Winona Ryder back in ‘The Iceman’

Winona Ryderis still pale, diminutive and breathtakingly pretty. She still peppers her speech with the vocalized pauses of her teen years — “you know.”

But the star of  Heathers,  Mermaids and  Edward Scissorhands is 41. Yes, you’re allowed to feel “old” now — but just for a moment.

Because Ryder, years removed from her Oscar-nominated/Golden Globe winning heyday in films such as  The Age of Innocence and  Little Women, almost a decade removed from the career-crippling bad press of a shoplifting conviction, is on the brink of being a hot property all over again. Not that she’s been looking for this.     

“As you get older, and you get to a certain place in your life, you get more selective,” she says. “But I am starting to appreciate being the age that I am and finding roles that I couldn’t play before, because I was just too young. Even if I was the right age, I didn’t look the right age.”

She’s still “fragile” and “vulnerable, not just as an actress, but as a person,” director  Ariel Vroman says. He cast her as the female lead in his acclaimed new true story hit-man thriller,  The Iceman, opening Friday, pairing the dainty Ryder up with the formidable  Michael Shannon, who plays murderer-for-hire Richie Kuklinski.

Critics are agreeing, with London’s Independent newspaper calling her turn as the unknowing mob wife “touching and credible” and The Hollywood Reporter enthusing that “she brings a lovely ethereal quality to Deborah, as well as a certain willful blindness.”

That was Ryder’s chief task in this film, to be a 1960s woman courted by a man who keeps his work life secret.

“I did the opposite of research for this part,” Ryder says. “I went into denial, like Deborah. I didn’t want to know about the real crimes. I wanted to do what she was doing, block it out.”

She worked with the costume designer to construct this woman, “who liked having money, liked her life. We started with the shoes, because a woman who wears heels is different from a woman who wears sandals.” Deborah shows up well put together in scene after scene — a Valentino suit here, another perfect ensemble there — “because whatever she didn’t want to know about his work, she didn’t want to be broke. These people had money, thanks to all this killing her husband was doing.”

With the James Franco/Jason Statham film  Homefront in the can and other projects in the works, Ryder faces her latest busy stretch with the perspective of someone who didn’t work much at all for a few years. And that taught her “balance.”

“When you make movies, back to back to back, life becomes all about you. You have people who are important in your life who need you, and you’re like, ‘Let me finish this movie and I’ll be there for you.’ It’s equally as important for me to be happy in my life, to be as present as I can and appreciate each day and be a good person, friend, sibling, all of that stuff.”

'The Voice': Shakira Confirms Season 5 Exit, Usher Expected to Follow

Mark Seliger/NBC

Former coach Christina Aguilera has inked a deal to return to the hit NBC program, while Cee Lo Green is said to also be negotiating a comeback.

Days after news surfaced that Christina Aguilera was in talks to return to the hit NBC series, with Cee Lo Green reportedly hot on her heels, season four coach Shakira confirms that she will not be back for the show’s fifth season.

"It was a hard decision for me to make, because I'm really fond of the coaches, the people in production and everybody around me," she told E! News. "And I really enjoyed The Voice, but I also have a musical career and I'm also a mother now and my poor baby's so tired flying such long distances. He already has more miles than any pilot. So I think I have to give him a little break, and we'll see what happens in the future."

Usher, too, could be on his way out the door.

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that a season five return is unlikely for the R&B singer, since he’s committed to shooting Hands of Stone (in which he’ll play Sugar Ray Leonard) opposite Robert De Niro.

The return of Aguilera and Green is not unexpected. Burnett told THR last summer that artists of such stature (Adam Levine and Blake Shelton fill out the panel this season) have other musical commitments that could see them take extended breaks from the show’s big red chairs. “These are current touring artists, so it’s a matter of balancing schedules,” he said. “They’re all in demand, and we’re just balancing it all.”

Meanwhile, Green is slated to return to the current season of The Voice as a guest mentor next week.

In revealing its 2013-14 schedule Sunday, the network announced that The Voice will keep the same two-hour block on Mondays, though Tuesday's one-hour episode has shifted to 9 p.m. It is likely that Shelton and Levine will also return to their posts for season five.

NBC had no comment.

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Barbara Walters on Retiring: 'This Is What I Want to Do'

"The View" pays tribute to broadcast legend after she officially announces her 2014 departure.

ABC/Lou Rocco

Barbara Walters announces her retirement on "The View."

The View paid tribute to a tearful Barbara Walters on Monday morning, hours after the broadcast legend officially announced that she will step down in summer 2014.

Walters wiped away tears at the top of the show, which opened with a montage of career highlights including her ABC interviews with a range of headline-makers from Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to Monica Lewinsky and narrated by the trailblazing TV icon herself. "I wasn't beautiful," she said, adding: "I have trouble pronouncing my 'Rs' ... I still do."

Afterward, the 83-year-old Walters -- surrounded by View panelists Sherri Shepherd, Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg and Elisabeth Hasselbeck -- exclaimed: "I have been on television for over ... 50 years!" With wistful remembrance, she called her storied history on network television "joyful," "challenging" and "occasionally bumpy."

Walters said she will continue to executive produce The View along with Bill Geddie but would not appear on "any show." But she noted: "I will come back -- I'm not going into the sunset."

Said Walters: "I'm perfectly healthy. ... And this is what I want to do."

Sitting in the front row of the studio audience: Ben Sherwood, President, ABC News; Anne Sweeney, Co-chairman, Disney Media Networks; president, Disney/ABC Television Group; Paul Lee, President, ABC Entertainment; and Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO of Disney, ABC's parent company.

Iger got Walters misty-eyed when he praised the "quality" of her work and said he wasn't sure anybody would continue to match it.

Addressing the media mogul, who plans to retire in 2015, Walters asked: "What are you gonna do? What are we gonna do?" Well, Iger said, "The two of us love to dance. I saw we go on Dancing With the Stars." 

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and rapper-actor LL Cool J were among the guests on Monday's installment of the long-running chatfest, which heads into its 17th season this fall.

"I love you," Walters told Bloomberg. "Even if you don't like very tall soft drinks."

Shepherd called Walters "innovative" and commended her boss for hiring two African-American women as co-hosts on the View panel. Meanwhile, Behar addressed Walters' remarks that she "wasn't beautiful," saying: "I think you were."

