First ET Interview: Philip Seymour Hoffman Talks 'Magnolia'

Director Paul Thomas Anderson has a number of muses that populate his films, but only Philip Seymour Hoffman has the distinction of starring in five of his films, going all the way back to 1996's Hard Eight. Hoffman is currently nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar his stirring performance in The Master, and we're flashing back to his first ET interview, talking about 1999's Magnolia.

Pics: The Best and Worst of The Oscars

Calling the film "profound and deep and moving," Hoffman talks about Magnolia's lengthy, three-hour-plus running time ("I didn't care … I could've watched more") and working in particular with Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore among the ensemble cast. He also lauds the solid amount of "powerful filmmaking" in cinema around the turn of the 21st century.

Related: Hoffman Gets Huge 'Catching Fire' Role

Asked if he would like to work with Anderson again, Hoffman replies, "Oh, we'll definitely work again, yeah," adding with a laugh, "What does he say? 'You can never reject me!'"

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Group holds gun control march and rally in NYC

UPI

Children join the hundreds who gather for the "One Million Moms For Gun Control" rally held at City Hall today.

A gun control group formed in the wake of last month's massacre at a Connecticut elementary school marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall on Monday to call on Congress to follow New York's lead and enact stricter limits on weapons and ammunition purchases.

One Million Moms for Gun Control said the event was inspired by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s message of nonviolence.

A cabbie drove by beeping his car's horn and flashing a peace sign as some 400 marchers from the city's five boroughs and several other states, including Michigan, Minnesota and Florida, crossed the bridge.

Valerie Wright of Manhattan said she would have felt "negligent" if she didn't attend.

"Even though we just passed legislation here, it's more far reaching than just our state," she said.

Wright said it was important to be counted in the call for similar laws nationwide. "Sometimes showing up is the best thing you can do," she said.

Jennifer Edwards, from Ann Arbor, Mich., said she was not against guns, but wants a nationwide ban on military-style guns.

"If the man at Sandy Hook had a regular gun instead of an assault weapon, half of those children would be alive," she said of the Newtown, Conn., tragedy. "You can never stop people from doing crazy things, but if you can minimize it, if you can save one life, isn't it worth it?"

One Million Moms for Gun Control wants Congress to pass President Barack Obama's sweeping gun control proposals. Those include a ban on assault weapons and large magazines and closing loopholes that allow some gun sales without background checks. The group also is pushing for boundaries on how much ammunition can be purchased and limits on the scope of concealed weapons laws.

Last week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the nation's toughest assault weapon and magazine restrictions.

The rally began with the rendition of "26 Names" by Tony-nominated actress Montego Glover. The song is a recitation of the Newtown victims' names set to music by Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown. Twenty first-graders and six school officials were killed in the shootings last month at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

It ended with comments from Shannon Watts, the group's founder, thanking those who marched through the frigid morning and imploring them to keep the pressure on to get national laws passed.

An Indianapolis resident, Watts said she was inspired by the Sandy Hook shootings to act. Using social media, word has spread so that in just a few weeks more than 75 chapters formed, including the one in Brooklyn that sponsored the event.

Watts said she envisions the group modeling itself after Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and hopes to lead a fight nationwide with rallies planned for next week in Washington and other cities.

"It's going to be a steady drip," she said. "We are not going to give up."

She acknowledged that others have fought the issue before, but said that the elementary school shooting was a turning point.

"This is a new generation of moms," she said.

Indeed, many in the crowd said they were galvanized by Newtown. Rachael Dubin, of Brooklyn, said she had never been involved in previous efforts to enact stricter gun laws, but the shootings were too close to home for the mother of a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old.

"It's the 5-year-old that really made what happened in Newtown so jarring," she said. "I think there absolutely needs to be national legislation, and I hope it's tougher than what was done in New York state."

The newcomers to the cause were joined by those who have been calling for stricter gun laws for years.

Jackie Rowe Adams, founder of Harlem Mothers SAVE (Stop Another Violent End), has buried two children because of gun violence.

