Hasta La Gadget!

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As “Snowmageddon 2015,” the overhyped snowstorm (at least in NYC) began to bear down on the city, my phone rang and I was greeted with, “Hello. This is Tommy Tune.” We had originally planned to meet in person to discuss his City Center Encores! debut in the Gershwins’ Lady, Be Good, but the city that never sleeps had decided to call it a day, taking shelter before the storm — so our plans quickly changed.

“I had to walk home from where we rehearsed on 56th Street,” the legendary performer and director explained, telling me he was unable to hail a cab. Perhaps best known for his mile-long legs that have helped him dance his way to nine TONY awards and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Tune had no reservations about putting them to good use, trekking home halfway across Manhattan.

This is a star who won’t let age or ego get in the way of performing. “At this point in my life,” Tune explained, “I’m ‘the spirit of ’76.'” A cunning double entendre, this phrase, taken from the American Revolution, stands for self-determination and individual liberty as well as Tune’s birthday next month, when he will turn 76.

In an incredible career that has spanned 50 years, Tune has appeared in, directed or choreographed more than a dozen Broadway shows (including Seesaw, Nine, The Will Rogers Follies, My One and Only, and Grand Hotel), and received nine TONY awards and eight Drama Desk awards for his work.

Tune is also well known for his role as “Ambrose” in the film, Hello, Dolly! and starring opposite Twiggy in The Boy Friend. He has also made frequent guest appearances on many TV programs from the past like The Dean Martin Show, through today as Argyle Austero, the younger brother of wacky, but lovable, Lucille Austero (played with an artist’s precision by Liza Minnelli) on the acclaimed series Arrested Development.

“It’s very hard to find something I’m making a debut in,” Tune explained. “This is my Encores! debut, and I’m excited about it.” The first of fourteen Broadway shows by George and Ira Gershwin, “this show is so sweet,” Tune said of Lady, Be Good. “It’s 91 years old, so I checked with the oldest person I know, who is Carol Channing — she’s 94,” he said with a wink I could almost see through the phone. “I said, tell me about Lady, Be Good… She said, [as he affected a dazzling Carol Channing impression], ‘Well, I can’t… I was only three years old at the time!'”

The show, which originally opened on December 1, 1924, ran for what at that time was an impressive 330 performances and starred Fred and Adele Astaire. It was a competitive season, with more than 225 productions opening that year, but Lady, Be Good proved to be great. It was a hit and went on to similar accolades in London. Fast forward to 2015 — it has nearly been forgotten, but it is now being artfully brought back to life through the City Center Encores! series, known for resurrecting the discarded gems of American musical theater.

“We have the script, and we have the songs,” Tune explained. “It’s all being lovingly, authentically pieced together and reconstructed with such care,” he continued, acknowledging the creative team and cast, including Director Mark Brokaw, Choreographer Randy Skinner and Music Director Rob Fisher.

The show focuses on a brother and sister who crash a garden party, but as is true in any madcap musical, it quickly draws together a tangled web of characters, including Mexican gangsters, crooked lawyers, wealthy socialites and a song-and-dance man possessed by a “fascinating rhythm,” played by Tune. He will perform two specialty numbers, the Gershwin classics “Little Jazz Bird” and, of course, “Fascinating Rhythm.” Of the latter he promised, “I dance up a storm. I’m dancing my little legs off in this number. [It’s] really a whiz-bang version of it. It’s really good.”

In addition to his debut for City Center Encores!, Tune has been touring his symphony show as well as his cabaret performance, “Taps, Tunes and Tall Tales.”

Realizing that he has earned his way into the history books of film, TV, music and theater, and he is now finding yet another opportunity to “debut” his talents, I asked Tune what else he’s set his sights on to achieve. “I guess . . . pure happiness,” he replied. “That would be a jolly good thing to have.”

The City Center Encores! production of Lady, Be Good will run from February 4-8, 2015.

Steve Schonberg is the editor-in-chief of Center On The Aisle.

DSLRs might be the default choice for professional photographers, but for the average Joe who wants quality images but doesn’t want the bulk of a DSLR, then cameras like compacts or mirrorless cameras might be a good choice. However if nothing tickles your fancy at the moment, Olympus is working on the OM-D E-M5II which is expected to be launched soon.

Now thanks to Digicame-info (via Photo Rumors), leaked images and specs of the camera have made their way online. For those unfamiliar with the OM-D E-M5II, this would be the successor to the OM-D E-M5 which was released in 2013. In fact last year we heard that the camera had gone out of production, thus paving the way for a successor.

