This past weekend, two awards ceremonies were conducted to honor the best and worst in film over the last year.
FOR THE 2010 ACADEMY AWARDS, THE OSCARS WENT TO:
*The Hurt Locker won for Best Picture, Best Director (Kathyrn Bigelow) and Best Original Screenplay.
*Jeff Bridges won Best Actor for Crazy Heart, while the movie also won for Best Original Song: "The Weary Kind".
*Sandra Bullock won Best Actress for The Blind Side.
*Christopher Waltz won Best Supporting Actor for Inglorious Basterds.
*Mo'Nique won Best Supporting Actress for her role in Precious, while the movie won for Best Adapted Screenplay.
*Up won for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score.
And for those interested, Avatar did win for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Visual Effects (`duh!).
Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin...
THE 2010 RAZZIES FOR THE WORST IN FILMS WENT TO:
*Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen "won" for Worst Movie of the Year, Worst Director (Michael Bay), and Worst Screenplay.
*The Jonas Brothers shared the Worst Actor Razzie for their 2009 3-D Concert film.
*Sandra Bullock was named the Worst Actress for her other 2009 movie All About Steve.
*Billy Ray Cyrus was named Worst Supporting Actor for his participation in Hannah Montana: The Movie.
*Sienna Miller was declared the Worst Supporting Actress for her role in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
And the Razzie committee also picked the worst of the past decade, based upon the nominations and "winners" of their awards between 2000-2009.
Those "lucky" recipients are:
*Eddie Murphy for Worst Actor.
*Paris Hilton for Worst Actress, and
*Battlefield Earth (from 2000) as Worst Picture of the Decade.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
THE SUNDAY FUNNIES: MARCH 7, 2010
Hello Everybody! I'm Autumn the Puppy.All you lovely readers of The Free Choice E-zine must have really enjoyed my guest appearances in past installments of The Sunday Funnies, for I have been asked to become a regular contributor! As you can see from my avatar image, I am just grinning from ear to ear over this!
But don't worry. Ms. Waxy Dragon is still here and will be back next weekend.
Now let's see what I can dig up for your entertainment today.
I'm sure a lot of you out there are getting sick of all the snow. Spring will hopefully show up eventually.
But there has certainly been a lot of snow!Why there's been two feet of it in my area since my last appearance in this e-zine!
Of course there are all kinds of problems associated with snow.Traffic jams and bad driving conditions are just some of the things you face during the winter.
Some enterprising folks decide to car pool to overcome these obstacles, but as the photo on the left shows, there are times when even the best solution leads to other problems.
Now maybe the truck is stuck in the snow, and they can't decide the best way to push it.
Or maybe they're arguing over who gets to drive.
I can sympathize with that one. I have my dog license and yet my people won't let me behind the wheel of their car!
But whatever the problem was, I'm sure our Arctic odd couple worked it out. I've gotten several e-mails from the bear since this photo was first taken, but oddly none from the human.
Oh well...
As promised, Ms. Waxy Dragon will be back next weekend and I shall return in a future edition of The Sunday Funnies!--AtP.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
THE WEEK IN REVIEW: FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 6, 2010
*Although relief efforts continue in Chile, they are being hampered somewhat by how spread out some of the population is, especially along the coast. Because of this, an accurate tally of the dead and injured has not been completed. Meanwhile, infection and disease are now a growing concern in Chile as tons of dead fish, washed up from the recent tsunami, lie rotting in the open awaiting clean up and disposal.
*United States President Barack Obama still hopes Congress will pass some version of a much needed Health Care Reform Act, despite the fact that Congressional Republicans are now wanting to scrap what little has been accomplished on the matter and completely start over from scratch!
*Some individual states are warning their citizens that those expecting a refund from their state income tax returns may be waiting longer than they originally thought until funds can be secured to pay the refunds.
*The United States Postal Service is far from the only business that is trying to improve their financial health. Amongst the possible ideas for getting the organization back into fiscal shape are cutting back deliveries by either dropping Saturdays all together or a more serious measure of limiting deliveries to three days (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) a week. It should be noted that the Postal Service has never maintained a profit margin since the days of its first post master general: Benjamin Franklin!
*An air traffic controller working at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport has been suspended by the Federal Aviation Authority pending the results of their investigation into his recent actions. It seems the controller honored the spirit of "Take Your Child To Work Day" by not only taking each of his children to work with him, but each sibling also got to radio instructions to planes preparing for take off!
