AP - On a night when so many changes were intended to shake up the Oscar ceremony, the winners themselves were pretty predictable, with "The Hurt Locker" taking six awards including best picture.
Reuters - Restorers using ultra-violet rays have rediscovered rich original details of Giotto's paintings in the Peruzzi Chapel in Florence's Santa Croce church that have been hidden for centuries. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 8 Mar 2010 | 2:22 am
Reuters - "Remember Me" is a smart, engaging drama about young love flourishing amid sadness and loss. The story ends on September 11, 2001, in New York, which, depending on your point of view, further underscores the sense of loss implicit in the movie's title or is an unnecessary dramatic ploy to end the film with a devastating twist of fate. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 8 Mar 2010 | 2:21 am
AP - Lil Wayne is set to begin an expected jail term on a New York gun case, after a dental problem and a courthouse fire pushed his sentencing back a month.
Reuters - "Almost Famous" star Patrick Fugit has joined Debra Messing in ABC's comedy pilot "Wright vs. Wrong." Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 8 Mar 2010 | 12:50 am
The gathered guests: Elton on one of the many TVs in the room: The rest of LA is totally dead. Here are some nighthawks at a diner:
Everyone watched the Oscars and applauded. They auctioned off some pictures of Barack Obama for $90,000, a big contact sheet of photos taken by an old high school classmate. But there are plenty of other events to hit up this evening. A few photos below.
The gathered guests: Elton on one of the many TVs in the room: The rest of LA is totally dead. Here are some nighthawks at a diner:
It was a night of firsts: The first time a woman won Best Director. The first time a film that grossed a pitiful $14.9 million won Best Film. The first time the best actor and actress nominees were paraded on stage like beauty pageant contestants. The first time gay prison sex and marijuana were referenced in the opening dance number. The first time a worst-actress Razzie winner took home Best Actress in the same year. And the first time an Iraq bomb disposal squad inspired a breakdance routine. But with all these groundbreaking moments, the show's dullness remained reliably consistent from years past.
It was a well-oiled show — just not terribly different from anything in the previous 81 Oscar ceremonies. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin did double-duty like hard-working Catskills comics (“Damn Helen Mirren.” “No, Dame Helen Mirren”). Sandwiched between stars and AARP commercials, they were charming, of course, and made it through the show like the seasoned pros they are: no feathers ruffled, no spotlight stolen. The biggest laughs of the night, however, came from the Tina Fey-Robert Downey Jr. writer-actor faceoff and, of course, those classically literal ABC reaction shots. (Jew joke? Cut to: Ethan Coen. Precious win for Best Adapted Screenplay? Cut to: Morgan Freeman.)
But was there a thank-you speech, gaffe, or unscripted moment we’ll remember for years to come? No. Did the backstage “Thank-You Cam” stop anyone from thanking their attorney or agent in the broadcast? No. Did Kathryn Bigelow or her team manage to say anything to make The Hurt Locker seem more vital? Unfortunately, no. The whole show felt like inside baseball; very few winners did much to make their films more relevant to the world outside the theater. Even The Cove’s co-producer Fisher Stevens forgot to give the dolphins a shout-out! (The oddly long John Hughes tribute, however, felt sincere.)
That said, at least great films and great performances won the day. The Hurt Locker and The Cove were serious films, Christoph Waltz (can we make “Uber bingo!” a catchprase?) and Mo’Nique delivered great performances, and Jeff Bridges deserved his award more than anyone else, and probably won it because he, like Dubya, was the contender you most wanted to have a beer with. And at least Sandra Bullock was sensible enough to ask, “Did I really earn this or did I just wear y’all down?” It’s about time someone admitted to the campaigning. Sadly, we did miss a James Cameron acceptance speech, but the King of the World was nearly promoted to God, thanks to his production supervisor, who told us to “remember the world we live in is just as amazing as the one we created for you.” Not “more amazing," mind you, just “as amazing.” Though, to be fair, it took God just one day to create the Earth, and Cameron more than 10 years to create Pandora. Point: God.
Despite the dull stretches, the show did present some mysteries: Patrick Swayze history aside, why was Demi Moore picked to deliver the In Memoriam tribute, since as a stunning member of the ageless undead, she must be unable to sympathize? Has Jason Reitman irritated so many people that they could only find Jason Bateman to introduce Up in the Air? (It felt a bit like taking your pal to the prom.) Did the show's producers hate The Blind Side and pick Ryan Reynolds to introduce it because they knew he couldn’t possibly say the phrase “with no coat and no hope” without sounding like he was making fun of it? What was Sean Penn mumbling about? What was up with Sarah Jessica Parker’s hair? Why did the Documentary Short-winning producer Elinor Burkett pull a Kanye and cut off the film's director, Roger Ross Williams? And do people still think Snuggies are funny? You can pack a lot more unanswered questions in four hours than you can surprises.
The show itself was a gigantic mess. Neil Patrick Harris and sparkly are two of my favorite things, but even they couldn't save the Ziegfeld folly of an opening number. The forced banter between hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, who never made the role of hosts their own, was forced and mostly unfunny. Ben Stiller donned another ridiculous getup this year to do a long, awkward Na'vi makeup joke that choked so hard even the bit turned blue in the face. But the worst, the absolute worst was America's Best Dance Crew the Extended Dance Remix popping and locking to the nominees for Best Score. This is what happens when you let Adam Shankman, a director and judge on television's So You Think You Can Dance, direct the show. You get a sad, misplaced bunch of kids twirling around on stage like Breakin' 2: Electric Bugaloo was getting a lifetime achievement award.
What did you think Richard? What did you hate about it? Was there anything redeeming?
Richard Lawson: Hi Brian! Sorry if this all comes out a bit weird, but mama's been drinking and almost got run over by a bus on Houston while running home from a friend's house to write this post. Anyway. Oscars! What are they good for? Absolutely nothing. I mean, no matter who wins or who hosts, the Oscars are always Gay Christmas and fabulously enjoyable. But just as American Idol blows turkeys this year, so too did the Oscars. When the show's most exciting moment is Carol Burnett's character from The Rescuers hijacking the Best Documentary Short award, then you know you've got a problem.
The able comedy duo of Martin & Baldwin infused a surprisingly-weird sense of humor into the proceedings, which was nice, but everything else just felt soooo time wastey. Why did we have street dancing? It almost seemed that, because of Precious and The Blind Side, ceremonies director Shankman was trying to make this year the Urban Oscars. Which is lame and pandering. Plus, I really could do without the hour-long Salute to Circle Jerks that were those recycled-from-last-year Best Actor/Actress presentation medleys. I know that fabulous millionaires should always, every day, be celebrated as fabulous millionaires, but some of us have work tomorrow.
All told, I'm thrilled for Kathy Bigs and thought that Sandy gave a lovely acceptance speech, but the whole show was fatally devoid of tension. Do you think that the great game of Oscar predicting, and the unending Wehrmacht of pre-Oscars awards shows, are ruining the Oscars?
Brian Moylan: Yes, I think it is. Just like all of us, the people who vote these things are reading the press, buying into the conventional wisdom, and swayed by the immense Oscar campaigns that the studios are waging. That's why we're so fixated on the show itself, the acceptance speeches, and what people wear. Combining all that into once example, Mo'Nique, looking lovely in her blue gown, said her her acceptance speech that she was glad that a performance was awarded and not politics. Way to say you're better than everyone else, Mo'Nique. She mostly kept it classy, but her win was as much about politics as the whole thing.
Yes, the show was a bit more narcissistic than usual, with the whole Best Actor circle jerk, that strange unnecessary moment that opened the show with all the acting nominees on stage, and the completely gratutious John Hughes tribute that was really an excuse for a Molly Ringwald to remind us that she too can look great in a Cleopatra costume. The only person who kept it really classy was Sandra Bullock, looking radiant and giving what is perhaps the Platonic ideal of an acceptance speach. Why do you try to make me like you, Sandy? Why?
