Liveblog: Sony's Big PlayStation Reveal

At 6 p.m. Eastern time in New York City, Sony will unveil the future of the PlayStation brand, widely expected to be its latest home console.

“Can the PS3 Save Sony?” asked a Wired story in 2006, as Sony launched its last home console. As it turned out, the answer was “not really” — PlayStation 3 came in third in the hardware race, bled money for years and led to the ignominious departure of “father of the PlayStation” Ken Kutaragi. Now Sony as a whole is in crisis mode, having lost money for the past three years. CEO Howard Stringer stepped down a year ago to be replaced by Kazuo Hirai, the executive who led Sony and PlayStation during its decade of industry dominance. Hirai, as one might imagine, believes that gaming is one of the key products that Sony can leverage to turn the ship around.

New machine, same question: Can the PS4 save Sony?

Follow our live blog feed of the announcements, which will be livestreamed in the embedded video above when the show starts. Later, Wired contributor Stu Horvath will weigh in with any hands-on gameplay impressions and interviews with Sony executives that are offered at the event.

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3:00 PM PST

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Holy crap, did a Sony event just start on time?! Maybe they are really changing things.

2:02 PM PST

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I want to believe that The Last Guardian’s MIA status is related to the fact that it shifted platforms to PS4.

10:21 AM PST

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Watch this space for Wired’s live blog of Sony’s big announcement, starting at 6 p.m. Eastern. If it’s not PlayStation 4, New York City had better get the riot cops ready.

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Strange but true stories from Academy Awards past

(Reuters) – The Academy Awards are usually tightly scripted events, but sometimes even Oscar gets a taste of the unexpected. Here are some of the curious moments when things veered off course on the red carpet.

REFUSING OSCAR

A few Oscar winners have felt compelled to turn down their prizes over the years. The first was screenwriter Dudley Nichols, who refused his Best Screenwriter award for “The Informer” in 1936 because of conflicts between the Screen Writers Guild and the Academy. Marlon Brando famously sent a proxy to refuse his 1972 Best Actor Oscar for “The Godfather” on his behalf (and to deliver a 15-page speech on Hollywood’s mistreatment of Native Americans while she was there).

The all-time greatest rejection, though, goes to George C. Scott, who denounced his Best Actor nomination for “Patton,” calling the awards “offensive, barbarous and innately corrupt.” Scott was quoted as calling the ceremonies “a two-hour meat parade, a public display with contrived suspense for economic reasons.” When he won the award, he was 3,000 miles away at home, watching a hockey game on TV. Brilliantly, Scott’s high moral tone was strangely absent when, two years later, he let it be known that if the Academy felt like nominating him for Best Director for “Rage,” he wouldn’t object. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t much feel like it.

Ten years later, Scott was so keen on the idea of an offensively barbarous two-hour meat parade that he bought last-minute tickets for the 1982 ceremony, and would have gotten away without incident had he not been spotted by a columnist from Variety and heckled on the red carpet.

A LONG WALK TO THE STAGE

Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American to win an Academy Award, for her portrayal of Mammy in the 1939 film “Gone With The Wind” – as mentioned by George Clooney in his 2006 “Isn’t Hollywood progressive?” Oscars speech. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqDbG9h-f7c ) What he didn’t mention was that, while the rest of the cast and crew of “Gone with the Wind” sat at a big table together, McDaniel and her companion were seated at a table for two in the back of the room, as the Ambassador Hotel was still segregated. And it was from all the way at the back of the room that she had to walk to accept her award with, one has to say, a very gracious speech under the circumstances. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7t4pTNZshA ) So, progressive, but not all that progressive, eh, George?

MINISKIRT BAN

In her 1967 classic “How to Dress for Success,” Oscar-winning designer Edith Head said, “Even the most beautiful legs – Marlene Dietrich’s, for instance – look better when the kneecap is covered.” To back up the sentiment, Head, who served as a special adviser to the Academy, banned miniskirts from the 40th Academy Awards in 1967, saving the nation from the indignity of knees it suffered in 1966 (like the shocking mid-leg areas of Inger Stevens: http://www.ingerstevens.org/images2.html – although to be fair, that IS more of a swimsuit than evening wear).

