Duvall's Felix Bush is the local boogeyman around his late-1930s town, where boys sneak up and toss rocks through the windows of his isolated home and adults spread tall tales of supposed violence in the old man's past.

It makes for a marvelous act of confession and redemption f]]> Duvall is perfectly cast as a rural hermit who abruptly ends 40 years of seclusion to arrange a “living funeral” so he can hear what people might have to say about him while he’s still around.

Duvall’s Felix Bush is the local boogeyman around his late-1930s town, where boys sneak up and toss rocks through the windows of his isolated home and adults spread tall tales of supposed violence in the old man’s past.

It makes for a marvelous act of confession and redemption for Felix, with Duvall delivering a heartbreaking soliloquy loaded with moments that are the stuff of best-actor clips come Oscar night, where the actor could well be heading for this performance.

Duvall’s character is based on a Tennessee loner who became a local celebrity for holding a living funeral for himself in 1938. That’s a fun but straightforward piece of folklore, so to add Hollywood drama, screenwriters Chris Provenzano and C. Gaby Mitchell build a grim mystery into Felix’s past that touches on old flame Mattie Darrow (Spacek).

“Get Low,” a Sony Pictures Classics release, is rated PG-13 for some thematic material and brief violent content. Running time: 103 minutes. Three stars out of four.

Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions:

G — General audiences. All ages admitted.

PG — Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

PG-13 — Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.

R — Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

NC-17 — No one under 17 admitted.

Robert Duvall looks great as a grizzled old coot, while Bill Murray makes a mighty fine funeral director. Surround them with sharp old-timey details of the Depression-era boondocks and the roles fit them even better.

Yet it also feels vaguely like artifice, a literary feint to put a convenient beginning, middle and end on the story: First, Felix the incorrigible crackpot, then, Felix the mysterious but lovable curmudgeon,Frankie morello, finally, Felix the penitent.

It’s not a fatal flaw, just a nagging one. The drama simply wraps up a little too neatly given the ragged edges of Felix and the people he touches, including Cobbs as a preacher privy to the old man’s secrets.

For a filmmaker who has worked mostly in contemporary settings in television,Ed hardy Shoes, film, music videos and commercials, Schneider shows eyes and ears marvelously attuned to the past. The images glow with wistful nostalgia, while the rhythms of the dialogue and Jan A.P. Kaczmarek’s rootsy musical score immerse viewers in earlier times.

From “Two Soldiers,” a 1940s-era William Faulkner adaptation, to “Get Low” was a natural progression, both films set in the rural South and intricately recreating a backwoods folksiness with deep warmth and humor.

After Felix learns of an old friend’s death, four decades of ruminating alone over his dark secrets boil over. Felix heads to town looking to throw a funeral party where people can come and say whatever they like about him, his way to “get low” — or down to business — as he prepares himself for the true end of his life.

That’s the lowdown on “Get Low,” a very old-fashioned comic drama whose charm comes more from the characters, performances and rich period feel than from the story itself, which is inspired by real events but strains at the reins a bit in its fictionalized elements.

Alongside Oscar winners Duvall and Spacek, Murray shows again that he can get low with the best of them.

With terrific support from Murray, Sissy Spacek, Lucas Black and Bill Cobbs, “Get Low” marks a rosy feature-film debut by director Aaron Schneider, a veteran cinematographer whose 2003 tale, “Two Soldiers,” won an Academy Award as best live-action short film.

Murray occasionally lets some modern smarm slip through undertaker Frank’s demeanor as a glib 1930s huckster. You can let that slide, though, because Murray is so much fun to watch.

Down-on-his-luck undertaker Frank Quinn (Murray), amusingly lamenting how “people are dying in bunches everywhere but here,” jumps at the chance to stage Felix’s living funeral and assigns his goodhearted apprentice (Black) to help make arrangements with the ornery old gent.

___

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

3. "Despicable Me," Universal, $23,689,060, 3,600 locations, $6,580 average, $161,289,905, three weeks.

"If you look really carefully at the sea, you can see a thin layer of crude oil floating around. It's not visually very obvious but if one looks carefully,Frankie morello, you can see it," he said, adding oil had been detected on the beach as well.

The official China News Service said Sunday that more than 1]]> "A lot of the swimmers are probably not aware of the dangers," he told AFP, adding more than a dozen people were seen in the water.

"If you look really carefully at the sea, you can see a thin layer of crude oil floating around. It's not visually very obvious but if one looks carefully,Frankie morello, you can see it," he said, adding oil had been detected on the beach as well.

The official China News Service said Sunday that more than 1,300 specialised personnel were working to clean up the spill and a further 5,300 ordinary citizens had been mobilised to help out.