Richard, did you think it was too political? Did you hate the lamp shade set as much as I did? And, please, can you tell me what the fuck Kathy Ireland was doing with her prosthetic arm on the red carpet?
Richard Lawson: Girl, the most important thing about this year's Oscars was the ever-deepening mystery of What the Fuck Happened to Kathy Ireland. No one has any idea. Not even Kathy Ireland. A travesty.
The lampshade set was weird and unsettling. If there's one thing the Oscars should never aspire to be, it's homey. Nothing about the Academy Awards is homey. It's the most glitterated, sequin-swooning night of the year, and should never be shouldered with sad little table lamps in an effort to make us feel like this is America's Living Room. We watch because of the remove of money and fame, not in spite of it.
I thought that nothing was political! Disappointingly so. I love me a good Sean Penn saying things about "great shame" and Michael Moore eliciting boos from a wealth-fattened room of political border-dancers. Was The Hurt Locker political? I don't know. I don't, honestly, know quite what that movie was trying to say, other than that it wasn't really trying to say anything at all. At least that seemed to be the big tagline push during its Oscar campaigning. If we want to give sparkling golden dildos to movies that are rather murky and elusive in their political intent, why didn't Children of Men (perhaps the finest film ever made, in this humble blogger's opinion) win every award possible a few years ago? I sincerely enjoyed Hurt Locker, but it didn't have that grand-cheese Oscar oompf that we've come to expect from Hollywood's gildedest night.
Before I turn in, I'll ask you this, Brian. Was 2009 ultimately a bad year for movies? And does it say anything that Up in the Air, a film about How We Live Now if ever there was one, got completely shut out?
Brian Moylan: No, Mr. Lawson, I don't think 2009 was a bad year for movies. In fact, I saw many a great one. I think the problem—if you want to call it that—is that there has become a yawning devide between populist movies and creative movies, and this year was definitely the showdown between the two. Avatar was seen by just about every person in America and it was a finely-wrought miracle of technology. However, its script sucked, its characters were undeveloped, and the story completely boring. The Hurt Locker, I believe, is now the lowest-grossing Best Picture ever. It was a great movie, but one many people will never see and fail to care about and had little of the whizz-bang filmmaking or marketing that a huge budget will get you.
Just about the only three pictures nominated that could be considered but critical and financial successes are Up, District 9, and Up in the Air. One didn't win because it's a cartoon, one because it had aliens, and the third because, well, it was just the wrong year. Any other moment, and Up in the Air would be right up there along with all the other winners. Maybe because it had both (and truly is a fine piece of cinema) it deserved to win.
But the reason why something like The Hurt Locker won so many awards is the same reason that the show was a complete self-referential mess. It is because The Oscars are not about America, they are about Hollywood, and Hollywood is under the impression that the people who watch movies care as much about the people who make movies as the people who make movies care about the people who make movies. They don't really care about what sells tickets, pleases people, makes film critics smile, or will help you win your Oscar pool. They only care about themselves, about telling us what is good for us, about rewarding hard workers, and about settling old scores. This night is our one chance to get a glimpse into the rich, glittering tower of the movie business, a magic mirror into their beautiful world, and they use that mirror only to reflect back on themselves, and blind us with diverted brilliance in the process.
Richard Lawson: Powerfully said! "Diverted brilliance" pretty much covers it, I think. OK folks! That's goodnight from Gawker's Oscartowne. I'm sure Ravi will have some sort of rousing Oscar party crash post in the morn, but for now it's goodnight. Brian, thanks for hosting an excellent and pageview-gobbling live blog, and thanks to our wonderful commenters for sticking it out in droves until the bitter end (even though we broke the internet a little, oops!).
Next year is Meg Ryan's year, right?
The show itself was a gigantic mess. Neil Patrick Harris and sparkly are two of my favorite things, but even they couldn't save the Ziegfeld folly of an opening number. The forced banter between hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, who never made the role of hosts their own, was forced and mostly unfunny. Ben Stiller donned another ridiculous getup this year to do a long, awkward Na'vi makeup joke that choked so hard even the bit turned blue in the face. But the worst, the absolute worst was America's Best Dance Crew the Extended Dance Remix popping and locking to the nominees for Best Score. This is what happens when you let Adam Shankman, a director and judge on television's So You Think You Can Dance, direct the show. You get a sad, misplaced bunch of kids twirling around on stage like Breakin' 2: Electric Bugaloo was getting a lifetime achievement award.
What did you think Richard? What did you hate about it? Was there anything redeeming?
Richard Lawson: Hi Brian! Sorry if this all comes out a bit weird, but mama's been drinking and almost got run over by a bus on Houston while running home from a friend's house to write this post. Anyway. Oscars! What are they good for? Absolutely nothing. I mean, no matter who wins or who hosts, the Oscars are always Gay Christmas and fabulously enjoyable. But just as American Idol blows turkeys this year, so too did the Oscars. When the show's most exciting moment is Carol Burnett's character from The Rescuers hijacking the Best Documentary Short award, then you know you've got a problem.
The able comedy duo of Martin & Baldwin infused a surprisingly-weird sense of humor into the proceedings, which was nice, but everything else just felt soooo time wastey. Why did we have street dancing? It almost seemed that, because of Precious and The Blind Side, ceremonies director Shankman was trying to make this year the Urban Oscars. Which is lame and pandering. Plus, I really could do without the hour-long Salute to Circle Jerks that were those recycled-from-last-year Best Actor/Actress presentation medleys. I know that fabulous millionaires should always, every day, be celebrated as fabulous millionaires, but some of us have work tomorrow.
All told, I'm thrilled for Kathy Bigs and thought that Sandy gave a lovely acceptance speech, but the whole show was fatally devoid of tension. Do you think that the great game of Oscar predicting, and the unending Wehrmacht of pre-Oscars awards shows, are ruining the Oscars?
Brian Moylan: Yes, I think it is. Just like all of us, the people who vote these things are reading the press, buying into the conventional wisdom, and swayed by the immense Oscar campaigns that the studios are waging. That's why we're so fixated on the show itself, the acceptance speeches, and what people wear. Combining all that into once example, Mo'Nique, looking lovely in her blue gown, said her her acceptance speech that she was glad that a performance was awarded and not politics. Way to say you're better than everyone else, Mo'Nique. She mostly kept it classy, but her win was as much about politics as the whole thing.
Yes, the show was a bit more narcissistic than usual, with the whole Best Actor circle jerk, that strange unnecessary moment that opened the show with all the acting nominees on stage, and the completely gratutious John Hughes tribute that was really an excuse for a Molly Ringwald to remind us that she too can look great in a Cleopatra costume. The only person who kept it really classy was Sandra Bullock, looking radiant and giving what is perhaps the Platonic ideal of an acceptance speach. Why do you try to make me like you, Sandy? Why?
Richard, did you think it was too political? Did you hate the lamp shade set as much as I did? And, please, can you tell me what the fuck Kathy Ireland was doing with her prosthetic arm on the red carpet?
Richard Lawson: Girl, the most important thing about this year's Oscars was the ever-deepening mystery of What the Fuck Happened to Kathy Ireland. No one has any idea. Not even Kathy Ireland. A travesty.
The lampshade set was weird and unsettling. If there's one thing the Oscars should never aspire to be, it's homey. Nothing about the Academy Awards is homey. It's the most glitterated, sequin-swooning night of the year, and should never be shouldered with sad little table lamps in an effort to make us feel like this is America's Living Room. We watch because of the remove of money and fame, not in spite of it.
