Monday, December 31, 2012

Jessica Simpson shows off 'baby bump'

Photo's from Jessica Twitter

Posted by Emily Wright [boston.com]

Less than a week after Jessica Simpson tweeted a photo of her daughter and the words "Big sis," alluding to a second pregnancy, she posted another photo to her social media account, this time giving followers a glimpse what looks like a growing belly.

The 32-year-old's photo was a mirror shot (a.k.a. a selfie), showing off a bikini and matching cover-up, with the words, "Bumpin' and proud!" in the text field. Simpson, her fiance Eric Johnson, and their daughter Maxwell Drew, were on vacation in Hawaii this week, according to her Twitter account.

Rumors began circulating that Simpson and Johnson would soon be welcoming a new addition to their growing family when an exclusive source talked to Us Weekly in November, and revealed the then yet-to-be-confirmed baby news. Simpson has not commented on the baby news outside of her tweets.

Simpson gave birth to Maxwell, her first child, in May, 2012.

Monday, December 17, 2012

'The Hobbit': Bilbo Bags Record $85M in U.S. Box Office Debut


By Todd Cunningham | The Wrap

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" launched Peter Jackson's new trilogy with the biggest December box-office opening ever in the U.S., taking in $85 million in three days.

Jackson's prequel to the blockbuster "Lord of the Rings" series, the first of three installments, shattered the record for biggest December debut set in 2007 by "I Am Legend" with $77.2 million. The overall box office was the highest ever for a December weekend at $134 million, and was up 14 percent over the comparable weekend last year.

It's been nine years since moviegoers have had the chance to revisit Middle-earth and they were glad to be back, giving "The Hobbit" an "A" CinemaScore. The film is directed by Jackson and stars Ian McKellen as the wizard, Gandalf, and Martin Freeman as the titular hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. New Line and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer co-produced and co-financed the film.

The "Lord of the Rings" movies all opened the week before Christmas, but Warner Bros. head of distribution Dan Fellman said the studio saw an opportunity with "The Hobbit" to get a jump on the holiday season.

"You sort of lead with your chin when you go out early like this," Fellman told TheWrap, "but we knew we had a great picture, and we think we're set up to build on this from here. Next week is tricky since it's still pre-holiday, but by the time we get to Christmas we'll be rolling."

Fellman said one of the goals was to attract a new generation of Middle-earth fans, and the numbers suggest that could happen. The audience was 42 percent under 25 years of age and 57 percent males.

Fellman noted that school's are generally still not out for the holiday break and that, combined with the "A+" CinemaScore that moviegoers under 18 – who made up 20 percent of the audience – gave the film point to the potential to capitalize on younger audiences in the coming weeks.

The debut by "The Hobbit" is bigger than any of the "Rings" movies, including the franchise finale "The Return of the King," which opened to $72.6 million domestically in 2003.

"The Hobbit" is benefiting from a higher mark-up on 3D tickets. It is the first adaptation of the beloved J.R.R. Tolkien books to arrive in theaters in that format, which accounted for 3,160 of the total 4,045 screens and made up 49 percent of the overall gross. The per-location average overall was nearly $21,000. The 326 Imax locations brought in $10.1 million, averaging more than $30,000 per theater over the three days.

About 460 theaters showed "The Hobbit" in the groundbreaking but controversial 48 frame-per-second format -- which doubles the standard film speed and provides more clarity -- that Jackson utilized when he shot the movie. Between the high-speed film, 3D and Imax versions and combinations of those formats, moviegoers had six available options for viewing "The Hobbit." Imax screens playing the film in the 48 fps format averaged $44,000 per location.

Friday's grosses for "The Hobbit" were swelled by the $13 million in sales from midnight screenings at 3,100 locations, 2,160 of which were 3D.

Finishing a distant No. 2 was DreamWorks' animated kids movie "Rise of the Guardians," which brought in $7.4 million to up its overall domestic total after four weeks to $71 million.

In its sixth week, DreamWorks and Disney's Oscar front-runner "Lincoln' brought in $7.2 million to raise its overall domestic total to nearly $108 million. Sony's James Bond thriller "Skyfall," also in its sixth week, finished fourth with $7 million. It has taken in $272 million domestically.

Fox's Oscar hopeful "Life of Pi" added $5.4 million this weekend. Director Ang Lee's lyrical epic has taken in nearly $70 million after four weeks.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Plane believed to be singer's found in Mexico


By By PORFIRIO IBARRA and GALIA GARCIA-PALAFOX | Associated Press


MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — The wreckage of a small plane believed to be carrying Mexican-American music superstar Jenni Rivera was found in northern Mexico on Sunday and there are no apparent survivors, authorities said.