THE STREAKER

Daring to show a little more leg (and a lot more of everything else) than even the poor, oppressed miniskirt lovers of 1967 was Robert Opel, who in 1974 became the only person to have appeared naked onstage at the Oscars. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IIl3zSYL8k ) Sadly, he wasn’t a daring nominee, or even a presenter – just some guy who really liked being naked. “Isn’t it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off his clothes and showing his shortcomings,” quipped David Niven, securing his place in dictionaries of hilarious quips forevermore. Of course, it was later suggested that the streak had been arranged by the producers to spice up a boring run of ceremonies, and that Niven has been seen to borrow a pencil to note down his spontaneous line before the show had even begun, but it’s far more fun to believe the opposite.

THERE’S NO HOSTING LIKE … WELL, NO HOSTING

There have been good hosts, bad hosts, really bad hosts and really, really bad hosts, but the all-time worst ceremony was one with no host. Few people who saw the 1989 awards show’s opening number – a duet between an actress playing Snow White and non-singer Rob Lowe – will ever forget it. … no matter how much they might want to, or how hard they might try. It wasn’t the first time the show had gone without a host; there was a three-year run in the late ’60s after Bob Hope’s tenure, when no one could follow his masterful act. But 1989 was the last time that happened.

BANNED!

After the Academy caught wind of Sasha Baron Cohen‘s plan to turn up dressed as his leading role in “The Dictator,” rumors flew in the weeks leading up to the 2012 Oscars that Baron Cohen would be barred from the ceremony. The Academy, however, said he had never been banned, just warned that the red carpet was no place for stunts. Apparently, Baron Cohen didn’t get the message; he arrived in full costume, carrying an urn containing, he said, the ashes of Kim Jong-il, which he then proceeded to spill over Ryan Seacrest before being escorted off the premises. Actual bans from the Oscars are harder to come by – but not impossible. Just ask Nicholas Chartier, who was reportedly the first nominee ever to fall that far afoul of Oscar, for sending an email to a group of people including Academy members encouraging them to support the film he produced (“The Hurt Locker”) and disparaging another nominated film. (http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/03/entertainment/la-et-chartier3-2010mar03 )

VALUE OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS STATUETTE: $ 1

Much to the disappointment of some faded stars, there’s no profit to be made from an old Oscar. Since 1950, the Academy has made every recipient of the little golden man sign a “winner’s agreement.” If you fall out of love with fame and one day wish to sell you statuette, you have to offer it to the Academy first for $ 1. That doesn’t mean that Oscars never surface in auctions – Steven Spielberg has spent more than $ 1.1 million on two used pre-winner’s-agreement Oscars – Clark Gable’s in 1996 and Bette Davis’ in 2001, in order to return them to the Academy. There’s nothing someone with a shelf of real Golden Men likes less than someone else trying to buy their way into the club.

THE SHIFTING STATUETTE

The modern award is 13.5 inches high, weighs 8.5 pounds (3.85 kilograms) and is made of gold-plated britannium, a pewter-like alloy, on a black metal base. But it has not always been so. Before World War Two, the base was stone; during the war, statuettes were made of plaster as a nod to the war effort (though winners could swap them for metal ones once the war was over).

Until the 1950s, child actors who won Oscars were given miniature statuettes. This was not because they were too tiny and weak to carry the big ones off the stage but because it was thought unfair to the adults that they would have to compete with kids.

When ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy Charlie McCarthy got an honorary Oscar in 1938, he was given a wooden Oscar statuette with a movable mouth.

AUSTERITY OSCARS

In 1944, as part of the war effort, the Academy took the 16th Academy Awards to Grauman’s Chinese Theater, the first time for the Oscars in a big public venue. Men and women in uniform were given free tickets for the ceremony, and in a show of solidarity some were given seats on the stage. However, as this video will attest, some of them did look a little bored. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bxTD6KWO5Y )

THE OSCARS’ OSCAR

The late Walt Disney currently holds the record for winning the most, with 26 awards given to him personally (22 Oscars, three Special Awards and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award).

On the flip side, sound re-recording mixer – it’s a real job, apparently – Kevin O’Connell has been named the Oscar’s most unlucky nominee, having been nominated 20 times without winning.

Meanwhile, there has only ever been one Oscar to win an Oscar. Songwriter Oscar Hammerstein II, fittingly, won two.

