Hugo (Asa Butterfield) and his friend Isabelle (Chloe Moretz) work together to repair his father’s automaton.
(EW.com) — A mysterious mechanical man with the ability to write and draw holds a place of honor in “Hugo,” Martin Scorsese’s exquisite adaptation of Brian Selznick’s magical, award-winning children’s book “The Invention of Hugo Cabret.”
And the author’s description of the automaton’s construction — ”A cascade of perfect movements, with hundreds of brilliantly calibrated actions” — is an equally good way to describe Scorsese’s achievement in making art that uses the most advanced of 3-D technology to sing a song of love to the movies, from the very dawn of the medium. For a lay audience, the result is a haunting, piquant melodrama about childhood dreams and yearnings, enhanced with a pleasant survey course in early film history.
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Hugo, Hugo Haunting
“People of Wal-Mart” became a viral hit last summer after singer/songwriter Jessica Frech uploaded a video of herself to YouTube, where she sang a catchy tune about the joys of being a voyeur at America’s favorite discount emporium.
“The response to it was just overwhelming,” Frech told FOX411.com. “We made the video to showcase my songwriting, and for it to go viral like it did was kind of surprising–that wasn’t the intention. It’s just insane.”
Over 4.5 million people have watched Frech’s video, including some advertising honchos for a big auto company.
“The (execs) discovered me through YouTube, and they showed the client the ‘People of Wal-Mart’ video,” explained Frech. “I just wish I could have been in that meeting when they played my video and explained, ‘We want this girl who is singing about back boobs and mullets to do our advertisement.’”
The client liked Frech and the video, and hired the Nashville-based college student to write a song for them. Frech’s first commercial debuts on Monday
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Frech, Jessica Frech
Confirming what had been rumored for months, the original members of Black Sabbath announced that it has reunited to record a new album and tour in 2012. After Tony Iommi kinda sorta but not really denied reunion reports back in August, the band made its intentions public today at L.A.’s Whisky A Go-Go. Black Sabbath is at work on a new album with producer Rick Rubin, which will be supported by a worldwide tour. It will be the first Sabbath record with this lineup since 1978′s now presciently titled Never Say Die.
Black Sabbath, Sabbath
(CNN) — Legendary CBS News commentator Andy Rooney, known to millions for his witty essays on mundane topics, died Friday night in New York. He was 92.
He had been hospitalized after suffering complications following minor surgery last month.
“It’s a sad day at ’60 Minutes’ and for everybody here at CBS News,” said Jeff Fager, chairman of CBS News and the executive producer of ’60 Minutes.’ “It’s hard to imagine not having Andy around. He loved his life and he lived it on his own terms. We will miss him very much.”
Rooney made his last regular weekly appearance on “60 Minutes” on Oct. 2. A few weeks later, CBS announced he was in a hospital.
Rooney’s colleague and longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent Morley Safer told CNN Saturday that Rooney worked to the very end and that he would not have wanted it any other way.
“That’s the way to go,” Safer said. Read more…
Andy Rooney, Commentator Andy, Commentator Andy Rooney, Rooney
NEW YORK — Adele’s voice has given her the biggest success this year—and the most trouble. The singer will have throat surgery and has now canceled all tour dates and promotional appearances for the year.
Columbia Records announced Friday that the “Rolling in the Deep” singer will have surgery “to alleviate the current issues with her throat.” A full recovery is expected.
Earlier this month, the 23-year-old canceled a U.S. concert run
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Surgery, Throat Surgery