Now that Christmas and New Years are over, award season unofficially begins. The People's Choice Awards revealed the stars of Grey's Anatomy and Pirates of the Caribbean ranking high with fans. The 34th ceremony was pre-taped due to the writer's strike. Trophies to music, film and television stars were delivered on location.
Robin Williams accepted his award for favorite funny male while on tour with the United Service Organizations in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Patrick Dempsey found out he was the favorite male TV star while at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.
The show could not be canceled entirely, host Queen Latifah said Monday.
"The thing about the People's Choice Awards that's different from everybody else is it's the people's choice," she said. "So as much as we actors and writers and everyone are dealing with the writers strike and supporting the writers guild, you can't disrespect the people who keep us working, and that's the people."
The Critics Choice Awards, which is not covered by the Writers Guild of America, also announced winners. No Country for Old Men won best picture, best director for brothers Joel and Ethan Coen and best supporting actor for Javier Bardem.
Awards came in pairs for three other films. The cast of Hairspray was named best acting ensemble and its breakout star, Nikki Blonsky, won best young actress. The teen-pregnancy film Juno collected trophies for best comedy and for screenwriter Diablo Cody. There Will Be Blood earned the best actor honor for star Daniel Day-Lewis and best composer for Jonny Greenwood. Find a complete list of winners at www.bfca.org/NomineesWinners.asp.
On Feb. 14, the 39th National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Awards will be held. The Great Debaters topped the list of nominees with eight nominations, including outstanding actor and outstanding director for Denzel Washington. The movie also garnered three supporting-actor nominations for Forest Whitaker, Nate Parker and Denzel Whitaker.
Other best-picture nominees included American Gangster, I Am Legend, Talk to Me and Why Did I Get Married? A complete list of nominees for the awards, which honor those who promote diversity in the arts is available online at www.naacpimageawards.net/.
The Directors Guild of America also announced its nominees this week. Sean Penn earned a nomination as best filmmaker for Into the Wild along with Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men. Paul Thomas Anderson was nominated for his historical epic There Will Be Blood, Tony Gilroy for his legal drama Michael Clayton and Julian Schnabel for the real-life memoir The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
The guild will announce the winners at a dinner on Jan. 26.
Striking Hollywood writers have reached a deal with Tom Cruise's production outfit United Artists Films (UA) to resume working while the strike continues against other studios.
The deal announced Monday was the first reached with big-screen producers by the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which has been on strike since Nov. 5. Terms were not disclosed.
"United Artists has lived up to its name. UA and the Writers Guild came together and negotiated seriously. The end result is that we have a deal that will put people back to work," said Patric Verrone, president of the WGA, West.
The Producers Alliance downplayed the significance of the UA agreement.
"One-off deals do nothing to bring the WGA closer to a permanent solution for working writers. These interim agreements are sideshows and mean only that some writers will be employed at the same time other writers will be picketing," the alliance said in a statement.
Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton will co-star in the latest installment of the 007 franchise opposite Daniel Craig, Columbia Pictures has announced.
For Craig's second appearance, Kurylenko, a Ukrainian model-turned-actress, "will play the dangerously alluring Camille, who challenges Bond," the studio says.
Kurylenko's screen credits include Hitman and Paris, je t'aime. British actress Arterton will portray MI6 Agent Fields.
Marc Forster is directing the film, which has the working title, Bond 22.
The parents of missing British girl Madeleine McCann have held talks with a US entertainment company regarding making a film about their daughter's disappearance, their family spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said Tuesday.
He said that he and another family representative had met with entertainment company IMG Media last month.
"If we feel any particular proposal in the media has validity in helping us find Madeleine, we are happy to discuss it," Mitchell said.
Madeleine McCann disappeared from a Portuguese resort on May 3. Despite a global campaign by her parents, the girl has not been found and no one has been charged over her disappearance.
May 18 to May 24 Pastor Yang Hsu’s (楊煦) congregation was shocked upon seeing the land he chose to build his orphanage. It was surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the only way to access it was to cross a river by foot. The soil was poor due to runoff, and large rocks strewn across the plot prevented much from growing. In addition, there was no running water or electricity. But it was all Yang could afford. He and his Indigenous Atayal wife Lin Feng-ying (林鳳英) had already been caring for 24 orphans in their home, and they were in
On May 2, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), at a meeting in support of Taipei city councilors at party headquarters, compared President William Lai (賴清德) to Hitler. Chu claimed that unlike any other democracy worldwide in history, no other leader was rooting out opposing parties like Lai and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). That his statements are wildly inaccurate was not the point. It was a rallying cry, not a history lesson. This was intentional to provoke the international diplomatic community into a response, which was promptly provided. Both the German and Israeli offices issued statements on Facebook
Even by the standards of Ukraine’s International Legion, which comprises volunteers from over 55 countries, Han has an unusual backstory. Born in Taichung, he grew up in Costa Rica — then one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — where a relative worked for the embassy. After attending an American international high school in San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, Han — who prefers to use only his given name for OPSEC (operations security) reasons — moved to the US in his teens. He attended Penn State University before returning to Taiwan to work in the semiconductor industry in Kaohsiung, where he
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday delivered an address marking the first anniversary of his presidency. In the speech, Lai affirmed Taiwan’s global role in technology, trade and security. He announced economic and national security initiatives, and emphasized democratic values and cross-party cooperation. The following is the full text of his speech: Yesterday, outside of Beida Elementary School in New Taipei City’s Sanxia District (三峽), there was a major traffic accident that, sadly, claimed several lives and resulted in multiple injuries. The Executive Yuan immediately formed a task force, and last night I personally visited the victims in hospital. Central government agencies and the
RSS