According to preliminary figures released Monday, more than 39 million viewers flocked to the CBS broadcast, making it the second most-watched Grammys in history. That exceeds last year’s Oscars broadcast, which was seen by 37.6 million viewers.

Sunday’s Grammys broadcast was notable not only for the numerous trophies dispensed to recording artists but also for its role in serving as a memorial to Whitney Houston, a six-time winner.

The superstar singer died unexpectedly Saturday, just hours before she was supposed to appear at a pre-Grammy gala. She was 48.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Mayor Ed Lee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Nancy Pelosi are among those expected to attend a ceremony for Bennett in the City Hall Rotunda at noon on Tuesday, Valentine’s Day.

The event will include renditions of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” by the San Francisco Boys and Girls Choruses and the San Francisco Symphony among others.

The song will also be broadcast at noon over the public address system in Union Square and Hallidie Plaza.

The event will conclude with a sing along of the song.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

The filmmakers said Wednesday that Schwarzenegger has signed on to star alongside Stallone in the prison-break adventure.

Schwarzenegger previously had a cameo in Stallone’s action hit “The Expendables” and also appears in its upcoming sequel.

“The Tomb” will feature Schwarzenegger as an inmate opposite Stallone, who plays the designer of a master prison forced to escape from his own jailhouse. Directed by Mikael Hafstrom, “The Tomb” begins shooting in Louisiana this spring.

Schwarzenegger is just finishing work on “The Last Stand,” his first starring role since returning to acting after serving as California’s governor.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press)

“Chronicle,” with a cast of unknowns as youths who gain telekinetic abilities, debuted as the No. 1 movie with $22 million.

Sunday studio estimates put “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe’s ghost story “The Woman in Black” just behind with a $21 million opening.

Both movies packed in solid teen and early-20s crowds, Hollywood’s bread-and-butter demographic that had been giving movies a pass during a box-office slump late last year.

Hollywood finished the first month of 2012 with strong revenues that are running well ahead of last year’s lackluster receipts.

The previous weekend’s top movie, Liam Neeson’s “The Grey,” slipped to No. 3 with $9.5 million.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press)

Law enforcement officials say Cornelius was discovered with a gunshot wound to the head, and TMZ is reporting that his death is being investigated as an apparent suicide.

Soul Train debuted in 1971 and ran until 2006.

Cornelius, who hosted the show from 1971 to 1993, ended each episode with: “And you can bet your last money, it’s all gonna be a stone gas, honey! I’m Don Cornelius, and as always in parting, we wish you love, peace and soul!”

Cornelius pleaded no contest to misdemeanor domestic violence in 2008, two years before he and his wife divorced.

Sources say he had been in poor health for the past few years.

He was 75 years old.

Davis won as best actress and Spencer as supporting actress for “The Help,” while Jean Dujardin was named best actor for the silent film “The Artist” and Christopher Plummer took the supporting-actor award for the father-son tale “Beginners.”

The wins boost the actors’ prospects for the same honors at the Feb. 26 Academy Awards.

In “The Help,” Davis and Spencer play black maids going public with uneasy truths about their white employers in 1960s Mississippi.

“I just have to say that the stain of racism and sexism is not just for people of color or women. It’s all of our burden, all of us,” Davis said, accepting the ensemble prize on behalf of her “The Help” co-stars.

Accepting her best-actress award, Davis singled out two performers in the audience who inspired her early in her career: “The Help” co-star Cicely Tyson and Meryl Streep, Davis’ co-star in the 2008 drama “Doubt” and one of the nominees she beat out for the SAG prize. Streep had been nominated as Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady,” a role that won her the dramatic actress award at the Golden Globes over Davis.

A French film star who is a newcomer to Hollywood’s awards scene with “The Artist,” Dujardin played a silent-era screen idol fallen on hard times as talking pictures take over in the late 1920s.

“I was a very bad student. I didn’t listen in class. I was always dreaming,” Dujardin said. “My teachers called me ‘Jean of the Moon,’ and I realize now that I never stopped dreaming. Thank you very much. Thank you for this dream.”

Plummer would become the oldest actor ever to win an Oscar at age 82, two years older than Jessica Tandy when she won best actress for “Driving Miss Daisy.”

