Songwriter

Sheen Makes Surprise Appearance on Piers Morgan

Charlie Sheen rounded off a day of bizarre interviews with a surprise hour-long live appearance on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight Monday night. Sheen appeared a little more subdued than he had been earlier in the day, telling host Piers Morgan that he wasn't "bringing the crazy," and backtracking on remarks made elsewhere, including his demand for a pay rise. He told Morgan he wasn't under the influence, pulling out a clean drug test to prove it. Sheen said he didn't "take" cocaine—"I had to pay for it."

Sheen—while maintaining that he was on "a quest to claim absolute victory"—said he plans to go back and finish the season of Two and a Half Men and he can "sort of understand why" CBS felt the need to intervene after some high-profile incident. Morgan touched on the domestic abuse issue but for the most part went pretty easy on Sheen, offering compliments including "TV needs you" and "You're kind of the Che Guevara of Hollywood at the moment."

Actress Jane Russell dies aged 89th

Jane Russell, the brunette who was discovered by Howard Hughes and went on to become one of the biggest stars of the 1940s and '50s, has died at age 89.

Russell's daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield said the actress died on Monday at her home in Santa Maria of a respiratory-related illness.

Hughes, the eccentric billionaire, cast Russell in his sexy, and controversial, 1941 Western The Outlaw, turning her into an overnight star.

She would go on to appear opposite such leading men as Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope, as well as fellow actress Marilyn Monroe.

Although her film career slowed in the 1960s, Russell remained active throughout her life.

Until her health began to decline a few weeks ago, Ms Waterfield said she remained active singing and working for various causes.

With her sultry look and glowing sexuality, Russell became a star before she was ever seen by a wide movie audience. The Hughes publicity mill ground out photos of the beauty in low-cut costumes and swim suits, and she became famous, especially as a pin-up for Second World War GIs.

By that time she had become a box-office star by starring with Bob Hope in the 1948 hit comedy-Western The Paleface.

Although her look and her hourglass figure made her the subject of numerous nightclub jokes, unlike Monroe, Rita Hayworth and other pin-up queens of the era, Russell was untouched by scandal in her personal life. During her Hollywood career she was married to star UCLA and pro football quarterback Bob Waterfield.

After her movie career faded, she became the leader of the Hollywood Christian Group - a cluster of film people who gathered for Bible study and good works. After experiencing problems in adopting her three children, she founded World Adoption International Agency, which has helped facilitate adoptions of more than 50,000 children from overseas.

Jaycee Dugard Is Their Mom Girls Find Out Really

Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped when she was just 11 years old. After she was abducted, she was kept captive by her kidnappers for the next 18 years.While being held by the couple, Jaycee Lee Dugard gave birth to two daughters, both fathered by one of her kidnappers. And now, the two people responsible for taking her from that school bus stop twenty years ago have confessed.

Finally Phillip and Nancy Garrido have admitted that they abducted Jaycee, hoping for some kind of mercy. But regardless of the level of mercy distributed, the two are looking at some serious jail time.

How much time and does this finally give closure to this tragic tale?
The District Attorney offered a sentence of 241 years to Nancy Garrido and a sentence of 440 years to life for Phillip Garrido. And if they accepted the plea bargain offered, Jaycee and her two teenage daughters would not have to testify during a trial, which really would be best for everyone.

But even with a punishment of being in prison for the rest of their lives, does this really give any closure to Jaycee Lee Dugard and her family? And Dugard’s daughters must have a great emotional burden since it is their father, the only father they have ever known, who is behind bars. The two girls had never known about their mother’s past and that she had been kidnapped, but their mother’s reality became painfully clear after Phillip Garrido’s arrest. And it would undoubtedly be extremely painful if they were called to testify.

Should the girls not have to testify at the trial? And will they ever be able to find peace and closure?

Charlie Sheen Interview Today Show

(CBS) - A couple of things we now all know about Charlie Sheen: he's got "tiger blood," "Adonis DNA" and wants more cold hard cash to keep working on "Two and a Half Men."

Those are just some of the gems that spewed from the 45-year-old in a bombastic interview with NBC's Today Show on Monday.

In a televised chat that covered his battle with addiction, his feelings about CBS, and his feud with "Two and a Half Men" creator Chuck Lorrie, Sheen repeated his claim that he is clean and sober and ready to work.

"I have no interest in cocaine," he told Jeff Rossen on Today. When Rossen asked if Sheen was clean, he answered, "Look at me. Duh."

Sheen claims he has cured himself of addiction. How? "I closed my eyes and made it so with the power of my mind."

Right.

As for CBS, Sheen says, "We're definitely at war." Why? "They're trying to destroy my family."

He's not worried though. As he told Rossen, "defeat is not an option. They picked a fight with a warlock."

When asked if he should apologize to CBS for his recent antics, Sheen replied, "No, they owe me an apology, a public one. They should be licking my feet."

