Oscars winners 2013: Jennifer Lawrence is just hitting her stride

It's hard to believe that it was only two years ago that Jennifer Lawrence, at 20, was in the running for her first Oscar. As Ree in "Winter's Bone," Lawrence cut a swath through the bloody Ozark mountains that no one will soon forget. The film, and her Oscar nomination, was an extraordinary coming-out party.

Just as hard to believe that in such a short time — and seven films later — Lawrence is back for another round. This time with the win, taking home an Oscar for her off-kilter and impossibly energetic young widow in "Silver Linings Playbook." To breathe life into Tiffany — feisty, funny and fractured — Lawrence cut a different kind of swath. And yet another as Katniss the invincible in "The Hunger Games," though the Oscar doesn't officially credit that, or "X-Men," "Like Crazy" or the rest of her good work.

Oscars 2013: Nominee list | Red carpet | Highlights

She may have stumbled briefly on her way to the stage, but those moments are rare. It was as if the academy wanted to recognize the entire range and depth of her work, remarkable for one so young. There is a fierceness that runs through all of her performances that is refreshingly brash.

 As strangely charming, as authentic, as original as her "Silver Linings" turn was, it still feels as if Lawrence is only beginning to come into her power as an actress.

I'm not convinced hers was "the" performance of the year. Did she deserve to win? Yes. But I have a suspicion that the best is yet to come.

Oscars 2013: 'Les Miserables' wins for Anne Hathaway, plus two more

In an Oscars broadcast that was packed with tributes to movie musicals, "Les Miserables" won three Academy Awards on Sunday, including a win for Anne Hathaway for supporting actress. The film also won in the categories of sound mixing and make-up.

Hathaway had been widely expected to win for her role as Fantine, having already picked up most major awards leading up to Sunday's ceremony. In her acceptance speech, the actress said that she hopes the "misfortunes of Fantine will only be found in stories and not in real life."

"Les Miserables" was nominated for eight Oscars, including best picture. The movie is based on the enduring French musical, which itself is based on the Victor Hugo novel. The musical debuted on Broadway in 1987 and won eight Tony Awards, including best musical.

The show's original song writers -- Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer -- were nominated for an Oscar for their new song "Suddenly." But they lost to "Skyfall," written by Adele and Paul Epworth.

The 25th anniversary touring revival of "Les Miserables", which came to Los Angeles in 2011, is scheduled to transfer to Broadway next year.

A performance of the music of "Les Miserables" during the Oscars show featured much of the cast, including Hathaway, Oscar nominee Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Samantha Barks and Sacha Baron Cohen.

Jennifer Lawrence's Oscar

In life, it's not uncommon to fall upwards towards success-- but on Oscar night, Jennifer Lawrence took it to an entire new degree.

Lawrence won the Best Actress award for her operating in David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook" where she plays the struggling Tiffany Maxwell. Yet Lawrence's victory was outshined by her autumn on the method to the stage, an awkward second the starlet played off with all the ease of an award-winner throughout her recognition speech.

Minutes after accepting the award, Lawrence talked to press reporters at the Oscar press room regarding her groundwork for the big night, exactly how she hopes her win will certainly help the mental-health neighborhood, and yes, also that infamous fall.

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Seth MacFarlane brings laughs, jabs and music to 2013 Oscars

He sang, danced, made some insults and took care of to be self-deprecating in his 15-minute-plus intro at the 85th Academy Awards.

Seth MacFarlane was arguably a "risky" option as host for the sometimes rigid Academy. "Exactly what would he do?" many thought prior to going into the 2013 Oscars.

With an opening track, called "We Saw Your Boobs," the "Family members Man" creator did not dissatisfy in terms of edginess, calling out starlets who have actually gone topless on the cinema. MacFarlane likewise impersonated a flying nun in yet another videotaped design containing "Lincoln" star Sally Field, which ended with the two kissing.

"I truthfully can not think I'm below," MacFarlane stated, including, "It's a respect that everyone else pointed out 'no.' From Oprah right to Ron Jeremy.".

MacFarlane then underwent the very best picture nominees, lobbing jabs all around, consisting of one at the Academy itself, which overlooked to nominate Ben Affleck in the best director classification.

"The film is so top secret that the film's director is unidentified to the Academy," MacFarlane said to a lot of applause. "They know they screwed up.".

He passed to mention just how winning an Oscar could lead to a successful profession. "Last year Jean Dujardin won best star for 'The Artist'-- and look now he's anywhere," MacFarlane joked.

When discussing Quentin Tarantino's violent movie, "Django Unchained," MacFarlane claimed Chris Brown and Rihanna would call it "a date movie.".

MacFarlane also called out "Silver Linings Playbook" celebrity Jennifer Lawrence, who had actually joked at the Golden Globes that she defeated Meryl Streep for best actress. "Whether I gain or lose, it's a respect Meryl Streep wasn't nominated," MacFarlane stated about Lawrence on Sunday.

