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Holidays are about to become that much more special for Carrie Underwood! The pregnant American Idol superstar took to the stage once again Friday night for a taped performance in honor of the 2014 CMA Country Christmas special. Wearing another gorgeous loose-fitting blue dress with silver accents at the top, Underwood successfully hid her growing baby bump as she sang a holiday classic for the show scheduled to air this December on ABC. It was a beautiful end to a jam-packed week for Mrs. Mike Fisher. Just a few days earlier, the singer rocked 10-yes 10-different looks while hosting the 2014 CMA Awards. When not changing into another outfit, the country darling managed to crack jokes with co-host Brad Paisley, perform center stage, and reveal her baby’s gender. Oh, didn’t you hear?! Underwood is having a handsome boy next spring!As she gears up for her special delivery after the holiday rush, the 31-year-old is making the most of her free time by releasing new music. Soon after the CMA Awards, Underwood shared a breathtaking new music video for her single, “Something in the Water. “Can’t nobody wipe this smile off my face / Got joy in my heart, angels on my side / Thank God almighty, I saw the light,” she sings in the track that showcases just how happy she is. Pretty soon, however, Underwood will be forced to exchange microphones for a few smelly diaper bags. But if you ask any famous parents in Hollywood, it will be totally worth it!”It’s sort of hard to give people advice,” Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban told E! News when asked about Underwood’s baby. “Reach out if you need help but it’s an incredible, incredible journey.” Source link

Somewhat like Shimmer, Saturday Night Live’s mysterious concoction that was both a floor wax and a dessert topping, a production called The Noir Series that runs this weekend in Los Angeles manages to be both a stage play and live Internet TV. You can buy “studio audience tickets“to see the show in person at the Schkapf Theatre or purchase online viewing tickets. The producers-who describe the show as a 90 minute omnibus comprised of “four plays inspired by the dark and pulpy noir of Hollywood’s past, filmed and streamed with an eye towards Hollywood’s future”- will be happy either way. But will Actors’ Equity, the union that governs live theatre? Produced under the banner of theatre company Heretick Theatre Lab, The Noir Series seems to challenge Equity’s long-held determination to disallow recording or streaming of plays in order to preserve the primacy of the live performance. Seemingly, the solution adopted by Heretick’s artistic director Jennifer Cotteleer is simple: the production went with a SAG-AFTRA new media contract rather than an Equity agreement, even though Cotteleer acknowledged that the production “is a play. “She and her diverse fellow creators-who include screenwriter Stephen McFeely (Captain America, Thor and the upcoming ABC series Agent Carter), directors John Hindman and Nancy Keystone, comic book writer Ed Brubaker and theatre troupe The Burglars of Hamm-have high hopes for the show, which has already sold out its Friday performance, the first of four. But the SAG-AFTRA solution hasn’t always worked as well in New York. Kathryn Jones, founder and CEO of Virtual Arts TV, pioneered live streaming of stage plays in 2010 with an AFTRA-contracted production called Better Left Unsaid, but found that some things were indeed better left unsaid: weeks after the show closed, the actors received letters from Equity warning of possible disciplinary charges for participating in an unauthorized play, Jones told The Hollywood Reporter. “There’s tremendous resistance”at Equity towards live streaming, said Jones, who financed the play through Kickstarter. Ultimately, Equity backed off, but in the years since, Jones said, the union has repeatedly vetoed live streaming even where AFTRA or SAG-AFTRA has approved: the latter two unions have offered contracts, according to Jones, only to subsequently withdraw their permission after contacting Equity for its consent. Yet on other occasions, Jones said, Equity has granted permission for live streaming. She declined to speculate on the reason for the union’s varying responses. “I’m not sure they know where they stand,”Jones remarked. Equity did not respond to several requests for comment and a SAG-AFTRA spokesperson said that its new media personnel were unavailable due to ongoing negotiations on a key television contract. It’s not just small producers who are experimenting with live streaming. Broadway too has taken notice, with companies such as BroadwayHD and Broadway Near You bringing such fare as the  Orlando Bloom Romeo and Juliet and Driving Miss Daisy to movie theaters screens around the world-but not on the Internet-much as the Metropolitan Opera has been making its productions available to cinema audiences. Meanwhile, the Broadway show Memphis was filmed and shown three months later in cinemas under the moniker Memphis: Direct from Broadway, then made available on Netflix. “We would prefer theatre goers see our shows in person,”said Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of the Broadway League, the organization that represents Broadway theatre owners and producers. That said, she added, the organization is “supportive of live streaming. “If you can’t have live, this is a wonderful alternative,”said St. Martin. “It’s not mainstream yet, (but) there are four or five companies that have put their big toe in the water. “St. Martin, whose organization represents management in its negotiations with Equity, declined to discuss the union’s position on streaming. Internationally, London’s National Theatre‘s National Theatre Live initiative streams live and recorded theatre to cinemas around the world. Perhaps easing matters there, a single union, also called Equity, represents actors in both live stage and motion picture / television work. Elsewhere, small producers are experimenting with plays staged in multiple locations connected via Skype or Google Hangouts. Back in Los Angeles, a Wednesday night rehearsal attended by THR was a beehive of activity. Molls, femmes fatale, hard-bitten shamuses, a tough guy and a pretty boy were among the noir tropes who put on a fun show even with the inevitable pauses as lighting, sound and video cues were worked out. That much is typical theatre craft, but the presence of videographers and Cotteleer’s admonition to her cast that they not play to the cameras were a reminder that something unusual was indeed afoot. Meanwhile, in a room off the lobby, the heart of the streaming operation was a video village operated by Adrenaline Garage, a Colorado-based company whose usual work is live streaming of sports events. Also key to the Internet component is streaming provider DaCast. “Noir is about desperate characters in desperate situations trying to do that one last thing that is going to put them over the top and fix their problems, and inevitably-it doesn’t,”McFeeley said. But this production is more about disparate, rather than desperate, creators and technologists coming together, and barring any union hitches they hope to reboot live theatre in a uniquely Internet-based way. Their experiment will be on view this weekend. Bookmark The Hollywood Reporter’s Labor Page for the most in-depth coverage of entertainment unions and guilds. Email: jh@jhandel.comTwitter: @jhandelSource link

Former Navy SEAL who claims to have shot and killed Osama bin Laden has been identified by CNN ahead of Fox News where he is expected to discuss his role in the raid.

Robert O’Neill, a SEAL turned public speaker, has been named by the UK’s Daily Mail,The Washington Post and the special operations community blog SOFrep.com as the member of SEAL Team 6 who fired the forehead shot that killed bin Laden in a May 2011 raid on the 9/11 mastermind ‘s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

O’Neill is the second SEAL to speak out about the raid. The first was Matt Bissonette, who 60 Minutes called Mark Owen in two interviews including a follow-up last month. Cooper talked with former Navy SEAL Jonathan Gilliam, who says O’Neill could, and should be charged by the military for speaking out. It’s time to start setting an example. The guy’s my SEAL brother, but he’s gone far beyond where I can support my brother.

In 2012, after 16 years of service, and 4 years shy of retirement, O’Neill left the Navy. He is now a public speaker employed by Leading Authorities, a speakers bureau.

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