Transportation and Communications Minister Gerardo Ruiz Esparza said "everything points toward" it being the U.S.-registered Learjet 25 carrying Rivera and six other people to Toluca, outside Mexico City, from Monterrey.

"There is nothing recognizable, neither material nor human" in the wreckage found in the state of Nuevo Leon, Ruiz Esparza told the Televisa network. The impact was so powerful that the remains of the plane "are scattered over an area of 250 to 300 meters. It is almost unrecognizable."

No cause was given for the plane's crash, but its wreckage was found near the town of Iturbide in Mexico's Sierra Madre Oriental, where the terrain is very rough. It took off from Monterrey before dawn at 3:30 a.m. local time and was reported missing about 10 minutes later.

Media and celebrities in Mexico sent condolences to the family of Rivera, who has sold more than 15 million records, but authorities still had not confirmed that she was aboard the plane and said there will be an investigation to identify the remains found.

"My friend! Why? There is no consolation. God help me!" said Mexican songstress Paulina Rubio on her official Twitter account. Singing and soap opera star Lucero wrote on her Twitter account: "What horrible news! ... My deepest sympathies for her family and friends. Luz."

Also aboard the plane were her publicist, Arturo Rivera, her lawyer, makeup artist and the flight crew.

The 43-year-old Rivera who was born and raised in Long Beach, California, is one of the biggest stars of the Mexican regional style known as grupero music, which is influenced by the norteno, cumbia and ranchero styles.

Though drug trafficking was the theme of some of her songs, she was not considered a singer of "narco corridos," or ballads glorifying drug lords like other groups, such as Los Tigres del Norte. She was better known for singing about her disdain for men.

The so-called "La Diva de la Banda" was beloved by fans on both sides of the border for songs such as "De Contrabando" and "La Gran Senora."

She recently won two Billboard Mexican Music Awards: Female Artist of the Year and Banda Album of the Year for "Joyas prestadas: Banda." She has also been nominated various times for Latin Grammys.

The singer, businesswoman and actress appeared in the indie film Filly Brown, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival, as the incarcerated mother of Filly Brown. She also has her own reality shows including "I Love Jenni" and "Jenni Rivera Presents: Chiquis and Raq-C" and her daughter's "Chiquis 'n Control."

Rivera was detained at the Mexico City airport in May 2009 when she declared $20,000 in cash but was really carrying $52,167 and was ordered to stand trial a year later. She said it was an innocent mistake.

On Saturday night, Rivera had given a concert before thousands of fans in Monterrey. After the concert she gave a press conference during which she spoke of her emotional state following her recent divorce from former Major League Baseball pitcher Esteban Loaiza, who played for teams including the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers.

"I can't get caught up in the negative because that destroys you. Perhaps trying to move away from my problems and focus on the positive is the best I can do. I am a woman like any other and ugly things happen to me like any other woman," she said Saturday night. "The number of times I have fallen down is the number of times I have gotten up."

The mother of five children and grandmother of two had announced in October that she was divorcing Loaiza after two years of marriage. It was her third marriage.

She was proud to present herself as a Latina woman struggling to give a good life to her children.

"I am the same as the public, as my fans," she told The Associated Press in an interview last March.

Rivera is the sister of Mexican singer Lupillo Rivera. Patricia Chavez of Lupillo Rivera's office in the United States told The AP that "for now we don't have any information that would be useful."

___

Associated Press Writer Galia Garcia-Palafox contributed to this report from Mexico City.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Shakira Ultrasound Photo: Pop Star And Boyfriend, Gerard Pique, Reveal First Picture Of Baby (PHOTO)




Excited mom-to-be Shakira has not been coy about the upcoming birth of her first child, and now she and her boyfriend, soccer player Gerard Pique, have shared the ultrasound with fans.

In September, Shakira happily announced her pregnancy on her website and since then, the "Hips Don't Lie" star has not only shared adorable photos of her and her baby bump on Twitter, but she also went on television to proudly announce the baby's gender (it's a boy!).

This week, the hot mommy is giving fans an even more intimate glimpse into her pregnancy.

As People reports, Pique posted an ultrasound photograph of their itty-bitty son online:








"[It's] clear the soccer star can’t wait to welcome his son with Shakira into the world," declared NBC News, noting that Pique posted the photo on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and his blog.

Congrats, again!

source huffingtonpost.com
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