Backstage, Plummer joked when asked if he would like to win an Oscar, an honor so elusive during his esteemed 60-year career that he did not even receive his first Academy Award nomination until two years ago, for “The Last Station.”

“No, I think it’s frightfully boring,” Plummer said. “That’s an awful question. Listen, we don’t go into this business preoccupied by awards. If we did, we wouldn’t last five minutes.”

Spencer, a veteran actress who had toiled in small TV and movie parts previously, had a breakout role in “The Help” as a brassy maid whose mouth continually gets her in trouble.

“I’m going to dedicate this to the downtrodden, the under-served, the underprivileged, overtaxed — whether emotionally, physically or financially,” Spencer said.

On the television side, comedy series awards went to “Modern Family” for best ensemble; Alec Baldwin as best actor for “30 Rock”; and Betty White as best actress for “Hot in Cleveland.”

“You can’t name me, without naming those other wonderful women on ‘Hot in Cleveland,’” the 90-year-old White said. “This nomination belongs to four of us. Please, please know that I’m dealing them right in with this. I’m not going to let them keep this, but I’ll let them see it.”

The TV drama show winners were: Jessica Lange as best actress for “American Horror Story”; and Steve Buscemi as best actor for “Boardwalk Empire,” which also won the ensemble prize.

For TV movie or miniseries, Kate Winslet won as best actress for “Mildred Pierce,” while Paul Giamatti was named best actor for “Too Big to Fail.”

Before the official ceremony, the Screen Actors Guild presented its honor for best film stunt ensemble to “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.” The TV stunt award went to “Game of Thrones.”

The winners at the SAG ceremony often go on to earn Oscars. All four acting recipients at SAG last year later took home Oscars — Colin Firth for “The King’s Speech,” Natalie Portman for “Black Swan” and Christian Bale and Melissa Leo for “The Fighter.”

The same generally holds true for the weekend’s other big Hollywood honors, the Directors Guild of America Awards, where Michel Hazanavicius won the feature-film prize Saturday for “The Artist.” The Directors Guild winner has gone on to earn the best-director Oscar 57 times in the 63-year history of the union’s awards show.

The guild’s ensemble prize, considered the ceremony’s equivalent of a best-picture honor, has a spotty record at predicting what will win the top award at the Oscars.

While “The King’s Speech” won both honors a year ago, the SAG ensemble recipient has gone on to claim the top Oscar only eight times in the 16 years since the guild added the category.

Though “The Help” won the ensemble prize this time, “The Artist” and George Clooney’s family drama “The Descendants” are considered stronger contenders for the best-picture Oscar.

Both “The Artist” and “The Descendants” also were nominated for writing and directing Oscars, categories where serious best-picture candidates generally need to be in the running. “The Help” missed out on nominations in both of those Oscar categories.

Mary Tyler Moore received the guild’s lifetime-achievement award, an honor presented to her by Dick Van Dyke, her co-star on the 1960s sit-com “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

SAG President Ken Howard put in a plug during the show for the guild’s planned merger with another Hollywood union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The boards of both groups have approved the merger, and ballots will be sent to members of each union.

“As one union, SAG-AFTRA will support a future of great entertainment for all of us,” Howard said.

___

Associated Press Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

The Alaskan survivalist thriller opened above expectations with a performance on par with previous Neeson thrillers “Taken” and “Unknown.”

January is often a dumping ground for less stellar releases. Also opening were two badly reviewed wide releases: “Man on Ledge,” with Sam Worthington; and “One for the Money” with Katherine Heigl.

“One for the Money” fared better, earning $11.8 million, while “Man on Ledge” opened with $8.3 million.

Last week’s box-office leader, “Underworld: Awakenings,” came in second with $12.5 million.

Oscar favorites “The Descendants,” Hugo” and “The Artist” sought to capitalize on their recent Academy Awards nominations. Each expanded to more theaters and saw an uptick in business.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press)

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Martin Scorsese’s Paris adventure “Hugo” leads the Academy Awards with 11 nominations, among them best picture and the latest director slot for the Oscar-winning filmmaker.