Things obtained much more appealing when a video clip screen emerged onstage, including star William Shatner as Leader James T. Kirk of "Star Trek," that proceeded to "check into the future" to anticipate that MacFarlane would certainly be dubbed the "worst Oscars host previously.".

"Your jokes are unsavory and improper, and everybody winds up disliking you," said Shatner, noting, "I'm right here to quit you from doing exactly what you're about to do.".

That prompted MacFarlane to flaunt his song and dance skills, doing "The Way You Look Tonight," with Charlize Theron and "Magic Mike" star Channing Tatum. Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt then participated in MacFarlane for a version of "High Hopes.".

MacFarlane kept the jokes going throughout the evening, at one factor joking that the Oscars ceremony, which is held on Sunday, is like church, "but just with containing more people hoping.".

"It's a balance between not being entirely prideful of the ceremony, but at the same time, injecting a little bit of a lighter perceptiveness than perhaps we have actually seen in the past," MacFarlane told The Associated Press in the days getting at the ceremony. "The Oscars does have a past of taking itself so lethal seriously. And while it undoubtedly is a ceremony that is very important to individuals included, you know we're not treating cancer right here. So if there's any type of subtle suggestion that I'll attempt to inject into the show tonally, it would be that.".

MacFarlane also managed to make an Abraham Lincoln joke, reminding audiences that actor Raymond Massey was an Oscar nominee for 1940's "Abe Lincoln in Illinois." "I would say that the actor who truly got in Lincoln's head was John Wilkes Booth," MacFarlane pointed out. "A hundred and 50 years later, and it's still ahead of time?".

Tell us: How did MacFarlane do as Oscars host?

Pope Says He Will Continue to Serve God

VATICAN CITY-- In his last Sunday gift before he resigns, Pope Benedict XVI guaranteed Catholics that he was not abandoning them yet would remain to offer the religion even in his retirement.

Romans, pilgrims and curious visitors packed St. Peter's Square on Sunday for Benedict's second-to-last public look before he steps down on Thursday, the first pope in six centuries to do so willingly.

Reading from equipped remarks as he stood at the home window of the Apostolic Royal residence, Benedict that said he was being called by God "to climb up on the mountain" and to commit himself more to "prayer and mind-calming exercise.".

"This doesn't imply deserting the religion," the pope included, to the applause of the crowd. "On the contrary, if God asks me, this is because I could remain to serve" the religion "with the very same dedication and the exact same passion which I have attempted to do so previously, yet in a way more suitable to my aged and to my toughness.".

Cardinals from all over the world have actually started compiling in Rome to greet Benedict prior to he resigns at 8 p.m. on Thursday. Then, the cardinals will meet to go over when to start the conclave to select his successor.

One participant of the group in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, Jan Cartwright, 61, claimed she had traveled to Rome from Wales. "We have actually come for the rugby, yet we're Catholic, and it is history, isn't it," she stated.

Ms. Cartwright stated she was shocked that the pope had chosen to surrender. "We have the queen," she stated. "No one in the royal family would walk out, they just go on until they die, actually." But she said she appreciated Benedict's choice. "I believe it's a brave thing to do," she claimed. "He's an old man.".

Maria Concetta Campanella from Rome was additionally in the group. "It's a historical minute," she said. "It shows us humbleness. He educates us that we can not sit in our chairs forever, that when the moment is ideal, we have to leave the chair.".

Vito Ugo, an Augustinian monk holding a Brazilian flag, was taking pictures with 2 of his fellow monks, all dressed in lengthy black bathrobes. "We feel terrific feeling to be below," he claimed.

Asked whether he wished the cardinals would elect a South American pope in the conclave, Younger brother Ugo grinned. "If it's exactly what God desires," he pointed out humbly.

There Is an Algorithm for Everything, Even Bras

THE two and an one-half unpleasant hrs that Michelle Lam invested in a dressing room, fitting bras, one fine summer season day in 2011 would end up, in her words, a "life-changing experience." After trying 20 bras to locate one that fit, and not especially well at that, she left the outlet sensation nude and intruded upon.

"It occurred to me because dressing room, as I was waiting for that saleswoman to deliver me bras: Wow, this is the worst shopping encounter on earth," she claimed. (My spouse concurs.) From her aggravation that day arised a tip for a business called True & Co

. The history of e-commerce is noted by start-ups creating means to sell items that were when taken improper for sale online. Footwears were not expected to be something clients would certainly purchase online, however then Zappos revealed it could be done. The very same point was pointed out concerning spectacles, till Warby Parker came along. However bras, which are among the most private items a person can buy, stand for the Everest of on-line retail challenges.

Ms. Lam's firm opened True & Co last year in addition to 2 co-founders, Dan Dolgin and Aarthi Ramamurthy. The business, based in San Francisco, is definitely not the initial to sell underwear online. More mature websites include the Web arm of Victoria's Secret and HerRoom.com, which was established in 1998, near the dawn of the Age of E-Commerce.