(Reporting By Anna Pickard; Editing by Arlene Getz, Kathy Jones and Douglas Royalty)

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Well: Effects of Bullying Last Into Adulthood, Study Finds

Victims of bullying at school, and bullies themselves, are more likely to experience psychiatric problems in childhood, studies have shown. Now researchers have found that elevated risk of psychiatric trouble extends into adulthood, sometimes even a decade after the intimidation has ended.

The new study, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry on Wednesday, is the most comprehensive effort to date to establish the long-term consequences of childhood bullying, experts said.

“It documents the elevated risk across a wide range of mental health outcomes and over a long period of time,” said Catherine Bradshaw, an expert on bullying and a deputy director of the Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence at Johns Hopkins University, which was not involved in the study.

“The experience of bullying in childhood can have profound effects on mental health in adulthood, particularly among youths involved in bullying as both a perpetuator and a victim,” she added.

The study followed 1,420 subjects from Western North Carolina who were assessed four to six times between the ages of 9 and 16. Researchers asked both the children and their primary caregivers if they had been bullied or had bullied others in the three months before each assessment. Participants were divided into four groups: bullies, victims, bullies who also were victims, and children who were not exposed to bullying at all.

Participants were assessed again in young adulthood — at 19, 21 and between 24 and 26 — using structured diagnostic interviews.

Researchers found that victims of bullying in childhood were 4.3 times more likely to have an anxiety disorder as adults, compared to those with no history of bullying or being bullied.

Bullies who were also victims were particularly troubled: they were 14.5 times more likely to develop panic disorder as adults, compared to those who did not experience bullying, and 4.8 times more likely to experience depression. Men who were both bullies and victims were 18.5 times more likely to have had suicidal thoughts in adulthood, compared to the participants who had not been bullied or perpetuators. Their female counterparts were 26.7 times more likely to have developed agoraphobia, compared to children not exposed to bullying.

Bullies who were not victims of bullying were 4.1 times more likely to have antisocial personality disorder as adults than those never exposed to bullying in their youth.

The effects persisted even after the researchers accounted for pre-existing psychiatric problems or other factors that might have contributed to psychiatric disorders, like physical or sexual abuse, poverty and family instability.

“We were actually able to say being a victim of bullying is having an effect a decade later, above and beyond other psychiatric problems in childhood and other adversities,” said William E. Copeland, lead author of the study and an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center.

Bullying is not a harmless rite of passage, but inflicts lasting psychiatric damage on a par with certain family dysfunctions, Dr. Copeland said. “The pattern we are seeing is similar to patterns we see when a child is abused or maltreated or treated very harshly within the family setting,” he said.

One limitation of the study is that bullying was not analyzed for frequency, and the researchers’ assessment did not distinguish between interpersonal and overt bullying. It only addressed bullying at school, not in other settings.

Most of what experts know about the effects of bullying comes from observational studies, not studies of children followed over time.

Previous research from Finland, based on questionnaires completed on a single occasion or on military registries, used a sample of 2,540 boys to see if being a bully or a victim at 8 predicted a psychiatric disorder 10 to 15 years later. The researchers found frequent bully-victims were at particular risk of adverse long-term outcomes, specifically anxiety and antisocial personality disorders. Victims were at greater risk for anxiety disorders, while bullies were at increased risk for antisocial personality disorder.

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American Executive Lashes Out at French Unions, Touching Off Uproar

PARIS — “How stupid do you think we are?”

With those choice words, and several more similar in tone, the chief executive of an American tire company touched off a furor in France on Wednesday as he responded to a government plea to take over a Goodyear factory slated for closure in northern France.

“I have visited the factory a couple of times,” Maurice Taylor Jr., the head of Titan International, wrote to the country’s industry minister, Arnaud Montebourg, in a letter published in French newspapers on Wednesday. “The French work force gets paid high wages but works only three hours. They have one hour for their breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three.“

“I told this to the French unions to their faces and they told me, ‘That’s the French way!’ ” added Mr. Taylor, a swaggering businessman who is nicknamed “the Grizz” by Wall Street analysts for his abrasive negotiating style.

His decidedly undiplomatic assessment quickly struck a nerve in France, where concerns about declining competitiveness and the divisive tax policies of President François Hollande’s government have led some economists to ask whether the nation is at risk of becoming the next sick man of Europe.