Some workers and fishermen involved in clean-up work have also been scooping up the oil with their bare hands, and many have not been provided with masks, Greenpeace said.

"We went to two different popular beaches and we saw hundreds of people there," said Hans Xu, a campaigner for the environmental group, who is currently in the northeastern city of Dalian, where the spill occurred.

Official estimates say the spill covers over 435 square kilometres (170 square miles) of water,Ed hardy hoodies, but Chinese media reports have said the slick has spread to 946 square kilometres.

Around 40 oil-skimming vessels were also working day-in and day-out as well as over 1,000 fishing boats.

DALIAN, China (AFP) – Holidaymakers in northeastern China have been seen swimming in the sea near the site of a huge oil spill, which could have serious consequences for their health, Greenpeace said Sunday.

Xu said Greenpeace had erected signs on the beaches warning people not to swim in the sea, as crude oil contains compounds that do not dissolve easily in water and are known to be carcinogenic.

The spill happened nearly 10 days ago after two pipelines exploded at an oil storage depot in Dalian, a port city in Liaoning province, triggering a blaze that burned for days. About 1,500 tonnes of oil poured into the Yellow Sea.

"We should be extremely concerned about their health, both now and in the long term."

"We dug pebble stones and sand with our own hands to stabilise the signs and after the digging, my hands were filled with oil stains."

"Usually you only incorporate four or five songs of the new album, but this album was so special we felt it had the ability to carry most of the tour even if the songs weren't singles," Derella says, adding that 10 of the 13 songs on "The E.N.D." are performed during the shows.

REALLY BIG SHOW

"We would jump up and down because we got paid, even though it meant we had to split it with each ot]]> BELLS AND WHISTLES

"Usually you only incorporate four or five songs of the new album, but this album was so special we felt it had the ability to carry most of the tour even if the songs weren't singles," Derella says, adding that 10 of the 13 songs on "The E.N.D." are performed during the shows.

REALLY BIG SHOW

"We would jump up and down because we got paid, even though it meant we had to split it with each other and the band, meaning about $20 a piece," he says. "Then we got paid $2,000 for a show. And then I remember the first time we got paid a million bucks for an hour. I was like, 'Wow!' That was only four years ago."

The production team was revamped, including a new production manager, Tim Miller. Miller, along with production designer Bruce Rodgers and creative director Fatima Robinson, put together the "bells and whistles for each song, including dancers, videos, special effects and cool gadgets," Derella says.

According to Derella and partner David Sonenberg, a couple of important elements needed to be in place in order to avoid getting caught in the summer touring slump and to take the Peas' live show to new heights. First, a set list was created that included a large portion of the new album.

Will.i.am agreed. "We wanted to tour bigger than we've ever toured before," he says. "We started off doing California campuses in 1996, and then after our record deal, our first tour was the Smokin' Grooves tour, our second tour was the Vans Warped tour — we were the first hip-hop group on a punk tour. Then we did the Honda Civic tour. In '99 we went to Europe and toured in small clubs, maybe 200-seaters, followed by a House of Blues tour in America. We toured on this smaller scale for a long time, so it was important to learn how to do a big production for our fans."

When it came to creating a concept for the tour, "Fergie was the one pushing everyone," says William Derella, one half of the Peas' management team and producer of the concert outing. "When her solo (album) came out (2006's "The Dutchess") and it was her time to tour, she was worn out. She had been touring with the Peas for four years, and so instead she took a break — got married, made a movie and worked with the Peas. But when it came down to this tour, she said, 'I want to step this up. We should do a big production.'"

Today, Will.i.am, Fergie, Apl.de.ap and Taboo have much more to be excited about. In a tough touring climate, the Peas continue doing sellout business. While other marquee acts are canceling shows and suffering from poor ticket sales this summer, the Black Eyed Peas are in the midst of their most ambitious concert outing yet, the E.N.D. world tour, promoting the album of the same name.

CONTAGIOUS 'FEELING'

Additionally, stylist B. Akerlund,Laguna Beach, who has worked closely with Lady Gaga, was brought in, as was lighting designer Marc Brickman and a video crew of six cameramen. Their images are displayed on two side screens, as well as the stage, the bandstand, a 15-foot-high riser, a high-definition video wall and in the center of the venues on a circular medallion with two high-definition video panels.

Two other parts were incorporated into the Peas' live show this time around: dancers and rehearsals.

"There was some resistance at first, because the Peas pride themselves on being spontaneous,Ankh Royalty," Sonenberg says about bringing in dancers. "They thought it would make them feel inhibited, but instead it freed them up."

