Stooges, Genesis, ABBA Enter Rock Hall of Fame in NYC Ceremony

English progressive rockers turned 1980s pop stars Genesis and the harmony-driven Hollies were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday, joined by ABBA, another act that thrived in a second life.

Genesis was inducted by Trey Anastasio of Phish, whose band paid tribute to both incarnations of Genesis by performing "Watcher of the Skies" and "No Reply at All." The new inductees were missing Peter Gabriel, the theatrical lead singer whose departure was the dividing line between the band's two styles.

Former bandmate Mike Rutherford said Gabriel wanted to send his apologies for missing the event.

"He has a very legitimate and genuine excuse," Rutherford said. "He's actually starting a tour."

Anastasio recalled buying Genesis albums as a teenager. He called the band "rebellious, restless and constantly striving for something more."

"Every musical rule and boundary was questioned and broken," he said. "It's impossible to overstate what impact this band and musical philosophy had on me as a young musician. I'm forever in their debt."

Steve Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen's guitarist, paid tribute to The Hollies and the spirit of rock and roll in an eloquent induction speech. Allan Clarke and Graham Nash's "exquisite English harmonies were second, or shared only by the Beatles."

Their British Invasion hits included "Bus Stop" and "Carrie-Anne," both of which the band performed on Monday.

Clarke recalled telling his father he was going to become a professional musician. His father told him that bands only last three or four years, so bank as much money as you can.

"Well, Dad, I'm being inducted into a museum," Clarke said. "How's that for longevity?"

Nash jokingly thanked his colleagues for having "the audacity, the gall" to have three No. 1 hits after he left the band in 1968. Those 1970s standards were "The Air That I Breathe," "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" and "Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)."

ABBA was never as big in the United States as in Europe. But 6 million of the 26 million copies of ABBA's greatest hits collection were sold in the U.S., and the stage and film productions of "Mamma Mia!" kept their songs alive for a new generation and those who might have missed them in the first place.

Other inductees at the annual ceremony at The Waldorf-Astoria hotel were reggae superstar Jimmy Cliff and the raucous Iggy Pop and the Stooges. Music executive David Geffen and songwriters whose work sold hundreds of millions of copies were to join as non-performers.

The four-member Swedish hit machine ABBA quit in 1982 soon after the band's two couples split. They left behind a string of catchy pop songs such as "Dancing Queen," "Waterloo" and "Knowing Me Knowing You."

Jamaica's Cliff was among the first to export reggae. His best-known songs include "You Can Get It if You Really Want," "The Harder They Come" and "Many Rivers to Cross."

The Michigan-based Stooges never sold many records. But the brutal force of their 1973 album "Raw Power" influenced the punk movement to come, and the rubber-limbed Pop was an electric frontman.

Pop delivered middle-finger salutes to his audience and, at the black-tie affair, had his shirt off even before performing "Search and Destroy." He prowled through the audience for "I Wanna Be Your Dog," and the Stooges were joined onstage by inductor Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.

"Roll over Woodstock," Pop said. "We won!"

For all their toughness, the Stooges seemed genuinely touched by the honor. Scott Asheton paid tribute to his brother and bandmate Ron Asheton, who died last year. Pop choked back tears in thanking his colleagues for getting back together and working.

"Here we are in the belly of the beast - a lot of power and money in this room," he said. "It's a big industry. If it makes the right decisions, it will stay an industry. Music is life, and life is not a business."

Songwriter Carole King was inducting old colleagues from an era (the 1950s and early 1960s) when performers largely left songwriting to others. They included Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil ("You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," "On Broadway"), Ellie Greenwich & Jeff Barry ("Leader of the Pack," "Be My Baby"), Otis Blackwell ("All Shook Up," "Don't Be Cruel"), Mort Shuman ("Save the Last Dance for Me," "This Magic Moment" with Doc Pomus) and Jesse Stone ("Sh-Boom," "Money Honey").

Geffen, before he spread his influence to other parts of the entertainment business, started the Asylum and Geffen record labels.

Other scheduled performers included Faith Hill, Chris Isaak and Wyclef Jean. The ceremony was being telecast live on the Fuse music network.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is in Cleveland.

ABBA's Rock Hall induction won't be a reunion

ABBA fans can stop holding their breath: The fab four of Swedish pop, who haven't played together since 1982, will not reunite Monday night, when the group is inducted — finally — into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Two ABBA alumni, Benny Andersson and ex-wife Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad, are scheduled to attend the 25th annual induction ceremony at New York's Waldorf-Astoria, and just one is likely to perform. "I may play something on the piano, with someone else singing," Andersson says. He doesn't disclose the crooner, except to say that it won't be Lyngstad. "I don't think she wants to. It's been so long."

Andersson's co-songwriter, Bjorn Ulvaeus, can't make it because of "a big family thing," and Agnetha Faltskog, Ulvaeus' ex-spouse and Lyngstad's former vocal partner, "doesn't like to fly."

The band has turned down numerous offers to reunite through the years, though not because of interpersonal tension. Andersson, 63, and Ulveaus, 64, have continued to work together on several musical theater projects since ABBA dissolved — including, of course, the international smash Mamma Mia! "We were never tempted" to revisit the group, Andersson explains, "because we've been so busy doing other things."

ABBA has been eligible for induction since 1999, 25 years after its first U.S.-released album, Waterloo. The writing team that crafted such hits as Dancing Queen, SOS and The Winner Takes It All isn't surprised ABBA was overlooked for a decade, even as less commercially successful acts were welcomed. "Critics suspected we weren't quite as serious as some other bands from the '70s," Ulvaeus says.

The band's recordings, with pristine melodies and ear-candy production, don't fit everyone's definition of rock 'n' roll. "Their musical vocabulary drew from many types of pop music," says J.D. Considine, a music contributor to Canada's The Globe and Mail. "But there weren't traditional rock mannerisms, like a strong blues base or Chuck Berry guitar."

As time has passed, though, ABBA's influence has been cited by many younger rock acts, "so there's a revisionist appreciation," Considine says. Hall president Joel Peresman agrees that "the respect ABBA has from rock 'n' roll musicians" was a factor, and points to the recent inductions of Madonna and Run-D.M.C. as signs of growing inclusiveness.

Andersson remains a working musician; his Benny Andersson Band just released Story of a Heart in the USA. But neither he nor Ulvaeus, who no longer performs ("He's a pensioner, a senior citizen," Andersson quips), longs to revive ABBA.

"Let people remember us as an ambitious, energetic young group," Ulvaeus says. "A wonderful memory."

Adam Shankman's (conflicted) Oscar Twitter thoughts

Throughout awards season, this year's Oscars co-producer Adam Shankman kept his nearly 55,000 Twitter followers amused by sharing behind-the-scenes tidbits about working on the telecast, making up with enthusiasm what he lacked in punctuation and spelling.

It began in December: "Had dinner last night with Oscar cohosts steve martin and Alec Baldwin. Laughed so hard I almost passed out. This is gonna b goooood..."

The remark was followed by a number of other show-related Tweets. In many he queried his fans about whom they would most like to see appear on the Oscars. Some responded with tween favorites like Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus, both of whom ended up presenting awards at this year's ceremony.

So it's no surprise that, post-Oscars, Shankman has taken to his Twitter account to take on those -- like the Times' own Mary McNamara -- who criticized the show's pace, montage omissions, and dancing sections.

"did the best i could last night with so many perameters," he tweeted on Monday. "just so everyone knows the horror tribute was linked 2 roger cormans govs oscar."

Earlier today, he took to his page again with a more positive message, thanking a slew of people, including hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, co-producer Bill Mechanic, and set designer David Rockwell.

"I'm spool tired stilli cnt believe I just produced 1 of the most successful Academy Awards of all time. Humbling," he wrote.

When we met with the show's co-producer before the Oscars, Shankman was clearly as tired as he came across in today's misspelled Tweet. After coming from the gym (also one of his favorite Twitter topics) two weeks ago, he ignored the never-ending buzz of his cellphone while quickly chowing down on lunch.

"It's like living with a 24-hour-a-day panic attack," he said with a sigh.

But Shankman is, it seems, still a bit stressed even though the ceremony is over. In a response to the controversial omission of "Charlie's Angels" star Farrah Fawcett from the In Memoriam section of the show, the "So You Think You Can Dance" star tweeted today:

"Farah ommission: not us," he said. "The in memorium recipients R decided on by an academy committee."

He ended the day with a series of conflicting thoughts.

"If I ever am asked to produce the oscars again, I would do them totally different," he first wrote.

Four hours later, he amended his statement: "when I said i wld change, I mean I livedwht we did, Alec & steve were brilliant."

He soon added: "Clarify: I loved ths years #oscars. Best experience of my life. I'd just do things differently if I did them again 2 surprise ppl. dont wanna repeat."

Fawcett omission from Oscar segment no accident

LOS ANGELES – The executive director of the film academy said Tuesday that Farrah Fawcett wasn't included in the Academy Awards' In Memoriam segment because the actress was better known as a TV star.

It was a difficult decision for the committee that assembles the segment to omit Fawcett, said Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences executive director Bruce Davis, who added that he's not surprised some fans and family members are upset.

Fawcett's family issued a statement through a publicist Tuesday saying they were "deeply saddened" and "bereft with this exclusion of such an international icon who inspired so many for so many reasons."

Davis said the academy committee debated about including Fawcett and Gene Barry, a longtime TV actor who died in December at age 90, in the memorial segment but ultimately omitted both.

Davis and his colleagues thought that while the two actors appeared in movies, they were better known for their "remarkable television work" and would be more appropriately honored by the television academy at the Emmy Awards.

The group "was kind of figuring that probably the Farrah Fawcett and Gene Barry omissions would be the ones we'd get the most comments on," he said. He acknowledged that he "did get one letter about Miss Fawcett."

The academy director said "an unusual number of extremely distinguished screenwriters" died this year, and the academy tried to honor many of them in the short memorial segment.

"In every category, you're going to miss some wonderful people," said Davis, who has helped assemble Oscar's In Memoriam montage since it began in 1993.

When asked why Michael Jackson was included when actors were left out, Davis explained that Jackson had appeared in a popular theatrical film recently. Fawcett and Jackson both died on June 25.

"Think of all the blogging we would have gotten if we had left him out!" he said.

Still, he said he understands that the Fawcett and Barry omissions sting.

"There's nothing you can say to people, particularly to family members, within a day or two of the show that helps at all," Davis said. "They tend to be surprised and hurt, and we understand that and we're sorry for it."

TV ratings smile on Oscar as viewership rises

NEW YORK – An estimated 41.3 million people saw "The Hurt Locker" top the popular "Avatar" for best picture in the most-watched Academy Awards telecast since 2005.

Oscar viewership was up 14 percent over last year, the Nielsen Co. said Monday, keeping with a trend of bigger audiences for major events on broadcast television a month after the Super Bowl set the mark for most-watched telecast ever.

In true film fashion, the Oscars built to a big climax when the Iraqi war thriller "The Hurt Locker" and its director, Kathryn Bigelow, topped "Avatar," directed by her ex-husband James Cameron. Bigelow was the first woman to win the Oscar for best director.

The audience was up from the 36.3 million who saw "Slumdog Millionaire" win best picture last year and 32 million — Oscar's smallest audience on record — in 2008, Nielsen said. The Oscars had just over 42 million watch in 2005, when "Million Dollar Baby" was the big winner.

The Oscar ratings fall in line with bigger audiences for awards shows in recent months. The Golden Globes were up 14 percent over the year before, and the performance-heavy Grammys up 36 percent, Nielsen said. The Emmys, the Tonys and the Miss America pageant all saw higher ratings.

Analysts say fewer chances for Americans to gather in front of the television set for communal events may help make these events more popular. With a poor economy, more people are staying home, too. The Internet may also help draw viewers; experts say many people are online while the shows are on, and they comment about them to friends.

Ratings for the New York market appeared unaffected by a business dispute between Cablevision and ABC's parent, Walt Disney Co.

ABC had been dropped by Cablevision for its 3.1 million subscribers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut on Sunday, and the network was not restored until 13 minutes after the Academy Awards telecast began.

Still, New York ranked No. 13 among among the 56 biggest media markets in the country, Nielsen said. New York's overnight rating was 11 percent above the average for all of the big markets.

Oscars bosses defend Fawcett snub

Bosses at the Oscars have defended their decision to leave Farrah Fawcett out of the memorial montage - insisting it's impossible to pay tribute to every star who passed away in the last year.

The Charlie's Angels actress, who died in June, was absent from the Academy Awards' tribute section on Sunday night, which marked the deaths of stars including Brittany Murphy and Patrick Swayze.

The snub sparked speculation she was left out because of her predominant television career, with some online critics slamming the ceremony heads for not adding her to the clip.

Jane Fonda was also shocked Fawcett was left out, and wrote on Twitter.com: "Where was Farrah Fawcett? She should have been included."

Screenwriter Roger Ebert added, "No Farrah in the memorial. They have a whole lot of 'splaining (sic) to do."

And U.S. TV personality Star Jones is fuming the actress was not included, because she appeared in movies including The Cannonball Run and The Apostle and was even nominated for a Golden Globe for 1987 film Extremities.

Jones writes on her Twitter page, "FYI (for your information)... Farrah had a very diverse career... that included Broadway, TV & Film. She even received a Golden Globe nom (sic)."

But Oscar bosses have defended their decision. Bruce Davis, the executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, says, "It is the single most troubling element of the Oscar show every year. Because more people die each year than can possibly be included in that segment. You are dropping people who the public knows. It's just not comfortable."

Welcome To Your First Look At The 2011 Oscars!!

The Red Carpet at the Kodak Theater hasn’t even been rolled up, and Tinseltown is already talking about next year’s Oscar race.

Will Jeff Bridges and George Clooney be squaring off for Best Actor again?
Bridges is stepping into John Wayne’s Oscar-winning role as a grumpy old lawman in Joel and Ethan Coen’s remake of the western classic “True Grit,” while Clooney plays a hit man lying low in Italy before one last job in “The American.”

Welcome to Hollywood’s version of fantasy baseball, where insiders try to dope out the Oscar prospects of films that largely haven’t been completed, often don’t have firm release dates, and in a few cases, lack even a US distributor yet.

A year out, it’s mostly about the past performances of the talent and the pedigree of the material.

Clint Eastwood may have struck out with “Invictus,” but because he’s got two Best Picture and two Best Director Oscars on his mantle, you’ve got to seriously consider his globespanning supernatural thriller “Hereafter” starring Matt Damon.

Similarly, it probably isn’t wise to ignore the yet-untitled romantic dramedy from writerdirector James Brooks, especially since it stars Oscar winners Jack Nicholson and Reese Witherspoon.

With 10 Best Picture slots, you can’t even rule out something as unlikely sounding as “The Beaver,” starring Mel Gibson as a depressed man who finds solace in . . . a hand puppet. Jodie Foster directs and plays his wife.

Here’s a far-from-complete list of contenders:

“Inception” — Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight”) directs Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard with nominee Ellen Page in a futuristic sci-fi thriller.

“Fair Game” — Biopic with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn as outed CIA agent Valerie Plame and her husband.

“The Social Network” — Jesse Eisenberg in the story behind the creation of Facebook, directed by David Fincher (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”).

“Tree of Life” — Brad Pitt and Sean Penn in a family drama spanning half a century, from Terrence Malick (“The Thin Red Line”).

“The Green Zone” — Matt Damon hunts for WMDs in Iraq.

“The Black Swan” — Dark thriller with Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as rival ballerinas.

“Somewhere” — Sofia Coppola directs Benicio del Toro as a hard-living Hollywood celebrity who re-examines his life after the arrival of his 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning).

“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” — Michael Douglas reprises his Oscar-winning role in Oliver Stone’s belated sequel set during the Great Recession.

“Love and Other Drugs” — Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway in a fact-based story about a Viagra salesman.

“Eat Pray Love” — Julia Roberts travels the world after a divorce, finds Javier Bardem.

“The Town” — Boston-set thriller directed by and starring Ben Affleck; with Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner.

“The Fighter” — Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg as half-brothers in the ring, one on the way up, the other on the way down.

“The Tempest” — Julie Taymor (“Across the Universe”) directs the latest version of the Shakespeare fantasy with Russell Brand and Helen Mirren.

“Never Let Me Go” — Adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro novel about three former classmates (Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Sally Hawkins) who reunite to face their dark past.

“Secretariat” — Diane Lane as the great thoroughbred’s owner, John Malkovich as his trainer. Well, nobody expected “Seabiscuit” to be nominated as Best Picture, either.

“Toy Story 3” — Because it is from Pixar’s and it is “Toy Story 3”!!

Why small film blew away giant 'Avatar'

This isn't exactly the kind of Blue Monday that disappointed "Avatar" fans were expecting.

Oscar voters passed over the top-grossing film of all time, and instead gave Best Picture to "The Hurt Locker," which sold the fewest tickets of any Best Picture winner in academy history.

The academy also made history by choosing Kathryn Bigelow of "The Hurt Locker" as the first woman ever to win the Oscar for Best Director -- over her ex-husband, "Avatar" director James Cameron.

"Avatar" and Cameron seemed unbeatable in January after winning at the Golden Globes and becoming a genuine international cultural phenomenon.

But experts say the film's Oscar campaign failed to capitalize on its momentum and allowed the flick to get swamped in the inevitable backlash.

"Avatar" was widely mocked by the chattering classes for being derivative ("Dances With Smurfs"). A lightly revised script for the Disney cartoon "Pocahontas," underlining the similarities between the two films, circulated through the blogosphere.

Meanwhile, the film's campaigners pushed unsuccessfully to get a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Zoe Saldana, who appears in the film only in animated form.

"The campaign was overly defensive, focusing too much on convincing the voters that the motion-capture performances were real acting," says a veteran Oscar consultant.

"Instead, they should have emphasized on what a game-changer 'Avatar' is for the way movies will be made."

It probably didn't help that many Oscar voters still remember Cameron's boastful "king of the world" speech from the night when his "Titanic" won 11 Oscars in 1998.

So Oscar voters continued the recent trend of embracing small, art-house flicks such as "The Hurt Locker."

Bigelow pioneers Oscars with `Hurt Locker' win

LOS ANGELES – Kathryn Bigelow played field commander to bring her raw, relentless Iraq War thriller "The Hurt Locker" to the screen.

After her film triumphed at the Academy Awards with six prizes and made her the first woman ever to win the directing Oscar, she graduated to diplomat with her deft handling of some uncomfortable personal questions from reporters after the show.

Bigelow's rivals included a man from her past — ex-husband James Cameron, whose science-fiction epic "Avatar" also was nominated for the best picture and director that she won.

Backstage, Bigelow judiciously handled reporters' queries about Cameron, who was seated right behind her at the Oscars and joined the standing ovation she received, clapping heartily and saying, "Yes, yes" after she won best director.

"Jim is very inspiring. I think he inspires filmmakers around the world, and for that, I think I can speak for all of them. We're quite grateful," Bigelow said.

Asked what she might say to Cameron about winning over him, Bigelow gave a big laugh and shrugged off the question.

"You left me speechless," Bigelow said. She and Cameron were married from 1989-91, and Cameron won best director and picture for his 1997 blockbuster "Titanic."

First-time winners took all four acting prizes: Sandra Bullock as best actress for "The Blind Side"; Jeff Bridges as best actor for "Crazy Heart"; Mo'Nique as supporting actress for "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' by Sapphire"; and Christoph Waltz as supporting actor for "Inglourious Basterds."

Bigelow downplayed descriptions of herself as a female filmmaker throughout awards season. After the Oscars, she reiterated that sentiment but made it clear she was eager for other women to follow her lead in winning Hollywood's top filmmaking honor.

"I hope I'm the first of many, and of course, I'd love to just think of myself as a filmmaker. And I long for the day when that modifier can be a moot point," Bigelow said. "But I'm very grateful if I can inspire some young, intrepid, tenacious male or female filmmaker and have them feel that the impossible is possible, and never give up on your dream."

Bullock's win came a day after she won worst-actress for her romantic comedy flop "All About Steve" at the Razzies, a spoof of the Oscars that mocks Hollywood's low-points of the year.

The Razzie win makes Bullock the only actress to receive that dubious prize and an Oscar on the same weekend. Bullock became one of the few Razzie winners ever to collect her trophy in person, showing up at the ceremony Saturday pulling a little red wagon filled with DVDs of "All About Steve" for the audience there.

Where will she keep her Oscar and Razzie?

"They'll sit side by side on a nice little shelf somewhere. The Razzie maybe on a different shelf. Lower," said Bullock, who was a great sport throughout awards season, joking about her worst-actress Razzie nomination. "You take the good with the not-so-good."

The Oscar marks a career peak for Bridges, a beloved Hollywood veteran who had been nominated four times in the previous 38 years without winning. Describing his long career, he borrowed some lines from one of his most endearing and enduring characters, the laid-back bowler the Dude from "The Big Lebowski."

