Margo Martindale Interview Steel Magnolias

Most people learned to love Margo Martindale thanks to her powerful and Emmy-winning turn as Mags Bennett on the second season of FX's Justified.

But the beloved actress first began winning over audiences with the first staging of Steel Magnolias in 1987 when she originated the role of Truvy. Now, she's returning to The Lucille Lortel Theater for a 25th Anniversary reading of Robert Harling classic play (benefiting The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) on December 3 -- although this time, she's tackling the role of Ouiser!

ETonline caught up with Martindale to talk about the 25th Anniversary, what it means to be re-staging this play and what happened when Steel the play met Steel the film and she met Julia Roberts!

ETonline: Is it crazy to you that it's the 25th Anniversary of Steel Magnolias?

Margo Martindale: Well, I must say, I didn't think much of it when they first asked me to do it since I'm not playing my own part. But I read over the script yesterday and sobbed the whole way through. My husband asked, "Why are you crying so much?" And I said "Because this was so much a part of our lives." My daughter was conceived during my last time on stage in New York and she is almost 25.

VIDEO FLASHBACK - Julia Roberts Wins A Golden Globe For Magnolias

ETonline: You are playing Ouiser for the first time. How does that compare to playing Truvy?

Martindale: Honestly, it's not radically different. It's just the flip side. Truvy is so big-hearted and just so funny but sweet. And Ouiser is not. And I think I'm more like Ouiser now than I was like Truvy. So it's kind of perfect.

ETonline: What do you think it is about these women that has kept audiences under their spell for 25 years?

Martindale: I think that originally with the play we didn't know what we had. We played that first show so seriously. It was a serious play and it was all about business. We had no idea it was so funny. When we put it in front of an audience, they just loved it. I think people love it because we were real people, with real feelings and real hearts. That's what people saw in the play and, in turn, I think that's how the movie was made.

ETonline: What did you think of the movie?

Martindale: I was actually doing the national tour of the play when the movie came out. You kind of want to criticize. It was vastly different from the play in that it's so open. The thing that I missed in the movie, which you can't do in a movie,is that in the play, everything takes place in one room. All the emotions were so huge in that room and you couldn't escape it, so you had to confront the pain of the loss of Shelby. I believe that all happened in the cemetery scene, which actually worked beautifully but it was very very different. For anybody who wasn't part of the play or hadn't seen the play first, I think the movie was perfectly beautiful.

PHOTO - Roberts & Field Celebrate Magnolias' Anniversary

ETonline: You've now tackled two roles, is there anyone in Steel you wouldn't want to play?

Martindale: I don't think I'd want to play Shelby or Annelle. I'm soooo not right for it. But all the others I can play I think.

ETonline: You're currently expericning the other side of the coin, working on the cinematic adaptation of August: Osage County. How much of that play has been "movie'd up?"

Martindale: It's beautiful. So beautiful. I think it really retains the spirit of the film. Tracy Letts (who wrote the play) wrote the screenplay so he kept it really close to the play. He's opened up some of it, but most everything takes place in the house. I absolutely loved working with Chris Cooper, Meryl [Streep], Benedict [Cumberbatch], Julia [Roberts]; everybody was wonderful.

ETonline: Did you and Julia ever talk about your shared Steel connection?

Martindale: We talked about it. She was just so sweet about that. She said "Steel Magnolias gave me everything. I owed it to the people
that kept the play going for the movie to be made."

ETonline: I've been a fan of yours for so long, but I'm curious, do you have a role like that? One you feel like "gave you everything?"

Martindale: It was only two years ago, but I do think Justified really changed my career. It made everybody a little more aware of me and what I could do. It also brought me to the public eye and made people more aware of how long I been doing this.

ETonline: You've worked on a lot of shows and played a lot of supporting characters in big films. Is there any character you'd love to revisit in a bigger capacity?

Martindale: Well, I loved Paris, Je T'aime. It's like my top two favorite things I've ever done and I think it was a beautiful. I think it was a perfect seven minute movie, or whatever it was. I don't know how that would work in a bigger movie, but she was an interesting character I would have loved to have been with longer.

