Without the loss in Europe and the preferred stock payment, GM’s net income would have increased.

Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann said GM had a solid quarter, but needs to improve its profit margins in all regions. The company also needs to take better advantage of its global scale, building the same cars for all markets to cut engineering and research costs, he said.

“There’s nothing that’s off the table,” he said.

GM said Wednesday that its third-quarter net income fell 15 percent from a year earlier, pulled down by losses in Europe and South America and weak earnings in all areas except North America and China.

Europe faces a financial crisis and could slip into recession. Growth is slow is several key nations. Italy, the region’s third-biggest economy, is bucking under the weight of government debt. Greece faces default unless it can accept a new debt deal, and the region also is dealing with high unemployment, stingy bank lending and declining exports. General Motors Co. is among the first U.S. corporations to forecast lower earnings due to the problems.

“These guys just aren’t going to sit around and let Europe lose a bunch of money,” he said. “I imagine they’re working on plans to rightsize capacity to make money on lower (sales) volume.”

European sales rose 4.6 percent during the third quarter. But the growth rate was about half the 9 percent increase GM reported worldwide.

In South America, Ammann said GM is revamping an aging car and truck lineup to try to boost sales. It also offered buyouts to employees that resulted in a 4 percent reduction in the work force there to deal with cost inflation, he said. GM is coming out with nine new vehicles in the next year in South America, including the Chevrolet Cruze compact and a subcompact named the Cobalt, he said.

Ammann said GM plans actions companywide to improve profit margins. Its profit margin, or pretax profit as a percentage of revenue, is around 6 percent, a full percentage point lower than its closest global competitors, Volkswagen AG and Ford Motor Co.

While the company plans to cut costs further, it mainly will boost profit margins by increasing revenue, he said.

“You can’t cost-cut your way to prosperity in the business. You’ve got to grow the business, get the right vehicles on the road,” he said.

Michaeli said he thought GM would have been able to remove more costs in Europe by now. Third-quarter costs at GM Europe were about even with a bad quarter a year ago, so that means more cuts will have to be made, probably by cutting factory capacity with plant closures, he said.

Ammann said that in Europe, GM will follow the formula used to turn around the company’s North American operations. GM cut its break-even point in North America by closing 16 factories since 2008. It also won concessions from the United Auto Workers union, and it rolled out new vehicles that are selling well. But Ammann wouldn’t say for certain if plant closures are coming in Europe.

Sales in Europe are about 18 percent of GM’s 2.2 million global total, but they are expected to weaken as the economy slows in the fourth quarter.

Citi Investment Research analyst Itay Michaeli said other automakers have hinted at difficulties in Europe, but GM was sounding a louder alarm based on the third-quarter performance.

DETROIT The fragile European economy is dragging down General Motors’ profits, forcing its management to look harder for cost cuts and ways to boost revenue in the struggling region.

In the third quarter, GM’s net income fell to $1.7 billion, or $1.03 per share, compared with $2 billion, or $1.20 per share, a year earlier. The quarter’s figures also included $200 million in dividends paid on preferred stock that didn’t exist a year earlier.

The company’s shares fell over 10 percent to $22.31 Wednesday as GM executives were backed off an earlier prediction that the company would break even before taxes in Europe this year.

Ammann said the company has made significant progress in Europe and is more than $1 billion ahead of last year’s pretax earnings.

GM CEO Dan Akerson told industry analysts that the company’s performance in Europe is due in part to slower sales “which itself is a manifestation of Europe’s economic morass.” He said the results in Europe and South America are “not sustainable and not acceptable” and said GM must look for more ways to control costs. But Akerson stopped short of giving specifics.

GM posted a pretax loss of $292 million in Europe. Its profit rose slightly in North America to $2.2 billion, but earnings at its international operations, including China, fell 29 percent to $365 million. South American operations also swung to a loss of $44 million for the quarter.

Cutting costs appears to be a bigger challenge than trying to sell more cars in the region. It’s difficult for GM to close plants and cut staff in Europe because of strong unions and laws that protect jobs.