"We can't bring our kids back, but we can certainly continue to do prevention, to do education and to do what we can to end the violence," she boomed at the rally.

Johnnymae Robinson lost her son in 1999, and marched in the Mother's Day rally in Washington in 2000 that was dubbed the "Million Mom March." She thought the strength of that effort would produce a bigger effect, she said, and hoped the momentum building now will produce some change.

Several members of the City Council, state Assembly and Senate joined the rally. Among them was Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who has long called for stricter gun laws. He called the event a manifestation of the growing momentum for change. The commissioner said tighter laws on assault weapons are a start, but also added that handguns are used in most of the crimes within the city — most of them brought into New York illegally.

"We need a national policy to address that," he said.

Bennett Windheim of Manhattan brought his wife and son.

"This is a signal in support of what the president wants to do and sends a signal to legislators across the country that there's support for the president's initiatives."

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Series for Miami’s emerging art collectors begins Thursday

For art enthusiasts interested in bring their interest home, Miami’s Bakehouse Art Complex is hosting a lecture series for emerging collectors. The first panel, slated for Thursday at 6 p.m., features arists and curators who will talk about fine tuning your taste and learning to make informed decisions. The second session, Feb. 7, is oriented to the mechanics of purchasing. The third, on Feb. 21, explores how to manage your collection.

Moderating all three panels will be Denise Gerson, independent curator who served as associate director for the Lowe Museum of Art for 24 years. Cost is $25 per session or $60 for the series. Seating is limited; reservations are recommended.

Information at 305-576-2828; www.bacfl.org.

Jane Wooldridge

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Miami Heat sign Chris “Birdman” Andersen

LeBron James admitted Sunday that playing against bigger teams has “worn” on Heat players at times this season. So has the frequent pounding on the boards, with Miami next-to-last in the league in rebounding.

On Sunday, the Heat did something to address both, adding 6-10 veteran forward/center Chris “Birdman” Andersen to a 10-day contract. Miami also re-signed center Jarvis Varnado to a second 10-day contract.

“I’m overwhelmed, ecstatic to be here, grateful for this opportunity,” said Andersen, who last played in the league for Denver last season, where he averaged 5.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 15.2 minutes in 32 games.

“Being with the defending champs, it’s a dream come true. They’re taking a chance with me and I’m here to give them everything I've got – defensively, diving on the floor, blocking shots, the usual [stuff] Birdman brings. It’s a great fit for me.”

Coach Erik Spoelstra said Andersen’s “skill set fits the style of basketball we like to play. Typically, you’re not able to get a player of his caliber this time of year. Three years ago, he was the best at the game coming off the bench at his position as a shot-blocker and a rebounder. This [move] unanimously made sense to everybody.”

Nicknamed “Birdman” by teammates years ago because he jumps and “flies around” on the court, the 34-year-old Andersen has averaged 5.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 17.8 minutes in 482 games (including 10 starts) over 10 seasons, while shooting 50.8 percent from the field.

“We’ve always liked him,” Spoelstra said. “We had him in our camp a long time ago, when he was pre-tattoo. Ever since that day, we’ve searched for ways to get him back but there was no way to pry him from Denver. He has a lean body, a live body even at his age. Even with a lot of time off, he still had his quick twitch and his athleticism.”

Spoelstra was non-committal about how much he would play immediately, saying he “needs to learn our system first, though you can see he fits in very well with what we do.”

The Heat’s stars endorsed the move. “It has to make us better on paper. We’ll see when we get in the game,” Dwyane Wade said. “What he brings is his energy, effort, uncanny ability to rebound and block shots. It’s a great addition when you can a guy to your team that can help you and you don’t have to worry about fitting him in offensively.

“He’s kind of like a [Udonis Haslem]. Certain guys you respect because every time they get on the floor, they put their all into it. They’re game changers in a sense. You always look at guys like him and say, ‘That’s a guy you would love to have on your roster.’ We’ve always had one with U.D. Now to be able to add another one is good.”