He shared a similar sentiment for Warner Brothers, suggesting they should rename it "Charlie Brothers." Sheen also continued his recent boasts that he is unlike most people. His "tiger blood" and "Adonis DNA" are part of what make him "special" and above addiction.

When asked if he was an anti-semite, Sheen insisted, "I'm not that guy."

"Two and a Half Men" fans hoping for a positive resolution to the whole situation can take heart. Near the end of his interview, Sheen said, "I will finish the TV show. I'm a man of my word. I'll even do season ten."

That is, of course, if CBS and Warner Bros. raise his salary to $3 million per episode, which Sheen has been asking for to return to the show.

CBS Entertainment had not commented by press time. CBS Entertainment and CBS News are owned by the same parent company.

Dancing With The Stars 2011

tmz.com:
WWE star Chris Jericho is locked in for the next season of "Dancing with the Stars" ... along with Kirstie Alley, rapper Lil' Romeo, and Kendra Wilkinson ... TMZ has learned.

Read the whole story: tmz.com

Jane Russell dead at 89

(CNN) -- The 1940s and '50s movie bombshell, whose name was synonymous with voluptuousness, died Monday morning at her home in Santa Maria, California, her family said. Jane Russell was 89.

Daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield said that Russell was a "pillar of health" but caught a bad cold and died of respiratory difficulties.

Russell's children, Thomas K. Waterfield, Tracy Foundas and Robert "Buck" Waterfield," were at her side, Etta Waterfield said.

Eccentric philanthropist and movie producer Howard Hughes was the first to put Jane Russell on the silver screen, signing her to a seven-year contract in 1940 and promptly putting her in his production of "The Outlaw," a film about a torrid romance between Billy the Kid and woman named Rio (Russell).

The film got only limited release -- in 1943 -- because censors at the time were skittish about the attention given Russell's figure. Hughes wasn't satisfied. He pulled the film from release and kept it out of circulation for six more years while he did more reshoots and re-editing.

And, Hughes kept Russell off the screen -- her only other appearance during those seven years was in "The Young Widow" (1946), shot while she was on loan to United Artists.

Hughes' extensive publicity campaign for "The Outlaw," however -- she has said that he had her making appearances five days a week for five years -- made Russell popular during World War II as a pin-up, and when the movie was finally released in 1946, she was a star.

Watch Video

While Hughes fetishized Russell's body in other films after her initial contract ended and the two negotiated another, the actress quietly made a name for herself as a talented actress capable of high drama or light comedy. She appeared as Calamity Jane with Bob Hope in "The Paleface" (1948) -- another loan-out -- and a sequel, "Son of Paleface," in 1952 -- earning an Oscar nomination for the song "Am I in Love?"

Robert Mitchum was her co-star twice -- in 1951's "His Kind of Woman" and 1952's "Macao." She shared the screen with Frank Sinatra and Groucho Marx in 1951's "Double Dynamite," and with Victor Mature, Vincent Price and Hoagy Carmichael in "The Las Vegas Story" (1952).

But it was 1953's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" with Marilyn Monroe that shot Russell into the stratosphere. She was hailed for her singing and comedic acting, and just two years later made her last film for Hughes.

Russell had some success as a singer in the 1940s, appearing with the Kay Kayser Orchestra, and in 1954 she and Beryl Davis, Connie Haines and Della Russell (later replaced by Rhonda Fleming) began recording religious-themed music and touring as The Four Girls.

Russell and her first husband, high school sweetheart Bob Waterfield -- an All-American quarterback for UCLA and a Pro Football Hall of Famer who played for the Cleveland Rams and the Los Angeles Rams -- formed a production company in 1955, producing three films starring Russell. But after "The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown" flopped in 1957, Russell took a break from film and concentrated on her music career.

When she returned to movies, however, she could not regain her prominence, ending her screen career with a series of Westerns in the 1960s and the 1970 detective film "Darker than Amber."

While it may have been the attention to Russell's figure that kept her away from superstardom, that figure brought her Madison Avenue stardom in the 1970s when she was featured in television commercials for the Playtex Cross Your Heart Bra "for us full-figured gals."

Russell had a few stage appearances in the 1970s and wrote an autobiography, "Jane Russell: My Path and My Detours," in 1985, revealing that her marriage to Waterfield ended in 1968 because of bouts with infidelity and alcohol.

Born in Minnesota to an Army lieutenant and a former actress, Jane Russell was drawn to drama but initially planned to become a designer. She took music lessons and acted in high school stage productions, but when her father died early, Russell went to work as a doctor's receptionist -- and did some modeling on the side -- to help support the family.

At 19, Russell had a botched, back-alley abortion that resulted in her inability to conceive children. She and Waterfield, whom she married in 1943, adopted three, and she devoted much of the rest of her life campaigning for adoption and adopted children.