I thought that nothing was political! Disappointingly so. I love me a good Sean Penn saying things about "great shame" and Michael Moore eliciting boos from a wealth-fattened room of political border-dancers. Was The Hurt Locker political? I don't know. I don't, honestly, know quite what that movie was trying to say, other than that it wasn't really trying to say anything at all. At least that seemed to be the big tagline push during its Oscar campaigning. If we want to give sparkling golden dildos to movies that are rather murky and elusive in their political intent, why didn't Children of Men (perhaps the finest film ever made, in this humble blogger's opinion) win every award possible a few years ago? I sincerely enjoyed Hurt Locker, but it didn't have that grand-cheese Oscar oompf that we've come to expect from Hollywood's gildedest night.
Before I turn in, I'll ask you this, Brian. Was 2009 ultimately a bad year for movies? And does it say anything that Up in the Air, a film about How We Live Now if ever there was one, got completely shut out?
Brian Moylan: No, Mr. Lawson, I don't think 2009 was a bad year for movies. In fact, I saw many a great one. I think the problem—if you want to call it that—is that there has become a yawning devide between populist movies and creative movies, and this year was definitely the showdown between the two. Avatar was seen by just about every person in America and it was a finely-wrought miracle of technology. However, its script sucked, its characters were undeveloped, and the story completely boring. The Hurt Locker, I believe, is now the lowest-grossing Best Picture ever. It was a great movie, but one many people will never see and fail to care about and had little of the whizz-bang filmmaking or marketing that a huge budget will get you.
Just about the only three pictures nominated that could be considered but critical and financial successes are Up, District 9, and Up in the Air. One didn't win because it's a cartoon, one because it had aliens, and the third because, well, it was just the wrong year. Any other moment, and Up in the Air would be right up there along with all the other winners. Maybe because it had both (and truly is a fine piece of cinema) it deserved to win.
But the reason why something like The Hurt Locker won so many awards is the same reason that the show was a complete self-referential mess. It is because The Oscars are not about America, they are about Hollywood, and Hollywood is under the impression that the people who watch movies care as much about the people who make movies as the people who make movies care about the people who make movies. They don't really care about what sells tickets, pleases people, makes film critics smile, or will help you win your Oscar pool. They only care about themselves, about telling us what is good for us, about rewarding hard workers, and about settling old scores. This night is our one chance to get a glimpse into the rich, glittering tower of the movie business, a magic mirror into their beautiful world, and they use that mirror only to reflect back on themselves, and blind us with diverted brilliance in the process.
Richard Lawson: Powerfully said! "Diverted brilliance" pretty much covers it, I think. OK folks! That's goodnight from Gawker's Oscartowne. I'm sure Ravi will have some sort of rousing Oscar party crash post in the morn, but for now it's goodnight. Brian, thanks for hosting an excellent and pageview-gobbling live blog, and thanks to our wonderful commenters for sticking it out in droves until the bitter end (even though we broke the internet a little, oops!).
Next year is Meg Ryan's year, right?
Together as twin hosts of the Academy Awards, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin did what they do every time they separately host Saturday Night Live: Through sheer force of wit and timing, they elevated jokes that would flatline in ordinary hands. Trading gags like a latter-day Rowan and Martin, they even made unforgivably tired punchlines (the Snuggie, Paranormal Activity) forgivable. We compiled their best moments, so try them on for size, clotheswhores!
ChatRoulette creator Andrey Ternovskiy could soon be living out the American Dream 2.0: create a buzz-y internet start up… and then come to the U.S. and reap the rewards. The 17-year-old Russian high school student who developed the online phenomenon has reportedly applied for a visa to come to the U.S.
The site has leaped from 500 users in December 2009 to 1.5 million daily visitors today, making it a dream for investors. However, because the site is currently unfinanced and noncommercial, Ternovskiy in an interesting position, with the opportunity to choose between taking money from Russian investors, or coming to America and seeing what Silicon Valley has to offer. And you can guess how the Russians feel about this! Hoping to break the "break the American hegemony in cyberspace,” they reportedly (and unsurprisingly) are intent on Ternovskiy staying put.
Come to America, Andrey. You think the crazies hanging out on your site are good for some amusement, wait until you get to Hollywood.
Chatroulette Creator Coming to America? [ReadWriteWeb]
James Cameron made box-office history this year, but ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow made Oscar history.
Her tense Iraq war drama, The Hurt Locker, was named Best Motion Picture of the Year, and...
Kathryn Bigelow, who won best director for "The Hurt Locker", gives her acceptance speech at the 82nd Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. Bigelow was the first woman ever to win... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:59 pm
Nominee for Actress in a Supporting Role Vera Farmiga poses at the 82nd Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, California. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:59 pm
Nominee for best director Quentin Tarantino gestures during the 82nd Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:59 pm
"The Hurt Locker" director Kathryn Bigelow is congratulated by her cast at the 82nd Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. The film was the night's big winner, taking home six Oscars... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:59 pm
George Clooney and Elisabetta Canalis arrive for the 82nd Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:59 pm
Sandra Bullock was in denial. Mo'Nique was in control. Jeff Bridges was in fine Dude form. And, hey, where was everybody else? Watching the John Hughes tribute? (Not the worst idea,...
Kathryn Bigelow made Oscar history Sunday night, becoming the first woman to win best director at the Academy Awards for her gritty Iraq war saga "The Hurt Locker." Bigelow's film, which Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:44 pm
We supplied two tiebreaker questions in our Oscar pool ballot. Before your Oscar party comes to blows, here are the answers:
Number of Avatar jokes: Six. (One in Neil Patrick Harris' opening number; two by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin in the opening monologue — one at James Cameron's expense, one bug-spraying the wood sprites; Ben Stiller's costume; Tyler Perry's line while presenting Best Film Editing; Best Foreign Film director Juan José Campanella thanking the Academy for "not considering Na'vi a foreign language"; Martin saying the ceremony went on so long that Avatar now takes place in the past.)
Number of audience cutaways to Sandra Bullock (including during the reading of her category): 11...though check your party's rules for anality. We counted the four cutaways of her during the Best Actress announcement as separate shots; three during the Forest Whitaker encomium, and one as part of the five-actress grid while Sean Penn read their names.)
One of the biggest "mysteries" from last night's Zach Galifianakis-hosted Saturday Night Live was the final sketch, in which the host appeared sans beard. Adding to the intrigue was that Galifianakis showed up to say good night wearing what appeared to be a fake beard.
Well, tonight NBC has made available a behind-the-scenes video of what went on during Vampire Weekend's second song, right before the final sketch. Because really, we can't think of too many better ways to distract yourself from the reality that Sandra Bullock just beat Meryl Streep for an acting award than watching a two-minute video of Zach Galifianakis shave.
For the past week, celebrity-watchers and fashionistas alike have been operating on a frenzied level, trying to anticipate who would wear what to the Academy Awards. Well, now we know — and so it's on to the more impertinent question: Who wore it well, and whose fashion fell flat? Click through to the slideshow to see our favorite Oscar hits and misses.
Talk about the Best. Timing. Ever.
On the biggest red carpet of her life, Sandra Bullock finally pulls her style together to accept the Best Actress Oscar. (What a relief—after a...
Mo'Nique gives her acceptance speech after winning best supportin actress at the 82nd Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:24 pm
Best actress winner Sandra Bullock gives her acceptance speech at the 82nd Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. She won for her portrayal of a suburban mother who takes in a disadvantaged... Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:24 pm
Nominee for best director Quentin Tarantino gestures during the 82nd Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:24 pm
Best actor winner Jeff Bridges gives his acceptance speech at the 82nd Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:24 pm
As anticipated, tonight's top Oscars were awarded to The Hurt Locker (which won six overall), Kathryn Bigelow, Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Christoph Waltz, and Mo'Nique. Tough luck, Avatar! After the jump, your complete list of winners.