"Ups and downs. What does the Dude say? Strikes and gutters, man," Bridges said backstage. "I'm big on the Dude. I love him."

Known mainly for brazen comedy routines and roles in lowbrow films, Mo'Nique startled audiences with a dark turn as a reprehensible welfare mother in "Precious."

Asked backstage if things would change for her, Mo'Nique declared, "I am a standup comedian who won an Oscar."

Austrian-born Waltz, a veteran TV and stage actor in Europe but virtually unknown in Hollywood before Quentin Tarantino cast him in "Inglourious Basterds," reflected on his sudden Oscar celebrity.

"It's mind-boggling. It's fantastic. It's very intense," Waltz said. "And tomorrow I'll probably be sorry it's over," he said.

"The Hurt Locker" scored a victory for war-on-terror dramas, which until now had found little favor with audiences shell-shocked by nightly news coverage of the action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The film stars Jeremy Renner as the ace leader of a bomb-disposal unit in Iraq, a man whose addiction to the adrenaline rush of war endanger his colleagues (Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty).

War films normally are the arena of male directors, but Bigelow has made action and stories about tough men a specialty, her films including the Keanu Reeves-Patrick Swayze thriller "Point Break" and Harrison Ford's submarine adventure "K-19: The Widowmaker."

"K-19" was a 2002 flop, and it took Bigelow years to get back in action with "The Hurt Locker," which premiered at the Venice and Toronto film festivals in September 2008.

While it pulled in $12.6 million domestically, a respectable showing for an independent film without big stars, "The Hurt Locker" is the lowest-grossing best-picture winner in this modern era of detailed box-office bookkeeping.

It took in less than one-fourth the haul of 2005 best-picture winner "Crash," itself one of the least commercially successful recipients of the top Oscar.

Along with "Avatar," the biggest modern blockbuster with $720 million domestically, the best-picture competition included the $200 million smashes "Up" and "The Blind Side" and the $100 million hits "District 9" and "Inglourious Basterds."

Like "Crash," "The Hurt Locker" was a rare film that swooped in from outside the Hollywood studios to earn the industry's highest tribute. "The Hurt Locker" was acquired by Summit Entertainment after the film played at the Toronto festival, where "Crash" also was bought by distributor Lionsgate.

Joining Bigelow to collect the best-picture Oscar were "Hurt Locker" producers Mark Boal, who also won the prize for original screenplay, and Greg Shapiro.

A fourth producer — financier Nicolas Chartier, a key money man behind the film — was barred from attending as punishment for violating awards rules by sending e-mails to Oscar voters urging them to back "The Hurt Locker" over "Avatar."

Oscar overseers said Chartier still will receive his best-picture Oscar, but at a later time.

"We haven't spoken to him yet," Shapiro said. "He sent me a very beautiful e-mail. He had a party thrown for him, and I think he's very pleased."

Japan defends dolphin hunt in Oscar-winning 'Cove'

TAIJI, Japan – The Japanese fishing village featured in "The Cove," which won an Oscar for best documentary, defended its practice of hunting dolphins Monday as a part of a long tradition.

The movie, which mixes stunning underwater shots of gliding dolphins with covertly filmed grisly footage of their slaughter, also claims that dolphin meat is laden with toxic mercury.

Taiji, a quiet fishing village on the rocky coast of southwestern Japan, kills only a small fraction of the dolphins hunted by the country each year. But it has long been a target of environmentalists and animal lovers because it uses a method called "oikomi," in which the dolphins are chased into shore, making the hunt more visible.

Though few residents said they had seen the film, there was universal disgust at its portrayal of the town. Taiji proudly bills itself as "Whale Town" and a main bridge is adorned with dolphin statues, but after years of what locals see as unfair treatment by the foreign press, few are willing to talk on the record. One young dolphin trainer turned and ran away when asked for her opinion.

"This is a close-knit group of fishermen. The more they feel squeezed, the more they will close off to outsiders. They won't stop this hunt because of such pressure," said Hisato Ryono, a local councilman who appears in the film.

The mayor's office handed out a statement that said Taiji's dolphin hunt is lawful and argued that the movie contained statements that were not based on science. Otherwise, most town officials refused to talk.

"There are different food traditions within Japan and around the world," the statement read. "It is important to respect and understand regional food cultures, which are based on traditions with long histories."

Director Louie Psihoyos said "The Cove" isn't meant to bash Japan but that it is "a love letter to the Japanese people."

"Our hope is the Japanese people will see this film and decide themselves whether animals should be used for meat and for entertainment," Psihoyos said backstage after receiving the Oscar at the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

The town of Taiji kills about 2,000 dolphins every year for their meat. Some are captured and sold to aquariums.

The Japanese government, which allows about 19,000 dolphins to be killed each year, acknowledges that dolphin meat is contaminated with mercury, but denies it's dangerous unless consumed in huge quantities.

In September, amid an international outcry following the screening of the movie abroad, villagers released several dozen dolphins that had been caught. But locals say they will continue with the hunt.

The movie has not yet been released in Japan, but it will start showing here in June at 20 to 30 theaters nationwide. It was shown at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October, where viewers gave it mixed reviews.

Still, most Japanese don't know about the annual dolphin hunt, and dolphin meat is hardly eaten in Japan.

Takeshi Kato, president of Unplugged in Tokyo, which is distributing the film in Japan, said the faces of dozens of Taiji residents are being blurred out for the Japan version to ward off possible lawsuits under Japanese law that protects privacy.

"Our purpose is not to attack the people of Taiji," he said.

"If this movie can serve as an opportunity for people to find out, it would be great," he told The Associated Press on Monday.

He said he hopes the film will help open the debate in Japan on preserving nature, including dolphins and whales.

"Receiving the top award in the movie industry will work as a big plus for our efforts to show this movie in Japan," he said.

Ryono, the local councilman, and Tetsuya Endo, an associate professor at Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, both appear in the current version of the film and say they were interviewed under false pretenses. Both say they have asked the filmmakers to remove footage, and Endo says he hasn't ruled out legal action.

"I feel that they should have declined the award," Endo said.

Psihoyos was unable to get permission to access the cove where the dolphins are killed. Fishermen blocked it with barbed wire and fences. So he and his film team secretly broke into the restricted area — which is in a national park — at night to set up cameras that capture the slaughter.

Japanese government officials have defended the fishermen's right to hunt dolphins and called the film unbalanced.

"There are some countries that eat cows, and there are other countries that eat whales or dolphins," said Yutaka Aoki, fisheries division director at Foreign Ministry. "A film about slaughtering cows or pigs might also be unwelcome to workers in that industry."

Kathryn Bigelow makes Oscar history

History has been made. For the first time, a woman has won an Oscar for best director.

Kathryn Bigelow received the award for the gritty war drama "The Hurt Locker." "There's no other way to describe this, it's the moment of a lifetime," she said.

Moments earlier, a standing ovation greeted Sandra Bullock as she clutched her first best actress Oscar, for "The Blind Side."

A few years back, Bullock decided to take a breather and, tired of all the frothy roles coming her way, decided to rexamine her career. It was the best move she ever made.

"Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down?" said Bullock, who won for playing a Southern wife and mother who took in a homeless African American teen-age boy and changes his life forever. She said she dedicated the Oscar to "Mom, who take care of all the babies no matter where they come from." She broke into tears as she honored her late mother for guiding on her way.

Earlier, after having been nominated for an Academy Award five times -- twice for best actor, three times for supporting actor -- Jeff Bridges won his first Oscar, as best actor for playing a boozy country singer in "Crazy Heart."

The win was all but guaranteed: Bridges has nearly swept every honor that came his way this awards season. The son of the late veteran actor Lloyd Bridges, thanked his father and his late mother, Dorothy, who urged him to join the family business. "Thank you, Mom and Dad, for turning me on to such a groovy profession."

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences expanded the best picture roster from five nominees to 10 this years to try to make things more interesting, but the majority of the Oscars doled out have gone to just a handful of the nominees, including "The Hurt Locker," "Avatar," "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," "Up" and "Crazy Heart."

The five films are the only ones to win at least two honors this evening.

"The Hurt Locker" is leading with five.

The war drama won for film editing for Bob Murawski and his wife, Chris Innis. It also won for sound editing for Paul N.J. Ottosson, who had barely left the stage when he was called back to receive the sound mixing award for the low-budget indie along with Ray Beckett. Earlier, the film won original screenplay for Mark Boal.

"Avatar" has three trophies, in technical categories. It won for visual effects for Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones. Art direction went to Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg and set decorator Kim Sinclair for the James Cameron blockbuster, which also won cinematography for Mauro Fiore.

Meanwhile, "Precious" and "Up" have two wins apiece.

Mo'Nique, considered the shoo-in for for supporting actress as the vile, abusive mother of a pregnant teen in "Precious," took home the honor as expected. The comic talk-show host, who opted out of doing extensive campaigning this awards season, thanked the academy and said it proves that a win "can be about the performance and not the politics." Moments earlier, Geoffrey Fletcher won for adapted screenplay for "Precious." Holding back the tears, Fletcher said: "I don't know what to say. This is for everybody who works on a dream every day." His win was a surprise: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner were the favorites for "Up in the Air."

"Up" won animated film and original score for Michael Giacchino.

Other honors handed out at the 82nd annual Academy Awards: Argentina's "The Secret in their Eyes" won foreign language film. "The Cove," about the secret slaughter of dolphins in Japan, won documentary. One activist involved in the film held up a sign urging audiences to text their support, but that is a no-no: The cameras quickly pulled away. Original song went to Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett for "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)." Animated feature film went to "Up," which is also nominated for best film. And as expected, Austrian actor Christoph Waltz danced away with supporting actor for playing a brutal Nazi Jew hunter in "Inglourious Basterds." All three have dominated this awards season, winning practically every available honor.

Awards in the short-film categories were "Logorama" for animated, "Music by Prudence" for documentary and "The New Tenants" for live action. Costume design went to Sandy Powell for "The Young Victoria."

Ben Stiller, decked out in "Avatar" Navi blue, complete with tail and braid, presented the makeup award to "Star Trek."

The show kicked off with Neil Patrick Harris, who got rave reviews for hosting the Tonys and the Emmys last year, performing a musical number -- "No One Wants to Do It Alone." It was a reference to the hosts of the show, the wild and crazy Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, or, as Harris called them, "the biggest pair since Dolly Parton."

And with that, the hosts came down from the heavens at the Kodak Theatre, holding hands.

The witty, salty banter that ensued included putting on 3-D glasses to spot "Avatar" director James Cameron in the audience and joking that Meryl Streep, with whom the two starred in "It's Complicated," is the most nominated performer in academy history. Or, as Martin said, the performer with the most losses. (Then they joked about having a threesome with Streep on the set.)

Here Is The List of winners at the 82nd annual Academy Awards:

• Motion Picture: "The Hurt Locker."
• Actor: Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart."
• Actress: Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side."
• Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds."
• Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire."
• Director: Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker."
• Foreign Film: "El Secreto de Sus Ojos," Argentina.
• Adapted Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher, "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' by Sapphire."
• Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, "The Hurt Locker."
• Animated Feature Film: "Up."
• Art Direction: "Avatar."
• Cinematography: "Avatar."
• Sound Mixing: "The Hurt Locker."
• Sound Editing: "The Hurt Locker."
• Original Score: "Up," Michael Giacchino.
• Original Song: "The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart," Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett.
• Costume: "The Young Victoria."
• Documentary Feature: "The Cove."
• Documentary (short subject): "Music by Prudence."
• Film Editing: "The Hurt Locker."
• Makeup: "Star Trek."
• Animated Short Film: "Logorama."
• Live Action Short Film: "The New Tenants."
• Visual Effects: "Avatar."

Record number of Cdns up for Oscars

LOS ANGELES - The biggest cliche in awards show circles is simple and stress-free: “It was great just to be nominated!” That is how most of the record number of Canadians up for Oscars this year have to deal with being at the Academy Awards today.

“We are interested spectators - and I don’t expect to win,” Vancouver’s Neill Blomkamp (of District 9 fame) says cheerily about his prospects.

Blomkamp is one of 13 Canadians involved and they have generated a total of 17 nominations bearing their names. Unlike at the triumphant Winter Olympics in Vancouver, most of the Canadian contenders are going to lose, according to most predictions. The only front-runners are Montreal-born filmmaker Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) and Kapuskasing-born James Cameron (Avatar), both of whom are involved in all-American productions.

For that matter, none of the Canadians in the Oscar race is involved in an all-Canadian film. But that does not diminish the talent of the individual and the prestige of the nomination.

“Filmmaking is an international artform - it is not exclusive to any one country,” legendary Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison told me this week as he surveyed the list of nominees from his homeland. “It is really exciting. I think we are producing more and more talent and that (the nominations list) is the result. But there are no borders in art. We should just celebrate talent and accomplishment.”

There is plenty of that among the Canadians nominated this year. For example, while Blomkamp’s best picture contender District 9 is officially an American-New Zealand co-production, Canadians command most of the key credits on the filmmaking side.

“Do you sense there is a bit of a wagon train going on here?” says the playful David Fransen, consul general of Canada in Los Angeles. As he had a month before for the 14 Grammy Award nominees from Canada, Fransen hosted a luncheon this week honouring some of the 13 Oscar nominees (Cameron was a no-show because of prior commitments). Fransen noted that the giddy highs of the Grammy Awards and then the Winter Olympics have carried over into the Oscar celebrations. “This has been an extraordinary year for Canada!”

As for the nominees, Reitman is nominated in three categories as best director, as co-author of the best adapted screenplay and as co-producer of one of the best picture contenders. His Oscar should come in the writing category. Reitman will share that with an American, screenwriter Shelton Turner. Together, they adapted the book Up in the Air by American novelist Walter Kirn into a screenplay.

Meanwhile, one of Jason Reitman’s co-producers is his Slovakian-born, Canadian-raised father, Ivan Reitman, who is famous for directing films such as Ghost Busters. This is Ivan Reitman’s first nomination in a career stretching back four decades.

Like Jason Reitman - and like he was himself a dozen years ago with Titanic - Cameron is also nominated in three categories. In his case, he is contending as best director, as best film editor and as co-producer of a best picture contender. Cameron’s best chance is for best picture, with Avatar going head-to-head with The Hurt Locker.

The other Canadians, all with one nomination each, are:

- Christopher Plummer (The Last Station): Shockingly perhaps, the Toronto-born Plummer had to wait until he was 80 years old to be nominated for an Oscar - as best supporting actor for playing Russian author Leo Tolstoy in Michael Hoffman’s drama. Plummer was born just two years after Hollywood launched talkies, ending the silent film era. While he has also established himself as a star of the stage, Plummer made his television debut in 1953 and his feature film debut in 1958 (in Sidney Lumet’s Stage Struck with Henry Fonda). Despite dozens of movies since, he never got Oscar consideration before The Last Station.

- Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell (District 9): They are up against Reitman in the best adapted screenplay category after turning Blomkamp’s electrifying 2005 short, Alive in Joburg, into a feature film under the tutelage of producer Peter Jackson (of The Lord of the Rings fame). Alive in Joburg was a Canadian production, made after the Johannesburg-born Blomkamp emigrated to Vancouver at 18 and went to the Vancouver Film School. Tatchell is Toronto-born and also Vancouver-based. She also attended the Vancouver Film School.

- Julian Clarke (District 9): Blomkamp says Clarke, who is nominated for best film editing, stands the best chance of winning anything for District 9, even though he is up against Cameron in this category. Most predictions in this category, however, lean towards the team of Bob Murawski and Chris Innis for The Hurt Locker.

- Peter Muyzers and Robert Habros (District 9): These guys, part of a four-man team credited in the nominations, helped create the dazzling special effects for Blomkamp’s hit movie. They are contending in the best visual effects category with Avatar and Star Trek. But District 9 is expected to lose this craft category to Avatar.

- Anastasia Masaro (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus): She was nominated for her art direction on mad genius Terry Gilliam’s latest fantasy. But Avatar is expected to take this category, too, in a sweep of most of the craft categories.

- Monique Prudhomme (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus): She was nominated for costume design for Gilliam’s film, demonstrating how much he likes to employ Canadians in key creative jobs after making an earlier film on Canadian soil.

- Gordon Sim (Nine): Sim was nominated, along with John Myhre, for best art direction, a category which also includes set decoration (which is Sim’s part of the nomination). The Sim-Myhre team won the Oscar in this category for their work on Chicago. But don’t expect a repeat for the musical Nine. This category will produce another Oscar for Avatar.

- Patrice Vermette (The Young Victoria): This creative Quebecer is up against Sim and Myhre in the art direction category. In Vermette’s case, he shares the nomination with set decorator Maggie Gray. In his earlier Quebec career, Vermette worked with Jean-Marc Vallee (who directed The Young Victoria) on Vallee’s masterpiece, C.R.A.Z.Y.

At the Consulate luncheon for the Canadian nominees, a number of those honoured fired off brief, spontaneous speeches. Here is a sampling:

- Jason Reitman: “I grew up here in Los Angeles. And it really wasn’t until I met my wife (Michele Lee) that I realized how Canadian I was. My wife’s from Vancouver and she really wouldn’t date me, much less fall in love with me, until I started playing hockey, following hockey ... She taught me the national anthem. She oddly made me a Canadian re-born. And I never feel so Canadian as I do when my films play the Toronto film festival. I take a lot of pride in the fact that each one of my films has shown for the first time there.”

- Ivan Reitman: “I’m just really proud and happy and feel really privileged to be here. I’m proud as a Canadian; I’m proud certainly as a filmmaker; and I’m very proud as a father. This was a wonderful experience for me.”

- Neill Blomkamp: “If you had told me when I was standing in a slum in Johannesburg with seven pig heads next to us (for use in a shot of an exploding human), while we were making a genre film about aliens, that I would be honoured essentially by the Consul General of Canada ... I would have said that was kind of insane. So I feel very honoured and I want to thank Canada for this.” The wry Blomkamp also thanked the consul for lending him a pair of sunglasses for the outdoor event.

- Terri Tatchell: “I’m as Canadian as it gets. This means the world to me! Because, every year I watched the Oscars since I was six years old, I always found out who was Canadian and was cheering for them and was so excited. I don’t think, until the nomination came, that it ever even occurred to me that I might one day be one of those Canadians!”

- Patrice Vermette: “That was surreal enough,” Vermette said about being offered the art direction assignment on “a period piece about Queen Victoria.” But it was even more surreal to find himself as an Oscar nominee, he added.

- Monique Prudhomme: “I always thought that working in film was a privilege, and also an adventure. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was an odyssey. We travelled a lot, we lost an actor (Heath Ledger died during production), we shut down, we started again, we madly finished the movie. And I have a great, great privilege to be part of the art of filmmaking, which to me is an art of creation ... So, for me to be here today as a Canadian, as a French-Canadian, as part of this fantastic industry, I am really proud, I am really honoured.”

Academy Award Predictions

I am truly hoping that I am wrong, and that the Oscars offer up some surprises, but here is what I expect will happen: Best Actor: Jeff Bridges; Best Actress: Sandra Bullock; Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz; Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique; Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow; and Best Picture: "The Hurt Locker", but "Inglourious Basterds" may win and be the surprise of the night!!

Enjoy!!!!

'Transformers,' Bullock make Razzies worst list

LOS ANGELES – "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was picked as last year's worst picture at Saturday's Razzies, and Sandra Bullock won worst actress for "All About Steve" — on the eve of her expected Academy Awards triumph for another film.

Voters at the Razzies, which poke fun at the Oscars by giving out prizes for Hollywood's critical misfires, chose Bullock for her romantic comedy flop. "All About Steve" came and quickly vanished at theaters in between her 2009 hits, "The Proposal" and "The Blind Side," the latter expected to win Bullock the best-actress Oscar on Sunday.

If Bullock takes best-actress for "The Blind Side," she will be the first person ever to win an Oscar and a Razzie over the same weekend.

"She's in the unprecedented position, Saturday she's the worst, and the very next night, she's back on her feet, and she's the best," said Razzies founder John Wilson. "We certainly don't wish her ill at that other awards show."

Throughout awards season, Bullock has been good-natured about it, joking about the Razzies attention she has gotten along with the Oscar esteem.

Bullock and "All About Steve" co-star Bradley Cooper also shared the Razzie for worst screen couple.

The "Transformers" sequel won two other Razzies, worst director for Michael Bay and worst screenplay for Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

Bay and his team probably will not lose any asleep over it, though. Though reviled by critics, "Transformers" took in $402.1 million domestically, No. 2 on the 2009 box-office chart behind "Avatar."

The worst-actor Razzie went to siblings Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas for "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience."

The Jonas' pal Miley Cyrus, star of "Hannah Montana: The Movie," lost the worst-actress category to Bullock. But her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, was named worst supporting actor for the big-screen "Hannah Montana."