So what can we expect from the OM-D E-M5II? If the rumors are to be believed, the camera will feature a magnesium alloy body for a more sturdy build. It will also be able to resist dust, water, and low temperatures, making this a camera ideal for the outdoor photographer. It will come with a 16MP sensor, image processing courtesy of the TruePic VII engine, 5-axis camera shake correction, a 3-inch touchscreen LCD, and built-in WiFi for remote control and wireless transfer of images.

As far as prices are concerned, the body alone is rumored to cost around $1,400. There will be multiple lens configurations that customers can choose from, with the most expensive going as high as around $2,250 for the 12-40mm lens. The official announcement is said to kick off on the 5th of February, so check back with us then for the details.

Alleged Olympus OM-D E-M5II Photos, Specs, Pricing Leaked , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Earlier today, Bill Gates took part in a Reddit AMA in which one of the things he talked about was his concern about artificial intelligence. That was just one aspect of it, but during the AMA, Gates also revealed that he is currently working on a mysterious project at Microsoft which has been given the codename “Personal Agent”.

Gates was understandable a bit vague in his description of the Personal Agent project he was working on, but according to him, “One project I am working on with Microsoft is the Personal Agent which will remember everything and help you go back and find things and help you pick what things to pay attention to.”

He adds, “The idea that you have to find applications and pick them and they each are trying to tell you what is new is just not the efficient model – the agent will help solve this.” If anything this sounds like a feature that Microsoft’s voice assistant Cortana would be more than capable of handling, although how exactly this would work remains to be seen.

If anything this reiterates Gates’ commitment to Microsoft, which back in 2014 he promised that his time at the company would substantially increase, and we guess one of the fruits of his labor at Microsoft would be Personal Agent. No word on when he would see that feature launched, but it’s something worth looking forward to.

Bill Gates Working On “Personal Agent” Project At Microsoft , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

By Steve Barnes

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Jan 28 (Reuters) – A bid to end Arkansas’ practice of honoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Confederate General Robert E. Lee on the same day failed in a state legislative committee on Wednesday.

Republican Representative Nate Bell, the sponsor of the legislation, would have reserved the January date for King alone and established a memorial day, although not a holiday, for Lee in November.

Representative Frederick Love, a Little Rock Democrat, who is African-American and the author of a bill nearly identical to Bell’s, said: “Obviously I’m disappointed.

“It would be a good, positive step in race relations.”

Southern states Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama have observed a joint holiday for King and Lee for years. Arkansas in the 1940s set up a day in mid-January to honor Lee and created a King holiday in 1983. Two years after that, it combined the two for a joint day marked on the third Monday in January.

Bell’s legislation was criticized by Confederate legacy organizations that saw it as a slight to an important figure in the South’s history.

It was praised by human rights groups that cited the incongruity of honoring on the same day a top-ranking military officer who fought for the secession of the slave-holding Southern Confederacy, and a civil rights champion who battled to end racial segregation.

Bell said he was uncertain if he would attempt to revive his bill. Love said he would “definitely” pursue his, but might amend it in some form to make it more acceptable to his colleagues. (Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Peter Cooney)

PHILADELPHIA, Jan 28 (Reuters) – U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday she would like to find a way to grant the Obama administration “fast-track” trade negotiating authority while meeting the concerns of many Democrats about major new free-trade deals.

Speaking to reporters at a retreat for House Democrats in Philadelphia, Pelosi said her standard for evaluating such authority would be the effect that trade deals would have on the paychecks of American workers.

“We’d like to see a path to yes,” Pelosi said of fast-track trade authority.

Such powers would allow the Obama administration to complete negotiations on major trade pacts with Asia-Pacific and European countries with only a yes or no vote on the final product. The aim is to coax better trade deals from partner countries with the assurance that Congress won’t tinker with the final terms.

Republicans, who now control both the House and Senate, are pushing hard to pass fast-track trade legislation and have called on Obama to do more to persuade Democrats to go along with the plans.

A number of Democrats have voiced opposition to the fast-track powers, which Obama asked for in his State of the Union address last week. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman told lawmakers on Tuesday that the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks with Japan and other Asia-Pacific nations could be completed within months.

Pelosi said the potential contents of the treaties worry many Democrats after the 1994 North American Free Trade pact led to U.S. manufacturing job losses. They want safeguards against currency manipulation and high standards for labor and environmental protections.

“There are serious questions about what the impact is on paychecks of American workers. That’s really the standard,” Pelosi said, adding that the administration’s trade negotiators should protect U.S. workers.

“Basically, we want them to have that in their minds when they’re negotiating the treaties if they expect us to give them fast track,” she added. “I hope to see a path to yes, but the burden is on them to demonstrate that that this is good for American paychecks.” (Reporting by David Lawder; editing by Andrew Hay)