Also nominated for best picture Tuesday: the silent film “The Artist”; the family drama “The Descendants”; the Sept. 11 tale “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”; the Deep South drama “The Help”; the romantic fantasy “Midnight in Paris”; the sports tale “Moneyball”; the family chronicle “The Tree of Life”; and the World War I epic “War Horse.”

SEE BELOW FOR FULL LIST OF NOMINATIONS

The nominations set up a best-picture showdown between the top films at the Golden Globes: best musical or comedy recipient “The Artist” and best drama winner “The Descendants.”

“The Artist” ran second with 10 nominations, among them writing and directing nominations for French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius, a best-actor honor for Jean Dujardin and a supporting-actress slot for Berenice Bejo.

Because of a rule change requiring films to receive a certain number of first-place votes, the best-picture field has only nine nominees rather than the 10 that were in the running the last two years.

Dujardin, who won the Globe for best actor in a musical or comedy as a silent-era star whose career goes kaput with the arrival of talking pictures, will be up against Globe dramatic actor winner George Clooney for “The Descendants,” in which the Oscar-winning superstar plays a dad trying to hold his Hawaiian family together after a boating accident puts his wife in a coma.

Other best-actor contenders are: Demian Bechir as an immigrant father in “A Better Life”; Gary Oldman as British spymaster George Smiley in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”; and Brad Pitt as Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane in “Moneyball.”

Globe winners Meryl Streep (best dramatic actress as Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady”) and Michelle Williams (best musical or comedy actress as Marilyn Monroe in “My Week with Marilyn”) scored Oscar nominations for best actress.

Two-time Oscar winner Streep padded her record as the most-nominated actress, raising her total to 17 nominations, five more than Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson, who are tied for second-place.

Streep went two-for-four on her first nominations, winning supporting actress for 1979′s “Kramer vs. Kramer” and best actress for 1982′s “Sophie’s Choice.” But she has lost her last 12 times, and the Globe win for her spot-on personification of Thatcher looks like her best chance yet to break that losing streak.

Along with Streep and Williams, best-actress nominees are: Glenn Close as a 19th century Irishwoman masquerading as a male butler in “Albert Nobbs”; Viola Davis as a black maid going public with tales of white Southern employers in “The Help”; and Rooney Mara as a traumatized, vengeful computer genius in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

Octavia Spencer’s win at the Globes as supporting-actress for “The Help,” in which she plays a fiery maid whose mouth continually gets her in trouble, could give her front-runner status for the same prize at the Oscars. The same may hold true for supporting-actor nominee Christopher Plummer, who won a Globe for his role as an elderly dad coming out as gay in “Beginners.”

An esteemed film and stage actor, Plummer went most of his 60-year career unacknowledged at the Oscars until earning a supporting-actor nomination two years ago as Leo Tolstoy in “The Last Station.” If he wins this time, the 82-year-old Plummer would become the oldest acting recipient ever; Jessica Tandy now holds that position for her best-actress win in “Driving Miss Daisy” at age 80.

Also in contention for supporting actor: Kenneth Branagh as Laurence Olivier in “My Week with Marilyn”; Jonah Hill as a statistics whiz in “Moneyball”; Nick Nolte as a derelict dad making amends in “Warrior”; and Max von Sydow as a mute mystery man in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.”

Bejo, the romantic partner of “The Artist” creator Hazanavicius, was nominated for her role as a new star of the sound era in the late 1920s and early ’30s. “The Help” co-star Jessica Chastain also was nominated for her role as Spencer’s lonely, needy boss.

Also up for supporting actress are Melissa McCarthy as crude but caring member of the wedding in “Bridesmaids”; and Janet McTeer as a woman posing as a male laborer in “Albert Nobbs.”

McCarthy is a rare funny lady competing at the Oscars, which rarely honor performances in mainstream comedies such as “Bridesmaids.”