Sienna Miller received the worst supporting-actress Razzie for the action tale "G.I. Joe."

Will Ferrell's action comedy flop "Land of the Lost" had come in tied with "Transformers" for the Razzies lead with seven nominations, but it was nearly shut out in every category.

Once ballots had been counted from the roughly 650 Razzies voters, "Land of the Lost" was tied for the group's worst remake, rip-off or sequel prize. Razzies founder Wilson, who always votes last, gave the tie-breaking vote to "Land of the Lost."

"It really did stink and I thought, well, it ought to get something, because it is a very bad movie," Wilson said.

Razzie voters also made worst-of-the-decade picks, with John Travolta's science-fiction debacle "Battlefield Earth" winning worst picture.

Among all-time Hollywood dreck, "Battlefield Earth" is "like the 800-pound mongrel gorilla in the room," Wilson said. "It's one of my favorite type of bad movies. It's so bad, it's entertaining, in ways that the people who made it had no idea it would be."

Paris Hilton was chosen as the decade's worst actress for movies such as "The Hottie and the Nottie" and "Repo: The Genetic Opera." Eddie Murphy, a 2009 Razzie nominee for "Imagine That," was named the decade's worst actor for such bombs as "The Adventures of Pluto Nash," "I Spy" and "Meet Dave."

John Hughes Oscar tribute expected

TORONTO - The Oscars are expected to pay tribute to beloved teen director John Hughes this weekend, a man former muse Molly Ringwald says remains "a very important part" of her life.

Ringwald says she's unable to confirm if she's participating in the Academy Award special - reportedly separate from the usual In Memoriam segment - nor could she divulge details of the tribute.

But the piece is apparently set to include appearances by old cast members of Hughes' famous films.

Ringwald, who shot to stardom in the '80s after starring in "Sixteen Candles," "Pretty In Pink" and "The Breakfast Club," notes that Hughes' legacy has been embraced by a new generation of fans.

"The films are very meaningful for a lot of people and have been for many years," the actress said Friday from Los Angeles.

Hughes died from a heart attack in August at age 59.

Ringwald says she lost touch with the private filmmaker after their famous partnerships.

"I didn't have any contact with him later on but he's still a very important part of my life," said Ringwald, who now stars in the teen series, "Secret Life of The American Teenager."

"He sort of became somewhat of a recluse and his focus was, from what I understand, was kind of on trees. He was very into trees and I think he kind of stepped away from the business somewhat."

Hughes' films include "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Uncle Buck," "Weird Science" and "Home Alone." They catapulted a raft of young stars to fame in the '80s, among them Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy and Emilio Estevez.

Ringwald says she hasn't stayed close to her onscreen pals, which the media dubbed at the time as "The Brat Pack."

"Anytime that we see each other it is a reunion of sorts. I don't really get to see people that I worked with in those movies very often so it's always nice to sort of catch up," said Ringwald.

"We're friendly but it was 25 years ago and we spent three months together doing movies. I think in everybody else's mind it's like we were actually a club but really we just did a movie together and we all have very different lives and different careers. We're very happy to sort of catch up but that's what it is."

Oscar co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin both starred in Hughes films, with Martin appearing in 1987's "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" and Baldwin in 1988's "She's Having A Baby."

The Oscars air Sunday!!

Oscar producers urge viewers to tune in early

LOS ANGELES – The people behind Sunday's Oscars show are urging people to tune in early for one of the program's best sequences.

Bill Mechanic, who is producing the awards ceremony with Adam Shankman, promised "the most dynamic opening, from drama to spectacle to humor, that has ever been staged."

Shankman said the show will be funny, lively and fun.

"People hate it when I say this," he said, "but I always say this is the best-dressed reality competition show on TV."

The two men joined film academy President Tom Sherak on the red carpet outside the Kodak Theatre for a brief news conference Friday about the big show.

Dismissing a gloomy weather forecast, Sherak said definitively that it will not rain at Oscar time. Mechanic quipped that it would "rain humor." And Shankman said that when you produce the Oscars, there's no one you can't call, so "I just called God."

"Like everything in Hollywood, it's a negotiation," he said.

The show will be heavy on humor, thanks to the hosting duo of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, Mechanic said, adding that the Oscar show hasn't had two hosts since 1928.

Expect "greater emotional content" too, he said: "We want this to touch people."
The Oscar honchos also announced a new round of presenters: Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Sarah Jessica Parker, Demi Moore, Zoe Saldana and Pedro Almodovar will appear on the telecast. And they urged viewers to tune in at the top of the program, which begins at 8 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on ABC.

Junos go crazy for Bublé

The Junos sure have some crazy love for Michael Bublé.

The pop crooner and international superstar came out on top when this year’s award nominees were announced in Toronto on Wednesday.

Bublé, his latest album Crazy Love and his single Haven’t Met You Yet raked in six nominations — eight if you count two nods for producers David Foster and Bob Rock.

The 34-year-old Vancouver singer, fresh off his bizarre performance at the Vancouver Olympics closing ceremony, is up for artist and songwriter of the year, plus the fan choice award. His disc is nominated in the album and pop album categories. Haven’t Met You Yet is vying for single of the year, and earned Rock one of those production nominations.

Other multiple nominees this year include pop-punks Billy Talent, hip- hop phenom Drake and country singer Johnny Reid, each with four nominations. Teen-pop sensation Justin Bieber, indie-rockers Metric, hip-hoppers Classified and K’Naan, jazz superstar Diana Krall and Can-rock legends The Tragically Hip each have three nods.

If that sounds like a fairly diverse slate, well, it is. At first glance, this year’s Junos — which are routinely, roundly and rightly criticized for favouring established acts and basing some awards on sales figures instead of artistic achievements — seem to have done a fairly decent job of broadening their horizons, favouring hipper fare such as Japandroids, Handsome Furs and Thunderheist over the likes of perennial nominee Celine Dion.

This year’s trophies will be handed out April 17 and 18 in St. John’s, Nfld.

Billy Talent, Blue Rodeo, Drake, Johnny Reid and Michael Bublé are slated to perform at the annual televised ceremony, with Bryan Adams taking home a humanitarian award and April Wine being inducted into the hall of fame.

But since it’s never too early to start second-guessing the nominations, here are my two cents on some of the top categories:

Fan choice award

Ginette Reno; Johnny Reid; Maxime Landry; Michael Bublé; Nickelback.

Snap Judgment: No disrespect to Ginette, Johnny and Maxime, but this is a two-horse race. Nickelback won last year — and since it’s younger fans who vote, don’t be surprised to see a repeat.

Best single

Rusted From the Rain, Billy Talent; Anybody Listening, Classified; Best I Ever Had, Drake; Haven’t Met You Yet, Michael Bublé; Love is a First, The Tragically Hip.

Snap Judgment: Nice to see the Junos jumping on the Drake bandwagon — maybe he’ll fare better on home turf than he did at the Grammys. But if the number of times I heard Bublé’s song in the mall is anything to go by, he’s the man to beat.

Best album

III, Billy Talent; Quiet Nights, Diana Krall; Dance With Me, Johnny Reid; My World, Justin Bieber; Crazy Love, Michael Bublé.

Snap Judgment: Screamo vs. jazz vs. country vs. teen-pop vs. jazz- pop. Only in Canada, eh? Mashups like this are why some people love the Junos, and why others hate them.

Best artist

Diana Krall; Jann Arden; Johnny Reid; K’Naan; Michael Bublé.

Snap Judgment: On the plus side, Nickelback aren’t nominated. But seriously, couldn’t they have found somebody else besides K’Naan to appeal to the under-30 fans?

Best group

Billy Talent; Blue Rodeo; Hedley; Metric; The Tragically Hip.

Snap Judgment: I love Blue Rodeo and the Hip as much as the next guy, but really, what did they do to deserve a spot on this list? Billy Talent would seem to be the no-brainer in this category.

Best new artist

Carly Rae Jepsen; Danny Fernandes; Drake; Justin Bieber; Shiloh.

Snap Judgment: Carly Rae, Danny and Shiloh — you really don’t need to work on that acceptance speech.

Best pop album

The Show Must Go, Hedley; My World, Justin Bieber; The Listening, Lights; Crazy Love, Michael Bublé; Stereos, Stereos.

Snap Judgment: Stereos? Really? And Lights? Can anybody tell me why she’s popular? This one looks like a battle between young (Bieber) and old (Bublé). Let the best fans win.

Best rock album

Old Crows/Young Cardinals, Alexisonfire; III, Billy Talent; Dark Horse, Nickelback; We Are the Same, The Tragically Hip; Life Starts Now, Three Days Grace.

Snap Judgment: Great to see the Alexisonfire CD here, though it should be in album of the year. But why are Nickelback nominated again for an album they cleaned up with last year? This is why people say the Junos are a joke. And why they’re right.

Best alternative album

Face Control, Handsome Furs; Post-Nothing, Japandroids; I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day, Julie Doiron; Fantasies, Metric; Sainthood, Tegan & Sara.

Snap Judgment: Metric and Tegan & Sara seem a little too big to be in this category. Aside from that, no complaints.

Best country album

Go, Doc Walker; Believe, Emerson Drive; Dance With Me, Johnny Reid; The Long Way Home, Terri Clark; Road Hammers II, Road Hammers.

Snap Judgment: Perennial nominees Doc Walker took this last year; don’t expect a repeat, judging by the Johnny Reid juggernaut.

Best rap recording

Still Fly, Big Page, Drake & U.G.O.; Self Explanatory, Classified; So Far Gone, Drake; Yes!, k-os; Troubadour, K’Naan.

Snap Judgment: This one will be interesting — will Drake’s U.S.-based hype outshine k-os and K’Naan’s more homegrown achievements? Tune in April 18. The answer may surprise you.

The full Juno nominations list

JUNO FAN CHOICE AWARD (PRESENTED BY PEPSI)

Ginette Reno Melon-Miel *Select

Johnny Reid Open Road*Universal

Maxime Landry Productions J*Select

Michael Buble Reprise*Warner

Nickelback EMI

SINGLE OF THE YEAR

Rusted From The Rain Billy Talent WEA*Warner

Anybody Listening Classified HalfLife*Sony

Best I Ever Had Drake Aspire*Universal

Haven't Met You Yet Michael Buble Reprise*Warner

Love Is A First The Tragically Hip Universal

INTERNATIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

The E.N.D. Black Eyed Peas Interscope*Universal

Circus Britney Spears Zomba*Sony

Only By The Night Kings Of Leon RCA*Sony

I Dreamed A Dream Susan Boyle Simcoe*Sony

Fearless Taylor Swift Big Machine/Open Road*Universal

ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY CANADIAN RECORDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION)

III Billy Talent WEA*Warner

Quiet Nights Diana Krall Verve*Universal

Dance With Me Johnny Reid Open Road*Universal

My World Justin Bieber Island Def Jam*Universal

Crazy Love Michael Buble Reprise*Warner

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Diana Krall Verve*Universal

Jann Arden Universal

Johnny Reid Open Road*Universal

K'Naan A&M/Octone*Universal

Michael Buble Reprise*Warner

GROUP OF THE YEAR

Billy Talent WEA*Warner

Blue Rodeo WEA*Warner

Hedley Universal

Metric Last Gang*Universal

The Tragically Hip Universal

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY FACTOR AND CANADA'S PRIVATE RADIO BROADCASTERS)

Carly Rae Jepsen MapleMusic*Fontana North

Danny Fernandes CP*Fontana North

Drake Aspire*Universal

Justin Bieber Island Def Jam*Universal

Shiloh Universal

NEW GROUP OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY FACTOR AND CANADA'S PRIVATE RADIO BROADCASTERS)

Arkells Dine Alone*Universal

Down With Webster Universal Motown*Universal

Stereos Universal

Ten Second Epic Black Box*Fontana North

The New Cities Sony

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO)

Carly Rae Jepsen & Ryan Stewart "Tug Of War" | "Bucket" | "Money And The Ego" TUG OF WAR - Carly Rae Jepsen MapleMusic*Fontana North

Emily Haines & James Shaw "Gimme Sympathy" | "Sick Muse" | "Help I'm Alive" FANTASIES - Metric Last Gang*Universal

Joel Plaskett "Through & Through & Through" | "Deny, Deny, Deny" | "All The Way Down The Line" THREE - Joel Plaskett MapleMusic*Universal

K'Naan "Wavin Flag" - co-songwriters B. Mars, P. Lawrence & J. Daval | "Take A Minute", "If Rap Gets Jealous" - co-songwriters G. Eaton & B. West TROUBADOUR - K'Naan A&M/Octone*Universal

Michael Buble "Haven't Met You Yet", "Hold On" - co-songwriters Alan Chang & Amy S. Foster CRAZY LOVE - Michael Buble Reprise*Warner

COUNTRY ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Go Doc Walker Open Road*Universal

Believe Emerson Drive Valory/Open Road*Universal

Dance With Me Johnny Reid Open Road*Universal

The Long Way Home Terri Clark EMI

The Road Hammers II The Road Hammers Open Road*Universal

ADULT ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY GALAXIE, YOUR MUSICAL UNIVERSE)

Nineteen Seventy-Seven 1977 Independent

Masters Of The Burial Amy Millan Arts & Crafts*EMI

Way Down Here Cuff The Duke Noble*Universal

How To Fall Down In Public Howie Beck 13 Clouds*Fontana North

Three Joel Plaskett MapleMusic*Universal

ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Face Control Handsome Furs Sub Pop*Outside

Post-Nothing Japandroids Polyvinyl*Sonic Unyon

I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day Julie Doiron Endearing*Fontana North

Fantasies Metric Last Gang*Universal

Sainthood Tegan & Sara Warner Bros.*Warner

POP ALBUM OF THE YEAR

The Show Must Go Hedley Universal

My World Justin Bieber Island Def Jam*Universal

The Listening LIGHTS Underground Operations*Universal

Crazy Love Michael Buble Reprise*Warner

Stereos Stereos Universal

ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Old Crows/Young Cardinals Alexisonfire Dine Alone*Universal

III Billy Talent WEA*Warner

Dark Horse Nickelback EMI

We Are The Same The Tragically Hip Universal

Life Starts Now Three Days Grace Jive*Sony

VOCAL JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR

I Like Men Carol Welsman E1 Music

Quiet Nights Diana Krall Verve*Universal

Haven't We Met Emilie-Claire Barlow Empress*E1 Music

Lovelight Michael Kaeshammer Alert*Universal

Ranee Lee Lives Upstairs Ranee Lee Justin Time*EMI

CONTEMPORARY JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR

The Happiness Project Charles Spearin Arts & Crafts*EMI

Infernal Machines Darcy James Argue's Secret Society New Amsterdam*Naxos

Motion Hilario Duran Alma*Universal

Silverbirch John Roney Effendi*Select

Songbook Vol. 1 Kirk MacDonald Quartet Addo Records

TRADITIONAL JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Regeneration Al Henderson Septet Cornerstone*Outside

Bluesy Lunedi Alain Bedard Effendi*Select

Strands II Darren Sigesmund Independent

Pleased To Meet You Oliver Jones and Hank Jones Justin Time*EMI

It's About Time Terry Clarke Blue Music

INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Beats On Canvas Beats On Canvas BOC Records

As Seen Through The Windows Bell Orchestre Arts & Crafts*EMI

Trifecta Pavlo, Rik Emmett, Oscar Lopez PRO*Fontana North

Yalla Yalla! Sultans Of String Independent*Outside

L'ile de Sept Villes The Hylozoists Independent*Outside

FRANCOPHONE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Les sentinelles dormant Andrea Lindsay GSI*Select

mille excuses milady Jean Leloup Grosse Boite*Select

Dans Mon Corps Les Trois Accords Indica*Outside

Un toi dans ma tete Luc De Larochelliere Les Disques Victoire*DEP

Un serpent sous ses fleurs Yann Perreau Bonsound*Select

CHILDREN'S ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Action Packed Bobs & Lolo Independent

I'm Me! Charlie Hope Little Maple Leaf

Love My New Shirt Norman Foote Inarow Records

We Share The Earth The Bee's Knees The Children's Group*E1 Music

Walk On The Kerplunks Independent

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: SOLO OR CHAMBER ENSEMBLE

Philip Glass : Portrait Angele Dubeau & La Pieta Analekta*Select

El Dorado Caroline Leonardelli Centaur*IndiePool

Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence, Quartet No. 1 I Musici de Montreal Analekta*Select

James Ehnes plays Paganini 24 Caprices James Ehnes Onyx*SRI

Joel Quarrington: Garden Scene Joel Quarrington Analekta*Select

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: LARGE ENSEMBLE OR SOLOIST(S) WITH LARGE ENSEMBLE ACCOMPANIMENT

Mathieu, Shostakovich, Mendelssohn: Concertino & Concertos Alain Lefevre & London

Mozart Players Alalekta*Select

Bartok Les Violons du Roy ATMA*Naxos

Mendelssohn - Piano Concertos 1 & 2 - Symphony No. 5 Louis Lortie and Orchestre symphonique de Quebec ATMA*Naxos

Selections From the 2009 National Tour National Youth Orchestra of Canada Independent

Bruckner 8 Yannick Nezet-Seguin & Orchestre Metropolitain ATMA*Naxos

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: VOCAL OR CHORAL PERFORMANCE

Adrianne Pieczonka sings Puccini Adrianne Pieczonka Orfeo*SRI

Songs By Ravel Gerald Finley Hyperion*SRI

Gomidas Songs Isabel Bayrakdarian Nonesuch*Warner

Porpora Arias Karina Gauvin ATMA*Naxos

Melodiya: Glinka, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky Marianne Fiset; Orchestre

Radio-Canada Musique; Jean-Philippe Tremblay, conductor Analekta*Select

CLASSICAL COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR

Nocturne Leonard Enns SHADOWLAND Independent

Angels In Flight Marjan Mozetich LAMENT IN THE TRAMPLED GARDEN Centrediscs*CMC

Lament In The Trampled Garden Marjan Mozetich LAMENT IN THE TRAMPLED GARDEN

Centrediscs*CMC

Dreams Of Flying Rob Teehan NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA OF CANADA

Independent Earth Songs Stephen Chatman EARTH SONGS Centrediscs*CMC

RAP RECORDING OF THE YEAR

Still Fly Big Page, Drake & U.G.O. Crew Smoke & Mirrors*E1 Music

Self Explanatory Classified HalfLife*Sony

So Far Gone Drake Aspire*Universal

Yes! k-os Crown Loyalist*Universal

Troubadour K'Naan A&M/Octone*Universal

DANCE RECORDING OF THE YEAR

Shine 4U Carmen and Camille TwinSpin Music

For Lack Of A Better Name Deadmau5 Ultra*EMI

Runnin Doman and Gooding ft. Dru & Lincoln Heaven Recordings

I'm No Human Misstress Barbara MapleMusic*Universal

Thunderheist Thunderheist Big Dada*Universal

R&B/SOUL RECORDING OF THE YEAR

INTRO Danny Fernandes CP*Fontana North

Lonesome Highway jacksoul Sony

The Long Way Home Jarvis Church EMI

The Black Book Jully Black Universal

The Bridge Melanie Fiona Universal Motown/SRC*Universal

REGGAE RECORDING OF THE YEAR

American Dream Carl Henry III Mosaic

Gonna Be Alright Dubmatix ft. Prince Blanco 7 Arts

Show Me The Way Kim Davis Independent

Wha-La-La-Leng Poirier Ninja Tune*Outside

Breaking Up Tanya Mullings MegaCity

ABORIGINAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY ABORIGINAL PEOPLES TELEVISION NETWORK)

Distant Morning Star Digawolf Independent

We Are Digging Roots Odeimin*Outside

Sing Soul Girl Inez Leslemot

Swagger Lucie Idlout Sun Rev*Outside

Trail Of Tears Wayne Lavallee Dixiefrog*Outside

ROOTS & TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: SOLO

Hunter, Hunter Amelia Curran Six Shooter*Warner

Pink Strat Bahamas Nevado*Fontana North

Losin' Lately Gambler Corb Lund New West*Universal

Queen's Hotel John Wort Hannam Black Hen*Fontana North

Achin In Yer Bones Romi Mayes Independent*Outside

ROOTS & TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: GROUP

Annie Lou Annie Lou Independent

Let's Just Stay Here Carolyn Mark & NQ Arbuckle Mint*Outside

Good Lovelies Good Lovelies Independent*Fontana North

Lost Channels Great Lake Swimmers Nettwerk*Sony

No Fool For Trying Madison Violet True North*Universal

BLUES ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Steady Movin' Carlos del Junco NorthernBlues*Outside

From The Water Colin Linden True North*Universal

I Need A Hat Downchild Linus*Universal

The Corktown Sessions Jack de Keyzer Blue Star*Indiepool

Low Fidelity Treasa Levasseur Slim Chicken*Outside

CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN/GOSPEL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Dear Diary FM Static David C. Cook*EMI

