Brazilian moms head to movie theater, baby in tow

AFP, SAO PAULO, May 5: In the darkened theater, a mother rocked her baby while another breastfed her little girl. It's part of a new trend in Brazil where moms go to the movies with baby bottles, diapers and toys.

"Getting out of the house with a baby requires a certain amount of organization," said Irene Nagashima as she placed her six-month-old Eric in a cloth baby carrier before the start of the show at a movie theater in downtown Sao Paulo.

To overcome their isolation, young Brazilian mothers are revamping their social lives through the seventh art.

Nagashima, a 40-year-old movie enthusiast, is one of the founders of Cinematerna, a non-profit group that encourages mothers to engage in cultural activities by offering them access to movie theaters decked out just for them and their babies.

Nearly 20,000 mothers have signed up on the group's website, where they list their choices of films to watch -- no violence and no horror.

Working with several movie theater chains in 14 cities across the country, the group offers special viewing rooms for babies up to 18 months old, with minimal air conditioning, night lights, diaper changing rooms and cushions with toys just about everywhere.

"It's very nice, because when you have a baby, you're often stuck at home. This allows us to go out and meet other women in similar situations," said photographer Karin Araujo, 30.

Her young Pedro first visited Cinematerna when he was six months old. At the time, he slept throughout the film. But now, aged 14 months, he walks and crawls all across the theater.

"I barely see the film, but it's good for me to get out," beamed a smiling Araujo.

A showing of tropical bird comedy "Rio," a 3D animated film, attracted about 40 adults with half as many babies. Some fathers came too.

The film had barely begun when the first babies cried. A baby girl calmed down by suckling on a breast while her mother watches "Rio" silently and attentively.

The mom-baby film experience, a project launched in 2008, also hopes to cement bonds between new mothers who meet up afterwards to have coffee and share their thoughts, explained 39-year-old Alexandra Swerts, another founder of Cinematerna.

"It's going to be easy today," said an optimistic Fatima, the grandmother of eight-month-old Teo and Ligia, after the twins arrived asleep to the movie theater.

Her respite was short-lived, however, and she soon dug deep into her huge bag to take out baby bottles to soothe the crying babies.

Nintendo drops Wii price with new model on horizon

AFP, SAN FRANCISCO, May 5: Nintendo on Wednesday said it is cutting the price of Wii consoles that introduced motion-sensing controls to the videogame industry when the system was launched in 2006.

The Wii price will be dropped $50 to $150 beginning May 15, and consoles will be bundled with "Mario Kart" game software and a steering wheel controller accessory, according to the Japanese videogame company.

Nintendo will also offer a "Selects" collection of Wii videogames at a cut price of $20 each.

Games in the collection included "The Legend of Zelda" and "Mario: Super Sluggers."

"From the day it launched, Wii has let players of all ages and experience levels have fun with one another," said Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.

"The new suggested retail pricing for both the hardware and select games will help create more of these magical moments for even greater numbers of people."

Wii consoles became market sensations after their launch and the easy-to-use motion-sensing controllers were credited with opening the world of videogames to a sea of "casual players" worldwide.

Nintendo rivals Microsoft and Sony late last year released motion-sensing controls for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (PS3) consoles, respectively.

Xbox 360 and PS3 are more powerful that the Wii, but command higher prices.

Nintendo said in April that it would release a new console next year to succeed its popular Wii.

The video game giant said the new machine would be showcased at E3 Expo in Los Angeles in June. The move comes as Nintendo has struggled to reverse its sliding fortunes in an increasingly crowded market.

Next year's new console will replace the popular Wii, which has sold 86 million units since its 2006 debut, but has seen a steady decline in recent years.

Sales of Wii hardware dropped 27 percent to 15.08 million units in the past fiscal year, with software revenue falling 11 percent.

Cannes announces last minute film in competition

AFP, PARIS, May 5: The official selection at Cannes will consist of 20 films, organisers announced Wednesday, after they added "The Artist" by French director Michel Hazanavicius just a week before the event begins.