On Sunday, January 15, 2012, the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards presented trophies to the best in film and television. Ricky Gervais returned for a third time, even after he caused controversy at last year’s celebration. Celebrities waited with their breaths held to see what the comedian would say this time. Though “The Artist” won the most awards, the Golden Globe Awards was basically an equal opportunity giver on this night.

Ricky Gervais opened the Golden Globes by asking the audience if they were nervous. He immediately said the Golden Globes was second place to the Academy Awards. He pulled out a list of rules, supposedly of what was expected of him. Some of the audience seemed amused, with a few trying not to laugh. He mentioned celebrity scandals of past year. In a backhanded sort of way, he thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press for inviting him back.

“The Artist” topped the night with three Golden Globes. Jean Dujardin won best actor in a musical or comedy, and the movie won in the best original score and best motion picture - musical or comedy categories. “The Descendants” followed “The Artist” with two wins. George Clooney took home the trophy for best actor, and the movie won for motion picture - drama.

Other standouts in the motion picture categories included Christopher Plummer, who won for best supporting actor, Octavia Spenser for best supporting actress and Meryl Streep for best actress in a drama. Veteran actor Christopher Plummer humbly acknowledged his fellow nominees and his costar Ewan McGregor. He thanked his wife of 43 years, saying her bravery and beauty still haunts him.

The television categories spread trophies all over network television and cable. Laura Dern won for best actress in a television comedy. She beat past winner Tina Fey and veteran comedienne Amy Poehler. With all of the hype behind “New Girl,” I thought Zooey Deschanel would pull the upset. First-time Golden Globe winners included Indris Elba for best actor for the television mini-series “Luther” and Matt LeBlanc for best actor in a comedy series.

Kelsey Grammar, who won Golden Globes for his comedic work, received the trophy for best actor in a drama for his work on “Boss.” With two Golden Globes, “Homeland” took home the most television awards. Claire Danes won for best actress in a drama, and the show won for best drama series.

The Golden Globes presented the Cecil B. DeMille Award to Morgan Freeman. Golden Globe and Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier introduced Freeman, receiving a standing ovation when he came on stage. Pointier called Freeman a prince in his chosen profession. Helen Mirren introduced a montage of his 50 films, even joking that she only got to play in one of them.

The night was full of surprises. Gervais was generally contained during the ceremony. Occasionally, he said something that was right on the boundary that could be funny or offensive. The Golden Globes also distributed the awards across the board, not letting one television production or movie dominate the categories. It was refreshing to hear different names being read and people being honored for stepping away from characters that became emblazoned on the minds of the public. Hopefully, audiences will hear new names next year.

List of Nominees and Winners:

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Kenneth Branagh - “My Week with Marilyn”

Albert Brooks - “Drive”

Jonah Hill - “Moneyball”

Viggo Mortensen - “A Dangerous Method”

Christopher Plummer - “Beginners” (winner)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical

Laura Dern - “Enlightened” (HBO) (winner)