What I Gotta Say Janelle Life Vision Communications

Where's Our Revolution Matt Brouwer Black Shoe*Fontana North

Devotions Steve Bell Singpost Music

Welcome To The Masquerade Thousand Foot Krutch Tooth & Nail*EMI

WORLD MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY CANADA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS)

Alex Cuba Alex Cuba Caracol*EMI

Comfortably Mine Domenic Mancuso Independent

Slide To Freedom 2: Make A Better World Doug Cox & Salil Bhatt NorthernBlues*Outside

Sunplace Jaffa Road Independent

La danse de l'exile Karim Saada R.S.B.*Espace Emergence

JACK RICHARDSON PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

Bob Rock "Haven't Met You Yet" | "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" - CRAZY LOVE - Michael Buble Reprise*Warner

David Foster "Cry Me A River" | "All Of Me" - CRAZY LOVE - Michael Buble Reprise*Warner

Fred St-Gelais "Plaisirs amers" | "C'est mois" - VERSION 3.0 - Marie- Mai Musicor*Select

Kevin Churko "Look Where You're Walking" (co-producer Kane Churko) - MODERN SCIENCE

Modern Science Mimortl | "The Dream" THE DREAM - In This Moment Century*EMI

Michael Phillip Wojewoda (co-producer Jennifer Foster) "Palm Trees" | "The Key (Different

Than I Used To Be)" SONGS FROM THE ALIEN BEACON - Jennifer LFO Kanada Kid

RECORDING ENGINEER OF THE YEAR

Dan Brodbeck "Apple Of My Eye" | "Be Careful" NO BAGGAGE - Dolores O'Riordan Zoe/Rounder*Universal

Darryl Neudorf "And When You Wake Up" THE THINGS WE LEFT BEHIND - Blue Rodeo WEA*Warner | "Fever" MIDDLE CYCLONE - Neko Case ANTI-*Epitaph

Denis Tougas "Save Your Love" | "The Mad Mile" THE MAD MILE - Kirsten Jones Pop Bottle*Fontana North

John 'Beetle' Bailey "I Can't Make You Love Me" TAKE LOVE EASY - Sophie Milman

Linus*Universal | "Havana City" MOTION - Hilario Duran Alma*Universal

John Drew "Oh! The Boss Is Coming!" | "Pullin' Punches" JACKSON SQUARE - Arkells Dine Alone*Universal

RECORDING PACKAGE OF THE YEAR

Alex Durlak (Art Director)

Potential Things CANAILLE Standard Form*Outside

Justin Ellsworth (Art Director/Designer); Vanessa Heins (Photographer); Daniel Romano & Ken Reaume (Illustrators)

Bring Me Your Love (Special Edition) CITY AND COLOUR Dine Alone*Universal

Martin Bernard (Art Director); Stephane Cocke (Photographer); Thomas Csano (Designer/Illustrator) Beats on Canvas BEATS ON CANVAS BOC Records

Rachelle Dupere (Art Director); Derek Henderson (Photographer); Evan Kaminsky (Designer) Masters Of The Burial AMY MILLAN Arts & Crafts*EMI

Thomas Csano (Art Director/Designer); Alex McLean (Illustrator)

Wooden Arms PATRICK WATSON Secret City*EMI

VIDEO OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED BY MUCHFACT)

Mr. Hurricane Ben Steiger-Levine BEAST Pheromone*Universal

Heavens To Purgatory Ben Steiger-Levine THE MOST SERENE REPUBLIC Arts & Crafts*EMI

Anybody Listening Harv CLASSIFIED HalfLife*Sony

Little Bit Of Red Marc Ricciardelli SERENA RYDER EMI

It's Okay WeWereMonkeys LAND OF TALK Land of Talk*Secret City/EMI

MUSIC DVD OF THE YEAR

Miroir Noir Vincent Morisset, Vincent Morisset & Arcade Fire ARCADE FIRE Merge*F>A>B

Snakes & Arrows Live Pierre & Francois Lamoureaux Allan Weinrib, Pegi Cecconi, Ray Daniels RUSH Anthem*Universal

Iron Maiden Flight 666 Sam Dunn, Scott McFadyen Ron Smallwood, Stefan Demetriou, Andy Taylor IRON MAIDEN EMI

The Trews Acoustic - Friends & Total Strangers Tim Martin, John-Angus MacDonald, Larry Wanagas THE TREWS Bumstead*Universal

DRUM! Live Aaron Young, Doris Mason, Colin Smeltzer, Daniel Brooker Brookes Diamond DRUM! Independent*Fontana North

Oscars ban 'Hurt Locker' producer

LOS ANGELES - A producer of the war story "The Hurt Locker" will not be allowed to attend Sunday's Academy Awards because of emails he sent urging academy members to vote for his movie, Oscar overseers said Tuesday.

But Nicolas Chartier will receive an Oscar at a later date if "The Hurt Locker" wins best picture.

The executive committee of the producers branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences imposed the penalty on Chartier, who violated Oscar rules that prohibit mailings promoting a film and disparaging another.

Chartier sent an email Feb. 19 to some academy members asking for their support for "The Hurt Locker," "not a "$500 million film" - an obvious reference to blockbuster best-picture contender "Avatar."

Subsequent emails, posted by the Los Angeles Times, showed Chartier asking Oscar voters to rank "The Hurt Locker" at No. 1 and "Avatar" at No. 10 among this year's expanded best-picture lineup of 10 films.

Chartier apologized in a subsequent email. "My naivete, ignorance of the rules and plain stupidity as a first-time nominee is not an excuse for this behaviour and I strongly regret it," Chartier wrote.

He did not immediately return a call Tuesday from The Associated Press seeking comment on the academy's penalty. Officials at Summit Entertainment, which released "The Hurt Locker," declined to comment.

"Avatar" producer Jon Landau did not immediately return a call for comment.

"The Hurt Locker" and "Avatar" have been at the head of the pack throughout awards season, and they lead the Oscar field with nine nominations each.

"Avatar" won the Golden Globe for best drama, but "The Hurt Locker" has dominated honours from critics and key Hollywood trade groups, including guilds representing directors, writers and producers.

At last month's British Academy Film Awards, "The Hurt Locker" also won out over "Avatar," taking six prizes, including best picture.

Chartier is one of four producers listed on the film's best-picture nomination, along with "Hurt Locker" director Kathryn Bigelow, screenwriter Mark Boal and Greg Shapiro. Bigelow and "Avatar" director James Cameron were married from 1989 to 1991.

The penalty against Chartier does not affect the other three producers, who are free to attend the Oscars.

The academy announced its sanction against Chartier as Oscar balloting closed Tuesday. The producers branch stopped short of the harsher penalty of rescinding Chartier's nomination, which would have kept him from receiving an Oscar statuette if his film won.

Oscar rivalry is fierce, with filmmakers and distributors coveting awards wins both for bragging rights and for the bounce in box-office or DVD revenues an Oscar triumph brings.

The academy keeps a tight rein on awards campaigning, its rules prohibiting "casting a negative or derogatory light on a competing film."

"You would hope it wouldn't have happened," said Tom Sherak, academy president. "It will not cloud what the night is. This was an individual thing that happened. It's been dealt with, and now we're going on to the show."

Polytechnique tops Genie nominations

Polytechnique, the controversial Denis Villeneuve film about the 1989 Montreal massacre, has earned a leading 11 nominations for the Genie Awards, Canada's top honour for film.

Shot in black and white, the film recreates the tragedy in which Marc Lépine walked into a classroom at the city's prestigious École Polytechnique engineering school, told the men to leave, then shot 14 women.

The gritty drama earned nods in 11 of the 21 categories, including for best film, direction, original screenplay and for performances by Karine Vanasse (lead actress) and Maxim Gaudette (supporting actor).

Polytechnique will vie for the coveted best feature film honour against the films 3 Saisons, Before Tomorrow, Fifty Dead Men Walking and Nurse.Fighter.Boy.

'Emotional journey'

Nurse.Fighter.Boy, the feature debut of Toronto filmmaker Charles Officer, was another multiple nominee, picking up 10 nominations. After premiering at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and released theatrically about a year ago, the $500,000 film — an urban love-and-family story revolving around a faded boxer, a devoted nurse and her son — has since been released on DVD.

Officer started the day just hoping that his actors would be nominated so they could garner some recognition for a film he called "an emotional journey."

"If I can come out of here with even one of those actors getting recognized, I [would be] so happy. Someone might have to bail me out of prison today because I'll go streak in the streets naked," he quipped to reporters shortly after the nominations were announced late Monday morning.

He was ecstatic about Nurse.Fighter.Boy's many nominations, which represents a piece of art from his community "getting out," said Officer, who personally earned a nod for his direction and shares an original screenplay nomination with his producer, Ingrid Veninger.

"It's not just a black community, but a community of artists, people who are working on similar projects," he said. "We're all working together. We're trying to make movies. It's hard. To get recognized for doing something personal and sticking true to your gut is the ultimate sort of [acknowledgement]."

Along with Officer and Polytechnique's Villeneuve, the other best director contenders include Bruce McDonald for his small-town Ontario zombie flick Pontypool, Kari Skogland for her gritty and frenetic IRA thriller Fifty Dead Men Walking and Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Ivalu for the intimate Inuit tale Before Tomorrow.

Selected Genie nominees include:

Lead actress: Madeline Piujuq Ivalu, Before Tomorrow; Karen LeBlanc, Nurse.Fighter.Boy; Carinne Leduc, 3 Saisons; Gabrielle Rose, Mothers & Daughters; Karine Vanasse, Polytechnique.

Lead actor: Jean-Carl Boucher, 1981; Paul Dylan Ivalu, Before Tomorrow; Joshua Jackson, One Week; Clark Johnson, Nurse.Fighter.Boy; Stephen McHattie, Pontypool.

Supporting actor: Patrick Drolet, Father and Guns; John Dunsworth, Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day; Maxim Gaudette, Polytechnique; Rémy Girard, Father and Guns; Scott Speedman, Adoration.

Supporting actress: Liane Balaban, One Week; Marie Brassard, Heat Wave; Martha Burns, Love & Savagery; Isabel Richer, Babine; Sonia Vachon, 5150 Elm's Way.

Original screenplay: Adoration; Father and Guns; Nurse.Fighter.Boy; Polytechnique; Victoria Day.

Adapted screenplay: Before Tomorrow; Fifty Dead Men Walking; Pontypool.

Feature documentary: A Hard Name; Ladies in Blue; Inside Hana's Suitcase; Prom Night in Mississippi; R.I.P: A Remix Manifesto.

Short documentary: The Delian Mode; Passages; Petropolis: Aerial Perspectives on the Alberta Tar Sands.

Live action short: Danse Macabre; Gilles; Princess Margaret Blvd.; Land of Men; Life Begins.

Animated short: Runaway; The Spine; Viva La Rose.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, which organizes the Genie Awards, also announced the recipients of several special awards.

Montreal filmmaker Xavier Dolan, who captivated audiences on the festival circuit this past year with his debut feature I Killed My Mother, is the winner of the annual Claude Jutra Award, which recognizes the outstanding achievement of a first-time filmmaker.

The Academy Achievement Award will be presented to La Cité du Cinema soundstage founder Mel Hoppenheim.

The French-language film De père en flic (Father and Guns) has also been named the winner of the Golden Reel Award, which recognizes the Canadian film that earned the highest domestic box office. Released in the summer of 2009, it grossed nearly $11 million at the Canadian box office and set a new record as the highest domestic grossing French-language film ever released in Quebec and Canada.

The 30th annual Genie Awards gala will take place in Toronto on April 12.

Genie Award nominations to be revealed

Canada's version of the Oscars announces its picks for the country's best films on Monday.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television will reveal nominations for the annual Genie Awards at 11 a.m. ET at a hotel ballroom in downtown Toronto.

On hand will be veteran actor Gordon Pinsent, who voiced the acclaimed animated short The Spine, and newcomer Tatiana Maslany, who starred in the Newfoundland-set coming of age story, Grown-Up Movie Star.

The past year in Canadian film was dominated by Quebec phenom Xavier Dolan and his breakout film, I Killed My Mother.

The French-language family drama, about a constantly bickering mother and son, drew raves on the festival circuit, including three prizes at Cannes last year.

Other standouts included the Quebec box office smash, De pere en flic and Ruba Nadda's Cairo Time, which won a prize at last year's Toronto International Film Festival.

'Lockergate'?: Producer apologizes for e-mails

LOS ANGELES – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is considering action against a producer of "The Hurt Locker" who sent multiple e-mails urging academy members to vote for his movie in the Oscar best-picture race and "not a $500 million film" — an obvious reference to close-competitor "Avatar."

The e-mails by Nicolas Chartier, one of four nominated producers for "The Hurt Locker" and who put up the financing to make the front-running film, violated the academy's rule against sending mailings that "attempt to promote any film or achievement by casting a negative light on a competing film or achievement," according to academy spokeswoman Leslie Unger.

The initial e-mail was sent Feb. 19 and obtained by The Associated Press. Subsequent e-mails, posted by the Los Angeles Times, showed Chartier giving more specific instructions, asking Oscar voters to rank "The Hurt Locker" at No. 1 and "Avatar" at No. 10 on this year's preferential ballot for the newly expanded best-picture category.

"Hurt Locker" distributor Summit Pictures said in a statement it was "completely unaware of any e-mails that were sent until we were alerted by the academy earlier this week."

Chartier, after being confronted by Summit executives, worked with the studio and the academy to craft an apology for his actions, said Summit spokesman Paul Pflug.

"My naivete, ignorance of the rules and plain stupidity as a first-time nominee is not an excuse for this behavior and I strongly regret it," Chartier wrote in an e-mail obtained by The Associated Press. "Being nominated for an academy Award is the ultimate honor and I should have taken the time to read the rules."

"Avatar's" distributor, 20th Century Fox, declined comment on the e-mails, as did director James Cameron or anyone connected with the 3-D sci-fi sensation — Hollywood's biggest modern blockbuster but so far second to "The Hurt Locker" in this season's movie award derby.

The motion picture academy itself will hold off on announcing how exactly it plans to discipline Chartier until Oscar voting closes at 5 p.m. PST on Tuesday. The Academy's Unger refused to speculate on what action might be taken.

Possible measures include public censure, taking away Chartier's Oscar tickets, and the unlikely option of removing "The Hurt Locker" — about a bomb-disposal unit in Iraq — from best-picture consideration, according to several academy members familiar with the situation. The members spoke on the condition of anonymity because they aren't authorized to comment about the matter.

It's also possible that if "The Hurt Locker" wins, the academy won't extend membership to Chartier, like it does to most newly minted Oscar winners, the members said.

With Oscar ballots due Tuesday, the controversy surrounding Chartier's actions may have little effect on the March 7 Academy Awards because most voters have already mailed in their ballots, said one of the academy members.

But that hasn't stopped Hollywood insiders from bandying about heated opinions referring to Chartier's e-mails as everything from harmless enthusiasm to egregious politicking that should result in the film's disqualification.

As one academy voter put it, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject: "If 'The Hurt Locker' doesn't win best picture, I wouldn't want to be that guy. They'll be pointing at him."

In addition to Chartier's e-mails, "The Hurt Locker" is also facing complaints — just now surfacing, though the movie was released last June — from veterans and active soldiers over the accuracy of its combat scenes.

Late-in-the-game controversies surrounding Oscar front-runners are nothing new. When Roman Polanski's "The Pianist" was up for several Oscars in 2003, a transcript from the grand jury testimony of Polanski's 1977 sexual assault case was published on a Web site. Polanski still won the Oscar for best director.

A year earlier, rumors circulated that schizophrenic mathematician John Nash, the subject of Ron Howard's "A Beautiful Mind," harbored anti-Semitic beliefs. The movie ended up winning four Oscars, including awards for picture, director and adapted screenplay.

And, similar to this year's e-mail controversy, DreamWorks ran ads in 2004 quoting critics touting Shohreh Aghdashloo's supporting actress performance in "House of Sand and Fog" over that of Renee Zellweger in "Cold Mountain." That campaign backfired, too, with Zellweger winning the Oscar.

"I suppose I'm just naive, but I've always chosen to believe that academy members vote solely on the basis of merit," says film historian Leonard Maltin. "I do know some academy members, and they are very conscientious about their vote. They distance themselves from any jockeying of position and name-calling."

Genesis Says Peter Gabriel Missing Rock Hall Induction Is No 'Snub'

Peter Gabriel's Genesis bandmates are giving him the benefit of the doubt for bowing out of next month's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Gabriel will not attend the March 15 affair because it conflicts with orchestra rehearsal dates for his upcoming European and North American concerts to promote his new album, "Scratch My Back." "(Gabriel) rang up and said, 'Look, everyone's going to say I'm trying to snub you and all the rest of it,' " Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks tells Billboard.com. "I said, 'Well, just tell them we didn't want you to come, so we're snubbing you!'

"No...I mean, it's a fair enough thing. It would've been lovely if he could've come, but I understand his problem," Banks adds.

Guitarist/bassist Mike Rutherford says Gabriel was "very keen" about the induction and feels the singer's absence is "a very legitimate excuse. I know he would (come) if he could, but it's just the wrong timing."

Gabriel's decision has effectively scuttled any hopes of Genesis performing at the ceremony, though a full complement of Genesis members will be there, including: drummer-turned-frontman Phil Collins, who's still rehabilitating from spinal surgery and is unable to play; guitarist Steve Hackett, who left the band in 1977; and longtime touring members Chester Thompson and Daryl Stuermer.

"I think at my age, any accolade is enjoyed," says Rutherford, who turns 60 in October. "It's nice to be inducted into something."

Neither Banks nor Rutherford expect the induction to inspire any sort of renewed Genesis activity, however. The group last toured in 2007 and has not discussed anything further, although Banks notes that "we never rule it out." But he adds that he "can't see us doing any writing again, but in terms of just (playing live), it's always a possibility."

Rutherford, meanwhile, says that "the last tour was a nice kind of moment; it made us appreciate the band and each other as human beings. It kind of reminded us how much fun we'd had. And you never know what will happen; it depends on who's standing in five years' time or something like that."

The Genesis members are staying busy on their own, however. Besides Gabriel's project, Collins is recording an album of Motown songs that's due out this fall; he's also slated to receive the Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriter's Hall of Fame on June 17. Hackett is collaborating on a project with Yes bassist Chris Squire, while Banks, who issued a remastered and expanded version of his 1979 solo debut "A Curious Feeling" last year, is working on a classical piece. Rutherford, meanwhile, has reactivated Mike & the Mechanics with British singer Andrew Roachford, among others, and expects to have a new album finished by May.

'Precious' wins big at 41st NAACP Image Awards

LOS ANGELES – It was a winning night for "Precious" at the 41st NAACP Image Awards.

The heart-wrenching tale of an illiterate and abused teen who finds hope in a Harlem classroom was named outstanding motion picture and outstanding independent film at Friday's ceremony. Stars Mo'Nique and Gabourey Sidibe, screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher and director Lee Daniels also won.

Daniels excitedly accepted the best-picture prize, surrounded by his cast and fellow producers.

"No one in Hollywood told me they wanted to see a movie about a 350-pound black woman with HIV," he said.

Sidibe objected, and Daniels corrected himself: "She's not 350 pounds. This was before you were hired."

The director twice told the orchestra to stop playing him off, but Daniels was ultimately cut off as gospel duo Mary Mary took the stage and the show came to a close.

Presented by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Image Awards honor diversity in the arts and outstanding achievements in film, television, music and literature.

Sidibe cried as she accepted the award for outstanding actress in a motion picture for her starring turn as Precious, the overweight, twice-pregnant teen who discovers her self-worth through reading and writing.

"It's so awesome to win! I love winning," said the Oscar nominee, who made her acting debut with this film. "I want to thank my God for ordering my steps, for everything that my life was and everything that it is now."

Fellow Oscar nominee Mo'Nique, who has swept the supporting actress prize throughout Hollywood's awards season for her moving turn as abusive mother Mary Jones, added another trophy to her collection with the Image Award for her role in "Precious."

"For all the Mary Joneses, I love you unconditionally, baby," she said. "For all the Preciouses, I love you unconditionally. Let's start loving each other again."

Other winners Friday included Keri Hilson, Maxwell, "Brothers" star Daryl "Chill" Mitchell and Chris Rock.

Hilson was named outstanding new artist, Maxwell won for male artist, Mitchell took the award for actor in a comedy series and Rock accepted the documentary award for his film "Good Hair."

Mitchell was moved to tears as he accepted his trophy.

"As long as you all got legs, I'm going to always walk," the wheelchair-bound actor said.

Rock said he wasn't prepared for his documentary win.

"I made this movie just for black people," he said. "I've seen a lot of documentaries, and I said I want the blackest movie of all time."