Russell was married twice more, to actor Roger Barrett in 1968 and to businessman John Calvin Peoples in 1974. Her marriage to Barrett lasted but three months before he died of a heart attack. She and Peoples were together until his death in 1999.

Throughout her career, Russell was a staunch conservative who considered Democrats in Hollywood "crazy."

"In my day Hollywood was Republican," she once said. "All the heads of the studios were Republicans, and we were fighting Communism. You had John Wayne and Charlton Heston and myself and Bob Mitchum, and President Ronald Reagan came right out of that same group."

She was a vocal supporter of the Iraq war from its start in 2003, a vocal opponent of abortion, even in cases of rape or incest, a tireless fighter to "get the Bible back in schools." She despised the Clinton administration and was a fan of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and conservative commentator Ann Coulter.

And in 2003, she described herself as "a teetotal, mean-spirited, right-wing, narrow-minded, conservative Christian bigot," variations of which she frequently used.

Clare Maguire - Light After Dark

"We'll rise, then we'll fall"

All of a sudden, it seems like there's too much good music to keep up with. Not only do we have new singles from The Ark, Melody Club and The Sounds (it feels like 2004 all over again!), but there are about a gazillion new artists making this year very exciting. One of these is Clare Maguire, whose debut album is released today. It's a fantastic selection of songs, perched somewhere between Marina and Florence's albums (with a fair share of Annie Lennox thrown in). The quality's remarkably consistent, but I selected this song for today because the chorus is just so powerful. Whatever people say about her live voice, she sounds amazing in studio. I also love the moody, serpentine verses. Lots of attitude in a song/album that could have been very boring. I highly recommend giving Miss Maguire a try. This is some impressive stuff for fans of pop (especially lush, 80's pop).

Clare Maguire - Light After Dark by alienhits

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Google Glitch Disables 150,000 Gmail Accounts

Google, we have a problem. About 150,000 Gmail account holders woke up to a nightmare this morning, with all their e-mail, attachments and Google Chat logs gone. What happened?

Google explains that “less than 0.08%” of all Gmail users were affected by the bug, which completely reset accounts, even down to the detail offering a welcome message to those users when they first logged on today. They, and especially visitors to the Gmail Help Forum, were not amused.

But there’s good news here. The way Google is explaining it on its Apps Status Dashboard: “Google engineers are working to restore full access. Affected users may be temporarily unable to sign in while we repair their accounts.”

In an earlier message, Google wrote, “For those Gmail users reporting missing messages, our engineers are working to restore them as soon as possible.” So maybe this is not so bad after all. As long as Google restores the messages, all we had was a big scare. Will Google restore all the messages? We’ve contacted a Google spokesperson, and will let you know when we hear back.

Meanwhile, I’m going to back up all of my Gmail forthwith. But wait a minute -– how do you back up Gmail? Here:

This is a free application for Mac, PC and Linux called Gmail Backup. I gave it a try and it’s easy to use. After a quick download, you just give it your credentials and it begins downloading all your e-mails, backing them up securely no matter what Google decides to do. After 30 minutes, it had downloaded 2.4% of my e-mails, so this is not going to take forever. It’s probably time well spent.

Residents gather around a tank and an armed man on a rooftop flashes the victory sign, as foreign journalists arrive in Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, in Libya.

GENEVA -- The United States is pressing its European allies to set tough sanctions on the Libyan government, to turn up the heat on Moammar Qaddafi and convince his remaining loyalists to abandon the regime, U.S. officials said. The Obama administration also declared it stood ready to aid Libyans seeking to oust their longtime leader.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will make the administration's case for stronger action to foreign ministers from Britain, France, Germany and Italy when she holds a series of high-level talks Monday in this Swiss city.

Clinton will also look to coordinate future U.S. sanctions on Qaddafi's government with senior officials from Russia, Australia and the European Union so that the international community presents unified opposition to the attacks that have killed hundreds of people in the North African country, senior administration officials said Sunday.

They spoke after Clinton said the U.S. could offer "any type of assistance" to anti-Qaddafi Libyans organizing in the east of the country, though she made no mention of any U.S. military help to a provisional government that is organizing or of a no-fly zone over the country -- as called for by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent.

"We want him to leave and we want him to end his regime and call off the mercenaries and those troops that remain loyal to him," Clinton told reporters a day after President Barack Obama branded Qaddafi an illegitimate ruler who must leave power immediately. "How he manages that is obviously up to him and to his family."

The senior administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration planning, said they expected EU sanctions as early as Monday and pointed to the far larger economic impact they could have because most of Libya's exports go to the continent.

That means, as with Iran, concerted European action affecting oil, trade or investment relations with Libya could deal a crippling blow to Qaddafi's economy whereas the impact of American sanctions is more limited. While an official said "substantial" Libyan assets based in the U.S. were blocked by the administration last week, the effect of Europeans "mirroring" those penalties could do more to prod Qaddafi's closest allies to abandon ship.

