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Deschanel, Gordon-Levitt post New Year's Eve duet - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are curious about your New Year's Eve plans.

The two actors perform a duet in a video posted this week on YouTube, musically asking, "What are you doing New Year's Eve?"

She plays ukulele and he plays guitar in the two-minute video of the 1947 jazz song.

Deschanel calls her "(500) Days of Summer" co-star "simply the best" in a note accompanying the video.

The two actors don't reveal their New Year's Eve plans in the clip, but they will be celebrating together in 2012. Both are nominated for Golden Globe Awards: she for actress in a TV comedy for "New Girl," and he for his lead role in the film "50/50."

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Online:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSq1cez_flQ

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"17th Precinct" pilot - "Battlestar" reunion - pops up online - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - What could have been -- that's what "Battlestar Galactica" fans might be thinking as they get the chance to view the pilot for "17th Precinct," the supernatural cop drama created by "BSG" producer Ronald Moore.

NBC passed on "Precinct" last May, but the pilot episode has leaked online at Vimeo.com. The cop series -- starring "Battlestar Galactica" alums Jamie Bamber, Tricia Helfer and James Callis -- is set in Excelsior, a supernatural world where magic is commonplace.

You can check out the pilot at the link below for the "BSG" reunion, which also includes performances by Stockard Channing, "Caprica" star Esai Morales and "Oz" and "Lights Out" star Eamonn Walker, and, if we're not mistaken, a voiceover from a certain Admiral William Adama: http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/pilot-17th-precinct-battlestar-cast-reunion-drama-pops-online-video-33995

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Voice of Darth Vader swears in NY sheriff friend - Yahoo! News

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Not every county sheriff gets to be sworn in by the voice of Darth Vader.

Actor James Earl Jones performed that duty Thursday for his longtime friend and neighbor Adrian "Butch" Anderson, the sheriff in Dutchess County, N.Y., where Jones lives.

Anderson's fourth term as sheriff in the Hudson Valley county began with Jones administering the oath of office in place of a judge.

Jones told about 250 attendees at the ceremony in the town of Poughkeepsie (poh-KIHP'-see) that his many movie roles included playing a judge in "Sommersby," a 1993 post-Civil War film that starred Richard Gere and Jodie Foster.

Jones provided the voice for the Darth Vader character in the original "Star Wars" trilogy. His deep, distinctive voice also was featured in Disney's animated film, "The Lion King."

via old.news.yahoo.com

UK's Times newspaper names Bouazizi person of 2011 - Yahoo! News

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's The Times newspaper on Wednesday named as person of the year Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian whose self immolation inspired uprisings that toppled dictators across the Arab world and shook the region's remaining autocracies.

Bouazizi set himself alight last year after officials confiscated the unemployed 26-year-old's unlicensed grocery cart, reportedly slapping and insulting him. His desperate act struck a chord with millions of Arabs living with few job prospects or avenues for change under entrenched autocracies.

"The Times today names Mohamed Bouazizi, the street vendor who became the inspiration for the Arab Spring, as its person of the year," the paper said on its front page. "Bouazizi was no revolutionary, yet his lonely protest served as the catalyst for a wave of revolts that have transformed the Middle East."

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Report: Maria Shriver may be re-thinking Arnold divorce - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Is Maria Shriver ready to continue the long tradition of Kennedy women who've forgiven their husbands' extracurricular activities?

TMZ reports it just may be so, as the estranged wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger is re-thinking the idea of pulling the plug on her marriage to the actor and former California governor.

Shriver, TMZ says, is struggling with the decision to divorce because of her Catholic background.

The Catholic Church officially forbids divorce, though many members of the church, including some of Shriver's Catholic relatives, have ended their marriages with divorce.

TMZ also cites sources who tell the Website the one-time Governator is playing Charminator, trying to woo Shriver back to their marriage with gifts and being "extremely sweet" to her.

The couple separated in May, and Shriver filed for divorce July 1, after Schwarzenegger admitted to an affair with the family's housekeeper, Mildred Baena, which resulted in a son, Joseph.

People.com reports Schwarzenegger and Shriver spent Christmas together in Brentwood and attended the Lakers game at the Staples Center on Christmas afternoon.

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Sears to close more stores as holiday sales slump - Yahoo! News

(Reuters) - Sears Holdings Corp will close as many as 120 of its Kmart and namesake big-box stores after sales during the peak holiday period fell sharply, and the retailer also forecast that fourth quarter earnings would fall by more than half, sending its shares plunging some 25 percent.

Adding to the share selloff, Sears also disclosed on Tuesday that it has tapped its credit facility to borrow cash.

Once one of the leading retailers with a national reach through its popular catalog along with hundreds of stores, Sears has been pressured in recent years by competitors ranging from Wal-Mart Stores to Amazon.com.

Under the stewardship of Chairman Edward Lampert, the company has let stores deteriorate, while analysts also cite poor locations and ho-hum merchandise for its ongoing decline.

"They've neglected this business for so long," independent retail analyst Brian Sozzi said, noting that he expects many more closings. "They are letting Kmart and Sears die on the vine."

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Etta James on breathing machine in Calif. hospital - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Grammy-winning singer Etta James, who has been deemed terminally ill with leukemia, has been hospitalized in California and placed on a breathing machine, her long-time manager and friend said on Friday.

James, 73, best known for the blues ballad "At Last," was taken to the hospital near her home in Riverside, east of Los Angeles, earlier this week because she was struggling to breathe.

"They took her to the hospital. She was having trouble breathing, so they intubated her. She is on a breathing machine and is resting," Lupe De-Leon, the singer's manager for 30 years, told Reuters.

The singer has been in failing health for a number of years and suffers from leukemia, kidney disease and dementia but had previously been cared for at her Southern California home.

Her live-in doctor said last week that James was considered terminally ill, and that she communicates mostly with nods and simple words.

The three-time Grammy Award singer earlier battled obesity and was addicted to heroin for many years.

"It is really sad. She is like my sister," De-Leon said on Friday.

James was a key figure in the early days of R&B music with hit songs like "The Wallflower" and "Good Rockin' Daddy". But it was her 1961 recording of "At Last" that put her on the map.

via news.yahoo.com