Best Picture The Hurt Locker
Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress
Mo'Nique, Precious
Best Adapted Screenplay
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Best Animated Film Up
Best Foreign Film El Secreto de Sus Ojos
Best Art Direction Avatar
Best Cinematography Avatar
Best Sound Mixing The Hurt Locker
Best Sound Editing The Hurt Locker
Best Original Score Up, Michael Giacchino
Best Original Song
"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from Crazy Heart, Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Sandra Bullock paid her dues in Hollywood for more than 20 years. She was rewarded Sunday, winning the best-actress Oscar for playing a tough white Southern woman who adopted a black child... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:09 pm
The Dude finally has an Oscar. Jeff Bridges, the affable and well-liked star of "Crazy Heart," won the best actor Academy Award Sunday night, an honor that has eluded him four times... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:05 pm
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "The Hurt Locker" won the Academy Award for best picture on Sunday, capping a historic Oscar ceremony that saw the low-budget Iraq war drama vanquish the sci-fi... Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:03 pm
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to ever win a best director Oscar on Sunday for her work on "The Hurt Locker," the Iraq war film about a team of U.S. soldiers Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:02 pm
Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Actress in a Leading Role:...
The Iraq War drama "The Hurt Locker" has won best picture and five other prizes at the Academy Awards, its haul including best director for Kathryn Bigelow. Bigelow is the first woman in Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 10:01 pm
AP - "House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival" (Crown, 352 pages, $26), by Deborah Ball: "House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival" chronicles the life of fashion designer Gianni Versace, from his humble beginnings in Reggio, a town in southern Italy, to his death in 1997.
AP - "House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival" (Crown, 352 pages, $26), by Deborah Ball: "House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival" chronicles the life of fashion designer Gianni Versace, from his humble beginnings in Reggio, a town in southern Italy, to his death in 1997.
AP - "The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire" (Crown Publishers, 334 pages, $26), by Jack Weatherford: If anyone in central Asia 800 years ago could be called a feminist, one was Genghis Khan.
AP - "Secret Daughter" (William Morrow, 352 pages, $23.99), by Shilpi Somaya Gowda: Sometimes the image in our minds of what we have lost is far greater than the loss itself, and so it is for Asha, who was given up for adoption by her birthparents in India.
For those of you who haven't done this before, here is the drill. We'll we watching the red carpet arrivals starting at 7pm on E! and the Oscar telecast on ABC starting at 8pm. We're going to be leaving our reactions to the show, the winners, the losers, the outfits, Julia Robert's hair, the creepy "this is who died this year" montage, and the rest in the comments section. We invite you to do the same by typing something fun in the little white box below next to the "Share" button. Click that button and your comments will go live, with no seven second delay. How dangerous! Keep refreshing this page to see all the new comments and the replies to your comments. It will be like we're all sitting in the same room sharing quips, highballs, and a lovely bruschetta.
We're going to keep doing this until your local news starts around midnightish, so we're in it for the long haul. We hope that you'll join us and that good things happen this evening. If not, well, Sandra Bullock winning an Oscar isn't the worst thing in the world, and we'll find some way to make it through.
All right, see you all in the comments!
AIG agreed Sunday to sell a major insurance unit to MetLife for about $15.5 billion, according to the New York Times. This deal represents the second insurance unit sale AIG has made in the past week, generating about $51 billion combined toward the debt it owes the government. The insurer still owes roughly $50 billion more to the government, an amount that will likely keep growing because of the large sum made available in rescuing the company. The boards of both companies met Sunday to approve the sale, The Times says. [NYT]
The New York Post spilled a lot of ink (well, for them, at least) today, examining why exactly NBC gave the green light to Jerry Seinfeld’s reality show The Marriage Ref, which - though it’s doing OK ratings-wise so far - has been critically panned. The Post claims that NBC was so desperate to make a ratings and publicity comeback, they were willing to take whatever Seinfeld had to offer, so much so that the network didn’t bother to put the show through the typical testing process; it went "from pitch to green light to production."
"His arrival with a new idea that he was excited about was like the second coming," said a network TV executive "familiar with the pitch," "Jerry could have walked in the door with a show based on a guy sitting with a paper bag over his head and it would have been green-lighted. His name and fame is golden, and the network needs all the help it can get.”
Searching for understanding, the Post then reached out to Mike Costanza, a former pal of Seinfeld's, and asked why Seinfeld would go ahead with a show that has generated such an extent of “negative press and comments by viewers.” Costanza’s answer? "Ego, pure ego."
"[Seinfeld is one of those people] who need to know that they can do it again. They had this one unbelievable success and they need to feel that they can do it again. That it wasn't just luck," he said.
Costanza, in case you’re wondering, is now a Long Island real estate agent.
Actors Steve Martin (left) and Alec Baldwin co-host the 82nd Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. Source: RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 7 Mar 2010 | 8:31 pm
Amanda Seyfried and Jennifer Lopez may not have the honor of being nominated, but dayum, if they don't know how to rock the red runway!
Both Mandy and J.Lo grace the 2010 Academy...
What's an awards show these days without some teen vampires and werewolves? Nothing! So that's why at this year's Academy Awards, they snuck some in. The Twilight Saga: New Moon had,...
George Clooney, all cute at the Oscars with shaggy hair and sparkly GF (for the moment), was hiding a secret on the red carpet. And no, it wasn't a wedding ring, dream on!
Instead,...
Don’t worry, guys - all you missed were some really great Disgruntled George Clooney reaction shots. Cablevision and WABC/7 reached a deal Sunday night, restoring ABC for 3.1 million viewers at about 8:45 p.m., 15 minutes into the Oscar broadcast.
"We are happy to report that WABC Channel 7 has returned to Cablevision's 3 million New York area homes. We are very grateful to our customers for their support and pleased to welcome ABC back," Cablevision Executive VP of Communications Charles Schueler said in a statement.
The financial terms of the agreement have not been made immediately available. Since midnight last night, the channel has been shut off for Cablevision subscribers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, causing millions to panic they would miss Hollywood's Big Night.
Looks like Vancouver's Olympic Fever has spread down to Hollywood, as the Oscar entrance is full of stars in medalicious metallics. Miley Cyrus, Sandra Bullock and Cameron Diaz glitter in...
Barack Obama reiterated today that all U.S. troops will be removed from Iraq by the end of 2011, in spite of intense and widespread violence surrounding today's vote for the second full-term parliament since the U.S. invasion in 2003. Mortar rounds and bombs set off near polling stations - an effort to scare off voters - killed 38 today.
Obama commended Iraqis who came out to vote in spite of the violence, calling today's election an "important milestone."
"As expected, there were some incidents of violence as al Qaeda in Iraq and other extremists tried to disrupt Iraq's progress by murdering innocent Iraqis who were exercising their democratic rights," Obama told reporters at the White House today, “ "But overall the level of security and the prevention of destabilizing attacks speaks to the growing capability and professionalism of Iraqi security forces, which took the lead in providing protection at the polls.”
The president said he believes that Iraqi forces will be equipped to take over in the country, allowing for the full U.S. troop removal in the recently rebranded operation.
"We will continue to advise and assist Iraqi security forces, carry out targeted counterterrorism operations with our Iraqi partners and protect our forces and civilians. And by the end of the next year, all U.S. troops will be out of Iraq," he said.
AP - Sober workaday chic and theatrical extravagance battled for the hearts and minds of the fashion glitteratti on Sunday, day five of Paris' marathon fall-winter 2010-11 ready-to-wear displays.
You gotta love a girl with confidence!