Tyler Perry was honored with the Chairman's Award for his philanthropy and career achievements. Wyclef Jean received the Vanguard Award for raising funds and cultural awareness after the earthquake in Haiti. Human-rights activist Van Jones received the President's Award.

Music mogul Clarence Avant was inducted into the Image Awards Hall of Fame at the ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium, which was hosted by Anika Noni Rose and Hill Harper and broadcast live on Fox.

Oscar-nominated shorts head to Canadian cinemas

Canadians for the first time will get to see the live action and animated shorts nominated for this year's Academy Awards on the big screen ahead of an Oscar ceremony.

Cineplex Entertainment, a cinema chain that stretches from Quebec to B.C., said it plans three days of shorts leading up to the awards on March 7.

In past years, Academy Award-nominated shorts have occasionally been available online or at special screenings ahead of the Oscar ceremony, but Cineplex said this is the first year they have been offered on the big screen on such a scale in Canada.

Among the nominees are two films created by the animators behind Wallace and Gromit — Nick Park and Fabrice Joubert. Park won an Oscar for best animated feature film for Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, a film that Joubert also worked on.

On March 1, cinemas will screen live action shorts:

The Door by Juanita Wilson and James Flynn of Ireland.
Instead of Abracadabra by Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström of Sweden.
Kavi by Gregg Helvey of the U.S.
Miracle Fish by Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey of Australia.
The New Tenants by Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson of Denmark.

On March 4, cinemas will screen animated shorts:

French Roast by Fabrice O. Joubert of France.
Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty, a twisted version of the classic story from Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell of Ireland.
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte) by Javier Recio Gracia of Spain.
Logorama by Nicolas Schmerkin of Argentina.
A Matter of Loaf and Death by Nick Park of Britain, a short featuring the Wallace and Gromit characters.

On March 7, both animated and live action shorts will screen.

Adams, Sainte-Marie win Governor General's Performing Arts Awards

Singers Bryan Adams and Buffy Sainte-Marie are among six Canadians to win this year's Governor General's Performing Arts Awards.

The honour recognizes "outstanding lifetime contribution to Canada's cultural life."

The other winners, announced in Montreal Tuesday, are:

Quebec theatre actress Françoise Faucher.
Montreal choreographer Edouard Lock.
Theatre actor and director Robin Phillips.
Former Toronto Symphony Orchestra director Walter Homburger.
Each winner receives $25,000 and will be honoured at a gala at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on May 1. Governor General Michaëlle Jean will present the awards April 30 at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

At the same announcement in Montreal, superstar conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin was named winner of the 2010 National Arts Centre Award.

Mohammed and Yulanda Faris, philanthropists and volunteers who have been active in the Vancouver arts community for close to 40 years, were awarded the 2010 Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for volunteerism in the performing arts.

Earlier this month, Sainte-Marie and Adams performed as part of the 2010 Winter Olympics celebrations in Vancouver.

Adams, who is touring internationally with his Bare Bones solo acoustic show, performed his song Bang the Drum with Nelly Furtado at the Olympic opening ceremony. The rock singer is one of Canada's top recording artists, known for songs such as Straight from the Heart, Cuts Like a Knife, Run to You and Summer of '69.

He won a Grammy Award for best motion picture soundtrack song for Everything I Do I Do It for You.

Adams was born in Kingston, Ont., and raised in Vancouver. He is known for his involvement with humanitarian causes, including Live Aid and his own Bryan Adams Foundation. He'll be honoured with a humanitarian award at the 2010 Juno Awards ceremony in St. John's, N.L., and is an officer of the Order of Canada.

Sainte-Marie emerged as a singer-songwriter and activist in the 1960s, with songs such as Until It's Time for You to Go, Universal Soldier and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

Born on the Piapot reserve in Saskatchewan, she has been an outspoken advocate for aboriginal rights throughout her career. She continues her work to improve education for aboriginal children through her own foundation.

In 1981, she won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for the song Up Where We Belong, written for the film An Officer and a Gentleman.

In 2009, she released Running for the Drum, which won a Juno and four Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. She is an officer of the Order of Canada, among her many other awards and honours.

Faucher blazed a trail in Quebec theatre

Faucher is an actor, director and broadcaster who blazed a trail for women in Quebec theatre. Born in France, she moved to Canada at age 21 and graced Montreal stages in roles such as Marthe in L'Échange, Sarah Bernhardt in Sarah et le cri de la langouste, Winnie in Oh les beaux jours and Prospero in La Tempête.

"A pleasure, a great great pleasure, an honour. I'm very proud," Faucher said in Montreal on Tuesday.

She hosted several popular radio and television shows, among them the groundbreaking Femme d'aujourd'hui (1966-81). She also was a director of works such as Racine's Andromaque and Molière's Le Misanthrope.

Faucher told CBC News she is retired from the stage but now enjoys public speaking on issues such as the Holocaust, violence against women and palliative care.

“I have great pleasure now in presenting readings in front of the public, just words," she said, adding she was thrilled to share a stage with Nézet-Séguin, whom she called a great artist.

Lock is the founder of dance company La La La Human Steps and his choreography combines classical ballet with contemporary dance.

He created works for some of the world's foremost dance companies, including the Paris Opera and the Netherlands Dance Theater. His collaborations include being artistic director for a David Bowie world tour and for Frank Zappa on the Yellow Shark concert.

Phillips known for work in Stratford, Edmonton

British-born Phillips is well known in Canada as former artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, where he served 1975 to 1980. There he directed actors such as Martha Henry, William Hutt and Brian Bedford. He also directed Stratford's Young Company in 1987-88.

Phillips was also artistic director of The Grand Theatre, in London, Ont. (1983-84) and director general of Edmonton's Citadel Theatre (1990-95.) In 1998, he helped establish Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre Company and directed its first two productions.

Phillips' directing credits also include Long Day's Journey Into Night, starring Jessica Lange, in London's West End; The Marriage of Figaro for the Canadian Opera Company; the film adaptation of Timothy Findley's novel The Wars; and the Broadway musical Jekyll and Hyde.

Homburger was managing director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for 25 years, beginning in 1962. He is recognized for bringing recognition to the TSO and attracting international soloists and conductors to Toronto.

Born in Germany, he moved to Canada in 1940 and founded International Artists Concert Agency, which brought many artists to Canada and fostered recital series. He continues to manage Canadian artists and advise music organizations in Canada.

Nézet-Séguin's award recognizes a year of accomplishment for the Montreal conductor, who is music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and artistic director of Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal.

Currently touring Canada with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, he is in demand as a conductor around the world.

Nézet-Séguin told CBC News he thinks this kind of award focuses attention on classical music and shows it is not just for an elite.

"We are not searching for those awards, but when they come, it is with a realization that we have an impact on the lives of Canadians, whether we are in Canada or not," he said.

The young conductor said his international career is a "dream come true," but he feels very attached to the music scene in Montreal.

"It’s the same act of sharing music and emotions with people and it’s just more international. I feel very privileged so far," he said.

The Faris family has supported numerous Vancouver arts organizations, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver Opera, Vancouver International Writers' Festival, Bard on the Beach, Vancouver Symphony, Vancouver Children's Festival and Downtown Women's Eastside Centre.

Mohammed Faris, an engineer and real estate developer, helped establish the $11-million Scotiabank Dance Centre opened in 2001. Yulanda Faris chairs the Vancouver Opera Foundation and serves on the dean's advisory board, UBC faculty of arts.

The awards are given by the Governor General's Performing Arts Foundation in association with the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

'Hurt Locker' wins big at BAFTA Awards

The Iraq war drama wins six awards at England's version of the Oscars.
By Susan King

"The Hurt Locker" left "Avatar" in the dust Sunday at the 2010 Orange British Academy Film Awards, winning best film, best director for Kathryn Bigelow, original screenplay for Mark Boal, cinematography, editing and sound.

"Avatar" won for visual effects and production design at the awards show, presented at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden.

Though "The Hurt Locker" lost the Golden Globe in the category of best dramatic film to "Avatar," the gripping ensemble drama about a bomb-disposal unit in Iraq has won the lion's share of the critics' awards. Bigelow made history three weeks ago when she became the first woman to win the feature-film award from the Directors Guild of America. She is also the first woman to win the top British award. Boal also won the Writers Guild of America Award for original screenplay Saturday evening.

"The Hurt Locker" is nominated for nine Oscars, including best film, director, actor and screenplay.

The British version of the Academy Awards are presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Last year's best picture winner, "Slumdog Millionaire," went on to sweep the Oscars.

The BAFTA awards for best actor and actress went to England's own Colin Firth for "A Single Man" and Carey Mulligan for "An Education."

There were no surprises in the supporting awards category with Christoph Waltz earning best supporting actor for "Inglourius Basterds" and Mo'Nique for "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire." Both actors have dominated this awards season in their categories.

Other winners Sunday:

Adapted screenplay: "Up in the Air"

Animated film: "Up"

Music: "Up"

Best British film: "Fish Tank"

Film not in English: "A Prophet"

Orange Rising Star: Kristen Stewart

Costume design: "Young Victoria"

Hair and makeup: "Young Victoria"

Outstanding British contribution to cinema: Joe Dunton

Outstanding debut: Duncan Jones for "Moon"

Tarantino tips Bigelow for Oscar win

Quentin Tarantino is convinced Kathryn Bigelow will crush his dream of winning the Best Director title at next month's Academy Awards - he's tipped The Hurt Locker filmmaker to take the coveted Oscar.

The director was previously nominated for the prestigious award for his 1994 movie Pulp Fiction, but lost out to Robert Zemeckis for Forrest Gump.

Tarantino will get a second shot at the trophy at this year's ceremony with Inglorious Basterds, and he is set to battle it out with Bigelow for her efforts on The Hurt Locker. The filmmakers will be competing against Bigelow's ex-husband James Cameron for Avatar, Lee Daniels for Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire and Jason Reitman for Up In The Air.

Tarantino is hopeful he will land the prize for Best Picture or Best Original Screenplay, but he is adamant Bigelow will walk away with the director's award.

Speaking to U.S. talk show host, Larry King, he says, "It would be really nice to win an Oscar for one of the three things or eight things I'm up for. And I think I stand a very good chance. I think we stand a good chance for best picture and I think I stand a very, very good chance for best (original) screenplay. I can't imagine Kathryn is not going to get it for best director. I'm going to vote for Kathryn."

But the Kill Bill director is not sure who he wants to win the Best Actress trophy at the glitzy event - he can't decide between Carey Mulligan for her outing in An Education, or newcomer Gabourey Sidibe for her breakthrough part in Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire.

He said, "She's (Mulligan's) fantastic. To me, I haven't decided between her or Gaby. It's going to be tough. It's actually one of the tougher ones (categories) and I don't think I know what I'm going to choose."

Could You Handle Borat or Brüno Hosting the Oscars?

Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are the hosts of this year's Oscars.

But, had first-time producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic gotten final say, Sacha Baron Cohen was their first pick.

That's right—the Oscars were nearly led by Borat, Brüno, Ali G or a rip-roarin' combination of the man and his many characters.

But it was not to be. When they told the Academy, they "swatted it down," Shankman said. "They thought it was too big of a wild card. They thought it was just too unpredictable."

Artists behind Oscar-nominated songs won't perform

LOS ANGELES – Some of Oscar's most memorable moments have come during performances of nominated songs.

Among them: rap group Three 6 Mafia surrounded by streetwalkers as they performed "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from "Hustle & Flow" in 2006, and Celine Dion's resplendent performance of the "Titanic" hit, "My Heart Will Go On," in 1998.

Don't expect such musical moments at the 82nd Academy Awards.

The artists behind the year's five nominated songs will not perform during the Oscar telecast. Instead, the songs will be showcased with clips from the films that featured them, "which is how most nominated achievements are featured within the show," Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spokeswoman Leslie Unger said Wednesday.

That means Randy Newman won't get to take the stage for his two nominated tunes, "Almost There" and "Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog."

Marion Cotillard won't reprise her sexy, heart-wrenching performance of "Take It All," written by Maury Yeston for "Nine." Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas can't bring their "Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36" to life.

And "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" won't be performed by "Crazy Heart" star Jeff Bridges or writers Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett.

"We haven't been invited," Bingham said, seeming a bit surprised.

Yet there will still be dancing on the show. Producer and choreographer Adam Shankman announced on his Twitter page that he cast 69 dancers for the show's production numbers, though he hasn't revealed exactly what he has planned.

The Oscar troupe includes at least a dozen dancers from the Fox reality show "So You Think You Can Dance," where Shankman serves as a judge.

"All there for the movies!" he tweeted.

The Academy Awards will be presented March 7 at the Kodak Theatre and broadcast live on ABC.

Lady Gaga sweeps Brit Awards

Flamboyant chanteuse Lady Gaga swept the U.K.'s Brit Awards on Tuesday, winning three categories and offering an emotional tribute to Alexander McQueen, the British fashion designer who died last week.

Gaga collected awards for best international female artist, best international breakthrough act and best international album for The Fame, and performed at the ceremony wearing a towering white wig and lace veil, complete with ornate lace eyebrows.

At points, the singer appeared overcome with emotion and paid tribute to McQueen as she collected her first prize, referring to the designer by the name Lee. "Thank you to Lee McQueen," Gaga said, her voice strained.

Gaga, a friend of the designer, recently wore his iconic lobster-claw shoes in her Bad Romance music video. The designer was found dead Thursday after apparently committing suicide.

The awards are the British equivalent of the Grammys, with most winners selected by a vote of more than 1,000 industry members.

U.S. rapper Jay-Z also claimed an award, for best international male, during a ceremony at London Earl's Court arena. Other international nominees had included Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, Jay-Z, Canada's Michael Buble and Shakira.

British boy band JLS claimed an award for best domestic breakthrough act, while recently split rockers Oasis won a one-off prize when their (What's The Story) Morning Glory? was named best British album of the last 30 years.

Best British band award went to Kasabian. Former Take That member and solo artist Robbie Williams received a special award for contribution to music.

Gabriel to miss Genesis Rock Hall induction

NEW YORK – When Genesis gets inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month, founding member Peter Gabriel won't be there.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame president Joel Peresman said in a statement Thursday that Gabriel says he has a scheduling conflict with his tour that begins in Europe.

Along with Gabriel, the band's original lineup included Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, Anthony Phillips and Steve Hackett. Phil Collins joined the band later and replaced Gabriel as lead vocalist in 1976.

Genesis was inspirational in the progressive rock movement. Gabriel's vision helped define the genre's theatrical approach to a rock show with costume changes, innovative stage design, and intricate lighting effects.

The induction ceremony takes place March 15 in New York.

Sandra Bullock: 'I'm So Not Winning an Oscar!'

Sandra Bullock has news for anyone waiting to see her give an acceptance speech at the Academy Awards – don't hold your breath!

"I'm so not winning an Oscar," Bullock, who received her first-ever nomination, as best actress for The Blind Side, told reporters at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Friday, where she received the American Riviera Award for her influence on film.

Bullock considers herself an expert oddsmaker for the annual awards show, so she has strong feelings about her own chance for victory. "Nine times out of ten I always pick who's going to win," the actress, 45, said. "And I already know who's going to win. I'm not going to say, but nine times out of ten, I'm right."

Bullock isn't practicing false humility. After all, she’s already won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award this year. She’s just not overanxious to snag the trophy. "I have to say, all the ladies in our category, we don't care who wins," she said. "Someone's going to win and the rest of us will be really happy for whoever won. We're just happy to be here. And we like the company we're in."

Bullock admitted she has to push herself into enjoying the build-up to the Academy Awards. "It's amazing how you are asked to hit the ground running the minute you hear the news," she said. "It's not like you can sit back and have bonbons and champagne."

"I thought that's what it was about," she said. "I had it already. I said, 'OK, where are the bonbons and champagne?' No one brought me any. They just told me I had to work. So I'm like, 'OK.' "
Everyday Tasks

"I'm so bad at taking in compliments or flattery," she said. "I'm better taking in the bad than I am the good. So I'm trying very hard just to be present and enjoy the moments."

She's also embracing the everyday tasks at home which keep her grounded. "You go home and you have to pick up dog poop – and we have a two-legged dog," she says. "To me, that's not mundane, though. Life is tricky enough that I actually love and embrace the normal day-to-day rituals. You get up, you make your coffee, read your paper, you do the school run, you go do your things. I'm just lucky that I get to do them."

Up Flies Off with Top Honors at Annie Awards

Oscars, schmoscars. This weekend was all about the best and brightest in Hollywood animation.

At Saturday's 37th Annual Annie Awards, Pixar's Up, the little gem that's also in the running for top honors at this year's Academy Awards, was named Best Animated Film and Best Directing in a Feature. The Oscar contender stole the prize from hits such as Coraline, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Secret of Kells.

Elsewhere in the animated realm, Walt Disney Studios knocked out a majority of its competition, taking home a total of six Annies, including three for the hand-drawn critical favorite, The Princess and the Frog, while Dreamworks Studios garnered five Annies for their numerous made for TV productions.

The remaining 2010 Annie Awards winners include:

Animated Feature: Up

Home Entertainment Production: Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder

Animated Short: Robot Chicken: Star Wars 2.5

Animated TV Commercial: Spanish Lottery "Deportees"

Animated TV Production: Prep and Landing

Animated TV Production for Children: The Penguins of Madagascar

Animated Effects: James Mansfield, The Princess and the Frog

Character Animation in TV Production: Phillip To, Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space

Character Animation in Feature: Eric Goldberg, The Princess and the Frog

Character Design in TV Production: Bill Schwab, Prep and Landing

Character Design in Feature: Shane Prigmore, Coraline

Directing in TV Production: Bret Haaland, The Penguins of Madagascar "Launchtime"

Directing in Feature: Pete Docter, Up

Music in TV Production: Guy Moon, The Fairly OddParents: "Wishology-The Big Beginning"

Music in Feature: Bruno Coulais, Coraline

Production Design in TV Production: Andy Harkness, Prep and Landing

Production Design in Feature: Tadahiro Uesugi, Coraline

Storyboarding in TV: Robert Koo, Merry Madagascar

Storyboarding in Feature: Tom Owens, Monsters vs. Aliens

Voiceacting in TV: Tom Kenny as SpongeBob, SpongeBob SquarePants

Voiceacting in Feature: Jen Cody as Charlotte, The Princess and the Frog

Writing in TV Production: Daniel Chun, The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XX

Writing in Feature: Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Winsor McCay Award: Tim Burton, Bruce Timm, Jeffrey Katzenberg

June Foray Award: Tom Sito

Ub Iwerks Award: William T. Reeves

Special Achievement: Martin Meunier and Brian McLean

Certificate of Merit: Myles Mikulic, Danny Young and Michael Woodside

Cameron: 'Avatar' won't win

James Cameron is convinced his sci-fi epic 'Avatar' will lose out at the upcoming Academy Awards, but hopes his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow takes home the Best Picture Oscar instead.

Cameron's blockbuster will go up against Bigelow's gritty war drama 'The Hurt Locker' for the coveted prize at the upcoming ceremony in March, along with eight other films including 'Up In The Air', 'The Blind Side' and 'Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire'.

The moviemaker will also compete with his former spouse for the Best Director Oscar, but he's convinced Academy bosses will overlook 'Avatar' because of his previous behaviour at the famous event.

Cameron is adamant Oscar bosses weren't impressed with his speech when he picked up the Best Director trophy for Titanic in 1998, in which he quoted one of the film's famous lines, telling the crowd, "I'm king of the world!"

He tells Empire magazine, "I always believe it's very unlikely that lightning will strike twice. I believe it's very unlikely that we will win because I made such a jackass out of myself last time. Although there might be some curiosity about what I might do."

But Cameron hopes Bigelow's movie goes on to rule the ceremony instead.

He adds, "The Hurt Locker is a very, very strong picture. Of the contenders, it's definitely the strongest. Certainly it's Kathryn's moment. I would happily lose to her. I've already got one of those damn statues. I'd be pissed off if somebody else won, but I wouldn't mind if she won."

Among expected picks, `District 9' still surprises

NEW YORK – In an Oscar year defined by inclusion, fewer movie folks than normal spent nominations morning feeling snubbed.

With the field of best picture nominees doubling from five to 10, there were more celebrations Tuesday and still some surprises:

"DISTRICT 9" INVADES: Yes, the relatively low-budget South African science-fiction hit was in the Oscar buzz. But no film benefited more from the expansion of best picture nominees, and it's still surprising to hear it announced alongside movies such as "Up in the Air" and "The Hurt Locker." Science-fiction is among the rarest of genres to cross that threshold, with only "Star Wars" and "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" (and now "Avatar") previously getting best picture noms. "District 9" earned four nominations in all, including editing, visual effects and best adapted screenplay.