The black and white silent film, starring US actor John Goodman, France's Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, recounts the rise of a young actress at the start of cinema "talkies" while a silent star fades.

The film had initially been selected to be shown out of competition.

Organisers also announced ahead of the festival's opening on May 11 that Russian film "Elena" by Andrey Zuyagintsev would be shown on May 21 at the end of the parallel Un Certain Regard section of the festival.

Serbian director Emir Kusturica will be joined on the section's jury by French actress Elodie Bouchez, British critic and Guardian journalist Peter Bradshaw and the head of the body in charge of the Tribeca film festivals, Geoffrey Gilmore.

The head of Latin America's largest film festival at Morelia, Daniela Michel, will also be on the jury headed by Kusturica.

Zsa Zsa Gabor back in hospital with pneumonia

AFP, LOS ANGELES, May 5: Ailing actress Zsa Zsa Gabor has been admitted to hospital again suffering with pneumonia, in the 94-year-old's latest health scare, her spokesman has said.

Her husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, called a doctor after she had difficult breathing, and she was diagnosed with pneumonia, said spokesman John Blanchette.

"He immediately called for an ambulance and right now they're trying to save her life, trying to drain her lungs," he said, declining to say if the scare was more serious than previous occasions when she has been taken to hospital.

Her husband "is hoping that she'll be able to survive. Their 25th wedding anniversary is in August, and he wants to celebrate that," the publicist told AFP.

Gabor, a platinum blonde actress known for her flamboyant lifestyle, legal troubles and multiple marriages, was briefly hospitalized after Elizabeth Taylor died in March, declaring she feared she would be next to go.

Her long career included spots in a dozen films and TV series, such as John Huston's 1952 "Moulin Rouge" and the 1958 film noir "Touch of Evil" by Orson Welles. She also lent her voice to several animated films and TV series.

Protest aims to bump Trump from Indy 500 pace car

AP, INDIANAPOLIS, May 5: There's a Dump The Donald movement afoot at the Indy 500.

Race organizers selected real estate mogul Donald Trump as this year's celebrity pace car driver a month ago. Since then, the potential Republican presidential candidate has created a stir by questioning whether President Obama was born outside the United States and whether he was qualified to attend the Ivy League schools he did.

Race fans, local citizens and an Indiana state lawmaker want to force Trump out of his next celebrity apprenticeship: driving the pace car May 29 just before the centennial celebration of the race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"To me, when they first named Donald Trump, it just felt wrong," said Michael Wallack, who started a Facebook page in hopes of firing Trump. "He has no relationship to the track, to the race, to racing, to Indianapolis, and I think I would have been bothered anytime with something like that. But to do that on the 100th anniversary, it made no sense.

"Then when he started going off on the birther stuff," Wallack said, "that prompted me to do more and that's when I started the page."

Obama has publicly released his birth certificate from Hawaii, but members of the so-called "birther" movement are arguing in federal court that the document has been falsified.

Trump has taken credit for bringing the issue to the fore. And now Trump is firing back at critics of his pace car duties.

"The debate stems from unfounded, incorrect and malicious lies that Donald Trump has a racial bias toward the President," said Michael Cohen, executive vice president and special counsel to Trump. "Nothing could be further from the truth, as Donald Trump doesn't have a racist bone in his body.

"Mr. Trump's request for President Obama's birth certificate, school records and documents were predicated upon transparency, a major part of President Obama's 2008 platform," Cohen said. "If Mr. Trump should become the next president, he would provide these documents willingly."

Track spokesman Doug Boles said speedway officials are aware of Wallack's Facebook page, first reported Wednesday by The Indianapolis Star, and are monitoring the situation.

Changing the pace car driver might be a first.

"As far as I know, the speedway has not changed a pace car driver," Boles said. "But there's been a pace car since 1911, so I don't know if anybody could definitively say it's not been changed."