James likes that Andersen plays with a chip on his shoulder: “That’s what we need. We love guys with chips. Hopefully he plays with that type of intensity.”

Center Chris Bosh, who averaged just 4.6 rebounds on the Heat’s six-game road trip, said Andersen “is a great defender. He’s just very active.”

Andersen had minor arthroscopic knee surgery in August, and said he “didn’t even know if I would play this season.” But he’s healthy now and in one of several references to himself in the third person, said the knee procedure “isn’t going to keep the Birdman from flying in there and banging and getting rebounds.”

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Notre Dame football star says he was not in on hoax – ESPN

(Reuters) – Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o has denied ever being in on an elaborate hoax, telling ESPN he had believed his relationship with a woman who turned out to be an online fabrication was real.

The tragic story of his girlfriend and her injuries from a car accident and death from leukemia was one of the most widely recounted U.S. sports stories last year as Notre Dame made a drive toward the national championship game.

“I wasn’t faking it,” Te’o told ESPN in an off-camera interview on Friday, excerpts of which were posted on ESPN.com. “I wasn’t part of this.”

When asked whether he had made up the tale to support his chances of winning the Heisman Trophy, the highest individual honor for a college football player, Te’o replied: “Well, when they hear the facts they’ll know. They’ll know that there is no way that I could be part of this.”

The interview was Te’o's first since the sports blog Deadspin.com on Wednesday exposed the heart-wrenching tale of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, and her death as a hoax and that a friend of Te’o's named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo was behind it.

Te’o told ESPN that Tuiasosopo called him on Wednesday and admitted he was behind the hoax and it was then Te’o was sure the woman had never existed.

“I don’t wish an ill thing to somebody,” Te’o said of Tuiasosopo, according to ESPN. “I just hope he learns. I think embarrassment is big enough.”

Outside Tuiasosopo’s home in Palmdale, California, on Thursday, a member of his family who did not identify himself told reporters they had no comment.

Te’o acknowledged in a statement on Wednesday that he had never met the woman in person, though he considered her his girlfriend and said he had been duped.

In the ESPN interview, Te’o said he tried to video chat with her several times, but she could never be seen on the other end. He also said he intentionally told people stories about her in a way that would make people believe they had met in person.

“I even knew that it was crazy that I was with somebody that I didn’t meet,” Te’o said.

NATIONAL PROMINENCE

ESPN said the interview was held at a training facility in Florida where Te’o has been preparing for the National Football League draft. The star linebacker was expected to be a high draft pick before the hoax was revealed.

Te’o sprang to national prominence last fall when he led Notre Dame to a victory over Michigan State within days of learning his grandmother and girlfriend had both died. The grandmother’s death was real.

The story grew to become a big feature in coverage of the team, which went undefeated in the regular season and reached the national championship game. Alabama defeated Notre Dame in the title game on January 7.

Notre Dame, one of the most powerful institutions in U.S. collegiate athletics, held a news conference within hours of the Deadspin.com article to say that Te’o had been duped.

Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said on Friday the Indiana university was comfortable, based on a private investigation it launched and on four years experience with Te’o, that he was the victim and encouraged Te’o to speak publicly.

(Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Eric Beech)

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The Wanted I Found You Music Video Teaser

ET is bringing you the latest sneak peek of The Wanted's highly anticipated music video for I Found You, and this brand-new, exclusive clip stars the youngest member of the group, 19-year-old Nathan Sykes.

Video: Sexy Siva Stars in The Wanted's 'I Found You'

The black-and-white clip shows the talented singer on the keyboards doing what The Wanted does best -- driving the ladies wild.

Video: The Wanted Teases 'I Found You' Video

The group's latest single is off their upcoming album Third Strike, out later this year. ET will premiere the full music video for I Found You Tuesday, January 22nd, and you can catch the full video on Vevo.com and ETonline.com Tuesday night.