On Sunday night, Walters released a statement through ABC New announcing that she would confirm her retirement on Monday's edition of The View, the program she launched in 1997.

"I am very happy with my decision and look forward to a wonderful and special year ahead both on The View and with ABC News," she said. "I created The View and am delighted it will last beyond my leaving it."

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A thrilling ‘War Horse’ thunders into the Broward Center

The novel, movie and stage versions of  War Horse are as different as apples and oranges and, oh, carrots.

Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 novel for young people is told from the point of view of Joey, a British farm lad’s beloved horse sent into battle in France during World War I. Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated 2011 film is a beautiful, harrowing and ultra-realistic treatment of Joey’s story. And the stage version, which came to life at London’s Royal National Theatre in 2007 and went on to win the best play Tony Award in 2011?

That  War Horse is an example of theatrical craftsmanship and magic of the highest order.     

War Horse, which begins a two-week run on Tuesday at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, is an extraordinary piece of theater, in no small part because Joey and his rival-turned-friend Topthorn are portrayed by life-sized puppets. But before you cringe or think that the stage  War Horse sounds like something for kids, think again. Chances are you’ve never seen a “puppet” as strikingly sculptural yet persuasively alive as the ones Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler created for  War Horse.

In truth, if not for the South African pair and their Cape Town-based Handspring Puppet Company, the hugely successful stage version of  War Horse and Spielberg’s subsequent movie might not exist at all.

Tom Morris, an associate director at the National, was looking for pieces to develop in 2004. He and executive director Nick Starr went to Cape Town to see a play featuring a life-sized giraffe puppet created by Handspring. On that flight, the director read a copy of Morpurgo’s novel (written 22 years earlier) because his mother had suggested it might be good material for a future project. Thus began a three-year developmental process, leading to a play that exceeded anyone’s expectations; as Starr said recently from London, “It’s impossible to think up a success like that.”

War Horse was put together at the National Theatre Studio, an arm of the government-subsidized theater and a place in which theater artists can experiment without the pressure of a looming opening night. In the first workshop at the start of 2005, Kohler and Jones worked with actors and simple puppets. As the project grew, Marianne Elliott joined Morris as co-director, playwright Nick Stafford was hired to adapt Morpurgo’s novel, and designer Rae Smith was tasked with developing the look of the show.

A key challenge for Stafford was the change in perspective from the novel to the stage.

“It was decided that the horse wouldn’t speak, so you have a shift in perspective from first to third person,” Stafford said by phone from London. “The horse became a character in the larger story. … He was de-anthropomorphized.”

Morpurgo was concerned at first when he heard that Joey and Topthorn would be portrayed by life-sized puppets operated by a trio of actors.

“I thought of the characters in pantomimes — a cloth horse,” the author said on a visit to Fort Lauderdale when the  War Horse tour was announced. “I said no, no pantomime horse. Then I saw the giraffe Handspring made, and it brought tears to my eyes. Three people became one. They made this creature live.”

Starr describes the National’s  War Horse as “a real act of collaborative storytelling. It’s a sophisticated version of folk art, the story of a boy who is on a quest.”

Performance artist Rudi Goblen is a master of re-invention

Most artists invent themselves in some way, but Rudi Goblen has invented himself much more than most, leaping into the unknown each time, nailing his landing with talent, hard work and faith in himself.

He taught himself to break-dance at 13 and co-founded Miami’s top hip-hop dance crew. He tagged along with a friend to an audition, and ended up hurling himself into performance art and dance theater. Born in Nicaragua and homeless for a time as a young boy, he dropped out of high school but has taught at top arts schools and written his own erudite solo theater pieces.

Goblen will premiere the third and most ambitious of those works,  PET, next weekend at the Miami Light Project. The result of three years of interviews,  PET is framed as a “support group for the broken-hearted and serial monogamists,” with Goblen leading the search for love.     

      All those experiences help to make Goblen one of the most compelling figures in Miami’s contemporary live-arts scene. And he sees no contradiction between his self-made street past and his avant-garde theatrical present.

“You just have to do it,” says Goblen, 31. “I am a B-boy [hip-hop dancer], a dance theater artist, a writer, an emcee, a music maker — I am all those things. It’s not like now you’re doing theater, and now you’re breaking. People say ‘Oh he used to be a B-boy and now he does theater.’ That’s like saying, ‘He used to be Nicaraguan and now he lives in Miami.’ All those things will always be inside me.

“What I love about theater is it’s open to everything. I can do all the things I want to do and know how to do, and learn all the things that catch my attention.”

Goblen’s hunger to learn and confidence in his considerable talents have attracted a crucial series of mentors and supporters.

“Right from the start he was always willing to do things he’s never done before,” says Michael Yawney, an FIU theater professor and playwright who is directing  PET and who met Goblen in an experimental dance theater workshop a decade ago. “You have this intense intellectual insight, but he’s not stuck in the groove that some people get pushed into in higher education. He thinks outside the box because he’s never been in the box.”

Goblen was just 3 years old when he left war-torn Nicaragua for Los Angeles with his mother, 9-year-old brother, grandmother and uncle. Less than a year later, the uncle threw the rest of the family out of the apartment they shared. He soon took back Goblen’s brother and grandmother, but the little boy and his mother were homeless for months.

“I remember standing outside with the two boxes of clothes we had,” Goblen says. “We slept around, in shelters, in people’s houses.”

His mother sold clothes and other items until she and his grandmother had saved enough for a one-bedroom apartment, where the family took turns sleeping in the only bed. By the time Goblen was ready for middle school, they had moved cross-country to Sweetwater, where his mother still lives.

“I was really young, and I don’t remember a lot,” he says, downplaying those difficult years. “It’s just something that happened and made our skin tougher. Yeah, there was some struggling, but that’s the essence of life.”

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Donald Faison’s job on ‘Who Gets the Last Laugh?’ is a joke

Donald Faison lives in a constant state of fear.

The former Scrubs star and host of the TBS hidden-camera comedy, Who Gets the Last Laugh?, worries that’s he about to get pranked.

“I will leave in the morning and my wife [ CaCee Cobb] will ask me what I’m going to do and I’ll say that I will probably get punk’d,” Faison tells the Fresno Bee. “I try to stay on the alert at all times.”

His punk’d paranoia started in 2005 when Faison produced the episode of MTV’s Punk’d in which his Scrubs co-star Zach Braff was made to believe kids had painted graffiti on his new car. Braff’s explosion on camera was classic.