The speedway has a rich tradition of using celebrity pace car drivers from outside auto racing. Since 2000, the list includes actors Anthony Edwards, Jim Caviezel, Morgan Freeman and Josh Duhamel; seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong; supermodel Elaine Irwin-Mellencamp; and "Good Morning America" host Robin Roberts. One potential political candidate, retired Gen. Colin Powell, also drove the pace car in 2005.

The race's reputation has survived other brushes with controversy, including a split between the two major open-wheel series and Steven Tyler's rendition of the national anthem.

Trump, opponents contend, is more polarizing and might overshadow the race.

"The folks I have talked to indirectly have shared concern with the situation," said state Rep. Jeb Bardon, a Democrat who represents the area surrounding the racetrack. Bardon said he worries Trump's appearance will draw negative attention to this month's centennial celebration.

Wallack, a partner at an Indianapolis law firm and one-time Democratic candidate for office in Hamilton County, started the Facebook page and in less than a week had 11,700 followers.

The decision to change pace car drivers might not be left entirely to organizers. Chevrolet provides the pace car and could be involved in the discussions. Trump also has a signature tie collection through Macy's, a partner of Izod, the series' title sponsor.

Izod officials did not respond immediately to an interview request Wednesday.

Boles said the speedway received emails from both sides when it came to Trump's selection. Supporters have started their own Facebook page, too, but the louder voices are coming from the other side. Bardon even used a speech at the legislature last week to call for a driver change.

Wallack isn't sure where it will all lead.

"Forget the politics, he is a divisive guy," Wallack said. "My intent is not to boycott the race. With that said, I don't have to buy T-shirts and things at the speedway or other souvenirs, nor do I have to frequent or buy things from the sponsors."

Huffman and Savant click on 'Desperate Housewives'

AP, NEW YORK, May 5: Marriage can be a hard job. This, Tom and Lynette Scavo have reminded us for seven years as husband and wife on "Desperate Housewives."

On the other hand, marriage can be a great gig. That's what it's been for Doug Savant and Felicity Huffman, who are wed in holy matrimony as the Scavos on the ABC hit.

"It's a good marriage," states Huffman. "It's got its ups and downs, but it keeps moving forward."

"It is by no means perfect," says Savant. "But I like what it represents on television. I like what it represents in America."

America — or a large chunk of its TV audience, anyway — has embraced the Scavo marriage since "Desperate Housewives" premiered in fall 2004. Lynette and Tom stood out among their wacky neighbors on Wisteria Lane, TV's go-to address for sexy suburban angst.

She was the former ad exec and frustrated stay-at-home mom, the most grounded member of the core sisterhood played also by Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher and Eva Longoria. He was the laid-back, often perfunctory breadwinner. Their kids (eventually numbering five) drove them crazy, but with their childrearing, as all things, they managed to cope.

Their marriage has weathered many challenges in this melange of melodrama, whodunit and dark comedy. Now, as "Housewives" (airing Sunday at 9 p.m. EDT) builds to its season finale on May 15, Tom has bloomed into a big-shot businessman who thinks Lynette is threatened by his success, while Lynette chafes at being slighted by a man she feels she doesn't know anymore.

"Tom's the heavy-hitting CEO and he's got the power in the relationship," says Huffman. "That's a new thing, and I find that as we act these scenes, it informs our off-screen time. Suddenly, we are a little at odds with each other, a little short with each other, in a way we didn't used to be. You're meaner," she says to Savant and chuckles.

Can this marriage be saved?

Savant laughs too.

"We've lived together at work for seven years," he explains as the pair shares lunch recently with a reporter, "so there's an ease and a comfort and a familiarity."

"We don't socialize away from the set at all," Huffman says. "But we have developed a connection that is loving and deep and continues to grow with each episode. If something new isn't demanded in a scene, Doug and I will turn to each other and go, `How is this episode different, how is the relationship moving forward?' And we'll find something fresh to bring to it. I feel like I have to do background work so I can endorse it as a real-life wife."