Here is the full list of nominations:

Actor in a Leading Role
• Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
• George Clooney in “The Descendants”
• Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
• Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
• Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”

Actor in a Supporting Role
• Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
• Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
• Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
• Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
• Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Actress in a Leading Role
• Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
• Viola Davis in “The Help”
• Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
• Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
• Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”

Actress in a Supporting Role
• Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
• Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
• Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
• Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
• Octavia Spencer in “The Help”

Animated Feature Film
• “A Cat in Paris” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
• “Chico & Rita” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
• “Kung Fu Panda 2″ Jennifer Yuh Nelson
• “Puss in Boots” Chris Miller
• “Rango” Gore Verbinski

Art Direction
• “The Artist”
Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
• “Hugo”
Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
• “Midnight in Paris”
Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
• “War Horse”
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography
• “The Artist” Guillaume Schiffman
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Jeff Cronenweth
• “Hugo” Robert Richardson
• “The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki
• “War Horse” Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design
• “Anonymous” Lisy Christl
• “The Artist” Mark Bridges
• “Hugo” Sandy Powell
• “Jane Eyre” Michael O’Connor
• “W.E.” Arianne Phillips

Directing
• “The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius
• “The Descendants” Alexander Payne
• “Hugo” Martin Scorsese
• “Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen
• “The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick

Documentary (Feature)
• “Hell and Back Again”
Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
• “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front”
Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
• “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory”
Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
• “Pina”
Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
• “Undefeated”
TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Documentary (Short Subject)
• “The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement”
Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
• “God Is the Bigger Elvis”
Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
• “Incident in New Baghdad”
James Spione
• “Saving Face”
Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
• “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom”
Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing
• “The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
• “The Descendants” Kevin Tent
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
• “Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
• “Moneyball” Christopher Tellefsen

Foreign Language Film
• “Bullhead” Belgium
• “Footnote” Israel
• “In Darkness” Poland
• “Monsieur Lazhar” Canada
• “A Separation” Iran

Makeup
• “Albert Nobbs”
Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
• “The Iron Lady”
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)
• “The Adventures of Tintin” John Williams
• “The Artist” Ludovic Bource
• “Hugo” Howard Shore
• “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Alberto Iglesias
• “War Horse” John Williams

Music (Original Song)
• “Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
• “Real in Rio” from “Rio” Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Best Picture
• “The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer
• “The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
• “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer
• “The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
• “Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
• “Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
• “Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
• “The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined
• “War Horse” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Short Film (Animated)
• “Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon
• “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
• “La Luna” Enrico Casarosa
• “A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
• “Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)
• “Pentecost” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
• “Raju” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
• “The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George
• “Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
• “Tuba Atlantic” Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing
• “Drive” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Ren Klyce
• “Hugo” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
• “War Horse” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
• “Hugo”
Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
• “Moneyball”
Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
• “War Horse”
Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
• “Hugo”
Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
• “Real Steel”
Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
• “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
• “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
• “The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
• “Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan
• “The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
• “Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin Story by Stan Chervin
• “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)
• “The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius
• “Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
• “Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor
• “Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen
• “A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi

“Time flies when you’re living life,” Ray Manzarek tells CBS13′s Ben Sosenko on a visit to Manzarek’s Northern California home. “Time flies when you’re having fun, when you’re living life.”

The Doors were created in the early 1960s when two film students at UCLA crossed paths — Manzarek and Jim Morrison.

Interview With The Doors’ Ray Manzarek: Part 1
Interview With The Doors’ Ray Manzarek: Part 2

“He was into rock ‘n’ roll. I was into rock ‘n’ roll,” Manzarek explains.

And just like that, The Doors were born.

Over the course of the next six years, The Doors went on to worldwide fame. They were the first American band to record eight straight gold LPs and have sold more than 100 million albums worldwide.

“Our little babies have won the World Series or the Super Bowl. So you’re very proud of them,” Manzarek says the records’ successes.

But the future of a band so bright darkened in 1971 when Morrison died of a drug overdose.

“Unfortunately, to become iconic you have to die,” Manzarek says.

It’s been 40 years since the band recorded “L.A. Woman,” their final studio album. When the producer was gathering the tracks for an anniversary re-issue of the album, a discovery was made. A new song.

“We all heard it and said holy cow! That’s a brand new song,” Manzarek says. “It came out of no where, it came out of the blue, like we didn’t know it was there, we didn’t know it existed.”

And his emotion when hearing it?

“Yeah! Always joy and cheer. I was very excited.”

Manzarek says once or twice a year, he has a dream. The band is back, Jim Morrison and all, and they’re all working on a new song.

Well, that dream has come true for Manzarek and the huge number of Doors fans around the world.

“Let’s let them hear Jim one more time, something they never heard before,” he says.