Each Tuesday night on Who Gets the Last Laugh, three comedians create elaborate practical jokes. The audience votes on which one is the funniest and that celebrity ( Andy Dick, Tom Green, Nicole Sullivan, Chris Kattan, Bam Margera, to name a few) wins money for his/her charity.

Faison’s fear of being caught on camera isn’t totally based on the hidden-camera shows. Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence was a big practical joker and targeted Faison.

“He put a license plate on my car that said ‘TV DOC.’ Luckily, I saw it when I walked out to get into my car. Then he did it to Zach, who drove around with the fake license plate for a week,” Faison says.

The hosting job goes along with Faison’s continued work in movies and on his TV Land series The Exes. Production on the third season of the comedy about three divorced men living together recently started.

Faison, 38, was 18 when he landed a small role in the film Juice. He bounced around until 1995, when he was cast in the film Clueless and the subsequent TV version. Since then, he’s been a busy actor and was able to fit the hidden-camera show into his schedule because it’s a hosting job, which is not as time consuming.

Faison finds the work funny and has to be there for the comedians who don’t have a great outcome.

“Some people get angry when they don’t win,” he says.

And that’s no joke.

'Iron Man 3': The Third Most Pirated Film Last Week

A week before its premiere in US movie theaters, a camcorded version of the blockbuster appears online.   

Marvel Entertainment

Iron Man 3 ruled the overseas box office with a $195.3 million take from 42 markets, but the film was only the third most pirated film last week.\

The blockbuster film has yet to debut domestically, which might be reason to suspect that it would be a hot item online, but it was downloaded fewer times on torrent sites than Jack Reacher and The Last Stand, according to data collected by TorrentFreak.

The third position on the week's most pirated films puts it right in line with how The Avengers performed almost exactly one year ago. That superhero movie also opened as the third most pirated film, going onto become the fourth most pirated film of 2012, behind Project X, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and The Dark Knight Rises. The Avengers was also the top grossing film last year.

The leaked copy of Iron Man 3 appears to be a camcorded version, known for being of inferior quality to alternatives in piracy circles.

Despite being available on torrent sites for only a few days, the film starring Robert Downey Jr. still was more downloaded than The Host, Gangster Squad and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, among the other notable films on last week's 10 most pirated films. Jack Reacher held its position as the most pirated film for the second consecutive week, ahead of its domestic home entertainment release date on May 7.

In 2012, home entertainment sales -- including DVDs, Blu-Rays and digital sales -- was up slightly, reversing a seven-year downward trend but still off nearly 20 percent from the peak in 2004.

Peck’s piece for MCB duo a vivid part of New World’s ‘New Work’ program

The pas de deux Justin Peck created for Miami City Ballet was just one element of the New World Symphony’s “New Work” evening, but  Chutes and Ladders, vibrantly performed by Jeanette Delgado and Kleber Rebello, made a vivid impression even amid the rich array at New World Center Saturday.

Lit up by spontaneous energy derived from the music, the first movement from Benjamin Britten’s String Quartet No. 1, this densely constructed dance was a strikingly fresh take on a traditional form.

Peck, 25, a soloist and choreographer-in-residence at New York City Ballet, said he was responding to the unpredictable, episodic quality of Britten’s music, which he compared to the way thoughts flit through our minds. But because it is a man and woman dancing in quick-changing response to each other,  Chutes also seems to show a narrative of their relationship. In their urgently alive performance, Delgado and Rebello made it seem a genuine physical expression of their own impulses and emotions.     

      Part of the here-and-now sense of  Chutes also came from Peck’s response to the in-the-round nature of the center’s concert hall. Ballet is almost always presented on a proscenium stage, the dancers facing front and moving to unseen musicians. But Peck sets Delgado and Rebello into a rotating gyroscope of a dance at the center of the audience.

The musicians – violinists Vivek Jayaraman and Alexander Chaleff, violist Anthony Parce and cellist Aaron Ludwig – were on a slightly raised platform, a visible part of the action whether the dancers stopped to focus on them or whirled in response to them. The connection between dancers and musicians was taut and alive. In a way, it was like watching a superbly accomplished couple dancing to a band at the center of a club dance floor.

Peck’s movement is by turns urgent and lyrical, formal and odd. Delgado and Kleber whirl in tandem, now with spiraling limbs, now in sharply explosive jumps. They do oddly sharp, mechanical movements that pop out like sudden flashes of thought, as when they look quickly from side to side, as if something caught their eye. But a moment where they stand staring at each other, as if caught in each other’s gaze, seems just as spontaneous.

There is humor too – Kleber leans on Delgado’s shoulder, carries her tilting sideways, legs beating. At the end she moves away from him, and the look on her face is suddenly anguished – but he brings her back to him and the quartet, all of them united by the music.

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Rush Jams Into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Rush fans can relax. The band is now officially in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Canadian rockers were welcomed into the musical fraternity at Thursday's 28th annual induction ceremony by the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins. At the beginning of the Nokia Theatre event, the audience was already administering a standing ovation to the group.

"We've been saying for a long time that this wasn't a big deal," drummer-lyricist Neil Peart told the crowd, most of whom came out to specifically support the band. "It turns out, it kind of is."

Rush gained entry following its first appearance on the ballot after repeatedly being left off the list since gaining eligibility in 1998, to the great consternation of the legion of Rush fans who cried bias against progressive rock. The long wait didn't seem to matter at Thursday's star-studded concert event, which ran over five hours. Peart, lead singer Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson made up for lost time by launching into a rambunctious rendition of "Tom Sawyer" in front of the more than 7,000 attendees.

Rush was among this year's eight eclectic inductees, which also included fellow classic rockers Heart, singer-songwriter Randy Newman, rap group Public Enemy, disco queen Donna Summer, bluesman Albert King, and producers Quincy Jones and Lou Adler.

For Heart, entering the hall of fame isn't just about music.

"Our long and winding road has always been about the magical power of love and the enduring strength of family," said Nancy Wilson. "We came from an era when women normally did not rock and women were not expected to be leaders."

Wilson, her sister, Nancy, and their band mates celebrated their induction with lively performances of "Crazy for You," ''Dreamboat Annie" and "Barracuda."

Adler was inducted by comedy duo Richard "Cheech" Marin and Tommy Chong before being serenaded by Carole King with "So Far Away." Jack Nicholson was among Adler's fans in the audience who lavished the producer-mogul a standing ovation.