Will.i.am says that although the Peas have never rehearsed for previous tours ("for the sake of being spontaneous," he says), they recognized the importance of doing so for such a big production. But they still left "blank spots" at the beginning and end of each song performance to allow for improvisation.

(Additional reporting by Thom Duffy in New York and Andre Paine in London)

Although the Peas have a wealth of hit singles internationally, "I Gotta Feeling" emerged as their signature tune for this campaign, according to Land. The track broke a U.K. record last month by becoming the first download to sell 1 million copies, according to the Official Charts Co. It peaked at No. 1 in Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. It also went top five in Germany, the Netherlands and Japan.

The "E.N.D." album, released in June 2009 on Interscope Records, has sold 2.6 million copies domestically, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and 4 million outside the United States, according to Tom Land, international marketing director at Universal Music Group International. It has yielded a run of Billboard Hot 100 hits including "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling," which commanded the top of the Hot 100 for half of the 2009 chart year.

"The concept of having a futuristic, space-like club feel came to mind almost immediately," Sonenberg says. The stage design features a 60-foot expanse that extends into the audience, as well as a curved bandstand with "big, huge steps that are 20 feet high and eagle ramps on the left and right side of the stage," Derella says.

The song also became an unofficial anthem for the Portuguese soccer team after coach Carlos Queiroz revealed on national TV that the players listened to the track as motivation before the 2009 qualifying matches for the World Cup. The group's May 30 concert at the Estadio Nacional in Lisbon was effectively a sendoff for the Portuguese team before it headed to South Africa. The Peas also performed at FIFA's World Cup Kick-Off Concert June 10 at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg.

This summer's North American tour began July 16 in Quebec. After a performance in the "Good Morning America" Summer Concert Series in New York's Central Park July 30, the U.S. tour will begin August 3 in Boston.

Through the end of June, the E.N.D. tour has grossed $47.7 million and drawn 740,000 fans to 54 shows, including 53 sellouts, according to Billboard Boxscore. North American summer shows will further boost those numbers, assuring that the E.N.D. run will rank as one of the most successful tours of this year.

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Sitting in an Athens hotel room on a humid summer day in early July, Will.i.am recalls the days when he and his fellow members of the Black Eyed Peas made a collective $150 per show — and were ecstatic about it.

Everyone and their mother is launching a groovy sneaker line. There's Gucci, Louis Vuitton with Kanye West ... and Nike updates their inventory constantly and makes you mad-insane trying to keep up and collect. But sometimes you just want easy. Quiet. Classic.

And CHEAP! $35. Voila!

Low and behold the Keds Champion Classic is reborn. Celebrities like Charlize Theron and Kristin C]]> Get more Us! Follow us on Twitter, Friend us on Facebook, Subscribe to Us Weekly

Everyone and their mother is launching a groovy sneaker line. There’s Gucci, Louis Vuitton with Kanye West … and Nike updates their inventory constantly and makes you mad-insane trying to keep up and collect. But sometimes you just want easy. Quiet. Classic.

And CHEAP! $35. Voila!

Low and behold the Keds Champion Classic is reborn. Celebrities like Charlize Theron and Kristin Cavallari have been sporting these rubber-soled wonders on walks to Starbucks in leggings and mini-skirts. They have been around since 1916 and they stil look fresh!

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They come in 6 bright colors as well as white, all black,Tiffany, navy,Crystal Rock, red and beige. Another added 21st century plus? You can customize your kicks!

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Designer Zoë Jordan (pictured) has a bit of risk-taking in the blood: Her father is the Irish F1 racing icon Eddie Jordan. But a life in the fast lane wasn’t what Jordan had in mind for thrills; it was making the]]>

Designer Zoë Jordan (pictured) has a bit of risk-taking in the blood: Her father is the Irish F1 racing icon Eddie Jordan. But a life in the fast lane wasn’t what Jordan had in mind for thrills; it was making the jump from finance to fashion. “I was in New York about four years ago,Wholesale Adidas Jeans, but I was a bond trader then. It’s my first time coming back,” Jordan reminisced at the stateside debut of her London-based line, Irwin & Jordan, last night.wholesale clothing. “I’ve actually enjoyed New York this time, because I’m not getting up at five a.m.!hdmi hdmi cable hdmi cable And now that I’m doing fashion.brand clothing, it doesn’t feel like work at all. I love it.”