Throughout the entire awards season, Precious star Gabourey Sidibe has proven time and time again that she is nothing like the troubled teen...
Reuters - "She's Out of My League" is that rare modern screen comedy that is better than the trailers make it appear. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 7 Mar 2010 | 6:24 pm
The votes have been counted, the stars have walked the red carpet (see the slideshow!) and are safely in their seats, and history's most predictable-ever Academy Awards are just about to begin. (Congratulations in advance, Mo'Nique! Keep it short and in one language, Christoph!) Dan Kois and Lane Brown will be your hosts for Vulture's Oscar live-blog, so take a seat, fix a drink, and keep your cursor on your browser's refresh button. It's going to be a very long night.
Kois (8:29): Welcome to the Vulture liveblog of the 7,000th annual Academy Awards!
Kois (8:31): Wow, they are Westminster dog show-ing the Best Actor and Best Actress nominees. "Observe their carriage and gait before you vote!"
Kois (8:33): Oh, THANK GOD. NPH. Although the prison-rape joke maybe doesn't work.
Brown (8:34): Looks like they started working on the opening number before they realized Nine wouldn't be nominated.
Kois (8:34): OK, Steve and Alec, prove you are better than Neil. I like the notion that Steve and Alec hate each other. I hope that is this year's "through-line" is their simmering resentment, culminating in a brawl. This feels Letterman-y — like a satire of Oscar hosting.
Kois (8:38): Ethan Coen loved that Hitler joke!
Kois (8:41): That was the best Oscar CUT TO: ever. CUT TO: A Jew, Ethan Coen!
Brown (8:43): That was kinda bad, but mercifully brief. In his living room, Hugh Jackman is only halfway through a ten-song tribute to tonight's Best Picture nominees.
Kois (8:44): Get ready for Christoph's excellent speech!
Brown (8:48): Better luck next time, Christopher Plummer.
Kois (8:48): Stanley Tucci's clip just insured that no one will ever see The Lovely Bones.
Brown (8:48): The crawl at the bottom of the screen tells us ABC7 and Cablevision have resolved their dispute just in time for incredibly lucky Cablevision subscribers to miss that opening and still see Christoph Waltz's acceptance speech.
Kois (8:50): He managed to fold all his thank-yous into a narrative, ensuring that Harvey won't yell at him afterwards despite Adam Shankman's manifesto!
Brown (8:55): Up next: The Oscar for Best Animated Feature will be presented to Up.
Kois (8:59): Pete Docter is wearing an Ellie badge! Super adorable.
Brown (9:03): They totally just spoiled the ending of Crazy Heart.
Brown (9:04): And poor Chris Pine has to announce District 9's nomination to remind him that Star Trek didn't get the sci-fi slot.
Kois (9:06): They spoiled the ending of Basterds in Waltz's clips. Let's keep an ending-spoiling count!
Brown (9:06): Surely they'll spoil Up in the Air when giving out the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
Brown (9:13): I hope Robert Downey Jr. didn't wear those glasses to see Avatar.
Brown (9:15):Locker defeats Basterds for Original Screenplay! Looks like a Hurt Locker sweep.
Kois (9:15): I had Quentin all the way here.
Brown (9:16): Me too. Thus concludes the exciting part of tonight's awards-giving.
Kois (9:17): John Hughes tribute! Moviegoers aged 32-41, time to start weeping.
Kois (9:20): At this party, during the Breakfast Club scene: "Now we're the parents! Those bratty little kids."
Brown (9:23): Why is Samuel L. Jackson announcing Up's nomination?
Kois (9:24): He played Kevin the bird!*
*Not true
Kois (9:24): He was in The Incredibles, though, fulfilling the past-relationship requirement Ryan Reynolds fulfilled for The Blind Side.
Brown (9:31): Wow! Tough luck, Wallace and Gromit! Logorama wins for Best Animated Short.
Kois (9:32): If they spend this much time on the short films, they are not finishing these awards before 2:00 a.m.
Brown (9:33): All of this year's nominated shorts are shorter than that intro montage.
Kois (9:34): Upon seeing the clip from Music By Prudence, a guy at my party just yelled "Oh, shit, I didn't know this one had a wheelchair in it!"
Kois (9:39): CUT TO: Meryl Streep, lover of Hitler.
Kois (9:39): "Your insistence on perfection" = "Your destruction of our lives"
Kois (9:43): The Dude is back!
Brown (9:43): Jeff Bridges thinks he's announcing A Serious Man's nomination because he played the Dude in the Coens' Lebowski, but he's really doing it because his wife is secretly cheating on him with Fred Melamed.
Kois (9:47): And now the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Walter Kirn! Your book made it in! Enjoy it from the furthest-back row of the theater!
Brown (9:50): Wow! Precious wins! It's a compromise — Up in the Air co-writer Sheldon Turner doesn't get to make a speech, but neither does Jason Reitman.
Brown (9:53): So can Up in the Air still win anything? Doesn't seem like it.
Kois (9:54): Fletcher's speech was heartfelt, passionate, and totally incoherent — just like his movie!
Kois (9:56): Robin Williams is Heath Ledger's replacement to present for Best Supporting Actress? I am sure that he is very proud up there in heaven.
Kois (9:59): Mo'Nique is so out of everyone else's league that it is ridiculous. Precious: spoiled!
Brown (10:01): Mo'Nique: "I'd like to thank the Academy for making it about the performance and not the politics." She reads your blog, Jeffrey Wells!
Kois (10:03): I must say I was not that excited about Mo'Nique's speech.
Brown (10:04): Agreed. Her previous eight were better.
Brown (10:05): This is the worst cervical cancer commercial of all time.
Kois (10:05): It makes me want to GET cervical cancer!
Kois (10:06): Sigourney Weaver has some outstanding art direction, if you know what I mean*.
*I mean she is hot
Kois (10:10): "She weighs a single pound!" -Steve Martin on SJP. Which is untrue! Her weird head-merkin weighs like 20 lbs.
Brown (10:15): So Charlize Theron just announced Precious. What's the connection? She was once ugly in a movie, like Mariah Carey?
Kois (10:15): She was in Monster's Ball, which was also fucking depressing as shit.
Kois (10:17):Paranormal Activity jokes! That was a huge missed opportunity! You could have included the John Hughes tribute right here with a good old, "Those aren't pillows!"
Kois (10:17): If horror hasn't been at the Oscars since The Exorcist, what are clips from Oscar winners Misery and Silence of the Lambs doing here?
Brown (10:22): Here comes a five-minute lecture of the difference between sound editing and mixing that nobody will understand.
Kois (10:23): If they were gonna use someone with a great voice to explain sound editing, I wish it had been Sy Abelman.
Kois (10:24): Sound Editing! It has been like 11 minutes since an award!
Brown (10:25): Another upset — Hurt Locker wins.
Kois (10:25): Edgar Winter won an Oscar!
Brown (10:27):Hurt Locker wins for Sound Mixing too! I figured Avatar would, since they had to mix down the sound of James Cameron berating his actors in every scene.
Kois (10:27): HURT LOCKER is sweeping away the competish, as Variety would say. Elizabeth Banks is saucy! She's this year's Babe Kissing Nerds in the Tech awards!
Brown (10:28): John Travolta, a real-life dyslexic, announces this year's most misspelled Best Picture nominee, Inglourious Basterds.
Kois (10:30): "Coming up: the hottest dance troupe in America"? I think it is Apolo Anton Ohno and Tom DeLay.
Brown (10:33): The commercials are pretty lame. It's all ads for ABC shows and drugs that reduce the frequency of periods.
Brown (10:34): Which is appropriate, because I have had 2 periods since the ceremony started.