For more on The 25th Anniversary reading of Steel Magnolias to benefit The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, click here!

Read More..

US prisons could handle Guantanamo detainees: study

WASHINGTON — The controversial detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could be closed and the 166 detainees being held there could be absorbed safely by US prisons, a government report says.

Many of the detainees are accused of plotting terrorist acts against the United States.

"This report demonstrates that if the political will exists, we could finally close Guantanamo without imperiling our national security," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman who released the Government Accountability Office study Wednesday.

The GAO study shows that US prisons already hold 373 prisoners convicted of terrorism in 98 facilities across the country.

"As far as I know, there hasn't been a single security problem reported in any of these cases," Feinstein said. "This fact outweighs not only the high cost of maintaining Guantanamo — which costs more than $114 million a year — but also provides the same degree of security without the criticism of operating a military prison in an isolated location."

The study said there are six Defense Department prisons and 98 Justice Department prisons that could take the detainees, but it does say that existing facilities likely would need to be modified and current inmates may need to be relocated to make room for the new arrivals.

President Barack Obama ordered the closing of the Guantanamo's detention facility when he took office in 2009, but that was blocked by a Republican-led bill that cut off funding to move the detainees to the US The lawmakers cited security concerns, saying the presence of the detainees would encourage terror attacks in the states or cities where they were being held.

Feinstein commissioned the study in 2008 to find out where the detainees could be held, if the White House was able to move ahead with Guantanamo's closure.

Read More..

Miami-Dade pending home sales spiked in October

Despite a dearth of homes and condos on the market in Miami-Dade County, pending sales rose 67 percent in October with 4,172 residential properties going under contract compared with 2,488 a year earlier, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.

The number of pending sales rose 18 percent in October from September.

In a statement, Martha Pomares, chairman of the board of the Miami Association of Realtors, said “The Miami real estate market is poised for another record year that would suprass the all-time sales record set in 2011. Strong demand persists despite the shortage of housing inventory, and listings are increasingly selling at a more rapid pace, driving in significant price appreciation.’’

With strong demand and little on the market, properties are selling for closer to their asking price and sellers aren’t inclined to offer discounts. For October, single-family homes in Miami-Dade sold at 95 percent of the original listing price, while condos went for 97.1 percent of original listing price on average, the Miami Realtors said. In October 2011, single family homes fetched 91 percent of listing price on average and condos got 93.6 percent of listing price.

Pending sales are a forward indicator based on the number of contracts signed over a given period.

Read More..

Convicted al-Qaida recruit Jose Padilla faces resentencing in Miami

Jose Padilla, the convicted terrorist who once called the Fort Lauderdale-area home before joining the ranks of al-Qaida, faces up to life in prison at his resentencing Monday in Miami federal court.

But his defense attorney hopes a judge Wednesday will postpone the sentencing until January, so Padilla can improve his mental health by visiting with family members in the meantime at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami.

Padilla, 42, is serving a 17-year prison at the maximum security prison in Florence, Colo.

“Since his arrest in May of 2002, the government has systematically attempted to destroy Jose by psychologically torturing him and imprisoning him under the severest of conditions,” Federal Public Defender Michael Caruso, who represented Padilla at his 2007 trial, wrote in court papers.

“Not surprisingly, this psychological torture has taken a toll on Jose.”

Federal prosecutors voiced strong opposition to the delay, unless Padilla’s defense lawyer were to request a competency examination of his client.

Last year, a federal appeals court ruled that the one-time “enemy combatant” — perhaps better known as the “dirty bomber” — should receive harsher punishment reflecting his extensive criminal record.

The appellate court found that U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke was too lenient when she “unreasonably discounted” his criminal history before lowering a potential 30-year-to-life sentence.

Padilla, born in New York to Puerto Rican parents, was a former Chicago gang member with 17 arrests and a murder conviction before becoming a recruit for al-Qaida, according to federal prosecutors.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals sent the controversial case back to Cooke to resentence Padilla, who trained with al-Qaida the year before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to trial evidence.

