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LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Is phone sex still a thing? In this age of XTube and Chatroulette, are there still lonely men willing to pay $2.99 a minute to hear dirty talk from a breathy stranger? It's a testament to the entertainment value of "For a Good Time, Call..." that I stopped obsessing about whether its plot about …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "Lawless" looks great and sounds even better, which would be terrific if this were a coffee table book with a companion soundtrack CD. But it's a movie, unfortunately, which means we're forced to endure an uninvolving script made no better by two often-charismatic leading men whose performances …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Gone Girl" held on to the top spot of Publishers Weekly's bestseller list on Thursday. The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide. Hardcover Fiction Last Week 1. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn (Crown, $25.00) 1 2. "The …

TOKYO (Reuters) - After being passed over for promotion in 1925, archeologist Irene Blum finds new purpose thanks to a mysterious map that promises a life-changing find and leads her on a quest to Shanghai and deep into the jungles of Cambodia. Author Kim Fay's debut novel, "The Map of Lost Memories," follows Blum as she …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Danish journalist and documentarian Mads Brüggers has no intention of hiding behind his notebook or camera. Part Michael Moore and part Sacha Baron Cohen, Brüggers in his earlier film, "Red Chapel," talked his way into secretive North Korea by pretending to be the manager of a Korean-Danish theatrical …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - You know those creative-writing exercises where students are given three random items - say, a bugle, a beaded dress and the word "avoirdupois" - and then assigned to work them all into a short story? "Little Birds" gives the impression that someone told writer-director Elgin James, "Okay, you've …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Devotees of British novelist Martin Amis anxiously awaiting his fictional commentary on the state of America after his move to U.S. shores shouldn't hold their breath. It will take time for the acclaimed author, who moved to the United States six months ago, to dig into U.S. culture the way he has in …

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - "Homeland" fans who can't wait for the show's second season to get their fix of creepy espionage are in luck: Showtime is debuting a new alternate reality game to tide them over. The game, playable now on ItHitsHome.com, offers fans a storyline that connects the show's first and second seasons. …

LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly four decades before the Harry Potter phenomenon, British author Alan Garner was thrilling children (and their parents) with tales of children teaming up with wizards to do battle with the forces of evil. In "The Weirdstone of Brisingamen", published in 1960, and "The Moon of Gomrath" (1963), Colin …

DETROIT (Reuters) - A two-story house on West Grand Boulevard was once a music-makers' paradise, but is now a monument - a museum, really - to a colorful city that, behind new movie "Sparkle", is recalling its past with renewed pride. The home of Motown Records, which became known as Hitsville USA during the record label's …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - If the Academy Awards handed out those plastic trophies so popular at elementary school sports banquets, where the clumsy but well-intentioned kids are encouraged to come back and try again next year, "Hit and Run" and its writer, star and co-director Dax Shepard would be picking out tuxedos. …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - When it comes to mining a medical malady for laughs across multiple platforms, standup comic Mike Birbiglia is a master. He has already spun a standup routine, a segment on the radio show "This American Life," an autobiographical book and a one-man off-Broadway show out of the sleep disorder …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy SEAL who has authored a first-hand account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden says the al Qaeda leader was shot in the head as he peeked from a bedroom door, an account that diverges from the Obama administration's original description of the incident. The book, "No Easy Day," says …

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Patrick Goldstein, the longtime "Big Picture" columnist at the Los Angeles Times, has penned his final column, he announced in his column that appeared on the web Tuesday night. Goldstein has written "The Big Picture" for 12 years, during which time, he recalled in his final column, he never …

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - First Watergate, then 9/11, now the U.S. economy. The next book from Bob Woodward, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, will detail how President Obama and congressional leaders handled the economic crisis. Simon & Schuster announced Tuesday that "The Price of Politics" would …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The former U.S. Navy SEAL who authored a soon-to-be-published book about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden is now facing threats against his life in addition to possible criminal prosecution. An official al Qaeda website on Friday posted a photograph and the name of the former Navy commando responsible …

(Reuters) - Molly Ringwald is perhaps best known for playing the teenage protagonist in 1980s film classics "Pretty in Pink" and "Sixteen Candles," but the now 44-year-old mother of three has published a novel focusing on the decidedly adult topic of betrayal - marital and otherwise. "When It Happens to You" centers on …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Gone Girl" kept its position at the top spot of Publishers Weekly's bestseller list on Thursday. The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide. Hardcover Fiction Last Week 1. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn (Crown, $25.00) …

SYDNEY (Reuters) - He's three meters (nine feet) long, weighs as much as a small fishing boat and can eat the combined weight of two small children every day. But "Dhyum the Dugong," the main character in a new children's book, has pressing issues on his mind. He wants to teach people how to save dugongs, endangered sea …

(Reuters) - Popular phrases such as "man cave," "bucket list" and "game changer" are among the new entries in the 2012 update of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, according to a list released by the company on Tuesday. "Sexting" - the sending of sexually explicit messages or images by cell phone - and "f-bomb" - …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former U.S. Navy commando who authored a soon-to-be-published book about the raid in which he and fellow SEALs killed Osama bin Laden could face investigation because he failed to clear the book with the Defense Department before publication. Fox News made public on Thursday what it said was the …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government was surprised by the news that a Navy SEAL who participated in the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan has written a book about the operation in which the al Qaeda leader was killed, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. "No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Gone Girl" held on to the top spot of Publishers Weekly's bestseller list on Thursday. The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide. Hardcover Fiction Last Week 1. "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn (Crown, $25.00) 1 2. "Friends …