Gotham 2014 Featured "Birdman" and Michael Keaton at the 2014 Gotham Awards

      New York - Award Tours!  The entertainment industry's award season is officially underway.  In November things kicked off with a televised event honoring Michael Keaton, and "Birdman," among others, that included Julianne Moore.  The event was the 24th annual Gotham awards, at the Cipriani Wall Street, in New York City.  The annual Independent Film Awards handed out the first trophies of the award-tour season.  "Birdman" took the top prize for 'Best Feature' beating out "Boyhood," "The Grand Budapest Hotel," "Love is Strange," and "Under the Skin."  "Under the Skin," a dark-comedy with Michael Keaton as a former Hollywood superhero.  "Under the Skin" earned Michael Keaton an award for 'Best Actor'.  Taking home the 'Audience Award' was "Boyhood," directed by Richard Linklater ("Dazed and Confused" and "Before Midnight").  "Boyhood" is a film coming-of-age drama that tracks 12 year of newcomer Ellan Coltrane's life. "Boyhood" has been praised for its ambitious achievement development.  "Boyhood" was also named 'Best Film' by the New York Film Critics Circle.  Other acting prizes went to Julianne Moore for 'Best Actress' in "Still Alive" and Tessa Thompson for 'Breakthrough Actor' for "Dear White People".  Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, and Channing Tatum were jointly awarded a special 'Jury' prize for an ensemble performance in the "Foxcatcher."  These next three stars have also been earning rare reviews and talks of Oscar for the "Foxcatcher," a film that first premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.  The Gotham Awards is watched as one possible indicator of who might win an Academy Award.  See whole story, www.entertainmenttonight.com.                    

New Star Wars Coming To The Motion Picture Screen

      Nicasio - After a $4 billion acquisition (purchase) of LucasFilm by Disney, "Star Wars:  The Force Awakens," gives us a glimpse of some new faces of the franchise.  Little is known about some of these new-comers, but three popular ones are Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, and Daisy Ridley.  The three are are probably going to be the new hero trio.  "Star Wars:  The Force Awakens" comes to theatres December 18, 2015.  See whole story, www.entertainmenttonight.com.   

Tom Cruise Almost Hit By Bus | NBC News

Meryl Streep Tells Why Rule Excepted of Never Playing a Witch

      New York -  Disney's "Into The Woods" with Meryl Streep marks the first time Meryl Streep has ever played a witch.  She tell Entertainment Tonight (ET) why witches are not her favorite character.  Meryl Streep was able to make an exception for her latest performance, that is based on the Broadway musical of the same name, "Into The Woods."  The movie follows the classic tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack-and-the Bean Stalk, and Rapunzel.  Streep's co-stars praised her during their chats with ET.  "She's so cool and fun and smart and she charms everyone," said Emily Blunt, who shared the screen with Streep in 2006's "The Devil Wears Prada."  Meryl Streeps kudos include 18 Oscar nominations and three wins.  "Honestly, the idea of witches --I think is a terror of older women that has lived in many cultures and I don't like it,"  Streep (65) remembers being offered three witch scripts the year she turned 40.  Meryl Streeps latest performance is the talk of the town.  A baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) want to begin a family despite their interaction with a witch (Streep), who puts a curse on them.  See whole story, www.disney.com. 

Hackers Gain Entry to Motion Picture Studio Computer System

        Culver City - Sony Picture's World War II drama "Fury", starring Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf has been downloaded over 888,000 times since it first appeared on some personal computing networks.  Other movies downloaded were "Still Alice" starring Julianne Moore, "Mr. Turner" starring Timothy Spall, and "To Write Love on Her Arms" starring Kat Dennings.
     The movies were uploaded to an unknown server, possibly in North Korea.  On November 24, 2014 hackers took over computers at the famous movie studio.  This forced Sony to shut down its e-mail and some of its other computer systems.  Sony has hired a company to restore service to its computer systems.  A news wire reported Sunday, November 30, 2014, Sony hoped to bring all its computer systems back online by Monday.  A hacking group has threatened to release "secrets and top secrets" of Sony.  There is some speculation that the leaks could be related to anger over "The Interview," which North Korea has publicly condemned.  In the film a two-man CIA team is sent to assassinate Kim Jong-un, of North Korea.  It has also been suggested that China could be behind the leaks.  See whole story, www.insideedition.com.                  
 

Rapper Presents Daughter With Huge Birthday Gifts Including one Private Concert

      Atlanta - This rapper presented his 16-year old daughter, with, not one, but two luxury European cars for her birthday. 
     World famous rapper Lil Wayne went super-sized Saturday night, November 29, 2014, when he celebrated his daughter, Reginae Carter's 16th birthday.  The birthday party was held at Lil Wayne's Atlanta residence.  For Reginae the night included at least five different outfit changes during the birthday party.  Two of the gifts for Reginae Carter (16) to try on for size, were a BMW and a Ferrari GTO!  Yes, daddy presented TWO cars to his baby girl that night.  After those gifts were presented Reginae was pleased and happily surprised to receive a performance by the one and only Nicki Minaj.  "The Princess and I Luv U #NaeDay," the rapper tweeted.  See whole story,     www.insideedition.com. 

Girls Scouts Use Computers To Market and Fund Raise

       New York - Now you can purchase Thin Mints, Samoas, Do-si-Dos, and more on the internet.  The Girl Scouts have recently approved a new "Digital Cookie" program.  Before, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. preferred to keep its sales offline, encouraging individual scouts to set up booths and go door-to-door.  With the "Digital Cookie" program, "Girls across the country can now use modern tools to expand the size and scope of their cookie business and learn vital entrepreneurial lessons in online marketing, application use, and e-commerce," as Sarah Angel-Johnson, director of the digital cookie plan, told the New York Times.  Per GirlScouts.org rules, the scouts themselves must still initiate each cookie sale.  The girls can market their online cookie business by inviting customers to their personalized websites.  Still others will be able to take in-person cookie orders through a Girl Scouts mobile app.  Using this applet customers can pay by credit card.  See also,           www.girlscouts.org.