With his guitar around his neck, John Mayer inducted the late King before joining Gary Clark Jr. for King-tinged jam session.

"Albert King is why guitar-face was invented," joked Mayer.

Newman — joined by Jackson Browne, John Fogerty and Tom Petty — kicked off the Los Angeles ceremony with a performance of his classic "I Love L.A." It was an appropriate song choice given the fact this year's event marks the first time since 1993 that the Cleveland institution has held its induction ceremony on the West Coast. Backstage, Newman was matter-of-fact about his inclusion.

"I didn't think it would happen until I died or something," he said.

Oprah Winfrey was on hand to welcome Jones into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Usher lauded the producer-mogul with a rendition of the Michael Jackson tune "Rock with You."

Jennifer Hudson paid tribute to Summer with a medley of her hits, much to the chagrin of Flava Flav. The Public Enemy rapper, clad in an all-white tux, was the only person in the crowd who remained on his feet throughout her performance. He later commanded the microphone for a long-winded acceptance speech when Public Enemy was recognized. His colleague, Chuck D, was more succinct in his remarks.

"Let us all not forget, we all come from the damn blues," he told detractors.

Thursday's event concluded with all-star jam session featuring Rush, Heart, Chuck D, Grohl, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello and others riffing together on stage.

The induction ceremony will be broadcast May 18 on HBO.

'Today Show' Drama: 5 Buzzy Revelations About Ann Curry's Messy Exit

 New report reveals new details on a cutthroat (and ultimately doomed) plot to oust the co-anchor dubbed "Operation Bambi."   

 

As the NBC morning show struggles to reclaim its No. 1 status from ABC rival Good Morning America, a dishy new report by Brian Stelter in The New York Times Magazine (an excerpt of his forthcoming book, Top of the Morning) has exposed more details on Ann Curry's messy departure, which ultimately caused a loss of ratings and ad revenue at Today and tarnished the reputation of once-popular co-host Matt Lauer.

Reached by THR, a Today spokesperson said: "We are focused on covering several major news stories this week and producing the best show we can for our viewers, not on year-old gossip."

Here are the five most eye-catching revelations from the story:

1. Former executive producer Jim Bell allegedly dubbed the plot to oust Curry "Operation Bambi." Dead-set on pushing out Curry and replacing her with Savannah Guthrie, Bell executed a plan that gained momentum when Lauer signed a lucrative new contract. He took Curry to lunch at a fancy French restaurant, ordered multiple bottles of wine and tried to sell Curry on the idea of transitioning into a "global anchor" role that would allow her to focus more on the serious news she wanted to see more of on Today. Just when Curry was beginning to accept Bell's pitch, the New York Times reported the strategy to remove Curry ahead of July's Olympic Games, which were broadcast on NBC. Crushed, Curry "basically shut down," Stelter writes. After her tearful on-camera goodbye on June 28 of last year, Bell and other high-level Today producers toasted the success of Operation Bambi. (Bell denies using the code name, as well as many of the dishier details in the piece.)

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2. Katie Couric considered Curry to be "fake." Known for her ambition, Curry would lobby to sub in for Couric when she was away. According to Stelter, "Couric didn't appreciate Curry¹s eagerness. Producers said Couric thought Curry was melodramatic and, in a word that one used, 'fake.'" (In a recent cover story on Today's decline, New York magazine reported that Couric used to tease Curry about her clothes, remarks that didn't go over well with the sensitive newsreader.)

3. Many execs inside NBC News never thought Curry had the personality for the co-host gig. Noticing a lack of rapport between Lauer and Curry when Curry would fill in for Couric, Neal Shapiro -- then president of NBC News -- attempted to thwart a potential co-anchor promotion by crowning Curry host of Dateline NBC. He hoped to make room for possible Couric successors such as Hoda Kotb and Natalie Morales. "I don't think anybody back then thought Ann was right," Tom Touchet, formerly executive producer of Today, calling Curry a "wacky chick" with a "great heart."

4. The names of outside-the-network talent Bell pursued. When Meredith Vieira was preparing an early Today exit in 2011, Bell met with Fox News' Megyn Kelly and also expressed interest in GMA's Robin Roberts, Stelter reports. Meanwhile, ex-NBC News boss Steve Capus -- who has had a contentious relationship with Bell -- was pushing for Curry to replace Vieria. Bell gave in, having no "better option," an insider told Stelter.

5. Curry's reaction after signing off: "It feels like I died, and I've seen my own wake." That's what she reportedly told colleagues amid a media frenzy -- and outpouring of support -- over her ouster. So far, she hasn't gone public with her side of the story. Her silence might have something to do with her new NBC contract worth a reported $5 million-plus per year. In Stelter's view, it was "partly granted, no doubt to guard against the impression that she was fired and to encourage her to keep any hurt feelings to herself and not share them with any of the publishers lining up for a tell-all book."

Miss Cougarlife on the prowl in Miami

Marlo Jordan, the new spokes-Cougar for Cougarlife.com, a site that links up mature ladies with younger men, dishes on why Miami is a prime spot to hunt for cubs.

    

       

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By Amy Reyes4/15/2013

Cubs of Miami Beach be on alert! Cougarlife.com's new spokes-Cougar Marlo Jordan has chosen Miami Beach as the perfect place to celebrate her upcoming 42nd birthday. The fitness competitor and dating coach was chosen by a popular vote that included 6,000 cougar contestants and now she reigns as the face of a website that has made millions of love connections between mature ladies and the young men who fawn over them. Well, perhaps love isn't the right word to describe this kind of  connection. We caught up with the new Miss Cougarlife to chat about the life and loves of a self-described Cougar.

How did you become Miss Cougarlife?
There were actually 6,000 cougars who entered the contest and I basically entered and thought it was funny and then I forgot about it. The next thing I knew I had won.

What got you to join a website like Cougarlife.com?
I heard about the website from a girlfriend. With my schedule being so busy I thought this would be perfect. It’s just an easy way to date.

What is it about younger guys that attracts you?
The younger guys are in their sexual prime so you get a guy in his mid twenties to early thirties, and I’m in my early forties so I'm in my sexual prime. You put two people together who are in their sexual prime, they are not into a relationship right now and the dynamics of the two works well. I don’t want them to marry me and have kids with me. Maybe they want to fulfill  fantasies.