*It's been reported that California Republican Senator Roy Ashburn was arrested for Driving Under the Influence (of alcohol) with a "male friend" in the car with him after the pair left a gay bar. This event is ironic since Ashburn has supported the state's Proposition 8 ban against same sex marriages and has voted against any pro-gay legislation since first taking office. No one directly connected with the case has commented publicly since the arrest, although a local radio station that Ashburn had a talk show on has since dropped him from their programming schedule and Republican Party officials will only say that the matter is under investigation.
*Scientists have finally agreed that it was probably an asteroid crashing into Earth that triggered what became the climate change known as the Ice Age that killed the dinosaurs.
IN SPORTS...
*The NCAA prepares for March Madness as the collegiate men's and women's basketball teams compete in the final tournaments to determine the brackets for "The Big Dance".
*The 2010 Winter Olympics have concluded in Vancouver, Canada. For those interested, the final medal tallies are: The United States with 37. Nine gold medals, 15 silver, and 13 bronze. Next was Germany with 10 Gold, 13 silver, and 7 bronze. Host country Canada had 14 gold, 7 silver, and 5 bronze. Athletes from Norway earned 9 gold, 8 silver, and 6 bronze; while Austria accumulated 4 gold, 6 silver, and 6 bronze.
*The facilities in Vancouver will next host the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games beginning March 12. Meanwhile the games of the 22nd Winter Olympiad will be held in Sochi, Russia during the month of February 2014.
For more news at any time, just scroll down to the IN OTHER NEWS feature at the bottom of your screen.
*United States President Barack Obama still hopes Congress will pass some version of a much needed Health Care Reform Act, despite the fact that Congressional Republicans are now wanting to scrap what little has been accomplished on the matter and completely start over from scratch!
*Some individual states are warning their citizens that those expecting a refund from their state income tax returns may be waiting longer than they originally thought until funds can be secured to pay the refunds.
*The United States Postal Service is far from the only business that is trying to improve their financial health. Amongst the possible ideas for getting the organization back into fiscal shape are cutting back deliveries by either dropping Saturdays all together or a more serious measure of limiting deliveries to three days (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) a week. It should be noted that the Postal Service has never maintained a profit margin since the days of its first post master general: Benjamin Franklin!
*An air traffic controller working at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport has been suspended by the Federal Aviation Authority pending the results of their investigation into his recent actions. It seems the controller honored the spirit of "Take Your Child To Work Day" by not only taking each of his children to work with him, but each sibling also got to radio instructions to planes preparing for take off!
*It's been reported that California Republican Senator Roy Ashburn was arrested for Driving Under the Influence (of alcohol) with a "male friend" in the car with him after the pair left a gay bar. This event is ironic since Ashburn has supported the state's Proposition 8 ban against same sex marriages and has voted against any pro-gay legislation since first taking office. No one directly connected with the case has commented publicly since the arrest, although a local radio station that Ashburn had a talk show on has since dropped him from their programming schedule and Republican Party officials will only say that the matter is under investigation.
*Scientists have finally agreed that it was probably an asteroid crashing into Earth that triggered what became the climate change known as the Ice Age that killed the dinosaurs.
IN SPORTS...
*The NCAA prepares for March Madness as the collegiate men's and women's basketball teams compete in the final tournaments to determine the brackets for "The Big Dance".
*The 2010 Winter Olympics have concluded in Vancouver, Canada. For those interested, the final medal tallies are: The United States with 37. Nine gold medals, 15 silver, and 13 bronze. Next was Germany with 10 Gold, 13 silver, and 7 bronze. Host country Canada had 14 gold, 7 silver, and 5 bronze. Athletes from Norway earned 9 gold, 8 silver, and 6 bronze; while Austria accumulated 4 gold, 6 silver, and 6 bronze.
*The facilities in Vancouver will next host the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games beginning March 12. Meanwhile the games of the 22nd Winter Olympiad will be held in Sochi, Russia during the month of February 2014.
For more news at any time, just scroll down to the IN OTHER NEWS feature at the bottom of your screen.
THE PUZZLE CORNER: MARCH 6, 2010
Another weekend, and I'm feeling a bit generous since I celebrated my birthday yesterday.
So since the Oscars will be presented tomorrow night, I present to you now a brief Oscar quiz.
1. What exactly is the full name of the organization behind the Oscars? Hint: It has been mentioned within this e-zine within the last couple of weeks.
2. What movie has won the most Oscars?
3. Who has hosted the most Oscar telecasts?
4. What Oscar counterpart will be presented tonight? Hint: It has been mentioned within this e-zine within the last couple of weeks too
5. This performer has been nominated for an Oscar seven times, but their only win was for the 1986 sequel to their 1961 nomination. Who is it?
All will be revealed next weekend. But for now, lets peek into THE ANSWERS BOX for the results from the February 27 Puzzle Corner.
HOW SMART ARE YOU?
Forward, I am heavy.