Zooey Deschanel - “New Girl” (FOX)
Tina Fey - “30 Rock” (NBC)
Laura Linney - “The Big C” (SHOWTIME)
Amy Poehler - “Parks and Recreation” (NBC)
Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
“Cinema Verite” (HBO)
“Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)” (PBS) (winner)
“The Hour” (BBC America)
“Mildred Pierce” (HBO)
“Too Big to Fail” (HBO)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Romola Garai - “The Hour” (BBC America)
Diane Lane - “Cinema Verite” (HBO)
Elizabeth McGovern - “Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)” (PBS)
Emily Watson - “Appropriate Adult” (ITV)
Kate Winslet - “Mildred Pierce” (HBO) (winner)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
Steve Buscemi - “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO)
Bryan Cranston - “Breaking Bad” (AMC)
Kelsey Grammer - Boss” (STARZ) (winner)
Jeremy Irons - “The Borgias” (SHOWTIME)
Damian Lewis - “Homeland” (SHOWTIME)
Television Series - Drama
“American Horror Story” (FX)
“Boardwalk Empire” (HBO)
“Boss” (STARZ)
“Game of Thrones” (HBO)
“Homeland” (SHOWTIME) (winner)
Best Original Score - Motion Picture
“The Artist” - Ludovic Bource (winner)
“W.E.” - Abel Korzeniowski
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
“Hugo” - Howard Shore
“War Horse” - John Williams
Best Original Song - Motion Picture
“Gnomeo and Juliet” - “Hello Hello” by Elton John and Bernie Taupin
“Machine Gun Preacher” - “The Keeper” by Chris Cornell
“Albert Nobbs” - “Lay Your Head Down” by Brian Byrne and Glenn Close”
“The Help” - “The Living Proof” by Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason, Jr. and Damon Thomas
“W.E.” - “Masterpiece” by Madonna, Julie Frost and Jimmy Harry (winner)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Hugh Bonneville - “Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)” (PBS)
Idris Elba - “Luther” (BBC One) (winner)
William Hurt - “Too Big to Fail” (HBO)
Bill Nighy - “Page Eight Masterpiece” (PBS)
Dominic West - “The Hour” (BBC America)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
Jodie Foster - “Carnage”
Charlize Theron - “Young Adult”
Kristen Wiig - “Bridesmaids”
Michelle Williams - “My Week with Marilyn” (winner)
Kate Winslet - “Carnage”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Peter Dinklage - “Game of Thrones” (HBO) (winner)
Paul Giamatti - “Too Big to Fail” (HBO)
Guy Pearce - “Mildred Pierce” (HBO)
Tim Robbins - “Cinema Verite” (HBO)
Eric Stonestreet - “Modern Family” (ABC)
Best Animated Feature Film
“The Adventures of Tintin” (winner)
“Arthur Christmas”
“Cars 2″
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Woody Allen - “Midnight in Paris” (winner)
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon - “The Ides of March”
Michel Hazanavicius - “The Artist”
Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne, Jim Rash - “The Descendants”
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian - “Moneyball”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Jessica Lange - “American Horror Story” (FX) (winner)
Kelly MacDonald - “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO)
Sofia Vergara - “Modern Family” (ABC)
Evan Rachel Wood - “Mildred Pierce” (HBO)
Maggie Smith - “Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)” (PBS)
Best Foreign Language Film
“The Flowers of War” (China)
“In the Land of Blood and Honey” (United States”
“The Kid with a Bike” (Belgium)
“A Separation” (Iran) (winner)
“The Skin I Live In” (Spain)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
Claire Danes - “Homeland” (SHOWTIME) (winner)
Mireille Enos - “The Killing” (AMC)
Julianna Margulies - “The Good Wife” (CBS)
Madeleine Stowe - “Revenge” (ABC)
Callie Thorne - “Necessary Roughness” (USA)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical
David Duchovny - “Californication” (SHOWTIME)
Johnny Galecki - “The Big Bang Theory” (CBS)
Thomas Jane - “Hung” (HBO)
Matt LeBlanc - “Episodes” (SHOWTIME) (winner)
Alec Baldwin - “30 Rock” (NBC)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Berenice Bejo - “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain - “The Help”
Janet McTeer - “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer - “The Help” (winner)
Shailene Woodley - The Descendants”
Best Director - Motion Picture
Woody Allen - “Midnight in Paris”
George Clooney - “The Ides of March”
Michel Hazanavicius - “The Artist”
Alexander Payne - “The Descendants”
Martin Scorsese - “Hugo” (winner)
Best Television Series - Comedy or Musical
“Enlightened” (HBO)
“Episodes” (SHOWTIME)
“Glee” (FOX)
“Modern Family” (ABC) (winner)
“New Girl” (FOX)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
Jean Dujardin - “The Artist” (winner)
Brendan Gleeson - The Guard”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt - “50/50″
Owen Wilson - “Midnight in Paris”
Ryan Gosling - “Crazy, Stupid, Love”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Glenn Close - “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis - “The Help”
Rooney Mara - “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep - “Iron Lady” (winner)
Tilda Swinton - “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
“50/50″
“The Artist” (winner)
“Bridesmaids”
“Midnight in Paris”
“My Week with Marilyn”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
George Clooney - “The Descendents” (winner)
Leonardo DiCaprio - “J. Edgar”
Michael Fassbender - “Shame”
Brad Pitt - “Moneyball”
Ryan Gosling - “The Ides of March”
Best Motion Picture - Drama
“The Descendants” (winner)
“The Help”
“Hugo”
“The Ides of March”
“Moneyball”
“War Horse”

(Reuters) A New York state judge made it easier for the bond insurer MBIA Inc (MBI.N) to pursue its $1.4 billion lawsuit accusing Bank of America Corp’s (BAC.N) Countrywide Financial unit of fraudulently inducing it to insure risky mortgage-backed securities.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Eileen Bransten ruled on Tuesday that to show fraud, MBIA need only show Countrywide misled it about the $20 billion of securities it insured, not that the misrepresentations caused its losses.