Caruso appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying Cooke “imposed a fair and reasonable sentence.” But the high court declined to hear his petition.

The appeals court in Atlanta, in a 2-1 ruling, upheld the terrorism convictions of Padilla and two others: Adham Amin Hassoun, a Palestinian who had met him at a Broward mosque in the 1990s; and Hassoun’s colleague, Kifah Wael Jayyousi, a U.S. citizen of Jordanian descent. They were sentenced to 15 years and eight months, and 12 years and eight months, respectively.

All three defendants, convicted of conspiring to support Islamic extremists overseas, sought a new federal trial based on claims of improper testimony by the lead FBI agent and a terrorism expert, along with insufficient evidence and other allegations. Padilla also challenged Cooke’s decision to reject a motion to dismiss his indictment based on “outrageous government conduct” while the former enemy combatant was held in a Naval brig before his transfer to Miami to face terrorism charges in 2006.

Padilla was held without being charged in the South Carolina brig for 3 1/2 years — time that the Miami judge cut from his sentence.

The appellate court, in an opinion written by Chief Judge Joel F. Dubina and joined by Judge William H. Pryor, sided with the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami. Prosecutors, who were seeking life imprisonment for Padilla, appealed Cooke’s 17-year sentence. They argued the judge’s prison term was 13 years below the low end of sentencing guidelines — 30 years.

The appellate court wrote that Cooke’s punishment “reflects a clear error of judgment about the sentencing of this career offender.” The court noted that his codefendant, Hassoun, had no prior criminal history but received a sentence that was “only” 20 months less than Padilla’s.

Cooke “attached little weight to Padilla’s extensive criminal history, gave no weight to his future dangerousness, compared him to criminals who were not similarly situated, and gave unreasonable weight to the condition of his pre-trial detention,” Dubina wrote.

In a dissent, Appellate Judge Rosemary Barkett countered that Padilla’s sentence “should not be disturbed.” Barkett said “doing so simply substitutes sentencing judgment for that of the trial judge” with the inherent authority.

Read More..

Lucy Hale Pretty Little Liars Interview Duracell Event

We're less than six weeks away from the Pretty Little Liars season premiere, and to help make the wait pass faster, I caught up with star Lucy Hale to talk all about season 3B!

RELATED - 10 Best Dressed TV Stars

We met up at P.S. 64 in NYC where Hale had partnered with the Duracell Power Holiday Smiles program, benefiting Toys for Tots, to gift the students with some early Christmas presents ... batteries included!

VIDEO - First Look at PLL's Season Premiere

In addition to watching the kids freak out upon seeing the adorable actress, Hale revealed the best Christmas present she's ever gotten and told me that fans can expect a drastically different tone in the 2013 episodes of Pretty Little Liars! Watch!

Pretty Little Liars premieres January 8 at 8 p.m. on ABC Family, and for more information on the Duracell Power Holiday Smiles program, click here!

Read More..

Sen. Susan Collins says she needs more information before she could consider backing Susan Rice for Secretary of State

WASHINGTON — A moderate Republican senator crucial to any White House hopes of getting UN Ambassador Susan Rice confirmed as secretary of state said Wednesday that there are still lingering unanswered questions about the deadly Sept. 11 attack in Libya.

Emerging from a 95-minute, closed-door meeting with Rice, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she would need more information before she could consider backing the ambassador if President Barack Obama tapped her to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

At issue is Rice's much-maligned explanation for the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. In a series of talk show appearances, Rice blamed the attack on a spontaneous demonstration to an anti-Muslim video rather than terrorism.

AP

Sen. Susan Collins today

"I still have many questions that remain unanswered," Collins told reporters after the meeting. "I continue to be troubled by the fact that the UN ambassador decided to play what was essentially a political role at the height of the contentious presidential election campaign by agreeing to go on the Sunday shows to present the administration's position."

Collins stopped short of saying she would try to block a nomination as Sens. Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte have said they would do.

But in a clear message to the White House, Collins said that Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., would have a smooth path to confirmation if Obama chose him over Rice for the State Department job.