And tougher measures are being considered, the officials said.

Future U.S. actions will focus on three fronts: enforcing sanctions already imposed against senior members of Qaddafi's government; providing humanitarian assistance for Libyans fleeing to neighboring countries to escape the violence; and convincing decision-makers that they support the Libyan leader at their own peril.

The last goal is aimed to accelerate the end of Qaddafi's regime. U.S. officials are hoping that their message reaches those in Qaddafi's inner circle, "some of whom may be in fact be rational, some of whom may be interested in self-preservation, maybe interested in not ending up in The Hague," an official said, referring to the international criminal court. The U.N. Security Council instructed the court on Saturday to look into possible crimes against humanity.

Officials said Clinton's conversation is intended to advance the conversation and prepare for a protracted struggle with Qaddafi, whom Obama urged to step down over the weekend. A whole range of options are being considered, beyond the possible no-fly zone, though officials declined to outline them.

The officials said it was too early to judge whether the relatively limited sanctions imposed so far -- travel bans, asset freezes, an arms embargo and a referral to an international criminal court -- could force Qaddafi to end his fight against dissenters bent on ousting him after 42 years in power.

Clinton said the U.S. was reaching out to many different Libyan groups preparing to lead their country out of four decades of dictatorship.

"We are just at the beginning of what will follow Qaddafi," she said. "It's way too soon to tell how this is going to play out, but we're going to be ready and prepared to offer any kind of assistance that anyone wishes to have from the United States."

2011 Oscar winners and nominees

Winners and nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards

Best picture

"127 Hours"
"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"Inception"
"The Kids Are All Right"
(Winner) "The King's Speech"
"The Social Network"
"Toy Story 3"
"True Grit"
"Winter's Bone"

Lead actor

Javier Bardem, "Biutiful"
Jeff Bridges, "True Grit"
Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"
(Winner) Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"
James Franco, "127 Hours"

Lead actress

Annette Bening, "The Kids Are All Right"
Nicole Kidman, "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence, "Winter's Bone"
(Winner) Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"
Michelle Williams, "Blue Valentine"

Supporting actor

(Winner) Christian Bale, "The Fighter"
John Hawkes,"Winter's Bone"
Jeremy Renner, "The Town"
Mark Ruffalo, "The Kids Are All Right"
Geoffrey Rush, "The King's Speech"

Supporting actress

Amy Adams, "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter, "The King's Speech"
(Winner) Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"
Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit"
Jacki Weaver, "Animal Kingdom"

Best director

Darren Aronofsky, "Black Swan"
David Fincher, "The Social Network"
(Winner) Tom Hooper, "The King's Speech"
David O. Russell, "The Fighter"
Joel and Ethan Coen, "True Grit"

Best animated feature

"How to Train Your Dragon"
"The Illusionist"
(Winner) "Toy Story 3"

Best foreign-language film

"Biutiful" (Mexico)
"Dogtooth" (Greece)
(Winner) "In a Better World" (Denmark)
"Incendies" (Canada)
"Outside the Law" (Algeria)

Screenplay (original)

"Another Year," written by Mike Leigh
"The Fighter," written by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson
"Inception," written by Christopher Nolan
"The Kids Are All Right," written by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
(Winner) "The King's Speech," screenplay by David Seidler

Screenplay (adapted)

"127 Hours," screenplay by Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy
(Winner) "The Social Network," screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
"Toy Story 3," screenplay by Michael Arndt. Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
"True Grit," written for the screen by Joel and Ethan Coen
"Winter's Bone," adapted for the screen by Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini

Music (original score)

"How to Train Your Dragon," John Powell
"Inception," Hans Zimmer
"The King's Speech," Alexandre Desplat
"127 Hours," A.R. Rahman
(Winner) "The Social Network," Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Best music (original song)

"Coming Home" from "Country Strong," music and lyrics by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
"I See the Light" from "Tangled," music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater
"If I Rise" from "127 Hours," music by A.R. Rahman and lyrics by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
(Winner) "We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3," music and lyrics by Randy Newman

Art direction

(Winner) "Alice in Wonderland," production design: Robert Stromberg; set decoration: Karen O'Hara
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1," production design: Stuart Craig; set decoration: Stephenie McMillan
"Inception" production design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; set decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
"The King's Speech" production design: Eve Stewart; set decoration: Judy Farr
"True Grit" production design: Jess Gonchor; set decoration: Nancy Haigh

Cinematography

"Black Swan," Matthew Libatique
(Winner) "Inception," Wally Pfister
"The King's Speech," Danny Cohen
"The Social Network," Jeff Cronenweth
"True Grit," Roger Deakins

Costume design

(Winner) "Alice in Wonderland," Colleen Atwood
"I Am Love," Antonella Cannarozzi
"The King's Speech," Jenny Beavan
"The Tempest," Sandy Powell
"True Grit" Mary Zophres

Best documentary (feature)