MBIA shares closed 8.1 percent higher.

MBIA accused Countrywide of misrepresenting the quality of underwriting for about 368,000 loans backing 15 financings it insured between 2005 and 2007, while the housing market was booming. It said it would not have provided insurance on the agreed terms had it known how the loans were made.

While not ruling on the merits, Bransten lowered the burden of proof on MBIA to show Countrywide committed fraud and breached its insurance policies.

“No basis in law exists to mandate that MBIA establish a direct causal link between the misrepresentations allegedly made by Countrywide and claims made under the policy,” she wrote, citing New York common law and insurance law.

The judge also said Armonk, New York-based MBIA may try to prove financial damages, while agreeing with Countrywide that it “will not be an easy task.”

She rejected Countrywide’s argument that MBIA’s only remedy was to void its insurance policies. MBIA had said that would be unfair to investors.

KEY DEFENSE REJECTED

“The importance of today’s ruling cannot be overstated,” said Manal Mehta, a partner at Branch Hill Capital, a San Francisco-based hedge fund.

“Bank of America has lost one of its key defenses in the ongoing litigation over mortgage putbacks by the monoline insurers,” he said. “It could become significantly more devastating for the banks if it becomes a precedent for putback litigation over private label securitizations.”

Bransten issued a similar ruling on Tuesday against Countrywide in a case brought by another insurer, Syncora Holdings Ltd’s (SYCRF.PK) Syncora Guarantee unit.

Lawrence Grayson, a Bank of America spokesman, said the bank is reviewing the rulings.

“The insurers’ losses are due to the mortgage market collapse, a risk they agreed to insure,” he said.

Jay Brown, MBIA’s chief executive, said in a statement the insurer is “very pleased” with its ruling, which provides “a straightforward path to recovery of our losses.”

MBIA shares closed up 94 cents at $12.53 after earlier rising as much as 11.4 percent to $12.91. Bank of America shares rose 24 cents to $5.80.

BIG COSTS

Bank of America has incurred tens of billions of dollars of legal bills and writedowns tied to mortgages since the second-largest U.S. bank bought Countrywide in 2008.

In a November regulatory filing, Bank of America said unresolved litigation could “significantly” boost costs and materially impact future results.

It also said that, through September 30,Discount D&G wholesale, it had resolved about half of the $6 billion of representations and warranties claims tied to monoline-insured transactions, including $2 billion in an April settlement with Assured Guaranty Ltd (AGO.N).

MBIA meanwhile was restructured by New York’s insurance department in 2009 after the company, which traditionally insured municipal bonds, incurred big losses from insuring mortgage debt. Bank of America and some other banks are challenging that restructuring.

The cases are MBIA Insurance Corp v. Countrywide Home Loans Inc et al, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 602825/2008; and Syncora Guarantee Inc v. Countrywide Home Loans Inc et al in the same court, No. 650042/2009.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; additional reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York, Ben Berkowitz in Boston and Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, North Carolina; editing by Carol Bishopric, Gary Hill and Andre Grenon)

NEW YORK Collaborations between fashion designers and artists are certainly not new — Prada, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and countless smaller labels initiate them all the time — but rarely, if ever, has such a heady spree of them taken place on one occasion as at MoMA PS1’s two-day “MOVE!” event, held at the Long Island City space over the weekend. For the hybrid exhibition, co-organized by style writer David Coleman and Visionaire co-founder Cecilia Dean (and “initiated” by MoMA PS1 director Klaus Biesenbach), the institution gave over three floors of its former schoolhouse building to thirteen art-fashion pairings, from Kalup Linzy and Diane Von Furstenberg to Rob Pruitt and Marc Jacobs.   Nearly 3,000 visitors crowded into the museum over the course of the weekend, many of whom wandered the halls dressed far more festively than when they arrived courtesy of the performance-art quartet the Cheryls and American Apparel, whose makeover room on the first floor bedecked them with sparkles, neon face paint, flesh-colored costume pieces, and fluffy wigs. Operating with the motto “Let us put our face on your face: it’s the makeover you never knew you wanted!”, the Cheryls and their followers (known, in all seriousness, as Cheryl-ites) danced around the room as they layered makeup on the PS1 visitors who fell into their clutches, furiously photographing the results.

