All that glitters: Five iconic Palme d'Or winners

As the Cannes GUCCI BAG Film http://www.queenbags.com/gucci.php Festival gets underway, all eyes will once again be on the contenders for the festival's top prize -- the Palme d'Or. As one of the most prestigious awards in world cinema, the Golden Palm has been the launchpad for success for many films over the decades.But it's not only Hollywood films that get recognition -- just two Palme d'Or winners have gone on to win Best Picture at the Oscars, and just one American movie is competing in this year's http://www.queenbags.com/gucci.php contest. We've picked five of the most groundbreaking and iconic Palme d'Or winners from around the world since the award's inception in 1955.
"Le monde du silence" (1956)Director: Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Louis MalleStarring: Frédéric Dumas, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Albert Falco
Cousteau's "Silent World" was the first documentary to walk away with the golden palm, having already won the Best Documentary prize at that year's Oscars. This deep-sea exploration was one of the first films to show the beauty of the ocean depths in full color, and was also the first French film to GUCCI BAG win the Palme d'Or -- until 1955 the award had been known as the Grand Prix.
What happened next: Cousteau repeated his Oscar success with "World Without Sun" in 1964. It was not until Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" in 2004 that another documentary would repeat "Le monde du silence"'s success at Cannes.
"La Dolce Vita" (1960)Director: Federico FelliniStarring: Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimée
Fellini's Roman epic has become one of the most important Italian films ever made, loaded with religious iconography, aristocratic decadence and media comment -- the film even coined the term paparazzi. Tracking a week in the life of a 1950s journalist, "La Dolce Vita" was greeted rapturously by critics in both Europe and America.
What happened next: An Oscar followed in 1962, and Fellini became a pioneer of arthouse films, following his interest in Jungian psychology. The film's 50th anniversary will be marked at this year's festival with the airing of a previously unseen GUCCI BAG behind-the-scenes documentary.
"Apocalypse Now" (1979)Director: Francis Ford CoppolaStarring: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall
This one nearly didn't even make the festival -- director Francis Ford Coppola needed persuading to premiere what was then an unfinished three-hour edit of the infamous Vietnam epic. His decision to go ahead was vindicated by rapturous applause from the audience at the end credits. Despite the film's incomplete state, the jury awarded it the Palme d'Or, shared with Volker Schlondorff's "The Tin Drum."
What happened next: The film is now widely regarded as an all-time classic, with its iconic helicopter attack scene to the strains of "Ride of the Valkyries" passing into folklore as one of cinema's most memorable scenes. Coppola won a Golden Globe for Best Director, and the film picked up two Academy Awards for sound and cinematography.
"The Piano" (1993)Director: Jane CampionStarring: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Anna Paquin
Writer and director Jane Campion is to date the only woman, and the only New Zealander, to scoop the Palme d'Or, shared that year with Chinese drama "Farewell My Concubine." Her stunning period drama featured Holly Hunter as a mute pianist, who also walked off with the Best Actress award at the festival.
What happened next: The film enjoyed extraordinary success and critical acclaim -- Hunter went on to take Best Actress awards at almost every major awards ceremony, including the Oscars and Golden Globes, while Michael Nyman's soundtrack became a bestseller.

