People: Jay Carney retires as press secretary
White House spokesman Jay Carney gave his final briefing to reporters as the presidential press secretary on Wednesday, concluding a 3 1/2-year run sparring with a White House press corps to which he once belonged.
Carney is leaving after five years as both a presidential and a vice presidential aide. Deputy press secretary Josh Earnest will replace him at the White House podium.
Unflappable and careful not to improvise, Carney presided over the daily hourlong press briefings. Carney’s entry into the briefing room Wednesday was heralded by music from Guided by Voices, Carney’s favorite indie rock band.
“I have loved every minute of every day, even the many minutes of many days I spent in this room,” Carney, a former Time correspondent, said of his job.
Lopez, Anthony divorce finalized
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s divorce has been finalized nearly three years after the singers separated.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Sandoz finalized the couple’s breakup Monday, awarding the former couple joint legal custody of their 6-year-old twin children, court records show. The pair agreed that Lopez will have their son and daughter most of time, with Anthony caring for them for seven days a month.
The singers also agreed to do whatever they can to shield their children from paparazzi and reporters. The judgment states both Lopez and Anthony recognize “that exposing the children to public spectacle and failing to shield the children from aggressive news organizations, photographers, etc. is not (in) the children’s best interest.”
Bjork to be featured in MoMA exhibit
Bjork will be getting her own multimedia retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York next year.
The museum will draw on sound, film, visuals, instruments, costumes and performance to chronicle the Icelandic singer’s 20-plus years as an imaginative and colorful solo artist.
A Wednesday news release said the exhibit will include Bjork’s collaborations with video directors, photographers and fashion designers, a narrative that is both biographical and fictitious written by the singer and Icelandic writer Sjon Sigurdsson, and a newly commissioned music and film experience.
The birthday bunch
Actress Gena Rowlands is 84. Singer Spanky McFarlane (Spanky and Our Gang) is 72. Actress Phylicia Rashad is 66. Rock singer Ann Wilson (Heart) is 64. Actress Kathleen Turner is 60. Singer-dancer Paula Abdul is 52. Actress Poppy Montgomery is 39. Alt-country singer-musician Scott Avett (The Avett Brothers) is 38. Rapper Macklemore (Macklemore and Ryan Lewis) is 31. Actor Paul Dano is 30.