Mr. Montebourg, who is known for lashing out at French corporate bosses without hesitation, initially seemed at a loss for words on how to respond to the American charge. “I do not want to harm French interests,” he said when asked about Mr. Taylor’s letter. Later, Mr. Montebourg released a letter to Mr. Taylor, calling the executive’s comments “extreme” and “insulting,” adding that they pointed to a “perfect ignorance” about France and its strengths, which continue to attract international investors.

French media outlets minced no words. “Incendiary!” “Insulting!” and “Scathing!” were just a few of the terms replayed on French newspaper Web sites and on the airwaves throughout the day. The French blogosphere lit up with hundreds of remarks condemning the “predatory“ American corporate culture that Mr. Taylor seemed to represent; other commentators who ventured to admit that there might be something to Mr. Taylor’s observations were promptly bashed.

And France’s main labor union wasted no time in weighing in.

Mickaël Wamen, the head of the Confédération Générale du Travail union at the Goodyear plant, in Amiens, said Mr. Taylor belonged in a “psychiatric ward.”

A spokesman for Mr. Taylor did not immediately respond to calls for comment. France’s 35-hour workweek, its rigid labor market and the influence that labor unions hold over the workplace have long been a source of aggravation for businesses. Last month, after a government report warning that French competitiveness was slipping, labor unions and business leaders struck a deal to overhaul swaths of the labor code, a move Mr. Hollande said was needed to burnish France’s international allure as a place to do business.

With unemployment above 10 percent and growth slowing, the government has also been desperate to avoid large-scale layoffs. Mr. Montebourg has even brandished the threat of nationalization to try to save jobs. PSA Peugeot Citroën, ArcelorMittal, Sanofi and Air France all announced big job cuts last year as Europe’s long-running debt crisis hit their bottom lines.

So it was no surprise that Mr. Montebourg approached Titan International last year to ask if it would take over the Goodyear factory, which was scheduled to close because of labor disputes and sagging profitability — a move that would threaten 1,173 jobs.

Titan had already considered taking over the Goodyear factory’s farm tire operations. But it dropped the plan in 2011 after union representatives opposed a deal, saying they suspected Titan would close production of passenger-vehicle tires if the group took over. Tensions between Mr. Taylor and the union were evident at the time in a Titan news release, which included Mr. Taylor’s observation that “only a nonbusiness person would understand the French labor rules.”

In January, Mr. Montebourg tried to entice Titan back to the negotiating table, saying he hoped unions would put “some water in their wine, that managers put some wine in their water, and that Titan would drink the wine and the water of both” and reach an accord.

But last month, as union workers protested en masse at the Amiens site, with a large police presence, Goodyear told workers it would close the plant and cut its French work force by 39 percent.

In his letter, dated Feb. 8, Mr. Taylor explained his reasons for refusing to come back to the negotiating table. “Goodyear tried for over four years to save part of the Amiens jobs that are some of the highest-paid, but the French unions and the French government did nothing but talk,” Mr. Taylor wrote.

“Sir, your letter says you want Titan to start a discussion,” he added. “How stupid do you think we are? Titan is the one with the money and the talent to produce tires. What does the crazy union have? It has the French government.“

He said his company would seek to produce cheaper tires in India or China, where he said Titan would pay the workers less than one euro an hour, and then sell the tires back to the French. He predicted that Michelin, the French tiremaker, would not be able to compete with lower prices and would have to halt production in France within five years.

“You can keep your so-called workers,” he wrote. “Titan is not interested in the Amiens factory.”

In his response, Mr. Montebourg reacted strongly to what he called Mr. Taylor’s “condemnable calculation” and noted that France and its European partners were working to stop illegal dumping of imports.

“In the meantime,” he added, “rest assured that you can count on me to have the competent government agencies survey your imported tires with a redoubled zeal.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 20, 2013

An earlier version of this article misstated the status of the Goodyear factory in Amiens. While it is scheduled for closure, it remains open; it is not closed. The error was repeated in a picture caption.

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O.C. shootings: Plumber was chased, gunned down, co-worker says

A man suspected in a series of shootings across Orange County that left four people dead and at least two others wounded on Tuesday apparently approached one of his victims after a vehicle he carjacked ran out of gas, authorities said.

Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said the suspect stole the vehicle from a gas station near Red Hill Avenue and the 5 Freeway in Tustin, but apparently picked one that had not been filled. When the vehicle ran out of gas at about 5:15 a.m., the man stopped near the 55 Freeway and McFadden Avenue and approached a BMW.