New 'Star Trek' attracts fresh blood, high hopes

For "Star GUCCI BAG Trek" fans, it may http://www.queenbags.com/gucci.php feel like deja vu all over again.
Well, sort of.
The new film, directed by J.J. Abrams, takes "Trek" back to the early days of the USS Enterprise with a young Capt. James T. Kirk and his crew.
The movie introduces a slew of movie newcomers in what are now iconic roles: Chris Pine takes on the role of the passionate Kirk; Zachary Quinto is the logical Spock; Zoe Saldana plays the beautiful Lt. Uhura; Karl Urban http://www.queenbags.com/gucci.php is Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy; Simon Pegg plays engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott; John Cho is Sulu; and Anton Yelchin appears as Pavel Chekov.
The group will be stepping into some pretty big Starfleet shoes as they seek to give a backstory to characters that millions of fans have come to know and loveThe new film has already stirred some controversy among die-hard Trekkies for messing around (a little) with that "sacred material." In the new film, the Enterprise is built in Iowa instead of San Francisco, and some of the relationships are a bit different than fans may remember -- particularly a romantic relationship.
But history comes in handy, particularly if you're an actor trying to get a handle on "Star Trek's" characters. Several GUCCI BAG looked to their predecessors to help shape their performances.
Quinto, who has found fame as a member of another beloved sci-fi show, "Heroes," said he was fortunate to be able to rely on the assistance of the original Spock"[Nimoy] has been involved with the project longer than I, so he was a direct and available resource to me," Quinto said. "I just really poured myself into [the role] and did a lot of reading to find out sort of some specifics about the mythology and the history of the Vulcan culture."
Saldana, whom some may remember as the pirate Anamaria in "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," said there was some trepidation about portraying Uhura, a character so familiar to audiences.
"It's a very heavy decision to decide to play a character that has been created by someone before and has been well received for 40-somewhat years," she said. "But at the same time, to be part of something that has been so special for 40-somewhat years, to play characters that have affected people so much that have compelled them to become devoted fans of it for so long."
Cho, who plays Sulu, said he understands both the longevity GUCCI BAG of "Star Trek" and the admiration.
"There's something elemental about the characters, the dichotomy between the logical Spock and the passion of Kirk, and there's something that speaks to our psyche about that," said Cho, who is probably best known for his roles in the films "American Pie" and "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle."
"There's also this sense of optimism and hope about the Enterprise and its mission of peace. That is something that doesn't get un-cool as the decades go on," he said.
Pine, who took on the role of Kirk, says the world today is in some ways very similar to how it was when the original "Star Trek" television series ran.
"The original series comes out in the late '60s during a time of social unrest and two wars, and then you look at the bridge of the Enterprise, and it's a veritable United Nations of colors, races and sexes," he said.
"I mean, all you have to do is look around the world, and we're trying to kill each other more often than not," Pine added. "What a wonderful thing to look at a bunch The new members of Starfleet are in agreement with their respect of the juggernaut that is "Star Trek." They are just happy to become part of the legacy and hope that audiences will give it a chance.
"Go and see this movie," said Urban, who plays McCoy. " 'Star Trek' is ballistic, it's sexy and it's back."

More lingerie pics could cost Prejean pageant crown

Miss California GUCCI BAG USA Carrie http://www.queenbags.com/gucci.php Prejean has assured pageant officials that a lingerie modeling photo published online this week is the only one she posed for, the state pageant director said.
But the Web site that published the first picture said it has several more that it will "slowly roll out" starting Wednesday afternoon.
The possibility that racier images could emerge prompted "closed-door meetings" Tuesday to consider stripping Prejean of her beauty queen title, pageant spokesman Ron Neal said.
Although Neal said Prejean "breached her contract" by keeping the semi-nude photo or photos a secret, the only picture published so far appears about as revealing as the bikini Prejean wore in the pageant's swimsuit competition.
"We have been told by Carrie Prejean there are no other photos other than the one circulating in existence. She should know better than anyone," Miss California USA Director Keith Lewis said Wednesday.
The 21-year-old Miss USA contestant has been the center of controversy since she declared her opposition to same-sex marriage in a response to a question on the national pageant stage last month. She finished as runner-up to Miss USA.
In a statement given to CNN Tuesday, Prejean said the http://www.queenbags.com/gucci.php photos -- and she did use the plural -- were being used in a "vicious and mean-spirited" effort to silence her for "defending traditional marriage."
While she vowed to "continue to support and defend marriage as the honorable institution it is," Prejean may be doing so without the Miss California USA title.State pageant officials met Tuesday with lawyers and representatives of Donald Trump, who owns the international competition, to consider if they had grounds to take the crown away from Prejean, according to Neal.
"When you compete for Miss California, you're supposed to disclose whether you posed for nude or semi-nude photos because it's grounds for disqualification," he said.
CNN obtained a copy of the pageant contract Prejean signed last year in which she agreed that the discovery of semi-nude photos could mean disqualification.
The only photo made public shows Prejean -- who said she was 17 at the time -- wearing pink panties and no top. She is turned away from the camera, with her arm hiding most of her breast.
It was unclear if pageant officials would consider this a semi-nude photo, in light of their standard requirement that contestants parade across GUCCI BAG stage wearing a bikini that arguably shows more bare skin.
But the other shoe -- or other garment -- may be yet to drop.
Nik Richie -- of TheDirty.com -- said he has waited for an upgrade of his Web site's servers to handle the flood of traffic he expects will come after he posts the additional photos.
"I will slowly roll these out," Richie said.
The next image will likely be published Wednesday afternoon, he said.
"We'll see what happens with those and we want to know who's releasing them," Neal said.
Shanna Moakler, the co-executive director of the Miss California USA organization, will meet with Tami Farrell, the runner-up for the title, "to discuss the possible next steps," Neal said.
Prejean defended the photos, which she said were taken when she was a teenager aspiring to be a Victoria's Secret model.
"I am a Christian, and I am a model," she said. "Models pose for pictures, including lingerie and swimwear photos."
She said the photos "have been released surreptitiously to a tabloid Web site that openly mocks me for my Christian faith."
"I am not perfect, and I will never claim to be," she said. "But these attacks on me and others who speak in defense of traditional marriage are intolerant and offensive. While we may not agree on every issue, we should show respect for others' opinions and not try to silence them through vicious and mean-spirited attacks."
Her publicist, Melany Ethridge, confirmed a comment she gave to celebrity Web site TMZ in which she said Prejean was just 17 when she posed for the photos, hoping they would land her a modeling job.
"In her naivete, an agent convinced her to pose for this photo to submit to a lingerie company, claiming they could make her the next Victoria's Secret model," Ethridge told TMZ. "She has since learned what a lie that was, and what a mistake it was to have the photo taken."
Prejean announced last week that she would star in a new $1.5 million ad campaign supporting what she termed "opposite GUCCI BAG marriage" (marriage between a man and a woman) funded by the National Organization for Marriage.
"Marriage is good," Prejean said at a news conference announcing the ad campaign. "There is something special about unions of husband and wife. Unless we bring men and women together, children will not have mothers and fathers."