"Exit Through the Gift Shop," Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
"Gasland," Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
(Winner) "Inside Job," Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Restrepo," Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
"Waste Land," Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Best documentary (short subject)

"Killing in the Name," Jed Rothstein
"Poster Girl," Sara Nesson and Mitchell W. Block
(Winner) "Strangers No More," Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
"Sun Come Up," Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
"The Warriors of Qiugang," Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film editing

"Black Swan," Andrew Weisblum
"The Fighter," Pamela Martin
"The King's Speech," Tariq Anwar
"127 Hours," Jon Harris
(Winner) "The Social Network," Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Makeup

"Barney's Version," Adrien Morot
"The Way Back," Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
(Winner) "The Wolfman," Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Best short film (animated)

"Day & Night," Teddy Newton
"The Gruffalo," Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
"Let's Pollute," Geefwee Boedoe
(Winner) "The Lost Thing," Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
"Madagascar, carnet de voyage," Bastien Dubois

Best short film (live action)

"The Confession," Tanel Toom
"The Crush," Michael Creagh
(Winner) "God of Love," Luke Matheny
"Na Wewe," Ivan Goldschmidt
"Wish 143," Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound editing

(Winner) "Inception," Richard King
"Toy Story 3," Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
"Tron: Legacy," Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
"True Grit," Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
"Unstoppable," Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound mixing

(Winner) "Inception," Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
"The King's Speech," Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
"Salt," Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
"The Social Network," Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
"True Grit," Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual effects

"Alice in Wonderland," Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1," Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
"Hereafter," Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
(Winner) "Inception," Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
"Iron Man 2," Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Lily Donaldson In Monsoon Spring 2011 Campaign

Monsoon Spring 2011 campaign features the hot and sexy British model, Lily Donaldson as photographed by Camilla Akrans. Taking to the open fields in true bohemian style, Lily wears the label’s lightweight and airy creations  with make-up done by Darlene Jacobs. Donaldson is outfitted in various summer dresses with vibrant floral patterns and a bohemian twist.

Luke Matheny Profile

Luke Matheny is the writer/director/star of “God of Love,” a quirky 18-minute short film about a jazz crooner who performs amazing dart tricks on stage. It appeared in both the Indianapolis International Film Festival and the Heartland Film Festival in 2010, and is up for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.

Read The Film Yap’s review of “God of Love” here.

This film was your student thesis in the graduate film program at NYU. Talk about what the storied school did for your development as a filmmaker.
There were lots of great things about the NYU grad film program: the faculty, the facilities, the reputation. But in the end, the most valuable aspect of film school were my classmates, who became close friends and irreplaceable collaborators.
Where did you come up with the idea for “God of Love,” about a lounge singer/trick dart master?
I’d rather not say because it would involve me giving away the ending.

I love the whole retro vibe of the film — black-and-white, jazz standards. What inspired you to go that way?

I’m a huge jazz fan, and I’ve always loved jazz photography from the 1950s and ’60s. I knew that the film would open in a kind of bohemian-ish jazz setting, so I thought that this kind of black-and-white visual treatment would give the movie an overall cool, romantic, nostalgic quality. And, of course, my cinematographer Bobby Webster was a key player in helping me bring that idea to life. We looked at lots of films that featured jazz scenes: “I Want to Live!” and “Paris Blues” were two visual touchstones, in particular. The French New Wave was an aesthetic influence, as well, in some of the film’s montage scenes.

Is that really you singing in the film?
It is. But the recording you hear is actually constructed from numerous takes — like 25 or 30 — that were craftily cut together by my perfectionist composer Sasha Gordon.

Talk about the filmmaking process — how did you get financing, how long did you shoot, etc.
The funding came from a combination of student loans, my own savings and some production grants. The shoot took 10 days. We shot on the RED Camera. My mom did craft services.

Your film won a Gold Medal at the 2010 Student Academy Awards for narrative film. So, does that mean you have a gold statuette just like Sandra Bullock’s? All kidding aside, what was it like receiving that honor?
It was unbelievable. I’m kind of a crazy Oscar fan and actually have every single Best Picture committed to memory. So to actually be in a position to personally thank the Academy was really amazing. As for the award itself, it’s a Student Oscar, which is a kind of granite cube, not the actual statuette.

What’s your next film project?
Busy writing my feature screenplay. It’s a comedy titled “Ron Quixote.”

Jill Clayburgh Honored In Death At Oscars

 

Jill Clayburgh Honored In Death At Oscars

Jill Clayburgh Honored In Death At OscarsJill Clayburgh, who embodied hopeful and determined women in such '70s and '80s movies as An Unmarried Woman, Starting Over and It's My Turn, died at her Connecticut home on Friday from chronic leukemia, a disease she quietly battled for 21 years, her husband, playwright David Rabe, told The New York Times. She was 66.