The new song “She Smells So Nice” will be released on Jan. 24 on the re-issue of “L.A. Woman.”

As for Manzarek, he has no plans of slowing down.

“It’s far from over,” he says.

Michel Hazanavicius, who directed the black-and-white silent movie homage, was named best director. The movie also won for best costume design and best score.

George Clooney took the best actor award for his performance in”The Descendants” and Viola Davis was the best actress winner for her work in “The Help.” Her castmate Octavia Spencer won for best supporting actress. “The Help” also won for best acting ensemble.

Christopher Plummer won for best supporting actor for his role in “Beginners.”

The other acting award went to Thomas Horn of “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” for best young actor or actress.

“Hugo,” whose 11 nominations matched “The Artist” for the most, won just one award, for art direction.

Clooney presented actor Sean Penn with the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s fifth annual Joel Siegel Award in recognition of his humanitarian work, most notably on behalf of the victims of the 2010 earthquake that rocked Haiti and killed more than 200,000 people.

Penn founded the J/P Haitian Relief Organization after the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake. The organization has continued to raise money and awareness of the disaster to provide relief to Haiti.

The Critics’ Choice Awards are presented by the Broadcast Film Critics Association.

Martin Scorsese, a best director nominee for “Hugo,” was presented with the Critics’ Choice Music+Film Award honoring his cinematic storytelling and use of music to heighten the impact of his films.

The association cited not only Scorsese’s feature films — such as “Mean Streets,” “GoodFellas” and “The Departed” — as examples of his use of music in motion pictures, but his documentary work focusing on artists such as The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and George Harrison.

The ceremony was hosted by comedians Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel.

Here is a complete list of winners:

BEST PICTURE — “The Artist”

BEST ACTOR — George Clooney, “The Descendants”

BEST ACTRESS — Viola Davis, “The Help”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR — Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS — Octavia Spencer, “The Help”

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS — Thomas Horn, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE — “The Help”

BEST DIRECTOR — Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY — “Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY — “Moneyball,” Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY (Tie) — “The Tree of Life,” Emmanuel Lubezki and “War Horse,” Janusz Kaminski

BEST ART DIRECTION — “Hugo,” Production Designer: Dante Ferretti, Set Decorator: Francesca Lo Schiavo

BEST EDITING — “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

BEST COSTUME DESIGN — “The Artist,” Mark Bridges

BEST MAKEUP — “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS — “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

BEST SOUND — “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE — “Rango”

BEST ACTION MOVIE — “Drive”

BEST COMEDY — “Bridesmaids”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM — “A Separation”

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE — “George Harrison: Living in the Material World”

BEST SONG — “Life’s a Happy Song,” performed by Jason Segel, Amy Adams and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie (“The Muppets”)

BEST SCORE — “The Artist,” Ludovic Bource

GRANITE BAY (CBS13) — One Bloomberg report calls him a man always running away in limousines, and according to a criminal complaint, Troy Stratos also has a fondness for Rolls-Royce and BMW luxury cars.

He may have lived the lifestyle of the rich and famous, but the FBI says he is a fake.

And he lived out a lie here in Granite Bay at the one-time palatial home of Nicole Murphy, ex-wife of Eddie Murphy.

According to the feds, Stratos fooled Nicole Murphy, reportedly his one-time high school sweetheart, into becoming her financial advisor. Then he allegedly schemed to defraud her of $7 million — money she was awarded in her divorce with Eddie Murphy.

The criminal complaint could have been scripted into the movie “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.” Stratos allegedly convinced Murphy he was investing her divorce proceeds overseas in places like Dubai and Switzerland for high-interest returns.

Instead, the complaint says, he put the money in his own accounts, using it for his lavish lifestyle.

In another startling allegation, the complaint reads Stratos told Murphy he was setting up a sale of her Granite Bay home to friends from Middle Eastern royal families. he said they’d expect to see luxury cars in front of the home, so he allegedly leased Rolls-Royces and a BMW.

But according to the complaint, Stratos had no arrangement with royalty. He didn’t sell the home, but lived in it without paying rent and used the expensive vehicles for himself.

According to Bloomberg News, Stratos was also arrested in Paris in 2009 for failure to pay luxury hotel bills, and he’s been sued in Hawaii.