Kois (10:36): Best cinematography! Sandra Bullock speaks truth to power about actresses and DPs.
Kois (10:36):Avatar wins cinematography. It's the first ever cinematography award given to an animated film!
Kois (10:38): Sorry, dead people: Demi Moore is memorializing you. And now James Taylor reliving his cameo in Funny People.
Brown (10:41): Another upset! Karl Malden closes the "In Memoriam" montage (Patrick Swayze was first).
Kois (10:43): Very classy, Academy — but why did they leave out Farrah??
Kois (10:45): OUTRAGE at my party vis-a-vis Farrah Fawcett.
Brown (10:45): Maybe because she mostly did TV?
Kois (10:45): Here's her IMDb page. The Burning Bed! Logan's Run! More movies than Michael Jackson!
Kois (10:46): Oh yay, a dance number!
Brown (10:50): There's a guy completely appropriately doing the robot to Michael Giacchino's score from Up.
Kois (10:51): As I recall, Up was robot-free. From our party: "At 10:50, you don't bust out the dance numbers."
Kois (10:52): Man, it's too bad that the only music nominated were these long boring scores that require dancers to make them interesting. If only something musical was nominated for an Oscar that was short and catchy, like a "song."
Brown (10:55):Avatar wins for visual effects! I just lost my Oscar pool.
Kois (10:56):Star Trek still will get an honorary Oscar for its pioneering use of lens flare, but Avatar takes it.
Brown (10:57):Up In the Air has apparently fallen so far that they couldn't get anyone not in it to present it. "I don't want to be associated with a loser," said Ellen Page.
Kois (11:00): The Modern Family ad is the best of the night.
Kois (11:05): And The Cove wins for Best Documentary. Who in a million years would have thought that Ben Jabituya would win an Oscar?
Kois (11:07): Hahaha. Where was THAT Oscar nomination? Tyler Perry is KILLING it. Plus he leads us to a shot of Alec and Steve in Snuggies.
Kois (11:07): Hurt Locker for editing, obviously. Hey, they are Sam Raimi/Roger Corman alumni? Awesome!
Kois (11:09): Keanu presents The Hurt Locker. Point Break call-out! If they were gonna have a former Swayze co-star introduce the "In Memoriam," I would've preferred Keanu, honestly.
Brown (11:17):El Secreto de Sus Ojos upsets The White Ribbon for Best Foreign Language Film. Maybe Michael Haneke should make his next movie more explicitly about the Holocaust.
Kois (11:18): "Thanks to the Academy for not considering Na'vi a foreign language." —The Foreign Language winner.
Brown (11:18): This guy is the best.
Kois (11:18): I love him! To his wife: "You took a guy stuck in development hell and made something watchable out of him."
Kois (11:19): Kathy Bates introduces Avatar because she gave the live performance that the Tree of Life was based on.
Brown (11:25): So Hurt Locker has won in every category in which there's been any question... Can Jeremy Renner beat Jeff Bridges? I still say no.
Kois (11:26): This is pretty great, actually. I really get off on starfucking shit like this, honestly. I like the idea that they make these people pretend they are actually friends. From my party: "They should have had Glenn Frey do this one."
Kois (11:26): Much annoyance from the moms at this party about Jeff Bridges being lauded for being a working parent. "Yes, and also he is a millionaire, which makes things easier."
Kois (11:28): Wouldn't it be great if Julianne and Colin Farrell were both like, "Y'know what? *I* wanna talk about Jeff Bridges."
Kois (11:29): Line of the night from Tim Robbins! "Morgan Freeman said to me on the last day of shooting The Shawshank Redemption: 'Friendship is getting a friend a cup of coffee. Could you do that for me, Ted?"
Brown (11:33): Surprise! Jeff Bridges wins for Best Actor.
Kois (11:34): The Dude has been partaking, and Bad Blake has been sippin'.
Brown (11:34): "The Weary Kind" sounds terrific on soprano saxophone. It was a real missed opportunity not having Kenny G. play on the Crazy Heart score.
Kois (11:37): Great speech, Jeff Bridges!
Kois (11:40): OPRAH!
Brown (11:43): I guess they had to fly her in to talk about Gabourey Sidibe, since she has no other famous connections yet. It's not like they were going to let Lenny Kravitz do it.
Kois (11:45): How are we feeling about Carey Mulligan's earrings? I am worried they are going to pull her head off her shoulders.
Kois (11:46): Gabby is so great she even makes me forgive Oprah for being so over-the-top.
Brown (11:47): Stanley Tucci is talking about Meryl Streep. He is so much better for Meryl than whoever Meryl's real husband is.
Kois (11:48): Agreed.
Kois (11:46): What is Sean Penn talking about?
Brown (11:47): Haiti, probably? I didn't hear, I was in the bathroom.
Kois (11:48): Right now Adam Shankman is like, "Stick to the script, Sean." He is going to barge on stage and rip Sean Penn apart with his gym-toned arms.
Kois (11:49): "Did I really earn this or did I wear you all down?" Sandy! Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to!
Kois (11:52): Sandra Bullock, as expected, wins the night.
Brown (11:54): Obviously Kathryn Bigelow should and will win Best Director, but could you imagine the crazy shit that would happen for the next 2 minutes if Quentin Tarantino did? Harvey Weinstein would run outside and flip a limo over, basically.
Kois (11:54): It's too delightful to even taunt me with that, Lane.
Kois (11:56): "Well, the time has come," Barbra said, and Lee Daniels momentarily shit his pants. But Kathryn Bigelow, the awesomest director in Awesometown, wins Best Director.
Kois (11:56): To her credit, Kathryn Bigelow seems not to have assumed she would win. To her detriment, she didn't seem to prepare a speech. And somewhere, Jane Campion calls her agent and says, "Fine, sign me up for an action movie. Is Bad Boys 4 available?"
Brown (11:59): And Tom Hanks announces The Hurt Locker wins for Best Picture before Kathryn Bigelow can even leave the stage.
Kois (11:59): That was like an Improvised Explosive Device of an awards announcement!
Kois (11:59):Hurt Locker wins! The lowest-grossing movie in Best Picture history. And in all honestly, whether it was too inaccurate or too accurate — depending on which disgruntled veterans you believe — that is totally awesome.
Kois (12:02): All right, let's hand it off to the late-night crew. Thanks for live-bloggin' with me. Also, I won my Oscar pool. Suck it, my friends and spouse!
Brown (12:02): Thanks, Dan and readers! We'll see you all back here tomorrow morning for more exhaustive analysis of this awards show that went pretty much exactly the way we've known it would for months now. Good night!
Singer-songwriter Mark Linkous, who released music under the name Sparklehorse, committed suicide yesterday at the age of 47. Linkous, who released four albums from 1995 to 2006, was well-known to indie-rock and alt-country fans for the “dark, allusive themes and fragile beauty” of his songs, as well as collaborations with Tom Waits and Danger Mouse. "We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free," his family said in a statement. [NYT, EW]
"I will keep governing until the end of the year. I will not be daunted or distracted by any forces… I will be talking to the investigation, not to the media. I learned a valuable lesson during this time - I am no different than anybody else. They say a lie can get half-way around the world before the truth can strap its boots on.” - Gov. David Paterson today, at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant, pledging to finish out his term, a declaration that was reportedly met with “huge applause.” [NYDN]
The Oscars are the ultimate red-carpet. Tonight we're bringing you all the looks, hits and misses. Anna Kendrick walked in a blush Elie Saab draped dress, Mariah Carey showed off a thigh-high slit in a Valentino, Zoe Saldana wore purple voluminous Givenchy, and Mo'Nique played up color in a blue Tadashi Shoji gown. Click ahead to see all the looks in the slideshow, and tell us what you think about the outfits in the comments.