Comic legend Dom DeLuise dies at 75

Dom DeLuise, who GUCCI BAG spiced http://www.queenbags.com/gucci.php up such movies as "Blazing Saddles," "Silent Movie" and "The Cannonball Run" with his manic delivery and roly-poly persona, has died, his son's publicist said.
Publicist Jay Schwartz did not disclose the cause of death, but DeLuise, 75, had been battling cancer for more than a year.
DeLuise was surrounded by family when he died in a Santa Monica, California, hospital Monday night, son Michael DeLuise told CNN affiliate KTLA.
DeLuise was most famous for his supporting roles in a number of Mel Brooks films, including 1974's "Saddles" -- in GUCCI BAG which he played a flamboyant musical director who led dancers in a number called "The French Mistake" -- and 1976's "Silent Movie," in which he played the assistant to Brooks' director Mel Funn. He was also in the Brooks-directed "The Twelve Chairs" (1970), "Spaceballs" (1987) and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" (1993).
But he could also assay more serious roles, most notably in the 1980 dark comedy "Fatso," in which he played an overweight man trying to wean himself from comfort food. The film was directed by Brooks' wife, Anne Bancroft. LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Dom DeLuise, who spiced up such movies as "Blazing Saddles," "Silent Movie" and "The Cannonball Run" with his manic delivery and roly-poly persona, has died, his son's publicist said.
Dom DeLuise was best known for his roles in Mel Brooks films as well as films with his friend Burt Reynolds.
Publicist Jay Schwartz did not disclose the cause of death, but DeLuise, 75, had been battling cancer for more than a year.
DeLuise was surrounded by family when he died in a Santa Monica, California, hospital Monday night, son Michael DeLuise told CNN affiliate KTLA.
DeLuise was most famous for his supporting roles in a number of Mel Brooks films, including 1974's "Saddles" -- in which he played a flamboyant musical director who led dancers in a number called "The French Mistake" -- and 1976's "Silent Movie," in which he played the assistant to Brooks' director Mel Funn. He was also in the Brooks-directed "The Twelve Chairs" (1970), "Spaceballs" (1987) and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" (1993).
But he could also assay more serious roles, most notably in the 1980 dark comedy "Fatso," in which he played an overweight man trying to wean GUCCI BAG himself from comfort food. The film was directed by Brooks' wife, Anne Bancroft. Watch an impromptu performance by Dom DeLuise »
DeLuise, who struggled with his own weight, was also an author of cookbooks.
In 1991, he told CNN's Larry King that after meeting Luciano Pavarotti while working on an opera, he realized he needed to try to shed some of his weight.
"I finally became powerless over food," he told King. "You know, anybody who's an alcoholic or cocaine or something, that's what food was to me."
Besides authoring cookbooks, DeLuise penned seven children's books.
DeLuise was also part of the supporting cast in the Burt Reynolds crash-'em-up vehicles "Smokey and the Bandit II" (1980), "Cannonball Run" (1981) and "Cannonball Run II" (1984). Other DeLuise films include "The End" (1978), "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982) and "Johnny Dangerously" (1984).
His voice was featured in such films as "An American Tail" (1986) and its sequels, "All Dogs Go to Heaven" (1989) and GUCCI BAG its 1996 sequel, and "Oliver & Company" (1988).
Dominic DeLuise was born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 1, 1933. In the 1960s he had bit parts in a handful of movies, including "Fail Safe" (1964), but became well known as a regular on "The Entertainers" and a Dean Martin variety show. He had his own summer replacement show in 1968 and was a regular on Glen Campbell's "Goodtime Hour" in 1971-72.
DeLuise had three sons -- Peter, Michael and David -- who all became actors. He told Larry King that it was the "joy of my life" to work with his oldest son, Peter, when he directed the film "Second Nature."
His wife of 40 years, actress Carol Arthur, appeared in several movies with him, including "Blazing Saddles" and "Silent Movie," according to DeLuise's Web site.
DeLuise worked closely on several films with pal Gene Wilder, who in 2002 told Larry King that of all of his co-stars, DeLuise "makes me laugh the most."
A frequent collaborator with DeLuise, Burt Reynolds released a statement to "Entertainment Tonight" on his friend's death.
"I was thinking the other day about this. As you get older you think about this more and more, I was dreading this moment. Dom always made everyone GUCCI BAG feel better when he was around. I never heard him say an unkind word about anyone. I will miss him very much," Reynolds says