"I'm much lazier than Felicity," Savant cuts in. "She asks the questions. But together we answer them."

In real life, they indeed are married. Savant's wife is Laura Leighton, best-known as a fellow "Melrose Place" alum and currently appearing on ABC Family's "Pretty Little Liars." Huffman's husband is William H. Macy, whose screen credits include "Fargo" and who is now starring in the Showtime drama series "Shameless."

A two-actor marriage brings its own challenges. For any actor, says Huffman, "it's a black-and-white world: You're either working or your career is over. And when you're married to an actor, you're living with someone else whose career is over. Or that's what happens after every job."

"I think we can both say this," Savant offers — "It's ALWAYS better when your spouse is working."

"That's true," agrees Huffman. "And it's always better when WE'RE working."

Blond and willowy, Huffman, 48, decided to make acting her life's work as a girl when, growing up in Woody Creek, Colo., she saw Franco Zeffirelli's film of "Romeo and Juliet" with an older sister planted beside her, hiding her eyes during the racy parts (the only way their mother would permit her to see it).

She eventually won praise on the New York stage, especially in plays by David Mamet. In 1998, she found critical acclaim on TV in "SportsNight," Aaron Sorkin's brainy comedy, which lasted for two seasons.

When the "Desperate Housewives" project came along, Huffman loved its script, "but I just assumed this would be another one of my pilots that tanked — probably because I was in it." Its smash success came "as a complete shock."

Still boyish at 46, Savant grew up in Pasadena, Calif., where he dreamed of playing pro baseball. But an athletic injury in high school dashed those hopes.

Soon after, he was transported by Timothy Hutton's performance in "Ordinary People," then by John Hurt in the title role of "The Elephant Man."

He knew acting was for him. And in 1992 it paid off with stardom when he landed the pioneering role of gay social worker Matt Fielding in the prime-time soap "Melrose Place."

But when Savant left the series five years later, he found he was tainted as an actor few producers wanted to entrust with straight-guy roles.

"I went for a long time not getting jobs," he recalls. For a time, he switched to selling real estate.

Then he went back to acting school and decided, "There is no job too small. If it's on television, it's not too good for me."

Gradually, he got more episodic work. Then he scored "Housewives."

But he was always mindful that the series title had the word "housewives," not "husbands." And these housewives were explicitly "desperate." To him, the message was clear.

"I'm going, `Oh, God, I really want this marriage to work. My job is dependent on it being successful!'" He laughs gratefully. "I've worked my ass off on this marriage!" 

Questions linger about end of 'Oprah Winfrey' show

AP, CHICAGO, May 5: Oprah Winfrey has given the world 25 years of poets and politicians, A-list actors and musicians and talk show topics that defined and reflected American culture.

As "The Oprah Winfrey Show" ends, with 16 episodes left as of May 4, her millions of fans around the globe are waiting to see how she will close out a show that engineered a media empire.

Winfrey's producers plan a star-studded, double taping on May 17 at Chicago's United Center. The shows will air May 23 and 24, as Winfrey's second and third-to-last episodes.

The show is dubbed "Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular." Winfrey hates surprises, producers say, but she has agreed to this event.

But for fans, questions remain.

Who will be at the United Center that Tuesday night? Who will be beamed in by satellite or deliver a taped farewell message?

Winfrey has a stable of celebrity friends who have appeared repeatedly on her talk show. John Travolta. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Jennifer Aniston. Chris Rock.

Could the Black Eyed Peas perform, as they did when Winfrey shut down Chicago's Michigan Avenue in 2009?

Then there are the presidents and world leaders: Bill Clinton; George W. Bush; Nelson Mandela. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have already appeared on a special show that aired Monday.