Earlier this week, the couple's daughter, actress Lily Rabe, took a temporary leave of absence from the Broadway show in which she is about to open, Shakespeare's A Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino. A spokesperson for the show said only that it was a private family matter that caused Rabe to take leave.

Besides her movie roles, Clayburgh was also highly visible on TV, on Law & Order, The Practice and Nip/Tuck, as well as an ongoing role as mother Jeannie on Ally McBeal.

Nominated for an Oscar for 1978's An Unmarried Woman, which was arguably her best screen role, Clayburgh played a vulnerable-but-courageous abandoned wife on Manhattan's Upper East Side who finds her independence when she has an affair with a sexy artist (Alan Bates), with her character learning by the fade-out that being on her own is just fine.

The only daughter of a wealthy book-cloth manufacturer and an actress turned assistant to legendary theatrical producer David Merrick, Clayburgh grew up a poor-little-rich-girl on Manhattan's East Side. Her grandmother, Alma Clayburgh, was a prominent socialite and opera singer.

"I was very assertive as a child, verging on violence and self-destructiveness. Once I threw this short little boy down the stairs," Clayburgh told PEOPLE in 1979. "It was a kind of need for power at a young age that masks insecurity."

First Theater, Then TV and Movies
She got hooked on theater when a Sarah Lawrence College classmate talked her into summer stock one vacation. Then came a student film with other future lights: Brian De Palma as director and Robert De Niro as costar.

After her 1966 graduation, Clayburgh headed for Boston, where she joined the Charles Playhouse and met and began a five-year relationship with Al Pacino, who was appearing in the company's production of America Hurrah. Their struggles were cushioned slightly by Clayburgh's $200-a-month trust fund, and they soon made the move to a mice-infested walk-up in New York.

She was cast as Grace Bolton on the CBS soap Search for Tomorrow, but she mainly toiled Off-Broadway for $56 a week as Pacino's movie career began to take off. "Thank God we broke up!" Clayburgh later said, though she and Pacino remained friends. "We were all wrong for each other."

It was an unsuccessful audition for Rabe's 1973 In the Boom Boom Room that changed her luck. When the part went to Madeline Kahn, Clayburgh headed for L.A., and just when she was ready to chuck it all for graduate study in social work, she won an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of a hooker in the 1975 TV dramatization of Gail Sheehy's Hustling, followed by the 1977 big-screen sleeper hit Silver Streak with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor.

She and Rabe married in 1978. When asked why, Clayburgh told PEOPLE: "So people would stop asking me about my personal life. If you're married, they just assume you're happy."

Besides David and Lily Rabe, Clayburgh is also survived by a son, Michael; a stepson, Jason; and a brother, James.

Story Source: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20440129,00.html

Randy Newman Wins Second Oscar Actress 2011

Live at the Oscars: Randy Newman Wins His Second Oscar for Best Song, Toy Story 3

Nominated 20 times, Randy Newman celebrates his second win, for best song “We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3. His last win was best song for Monsters, Inc., another Pixar film, where he has done six pictures. “I want to be good television so badly,” he says. “I’ve slowed the show down almost every time.” Newman challenges the Academy’s timer. “To hell with it!” he says.

'In a Better World' beats 'Incendies' at Oscars

The Danish drama "In a Better World" won the best foreign-language film Oscar on Sunday night, edging out the Canadian war-tinged saga "Incendies."

"I am so truly honoured and grateful and happy," said Bier, whose previous films include the Oscar-nominated "After the Wedding" and "Things We Lost in the Fire."

"In a Better World" is the third Danish film to take the honour. The other two were "Babette's Feast" in 1987 and "Pelle the Conqueror" in 1988.

The other nominees were Mexico's "Biutiful," Greece's "Dogtooth," and Algeria's "Outside the Law."

"In a Better World," which will be released in the U.S. on April 1 by Sony Classics, is about a separated couple (Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm) that stretches across a small Danish town and a Sudanese refugee camp. Their family is further stressed when a feud between their teen son (Markus Rygaard) and a school bully turns violent.

It also won the Golden Globe for best foreign language film.

The Academy Awards foreign language winner was whittled down from 66 submissions, with countries allowed one submission each. It's a process that has frequently come under fire, most notably for snubbing films like "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," ''Volver" and "Gomorrah" of even a nomination.

Partly to correct such oversights, a 20-member executive committee was formed to safeguard the selection of nominees.

That didn't necessarily stop criticism. Some were angry that the French film about Trappist monks standing up to Islamic fundamentalism, "Of Gods and Men," wasn't among this year's nominees (or even the shortlist of nine films). Others missed the Palme d'Or winner "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives," from Thailand.

But the win for "In a Better World" is likely to engender applause for the Academy's pick. It follows last year's winner, the Argentine thriller "The Secret in Their Eyes" in the award.

The 2011 Oscars also included the rare nomination for a foreign language performance. Javier Bardem, who won for best supporting actor in 2008 for "No Country for Old Men," was nominated for best actor for his much-lauded performance in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Biutiful."

