Arctic Monkeys’ Turner gets four Mojo nominations

LONDON — Arctic Monkeys lead singer Alex Turner has won four MOJO award nominations, the music magazine said on Thursday, two with the hit Sheffield band and two with his new act The Last Shadow Puppets.

The Arctic Monkeys were shortlisted in the best album category for Favourite Worst Nightmare and for best live act.

The Last Shadow Puppets were nominated for breakthrough act and best song with The Age of the Understatement.

Other multiple nominees included Welsh soul singer Duffy for breakthrough act, best album ( Rockferry) and best song ( Mercy) and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds for best album ( Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!) and best song with the album’s title track.

Moviegoers have ‘Sex’ on the brain: poll

LOS ANGELES — Sorry “Iron Man.” But moviegoers have something else on their minds as spring gives way to summer – like Sex.

“Sex and the City,” based on HBO’s hit television comedy about single women in New York, is the movie that fans are most excited about heading into Hollywood’s key summer season, which starts on Thursday with the debut of comic book adventure “Iron Man,” according to a new poll from online film site AOL Moviefone.

Not far behind was “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which opens on May 22 with Harrison Ford returning as the adventure-seeking Jones.

In the poll of nearly 420,000 respondents, “Sex and the City,” which premieres on May 30, proved most exciting to 32 per cent of the movie fans, compared with 31 per cent for “Indiana Jones.”

Studios and actors remain at odds in labor talks

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – With two days left before a self-imposed deadline in contract talks with actors, major Hollywood studios said on Wednesday the two sides remained far from a deal and that excessive union demands were to blame.

The statement from the studios’ bargaining agent, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, or AMPTP, stoked concerns about renewed labor strife in the aftermath of a 100-day strike by screenwriters that ended in February.

The current three-year contract covering 120,000 film and TV actors expires on June 30.

‘Iron Man’

IRON MAN? This is the name for a superhero? Rather than sounding like a six-pack of blue-collar beer, shouldn’t the handle for a fighter for truth and justice be something sleek and modern like Titanium Man or even Uranium Al? Isn’t Iron Man a little old-school for today’s computer-generated movie franchise world?

Don’t tell that to the folks at Marvel, whose characters have made a fortune at the box office — $4.9-billion worldwide gross to date, thank you very much — starring comic book heroes who were in their prime 40-plus years ago, before much of today’s core audience was even alive. Much as we might like to avoid the fact, the comic book movie is clearly the genre of our time.

So here comes “Iron Man,” following gamely in the footsteps of “Spider-Man,” “X-Men,” “Fantastic Four,” “Hulk,” “Daredevil” and the other Marvel heroes. Directed by Jon Favreau, it’s got an energetic, engaging performance by Robert Downey Jr. in the starring role and such an elaborate series of Iron Man suits for him to wear that it takes 10 pages in the production notes to fully describe them.

New challenge for Apple in iPhone’s global rollout

Less than a year after the launch of the iPhone, Apple Inc. can count the rollout as a major success. But it’s proving more complicated than building out its iPod and computer business lines.

When the company rolled out its first Mac computers, for example, the challenge became about securing the most popular operating system and the greatest number of developers writing for the Mac platform.

Seven years ago, with its launch of the fashionable iPod portable player, Apple secured its success by convincing music labels to sell their songs through Apple’s online music store for a flat fee of 99 cents (U.S.). Chairman and chief executive officer Steve Jobs put his company in control of both the content and the device, and in the process injected new life into Mac computer sales.

Jean Coutu loss tied to Rite Aid

MONTREAL–Quebec pharmacy leader Jean Coutu Group Inc. posted a third-quarter loss of $269.2 million, thanks to its investment in U.S. giant Rite Aid.

The Montreal-based company said the loss amounted to $1.08 per share, compared with a profit of 89 cents per share in the same period last year, when earnings were $232.1 million.

The loss included a $332.1 million drag from Jean Coutu’s share of Rite Aid’s results during the third quarter, which amounted to an after-tax hit of $1.19 per Jean Coutu Group share.

Earnings before specific items and the share of Rite Aid’s loss of $952.2 million – which reversed a year-ago profit of $15.1 million – amounted to $32.3 million, or 12 cents a share, compared with $46 million, or 18 cents a share, a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Thomson One Financial had expected 13 cents.

Hollywood labour talks with actors ‘going nowhere’

LOS ANGELES — Major Hollywood studios said Wednesday they won’t accept pay hikes sought by the Screen Actors Guild in contract talks, suggesting a deal is unlikely before the talks temporarily end later this week.

In a statement posted on its website, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said significant gaps remain between the two sides after 13 days of talks.

The alliance blamed the problems on the guild’s insistence on doubling payments that actors receive from DVD sales and demands for “huge increases in compensation and benefits.”

The guild responded late in the day with a message to its members saying a deal did not depend entirely on acceptance of those demands. It also stood by its earlier claims that actors were suffering.

“We are not surprised that the employers dispute the economic hardships actors are facing. You know better,” the guild said.