And Winfrey has other well-respected friends who could be possibilities: Maya Angelou; Sidney Poitier; Barbara Walters. Not to mention Winfrey's proteges, who she fostered to their own television stardom, such as Mehmet Oz, Phil McGraw and Nate Berkus.

Kelly Brittain, a 41-year-old mother of three and assistant professor from East Lansing, Mich., has watched Winfrey for decades. In 2000, she attended a taping on phenomenal graduates. Audience members received mortarboard caps; Brittain stores hers in a keepsake box.

"Somehow I know the producers, they're going to absolutely `wow' her," Brittain said.

It has the makings for a major cultural event, said Bill Carroll, expert on the daytime television market for Katz Television in New York.

"It's going to be the top-of-the-top of anybody who is available to go to Chicago on that day," Carroll said. "It's going to be talked about and talked about and watched and talked about."

Harpo Productions received more than 154,000 ticket requests for seats to the event — the United Center's capacity is about 20,000. There was a lottery for seats.

"For a national, international audience that's a small number," said Marianne Jennings, an Arizona State University professor who has researched the ticket industry for decades.

Tickets for the Chicago taping could be even more coveted than seats for the Super Bowl or World Series, she said.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime event," Jennings said. "There's something that grips us about that. It's something about being there with the crowd, being there for history."

And Winfrey's talk show history is anything but small: 30,000 guests, 4,500 episodes and 283 items named her "favorite things" in the famous annual giveaway.

But there's still a bigger question: What will Winfrey do for the May 25 finale? Harpo isn't talking, nor is the talk show queen.

Experts suggest the Chicago celebrity blowout means the finale will be in Winfrey's studio for a quieter, more intimate occasion, maybe even without an audience.

"If I were a longtime viewer, I'd want the show to end in a place where I'm most comfortable with her and most familiar," said Janice Peck, author of "The Age of Oprah: Cultural Icon for the Neoliberal Era."

Viewers are looking for a heartfelt connection after having daily interaction with Winfrey for 25 years, Peck said.

"The longtime fans are going to feel cheated if she doesn't somehow honor that history," Peck said. "They want to be crying. They want to feel something, some powerful emotional departure."

Samantha Howsare, 22, of Pittsburgh, who has watched Winfrey since she can remember and named her goldfish "Oprah" when she was 3, said she doesn't know who Winfrey could interview or what Winfrey could give away to make it worthy of the finale.

"I don't want it to feel like it's going to be on tomorrow," Howsare said. "I don't want it to be played down in any way and if she played up it being the last episode right, then it would get a lot of people to cry and that would be a good thing."

A model to look to would be Johnny Carson's final episode as host of "The Tonight Show" in 1992, Carroll said: There were no guests and after his traditional monologue Carson showed a montage of past shows.

"For the better part of the end of the show he sat there on a stool and just talked directly to people at home," Carroll said. "That had so much class to it."

Brittain is among fans who hope that Winfrey will stay on television, thinking there may be a promise of a yearly Oprah Winfrey special or other appearances.

"What would TV be without Oprah on the radar?" Brittain said. "That's hard to fathom. Who now serves as that source of overall inspiration, the infinite possibilities of the impossible?" 

Shania Twain not only lost husband, but also voice

Reuters, LOS ANGELES, May 5: Country singer Shania Twain said on Tuesday that she was so shattered by the collapse of her marriage that she feared she would never sing again.

In her first TV interview in five years, Twain told Oprah Winfrey that she became "an emotional mess" when she found out in 2008 that her best friend and her husband had fallen for each other.

"I figured mentally that I would never sing again," the five-time Grammy Award winner told Winfrey. Twain said she not only lost her husband, but her producer and co-writer when she split with in Robert John "Mutt" Lange.

"I hadn't written a song without this man in 14 years....How do I even get started?," she said in an interview won The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Twain, whose 1997 album "Come on Over" was a huge crossover hit, revealed that she also suffers from dysphonia, an ailment where the muscles squeeze the voice box.