In back-to-back meetings, Rice met with Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who is in line to become the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Corker declined to say whether he would support Rice or not, but was highly critical of the intelligence apparatus and the administration.

"The whole issue of Benghazi has been a tawdry affair," Corker told reporters after his 90-minute session with Rice and acting CIA Director Michael Morell.

Pressed on a possible nomination, Corker said he will decide when Obama announces his choice, but he made it clear that the president should carefully weigh the decision.

"I would just ask that the president step back away from all of the buzz around this particular situation, take a deep breath and decide who is the best secretary of state for our country," Corker said.

The meetings with Collins and Corker marked the second straight day of private sessions for Rice as she tries to quell the uproar over her initial assessment of the Benghazi raid. Rice answered questions Tuesday from Sens. John McCain, Graham and Ayotte about her explanations about the cause of the September attack.

Read More..

Gift ideas for the techie on your list

The holidays are coming fast, and if you’re like me, you’ve probably gotten very little of your gift shopping done.

Here are suggestions for a variety of gifts for the techie and the not-so-techie people on your list.

Some of these items can be found in stores and some are only available online, but you should be able to order them in time for Christmas or Hanukkah.

IOMEGA EZ MEDIA & BACKUP CENTER

What is it? A hard drive that lives on your home network so you can share files, store all your photos and music and back up your home computers. Works on Macintosh, Windows and Linux computers.

The EZ Media & Backup Center is available in 1-, 2- and 3-terabyte capacities. It is simple to set up. It lives next to your home router and plugs into the network via Ethernet.

Major features include a built-in iTunes server so your music is available to all connected computers, Time Machine support for easy Macintosh backups and Iomega’s Personal Cloud to access your data from any Internet connection.

It can also stream your video files to your TV if you’ve got a compatible streaming box or an Internet-connected TV.

Software for backing up Windows PCs is also included.

Who’s it for? Any family that wants central storage for their digital lives. This is a great home for your digital photo, music or video library.

What does it cost? One terabyte for $169.99, two terabytes for $209.99, three terabytes for $279.99.

Where can you get it? Online at www.iomega.com, Amazon, Best Buy, Apple store, Fry’s.

NETATMO URBAN WEATHER STATION

What is it? A wireless indoor/outdoor weather station that displays through an application on your Apple or Android mobile device.

There are two parts, one that lives in your house and one you place outside.

The indoor component plugs into the wall and monitors the temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, carbon dioxide level and even the sound level in decibels.

The outdoor module is battery-powered and measures temperature and humidity.

Once you connect the Netatmo to your home Wi-Fi network, you can download the free app and see your weather stats from anywhere.

Setup was easy enough, and you can set the app to notify you when carbon dioxide rises to levels that you should be warned about — which is great.

Who’s it for? Weather geeks and people who like to know what the temperature is without having to fire up a browser.

What does it cost? $179

Where can you get it? www.netatmo.com

3M LED ADVANCED LIGHT

What is it? 3M’s first foray into the home light bulb market is with the LED Advanced Light, which uses light-emitting diodes (LED) to produce 800 lumens (the light of a 60-watt bulb).

The Advanced Light has a life span of 25 years and costs just $1.63 per year if it’s turned on for three hours per day.

The bulb lights instantly and is dimmable.

It’s a little intimidating to start buying light bulbs that might outlive me, but my wallet approves.

Who’s it for? Anyone who wants to save money or wants a bulb that might not have to be changed until 2035.

What does it cost? $25

Where can you get it? Select Wal-Mart stores. For more information, go to www.3mlighting.com/LED.

STEM IZON 2.0 WI-FI VIDEO MONITOR

What is it? A small, wireless video camera that you can monitor remotely with an iOS device.

Read More..

Miami police: Operation Resilience targets violent crime

Violent criminals are not the only threat to neighborhoods, Miami police say. Prostitutes, drug users, and even motorists who disobey the rules of the road can jeopardize the safety of residents.

That’s why Miami police cast a broad net with Operation Resilience, a citywide crackdown that launched in December 2011 and concluded in November with more than 1,000 arrests made for crimes ranging from suspected murder and drug trafficking to prostitution and robbery.