Specialist bra fitters have also moved online. Linda Becker, whose household has two bra stores in Nyc, says she sells two times as several bras online today at LindaTheBraLady.com as she finishes her stores. A few of her online customers have actually previously seen among her stores and been suited person. However brand-new consumers take their own dimensions and collaborate with customer service agents on the phone. She claims only 10 percent of internet orders are returned.

Yet some clients become incredibly tough to suit and it's tough to explicate, Ms. Becker states. "That type of client will be inconceivable to match online since the issue is hidden. There's no way of figuring it out over the phone.".

True & Co's development is to place a set of bras in to customers' hands so they can easily select just what matches best. New consumers take a quiz-- designed on the ones in Cosmopolitan publication that Ms. Lam fondly remembers completing in senior high school-- to accumulate the info had to suit the bra effectively. They are then invited to choose three bras in various designs.

True & Co makes use of an algorithm to decide on two added bras to send, based on what can be know from the customer's choices. So the client winds up with five bras to fit at home, with no obligation to get. Many of the firm's bras are priced from $45 to $62.

The 15-question quiz requests the customer's band and mug dimension and the maker of her present "greatest fitting (and cherished) bra," and operates from there to figure out exactly how the fit of that beloved bra could be boosted. Other quiz concerns include: "Do your cups runneth over?" citing points like bosom or underarms-- or "No spills, all excellent." The inquiry "Just what is your form?" is observed by these selections: All-round, Bottom Happy, Taking Sides and Bottom & Sides.

"We have a formula that defines 2,000 physique," Ms. Lam said. True & Co does not make tailored bras for each and every of those 2,000 body, nevertheless, so much of the taxonomy's accuracy is shed when it must be converted in to the much fewer mixes of band and mug dimensions made use of by bra manufacturers.

True & Co has actually attracted the focus of some doubters. Last month, a blogger at Open Source Style, Sindhya Valloppillil, dismissed the business's bra-fitting protocol as "unbelievable," saying that a bra should be "touched and tried on." She buffooned the credulity of True & Co's venture capital investors in a post labelled "V.C.'s Believe My Boobs Required an Algorithm.".

True & Co in fact makes no patently foolish claims regarding the protocol, which includes matching a woman's body to a specific bra based mostly on constant variations among makers for a given size and design. One maker's 32C might function better for busts of a certain form, as an example, also if a female is used to purchasing a 34B.

Consumers get a standard of two bras from each group of 5. The firm claims ladies end up purchasing additional of the bras chosen by the protocol compared to the ones they choose themselves.

Yet as with shoes and spectacles, so also with bras: it's love at first touch and attempt, even in the electronic age.

Randall Stross is an author based in Silicon Valley and a teacher of company at San Jose State University. E-mail: stross@nytimes.com.

Retail 2013

Retail is a data driven problem so it be supposed to go along with the purpose of the more data you control the better. Not necessarily so if you're not looking next to data in the exact context. We be inclined to look next to data next to with the purpose of flash in period and not in an historical perspective. If you're a baseball fan you live and go down with records comparing solitary player to any more based on a bunch of fundamental records. By using a fixed a agree of comparable data fans or baseball executives are able to compare a player's price more accurately and perhaps predict coming performance.


The same notion take authentic in retail. By using a fixed agree of records and comparing on a monthly basis you can catch a glimpse of trends and and as a end result take counteractive skirmish quickly. I industrial a "Key Performance " table in support of a client and a process in support of them to examine individuals records. They entered the records into a table and bent a essay with the purpose of became an essential management tool. Since an illustration, by entering your December "key numbers" into the monthly performance table you can examine them and compare them to stay fresh Decembers and plus see to it that current trends month to month.

Here's a make a list of a number of of the fundamental records I suggest you look next to:

- Sales in dollars
- Total come to of trade
- Average trade
- Number of items for each trade GM% for each trade
- Payroll as a % of sales
- Value of catalog next to retail next to the finish of month
- Sales horses ratio ( months of catalog on hand)

Obviously you can add other records with the purpose of you feel are weighty but the process allows you to control a monthly performance supervise with the purpose of provides a ample look next to your problem. Why enter them manually into a table more exactly so therefore automating the process, as it makes you focus on the records are you enter them. Old drill I know but an operational management tool. I control a number of multi-store client who uses this tool as the important place of their monthly managers business meeting.

This process has been a powerful tool and fostered a number of lively conversations flanked by managers not simply comparing their records but pointing not at home areas somewhere they can get better. Past performance is a fundamental dynamic in determining coming performance but simply if viewed in the exact context. Nate Silver in his paperback "the intimate and the noise" explains The Productivity Paradox is what time in a row growth outpaces our knack to process it. Looking next to the exact data next to the exact period in the exact context are the keys to flourishing data analysis.