“He got out of the vehicle, confronts our victim who is in his BMW," Bertagna said. "He orders him out of the vehicle, walks him to the curb and executes our victim."

PHOTOS: Shootings at multiple locations in O.C.

Bertagna said that aside from an initial homicide at a Ladera Ranch home, it appeared as though the victims were randomly selected.

The killings appeared to begin in Ladera Ranch, where Orange County deputies received a call from inside a Red Leaf Lane home at 4:45 a.m. about a shooting, Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said. Responding deputies found a woman dead inside who had been shot multiple times.

Jason Glass, who lives across the street, said he was working in his garage when he heard what he now believes were three to five gunshots between 2 and 3 a.m.  About 4 a.m., Glass said, he "heard a bunch of ruckus" — no yelling, but lots of doors slamming — before a car sped away from the house.

"I just thought somebody was being really loud and obnoxious," Glass said.

The suspect, initially described as a man in his 20s, fled the area in an SUV and headed toward Tustin, where Amormino said "multiple incidents" occurred.

The first, authorities said, occurred near Red Hill Avenue and the 5 Freeway, where authorities received a report of a man with a gun about 5:10 a.m. The suspect attempted a carjacking, Tustin police Lt. Paul Garaven, opened fire and wounded a bystander.

About five minutes later, the suspect stopped the BMW near the 55 Freeway in Santa Ana, officials said.

Around that time, authorities also received reports about a man shooting at moving vehicles on the 55 Freeway. Officials believe the man fired either while driving or after he stopped and got out of his vehicle. At least three victims have reported minor injuries or damage to their cars, and investigators asked that others who believe they may have been fired upon to contact police.

Shortly after, another shooting and carjacking was reported on Edinger Avenue near the Micro Center computer store in Tustin, Garaven said. One person was killed and another was taken to a hospital.

Co-workers identified the men as plumbers who were working at the under-construction Fairfield Inn on Edinger Avenue.

Officers spotted the suspect in a stolen vehicle, followed him into the city of Orange and initiated a traffic stop near the intersection of East Katella Avenue and North Wanda Road, Garaven said.

The suspect then shot and killed himself, authorities said. A shotgun was recovered, but officials said other weapons might have been involved earlier. 

In Orange, financial planner Kenneth Caplin said he had a clear view of the gruesome drama that unfolded Tuesday on the street outside his office.

Although the street had been blocked, Caplin parked farther away and persuaded an officer to let him walk to his office. He arrived shortly before 7 a.m., about an hour after the shooting.

From a conference room window, Caplin saw the police investigators at work, a white work truck up on a curb, and the suspect lying dead on the ground, with blood streaked across the pavement.

"It's scary.... This just happened right here," Caplin said hours later, as a team in biohazard suits scrubbed away at the street in an afternoon drizzle. "It's ludicrous."

Caplin, 71, said he is a pistol instructor for the NRA. What happened Tuesday only affirmed for him the need to stay armed.

"He had no chance," he said of one of shooting victims. "The bad guys are armed; the good guys aren't. If I was in that position -- with a CCW [concealed weapon] -- that wouldn't have happened."

He added: "Innocent people -- like what happened today -- don't have a chance."

He said he was relieved the perpetrator ended it by taking his own life. "That's a bad guy," he said of the man he saw splayed on the street. "Doesn't bother me at all." 

Amormino said deputies were still trying to piece together a possible motive and the relationship between the suspect and victims, including the woman at the first incident in Ladera Ranch. Authorities said they had received no previous calls to the residence.

Glass, the neighbor, said a couple lived at the home with three children. The family was quiet, he said.

“No noise ever came out of that house,” he said. “No cops ever came to that house, nothing. This is really weird.”

In addition to the Sheriff's Department, the FBI, the CHP and the Santa Ana and Tustin police departments are assisting with the investigation.

Craig Heising, a project superintendent at the Tustin construction site, described the slain plumber as a "good guy" with a "good heart."

"He showed up every day, on time, ready to do his share of work. When I saw police pull the yellow tarp over him, I was just overwhelmed by the senseless of it," Heising said. "It's a classic case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time."

PHOTOS: Shootings at multiple locations in O.C.

Bertagna, the Santa Ana police official, was asked if he had seen anything like this before. “Last week," he replied.