"Incendies" follows the emotional tumult of adult twins who go on a mission to uncover their dead mother's dark, war-torn past.

It lost out on Hollywood's biggest prize after a celebrated run on the festival circuit, earning accolades from Venice, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax and Abu Dhabi.

"Incendies" has 10 nominations at next month's Genie Awards, which celebrate the best in Canadian film.

Oscar Style Showdown: Sandra Bullock, The Glamor.

It's a battle of America's Sweethearts!

Academy Awards host Anne Hathaway is Young Hollywood royalty in Valentino Couture and Tiffany diamonds. But oops, she's styled almost exactly like last year's Best Actress Oscar winner Sandra Bullock, who donned Vera Wang for this year's festivities.

So which glamour gal gets your vote?

While you're indulging in our favorite pastime of pitting fashionistas against each other, check out E!'s Red Carpet Pose-Off Game.

Natalie Portman vs. Scarlett Johansson, Mila Kunis vs. Cate Blanchett, Reese Witherspoon vs. Amy Adams—who rocked A-list attire at the Academy Awards?

Make the call, and you could win CC Skye pavé pyramid stud earrings and a Judith Leiber beaded slide-lock clutch!

Melissa Leo Wins Best Supporting Actress 2011

Melissa Leo wins supporting-actress Oscar, apologizes for dirty word

Melissa Leo won the supporting-actress Academy Award on Sunday for her role as the domineering matriarch of a boxing family in The Fighter, while her co-star Christian Bale won for best supporting actor and Toy Story 3 claimed the prize for feature animation.

Network censors bleeped Leo for dropping the F-word during her speech. Backstage at the Kodak Theatre, Leo jokingly conceded it was “probably a very inappropriate place to use that particular word.”

“Those words, I apologize to anyone that they offend. There is a great deal of the English language that is in my vernacular,” Leo said.

But the Oscars, being a global affair, were telecast elsewhere in the world with Leo's words uncensored. Viewers who watched the show on Star Movies, a major channel available throughout Asia, heard the F-word loud and clear.

Leo's win capped an unusual career surge in middle age for the 50-year-old actress, who had moderate success on TV's Homicide: Life on the Street in her 30s but leaped to big-screen stardom in her late 40s, a time when most actresses find good roles hard to come by.

Some in Hollywood had speculated that Leo might have undermined her Oscar chances with self-promoting ads she ran in film trade papers. Such self-hype is considered tacky by some awards voters.

Whether it cost her votes or not, Leo still came out on top for The Fighter, also a best-picture nominee.

“I'm just shaking in my boots here,” Leo said. “Yeah, I am kind of speechless.”

Still, Leo's speech went on for a couple of minutes, contrary to producers' pleas before the show to keep the talk tight.

Best-picture front-runner The King's Speech, a tale of Britain's stammering King George VI that led contenders with 12 nominations, won only one of the first four prizes for which it was competing, best original screenplay for writer David Seidler.

The win capped a lifelong dream for Seidler, a boyhood stutterer born in London in 1937, a year after George took the throne. Seidler, who overcame his own stutter at age 16, had long vowed to one day write about the monarch whose fortitude set an example for him in childhood.

Seidler thanked Queen Elizabeth II, daughter of King George, “For not putting me in the Tower of London for using the Melissa Leo F-word.” The film includes two scenes where the king spouts profanity in anger to help force out his syllables.

The Oscar for adapted screenplay went to Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network, a chronicle of the birth of Facebook based on Ben Mezrich's book The Accidental Billionaires.

While The King's Speech came in as the best-picture favorite, “The Social Network” was considered a potent prospect for an upset win.

The two films have led a strong and varied field of best-picture contenders since they debuted nearly six months ago. The Social Network was the early leader, grabbing key critics' honours and winning best drama at the Golden Globes. Momentum shifted to The King's Speech as the film dominated on Oscar nominations morning and swept top awards from influential actors, directors and producers guilds.

Toy Story 3, last year's top-grossing release and a contender for best picture, won the fourth-straight animated-feature Oscar for Disney's Pixar Animation unit. Pixar has produced six of the 10 Oscar recipients for animation since the category was added, including Finding Nemo, WALL-E and last year's winner, Up.

The Oscar for foreign-language film went to Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier's In a Better World, a saga of two broken families that centers on two teenage boys struggling with violence at school and plotting revenge.

The Lewis Carroll update Alice in Wonderland won the first prize of the night, claiming the art direction Oscar over a field that included best-picture favorite The King's Speech.

The show opened with co-hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco inserted into a montage of scenes from best-picture nominees, built as a series of dream sequences reminiscent of Oscar contender Inception. The footage included such guests as Morgan Freeman and last year's Oscar co-host Alec Baldwin.

Franco started off telling Hathaway how beautiful she looked. Hathaway shot back, “You look very appealing to a younger demographic, as well.”