'Wolverine' slashes bad reviews for box office win

It couldn't GUCCI BAG top http://www.queenbags.com/gucci.php its predecessors, but "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" still brought in quite a haul, grossing an estimated $87 million for the opening weekend of the summer movie season.The Hugh Jackman pic brought in a strong $21,225 per-theater average in 4,099 movie houses, despite generating mixed reviews. The film fell $15 million short of 2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand" but it is still an enormous success for Jackman and director Gavin Hood.
Matthew McConaughey's "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" generated an estimated $15.3 million for a second place bow.
It's not a shabby GUCCI BAG opening but it is far less than McConaughey's previous romantic outings including last year's "Fool's Gold" ($21.6 million) or 2006's "Failure to Launch" ($24.2 million). (Perhaps women were too busy checking out all those hunky mutants this weekend?) The two new openers did help the industry maintain its year-over-year increase of 16 percent.
Also aiding that statistic was Beyonce Knowles' "Obsessed." Dropping a not-surprising 57 percent for its second weekend in theaters, the thriller earned another $12.2 million to put its ten-day gross at a shockingly strong $47 million.
And Zac Efron's "17 Again" showed surprising stamina, too, grossing an additional $6.3 million its third weekend for a total take of $48.4 million.
The other new wide release for the weekend was the anemic 3-D animated sci-fi film "Battle for Terra." Opening on 1162 theaters, the Justin Long, Evan Rachel Wood-voiced feature proved to be little competition for the other 3-D movie in the marketplace.
Dreamworks Animation's juggernaut "Monsters vs. Aliens" grossed another $5.8 million its sixth weekend for the fifth slot in the rankings, while GUCCI BAG newcomer "Terra" couldn't muster more than $1 million for a twelfth place in the box office derby.
Summer has officially begun -- at least in Hollywood -- so expect a giant event film every weekend. Wolverine may have bowed mightily but with "Star Trek" hot on its heels next weekend, the Marvel superhero is going to need more than adamantium to maintain its box office lead.