Now this suave alleged conman is in trouble with the feds for preying on a wealthy woman.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office told CBS13 that Stratos is now trying to get out of jail by making bail, but the judge wants to make sure the money he’ll be putting up is rightfully his.

He is due back in court Friday. If convicted, Stratos faces a maximum 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Kaley Cuoco, the host of this year’s show, also has the honor of being nominated for Favorite TV Comedy Actress for her role in “The Big Bang Theory,” which is also up for the Favorite Network TV Comedy award.

“We are thrilled to welcome Kaley as the new host of the People’s Choice Awards,” said executive producer Mark Burnett. “I’m looking forward to working with her on a fun-filled, comedy-packed show in January.”

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is certain to receive a few nods as it leads with nine nominations, including one in the Favorite Movie category, which contends with Bridesmaids, The Help, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Katy Perry (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Pop artist Katy Perry already feels the love, receiving seven nominations for her music, movie and TV work this past year. She is nominated for Favorite Animated Movie Voice for playing Smurfette in The Smurfs; Favorite TV Guest Star for her appearance in How I Met Your Mother; Favorite Female Artist; Favorite Song of the Year for “E.T.” featuring Kanye West; Favorite Pop Artist; Favorite Music Video for “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.);” and Favorite Tour Headliner. Perry faces fierce competition for the Favorite Female Artist award, contending with Adele, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. The FOX musical Glee tied Perry, also receiving seven nominations.

Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

With Breaking Dawn: Part 1 topping the box office for weeks, it is no surprise that nominations also went to its stars: Robert Pattinson was nominated for Favorite Movie Actor and Taylor Lautner for Favorite Action Movie Star. More mature actors also received the approval of the viewers, who nominated Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston for Favorite Movie Actress, and acting giants George Clooney, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Robert DeNiro and Tom Hanks for Favorite Movie Icon.

This year’s festivities have a little bit of Latin flavor with Cuban rapper Pitbull nominated as Favorite Hip Hop Artist, along with B.O.B, Eminem, Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj. Bruno Mars, an artist with Puerto Rican roots, and Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias are both nominated in the Favorite Male Artist category along with Eminem, Justin Bieber and country artist Blake Shelton

This will be the 38^th celebration of the awards, which according to Fred Nelson, President of People’s Choice, are meant to “reflect the constantly changing popular culture.” The fans’ “passion for entertainment is the heart and soul of the People’s Choice Awards,” he added.

The public determined the nominees and the winners by picking their favorites in 41 categories on the PCA website and through its Facebook page.

See the complete list of nominees.

See photos from last year’s People’s Choice Awards.

People’s Choice Awards
Broadcast by CBS, check local listings
Wednesday January 11, 2012
Nokia Theater
777 Chick Hearn Court
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 763-6020
www.peopleschoice.com

Dena Burroughs lives in Azusa, CA. She is a CSULA graduate with specialties in Creative Writing and Communications. She is also the LA Arts Examiner.

Organizers of the Indio, Calif., music festival on Monday announced a dizzying list of top musicians who are slated to perform over two long weekends, April 13-15 and April 20-22.

The six-day concert schedule marks the first time Coachella is to extend over two consecutive weekends.

In addition to the headliners, more than 100 bands are expected to perform at the shows, including Arctic Monkeys, The Shins, Bon Iver, Pulp, Florence and the Machine, Beirut, At The Drive In, Cat Power and ska legends Madness.

Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. PST and start at $285 for a festival pass.

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Online:

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, www.coachella.com

The network debuted its “CBS This Morning” program Monday, the latest competitor to “Today” and “Good Morning America.”

Hosts Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Erica Hill were seated at a circular glass table in a new studio constructed at CBS’ New York headquarters.

Rose presented the day’s “eye opener” at the top, a minute-long clip package of what was new in the world, from Republican debate sparring in New Hampshire to Tim Tebow’s winning touchdown pass in the NFL playoffs.

Jan Crawford reported from New Hampshire. Rose interviewed GOP contender Newt Gingrich and debriefed chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer. Scott Pelley followed up on a “60 Minutes” report from the night before.

CBS has long been third in morning ratings.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Renner was attacked in Phuket in an early morning fight that left one of Jeremy’s friends with serious injuries. That man was slashed with a homemade axe and stabbed. He’s expected to survive.