COENS RETURN: Ethan and Joel Coen are back at the Oscars. Their "A Serious Man" earned mostly high praise, but had floated on the edge of predictions through awards season. For a film from heavyweight filmmakers, it has been a distinct underdog. But two years after they took home best picture and best director for "No Country for Old Men," the Coens are again up for best picture and best original screenplay.

COMEDY LOSES OUT, AGAIN: The best picture expansion didn't help comedy. Sure, there are comedic qualities to movies such as "Inglourious Basterds," "Up" and "A Serious Man," but out-an-out comedies like "The Hangover," "(500) Days of Summer" and "It's Complicated" all came away empty handed. After a win for best comedy or musical at the Golden Globes, some had thought "The Hangover" — one of the most crowd-pleasing films of the year — would squeak into the top 10. But after the nominees were read, "(500) Days of Summer" didn't even get the best original screenplay nomination that many had predicted. One comedy, a dark one, did earn a surprising nomination for best adapted screenplay: "In the Loop."

SUPPORTING ACTRESS SWAP: While Jeff Bridges' performance in "Crazy Heart" has been roundly hailed and is generally viewed as the favorite for best actor, co-star Maggie Gyllenhaal has gone mostly under the radar. Tuesday, she was nominated for best supporting actress — her first Oscar nomination.

MUSICAL CHAIRS: A few of the most interesting choices were hidden away in music categories. Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox" was, as expected, nominated for best animated film (a category that included the shocker of "The Secret of Kells"). But Alexandre Desplat's playful original score also earned a nomination. In best song, "Loin de Paname" from the somewhat unheralded French film "Paris 36" was nominated. Another foreign film also sneaked into the best makeup category. The terrifically stylish and underrated "Il Divo" will compete in the three-film field with "Star Trek" and "The Young Victoria."

Oscar nominations -- who was NOT Nominated: Clint Eastwood, 'Star Trek,' Tobey Maguire ...

Even with 10 films in the race for best picture at the Oscars, there was no room for Golden Globe champ "The Hangover," BFCA and PGA nominee "Invictus," BFCA, Globe and SAG nominee "Nine" and PGA nominee "Star Trek."

Clint Eastwood -- who won two of his four Oscars for directing best picture champs "Unforgiven" (1992) and "Million Dollar Baby" (2004) -- was snubbed for his helming of "Invictus" despite his win with the National Board of Review and a nod from the Golden Globes. Eastwood had also contended at the Oscars for his directing of best picture nominees "Mystic River" (2003) and "Letters From Iwo Jima" (2006).

The all-star cast of "Nine" was loaded with past Oscar winners headed by two-time champ Daniel Day-Lewis but only previous supporting actress champ Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona") merited a mention in the acting races.

Also missing from this year's Oscars ballot are Globe drama actor nominee Tobey McGuire ("Brothers") as well as all the leading men who contended for the musical/comedy Globe. Globe drama actress nominee Emily Blunt ("The Young Victoria") failed to make the cut as did all the musical/comedy Globe actress contenders save for winner Meryl Streep ("Julie & Julia").

NOT NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE
"The Hangover"
"Invictus"
"Julie & Julia"
"The Messenger"
"Nine"
"A Single Man"
"Star Trek"
"This Is It"

NOT NOMINATED FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, "A Serious Man"
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, "Up"
Clint Eastwood, "Invictus"
Tom Ford, "A Single Man"
Rob Marshall, "Nine"
Lone Scherfig, "An Education"

NOT NOMINATED FOR BEST ACTOR
Sharito Copley, "District 9"
Matt Damon, "The Informant!"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "Nine"
Robert Downey Jr., "Sherlock Holmes"
Ben Foster, "The Messenger"
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "(500) Days of Summer"
Hal Holbrook, "That Evening Sun"
Tobey Maguire, "Brothers"
Viggo Mortensen, "The Road"
Michale Stuhlbarg, "A Serious Man"

NOT NOMINATED FOR BEST ACTRESS
Emily Blunt, "The Young Victoria"
Abbie Cornish, "Bright Star"
Marion Cotillard, "Nine"
Penelope Cruz, "Broken Embraces"
Audrey Tautou, "Coco Before Chanel"

NOT NOMINATED FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alec Baldwin, "It's Complicated"
Anthony Mackie, "The Hurt Locker"
Christian McKay, "Me and Orson Welles"
Alfred Molina, "An Education"
Peter Sarsgaard, "An Education"

NOT NOMINATED FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Diane Kruger, "Inglourious Basterds"
Melanie Laurent, "Inglourious Basterds"
Julianne Moore, "A Single Man"
Samantha Morton, "The Messenger"

NOT NOMINATED FOR BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"Avatar"
"(500) Days of Summer"

NOT NOMINATED FOR BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"Invictus"
"Julie & Julia"
"The Road"
"A Single Man"

Oscar's Snubs: Star Trek, The Hangover, Michael Jackson!

Does it count as a snub if you never believed that no matter how many Best Picture spots there were, there'd never be enough for your favorite movies?

And so it came to pass today, that popular (and critical) favorites Star Trek, The Hangover and Michael Jackson's This Is It found themselves denied a shot at Oscars' biggest prize.

Star Trek earned four technical nods, natch, for the 82nd Academy Awards. The Hangover and This Is It got zip.

Some other notable snubs:

• Inglourious Basterd's Diane Kruger was a Screen Actors Guild nominee for Best Supporting Actress. Today, was denied an Oscar nod when Crazy Heart's Maggie Gyllenhaal "stole" her spot.

• Say, remember that delightful romantic-comedy (500) Days of Summer? Oscar didn't. Nothing.

• Nancy Meyers movies usually produce Oscar nods, but not this time. It's Complicated didn't figure anywhere, for anyone—Oscar cohost Alec Baldwin, included.

• Once, onetime Best Actress winner Marion Cotillard looked like she might save Nine from awards-season obscurity. Instead, Penélope Cruz got the film's lone acting nod, in the Best Supporting Actress category. (Overall, the box-office bust managed four nods.)

• You may have not heard of The Secret of Kells, but the folks who made Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs likely will never forget the film that "stole" its nomination for Animated Feature.

Canadian Jason Reitman gets three Oscar nominations

Two Canadians will face off in the battle for Best Picture and Best Director at the March 7th Academy Awards.

Montreal’s Jason Reitman has been nominated for three Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Up in the Air. And Kapuskasing native James Cameron is up for Best Director and Best Picture as well for his 3-D epic, Avatar.

Toronto-born Christopher Plummer was nominated for his portrayal of Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station.

Reitman was also nominated, along with Sheldon Turner, for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The announcements were made at about 5:35 am PST Tuesday.

Adding to the strong Canadian contingent is writer/director Neil Blomkamp; the South African-born Vancouverite earned an adapted screenplay nod for District 9, which is also up for Best Picture.

There were few surprises among the major nominations — Avatar and The Hurt Locker led with nine nominations each, including a face off between former husband-and-wife directors James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow.

In the acting races, Maggie Gyllenhaal was a surprise Best Supporting Actress nomination for Crazy Heart. As expected, Sandra Bullock was nominated for The Blind Side, which is also up for Best Picture. And the entire leading cast of Up in the Air — George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick were also nominated.

Jeff Bridges garnered his fifth Oscar nod — he has yet to win — this time for playing a broken-down country singer in Crazy Heart.

Hurt Locker director Bigelow — only the fourth woman to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar — could make history if she takes home the golden statuette.

The expanded Best Picture list — now 10 from the usual five — left room for a few surprises among the expected nominations for James Cameron’s Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Precious, Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire and Inglorious Basterds. Pixar’s animation Up was nominated, along with alien drama District 9, The Blind Side and the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man.

'Avatar,' 'The Hurt Locker' lead Oscar nominations

BEVERLY HILLS, California – The science-fiction sensation "Avatar" and the Iraq war thriller "The Hurt Locker" lead the Academy Awards with nine nominations each, including best picture and director for former spouses James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow.

For the first time since 1943 the Oscars feature 10 best-picture contenders instead of the usual five.

Also nominated for best-picture Tuesday: "District 9"; the animated comedy "Up"; the World War II saga "Inglourious Basterds"; the football drama "The Blind Side"; the recession tale "Up in The Air," the 1960s drama "A Serious Man," and the teen tales "An Education" and "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' By Sapphire."

Acting nominees include the four stars who have dominated early awards shows: lead players Sandra Bullock for the American football drama "The Blind Side" and Jeff Bridges for the country-music tale "Crazy Heart" and supporting performers Mo'Nique for "Precious" and Austri's Christoph Waltz for "Inglourious Basterds."

The best-picture and director categories shape up as a showdown between ex-spouses who directed films that have dominated earlier Hollywood honors.

Cameron's "Avatar" won best drama and director at the Golden Globes, while Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" beat out Cameron at the Directors Guild of America Awards, whose recipient usually goes on to earn the best-director Oscar.

"The Hurt Locker" also beat "Avatar" for the Producers Guild of America top prize and was chosen as last year's best film by many key critics groups.

Bigelow, whose films include "Point Break" and "K19: The Widowmaker," is only the fourth woman nominated for a directing Oscar, following Sofia Coppola for 2003's "Lost in Translation," New Zealand director Jane Campion for 1993's "The Piano" and Italian director Lena Wertmuller for 1975's "Seven Beauties."

No woman has ever won the directing Oscar, and until Bigelow, no woman had ever won the Director's Guild honor.

Lee Daniels, who made "Precious," became only the second black filmmaker nominated for best director, after John Singleton for 1991's "Boyz N the Hood."

Also nominated for best director are Jason Reitman for "Up in the Air" and Quentin Tarantino for "Inglourious Basterds." "Up in the Air" co-writer Reitman also had a nomination for adapted screenplay, while Tarantino also earned a nomination for original screenplay.

Longtime audience darling Bullock has never been nominated for an Oscar before but is considered the best-actress front-runner, playing a wealthy woman who takes in homeless teen Michael Oher, now a star with the American football team the Baltimore Ravens.

Bullock is up against past Oscar winners Meryl Streep as chef Julia Child in "Julie & Julia" and Britain's Helen Mirren as Leo Tolstoy's bullheaded wife in "The Last Station," along with first-time nominees Carey Mulligan as a British teen involved with an older man in "An Education" and Gabourey Sidibe as a Harlem teen overcoming horrible abuse and neglect in "Precious."

Sidibe made her screen debut in "Precious," earning an Oscar nomination for her first professional acting job.

Bridges, nominated four times previously without winning an Oscar, is viewed as the man to beat this time for his role as a boozy country singer trying to clean up his act in "Crazy Heart."

Also nominated for best actor are past Oscar winners George Clooney as a frequent-flyer junkie in "Up in the Air" and Morgan Freeman as South African leader Nelson Mandela in "Invictus," Britain's Colin Firth as a grieving gay academic in "A Single Man" and Jeremy Renner as a bomb disposal expert in Iran in "The Hurt Locker."

Mo'Nique and Waltz were nominated for wicked roles, she as a reprehensible welfare mother in "Precious," he as a gleefully garrulous Nazi in "Inglourious Basterds." They were breakout roles for both, Mo'Nique leaping into the awards elite after a career of mainly lowbrow comedy, Waltz making his first Hollywood splash after working mostly in European theater and television.

Also up for supporting actress are "Up in the Air" co-stars Vera Farmiga as Clooney's frequent-flyer soul mate and Anna Kendrick as his reluctant business protege. The other nominations went to past Oscar winner Spain's Penelope Cruz as a filmmaker's needy mistress in the musical "Nine" and Maggie Gyllenhaal as a single mom involved wit Bridges' character in "Crazy Heart."

Joining Waltz in the supporting-actor lineup are Matt Damon as a South African rugby player in "Invictus," Woody Harrelson as a military man giving bad news to next of kin in "The Messenger," Canadian Christopher Plummer as aging author Tolstoy in "The Last Station" and Stanley Tucci as a serial killer in "The Lovely Bones."

With 10 best-picture contenders, this is the first time since 1943 that so many films are competing for Hollywood's highest honor. From 1931 to 1943, the Oscars featured between eight and 12 best-picture nominees. There were 10 in 1943, when "Casablanca" won best picture, but the show switched to five nominees after that.

Last summer, academy organizers decided to go back to 10, saying they wanted a broader range of titles in the mix, including worthy populist movies that often miss out on best-picture nominations in favor of the smaller dramas Oscar voters typically prefer.

Freeman got the news of his nomination while in Rome.

"This is my fifth nomination and I'm more proud of that than all the rest of it I think," he said, also approving of the expansion of the best picture category although it did not include "Invictus."

"I think it's a good call, a good call, some good pictures. We didn't get a best picture nomination? Well that's a big letdown. Well there you go. That's my problem, I thought we should get a best picture nomination. But it's OK."

Blockbuster best-picture contenders usually translate to better ratings for the Oscar broadcast, whose TV audience peaked with Cameron's "Titanic" triumph 12 years ago. Ratings have been so-so ever since, hitting an all-time low two years ago.

Luckily for Oscar overseers, the show this time includes the biggest thing since "Titanic." Cameron's "Avatar" has soared past "Titanic" to become No. 1 on the box-office charts, with $2 billion and climbing worldwide.

"Up," a travel adventure about a lonely widower who flies his house off to South America suspended from helium balloons, is only the second animated film ever to earn a best-picture nomination, following "Beauty and the Beast" in 1991, when the category had only five contenders.

Along with best picture, "Up" was nominated for animated feature, along with "Coraline," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "The Princess and the Frog" and "The Secret of Kells." Pixar Animation, which made "Up," has produced four of the eight winners since the animated-feature category was added in 2001, including "Finding Nemo" and "WALL-E."

Along with "Avatar" and "District 9," a third sci-fi hit, "Star Trek," had been considered a likely best-picture nominee, but it missed out, scoring only technical nominations, including visual effects and makeup.

Best-picture nominee "The Blind Side" was a huge hit but generally viewed as a longshot for a nomination in the top Oscar category.

Actors snubbed for acclaimed performances included Emily Blunt for "The Young Victoria," Julianne Moore for "A Single Man" and Diane Kruger for "Inglourious Basterds."

Oscar nominees are chosen in most categories by specific branches of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, such as actors, directors and writers. The academy's full membership of about 5,800 was eligible to vote for best-picture nominations and can cast ballots for the winners in all categories at the Oscar ceremony itself.

The 82nd Oscars will be presented March 7 in a ceremony airing on ABC from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre.

This season's ceremony continues last year's effort to liven up the show. Organizers chose song-and-dance Hugh Jackman as host a year ago rather than the usual comedian, and this time, they decided to go with dual hosts, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.

Oscar producers Adam Shankman, a choreographer and director whose films include "Hairspray," and Bill Mechanic, former studio boss at 20th Century Fox, are promising to step up the fun quotient at this year's show.

Honorary Oscars, which took up a big chunk of space during past shows, were moved to a separate event last fall, freeing up more time to focus on the expanded best-picture nominees and other categories viewers care most about.

List of 82nd annual Academy Award nominations

Complete list of 82nd Annual Academy Award nominations announced Tuesday:

1. Best Picture: "Avatar," "The Blind Side," "District 9," "An Education," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglourious Basterds," "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," "A Serious Man," "Up," "Up in the Air."

2. Actor: Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"; George Clooney, "Up in the Air"; Colin Firth, "A Single Man"; Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"; Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker."

3. Actress: Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"; Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"; Carey Mulligan, "An Education"; Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' by Sapphire"; Meryl Streep, "Julie & Julia."

4. Supporting Actor: Matt Damon, "Invictus"; Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"; Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"; Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"; Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds."

5. Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, "Nine"; Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air"; Maggie Gyllenhaal, "Crazy Heart"; Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air"; Mo'Nique, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire."

6. Directing: James Cameron, "Avatar"; Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"; Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"; Lee Daniels, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"; Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air."

7. Foreign Language Film: "Ajami," Israel; "El Secreto de Sus Ojos," Argentina; "The Milk of Sorrow," Peru; "Un Prophete," France; "The White Ribbon," Germany.

8. Adapted Screenplay: Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, "District 9"; Nick Hornby, "An Education"; Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, "In the Loop"; Geoffrey Fletcher, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"; Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, "Up in the Air."

9. Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, "The Hurt Locker"; Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"; Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, "The Messenger"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "A Serious Man"; Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Tom McCarthy, "Up."

10. Animated Feature Film: "Coraline"; "Fantastic Mr. Fox"; "The Princess and the Frog"; "The Secret of Kells"; "Up."

11. Art Direction: "Avatar," "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," "Nine," "Sherlock Holmes," "The Young Victoria."

12. Cinematography: "Avatar," "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglourious Basterds," "The White Ribbon."

13. Sound Mixing: "Avatar," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglourious Basterds," "Star Trek," "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

14. Sound Editing: "Avatar," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglourious Basterds," "Star Trek," "Up."

15. Original Score: "Avatar," James Horner; "Fantastic Mr. Fox," Alexandre Desplat; "The Hurt Locker," Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders; "Sherlock Holmes," Hans Zimmer; "Up," Michael Giacchino.

16. Original Song: "Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog," Randy Newman; "Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog," Randy Newman; "Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36," Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas; "Take It All" from "Nine," Maury Yeston; "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart," Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett.

17. Costume: "Bright Star," "Coco Before Chanel," "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," "Nine," "The Young Victoria."

18. Documentary Feature: "Burma VJ," "The Cove," "Food, Inc." "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers," "Which Way Home."

19. Documentary (short subject): "China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province," "The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner," "The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant," "Music by Prudence," "Rabbit a la Berlin."

20. Film Editing: "Avatar," "District 9," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglourious Basterds," "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire."

21. Makeup: "Il Divo," "Star Trek," "The Young Victoria."

22. Animated Short Film: "French Roast," "Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty," "The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)," "Logorama," "A Matter of Loaf and Death."

23. Live Action Short Film: "The Door," "Instead of Abracadabra," "Kavi," "Miracle Fish," "The New Tenants."

24. Visual Effects: "Avatar," "District 9," "Star Trek."

David vs Goliath as Oscars race heats up

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – The race for the Oscars goes into overdrive here on Tuesday when nominees for Hollywood's most coveted awards are unveiled, with the best picture battle shaping up as a David and Goliath showdown.

The identities of Oscars contenders will be revealed before hundreds of bleary-eyed media shortly after 5:30 am (1330 GMT) at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

All eyes are on the race for best picture, where low budget Iraq war drama "The Hurt Locker" has emerged as the favorite to thwart James Cameron's science fiction blockbuster "Avatar," the most expensive film ever made.

The contrast between the two films couldn't be more stark.

Cameron's film -- with a reported budget of 500 million dollars -- has rewritten the box office record books, earning more than two billion dollars since December to become the highest grossing film in history.

Yet it is "The Hurt Locker" -- directed by Cameron's ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow -- which has become a surprise contender in the best picture race after winning a series of awards, indicators that augur well for the March 7 Oscars.

As a commercial venture, however, the film has flopped, earning just 16 million dollars worldwide after costing around 15 million dollars.

Yet Bigelow's film about a US Army bomb disposal squad in Iraq has been a critical darling, winning a series of prizes and accolades so far this year.

The latest of those came on Saturday when Bigelow pipped Cameron to the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards top prize, the first time a woman has ever won the award.

In 62 years, only six winners of the DGA award have failed to go on and win the corresponding best director Oscar -- and the directing Oscar often goes to the film which wins best picture.

Bigelow's film also scored a surprise win at the Producers Guild of America Awards in January, another reliable Oscars barometer.

"'The Hurt Locker' is definitely the front-runner," said Tom O'Neil, an awards season pundit for The Los Angeles Times's theenvelope.com.

"There doesn't seem to be any confusion. There is a clear consensus within the industry, which is strange because 'The Hurt Locker' is a movie without stars, it's made no money.

"In recessionary times, voters seem to be turning their back on the most successful film ever made in favor of a money loser."

Oscars organizers doubled the number of best picture nominees in a move analysts have said was intended to help boost television ratings for the awards show, which increased by 13 percent in 2009 after hitting a record low in 2008.

The expansion of nominees could see a number of interesting sub-plots unfold, with Pixar's "Up" likely to be only the second animated film to win a best picture nomination.

There is also the possibility of science-fiction -- a genre traditionally ignored at the Oscars -- being well represented, with "District 9" and "Star Trek" both outside bets to join "Avatar" on the shortlist.

While the best picture race is close, the competition for the coveted acting awards is starting to acquire a look of inevitability.

Popular Hollywood veteran Jeff Bridges is the heavy favorite in the best actor race after already winning a slew of honors for his portrayal of a washed-up country singer in the drama "Crazy Heart."

Bridges's likely rivals are expected to include George Clooney for "Up In the Air," Morgan Freeman for "Invictus" and Colin Firth for "A Single Man."

In the best actress stakes, Sandra Bullock has emerged as a front-runner after winning at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Bullock's accolades have come for her performance in "The Blind Side," where she plays a southern housewife who takes in homeless black teen Michael Oher, who goes on to become an American football star.