How many guys have you met on the site?
I interact with a lot of guys on the site. But I have met about five guys that I have had an ongoing relationship with. Cougarlife has made over 9 million connections, those are some big numbers. There’s about four guys to every girl. Your chances are really great.

Do you think its easier for older women to snag younger guys now because women take better care of themselves?
If you think back in the '60s in the Ms. Robinson days, you think of the cougar as an old lady who wants to tear a man apart. In Hollywood you have actresses like Demi Moore, Mariah Carey, Sharon Stone - these women have changed the stigma about women dating younger men. I think the cougar lifestyle is here to stay. Madonna is a full on  cougar and look at her.

I’ve always gone to the gym. But I’ve been divorced for five years. When I started dating I stayed in the gym more and I am more conscious of  my diet.  I think that women who are single who are in their thirties and forties are  likely to take better care of themselves now.

Any drawbacks to dating cubs?
I did date a  guy for a few months who started talking about children. That is one of  the cons, no matter who you are dating, no matter what age, feelings get  involved. If you two start having stronger feelings for each other a  negative about a young guy is that he starts falling in love with you  and wants to have a family. I’m not having anymore kids. I would say  that another guy was very cocky, the younger guys get nervous and  intimidated by older women. I would say to cubs, don’t be intimidated.  Be yourself. Keep in mind the older woman talking to you wants to have  sex with you, be confident but don’t be cocky.

Have you seen cubs that are looking for a Sugar Mama?
I  know there are younger guys that are looking to date older women that  are financially stable. But I think there is a percentage of them that  are looking at it like that. She can take me out. She can help me with  my bills. There’s guys like that for sure, but number one is sex.

Where are the best places in Miami to pick up cubs?
Rose Bar at Delano is great, SLS next door has lots of younger crowds. FIFTY Lounge, Sky Bar at Shore Club, Casa Tua and LIV. The nightlife in Miami is amazing and a lot of cougars go to Miami to celebrate birthdays like what I’m going to do.

What made you want to party for your birthday in Miami?
Miami is one of the top places to let loose. There’s going to be plenty of cubs so it's the perfect place to go celebrate.

Slow Burn Theatre does well by ‘Sweeney Todd’

Since its birth with  Bat Boy in 2010, Slow Burn Theatre has been quick to embrace some of musical theater’s most challenging works. Its second show, for instance, was Stephen Sondheim’s  Assassins, and in 2012 the company returned to Sondheim’s influential body of work for a production of  Into the Woods. But those two were mere warm-ups for Slow Burn’s new production of  Sweeney Todd.

Created in 1979 by Sondheim and playwright Hugh Wheeler,  Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is an immensely challenging work that has as much in common with opera as it does with musical theater. The Tony Award-winning piece has been given a John Doyle-directed Broadway revival in which the actors and the “orchestra” were one and the same. It has been produced all over the world, by major theater companies, opera companies and in concert versions. Tim Burton made a 2007  Sweeney Todd movie starring his male muse, Johnny Depp, and Burton’s wife Helena Bonham Carter.

One could be forgiven for wondering just how well the young Slow Burn, with its short rehearsal period, limited budget and non-union cast, would pull off a work as complex as  Sweeney Todd. The short answer: surprisingly well.     

      Director-choreographer Patrick Fitzwater has a key asset in his fellow Slow Burn founder and co-artistic director, Matthew Korinko. A strong actor with a supple baritone voice, Korinko often plays leads in Slow Burn shows, but that’s not favoritism at work — it’s talent. More than once, Korinko has been the standard-setter in Slow Burn productions, and so it is with  Sweeney Todd.

The actor plays the mad, tragic, vengeful barber with a mixture of fury and, when needed, a forced charm to disarm his soon-to-be victims. The way he lays out the reason for his character’s descent into madness, singing  The Barber and His Wife, is haunting. His  Pretty Women duet with Shawn Wayne King’s Judge Turpin, the architect of barber Benjamin Barker’s downfall (“Sweeney Todd” is a pseudonym), is one of the vocal high points of the show.

As Sweeney’s landlady, cohort and would-be Mrs., Karen Chandler doesn’t rise to Korinko’s level. She gets the crazy-funny part — after all, it’s Mrs. Lovett who dreams up the utilitarian idea of using Sweeney’s victims as filling for her substandard meat pies — but her voice is somewhat strident, except when she’s crooning  Not While I’m Around to her slow but dangerous young helper Tobias (Bruno Vida).

Christian Vandepas and Kaela Antolino play returning sailor Anthony and Judge Turpin’s ward Johanna, who also happens to be the daughter Sweeney left behind when the corrupt judge shipped him off to Australia so that the jurist could have his way with the barber’s beautiful young wife Lucy. Vandepas has trouble with that difficult vocal leap at the beginning of  Johanna, but he plays the smitten suitor well, and Antolino is a persuasive damsel in distress.

Ann Marie Olson as the mysterious, crazy Beggar Woman greatly enriches the show’s vocal palette. Sean Dorazio as Judge Turpin’s equally corrupt Beadle, Rick Peña as Sweeney’s rival Pirelli, the steampunk-style ensemble — Kaitlyn O’Neill, Courtney Poston, Daniella Newton, Rick Hvizdak, Christopher Mitchell and Michael Smith — and the principal actors make the opening and closing  Ballad of Sweeney Todd a thunderous, chilling summation of the doom we witness.

Though Ian T.Ameida’s set is more utiliarian than inspired (it  does have the requisite modified barber chair and body disposal chute), Peña’s steampunk costumes suggest the show’s 19th century setting. Lance Blank’s lighting, blood-red when the moment calls for that, is effective, as is Traci Almeida’s sound design (though softening Chandler wouldn’t hurt). Musical director Manny Schvartzman leads a six-piece band that does as well with Sondheim’s devilishly difficult score as Korinko does. All told,  Sweeney Todd, which runs just one more weekend, is another impressive effort from Slow Burn.

Festivals thriving as 2013 season starts

Coachella and Lollapalooza are sold out. Bonnaroo’s nearly there, too. But eager fans need only be patient: Wait a few years and chances are you’ll have a star-studded music festival of your own within driving distance.

New music festivals are popping up more quickly than you can count in the United States. As the summer festival season gets under way this week with the sprawling Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival down in the desert in Indio, Calif., some of the most successful promoters in the scene are looking ahead to next year and beyond when they’ll launch new ventures in untapped markets.