Ben Folds goes back to school

Ben GUCCI BAG Folds http://www.queenbags.com/gucci.php didn't realize how great his music was until he heard a bunch of college students singing it.
The singer-songwriter says he was beyond impressed when he stumbled across videos of university a cappella groups singing covers of his songs on YouTube.
"I was really moved," he says. "I thought it was better than what I had done when I first heard it. That's how it struck me because it was so fresh."
And so an idea was born: Folds would travel to university campuses around the country and record an entire album of a cappella covers.
The North Carolina native picked 15 ensembles from 250 submissions for "Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!" (Epic), which came out Tuesday. And to give the music a "field recording" feel, he kept the process http://www.queenbags.com/gucci.php simple: Each performance was recorded using six wide-range microphones, and most of the groups got it down in one or two takes.
"It's a completely different point of view," says Folds, 42, of the students' renderings of his tunes. "They're not signed singers and artists that have their egos to contend with. And sometimes they're not thinking about the song that much, which I think is kind of cool."
But not wanting to have the thunder completely stolen from him (and probably to entice his loyal fans to shell out for the album) Folds sings two a cappella tracks himself: "Boxing" from his Ben Folds Five days, and "Effington" from his 2008 solo album "Way To Normal."
"It was really difficult because we were doing my tracks from the bottom up," he says. "We didn't have a bunch of people to work with and I just about gave up."
Ben Folds spoke to CNN about his youthful-sounding new release, why being married four times isn't much GUCCI BAG of a drama and why he faked an album leak. The following is an edited version of the interview.
CNN: Is this the one and only Ben Folds greatest hits album?
Ben Folds: I think it naturally kind of is. I mean I was looking for something like that -- to possibly do a live orchestral album where the best material would kind of float to the top.
But then again, someone's going to want to release a greatest hits soon, so this is the other greatest hits.
CNN: Did you learn anything from the students?
Folds: Yeah. I relearned a lot of stuff. ... This is all so old school. I mean these guys, they'd just do a live take and they just don't know that the pros don't do it that way. I mean, professional singers are a nightmare. You've gotta tune every syllable, they have to do it 10,000 times. These guys just did it.
CNN: And you went around each campus to record each track?
Folds: We kept them in what I would say is their natural habitat. I was really into the field recording idea. When you start messing with it and putting everyone on separate tracks you've lost the event and you've gained some sense of maybe perfection, but when it comes to the human voice, even-tempered piano tuning sounds incorrect to me. I think that people have a natural tuning mechanism.
CNN: You've always been very Internet savvy. You've embraced MySpace. Do you Twitter?
Folds: I'm not sure what that is.
There's always something new. I think that my fans knew how to GUCCI BAG use computers before most people's fans. I remember when everybody was talking about the possibility of downloading, and I was already having kids walk up with CDs they had burned for me to sign. This was like 1999. I was signing burned CDs more than I was signing my own. So I think they get it.
CNN: Why did you decide to leak a fake version of your 2008 album "Way To Normal?"
Folds: Well, I think that we get very uptight when it comes time to record because there's a process, an imminent process that has to do with just selling the record, mostly. And it also has to do with people's general take on music and how it's framed. I felt if something went out that was a joke and it was riding on the press of a new album, that we would be forced to go in and do something so quickly that we couldn't monitor ourselves.
So while I thought it was funny, I really liked the idea of going into the studio and making six songs in one day. So we wrote and recorded six songs in a day, mixed that day while we played our gig that night. And then it was mastered the next day. And then we leaked it the third day.
So in three days we wrote, recorded, mixed, mastered, distributed and did press on an album. I think things were kind of cool.
CNN: You've been married four times. Is that helpful for singer-songwriter purposes? I mean, that's a lot of drama.
Folds: Well, it wasn't a lot of drama, really. ... Everyone's life is different and I think the pace at which I've lived and the way that I tend to take a risk all contributes to the way that I write. ...
If you've got kids it is a drama. But it's the kind of drama you want to not write a song about. Because one, the kids will hear it and secondly, I don't like country music.
CNN: How has having kids changed your outlook on music?
Folds: I have to work more quickly and more efficiently.
CNN: Who are you listening to at the moment?
Folds: I'm in a habit of buying old 78 [rpm] records and I've got a little record player I'm carrying with me.
CNN: That's heavy.
Folds: Yeah, that's heavy, dude.

Dane Cook: Half brother in jail after 'terrible betrayal'

Comedian GUCCI BAG Dane http://www.queenbags.com/gucci.php Cook took a somber tone and described a sense of "terrible betrayal" in discussing the recent arrest of his half brother, who is accused of embezzling millions from him.
Cook spoke about the ordeal Thursday on CNN's "Larry King Live."
"It's a terrible betrayal. But hopefully justice will be served and I can move on with my life," Cook said.
Cook's half brother, Darryl McCauley, has been accused of embezzling millions from Cook while he was the Boston-area comic's manager.
McCauley was arrested in December and charged with larceny, forgery and other crimes, according to authorities in Boston, Massachusetts.
McCauley is accused of transferring Cook's money into his own account. And in one case, McCauley is accused of forging a $3 million dollar check written on Cook's account, according to the Massachusetts attorney general's office.
McCauley is in jail awaiting trial and has pleaded not guilty. CNN's GUCCI BAG calls to McCauley's attorney were not returned.
Cook talked briefly about the ordeal Thursday.
"I worked with my only half brother for several years. Woke up one day and a lot of stuff missing," Cook said. "There is a good chunk of money that is certainly not accounted for. That's all I can say about it at this point."
King asked GUCCI BAG Cook how he deals with his sense of betrayal.
"Dance. Larry, you dance," Cook said with a smile.