Bertagna was referring to the series of shootings attributed to former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner, who is suspected of killing four people and wounding three others before he died in a shootout with police near Big Bear.

"It's not something you see very often," Bertagna said.

—Kate Mather and Hailey Branson-Potts in Los Angeles, Anh Do and Mike Anton in Tustin, Nicole Santa Cruz in Ladera Ranch, Rick Rojas in Orange

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Banksy Work Cut Out of Wall, Offered at Auction for More Than $500K

Graffiti art, by its very nature, doesn’t lend itself well to gallery shows or commercial auctions. So how do you capitalize on the demand for an artist’s work, if it exists on the side of a building? Simply cut off the chunk of the building in question. That’s how an anonymous individual recently turned a work by acclaimed graffiti artist Banksy from public art into a private commodity: by physically cutting it out of a wall and putting it up for auction at it an estimated price of more than half a million dollars.

The work in question, now titled Slave Labor (Bunting Boy), originally appeared on the side of a London budget store in the Wood Green area last May; its imagery was considered a critique of the “real-life” discomfort and sweatshop conditions behind the cosy, nostalgic British iconography of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The artwork was removed from the store along with a large chunk of the wall last week, as noted by a local resident at the time. It has since appeared on the website of Fine Art Auctions Miami among a number of modern pieces and will be auctioned at the end of this week, at a price estimated at between $500,000 and $700,000.

According to Fine Art Auctions’ owner, Frederic Thut, the art is being offered by a “well-known collector” who prefers to remain anonymous, but has apparently provided proof that they own the work in question. (Attempts to reach Fine Art Auctions Miami for comment were unsuccessful.)

Poundland, the store from which the artwork was removed, has tweeted that it is “NOT responsible for either selling or removing the Banksy mural,” adding that it does not own the building in question and has been unable to contact the owner so far to find out more, while local politician Alan Strickland has already launched a campaign for the artwork to be returned.

Talking to reporters, Strickland explained that “Banksy gave this art for free to our community, so we’re all angry that it’s been removed and put on sale for $500,000 in the U.S. We’re trying to track down who is responsible. We’re not certain who removed it, but we’re absolutely certain we want it back!”

With the auction set to take place on Friday, however, the citizens of Wood Green have little time to argue their case. Of course, if all else fails, Banksy could always just paint a new piece about the appropriation of public art in its place.

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Cinema editors honor “Argo,” “Silver Linings Playbook”

LOS ANGELES(TheWrap.com) – “Argo” racked up yet another guild victory on Saturday night, taking home the American Cinema Editors‘ ACE Eddie Award for Best Edited Feature (Dramatic).

“Silver Linings Playbook” won the award for Best Edited Feature (Comedy or Musical).

The award is an unusually reliable predictor of the film-editing Oscar, and adds to a substantial guild-awards haul for “Argo” that also includes honors from the Producers Guild, Directors Guild and Screen Actors Guild. The Writers Guild announces its winners on Sunday.

“Silver Linings Playbook” has less overall success this awards season, but has dominated at shows that also include separate categories for comedies.

Over the last 20 years, the group’s drama winner (including one tie) has gone on to take home the editing Oscar 16 times, while the comedy/musical winner has done so once.

In those 20 years, the ACE winner has gone on to win Best Picture 12 times.

Last year was one of the times the ACE Eddie winner and Oscar winner didn’t match: “The Descendants” and “The Artist” won ACE Eddies, while “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” won the Oscar.

This year’s ACE Eddie Awards category for Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) almost exactly matches the Oscars category for Best Film Editing, with “Argo,” “Life of Pi,” “Lincoln” and “Zero Dark Thirty” all nominated. The only difference is that Oscar voters also nominated “Silver Linings,” while ACE Eddie voters put that film in the comedy or musical category and went with “Skyfall” in the drama group.

In other film awards, Pixar’s “Brave” continued its strong guild showing by winning the honor for animated feature. “Searching for Sugar Man” won the award for documentary-feature editing, adding to its own plethora of awards.

On the television side, one of the two “Breaking Bad” episodes nominated in the one-hour commercial-TV series category won, while the pilot for “The Newsroom” was honored in the one-hour non-commercial-TV category and “Nurse Jackie” won among half-hour series.

Veteran editor Walter Murch (“Apocalypse Now,” “The English Patient”) won the TV movie or miniseries award for Philip Kaufman’s HBO movie “Hemingway & Gellhorn,” while the TV documentary award went to the “American Masters” documentary “Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune.”