“I do think that there’s really plenty of opportunities for people to create some great festival experiences,” said Ashley Capps, a co-founder of the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. “In fact, I think in many ways the audience in America is just now starting to fully embrace festival culture.”      

After a disastrous run when festivals disappeared more quickly than the family farm in the late 1990s, a small group of concert promoters established beachheads — the four mega giants Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza in Chicago and Austin City Limits Festival in Texas. Each of those has survived a decade or more and continues to gain in popularity.

In the last five years, several others have taken root like the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago; the Hangout Music Festival on the beach in Gulf Shores, Ala;, Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival in San Francisco; Governors Ball Music Festival in New York; Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Festival (formerly Moog Fest) in Asheville, N.C., and Forecastle Festival in Louisville, Ky. Even more are being started by artists themselves, Metallica and Wilco among them.

That abundance comes with its own problem: As more festivals debut worldwide, the competition for top headliners becomes more intense.

As does the scrutiny. Put McCartney, Mumford & Sons and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers at the top of your bill, like Bonnaroo, and you’ll get few complaints.

Throw The Stone Roses up there, as Coachella did, and there’s going to be some yammering, as festival producers found this year. Many fans asked, “Who?” when the British rock band appeared atop the festival’s lineup and speculated the `90s holdovers might hurt attendance.

Yet the complaints had no effect on ticket sales. Coachella, which recently expanded to two weekends, sold out both. Lollapalooza, with headlining ‘80s band The Cure, sold out in a record four hours.

“There’s always going to be complaints about every lineup. You have to look at tickets sales,” said Charles Attal, whose C3 Presents produces Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits Festival. “If they’re selling out in an hour, it’s the fan experience. I don’t think it’s about one band.”

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Jay-Z posts pop-up rap about Cuba trip

Just days after his trip to Cuba with wife  Beyoncé, rapper Jay-Z released  Open Letter, a song about the controversy surrounding the trip.

Among the lyrics: “Politicians never did s--- for me ... except lie to me, distort history.”

“Obama said chill, ‘You gonna get me impeached,’ ... We don’t need this s--- anyway, chill with me on the beach.     

“I’m in Cuba. I love Cubans. This Communist talk is so confusing. When it’s from China, the very mic that I’m using."

The power couple created a buzz recently after spending several days in Havana touring the streets and also watching young artists perform. Travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens who don’t have relatives on the island is prohibited without special licenses or as part of a policy that allows cultural and people-to-people exchanges. As it turns out, the Office of Assets Control, which issues travel licenses, said that the couple did not violate travel restrictions.

The track, developed on the spur of the moment in response to the flak over the trip, was posted early Thursday on Jay-Z’s Life + Times site.

After inquiries from Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart, Treasury officials said the couple were granted an educational exchange license to travel. In the song, the lyrics include "boy from the hood, I got White House clearance."

That claim was disputed Thursday by White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, who said, "I guess nothing rhymes with Treasury," — insisting it was the U.S. Treasury Department , not the White House, that OK’d the trip to the island.

Carney said Obama never talked about the Cuba trip to Jay-Z: "Treasury offers and gives licenses for travel, as you know and the White House has nothing to do with it," Carney said. "I am absolutely saying the White House, from the president on down, had nothing to do with anybody’s personal — anybody’s travel to Cuba. That is something that Treasury handles."

Pressed on why Jay-Z had mentioned Obama, Carney quipped "Treasury, these are tough words to rhyme.

"It’s a song," he said. "The president did not communicate with Jay-Z over this trip."

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Mary Tyler Moore Show' Cast Reminisces at Lively Reunion

Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Harper, Betty White, Cloris Leachman and Georgia Engel are set to appear together in an episode of TV Land's "Hot in Cleveland" airing in September.

Courtesy of TV Land

rom left: Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman, Mary Tyler Moore, Betty White and Georgia Engel

It was mostly laughter -- and only a few tears -- when the cast of The Mary Tyler Moore Show reunited Thursday at the CBS Radford lot in Studio City to reminisce about their show and discuss their upcoming on-air reunion in TV Land's Hot in Cleveland.

Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman will join Cleveland star Betty Whiteand recurring actress Georgia Engel in the Sept. 4 episode, appropriately titled "Love Is All Around" (that, of course, also was the title of Mary Tyler Moore's theme song). It marks the first time all five women have acted together since their 1970-77 series went off the air.

Though they have kept in touch over the years, the quintet also hasn't been together in the same place since the 2012 SAG Awards, where Moore was honored with a career achievement award.

Asked whether there was more tears or laughter while they've been shooting Cleveland, Harper replied: "I would say laughter, and the tears come up, and they’re part of the laughter. Did you ever laugh 'til you cried? That's been happening a lot. And the remembrances and the stories -- it's been wonderful, so full of life and joy and fun."

"And heartbreak, and sadness, and loneliness, and torment…," quipped Leachman to laughs.

Indeed, the actresses kept the throng of reporters, camera operators and publicists entertained throughout Thursday's press conference. The vibe was upbeat and positive, with the cast's chemistry clearly on display. Moore noted that they picked up right where they left off as if no time had passed.

"Even though we are playing different people [on Hot in Cleveland], we are still ourselves, and no matter where you put us, we will continue to be ourselves and interact as only you can when you've been together for a long, long time," she said.

Added White: "We're grateful for the fact that we love each other. We've always gotten along. It would be different if it were one of those shows where we don't speak. That wouldn't have been any fun."

The episode finds Elka (White) and Mamie Sue (Engel) deciding to get their bowling team -- named GLOB: the Gorgeous Ladies of Bowling -- back together. The team, which also includes, Diane (Moore), Peg (Leachman) and Angie (Harper), had a falling-out decades earlier after their championship season went to their heads. 

Asked what motivated the group to reunite, Leachman quipped: "It wasn't the money."

The idea of the reunion came about through the Cleveland staff, and it was suggested that the first one to sign on was Moore, who said she was "thrilled" to do it. (She previously appeared in a season two episode of Cleveland as Elka's cellmate.) While their former co-stars Gavin MacLeod and Ed Asner were available to be a part of the reunion, Harper joked that the Cleveland writers wanted to keep the reunion "really high estrogen."

Meanwhile, Harper also addressed her recent revelation that she has terminal brain cancer during the event. She said she's gotten an "overwhelming" amount of support from fans in the form of letters, gifts and blankets as well as remedies.