Maj. David Magnusson, commander of tactical operations for Miami police, said the broad sweep targeted violent crime in the city.

“Homicides are lower at the same point now than they were last year,’’ he said, “and [the numbers of] people shot are lower than they were at the same time last year.’’

Tapping officers from several divisions within Miami’s police department — including gang units, narcotics investigators, robbery detectives and traffic cops — Operation Resilience flooded the city’s streets with police during crackdowns, Magnusson said.

Police conducted 12 separate sweeps over the year with each operation taking place over two, nonconsecutive days, he said.

During those sweeps, police made 380 felony arrests, including 83 for drug possession, 93 for drug trafficking, 156 for drug purchasing, 10 for gun possession, and 19 for battery.

While the operation’s primary mission was to reduce drug-related violent crime, officers also targeted “quality of life’’ crimes such as public intoxication, indecent exposure, gambling, prostitution and traffic infractions.

Magnusson said residents frequently complained of drivers speeding or running stop signs in their neighborhoods, and vagrants pushing carts on public streets in the middle of the night.

“We have found, and there is scientific proof, if you let these things go on unchecked, it just gives that atmosphere that anything goes,’’ Magnusson said, “and after a while anything does go.’’

Police reported making 259 “quality of life’’ arrests and 110 traffic arrests during the course of the operation. They also issued 4,832 traffic citations.

While traffic infractions are not considered serious crimes, Magnusson said they act as a deterrent in crime-ridden neighborhoods.

“People aren’t going to be up to their tricks when cars are being stopped by police,’’ he said.

Magnusson said Miami police are aware of the criticism that such sweeps provide only a respite from crime, and that the criminals return once the operations are completed. He estimated that each sweep was followed by a period of seven to 10 days of relative quiet in the affected neighborhoods.

“We have to find new ways to deal with these issues,’’ he said, “but at the end of the day it’s putting the officers out there.’’

Now that Operation Resilience is complete, Magnusson said, Miami police will launch Operation Throw In the Towel, which will target drug traffickers who work out of homes and businesses.

Police plan to use forfeiture, liens and fines to pressure those drug dealers or their landlords to “throw in the towel,’’ Magnusson said.

“We’re going after the sellers,’’ he said, “and after the structures they sell from.’’

Read More..

Ian McKellen & Patrick Stewart to Return to 'X-Men'

Now it's starting to get exciting… Both Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are returning to the X-Men franchise in their signature roles for the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past, according to a tweet by director Bryan Singer.

Related: Bryan Singer to Helm 'X-Men: Days of Future Past'

The director of 2000's X-Men and 2003's X2 tweeted today, "Thrilled to announce @ianmckellen118 & @SirPatStew are joining the cast of #XMEN #DaysOfFuturePast #magneto #professorX More to come…"

It's clear now that we'll see both the younger and older versions of Magneto and Professor X in the new film -- said to be inspired by an Uncanny X-Men comic book storyline that ran back in 1981 – which contains a complicated time-travel storyline and alternate future scenario that bridges the gap between mutants of the past and mutants of the future.

Related: First Look: 'The Wolverine' Poster

Singer took on directing responsibilities for the follow-up to X-Men: First Class after Matthew Vaughn departed the project.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is expected to arrive in theaters on July 18, 2014.

Read More..

TMZ denies drone request

TMZ has denied they are pushing to own drones.

The gossip site responded to earlier reports that they put in a request with the FAA for the unmanned aircraft.

The Web site's plan to own drones was first reported by The San Francisco Chronicle.

"TMZ is NOT getting in the DRONE business ... we don't have a drone ... we don't want a drone ... we never applied for a drone," the site posted.

Drone makers have pushed for more missions, leading to provisions in the FAA Modernization and Reform Act, signed into law Feb. 14.

The law requires the FAA to fully integrate the unmanned aerial vehicles into national airspace by September 2015, the site reported.

According to the Chronicle, FAA officials said last week that TMZ “does not have a permit.”

Read More..