Of the collaborations on display, most ran continuously throughout the afternoons, with the exception of special performances by “Greater New York 2010″ alumni Linzy and Rashaad Newsome, which occurred only once a day, and which filled up so quickly that audience members resorted to using sharp elbows and none-too-subtle shoves to push their way into the front row.

For his billing, Linzy performed a set mixing original songs with a cover of Salt n Pepa’s 90s hit “Push It” as his alter ego, Labisha — garbed in a sparkly DVF gown for the occasion. A series of music videos of Linzy’s songs, including “Fuck You” and “Labisha’s Bonus Track (Turn It),” looped continuously in the room long after he left the stage. (In that former video, a bit of institutional intertextuality emerged when the Labisha character confronts a miffed lover at a posh garden party in front of a tableau of horrified guests that includes PS1 founder Alanna Heiss, along with fellow “Greater New York” artist Ryan McNamara.)

Whereas Linzy’s performance was a one=man act, Newsome — continuing his “Shade Compositions” piece, brought sampled footage of people “vogueing” to “Greater New York” — took the stage with about a dozen men and women dressed in Alexander Wang clothes and chunky black high-heeled boots, who strutted up to microphones and repeatedly uttered attitudinal noises (”uh-uh” and “pfft”) and confrontational phrases (”stop playin’!”) that were layered by Newsome to create a musical composition. The song, which lasted more than 20 minutes, was accompanied by video projected on the wall of other people making similar gestural sounds of contempt and annoyance, which Newsome arranged to play in sync with the live performers. When they weren’t speaking, the artist’s performers shot nasty looks at the audience, staring them down with intimidatingly haughty glares.

Meanwhile, Swiss artist Olaf Breuning and fashion designer Cynthia Rowley came together for an ongoing “Happening”-like event that was aimed at bridging the differences between the fashion and art worlds, underscoring their shared processes of production and creativity. Moving through a series of rooms, models were outfitted in denim clothes designed by Rowley and led next door where they posed in a elevated box while Breuning poured a cans of paint over their heads. (It didn’t take long for the floor under the models’ feet to resemble a Jackson Pollock.)

Onlookers excitedly squealed and snapped photos as the mannequins grinned and bore the cold paint that oozed over their bodies, coating the protective goggles strapped across their faces. The subjects were then led to a third room for a photo shoot, after which they privately removed the denim outfit — an easy process, Rowley said, since each garment was fitted with zippers allowing it to pull easily away from the body — and showered to prepare for the process all over again. The photographs documenting the process, meanwhile, were displayed on the walls, and the paint-encrusted clothes were arrayed on hangers in another room as if on sale, complete with custom tags that listed “Cynthia Rowley/Olaf Breuning” as the brand. To whit, both art and fashion emerged from the process.

A powerful installation by performance artist Terence Koh and Calvin Klein designer Italo Zucchelli was accessible through a thick black curtain, which gave way to a room shrouded in white smoke where two men dressed completely in silver — from their trench coats to their pants, shoes, face paint, and foil-textured head wraps — walked slowly towards and away from each other, meeting at the center of the space and then turning back. Lights installed in each of the four corners of the room pierced the fog and lit the silver performers as a deep rumbling noise seemingly emanated from within the mist. The light refracting off the men created a dizzying effect, as the beams shifted startlingly but the movements of the performers remained unvaried and methodical.