"Some are a little questionable, but it comes from a good place," she said, noting that she's hoping to respond to everyone who reached out. As for her condition, "I don't have a lot of bad symptoms. Maybe down the road, but I'm not thinking about down the road; I'm thinking about today and getting my lines right."

She added that while her doctor told her she has only several months to live, she believes that it's impossible for anyone to accurately predict such a thing. "Every experience is different," she said.

Moore teared up once, when asked what her favorite scene with Harper was. She noted that anytime they were filming together, they had a shorthand.

"We look into each other's eyes and would be comforting and uplifting for each other," she said.

For her part, Harper said Moore often would graciously tell the writers to give jokes to Harper if she felt they would be better for her character.

Meanwhile, Moore admitted that it makes her sad that her she isn't able to see her former co-stars, as well as the cast and crew, more often.

"It makes me feel, well, why don't I have this in my current life?" she said. "Where are all these friends and buddies and co-workers and people who loved each other? Why aren't they around?"

At one point, the topic came around to the state of comedy today and the impact of their show on TV, with Moore noting that the Mary Tyler Moore writers were able to explore topics that hadn't already "been seen hundreds of times."

Harper also noted the writing on was held up to a high standard.

"Our writers wrote high-class comedy," she said. "They didn't throw a character overboard for a cheap joke, boobs and ass. They never went over the line."Hot in Cleveland returns with a live episode at 10 p.m. June 19. The Mary Tyler Moorereunion episode airs Sept. 4.

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Lifetime Prepping Jodi Arias TV Movie

With the murder trial gaining national interest, it's poised to join the cable network's recent roster of true-crime telepics about Drew Peterson, Carlina White and Casey Anthony.

Newscom

With the Jodi Arias trial continuing to draw national interest and pull particularly strong ratings for HLN, another cable network is jumping on story.

As the Lifetime brand evolves with more and more original series (The Client List, Army Wives and upcoming Devious Maids), true-crime TV movies remain one of the network's biggest draws. Three of Lifetime's biggest ratings hauls of the last year and half came from Drew Peterson: Untouchable; Abducted: The Carlina White Story; and Prosecuting Casey Anthony.Lifetime is prepping a telepic about the woman accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend,The Hollywood Reporterconfirms. The news was first reported

The news is little surprise, given how high-profile Arias coverage has become in recent weeks. The Arizona woman is accused of killing former boyfriendTravis Alexander. He was found dead in 2008 with a gunshot to the head, multiple stab wounds and a slit throat.

Joshua D. Maurer, Alixandre Witlin andJudith Verno, the same team behind Drew Peterson, will executive produce the untitled project. Their previous efforts include Lifetime's The Craigslist Killer and Hallmark's Who Is Clark Rockefeller?The Arias trial began on Jan. 2. Arias has testified that she did kill Alexander -- but in self-defense.

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Hawaii Senate Passes Steven Tyler Act on Privacy

The Hawaii state Senate passed the so-called Steven Tyler Act Tuesday, a bill that seeks to protect celebrities from overeager paparazzi by creating a civil violation if people take unwanted photos or videos of others in their private moments.

The Aerosmith frontman from Massachusetts asked Sen. Kalani English to sponsor the legislation after unwanted photos were taken of him and his girlfriend last December and published in a national magazine, causing family drama.

Tyler owns a multimillion dollar home in Maui, which is part of English's district. English said the proposal could help increase celebrity tourism in Hawaii.

Twenty-three of the state's 25 Senate members voted in favor of the bill, which now goes to the House for consideration.

Sen. Sam Slom, the body's only Republican, opposed the measure.

"We have been the butt of many editorials and jokes across the country for this proposed legislation," he said.Slom said senators had fun with the bill, but Hawaii has adequate laws protecting privacy and this proposal is an attack on First Amendment rights.

"My final remarks to Steven Tyler as he sang so eloquently are, 'Dream on, dream on,'" Slom joked.

Sen. Les Ihara also voted against the measure.

Besides Tyler, other celebrities have supported the bill, including Britney Spears, Mick Fleetwood and the Osborne family.

They say intrusive paparazzi make it difficult to enjoy simple activities with family and friends.

But national media organizations worry about the proposal's impact on freedom of the press. The National Press Photographers Association and the Society of Professional Journalists were some of several national media organizations that submitted testimony opposing the bill.

The Senate Judiciary Committee responded to criticism of the measure's vague language by replacing the original version with the text of an existing California anti-paparazzi statute.

But longtime media lawyer Jeff Portnoy said the bill is still problematic.

"It's better, but it doesn't change its fatal flaws," he said. The measure's language is still ambiguous and it is unnecessary, given Hawaii's existing laws, Portnoy said.

"Our only chance to get some sanity into this is in the House," he said.

Jimi Hendrix New Release - People, Hell and Angels



In her autobiography about being a young artist in New York City, Just Kids, Patti Smith described attending the opening night party for a new recording studio in August of 1970. Being shy and easily overwhelmed by crowds, she spent a great deal of time outside on the fire escape with the equally shy musician responsible for the studio's existence. Jimi Hendrix didn't have too much longer to live when he sat on the fire escape outside his newly opened Electric Ladyland Studios with the young poet. The studio was to be the place where he would experiment and play music away from the demands of the world-he was only able to do so for four weeks before going on the road and ultimately passing away in September. Today, more then 40 years after Hendrix's death, the studio is one part of his legacy to the world of music. (Smith is only one of many artists who recorded there too, taking advantage of what Hendrix created.)

Listening to the new CD, People, Hell and Angels, released by Legacy Recordings, of previously unreleased Hendrix studio sessions is to be reminded once again how complete a musician he was. Some might wonder why bother releasing the music of somebody dead for four decades, especially tracks which are essentially unfinished. The answer would be for the same reason we publish and read the letters and diaries of famous writers. Hendrix was a musician, so these tracks are his diaries, his letters to the world. They represent a chance to gain some insight into the directions he wanted to take his music, what his interests were and maybe get to know him a little better.

The majority of music released under his name since his death has been of not only dubious quality, but dubious origins as well. It's only been recently his family has been able to gain control of his music and try and redress the damage done to his legacy by a legion of unscrupulous people trying to make a fast buck off the name of Hendrix. In the years following his death a number of poorly recorded and badly mixed albums were dumped on the market.