Lifetime achievement awards went to editors Richard Marks (“The Godfather: Part II,” “As Good As It Gets”) and Larry Silk (“One Survivor Remembers,” “American Dream”), while the ACE Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award went to Steven Spielberg.

The show took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and was hosted by actor-comedian David Cross.

(Editing by Chris Michaud)

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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DNA Analysis, More Accessible Than Ever, Opens New Doors

Matt Roth for The New York Times

Sam Bosley of Frederick, Md., going shopping with his daughter, Lillian, 13, who has a malformed brain and severe developmental delays, seizures and vision problems. More Photos »

Debra Sukin and her husband were determined to take no chances with her second pregnancy. Their first child, Jacob, who had a serious genetic disorder, did not babble when he was a year old and had severe developmental delays. So the second time around, Ms. Sukin had what was then the most advanced prenatal testing.

The test found no sign of Angelman syndrome, the rare genetic disorder that had struck Jacob. But as months passed, Eli was not crawling or walking or babbling at ages when other babies were.

“Whatever the milestones were, my son was not meeting them,” Ms. Sukin said.

Desperate to find out what is wrong with Eli, now 8, the Sukins, of The Woodlands, Tex., have become pioneers in a new kind of testing that is proving particularly helpful in diagnosing mysterious neurological illnesses in children. Scientists sequence all of a patient’s genes, systematically searching for disease-causing mutations.

A few years ago, this sort of test was so difficult and expensive that it was generally only available to participants in research projects like those sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. But the price has plunged in just a few years from tens of thousands of dollars to around $7,000 to $9,000 for a family. Baylor College of Medicine and a handful of companies are now offering it. Insurers usually pay.

Demand has soared — at Baylor, for example, scientists analyzed 5 to 10 DNA sequences a month when the program started in November 2011. Now they are doing more than 130 analyses a month. At the National Institutes of Health, which handles about 300 cases a year as part of its research program, demand is so great that the program is expected to ultimately take on 800 to 900 a year.

The test is beginning to transform life for patients and families who have often spent years searching for answers. They can now start the grueling process with DNA sequencing, says Dr. Wendy K. Chung, professor of pediatrics and medicine at Columbia University.

“Most people originally thought of using it as a court of last resort,” Dr. Chung said. “Now we can think of it as a first-line test.”

Even if there is no treatment, there is almost always some benefit to diagnosis, geneticists say. It can give patients and their families the certainty of knowing what is wrong and even a prognosis. It can also ease the processing of medical claims, qualifying for special education services, and learning whether subsequent children might be at risk.

“Imagine the people who drive across the whole country looking for that one neurologist who can help, or scrubbing the whole house with Lysol because they think it might be an allergy,” said Richard A. Gibbs, the director of Baylor College of Medicine’s gene sequencing program. “Those kinds of stories are the rule, not the exception.”

Experts caution that gene sequencing is no panacea. It finds a genetic aberration in only about 25 to 30 percent of cases. About 3 percent of patients end up with better management of their disorder. About 1 percent get a treatment and a major benefit.

“People come to us with huge expectations,” said Dr. William A. Gahl, who directs the N.I.H. program. “They think, ‘You will take my DNA and find the causes and give me a treatment.' ”

“We give the impression that we can do these things because we only publish our successes,” Dr. Gahl said, adding that when patients come to him, “we try to make expectations realistic.”

DNA sequencing was not available when Debra and Steven Sukin began trying to find out what was wrong with Eli. When he was 3, they tried microarray analysis, a genetic test that is nowhere near as sensitive as sequencing. It detected no problems.

“My husband and I looked at each other and said, ‘The good news is that everything is fine; the bad news is that everything is not fine,' ” Ms. Sukin said.

In November 2011, when Eli was 6, Ms. Sukin consulted Dr. Arthur L. Beaudet, a medical geneticist at Baylor.

“Is there a protein missing?” she recalled asking him. “Is there something biochemical we could be missing?”

By now, DNA sequencing had come of age. Dr. Beaudet said that Eli was a great candidate, and it turned out that the new procedure held an answer.

A single DNA base was altered in a gene called CASK, resulting in a disorder so rare that there are fewer than 10 cases in all the world’s medical literature.