Story Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/awards/academy-awards/melissa-leo-wins-supporting-actress-oscar-apologizes-for-dirty-word/article1922935/

FIFA ancam cekal PSSI

ANCAMAN cekal terhadap Indonesia dari keanggotaan FIFA membuat PSSI ketar-ketir. Agar terhindar dari "bencana" besar bagi persepakbolaan nasional itu, PSSI berusaha melobi otoritas sepak bola dunia itu lewat Dali Tahir, deputi Sekjen PSSI Bidang Hubungan Luar Negeri yang juga anggota Komite Etika FIFA.

Sejak pekan lalu, Dali Tahir berada di Zurich, Swiss. Hari ini, pukul 12.00 waktu Zurich, Dali Tahir akan bertemu Sekjen FIFA Jerome Valcke di Kantor FIFA. Dali akan melaporkan apa yang sebenarnya terjadi di Indonesia. Saat dihubungi Jawa Pos tadi malam, pria 63 tahun itu mengungkapkan bahwa dirinya membawa misi agar FIFA tidak tergesa-gesa mencekal Indonesia.

Dali Tahir akan berusaha meminta waktu kepada organisasi pimpinan Sepp Blatter itu untuk mempertemukan pihak-pihak yang berseteru guna mencari titik temu. Pada Jumat malam lalu, beber Dali Tahir, FIFA mengirim surat elektronik kepada PSSI yang isinya menyatakan bahwa pemerintah Indonesia lewat Menpora Andi Mallarangeng sudah mengintervensi PSSI dan itu bisa berbuah sanksi pencekalan.

"Tapi, sanksi dari FIFA tidak begitu saja dijatuhkan. Butuh proses. Exco FIFA yang memutuskan itu setelah mengundang emergency committee segala semacam. Exco FIFA baru bersidang beberapa hari mendatang," kata Dali Tahir tadi malam.

"Nah, sebelum ada keputusan cekal atau tidak, saya minta waktu kepada FIFA agar ada kesempatan bagi pemerintah dan PSSI berunding untuk mencari kata sepakat," lanjutnya.

Dali mengungkapkan, dengan kapasitasnya sebagai salah satu anggota Komite Etika FIFA, dia yakin apa yang disampaikannya akan didengar dan menjadi rekomendasi. Pria kelahiran Sumatera itu mengaku siap menjadi mediator untuk mempertemukan pihak-pihak yang saat ini berbeda pendapat.

"Demi kebaikan bersama, kita harus duduk satu meja untuk menyelesaikan semua persoalan yang ada saat ini. Kita harus mencari jalan keluar terbaik. Tidak ada pihak yang merasa menang dan kalah. Negara lain sudah melangkah jauh, masak kita masih berebut pepesan kosong seperti ini. Marilah kita duduk bersama dan jangan sampai ada yang merasa kehilangan muka. Saya siap jadi mediatornya," bebernya.

Dali Tahir mengaku paham jika banyak yang tidak suka dengan sosok Ketua Umum PSSI Nurdin Halid. Menurut dia, kalau tidak suka dengan Nurdin Halid, jangan PSSI yang diobok-obok. Tidak semua pengurus PSSI jelek. "Sebagai pihak yang cukup lama berkecimpung di PSSI dan FIFA saya siap dipanggil Pak Menpora untuk dimintai pandangan dan masukan," bebernya.

Dorongan agar semua pihak yang bersilang pendapat saat ini bertemu juga dikemukakan plt manajer timnas U-23 Iman Arif. Menurut dia, harus ada win-win solution demi kemajuan sepak bola Indonesia. Menurut Iman, risikonya akan sangat besar jika FIFA sampai menjatuhkan sanksi kepada Indonesia.

"Semua persiapan yang kita buat untuk menyongsong kualifikasi Olimpiade dan SEA Games 2010 tidak ada gunanya lagi. Begitu juga naturalisasi beberapa pemain yang sudah kita lakukan. Semoga saja semua bisa legawa dan segera duduk bersama," katanya.

"Saat ini ada tiga pemain keturunan Indo-Belanda yang proses naturalisasinya hampir rampung. Yaitu, Ruben Wuarbanaran, Diego Michiels, dan Joey Suk. Mereka diproyeksikan memperkuat timnas U-23 di leg kedua prakualifikasi Olimpaide 2012 di Turkemnistan, 9 Maret mendatang. Setelah itu ketiganya menjadi tulang punggung timnas SEA Games November nanti dan memperkuat timnas senior di kualifikasi Piala Dunia Juli mendatang.

Secara terpisah, tadi malam kubu Arifin Panigoro dan George Toisutta mengundang para pendukungnya untuk silaturahmi di salah satu hotel di Jakarta. Siang ini duet yang saat ini dianggap motor perubahan persepakbolaan tanah air itu akan menggelar press conference pasca keluarnya keputusan Komite Banding.