Tracks appearing on this disc had previously been released in either truncated versions or with studio musicians overdubbing those who had originally been in the studio with Hendrix, leaving only his solos intact. This would be equivalent to rewriting an unpublished story by James Joyce, leaving monologues intact while having some hack ghostwriter fill in the blanks. Whatever magic was originally present in the studio when Hendrix was there with those he chose to create with in the moment was lost. Taking his solos out of their original context is akin to planting a palm tree in the Arctic Circle. Not only will it look out of place, it will wither and die. Here, lovingly restored by Eddie Kramer, the man who engineered all his studio albums and recorded his most famous concerts, and co-producers Janie Hendrix (Hendrix's sister) and John McDermott, the songs can be heard in all their rough, uncut glory.

Johnny Depp Commits to Star in 'Transcendence,' 'Black Mass' Back-to-Back in 2013

 Johnny Depp has set his next two movies.

 He will star in Transcendence, a sci-fi thriller to be directed by Inception cinematographer Wally Pfister. He then will segue into Black Mass, a biopic of Boston gangster Whitey Bulger for director Barry Levinson.

 Transcendence, financed and produced by Alcon Entertainment (Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are executive producing), will begin shooting in April. The film, written by newcomer Jack Paglen, will be released by Warner Bros. The story has not been revealed, but sources say Depp will play a scientist whose brain is uploaded into a supercomputer.

After that film, Depp will move on to Black Mass, based on the nonfiction Bulger book by Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerald O’Neill. Shooting on that film, financed by Cross Creek and Exclusive Media, is set to begin in summer.

Depp, repped by UTA and Bloom Hergott, next hits theaters in The Lone Ranger, set for release July 3 by Disney.

Bruce Lee Origin Story Heading to Big Screen

Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen Rivele, whose credits include "Nixon" and "Ali," have been hired to write the script.   

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Bruce Lee in 1970

QED International and banner Groundswell Productions are aiming to tell a Bruce Lee origin story with Birth of the Dragon, tapping scribes Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen Rivele to pen the tale.

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Dragon, according to QED and Groundswell, is inspired by the true-life duel between Lee and Wong Jack Man, who was China’s most famous kung fu Master. The no-rules fight took place in San Francisco in 1965, when the city’s Chinatown was controlled by Hong Kong triads.

The writers are using this true event as a jumping-off point for a wider-canvas action movie in which Wong and Lee team up to battle a band of Chinatown gangsters.

QED CEO Bill Block and Groundswell’s Michael London will produce the project along with Wilkinson and Rivele. Groundswell’s Kelly Mullen will exec produce.


"Stephen Rivele and Chris Wilkinson have taken a little-known chapter in the life of Bruce Lee and used it as a jumping-off point for a bold, exciting story about the making of an international legend,” said London in a statement.

Wilkinson and Rivele are best known for their biopic work. The duo’s credits include Nixon, the 1995 drama directed by Oliver Stone that netted them an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay, and 2001's Ali, directed by Michael Mann. They also wrote Mercury, the story of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, which is set up at GK Films with Sacha Baron Cohen to star.

Sofia Vergara's 'Killer Women' Adaptation, Score Pilot Orders at ABC

Sofia Vergara

ABC is expanding its relationship with Emmy nominee Sofia Vergara -- ordering to pilot an adaptation of Argentine series Killer Women -- and is adding a drama from Awake creator  Kyle Killen

Killer Women is a soapy procedural revolving around a female Texas Ranger, with the Modern Family star attached to executive produce the hour-long project. The project landed at the network with a script commitment in October.

The drama is based on the POL-KA Productiones' Argentine series Mujeres Asesinas, which itself is based on the book trilogy of the same name by Marisa Grinstein.

Hannah Shakespeare (The Raven) will pen the pilot script and executive produce alongside feature director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale), Vergara and her Latin World Entertainment partner Luis Balaguer.

The drama hails from ABC Studios and Electus, with Ben Silverman also on board to executive produce. It marks Electus's first pilot order this season; the company has a pilot presentation for a semi-autobiographical Jessica Simpson comedy set up at NBC.

Worth noting: ABC also has a semi-autobiographical comedy from Vergara's Modern Family co-star Ty Burrell awaiting word on its future. Burrell co-wrote the script with his brother, Duncan Burrell.

For its part, Killen's Influence is being billed as a provocative workplace ensemble centered on the complicated relationship between two brothers who head a unique agency designed to attack their clients’ problems using the real science of human motivation and manipulation.

The pair of dramas becomes the network's sixth and seventh pickups this pilot season, joining a legal drama from House creator David Shore, among others.

Killen, who wrote theMel Gibson/Jodie FosterfilmThe Beaver, is repped by WME, Anonymous Content and Lichter Grossman; Vergara is repped by CAA and Hansen Jacobson; Shakespeare is repped by CAA, Silent R Management and Felker Toczek.

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Oprah Winfrey No Longer World’s Richest Black Woman

Folorunsho Alakija

*Oprah Winfrey has reportedly been unseated as the world’s  richest black woman.

According to a report published by Ventures Africa, an African business  magazine and news service, the new title holder is Nigerian fashion designer and  oil tycoon Folorunsho Alakija, who is worth an estimated $3.3  billion. That’s $500 million richer than Winfrey, whose wealth Forbes magazine  estimated at $2.7 billion in September.

Alakija, 61, is the founder and owner of Famfa oil, a Nigerian oil company  which owns a 60% working interest in OML 127, an offshore oil field which  produces 200,000 barrels of oil per day.

“Total E&P recently sold off its 20% stake in a similar oil field to  China’s Sinopec for $2.5 billion,” explains Ventures Africa editor Douglas  Imaralu. “The oil field in question has a daily production capacity of 180,000  barrels a day.

“Similarly, other hand, OML 127 in which Famfa has a 60% interest produces  about 200,000 barrels a day. When we did the math using the Total-Sinopec deal  as a comparator, we came to the realization that Alakija’s stake is easily worth  billions of dollars. We showed our calculations on ventures-africa.com. At this  point, we have no doubt that she is indeed, richer than Oprah.

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Kim Kardashiam Skirt Cause outrage

Kim Kardashian looks to have left her underwear at home as she heads out for an early dinner with boyfriend Kanye West in Miami. As Kim checked out her outfit in the reflection of her car, it became apparent that the reality star was not wearing any underwear as she showed off her see-through grey skirt. 

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