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Investors await word from Apple

No company today elicits such devotion and dedication among its customers and shareholders like Apple. The fervor felt by Apple fans for its products, its leaders and its business underscore the company’s technological eco-centric strategy. While that loyalty has made for rich rewards over the long term, it will mean very little to a myopic stock market when Apple reports its latest financial results Wednesday.

When a company so dominates a business like Apple does, it is subject to plenty of rumors, especially when that company, like Apple, is disciplined to not respond to speculation. There have been a series of anonymous and Wall Street analyst worries floated in the past quarter centered on the iPhone 5. First were concerns Apple couldn’t get enough supplies to build the phones fast enough. Then there were hints Apple cut its supply orders, suggesting slower sales.

Apple optimists have been quick to defend the company even as its stock has fallen from $700 to around $500 per share since September. The stock drop has come even as Apple probably sold a record number of iPhones and iPads during the holiday quarter.

No doubt Apple will trumpet its financial prowess on Wednesday. And it should. After all it generates more than $500 million dollars a day. But the short-sighted stock market has been conditioned to expect big numbers. Therein is the challenge for Apple: incubating such devotion without inflating expectations.

Tom Hudson is anchor and managing editor of Nightly Business Report, produced by NBR Worldwide and distributed nationally by American Public Television. In South Florida, the show is broadcast at 7 p.m. weekdays on Channel 2. Follow him on Twitter, @HudsonNBR.

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Miami-Dade considering support for Dolphins’ tax plan

The issue of tax-funded sports stadiums will soon be back on the Miami-Dade County Commission’s agenda.

Commissioner Barbara Jordan is slated to introduce a resolution Wednesday backing the Miami Dolphins’ plan to use a state subsidy and local hotel taxes to fund about half of a $400 million renovation of Sun Life Stadium. The resolution urges Florida lawmakers to pass a bill allowing the funding, and cites the upgrades’ ability to attract Super Bowl and other major events to the stadium.

The discussion comes roughly three years after a divided Miami-Dade commission backed borrowing about $360 million to build the Marlins a new $640 million baseball park in Little Havana. (The Marlins contributed $155 million, and Miami paid $120 million toward the complex, including a garage.)

The vote is widely credited with helping fuel the 2011 recall of then-mayor Carlos Alvarez. Dolphins insiders cite Marlins backlash as a major obstacle to winning tax dollars for the Sun Life renovation.

“If you give everything a little time, hopefully it heals a little bit,’’ said Rep. Erik Fresen, the original sponsor of the Dolphins’ stadium bill during the 2011 bid for a tax-funded renovation. “Last time, it was literally on the heels of the recall and everything that was so specific to the Marlins’ stadium.”

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has pledged private dollars would fund the majority of the $400 million upgrade of the privately owned stadium. The bill would qualify Sun Life for $90 million in state tax dollars over 30 years, and allow Miami-Dade to increase mainland hotel taxes to 7 percent from 6 percent for the renovations. The tax increase would generate about $10 million a year under the current market conditions.

In recent days, the Dolphins have released endorsements from large hotels in the area, including the Fontainebleau, Intercontinental, Trump Doral and, most recently, a string of Marriotts owned by the MDM development firm.

The baseball debate continues to hover over local politics. Last fall, Jordan was targeted by an anti-Marlins group for defeat in a reelection campaign supported by the Dolphins. She was not immediately available for comment Friday evening.

Norman Braman, the auto magnate who tried to block the Marlins plan and targeted Jordan and other baseball supporters for defeat, said he expected the commission to back public dollars for the Dolphins, too.

“I think they’ve got all the chutzpah you can imagine,’’ he said of incumbent commissioners. “I would be shocked if the commission didn’t do this.”

Fresen, a Miami Republican and co-sponsor in the House of the new Dolphins bill, said he needs the commission to endorse the legislation before he pushes it will fellow lawmakers. Rep. Eddy Gonzalez, a Republican from Hialeah and co-sponsor of the bill, said he gives the Dolphins plan a 50 percent chance of passing the House.