Amanda Seyfried: "It's that whole country club formal dinner napkin look that I've always loved."
Zoe Saldana: "I'm doing a whole 'Under the Sea' musical number with Vera Farmiga."
Vera Farmiga: "Yeah, I don't know. I was drunk."
Mo'Nique's blue heaven.
Zac Efron would like to borrow your daughter for a moment.
True Blood's Deborah Ann Woll promises to do better next time.
The always-poised Sigourney Weaver struggles to remain calm as red carpet devours her.
If it worked for Jason Smith, 1995 Midland High School Prom King, Jeremy Renner figures this lucky shimmer-tie will work for him.
Maggie Gyllenhaal is so hip she's wearing Urban Outfitters curtains to the Academy Awards.
Tinker Bell not the same since spending the summer at her goth cousin's house. (That's Carey Muligan, slowly disappearing from the boobs up.)
Diane Kruger run over by band of unruly teenagers on their Huffys.
Sandra Bullock's lovely look for the 1994 Golden Globes.
Who invited Miley Cyrus to the Oscars?
Sarah Jessica Parker came dressed as an elaborate birdbath.
Kinda wish Tina Fey would change her spots.
Is Molly Ringwald there for John Hughes-related reasons?
It's a shame that Penelope Cruz is so ugly and dresses so terribly.
Rachel McAdams is beginning to realize that driving that truck full of water colors down a bumpy road while wearing her Oscar dress wasn't such a good idea.
All hail the Queen Latifah.
Hasn't Helen Mirren worn this dress before?
Tonight is the debut of the new clothing line Vagina Explosion by J. Lo
Charlize Theron traveled to the show on a gust of wind.
Anna Kendrick doesn't look like Fritzi anymore.
Amanda Seyfried: "It's that whole country club formal dinner napkin look that I've always loved."
Zoe Saldana: "I'm doing a whole 'Under the Sea' musical number with Vera Farmiga."
Vera Farmiga: "Yeah, I don't know. I was drunk."
Mo'Nique's blue heaven.
Zac Efron would like to borrow your daughter for a moment.
True Blood's Deborah Ann Woll promises to do better next time.
The always-poised Sigourney Weaver struggles to remain calm as red carpet devours her.
If it worked for Jason Smith, 1995 Midland High School Prom King, Jeremy Renner figures this lucky shimmer-tie will work for him.
Maggie Gyllenhaal is so hip she's wearing Urban Outfitters curtains to the Academy Awards.
Tinker Bell not the same since spending the summer at her goth cousin's house. (That's Carey Muligan, slowly disappearing from the boobs up.)
Diane Kruger run over by band of unruly teenagers on their Huffys.
Sandra Bullock's lovely look for the 1994 Golden Globes.
Who invited Miley Cyrus to the Oscars?
Sarah Jessica Parker came dressed as an elaborate birdbath.
Kinda wish Tina Fey would change her spots.
Is Molly Ringwald there for John Hughes-related reasons?
It's a shame that Penelope Cruz is so ugly and dresses so terribly.
Rachel McAdams is beginning to realize that driving that truck full of water colors down a bumpy road while wearing her Oscar dress wasn't such a good idea.
All hail the Queen Latifah.
Hasn't Helen Mirren worn this dress before?
Tonight is the debut of the new clothing line Vagina Explosion by J. Lo
Charlize Theron traveled to the show on a gust of wind.
So, I don't know if you've heard, but there's this place called Iraq, and it had a parliamentary election today. As many as 100 bombs rocked Baghdad—killing at least 38—voter turnout was higher than expected, including many Sunnis, who mostly boycotted the 2005 election. [NYT]
Pleased with the turnout for Iraq's election, Obama said we can "continue with the responsible removal of the United States forces" as scheduled. [Reuters]
Iranian president and Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Just another celebrity 9/11 truther. He, Jesse Ventura, and Rosie O'Donnell can start a club. [CNN]
Chilean officials have nearly halved the initial death toll from its quake, from 802 to 452, as missing persons have been found in remote areas. Nonetheless, flags were lowered for a three-day period of mourning. Polls show most Chileans are unhappy with their government's response. As planes, ships, and troops zoomed to the rescue, at least one American aid worker mused, "Could FEMA have done that?" Yeah, maybe not. [AFP] [AP]
100 people were killed in central Nigeria following a coordinated machete attack on several villages. The killings are apparently thought to be part of ongoing unrest between Christians and Muslims. [BBC]
So, I don't know if you've heard, but there's this place called Iraq, and it had a parliamentary election today. As many as 100 bombs rocked Baghdad—killing at least 38—voter turnout was higher than expected, including many Sunnis, who mostly boycotted the 2005 election. [NYT]
Pleased with the turnout for Iraq's election, Obama said we can "continue with the responsible removal of the United States forces" as scheduled. [Reuters]
Iranian president and Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Just another celebrity 9/11 truther. He, Jesse Ventura, and Rosie O'Donnell can start a club. [CNN]
Chilean officials have nearly halved the initial death toll from its quake, from 802 to 452, as missing persons have been found in remote areas. Nonetheless, flags were lowered for a three-day period of mourning. Polls show most Chileans are unhappy with their government's response. As planes, ships, and troops zoomed to the rescue, at least one American aid worker mused, "Could FEMA have done that?" Yeah, maybe not. [AFP] [AP]
100 people were killed in central Nigeria following a coordinated machete attack on several villages. The killings are apparently thought to be part of ongoing unrest between Christians and Muslims. [BBC]
Waiters are cruising the still-empty catwalk bearing trays of champagne, chocolate lollipops, and little notepads that say Lanvin, and the song playing on the loudspeaker before the show begins is a souped up disco version of Don’t Make Me Over, which is pretty funny when you think about, because isn’t the whole point of these hundreds of runway shows, these endless fashion weeks, to make us over into something more fabulous, something more fascinating, something more astonishing to the eye?
I am so excited to be in Paris that I manage to swallow my disappointment that this particular Lanvin show does not feature the drapy, droopy Grecian formula Lanvin of my dreams. Instead, there are stiff dresses with curiously distended shoulders; some more of that fake monkey fur which has glutted all three fashion capitals (actually, though I wasn’t in Milan I suspect Mr. Monkey was, so make that four); and models wearing black wigs with scissor-cut bangs in an unwitting homage to Morticia Addams.
At the Martin Margiela show, the ushers are cloaked in those white lab coats members of his elusive enterprise always sport. Though it’s difficult to know who, in fact, is asking you to take this particular brand of medicine: the designer himself no longer has a hand in his namesake collection. (Even when he was at the helm, he was infuriatingly Wizard of Oz-like, forcing journalists to interview him by fax and answering with unilluminating Zen koan-like pronouncements issued anonymously by the house.)
That said, this particular show flaunts numerous Margiela touches: not just the magical quartet of white stitches anchoring the label that proves to your friends that, no this isn’t just any black sweater, but trousers that at first blush appear to have a tan stripe up the back which turns out on closer inspection to be bare flesh. If you are curious as to what happens when a backless pants leg ascends to the, ahem, heinie area—well so am I, especially since the first few examples are obscured by jackets. But it is soon revealed that a little half-embarrassed skirt is employed to restore modesty. In other news, there are wide-waisted skirts that make the top half of your body look like a plant emerging from a flowerpot, and a vast trapper hat with a full veil, as if Sarah Palin had decided to don a chador while still sporting the national headgear of Alaska.
At first I think that the models at Junya Watanabe are wearing super-wide chapeaux like the one Sally Fields sports in The Flying Nun (or, for you more literary types, like the soeurs wear in Ludwig Bemelmans’s Madeline) but it turns out it’s their hair, extended and teased to cartoonishly vast proportions. I am besotted with the infinite variety of army green coats and long pleated skirts here; even if you are not a fan of camo mixed with ballet tulle, I dare you to resist the nylon air force jacket, shrunken and rendered as tiny as a bolero, but with every detail reproduced in exquisite detail, as painstakingly as a miniature cathedral.