“It really became definitive for my husband and me,” Ms. Sukin said. “We would need to do lifelong planning for dependent care for the rest of his life.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 19, 2013

An earlier version of this article misstated the name of a medicine taken by two teenagers who have a rare gene mutation. The drug is 5-hydroxytryptophan, not 5-hydroxytryptamine.

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DealBook: Einhorn Has Edge in Dispute With Apple

In the battle between Apple and David Einhorn, score a point for the hedge fund manager.

A federal judge said on Tuesday that he was leaning toward Mr. Einhorn’s contention in a lawsuit that the iPad maker violated securities regulations by improperly bundling several shareholder proposals into one matter.

The lawsuit by Mr. Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, claims that Apple unjustly tied a vote to eliminate the company’s ability to issue preferred stock at will with other initiatives that the hedge fund manager supports.

While the judge overseeing the case, Richard J. Sullivan, didn’t immediately grant Mr. Einhorn’s request for an halt to the vote, he said that the facts of the case favored the investor’s interpretation.

“I think success on the merits lies with Greenlight,” Judge Sullivan said at the end of a two-hour hearing.

He is expected to decide whether to grant a preliminary injunction within days, citing the Feb. 27 cutoff for voting on Apple’s shareholder proposals.

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Jerry Buss dies at 80; Lakers owner brought 'Showtime' success to L.A.

Longtime Lakers owner Jerry Buss has died at the age of 80. Last week, it was revealed that he was hospitalized with an undisclosed form of cancer.

When Jerry Buss bought the Lakers in 1979, he wanted to build a championship team. But that wasn't all.

The new owner gave courtside seats to movie stars. He hired pretty women to dance during timeouts. He spent freely on big stars and encouraged a fast-paced, exuberant style of play.

As the Lakers sprinted to one NBA title after another, Buss cut an audacious figure in the stands, an aging playboy in blue jeans, often with a younger woman by his side.

PHOTOS: Jerry Buss through the years

"I really tried to create a Laker image, a distinct identity," he once said. "I think we've been successful. I mean, the Lakers are pretty damn Hollywood."

Buss died Monday of complications of cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to his longtime spokesman, Bob Steiner. Buss was 80.

Lakers fans will remember Buss for bringing extraordinary success — 10 championships in three-plus decades — but equally important to his legacy was a sense of showmanship that transformed pro basketball from sport to spectacle.

Live discussion at 10:30: The legacy of Jerry Buss

"Jerry Buss helped set the league on the course it is on today," NBA Commissioner David Stern said. "Remember, he showed us it was about 'Showtime,' the notion that an arena can become the focal point for not just basketball, but entertainment. He made it the place to see and be seen."

His teams featured the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard. He was also smart enough to hire Hall of Fame-caliber coaches in Pat Riley and Phil Jackson.

"I've worked hard and been lucky," Buss said. "With the combination of the two, I've accomplished everything I ever set out to do."

A Depression-era baby, Jerry Hatten Buss was born in Salt Lake City on Jan. 27, 1933, although some sources cite 1934 as his birth year. His parents, Lydus and Jessie Buss, divorced when he was an infant.

His mother struggled to make ends meet as a waitress in tiny Evanston, Wyo., and Buss remembered standing in food lines in the bitter cold. They moved to Southern California when he was 9, but within a few years she remarried and her second husband took the family back to Wyoming.

His stepfather, Cecil Brown, was, as Buss put it, "very tight-fisted." Brown made his living as a plumber and expected his children (one from a previous marriage, another son and a daughter with Jessie) to help.

TIMELINE: Jerry Buss' path

This work included digging ditches in the cold. Buss preferred bell hopping at a local hotel and running a mail-order stamp-collecting business that he started at age 13.

Leaving high school a year early, he worked on the railroad, pumping a hand-driven car up and down the line to make repairs. The job lasted just three months.

Until then, Buss had never much liked academics. But he returned to school and, with a science teacher's encouragement, did well enough to earn a science scholarship to the University of Wyoming.

Before graduating with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, when he was 19 he married a coed named JoAnn Mueller and they would eventually have four children: John, Jim, Jeanie and Janie.

The couple moved to Southern California in 1953 when USC gave Buss a scholarship for graduate school. He earned a doctorate in physical chemistry in 1957. The degree brought him great pride — Lakers employees always called him "Dr. Buss."

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