“The entire delegation is not on board. We need a product everyone can live with,’’ he said.

The bill would create a special $3 million yearly stadium subsidy designed for Sun Life. The Dolphins currently receive $2 million a year from Florida under the current stadium subsidy program, tied to retrofitting the Miami Gardens facility to house the Marlins in the 1990s. The team moved out in 2011, and the Dolphins $2 million payments end in 2023.

While the bill opens up the subsidy to any renovation project where public dollars make up a minority of the funding, the language also restricts Florida from paying it to more than one stadium. Ron Book, the Dolphins’ lobbyist, said limiting the bill to one $3 million payout a year should make the proposal more palatable amid Florida’s continuing budget squeeze.

“You have to manage the economic impact to the state,’’ he said.

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Nintendo’s Wii U problems turn into a crisis

In just a week, the problems Nintendo’s (NTDOY) new home console is facing have cascaded into something sinister. The traditional post-New Year slump hit Nintendo’s home market in the week ending January 12 and exposed cruelly how weak the consumer interest in Wii U truly is. According to Famitsu, Wii U sales slumped from a pace of 70,000 per week to just 21,000. The ancient PlayStation 3 sold the exact same number of units, which is nothing short of a debacle for Nintendo. The hot portable console 3DS saw its sales slow down from 305,000 units to 106,000 units.  This means that Nintendo’s portable machine is now outselling the brand new home console by a 5-to-1 margin in Japan.

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No matter how weak the Wii U sales are now, they are likely to get worse. The launch dates of key games seem to be slipping from March quarter to June quarter, including the important Pikmin, Wario and Wii Fit franchises. The Wii U now must depend on Rayman and Lego City in coming months.

[More from BGR: Paid apps are history]

This is a scary prospect, because it now seems that Sony (SNE) is planning to unveil the PlayStation 4 in May and Microsoft (MSFT) is expected to announce the Xbox 720 in June. Nintendo rushed its console out in late 2012 to get a running start before the big guns of the home console industry grab the consumer interest with their new machines. That gambit may now be about to backfire in a spectacular manner. As demand for Wii U is already fizzling in Japan and key games slip from the first quarter of 2013, Wii U faces a very hard January-March period. Sony and Microsoft are then inevitably going to start leaking information about their new consoles in April-May time frame in the run-up to their big unveilings in the second half of the spring quarter.

The clock is ticking for Wii U. If consumers start smelling the scent of the grave emanating from the console just when Sony and Microsoft roll out their new gear, Wii U could face a sudden rejection in the market place by early summer. Nintendo needs some big new titles to revive its home machine very soon.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

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Buzzmakers: Golden Globes Glamour and Jennifer Lawrence's Butt

1. Jennifer Lawrence: That's Not My Flabby Butt!

Jennifer Lawrence has been silent long enough! The Silver Linings Playbook actress showed up on the Late Show With David Letterman this week to both clarify her Meryl Streep comments during her Golden Globes acceptance speech, and set the record straight on a photoshopped pic of her bikini backside.

The actress is convinced that the paparazzi put a much older butt on her body while she was in Hawaii, telling Letterman as he held up the photo, "It's not my butt and I will not take responsibility for it. It's a 90-year-old butt that's been photoshopped onto my body, and is posing as my butt."

Causing roars of laughter in the audience, The Hunger Games beauty, 22, admits she's not the most photogenic person and she does have some "bloat" at times, but wants everyone to take away from her Late Show appearance Tuesday night that this is not her butt.

Lawrence also felt the need to address her Streep joke while at the Globes. The actress revealed that she was merely quoting Bette Midler in First Wives Club when she said Sunday night, "Look what it says, 'I beat Meryl.'"

"I had no idea Lindsay Lohan would take to the Twitterverse," she joked with Letterman. "Well, first of all it's Meryl Streep. You can't offend Meryl Streep."

2. Golden Globes Fashion Tops & Flops

Which star at the Golden Globes had the best dress, and which ones just looked like a hot mess? You decide!