Backward, I am not.
What am I?
The word TON. Not backwards.
REBUS
The picture visually represented The Underground Railroad, famous for moving slaves from the south to the north in the United States' checkered past up to the Civil War era.
So since the Oscars will be presented tomorrow night, I present to you now a brief Oscar quiz.
1. What exactly is the full name of the organization behind the Oscars? Hint: It has been mentioned within this e-zine within the last couple of weeks.
2. What movie has won the most Oscars?
3. Who has hosted the most Oscar telecasts?
4. What Oscar counterpart will be presented tonight? Hint: It has been mentioned within this e-zine within the last couple of weeks too
5. This performer has been nominated for an Oscar seven times, but their only win was for the 1986 sequel to their 1961 nomination. Who is it?
All will be revealed next weekend. But for now, lets peek into THE ANSWERS BOX for the results from the February 27 Puzzle Corner.
HOW SMART ARE YOU?
Forward, I am heavy.
Backward, I am not.
What am I?
The word TON. Not backwards.
REBUS
The picture visually represented The Underground Railroad, famous for moving slaves from the south to the north in the United States' checkered past up to the Civil War era.
Monday, March 1, 2010
CHILE COMMENTS
An editorial.
So far, rescue efforts continue apace in the earthquake strickened country of Chile. Between the initial quake itself, the resulting tsunami, and the after shocks; entire villages along the Chilean coast no longer exist.
As I post this, there are over 700 confirmed deaths in that South American country. Thousands more are in need of help as relief efforts are underway.
Meanwhile, while a tsunami alert was issued for much of the Pacific Ocean countries. It was a serious threat to land masses close to Chile, there were many alerts issued and evacuations made. Those amongst the Hawaiian Islands and the coast of Japan were the most concerned, but thankfully, as the wave spread out from Chile, the danger lessened. Australia, New Zealand, and others only experienced higher than normal tides.
I'm sure in time there pleas to the world's citizens will be issued asking those who can to contribute to the current relief efforts, but at least there has been no critics claiming the earthquake to be anything other than fact.
So far, rescue efforts continue apace in the earthquake strickened country of Chile. Between the initial quake itself, the resulting tsunami, and the after shocks; entire villages along the Chilean coast no longer exist.
As I post this, there are over 700 confirmed deaths in that South American country. Thousands more are in need of help as relief efforts are underway.
Meanwhile, while a tsunami alert was issued for much of the Pacific Ocean countries. It was a serious threat to land masses close to Chile, there were many alerts issued and evacuations made. Those amongst the Hawaiian Islands and the coast of Japan were the most concerned, but thankfully, as the wave spread out from Chile, the danger lessened. Australia, New Zealand, and others only experienced higher than normal tides.
I'm sure in time there pleas to the world's citizens will be issued asking those who can to contribute to the current relief efforts, but at least there has been no critics claiming the earthquake to be anything other than fact.
CAN NBC SURVIVE?
An editorial.
So far within the 2009-2010 television season, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) has not been in the best of shape. Dedicating the last week night hour of prime time to a Jay Leno anchored program did not work out. Conan O'Brien taking over The Tonight Show did not translate into the major ratings coup it was supposed to, and the rest of the network's line up has varied in both quality and success.
The last two weeks of February has been spent covering the 2010 Winter Olympics, with other networks airing mostly reruns to prevent ratings losses and avoid seeming to be anti-American athletics. But after such a grand time, the Olympic games ended Sunday night with NBC dropping the torch on the closing ceremonies in an erroneous fashion by tape-delaying the broadcast of the grand finale to show the premiere of Jerry Seinfield's The Marriage Ref in the last hour of prime time.
Now, after a much publicized contract dispute, NBC has put Jay Leno back in place of hosting The Tonight Show after giving Conan O'Brien a huge contract buy-out (although to O'Brien's credit, part of the settlement did go to severance packages for his staff).
But can Leno accomplish anew the success he had as host before? And can NBC find quality programming to fill the voids created not only by the failure of the Leno prime time experiment, but the vacancy created on Sunday nights by the end of the National Football League's schedule for this past season?
At the moment, NBC's big plan seems to be extra episodes of existing series, news programs, "reality" shows, and reruns while it scrambles to fill those empty hours in its schedule. The only new program, the much acclaimed Parenthood, is set to debut in the last hour of prime time Tuesday night, but will be facing already established competition from the other networks.
Personally, I do not wish the NBC network any ill will. But they do have a long way to go and a lot of problems to overcome.
Whatever happens, it might actually be interesting to watch.