Some preferred to focus their collaborations on MoMA PS1’s visitors, directly implicating them in the work. When one walked into the installation by Rob Pruitt and Marc Jacobs, he or she was admonished by assistants with clip boards for being so late to the fashion show — “Fashion waits for no one, people!” — and instructed to strut down a green-screened hallway, flash the camera a fierce looks, and stalk back out the door. In the next room, the audience-turned-models could watch on giant screens the digital footage of their runway skills spliced into footage of a politely applauding celebrity audience — with Madonna in attendance — that was lifted from a exclusive runway show. Taking another approach to the same idea, artist Dan Colen and Proenza Schouler screened live video from hidden cameras they had installed in different New York neighborhoods, creating catwalks out of the street to spotlight the fashion and attitudes of everyday — and unaware — New Yorkers passing by.

A film short by designer Adam Kimmel and David Blaine, called “Dressed for Dinner,” showed the magician floating underwater, wearing a formal suit supplied by Kimmel, while pointing at the schools of fish and occasional shark that passed by and, strangely enough, eating a banana. Blaine performed in the galleries throughout the weekend as well, peddling card tricks and other magic acts to visitors as they walked into his first floor gallery.

Among the other pairings on offer were McNamara and Robert Geller, who  arranged for 30-minute dance classes — from stripping to line-dancing — to be taught continuously throughout the day by professional instructors, and an installation by Brody Condon and the Rodarte sisters that featured silent performers wearing white robes and face paint who moved slowly but continuously throughout a space, mysteriously clinking together the tips of gold-plated sticks that they carried. Artist Tauba Auerbach and Ohne Titel outfitted young women in blue-and-white patterns that match the striped interior of a room they danced in. Jonah Bakaer and Narcisco Rodriguez presented a choreographed solo performance by an individual dressed in black who moved methodically upon a black box in a black room under a spotlight. Then, in a final gallery, videos by designer Telfar and artists Lizzie Fitch, Rhett Larue, Fatima al Qadiri, Ryan Trecartin, and Leilah Weinraub played. 

As opposed to the usual commercially-minded fashion/art combines — think Murakami and Louis Vuitton — what set “MOVE,Cheap Juicy Couture!” apart was that the undertakings were clearly intended simply as explorations, or giddy fun. Visitors who came over the weekend didn’t leave the museum feeling under-dressed, but maybe a little overwhelmed by the sheer manic diversity of work on display.

(Reuters) U.S. album sales rose in 2011 for the first time since 2004, partly reflecting cheaper album prices and special offers as well as a booming vinyl market, music industry analysts said on Wednesday.

Album sales grew by 1.4 percent to 330.6 million units in 2011 according to figures published in Billboard magazine, up from 326.2 million in 2010.

The small increase in the world’s biggest music market will be welcome news to the industry after years of declining revenues.

“This can partially be due to aggressive pricing of albums in the marketplace, which are being priced a lot more economical for consumers, addressing their concerns that $10 for an album may be too expensive,” Keith Caulfield, associate director of charts at Billboard.com told Reuters.

U.S. physical CD sales fell six percent last year, but the 20 percent increase in digital album downloads to a record 103.1 million more than made up for the losses,wholesale Ed hardy shoes, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

Digital song sales grew 8.5 percent in 2011 to a record 1.27 billion downloads, compared with 1.17 billion in 2010.

Vinyl album sales soared to 3.9 million copies, versus 2.8 million in 2010. Caulfield called the growth in vinyl albums “crazy,” attributing it to an “untapped market.”

“It’s reaching two kinds of consumers — the older consumers who remember vinyls fondly and may even have turntables, and the younger consumers who can have a physical copy in hand and have that artwork to look at,” he said.

ADELE TOPS ALBUM, SINGLES SALES

As expected, British singer Adele’s “21″ was the top-selling album in the United States last year at 5.82 million copies, the highest annual tally since Usher’s “Confessions” sold 7.98 million copies in 2004.

“21″ outsold the second-best selling album, Michael Buble’s “Christmas” ($2.45 million), by more than two to one. Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” rapper Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter IV” and country singer Jason Aldean’s “My Kinda Party” rounded out the five top-selling albums.

Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” was also the best-selling U.S. single of 2011 at 5.81 million downloads, followed by LMFAO’s dance track “Party Rock Anthem,” which clocked in at 5.47 million. They were the only two digital tracks to cross the 5 million milestone in any calendar year.

Katy Perry’s “E.T.,” Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger” and Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything” rounded out the top five digital songs of the year.