Click through our gallery and vote here!

3. LeAnn Rimes Talks Infidelity & Her Ex

No topic was off limits when LeAnn Rimes sat down exclusively with ET's Nancy O'Dell.

The country superstar, whose controversial relationship with husband Eddie Cibrian has become both a blessing and a curse, tells Nancy her upcoming album Spitfire was born unexpectedly during her extra-marital affair with Eddie. In fact, a handful of infidelity themed tracks included in the album were initially written about a friend of hers while LeAnn was married to her ex, Dean Sheremet.

"What Have I Done is one of the first songs that I wrote for the record, before anything was actually starting to happen," said LeAnn. "It was written about a friend of mine, but I didn't realize I was writing it for myself at the time... It was my subconscious talking and I didn't know yet."

Speaking on the feelings that sparked her and Eddie's infamous affair, LeAnn acknowledged that her then husband had heard the troubling track and perhaps knew she would soon be led astray.

"He actually heard the song when I wrote it and, actually, he knew what it was about before I did," she reveals. "He knew I was feeling feelings. I'm not sure what those were that he knew."

Sighed LeAnn, "It's a very complicated situation."

When asked if she ever worries whether her husband Eddie would ever cheat on her, LeAnn admits that she does.

"I would be ignorant to say, and everyone else would think I am a liar if I didn't say yes, and I have at times," said LeAnn, going on to reveal that Eddie has had the same concerns about her.

"Speaking for him, I would actually say that's creeped into his [mind]…I think we've been very honest and open with that to each other and our conversations about it have only made me understand how much he actually cares, as much as I do, about being faithful to each other."

4. Mindy McCready's Boyfriend Dies from Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound

More details into the death of Mindy McCready's boyfriend and father of her child David Wilson, who was found dead on January 13 at his Arkansas home, have surfaced.

McCready's rep, Kat Atwood, told People.com that Wilson suffered "a self-inflicted gunshot wound," adding, "Now they're working on funeral arrangements and figuring out where to go from here."

Following the news of her boyfriend's death, the country crooner was reportedly alone for the first 24 hours with her children. "Her family drove up from Florida," Atwood told the website. "I'm not exactly sure when they got there, but her personal friends arrived late last night."

"David was my soulmate," McCready, 37, said in a statement about the late singer-songwriter. "He was a precious gift from God to all of us and, yesterday, he returned home and is now with his mother and father. David loved and was loved. Those who knew and loved him will miss him; those who did know David missed the opportunity to know a truly loving and gifted man."

McCready and Wilson had been together for about two years, and share a 9-month-old son named Zayne (McCready has an older son Zander with country singer Billy McKnight).

5. Jessica Simpson on New Pregnancy: Eric Keeps Knocking Me Up!

Jessica Simpson told Jay Leno on Tuesday night's Tonight Show that she "needs to keep her legs closed" after getting pregnant twice and missing two planned wedding dates.

Wearing a leopard minidress that showed off her growing baby bump, the mommy-to-be admitted that she and her fiancé of two years Eric Johnson are planning to get married if they can quit having children. "We've had two different wedding dates, but he keeps knocking me up," Simpson, 32, joked. "We're doing it very backwards, I know. ... I'll just keep my legs crossed, I guess, this time."

The Weight Watchers spokeswoman, who reportedly lost 60 pounds after giving birth to daughter Maxwell this past year, revealed that this was not a planned pregnancy, telling Leno, "Apparently it was a part of God's plan for my life. I was extremely shocked because I was going through a lot of hormonal changes, trying to get back to the old, vibrant Jessica. You know, it was kind of like a one-night stand. And it happened, all over again!"

Simpson spilled the news on Tuesday that she'll be starring in a NBC show inspired by her life. The once Newlywed reality star quipped that the show will be about "a girl who keeps getting pregnant."

"We don't have a name yet," she confessed to Leno. "We're just now in the process of casting everyone, doing the pilot. I will be playing myself but we'll have actors playing Eric and my dad. That'll be funny."

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