"My fears and anxieties throughout my whole life have been slowly squeezing my voice," Twain told Winfrey. "I was losing it slowly and progressively."

Twain chronicles the demise of her 14-year marriage and her fight to get her voice back in a new book "From This Moment On" and a documentary series "Why Not?" that debuts on Sunday on Winfrey's cable TV network OWN.

She also announced on Tuesday that she would be attending the Country Music Association festival in Nashville in June -- and handed out passes to Winfrey's studio audience.

In her memoir and TV documentary, the Canadian singer recounts how she grew up poor and witnessed her step-father physically abuse her mother on a regular basis only to see them both die in a car accident, leaving Twain to raise her siblings.

Twain called her husband's betrayal "a trigger crisis," and "the straw that broke the camel's back of something that had already been building."

Eventually, Twain found solace with Frederic Thiebaud, the husband of the woman who was once her best friend. The two married on Jan 1.

"Pirates 5" written, but Johnny Depp wants delay

Reuters, LOS ANGELES, May 5: "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" doesn't hit U.S. theaters until May 20. But screenwriter Terry Rossio has just turned in his script for a planned fifth installment in Disney's most lucrative film franchise.

Rossio told the Hollywood Reporter that the still-untitled script -- his first penned without Ted Elliot, who collaborated on the first four Pirates scripts -- was delivered to Disney last weekend. It's the initial step in putting together the key creative pieces for another "Pirates" film. Disney would like another installment, given the $3 billion in worldwide grosses for the first three films and the likely huge returns for the fourth movie, the first to be released in 3D.

Sources say "Disney" has made overtures to Rob Marshall, who took over directing duties on "Pirates 4" from Gore Verbinski, who helmed the first three pictures, to return for another go-round.

But the key question mark is star Johnny Depp. Will he sign on for a fifth installment in the franchise? Depp says he hasn't seen the new Rossio screenplay, but he isn't opposed to reprising his Jack Sparrow character yet again.

"It boils down to story, script and filmmaker," Depp tells THR. But the actor isn't clamoring to jump back into the puffy shirt until a little time has passed after Pirates 4. He didn't relish the brutal schedule that saw him making "Pirates 2" and "Pirates 3" back-to-back in order to meet studio-mandated release dates in summer 2006 and 2007, respectively.

"It's not something where I would say, 'Let's shoot it next month to get it out by Christmas 2012,'" he says. "We should hold off for a bit. They should be special, just like they are special to me."

"Godfather" prequel novel in works for 2012

Reuters, NEW YORK, May 5: Call it an offer you can't refuse?

A prequel to the late Mario Puzo's best-selling novel "The Godfather" is headed for bookstores in June 2012, publishers Grand Central Publishing said on Wednesday.

Called "The Family Corleone," the book will be written by author Ed Falco and is based on an unproduced screenplay by Puzo. The story is set in 1930s Depression-era New York and tells how Vito Corleone rose through the criminal underworld to become the influential Don Corleone in "The Godfather".

The novel is authorized by the estate of Puzo, who died in 1999 at the age of 78 after winning two Oscars for adapting "The Godfather" into the 1970s movies "The Godfather" and "The Godfather: Part II," starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.

Puzo's son Tony described "The Family Corleone" in a statement as a novel "that is true to Mario Puzo's legacy".

It was not immediately clear how "The Family Corleone" would differ from the plot of the Oscar-winning movie "The Godfather: Part II," which also chronicles Vito Corleone's early life and ascent through the ranks of the Italian-American underworld.

"The Godfather" was originally published in 1969 and has sold more than 21 million copies. Puzo followed up with two other books in the series -- The Sicilian" in 1984 and "Omerta" which was published posthumously in 2000.

Jamie Raab, executive vice president of Grand Central Publishing, said that "The Family Corleone" was a novel that "thrillingly brings back Puzo's classic characters in a prequel that both honors the original, and stands on its own."

Grand Central Publishing is a division of Hachette Book Group.