Jeremy suffered just minor injuries.

The six men who allegedly attacked Jeremy’s group were arrested.

Read the entire article.

Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” took in an estimated $38.3 million domestically over the long holiday weekend from Friday to Monday. That raised its total to $141.2 million.

Finishing second again was Robert Downey Jr.’s “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” with $26.5 million. The family sequel “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” came in third with $21 million.

Rounding out the top-five were Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse” at No. 4 with $19.2 million and David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” just behind at No. 5 with $19 million.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles coroner’s office says Jamaican-born rapper Heavy D died of natural causes.

The self-proclaimed “overweight lover” of hip hop, who became one of rap’s top hit makers with a combination of humor and positivity, collapsed outside his Beverly Hills home on Nov. 8. The 44 year-old rapper, whose real name was Dwight Errington, died later at a hospital.

Coroner’s office spokesman Craig Harvey said Tuesday that weight and a transcontinental jet flight were contributing factors.

The cause of death was pulmonary embolism and deep leg vein thrombosis. He also had arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Heavy D became one of the genre’s most integral stars in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His hit “The Overweight Lover’s in the House” played up his hefty frame.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

Family spokesman B. Harlan Boll says Kullijian collapsed Monday at the couple’s Rancho Mirage home and he died at Eisenhower Medical Center. Boll says the cause of death was an aneurysm.

The onetime Modesto walnut farmer served two terms on the Modesto council.

Afterward, he became one of the founders of Citizens Leading Effective Action Now, or CLEAN, to fight pornography.

Killijian and Channing went to the same middle school in San Francisco. After the death of his first wife in 2002, Killijian and Channing were reunited and they married in 2004.

They formed the Los Altos-based Channing-Kullijian Foundation (www.channingarts.org ) to support arts education in schools.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

Studios generally underestimated the size of their movie audiences over the weekend, and they’re now revising the holiday revenues upward.

Leading the way is Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol,” which pulled in $29.5 million for the weekend. That Monday figure is $3 million more than distributor Paramount estimated a day earlier.

For the four-day period Friday to Monday, Paramount estimates “Ghost Protocol” will have taken in $46.2 million to raise its domestic total to $78.6 million.

Studios Monday also reported stronger results than they did a day earlier for Robert Downey Jr.’s “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” at $20.3 million; Steven Spielberg’s “The Adventures of Tintin” at $9.7 million; and Matt Damon’s “We Bought a Zoo” at $9.5 million.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Maria Shriver is telling friends she’s having second thoughts about divorcing Arnold Schwarzenegger, according to entertainment website TMZ.

The report says Shriver is torn about going through with her impending divorce, partly because her strong religious beliefs are weighing heavily on her decision.

TMZ reports Schwarzenegger has been “extremely sweet” to Shriver and has made several gestures to win her back.

Shriver filed for divorce on July 1, citing “irreconcilable difference” after it was revealed that Schwarzenegger fathered a child with a former household staff member.

Jobs, who died Oct. 5 of pancreatic cancer, will be honored with a Trustees Award for helping create products “that transformed the way we consume music, TV, movies and books,” according to The Recording Academy.

Bandleader and composer Dave Bartholomew and recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder will also receive Trustees Awards.

All of the honors will be presented during an invitation-only ceremony Feb. 11, and recipients will be recognized during the Grammy Awards ceremony the next night.

Along with the Allman Brothers, Campbell and Ross, Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented to pianist/singer/guitarist Antonio Carlos Jobim (“The Girl from Ipanema”); trumpeter Wayne Jackson and saxophonist Andrew Love of the Memphis Horns; country legend George Jones; and the late Gil Scott-Heron, whose fusion of jazz, blues and spoken word influenced the creation of the rap genre.

Meanwhile, Grammy Technical Awards will be presented to the German sound-technology firm Celemony and the late audio engineer Roger Nichols, who worked with artists including Ross, Placido Domingo, James Taylor and Stevie Wonder.

(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

Robert Downey Jr.’s sequel “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” debuted on top with a $40 million weekend, off 36 percent from the first installment’s $62.3 million debut two years ago.