However, Bullock is expected to face stiff competition from perennial Oscar favorite Meryl Streep, who is tipped to pick up her 16th Academy Award nomination for her performance in "Julie & Julia."

"There's still some suspense about the best actress but it looks like Bullock has the momentum," O'Neil said.

In the supporting acting categories, "Inglourious Basterds" star Christoph Waltz and Mo'Nique of the drama "Precious" are favorites.

Tuesday's nominations announcement takes place at 5:38 am (1338 GMT) local time.

'Transformers,' `Land of the Lost' lead Razzies

LOS ANGELES – "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" made a fortune. "Land of the Lost" tanked.

Both films are equal earners at the Razzies, though, grabbing seven nominations each on Monday, including worst picture of 2009 and worst-acting slots for Will Ferrell and Megan Fox.

Other worst-picture nominees: Sandra Bullock's romance "All About Steve," the action tale "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" and the Robin Williams-John Travolta comedy "Old Dogs."

Bullock earned a worst-actress nomination for "All About Steve." She's expected to score an Academy Award nomination Tuesday for her hit drama "The Blind Side."

"She could be the first person ever to win a Razzie and an Oscar in the same weekend," said John Wilson, founder of the Golden Raspberry Awards, now in their 30th year of singling out Hollywood's low points. Winners will be announced March 6, the night before the Oscars.

Razzie voters also are making worst-of-the-decade picks. The worst-picture nominees are Travolta's "Battlefield Earth," Tom Green's "Freddy Got Fingered," Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's "Gigli," Lindsay Lohan's "I Know Who Killed Me" and Madonna's "Swept Away."

Affleck and Travolta are up for worst actor of the decade, along with Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers and Rob Schneider. Lohan, Lopez and Madonna are nominated for the decade's worst actress, along with Mariah Carey and Paris Hilton.

Wilson said the worst-actress category probably would come down to Hilton and Lohan, while "Eddie Murphy I would guess would be pretty hard to beat as worst actor of the decade."

Razzie 2009 nominees also include Miley Cyrus as worst actress and her dad, Billy Ray, as worst supporting actor for "Hannah Montana: The Movie."

All three Jonas brothers shared a worst-actor nomination for "Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience." Razzie voters also included "any two (or more)" Jonas brothers in the category for worst screen couple.

Robert Pattinson was nominated as worst supporting actor for "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." Co-star Kristen Stewart is in the running for worst screen couple paired with either Pattinson or "New Moon" player Taylor Lautner.

Ferrell has nominations as worst actor for "Land of the Lost" and as worst screen couple paired with "any co-star, creature or `comic riff'" in the action comedy inspired by the children's TV show. "Land of the Lost" also was nominated for worst supporting actor (Jorma Taccone), director (Brad Silberling), screenplay and worst sequel, rip-off or remake, a category that includes the "Transformers" sequel.

Fox was nominated as worst actress for both "Revenge of the Fallen" and "Jennifer's Body." "Revenge of the Fallen" star Shia LaBeouf was cited for worst screen couple alongside Fox or any Transformer, while the movie also had nominations for supporting actress (Julie White), director (Michael Bay) and screenplay.

Joining Ferrell and the Jonas brothers for worst actor were Steve Martin in "The Pink Panther 2," Murphy in "Imagine That" and Travolta in "Old Dogs."

For worst actress, Bullock, Cyrus and Fox are up against Beyonce Knowles for "Obsessed" and Sarah Jessica Parker for "Did You Hear About the Morgans?"

Taylor wins Grammy best album; Beyonce wins 6

LOS ANGELES – Beyonce became the most decorated female on a Grammy night as she collected six trophies, including song of the year for her anthem "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)," but it was another diva — Taylor Swift — who nabbed the top honor, album of the year, for her best-selling "Fearless."

Swift, who won a total of four awards, jumped around like the 20-year-old kid that she is when beat out Beyonce, the Dave Matthews Band, Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas for the honor.

"Oh wow — thank you so much! I just hope that you know how much this means to me.... that we get to take this back to Nashville," said Swift, whose "Fearless" was last year's best-selling album of any genre.

"Oh my God, our families are freaking out in their living rooms," she added. "My dad and my little brother are losing their minds in the living room right now."

Although Beyonce also lost out on record of the year, which went to the Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody," the multihyphenate entertainer still owned the most awards of the evening.

Beyonce, who in 2004 won five Grammys on the strength of her debut album "Dangerously in Love," a mark tied by the likes of Alicia Keys, Norah Jones and Lauryn Hill, Amy Winehouse and Alison Krauss, reached that milestone again Sunday en route to the new record. She is the first to reach that mark twice.

She shared the song of the year trophy with three writers for "Single Ladies" and also won best R&B contemporary album for "I Am ... Sasha Fierce."

"This has been such an amazing night for me and I'd love to thank the Grammys," Beyonce said after winning best female pop vocal for "Halo."

The Kings of Leon were a bit more entertaining when they picked up their record of the year trophy, the family quartet's third of the night.

"I'm not going to lie, we're all a little drunk. But we're happy drunks," said lead singer Caleb Followill.

Lady Gaga won two Grammys during the pre-telecast ceremony but didn't get a chance to show her multitude of outrageous dresses during the primetime show, losing out on record, song and album of the year. But she made her presence felt when she kicked off the night with a sequined green leotard with massive shoulders as she sang her Grammy-nominated hit "Poker Face," then brought out Elton John as they melded her song "Speechless" and his classic "Your Song" together in a performance that featured dueling pianos, and glitter-painted faces.

Swift, who was second to Beyonce in Grammy nominations with eight nods, also won best country album among her other awards. The victory capped an amazing run for Swift, whose "Fearless" is only her second album. Her self-titled debut was a platinum success but "Fearless," with songs like "You Belong With Me," took her into the superstar stratosphere, as she won accolades across genres.

Another country act to take a top award was the Zac Brown Band, which won best new artist.

The Black Eyed Peas also had three trophies, as well as Jay-Z, who won for best rap solo performance and two awards for "Run This Town" with Rihanna and Kanye West.

Rihanna — who was forced to bow out of last year's awards as a performer after being assaulted by then-boyfriend Chris Brown, accepted the trophy along with Jay-Z and with Beyonce's young nephew in tow. West — who has kept a relatively low profile since his dustup with Swift a few months back — was a notable no-show.

Maxwell, up for six awards, also won his first Grammys — best R&B male vocal for the ballad "Pretty Wings" and best R&B album for "BLACKsummers' night." The album marked the R&B crooner's return after an absence of eight years from the music business.

Many participants in the program wore red cross buttons in support of Haiti earthquake relief. Mary J. Blige joined Andrea Bocelli in a rousing rendition of "Bridge Over Troubled Water," which was not only designed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the song's big Grammy wins, but to raise money for the people in Haiti. The performance, introduced by Haitian native Wyclef Jean, will be available via iTunes.com/target, with the funds going to earthquake relief.

The show also included a special 3-D tribute to Michael Jackson featuring a video clip he made of "Earth Song" as Usher, Carrie Underwood, Celine Dion, Jennifer Hudson and Smokey Robinson sang along.

Jackson's young children, Prince and Paris, accepted a lifetime achievement award for their late father.

"Through all his songs his message was simple, love. We will continue to spread his message and help the world," Prince said.

Oscar nomination predictions

Oscar nominations will be unveiled Tuesday morning. Here's what we expect to happen:

BEST PICTURE
"Avatar"
"District 9"
"An Education"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Invictus"
"Precious"
"A Serious Man"
"Up"
"Up in the Air"

Vulnerable on the list above are "District 9," "Invictus" and "A Serious Man," which can be bumped by "The Hangover," "The Messenger," "A Single Man" or "Star Trek."

BEST DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"
James Cameron, "Avatar"
Lee Daniels, "Precious"
Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"
Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"

These seem to be set in stone.

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"
George Clooney, "Up in the Air"
Colin Firth, "A Single Man"
Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"
Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker"

Jeremy Renner may be bumped by Viggo Mortensen ("The Road").

BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"
Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"
Carey Mulligan, "An Education"
Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious"
Meryl Streep, "Julie & Julia"

Emily Blunt ("The Young Victoria") might dethrone one of the above.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"
Christian McKay, "Me and Orson Welles"
Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"
Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"
Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds"

This is one of the toughest categories to predict because there are too many other strong contenders, including Matt Damon ("Invictus"), Alec Baldwin ("It's Complicated"), Anthony Mackie ("The Hurt Locker") and Alfred Molina and Peter Sarsgaard ("An Education"). I put Christian McKay on my list because he gives a flashy portrayal of one of Hollywood's most idolized heroes, Orson Welles, in what is arguably a lead performance. Like Woody Harrelson, I think he even has a longshot chance to beat Christoph Waltz, but McKay's campaign DVD was sent rather late. That could hurt his chance of getting on this list.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air"
Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air"
Melanie Laurent, "Inglourious Basterds"
Mo'Nique, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
Samantha Morton, "The Messenger"

A different "Inglourious Basterds" star, Diane Kruger, got nommed at SAG, but she didn't have to battle Laurent, who competed in the lead race. Oscar voters can put actors in whatever category they choose and I think they'll put Laurent where she belongs, in supporting. But there's a strong chance that Julianne Moore ("A Single Man") could break through here too.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"Avatar"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Up"
"A Serious Man"

I know, I know, James Cameron didn't get nominated for "Titanic," but I think that was because misogynist academy members pooh-poohed the screenplay for its wild, romantic ache. "Avatar" is more to their machismo taste, and to members of the Writers Guild where it got nommed. I know, I know, WGA nommed "Titanic" too and that didn't result in an Oscar bid, but over at the academy, I think all is forgiven now. That may mean a cold shoulder for "(500) Days of Summer."

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"An Education"
"District 9"
"Julie & Julia"
"Precious"
"Up in the Air"

"Julie & Julia" is vulnerable, could be ousted by "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "A Single Man," "Invictus" or "The Road."

Kathryn Bigelow tops directors with 'Hurt Locker'

LOS ANGELES – Kathryn Bigelow and "The Hurt Locker" became official awards-season front-runners Saturday after Bigelow won the top prize from the Directors Guild of America.

The 58-year-old filmmaker is the first woman to win the guild's top honor, which positions her and the film as shoe-ins for the Academy Awards. The DGA boasts that its winner has gone on to win the Oscar all but six times since 1948.

"This is the most incredible moment of my life," Bigelow said backstage. She downplayed her gender, saying, "I suppose I like to think of myself as a filmmaker."

Still, she was the only nominated director who earned accolades for her physique as well as her filmmaking. Bigelow was up against Quentin Tarantino for "Inglourious Basterds," Jason Reitman for "Up in the Air," Lee Daniels for "Precious" and her ex-husband James Cameron for "Avatar."

"Hurt Locker" star Jeremy Renner called Bigelow "a warrior, my champion and the most fortunate actor's director."

Tarantino praised her as "queen of directors." He said his fellow nominees have been spending so much time together, they have become "like a superstar rock band and we're going to go on tour together."

Clutching a shiny medallion as a souvenir of his DGA nomination, Tarantino said, "I don't give a (expletive) who wins, I am so happy to have this."

Daniels said the nominated directors, who have seen each other regularly throughout Hollywood's awards season, are "like a support group" for one another.

"We have each other's backs," he said.

He told Bigelow, "You are bold. You are brave. You are gutsy."

Reitman told the winning director that he grew up watching her films.

"You are more than a great director, you are one of the greats," he said. "I'm in awe of you, too."

Cameron praised his competitors as "truly excellent and brilliant filmmakers."

Bigelow said just being nominated for the Directors Guild honor is "kind of the pinnacle for the already wild ride 'The Hurt Locker' has put me on."

The four-hour affair at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza hotel drew a spate of celebrities, including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Jodie Foster, Jon Cryer, Cheryl Hines and Jason Bateman. All but Jolie served as presenters during Saturday's ceremony.

Carl Reiner hosted the event recognizing achievements in directing, as he has for 22 years.

"Modern Family" won the top honor for television comedy for its pilot, directed by Jason Winer.

"I want to thank the DGA for validating the Napoleon complex I've had ever since I was a smaller boy," the diminutive director said.

The drama prize went to "Mad Men" and director Lesli Linka Glatter. Ross Katz was honored for the HBO movie "Taking Chance." Louie Psihoyos' film "The Cove" won the documentary award.

"The film plays like a prequel to 'Avatar,' only it's real and set in the present," Psihoyos said.

Cher presented Norman Jewison with the guild's Lifetime Achievement Award for his career in film.

"The studio heads maybe have all the power, but we've got the glory," he said. "And when you receive the lifetime achievement award like this, it makes you very nervous, like maybe you're going to fall off the perch or something."

The 83-year-old filmmaker accepted the award surrounded by his family, including his four grandchildren.

Cher said she would have gone to the moon to present Jewison with the honor.

"He has changed my life," said Cher, who starred in "Moonstruck," Jewison's 1987 hit. "I love him so much."

Roger Goodman was presented the guild's lifetime achievement award in news direction. Disney chief Robert Iger and Warner Bros. chief Barry Meyer were granted honorary life memberships in the guild.

Among other guild winners:

• Reality programming: Craig Borders, "Hong Kong Bridge."

• Children's programs: Allison Liddi-Brown, "Princess Protection Program."

• Daytime serials: Christopher Goutman, "As the World Turns: Once Upon a Time."

• Commercials: Tom Kuntz.

Among Hollywood's many honors leading up to the Academy Awards, the Directors Guild prizes have one of the best track records for predicting eventual Oscar winners.

Academy Award nominations will be announced Tuesday.

Leonard Cohen thanks Canada

LOS ANGELES - With the Grammy Awards about to honour Leonard Cohen, the 75-year-old Montreal legend decided to pay respect to his home country during a party at the Canadian consul general's residence on Thursday.

Cohen, clad in a dark suit with his trademark fedora shading his eyes, climbed onstage alongside a group of other artists at the gathering - held annually in honour of Canadian Grammy nominees - before making a brief speech to the cheers of a grateful crowd.

"My great grandfather, Lazarus Cohen, came to Canada in 1869, to the county of Glengarry, a little town in Maberly," Cohen said.

"It's customary to thank people for the help and aid they've given. On this occasion, because of the great hospitality that was accorded my ancestor who came here over 140 years ago, I want to thank this country, Canada, for allowing us to live and work and flourish in a place that was different from all other places in the world.

"So I thank Canada for the opportunity that was given me to work and play and flourish. ... Thank you, friends."

While Cohen made only a brief appearance at the party, his presence carried weight with the other attendees.

"It's nice to be up there with an icon," said Steve Wood of Alberta powwow dance group Northern Cree, nominated for a fifth time for best native American album, who stood next to Cohen onstage.

Cohen will be honoured on Saturday with a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy, which puts on the Grammys.

The celebrated musician and poet, oddly, has only ever won one Grammy and it wasn't for one of his own albums. He earned a trophy for contributing vocals to Herbie Hancock's "River: The Joni Letters," which won album of the year in 2008.

The group of Canadian Grammy hopefuls who attended the poolside party on Thursday could then potentially match Cohen's tally at Sunday's 51st Grammy Awards (Global, 8 p.m. ET).

Nominees in attendance included Montreal trip-rock band Beast and producer David Foster, whose brief visit was long enough to brighten fellow nominee Melanie Fiona's night.

"I was very excited to meet David Foster," said the beaming Toronto singer, who's up for best female R&B vocal performance.

"I got to meet him as soon as I came through the door."

The showcase featured performances from Toronto hip-hop artist K'naan, St. John's, N.L., indie-rockers Hey Rosetta and Vancouver singer-songwriter Dan Mangan.

While Cohen might have been considered the guest of honour, it was producer Daniel Lanois who was the life of the party.

Clad in a black leather jacket and snug jeans with a pair of sunglasses obscuring his eyes, a smiling Lanois arrived toward the beginning of the party, happily chatting with anyone who approached him. When asked by a reporter if there were any stars he was hoping to meet at Sunday's gala, he shrugged and said "Satan?" before laughing and clarifying that he was only joking.

Later, he hopped onstage unexpectedly for an impromptu after-show bonus performance with his guests, country legend Emmylou Harris and singer Trixie Whitley. It was one of the only moments during which a chatty crowd composed of musicians, Grammy organizers, industry folk and journalists actually fell silent.

And for Lanois's finale, he rode into the balmy night atop a motorcycle, pausing to wave to a cluster of valets and party-goers who were lingering around the driveway.

Lanois has won seven Grammys. He isn't directly nominated this year, but he produced and co-wrote several tracks on U2's "No Line on the Horizon," which is up for three awards.

He says he thinks the Grammys are moving in the right direction.

"I think they're catching people on the rise rather than waiting for people to get to the top," he said.

"Because when we're on our way up, that's when we need the most help. So it's nice when you can get someone complimenting you and encouraging you as you're building your career."

Meanwhile, Pierre Cossette wasn't far from the minds of many attending the party. The Valleyfield, Que., native - considered by most to be the father of the Grammy Awards - died in September.

A collage of photographs of Cossette stood next to the stage, along with a TV screen looping a slide show of Cossette pictured with stars including Celine Dion and Will Smith.

Cossette's wife, Mary, spoke in his honour.

"My very deepest gratitude and thanks for honouring my husband, Pierre Cossette, who spent his life loving music and encouraging music of all kinds to be written and recorded and produced and thereby making the world a happier place," she said.

"His greatest pride was his Canadian heritage."

'The Hurt Locker' wins Producers Guild Award

LOS ANGELES – "The Hurt Locker" scored the top film award from the Producers Guild of America, building new momentum for the Iraq war drama in the expanded Oscar race for best picture.

The film about a risk-taking bomb disposal technician beat out such celebrated nominees as "Avatar," "Inglourious Basterds" and "Up in the Air" Sunday night.
"The Hurt Locker" also bested the films "Star Trek," "District 9," "An Education," "Invictus," "Up" and "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' By Sapphire" at the Producer Guild Awards in Hollywood.

The awards were the latest kudofest in the run-up to the Academy Awards in March.

'Inglourious Basterds' wins SAG film award

LOS ANGELES – While Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock's chances for Academy Award gold were advanced with their trophies at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the blockbuster "Avatar" may have felt a touch blue.

The computer-assisted performances in James Cameron's "Avatar" didn't make the cut for SAG nominations. But the groundbreaking sci-fi film remains a strong best-picture contender for the Oscars in March.

For Bridges of "Crazy Heart," Bullock of "The Blind Side" and for SAG supporting-acting honorees Mo'Nique of "Precious" and Christoph Waltz of "Inglourious Basterds," there's reason to suspect the Oscar ceremony will be a happy rerun of Saturday's SAG Awards and last Sunday's Golden Globes.

All four were recognized at the Globes, as well, while "Avatar" was named best drama and Cameron won as best director.

He will face competition from director Quentin Tarantino, whose "Inglourious Basterds" won the SAG Award for best ensemble performance, which can be a precursor to the top Oscar award. Last year, SAG's movie cast award was presented to "Slumdog Millionaire," which went on to win the best picture Oscar.

"It was an honor to be part of it, Quentin," "Inglourious Basterds" cast member Eli Roth said in accepting the award for his fellow actors in the off-kilter World War II revenge saga.

Bullock declined — strenuously — to look ahead.

"Shhhhh. Shhhhh. Shhhhh," Bullock said backstage when she was asked to speculate on her Oscar chances. She won for her portrayal of a tenacious real-life mom, Leigh Anne Tuohy, who helped a youth in need, future NFL player Michael Oher.

"I would be a hostess or a waitress or a house restorer before I ever considered myself an actor, because I never thought I was good enough," she added.

Although respected by his peers, Bridges has largely been bypassed for major awards.

"I love being an actor — pretending to be other people and getting into the shoes of other folks," said Bridges, who plays a hard-luck, hard-living country singer in "Crazy Heart."

Waltz was honored for his role as an enthusiastically ruthless Nazi. Mo'Nique's trophy came for her searing portrayal of an abusive mother in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' By Sapphire."

On the TV side of the SAG Awards, the cast of AMC's 1960s Madison Avenue saga "Mad Men" won the trophy for best drama series ensemble for the second year in a row, while 19 cast members of Fox TV newcomer "Glee," about misfits in a high school singing club, accepted the award for best comedy series ensemble.

"Glee" claimed the best comedy series award at the Golden Globes.

Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey of NBC's "30 Rock" won for best acting in a comedy series, allowing Fey to get in a sly joke about NBC and its bitter late-night battle with Conan O'Brien in her acceptance speech.

"I just wanted to take a moment to say to everyone at NBC, we are very happy with everything, and happy to be there," she said. Both she and Baldwin won the awards last year.

Golden Globe winner Michael C. Hall of Showtime's "Dexter," wearing a cap because of treatment he's receiving for Hodgkin's lymphoma, won best actor in a drama series. The award for best actress in a drama went to Julianna Margulies of CBS' "The Good Wife."