Fun as it may be, Jordan’s 2-year-old label has earned some notable stripes. The recently engaged designer counts a group of Brit girls-about-town, including Alexa Chung and Sienna Miller, as fans of her sharp Savile Row-style tailoring and feminine touches. At the New York fête, a polished set snapped up the pre-order Fall 2010 pieces. Most styles, such as a mini-houndstooth blazer with leather shoulder detailing or a rosy nude double-faced silk dress with oversize lapels, hovered in the $300 to $600 range. Meanwhile, West Hollywood boutique Arcade by Rochelle Gores has picked up the line, where it’ll soon share rack space with labels like Alexis Mabille, Kimberly Ovitz,Wholesale Ed hardy belts, wholesale and Erdem. That might be enough for most designers looking for kicks, but not Jordan. “I climbed Macchu Picchu about two months ago, and I’ve got a marathon coming up,” she said. “I guess I do like a little bit of a rush every now wholesale and then.”

PRODUCT DETAILS
Giddyup and go in this satin sweetheart dress with a romantic rose pattern,Fred perry, pleated short sleeves, deep slit pockets, and a bubble hem. All that's missing is a pa]]> For those of you who think it’s too early to buy such a pretty print, you can actually wear these with black opaque tights (like model Jacquetta Wheeler does) and a boot or high heel. You can layer a cardigan and belt the Rosy Sweetheart Dress as well, then shed the layers when it gets warmer.

PRODUCT DETAILS
Giddyup and go in this satin sweetheart dress with a romantic rose pattern,Fred perry, pleated short sleeves, deep slit pockets, and a bubble hem. All that’s missing is a pair of cowboy boots.

They have been plastered all over the runway, celebrities have been wearing them for months — and now it’s our turn. I love this limited edition dress — it’s a steal at only $27.80 — from the Twist collection at Forever 21. It’s time to go country rebel!

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The senior Schuller first formulated his outreach to the unchurched in the mid-1950s when he opened a ministry at a drive-in theater in the suburbs of Orange County that catered to Southern California's emerging car culture. He pulled people in with his sermons on the power of positive thinking.

"That was emotional for me, and I'm humbled and honored to b]]> She was ordained just a month before she was appointed to head up Crystal Cathedral Ministries.

The senior Schuller first formulated his outreach to the unchurched in the mid-1950s when he opened a ministry at a drive-in theater in the suburbs of Orange County that catered to Southern California’s emerging car culture. He pulled people in with his sermons on the power of positive thinking.

“That was emotional for me, and I’m humbled and honored to be asked to take this responsibility,” Coleman said Sunday after being commissioned, wiping away tears as she addressed her congregation. “I truly know that God is here, he loves this ministry and my call is to help take the ministry into the future and to continue dad’s ministry.”

The 83-year-old Schuller told his congregation that Sheila Schuller Coleman will become sole lead pastor, after sharing that role with her father for the past year.

Crystal Cathedral also faces legal action from more than 100 vendors who are owed millions of dollars for their work on the church’s pageants and other projects.

Coleman previously served as principal of a private Christian school run by the cathedral and head of the Orange County church’s family ministries division.

“I’m very proud that Sheila has earned her doctorate at the University of California, Irvine, and that this university has declared her to (have earned) a distinguished alumnus award,Rock Republic,” Schuller told his congregation during the 9:30 a.m. service. “Congratulations, I’m very proud of her.”

Robert A. Schuller is now part of Dallas-based American Life Network, a cable channel aiming to produce family-oriented programming.

Coleman, 59, lives in Orange with her husband, Jim, and has four grown children.

The “Hour of Power” telecast, filmed in the cathedral’s main sanctuary, at one point attracted 1.3 million viewers in 156 countries.

___

Information from: The Orange County Register, http://www.ocregister.com

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, founder of Southern California’s Crystal Cathedral megachurch and host of the “Hour of Power” televangelism broadcast, announced Sunday he will retire after 55 years in the pulpit and his daughter will take over.

The 10,000-member all-glass church faces significant challenges under Coleman’s leadership.

The church also canceled this year’s “Glory of Easter” pageant, which attracts thousands of visitors and is a regional holiday staple along with the church’s “Glory of Christmas” show.

The elder Schuller will assume the newly created position of chairman of Crystal Cathedral’s consistory, which is the church’s board of directors, The Orange County Register reported.

Coleman’s appointment comes two years after Schuller’s son, the Rev. Robert A. Schuller, split from the church during a family rift that made headlines. The younger Schuller had been groomed to take over for his father.

Church leaders blamed the decline on the struggling U.S. economy. They sold 170 acres in southern Orange County,Abercrombie jackets, including a retreat and wedding center, laid off employees and cut “Hour of Power” from eight of the 45 domestic broadcast TV stations that air it.

Earlier this year the church said it saw revenue drop 27 percent from roughly $30 million in 2008 to $22 million in 2009.

The little church later grew into the Crystal Cathedral, a worship hall with a soaring glass spire that opened in 1970 and remains an architectural wonder and tourist destination.