The first movie opened over Christmas weekend, one of the busiest times for movie theaters. Distributor Warner Bros. predicts the “Holmes” sequel will make up the lost ground over the holidays.

But overall business was down again, a sign of the times as Hollywood struggles to interest audiences in its big year-end releases.

“Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” did even worse than “Holmes.” ”Chipwrecked” opened at No. 2 with $23.5 million, about half the business the first two “Chipmunks” movies did on their debut weekends.

(Copyright 2011 The Associated Press)

Tied for second-place with five nominations Thursday are the 1960s racial tale “The Help” and George Clooney’s Hawaiian family story “The Descendants.” Both films are up for best drama, while Clooney was nominated for best dramatic actor and “The Help” earned acting slots for Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain.

Also competing for best drama: Martin Scorsese’s Paris adventure “Hugo”; Clooney’s political thriller “The Ides of March”; Brad Pitt’s baseball chronicle “Moneyball”; and Steven Spielberg’s World War I epic “War Horse.”

Joining “The Artist” in the best musical or comedy category are: the cancer story “50/50″; Kristen Wiig’s wedding romp “Bridesmaids”; Woody Allen’s romantic fantasy “Midnight in Paris”; and Michelle Williams’ Marilyn Monroe tale “My Week With Marilyn.”

Clooney has three nominations. Besides best dramatic actor as a neglectful dad tending his daughters in “The Descendants,” he’s up for directing and screenplay for “The Ides of March.” For the acting prize, Clooney will compete against his “Ides” star Ryan Gosling, who plays a presidential candidate’s aide. Gosling had a second nomination for best musical or comedy actor as a ladies man in the romance “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

Glenn Close is also a dual contender, as best dramatic actress as a woman masquerading as a male butler in the Irish drama “Albert Nobbs” and for best song for writing the lyrics to “Lay Your Head Down,” the film’s theme tune.

Also nominated for dramatic actress: Davis as a black maid going public with stories about her white employer in “The Help”; Rooney Mara as a traumatized victim-turned-avenger in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”; Meryl Streep as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady”; and Tilda Swinton as a grieving woman coping with her son’s terrible deeds in “We Need to Talk About Kevin.”

Clooney has another pal in the dramatic actor race, his “Ocean’s Eleven” franchise co-star Pitt, who’s nominated for his “Moneyball” role as Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane.

Gosling, Clooney and Pitt are up against Leonardo DiCaprio as FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover in “J. Edgar” and Michael Fassbender as a sex addict in “Shame.”

Pitt’s romantic partner, Angelina Jolie, picked up a nomination for foreign-language film for her directing debut, the Bosnian war drama “In the Land of Blood and Honey.”

Along with the Screen Actors Guild Award nominations a day earlier, the Globes field helps narrow down prospects for the Academy Awards, whose nominations come out Jan. 24.

With drinks and dinner, the Globes are a laid-back affair for Hollywood’s elite compared to the Oscars. The show turned a bit touchy last year as host Ricky Gervais repeatedly made sharp wisecracks about stars and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 85 entertainment reporters for overseas outlets that presents the Globes.

But Gervais helped give the show a TV ratings boost, and he’s been invited back as host for a third-straight year.

Before the nominations announcement, the press group’s president, Aida Takla-O’Reilly, joked that Gervais is a “naughty, naughty schoolboy.”

Five-time Academy Award and Globe nominee Morgan Freeman — who won the supporting-actor Oscar for “Million Dollar Baby” and a best-actor Globe for “Driving Miss Daisy” — will receive the group’s Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the Jan. 15 ceremony.

Thursday’s nominations in 25 film and television categories were announced by actors Sofia Vergara, Woody Harrelson and Gerard Butler.

A progress report hearing lasted less than 10 minutes on Wednesday after the actress successfully completed the benchmarks set by Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner.

Lohan has worked at the morgue for 12 days since her sentencing Nov. 2 and completed five therapy sessions.

Sautner gave Lohan an incentive to work harder, telling the actress she could leave California for personal visits once she completes 12 days of morgue duty a month.

Lohan returned from a trip to celebrate her sister’s birthday in Hawaii hours before her court appearance.

Lohan remains on probation for a 2007 drunken driving and a grand theft case filed earlier this year.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.