Jim Donio, president of the U.S. National Association of Recording Merchandisers, said the increase in album sales was due to a variety of reasons “including more aggressive marketing efforts and offers, availability and consumer adoption of legitimate digital commerce models (and) the power of social media.”

In Britain by contrast, album sales fell 5.6 percent to 113.2 million in 2011, according to figures from industry body BPI. Digital album sales rose 26.6 percent while CD sales slumped 12.6 percent to 86.2 million.

Geoff Taylor, BPI chief executive, called on the British government to take tougher action against online piracy, the music industry’s single biggest challenge.

“Unless decisive action is taken in 2012, investment in music could fall again — a creative crunch that will destroy jobs and mean the next Adele may not get her chance to shine on the world stage,” Taylor said.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White and Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant

DISAPPOINTING PERFORMANCE: Oracle’s earnings and revenue for its latest quarter fell well below analyst estimates. In a telltale sign of weakness,Cheap Juicy Couture, the company’s sales of new licenses for its business software edged up just 2 percent from the same time last year. Analysts had projected a double-digit gain.

THE FEAR: Wall Street has been worried that the recent economic turbulence caused by Europe’s debt woes would cause major companies and government agencies to curtail technology spending. Oracle performance suggested a slowdown has already begun.

THE REACTION: Oracle Corp. shares fell 10 percent after the results came out late Tuesday.

“Pariah” Writer-director Dee Rees’ feature debut achieves a difficult, intriguing balance. It’s at once raw and dreamlike, specific to a particular, personal rite of passage yet relatable in its message of being true to oneself. Adepero Oduye gives a subtly natural performance as Alike (pronounced ah-lee-kay), a 17-year-old Brooklyn girl who’s struggling to come out as a lesbian. Each day at school, she dresses the way that makes her feel comfortable in baggy T-shirts and baseball caps, and she pals around with her brash best friend, Laura (Pernell Walker), who’s already happily out. But on the bus ride home, she must transform herself into the young lady her mother, Audrey (Kim Wayans), approves of and loves. Audrey hopes arranging a new friendship with a colleague’s daughter, Bina (Aasha Davis), will set Alike down a traditionally straight, female path, but this budding relationship only complicates matters further. Simultaneously, Alike’s home life is deteriorating, as her police officer father (Charles Parnell) begins keeping suspiciously late hours; it’s a subplot that bogs things down and feels like a distraction from Alike’s journey, a device to add tension. But Alike’s story is inspiring to see: Oduye is both melancholy and radiant in the role, and she makes you long for her character to finally find peace. And Bradford Young’s award-winning cinematography gives “Pariah” the gauzy, gorgeous feel of an urban fairy tale. R for sexual content and language. 86 minutes. Three stars out of four.

• Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

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“A Separation” The title is an apt encapsulation of the film as a whole: It may sound simple, but its results are devastating. Writer-director Asghar Farhadi’s tale begins as a domestic disagreement in contemporary Iran and morphs into a legal thriller, one that will have you questioning the characters and your own perception of them again and again. This transformation occurs intimately, organically and seemingly so effortlessly that you may not recognize it right before your eyes. But the lasting effect will linger; while this story is incredibly detailed in the specificity of its setting, its themes resonate universally. Farhadi sets the tense tone right off the top with a long, single take in which middle-class husband and wife Simin (Leila Hatami) and Nader (Peyman Moadi) sit before a judge to explain their dispute. She wants the family to leave Tehran to provide their studious daughter, Termeh (the director’s daughter, Sarina Farhadi),wholesale Ed hardy scarves, with better educational opportunities. He wants to stay and care for his aging father, who’s suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. When Simin’s divorce request is rejected, she moves out; while the daughter stays, Nader still needs help watching his father. This leads to one fateful decision, and then another and another, until finally, serious criminal charges are at stake. “A Separation” honestly addresses the notions of trust and respect, loyalty and religious devotion. PG-13 for mature thematic material. In Persian with English subtitles. 123 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

• Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

LOS ANGELES Zooey Deschanel (ZOH’-ee deh-shuh-NEHL’) has filed for divorce from her rocker husband of two years.,Replica Juicy Couture Kids

The actress filed for divorce in Los Angeles on Dec. 27 from Ben Gibbard, citing irreconcilable differences. The former couple announced they had broken up in November.