Thirteen years ago, Rei Kawakubo launched her notorious bump collection at Comme des Garçons, wherein the garments were distended with tumescent-like growths. Though almost universally reviled, Kawakubo hasn’t given up on the idea—this season she offers more padded bulges, some in that glistening polyester you can see gleaming from the last row. (I can personally vouch for this.) At first I think, enough with these yucky protuberances, these deconstructed bustles and swollen pinstripes. But then it dawns on me—at this point don’t most of us spend the winter in puffy coats anyway? Maybe we should stop trying to slim down these horrible down-stuffed monstrosities—a losing battle in any case—and just give in and make them even pouffier.
Anyone considering butt injections sometime soon should proceed with caution — a rouge butt-enlarger in New Jersey is using household caulk, silicone, and petroleum jelly to blow up booties, according New Jersey health officials. Six Newark-area women have been hospitalized in the past two months with infections arising from the work from this evil Sir Mix-a-Lot who left their butts resembling "'moonscapes' filled with lumps and craters," according to the Post. [NYP]
When Eliot Spitzer's people were thinking about making David Paterson his running mate way back in 2005, they heard that Paterson was a "hard partier." Unfortunately, they did not know what that meant:
They were referring to Paterson's extramarital dalliances, past drug use and penchant for late-night clubbing. But Spitzer's people didn't get the message.
"We didn't know what 'hard partying' even meant," a former top Spitzer aide confessed to The Post. "Our idea of fun is to go exercise. The thinking was, 'He enjoys partying -- that's nice!'"
This anecdote comes from the Post, which takes a look back in time to trace Governor Paterson's ascension to the state's most powerful office. Just like Paterson's time in office, it's a story full of slip-ups and carelessness.
Paterson, the Post writes, was nowhere near Spitzer's first choice for lieutenant governor. But after getting turned down by a long list of minority women, whom Spitzer wanted to balance the ticket, Paterson entered the picture and suggested himself for the job.
Paterson, a 21-year veteran of the Legislature, was a known commodity, the Spitzer camp thought. He was a self-styled reformer who could help lay the groundwork for Spitzer's ambitious agenda. He would also score votes with the black and disabled communities.
Spitzer's advisers barely vetted Paterson.
"We didn't dig into his work ethic — does he have a record of seeing an issue through to completion?" an aide admitted. "We thought that he had risen through the ranks. We assumed he had the same background as we did — you work your ass off.
It didn't taken long after the Spitzer-Paterson team won the election for Paterson to show his true colors.
"We were all in early and worked late, and he just wasn't around," said a former Spitzer adviser. "We got the sense that you had two David Patersons — one was sharp and insightful, and then there was the distracted David who missed meetings and wasn't contributing."
Then in early 2008 that aloof, unvetted lieutenant governor became the aloof unvetted Governor and people are all blaming the same person: Eliot Spitzer.
Adam Gadahn, the American spokesman for Al Qaeda who was born Adam Pearlman and also goes by Azzam the American, was arrested in Karachi, senior Pakistani government officials said today. Known for posting long recruitment videos on militant Islamic forums, the California native was indicted on charges of treason in 2006. He was last heard from praising Major Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, in a video released earlier this morning.
American al Qaeda spokesman arrested in Pakistan, official says [CNN]
AFP - Clean and lean summed up Phoebe Philo's autumn-winter collection for Celine on Sunday, which was refreshingly uncluttered and looked ready to step straight off the runway into the street.
So far, supporters of the President looking for someone to blame for his inability to accomplish much of anything at all, have settled on Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. But a story on David Axelrod in the Times today suggests that maybe the balding senior adviser should be the scapegoat.
While criticism of Emanuel has revolved around his pragmatism and willingness to compromise, Axelrod is coming under fire for being blinded by his love for Obama and failing to clearly define the President's message. He's being blamed for not communicating an "overarching big idea or philosophical framework of where they want to take the country," and for focusing on large-scale change, which is hard to measure, rather than day-to-day accomplishments.
"They made a big mistake right out of the box with the Inaugural Address," said former Senator Bob Kerrey, adding that a president pledging bipartisanship should not have disparaged the previous administration in his speech, as many listeners believed Mr. Obama did.
Chris Lehane, a former top aide to Vice President Al Gore, says the administration should tell a clearer story. "They have been enormously capable in dealing with the day-to-day challenges of the government," Mr. Lehane said. "But they don't seem to get the credit they deserve for that because they've communicated no overarching big idea or philosophical framework of where they want to take the country."
Axelrod, for his part, admitted some responsibility for "communications failures," but also admitted that he's not too concerned with what other people think:
In an interview in his office, Mr. Axelrod was often defiant, saying he did not give a "flying" expletive "about what the peanut gallery thinks" and did not live for the approval "of the political community." He denounced the "rampant lack of responsibility" of people in Washington who refuse to solve problems, and cited the difficulty of trying to communicate through what he calls "the dirty filter" of a city suffused with the "every day is Election Day sort of mentality."
Shouldn't that last bit have been anticipated? The Obama campaign spent two years complaining about the culture in Washington and now it's surprised at how corrosive it is? Weren't they supposed to change that? Are we taking crazy pills?
City and state health commissioners plan to meet with Governor Paterson and a panel of doctors tomorrow to discuss a long-bandied-about penny-per-ounce soda tax, which they hope will pass sometime this year. State Health Commissioner Richard Daines is high on the tax, telling the Daily News" "This is one good thing we could do during a miserable year in Albany." Some estimates put the potential revenue of a soda tax at $1 billion, which would be used to fund health-care programs and pay for the riot police needed to quell the soda protests. [NYDN]
Fashion Wire Daily - Guests got a tour of the world without moving from their seats at the latest Jean Paul Gaultier runway show, where the designer raced through a score of ethnic cultures in his latest fashion potpourri.
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Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Actress in a Leading Role:...
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Anna Kendrick doesn't look like Fritzi anymore.
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Zoe Saldana: "I'm doing a whole 'Under the Sea' musical number with Vera Farmiga."
Vera Farmiga: "Yeah, I don't know. I was drunk."
Mo'Nique's blue heaven.
Zac Efron would like to borrow your daughter for a moment.
True Blood's Deborah Ann Woll promises to do better next time.
The always-poised Sigourney Weaver struggles to remain calm as red carpet devours her.
If it worked for Jason Smith, 1995 Midland High School Prom King, Jeremy Renner figures this lucky shimmer-tie will work for him.
Maggie Gyllenhaal is so hip she's wearing Urban Outfitters curtains to the Academy Awards.
Tinker Bell not the same since spending the summer at her goth cousin's house. (That's Carey Muligan, slowly disappearing from the boobs up.)
Diane Kruger run over by band of unruly teenagers on their Huffys.
Sandra Bullock's lovely look for the 1994 Golden Globes.
Who invited Miley Cyrus to the Oscars?
Sarah Jessica Parker came dressed as an elaborate birdbath.
Kinda wish Tina Fey would change her spots.
Is Molly Ringwald there for John Hughes-related reasons?
It's a shame that Penelope Cruz is so ugly and dresses so terribly.
Rachel McAdams is beginning to realize that driving that truck full of water colors down a bumpy road while wearing her Oscar dress wasn't such a good idea.
All hail the Queen Latifah.
Hasn't Helen Mirren worn this dress before?
Tonight is the debut of the new clothing line Vagina Explosion by J. Lo
Charlize Theron traveled to the show on a gust of wind.