So far within the 2009-2010 television season, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) has not been in the best of shape. Dedicating the last week night hour of prime time to a Jay Leno anchored program did not work out. Conan O'Brien taking over The Tonight Show did not translate into the major ratings coup it was supposed to, and the rest of the network's line up has varied in both quality and success.
The last two weeks of February has been spent covering the 2010 Winter Olympics, with other networks airing mostly reruns to prevent ratings losses and avoid seeming to be anti-American athletics. But after such a grand time, the Olympic games ended Sunday night with NBC dropping the torch on the closing ceremonies in an erroneous fashion by tape-delaying the broadcast of the grand finale to show the premiere of Jerry Seinfield's The Marriage Ref in the last hour of prime time.
Now, after a much publicized contract dispute, NBC has put Jay Leno back in place of hosting The Tonight Show after giving Conan O'Brien a huge contract buy-out (although to O'Brien's credit, part of the settlement did go to severance packages for his staff).
But can Leno accomplish anew the success he had as host before? And can NBC find quality programming to fill the voids created not only by the failure of the Leno prime time experiment, but the vacancy created on Sunday nights by the end of the National Football League's schedule for this past season?
At the moment, NBC's big plan seems to be extra episodes of existing series, news programs, "reality" shows, and reruns while it scrambles to fill those empty hours in its schedule. The only new program, the much acclaimed Parenthood, is set to debut in the last hour of prime time Tuesday night, but will be facing already established competition from the other networks.
Personally, I do not wish the NBC network any ill will. But they do have a long way to go and a lot of problems to overcome.
Whatever happens, it might actually be interesting to watch.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
THE SUNDAY FUNNIES: FEBRUARY 28, 2010
THE FAMILY CIRCUS AT 50!
Hello Everyone. Editor-In-Chief Lee Houston, Junior here. Ms. Waxy Dragon has the weekend off.
I am here today to talk about life in general and The Family Circus specifically.
This beloved comic strip created by Bil (only one L) Keane actually began on Leap Year, 1960. So as noted in today's installment, February 28, 2010 marks the 50th anniversary for the series.
Keane literally draws upon his own family for inspiration and fun.
If you were not paying attention, amongst the images in today's strip were photos of the Keane family past and present, as well as the extended comic family posing for a new portrait.
His wife Thelma, the motherly inspiration for the series, sadly passed away last year. His real children are now adults with families of their own. Son Glen (the basis for Billy) is an animator for Disney while Jeff (the basis for Jeffy) is now Bil's assistant on the series. And a sequence where the family visited New York City, including the twin towers of the World Trade Center, was reprinted after the September 11, 2001 disaster.
Unique not only in its down to earth portrayal of family life, but its circular shape for the daily edition (allegedly based upon the ones circuses use), one cannot help but stop and contemplate the simpler times and things in life like kids not realizing that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, as always illustrated by the dotted path showing one of the children (usually Billy) going everywhere possible on any given course.
The one I personally remember most is a Sunday strip whereupon the family is walking along a quiet stretch of beach and the children comment about how they must be the first ones to ever discover the place, although ghost images in the background prove otherwise, proving that alas time waits for no one.
But no matter how much time does pass, there are some things that will always remain timeless.
So here's to The Family Circus! May the show continue for many generations to come.
Hello Everyone. Editor-In-Chief Lee Houston, Junior here. Ms. Waxy Dragon has the weekend off.
I am here today to talk about life in general and The Family Circus specifically.
This beloved comic strip created by Bil (only one L) Keane actually began on Leap Year, 1960. So as noted in today's installment, February 28, 2010 marks the 50th anniversary for the series.
Keane literally draws upon his own family for inspiration and fun.
If you were not paying attention, amongst the images in today's strip were photos of the Keane family past and present, as well as the extended comic family posing for a new portrait.
His wife Thelma, the motherly inspiration for the series, sadly passed away last year. His real children are now adults with families of their own. Son Glen (the basis for Billy) is an animator for Disney while Jeff (the basis for Jeffy) is now Bil's assistant on the series. And a sequence where the family visited New York City, including the twin towers of the World Trade Center, was reprinted after the September 11, 2001 disaster.
Unique not only in its down to earth portrayal of family life, but its circular shape for the daily edition (allegedly based upon the ones circuses use), one cannot help but stop and contemplate the simpler times and things in life like kids not realizing that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, as always illustrated by the dotted path showing one of the children (usually Billy) going everywhere possible on any given course.
The one I personally remember most is a Sunday strip whereupon the family is walking along a quiet stretch of beach and the children comment about how they must be the first ones to ever discover the place, although ghost images in the background prove otherwise, proving that alas time waits for no one.
But no matter how much time does pass, there are some things that will always remain timeless.
So here's to The Family Circus! May the show continue for many generations to come.
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