‘American Hustle,’ best film of the year

    The New York Film Critics Circle on December 3 named “American Hustle,” a film about 1970s con artists* forced to work with the FBI, as best film of 2013 and gave its top acting prizes to Robert Redford and Cate Blanchett.

    British director Steve McQueen won the best director prize for “12 Years a Slave,” the historical drama about a free black man sold into slavery and based on the 1853 memoir of Solomon Northup.

    Old faces to return to ‘Glee’

    The 100th episode of U.S. musical drama “Glee” will turn out to be a special one.

    In addition to letting fans pick 10 of the show’s most beloved performances for a remix* treatment, co-creator Ryan Murphy has extended the option to return to all of the show’s original cast members.

    Newcomers at Grammys

    Rapper Jay Z led all artists with nine Grammy nominations on December 6, but newcomers Lorde, Kendrick Lamar, and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis edged out* industry heavyweights for nods in the top categories of the annual music awards.

    Jay Z picked up nominations in nine categories across pop and rap, including best pop duo performance for “Suit & Tie” with Justin Timberlake, and best rap album for his July release, “Magna Carta...Holy Grail.”

    Liu holds wedding banquet

    Olympic champion Liu Xuan, 34, sparkled at her wedding banquet on Saturday at Hong Kong’s Happy Valley.

    Having registered with her boyfriend of 12 years, Wang Tao, in the United States earlier in 2012, Liu shared the joy with her friends in both show biz and business circles. He Jiong, a renowned mainland TV host who was believed to be her matchmaker*, presided over the ceremony.(SD-Agencies)