NEW YORK (Reuters) – Although Dolly Parton has cemented her place in country and popular music, pop culture, and as an entrepreneur and philanthropist, she still, on occasion, gets nervous.

Her new book, “Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You” encourages readers to overcome their fears, believe in their passions and keep taking risks.

NEW YORK, Nov 28 (Reuters) – The Sundance Film Festival, the
top U.S. film festival for independent cinema, on Wednesday
unveiled its lineup for 2013, with films centered on female
characters dominating the American fiction film competition.

The 113 feature length movies, including both narrative
films and documentaries, cover a range of topics, but more than
half of those chosen for the U.S. dramatic competition focus on
stories about women, including several about females exploring
sexual relationships.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Sundance Film Festival, the top U.S. film festival for independent cinema, on Wednesday unveiled its line-up for 2013, with films centred on female characters dominating the American fiction film competition.

The 113 feature length movies, including both narrative films and documentaries, cover a range of topics, but more than half of those chosen for the U.S. dramatic competition focus on stories about women, including several about females exploring sexual relationships.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Gay cowboy drama “Brokeback Mountain” may have been considered a risky film to make, but director Ang Lee said his new movie, “Life of Pi,” a 3D exploration of faith about a boy stranded on a boat with a Bengal tiger, is his riskiest yet.

The film, which was released in U.S. theaters this week, is adapted from Yann Martel’s best-selling novel of the same name and was once considered impossible to make.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tori Amos has been performing in bars and clubs since the age of 13, but the pianist-singer-songwriter’s new tour and album mark 20 years since her breakthrough solo debut album “Little Earthquakes”.

Throughout October, Amos, 49, has been touring with songs from her new album “Gold Dust”, which reinterprets hits from the past two decades, accompanied by the Metropole Orchestra. The album, released October 2, follows her 2011 song cycle “Night of Hunters”, also inspired by classical music.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Makers of the new James Bond movie “Skyfall” have striven to combine the old-school values that made 007 such a success over the last 50 years with enough modern mores to keep the silver screen’s favorite super spy relevant in a post-Cold War world.

The 23rd official Bond film, which has its royal world premiere in London on Tuesday, brings together Daniel Craig on his third outing on Her Majesty’s secret service with British director Sam Mendes making his franchise debut.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Unlike some actors, John Hawkes dislikes being recognized and does not crave attention. It distracts people from believing his transformations, he says quietly, of which there have been many.

In role after role, he has remained anonymous, so much so that eyebrows were raised when he was nominated for best supporting actor last year for “Winter’s Bone.”

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Promoting her new “adult” novel “The Casual Vacancy,” Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling finds it amusing that the most famous “adult” fiction of the moment is the erotic trilogy “50 Shades of Grey.” But, she says, there’s a big difference.

“The difference should be, people have sex in this book but no one really enjoys it,” she said of her own book at a reading in New York on Tuesday night.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – In the words of Alfred Hitchcock, “Blondes make the best victims”.

But while the great British director’s preference for blondes has been documented, new film “The Girl” narrows in on one particular obsession – actress Tippi Hedren, whom he handpicked to star in his 1960s movies “The Birds” and “Marnie”.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Blending photo montages with at times a thick accent and a singing voice still soaring at the age of 70, Barbra Streisand performed on Thursday in her first big concert where it all began – her birthplace of Brooklyn, New York.

In the second show of her “Back to Brooklyn” tour, Streisand performed for nearly three hours at a new 19,000-seat arena, kicking off the concert with the words “I’ve come home at last!” from the show tune “As If We Never Said Goodbye” from “Sunset Boulevard”.