The 31-year-old actress stars in the Fox sitcom “New Girl” and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance. Gibbard is the lead singer of the rock band Death Cab for Cutie, which released the album “Codes and Keys” in May.

Deschanel and Gibbard were married in September 2009 and have no children together.

Deschanel’s publicist has said that the couple’s split was “amicable.”

SALT LAKE CITY Three children trapped in an upturned car after it skidded into a river were released Monday from a hospital, two days after they were saved by several passers-by.

The children had been treated for hypothermia, said Primary Children’s Medical Center spokeswoman Bonnie Midget. The family wasn’t answering phone calls.

At least nine people helped right the car in the river.

“It’s an amazing story, so good,” Laurel Anderson Gilbert, the driver’s sister, told The Associated Press on Monday. “We’re so grateful. It was a miracle.”

The father, Roger Andersen, lost control of the car Saturday on a slippery, narrow stretch of road in Logan Canyon. Andersen, his two children and his niece were going to a ski resort at the head of Logan Canyon.

One of the first people on the scene was former police officer Chris Willden, who shot out a car window when he realized children were trapped in the upside-down Honda Accord. He pulled his handgun,wholesale Christian Louboutin shoes, pushed it against the submerged rear window, shot out the glass and reached inside.

“I was trying to grab arms, but I couldn’t feel anything,” Willden said. “I’m thinking … `What are we going to do?’”

He turned to see at least eight other people had scrambled down the 10-foot embankment after coming upon the accident along U.S. 89.

Andersen, 46, of Logan, was able to free himself, but his 9-year-old daughter Mia and 4-year-old son Baylor were trapped along with their cousin, 9-year-old Kenya Wildman.

“(The driver) was panicked, doing everything he could to get in through the doors, but they wouldn’t budge,” said Willden, who had jumped into the waist-deep water with his own father.

“I remember thinking to myself, `You’re going to see some dead kids, get ready.’ I’ve got three of my own and it was going to be (an awful) start to the New Year.”

Willden said he tried unsuccessfully to open windows and doors. He then used his firearm just as he had done in training for his job as a bodyguard and Department of Defense contractor.

One of the girls had found an air pocket but was trapped by her seat belt. Willden cut it with a pocket knife and pulled her from the rear passenger window. She and Andersen escaped injury.

The other two children were unconscious, the boy upside-down in his car seat and the second girl floating in the front passenger compartment, Willden said.

Buzzy Mullahkel, of North Logan, told the Deseret News of Salt Lake City that the boy wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse but was revived by CPR.

“Emotions started taking over when he started to breathe. Everybody started to cheer. Lots of tears and clapping,” said Mullahkel, a father of a 4-year-old.

Willden, 35 of Ogden, was wrapping up his bleeding forearms cut by the broken window when he heard cheers.

“That was awesome,” he said. “I knew that’s where the little boy was.”

The father of Anderson’s niece, Dennis Wildman, told the AP on his cell phone that he has “absolutely” no hard feelings about the accident.

Willden said he doesn’t believe any bystanders took photographs of the car when it was upside down in the river the Honda was flipped upright within minutes by rescuers.

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Associated Press writer Lynn DeBruin contributed to this report.

And suddenly, a new e-mail came into my inbox: about OxiClean’s new Spray A-Way blast. The company was reading my mind! I specifically remember that last year, celebrity stylist June Ambrose, who works with Jay-Z among others, told me this was one of her favorite summer must-haves to keep white clothing clean, clean, clean!

Purchase info: Buy it here.

As I watched the parade of stars attend Diddy and Ashton Kutcher’s July 4th White Party for Malaria No More, all I kept thinking about was how pristine and white everything was on arrival, and couldn’t help but wonder who got the first spill of red wine on their fancy frock or left the party with grass stains on their pants.

See how your favorite stars spent July 4th!

Bypass the drycleaner (who may turn it yellow or not get out the stain immediately) and try this instead. I especially like that the bottle, available for $4.99, is so small that you can fit it in your evening clutch with your keys and iPhone.