Kevin Bacon won as best actor in a movie or miniseries for the war-themed drama, "Taking Chance," while Drew Barrymore received best actress honors in the category for "Grey Gardens," about eccentric relatives of Jacqueline Onassis.

Betty White, 88, accepted a lifetime achievement award from Bullock for an enduring career that included "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "The Golden Girls," and showed her sharp comedic chops.

When Bullock joked that she finds White annoying, White shot back, "Isn't it heartening to see how far a girl as plain as she is can go."

"I should be presenting an award to you for the privilege of working in this wonderful business all this time. And you still can't get rid of me," White told the audience.

Actors in two highly critically acclaimed films went home empty-handed, including "Up in the Air" star George Clooney and the film's supporting actresses, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. The cast of "The Hurt Locker" also lost out.

Clooney, however, was lauded by SAG President Ken Howard for helping organize Friday's telethon to raise money for earthquake-devastated Haiti, a rare reference to the tragedy.

Two honors not shown in the telecast went to stunt ensembles for the film "Star Trek" and the TV show "24."

SAG to honor Betty White's 60-year career

LOS ANGELES – Betty White couldn't believe it.

"They told me about the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award, and I thought they were putting me on," White said. "I really did. I thought, 'Oh, sure.'"

She'll finally have tangible proof Saturday night, when Sandra Bullock, her co-star in "The Proposal," hands over the statuette from the Screen Actors Guild, paying tribute to White's more than 60-year career. The SAG Awards will air live on TNT and TBS from the Shrine Exhibition Hall (8 p.m. EST).

Starting in local Los Angeles television during the medium's earliest days, White's first 20 years in the business included a 1951 Emmy for the sitcom "Life With Elizabeth," and various talk-show and game-show gigs. But it wasn't until 1973 that she became part of a TV classic, as sex-crazed "Happy Homemaker" host Sue Ann Nivens on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

"Ethel Winant, the casting director, had said, 'We want a sickeningly sweet Betty White type,'" White recalled. "Well, they couldn't find anybody sickening enough."

So, they hired White, who eventually became a regular on the series, won back-to-back Emmys, and a place in TV history.

In 1985, she was earmarked for the role of Blanche on "The Golden Girls." "It was Jay Sandrich, who directed most of the 'Mary' shows, who, in his wisdom said, 'If Betty plays Blanche, another neighborhood nymphomaniac, they're going to think it's Sue Ann all over again.' And he said, 'Let's switch them.'" Co-star Rue McClanahan took on Blanche. White got the naive Rose. They both went on to win Emmys, and eternal lives in reruns.

White is nearly as well known for her love of animals. "My mother always told a story. We had a beautiful orange-marmalade kitty who would sleep on the edge of my crib. And she said, 'If Toby hadn't taken to you, you would have gone right back to the hospital.' But it is such a big part of my life. I not only love them __ I'm not into animal rights or anything political. It's animal health and welfare."

She was previously married, but White said the love of her life was game-show host Allen Ludden, to whom she was married from 1963 through to his death from cancer in 1981. She never married again. "When you've had the best, who needs the rest?" White asked. "Oh, I've had friends, some of them even better friends than others. But no."

At 88, Betty is White-hot again, coming off a scene-stealing stint as Ryan Reynolds' grandmother in the blockbusting "The Proposal," and with a handful of TV and big-screen projects in the pipeline.

"I think the most surprised person is my agent," White said. "'They still are using YOU?' But it's beyond-belief exciting."

Is there anything in show business she's yet to do?

"Robert Redford," White replied, with a sly smile.

BAFTA Nominations, 8 For An Education

The Orange British Academy has announced it’s 2010 nominees. Known as the BAFTAs, they’re kind of like the British equivalent of the Oscars. Their nominations contain at leas ta few surprises. For instance while Up in the Air was nominated for Best Film, director Jason Reitman was shut out of their director category. Instead, unexpectedly, District 9 director Neill Blomkamp slips in. Up in the Air fared better elsewhere though, with nominations for all three primary cast members. The film scored 6 nominations in all. Avatar, The Hurt Locker, and An Education lead all nominees, with eight nominations each.

The Orange British Academy hands out its statues on February 21st. Here’s the full list of this year’s nominees.

Best Film
Avatar
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Precious
Up In The Air

Outstanding British Film
An Education
Fish Tank
In The Loop
Moon
Nowhere Boy

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson, Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock, David Pearson (Mugabe And The White African)
Eran Creevy (Shifty)
Stuart Hazeldine (Exam)
Duncan Jones (Moon)
Sam Taylor-Wood (Nowhere Boy)

Director
James Cameron (Avatar)
Neill Blomkamp (District 9)
Lone Scherfig (An Education)
Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)

Original Screenplay
Jon Lucas, Scott Moore (The Hangover)
Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (A Serious Man)
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter (Up)

Adapted Screenplay
Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell (District 9)
Nick Hornby (An Education)
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche (In The Loop)
Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious)
Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner (Up In The Air)

Film Not In The English Language
Broken Embraces
Coco Before Chanel
Let The Right One In
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

Animated Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr Fox
Up

Leading Actor
Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
George Clooney (Up In The Air)
Colin Firth (A Single Man)
Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)
Andy Serkis (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll)

Leading Actress
Carey Mulligan (An Education)
Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones)
Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)
Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)
Audrey Tatou (Coco Before Chanel)

Supporting Actor
Alec Baldwin (It's Complicated)
Christian McKay (Me And Orson Welles)
Alfred Molina (An Education)
Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)
Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)

Supporting Actress
Anne-Marie Duff (Nowhere Boy)
Vera Farmiga (Up In The Air)
Anna Kendrick (Up In The Air)
Mo'Nique (Precious)
Kristin Scott Thomas (Nowhere Boy)

Music
Avatar
Crazy Heart
Fantastic Mr Fox
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
Up

Cinematography
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Road

Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Up In The Air

Production Design
Avatar
District 9
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus
Inglourious Basterds

Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
An Education
A Single Man
The Young Victoria

Sound
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Up

Special Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek

Make Up & Hair
Coco Before Chanel
An Education
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Short Animation
The Gruffalo
The Happy Duckling
Mother Of Many

Short Film
14
I Do Air
Jade
Mixtape
Off Season

The Orange Rising Star Award (voted for by the public)
Jesse Eisenberg
Nicholas Hoult
Carey Mulligan
Tahar Rahim
Kristen Stewart

Is 'Avatar' on its way to becoming this season's 'Slumdog Millionaire'?

Last year at this time, "Slumdog Millionaire" was such a prohibitive favorite that at some point all the other contenders seemed to take the rest of the season off.

This year hasn't been nearly as predictable, nor as uniform. Favorites have had a shakier hold on their categories, and no movie has spread as widely across ballots as "Slumdog" did. Which has gotten pundits (at least until recently) excited about the prospect of a left-field phenomenon.

But as the award season moves from confusion to clarity — as it began to do when “Avatar” won best film and best director prizes at the Golden Globes on Sunday night — it also risks veering into certainty. It increasingly looks like this year won’t have a “Crash” or a “Departed,” which each made late, post-Globes surges to win best picture at the Oscars. Much of awards season thrives on suspense, so that’s not exactly a good thing.

Pundits do note a few areas could see drama. By handing best actress prizes to both Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock, the Globes cleared up nothing on that two-woman race; until SAG chooses between them this weekend, it’s almost impossible to handicap a winner. Kathryn Bigelow remains a strong candidate to take the best director prize away from ex-husband James Cameron, especially if the Directors Guild endorses her with its top honors Jan. 30.

This year there’s also a full week between the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Globes announcements and the deadline for academy nomination ballots, which means that the HFPA could stir the pot by getting “The Hangover” back on voters’ minds and into that 10th best picture slot. Which, given that it could mean Mike Tyson holding court at Kodak Theatre, may or may not be a good thing.

But those are dramas of an underwhelming sort. For all the shrugging and upturned palms this year coming out of the New Hampshire primary of awards season, the Toronto International Film Festival, the surprises are fast dwindling.

Oscar prospects for Jeff Bridges (best actor), Christoph Waltz and Mo'nique (best supporting actor and actress), “Inglourious Basterds” (original screenplay) and "Up in the Air" (adapted screenplay) are pretty much sure bets. And "Avatar" is looking and more and more steely in the best picture category. There appear to be few opportunities for Jets-like upsets and in turn few great awards-season subplots.

Then again, as counterintuitive as it may seem, “Avatar” represents a comeback story of its own. Sure, it’s not exactly “Slumdog” — Fox gave its director just a little bit more leeway (and money) than Warner Bros. did Danny Boyle. And the movie didn’t require a last-minute bailout from another studio to see the light of day.

But given that James Cameron disappeared for more than a decade with barely a playful hint as to his professional life outside an “Entourage” storyline, there’s something oddly left field about his candidacy too. And given initial skepticism about whether his movie would be a commercial and awards-season smash — let alone match the insanely high bar of “Titanic” — the 3-D film’s success lends it a distinctly "Slumdog"-ish, beat-the-odds quality.

“At the time of ‘Titanic,’ when we won the Golden Globe and we were on our way to being No. 1, I’m thinking ‘Enjoy this ride; it’s never going to happen again,’ ” Cameron said backstage at the Globes on Sunday night. “With ‘Avatar,’ we thought it was a shameless engine of commerce. We’re not going to try to impress the critics. And here we are again.” Given the growing inevitability of this race, that’s true in more ways than one.

Cameron's `Avatar' wins best drama honor at Globes

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – The science-fiction blockbuster "Avatar" won best drama at the Golden Globes and picked up the directing honor for James Cameron on Sunday, raising the "Titanic" filmmaker's prospects for another Academy Awards triumph.

It was a repeat of Cameron's Globes night 12 years ago, when "Titanic" won best drama and the directing prize on its way to dominating the Oscars.

This time, though, instead of being "king of the world," as Cameron declared at the Oscars, he has become king of an alien landscape, elevating space fantasy to enormous critical acclaim.

"'Avatar' asks us to see that everything is connected, all human beings to each other, and us to the Earth. And if you have to go four and a half light years to another, made-up planet to appreciate this miracle of the world that we have right here, well, you know what, that's the wonder of cinema right there, that's the magic," Cameron said.

Winning the dramatic-acting honors were Sandra Bullock for the football tale "The Blind Side" and Jeff Bridges for the country-music story "Crazy Heart." The crowd gave a standing ovation to Bridges, a beloved veteran generally overlooked for key Hollywood honors.

"You're really screwing up my underappreciated status here," Bridges said.

The son of late actor Lloyd Bridges, Bridges thanked his father for encouraging him to go into show business.

"So glad I listened to you, dad," he said.

Bullock cited Michael Oher, the Baltimore Ravens rookie lineman whose life is the subject of "The Blind Side." She plays a wealthy woman whose family took in the teenage Oher after discovering he was homeless.

"If I may steal from Michael Oher, I may not be the most talented, but I've been given opportunity," Bullock said.

The acting prizes for musical and comedy went to Meryl Streep for the Julia Child story "Julie & Julia" and Robert Downey Jr. for the crime romp "Sherlock Holmes." The supporting-performance Globes were won by Mo'Nique as an abusive welfare mother in "Precious" and Christoph Waltz as a gleefully bloodthirsty Nazi in "Inglourious Basterds."

Downey thanked his frequent producing collaborator Joel Silver, the "guy that's only restarted my career 12 times since I began 25 years ago."

The Vegas bachelor bash "The Hangover" won for best musical or comedy, bringing uncharacteristic awards attention for broad comedy, a genre that often gets overlooked at Hollywood honors.

"I just want to thank my mom, who supported my decision to become a director when she realized I wasn't as smart as my two sisters," said "Hangover" director Todd Phillips.

As he accepted the directing Globe, Cameron had kind words for ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow, nominated as best director for "The Hurt Locker."

"Frankly, I thought Kathryn was going to get this. She richly deserves it," said Cameron, whose "Avatar" has taken in $1.6 billion worldwide, second only to "Titanic" with $1.8 billion.

The Globes marked a dramatic turning point for Mo'Nique, who was mainly known for lowbrow comedy but startled audiences with her ferocious performance in "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' By Sapphire."

Mo'Nique had gushing praise for "Precious" director Lee Daniels and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, a best dramatic actress nominee at the Globes with her first film role, playing Mo'Nique's abused, illiterate daughter.

"Lee Daniels, the world gets a chance to see how brilliant you are. You are a brilliant, fearless, amazing director who would not waver, and thank you for trusting me," Mo'Nique said. "To Gabby, sister, I am in awe of you. Thank you for letting me play with you."

Streep's competition for best actress in a musical or comedy included herself. She also was nominated for the romance "It's Complicated."

"I just want to say that in my long career, I've played so many extraordinary woman that I'm getting mistaken for one," Streep said. "I'm very clear that I'm the vessel for other people's stories and other people's lives."

Waltz, a veteran Austrian actor who is a relative newcomer in Hollywood, won the supporting-actor Globe in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds."

"A year and a half ago I was exposed to the gravitational forces of Quentin Tarantino," Waltz said. "He took my modest little world, my globe, and with the power of his talent and his words and his vision, he flung it into its orbit, a dizzying experience."

Though one of Hollywood's biggest parties, the Globes bore somber reminders of tragedy in the real world, many stars wearing ribbons in support of earthquake victims in Haiti.

The blockbuster "Up" came away with the award for animated film. Pixar Animation, the Disney outfit that made "Up," has won all four prizes for animated movies since the Globes introduced the category in 2006. Past Pixar winners are "WALL-E," "Ratatouille" and "Cars."

"Up" features the voice of Ed Asner in a tale of a lonely, bitter widower who renews his zest for adventure by flying his house off under helium balloons to South America, where he encounters his childhood hero and a hilarious gang of talking canines.

"When it came to finding the heart of the film, we didn't have to look very hard," said "Up" director Pete Docter, whose film also won for musical score. "Our inspiration was all around us. Our grandparents, our parents, our wives, our kids. Our talking dogs."

Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner won the screenplay honor for "Up in the Air," which Reitman also directed. The foreign-language honor went to "The White Ribbon," a stark drama of guilt and suspicion set in a German town on the eve of World War I.

"Mad Men" won for best TV drama, while Michael C. Hall won for best actor in a TV drama for "Dexter," in which he plays a serial killer with a code of ethics, killing only other murderers. Hall's publicists revealed this past week that Hall is being treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma and that the cancer is in remission.

"It's really a hell of a thing to go to work in a place where everybody gives a damn. That's really the case with `Dexter,'" Hall said. "It's a dream job. I'm so grateful."

"Dexter" also won the supporting-actor TV honor for John Lithgow. Other TV winners included Juliana Margulies as best actress in a drama for "The Good Wife" and Toni Collette as best comedy actress for "The United States of Tara."

The rain-drenched red carpet was a rare sight for an awards show in sunny southern California, stars in their finery getting damp under umbrellas as storms swept the region.

The Globes got a makeover, featuring Ricky Gervais as master of ceremonies, the first time in 15 years the show had a host.

One of his most biting quips came as he sipped a beer on stage.

"I like a drink as much as the next man, unless the next man is Mel Gibson," Gervais wisecracked as he introduced Globe presenter Mel Gibson, who made an anti-Semitic rant a few years back during a drunken-driving arrest.

Sunday's winners could get a last-minute boost for the Oscars, whose nominations balloting closes Saturday. Last year's big Globe winner, "Slumdog Millionaire," went on to dominate the Oscars.

The Globes are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 90 reporters covering show business for overseas outlets. The show aired live on NBC.

"The Hurt Locker" a blast at Critics Choice Awards

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – "The Hurt Locker," a low-budget movie about an American bomb-disposal unit in Iraq, was named best picture on Friday at the Critics' Choice Awards, an event that has an uncanny knack of foreshadowing Oscar success.

The movie's director, Kathryn Bigelow, also was honored, beating a high-profile field that included her ex-husband, "Avatar" filmmaker James Cameron -- a duel she described as "sorta surreal."

"Avatar," which scored nine nominations, was named best action movie, and picked up five other awards in newly established technical categories to lead the overall field.

Jeff Bridges was named best actor for playing a drunken country singer in "Crazy Heart," while the actress award was a tie between Meryl Streep for "Julie & Julia" and Sandra Bullock for "The Blind Side."

The supporting actor awards went to a pair of on-screen villains: Austrian actor Christoph Waltz for his turn as a malevolent Nazi in "Inglourious Basterds" and comedienne Mo'Nique who played an abusive mother in "Precious."

"NINE" AN UNLUCKY NUMBER

"Inglourious Basterds" won two other awards: for director Quentin Tarantino's original screenplay and for best ensemble. Along with the all-star musical "Nine," it led the field with 10 nominations. "Nine," a major box-office bomb, went home empty-handed.

Other winners included Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for their adapted screenplay for "Up in the Air," and Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar's Broken Embraces" for foreign-language film.

The Critics' Choice Awards, organized by the 235 members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association in the United States and Canada, have established a reputation as the leading barometer of Oscar success. In the past 10 years, 80 percent of its best-picture winners went on to take Oscar gold. The success rate for director, best actor and actress is 70 percent.

Backstage, the winners were decidedly cagey about their Oscar chances ahead of the February 2 nominations announcement.

Bridges, who has been nominated for four Oscars but never won, simply hoped the awards attention would boost the commercial prospects of "Crazy Heart" -- a country version of last year's Oscar hopeful "The Wrestler."

"It's really wonderful to get the tip of the hat by the guys that do what you do," he said. "So if that should happen it would be wonderful."

Bullock and Streep shared the platform backstage and traded glowing assessments of each other. Bullock's eyes welled up when Streep hailed her rival's "amazing" facility for on-screen charm and compassion.

Globe nominees mix wild fantasy, harsh reality

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Far-out fantasy and ripped-from-the-headlines reality are in the running at Sunday night's Golden Globes, Hollywood's first major film honors that will help sort out the Academy Awards picture.

Contenders for best drama include two wildly make-believe adventures, the science-fiction spectacle "Avatar" and the war story "Inglourious Basterds," which rewrites the end of World War II with a gleefully vengeful bloodbath at a movie premiere.

Also competing are timely dramas of the war on terror ("The Hurt Locker") and economic hard times ("Up in the Air"), along with the grim but inspiring "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' By Sapphire," about a Harlem teen struggling to lift herself out of an abyss of illiteracy, abuse and neglect.

With stars sharing dinner and drinks, the Globes traditionally are a loose and relaxed affair compared to the courtly Oscars. Celebrities sometimes are caught more in reality-show mode — Jack Nicholson once mooned the crowd for a laugh, and Christine Lahti had to rush from the restroom to collect her Globe for the TV drama "Chicago Hope."

Also unlike other Hollywood film honors, the Globes feature categories for musicals and comedies along with dramas. Nominated for best musical or comedy are the Vegas bachelor romp "The Hangover," the Julia Child tale "Julie & Julia," the musical "Nine" and the romances "(500) Days of Summer" and "It's Complicated."

Among acting nominees are Meryl Streep for both "Julie & Julia" and "It's Complicated," Sandra Bullock for both "The Blind Side" and "The Proposal" and Matt Damon for both "The Informant!" and "Invictus."

Others include George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick for "Up in the Air," Morgan Freeman for "Invictus," Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard and Penelope Cruz for "Nine," Robert Downey Jr. for "Sherlock Holmes" and Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique for "Precious."

Martin Scorsese, who won the best-director Globe three years ago for "The Departed," is receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement.

Sunday's winners could get a last-minute boost for the Oscars, whose nominations balloting closes Saturday. Oscar nominations come out Feb. 2, with the awards following on March 7.

Last year's big Globe winner, "Slumdog Millionaire," went on to dominate the Oscars.

The Globes are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 90 reporters covering show business for overseas outlets. The show airs live on NBC.

Quentin Tarantino on his 'Basterds'

With its aura of faux humility, dense saturation of "for your consideration" ads and humble-yet-effusive nominee posturing, awards season can be a long (if gala-packed and celebrity-studded) slog for Hollywood watchers.

So it comes as a blast of fresh air when a front-runner allows himself to get into the competitive spirit. Cut to writer-director Quentin Tarantino mulling the Oscar possibilities for his spaghetti western-cum- World War II thriller " Inglourious Basterds." So far, the film has taken in more than $300 million worldwide, landed 10 Critics Choice Movie Awards nominations (as well as a Directors Guild of America nod for Tarantino) and was being handicapped by certain gurus of gold as a shoo-in among the best picture Oscar contenders even before the category doubled to 10 nominees.

"Do I want to win? I totally want to win," Tarantino exclaimed over a vodka and cranberry at a Beverly Hills hotel the day before "Basterds" snagged four Golden Globe nominations. "I've already won an Oscar. But if I did win, that would be one for every decade I've been in the business. And that would be awesome! Especially because everyone wrote me off in the first five years of my career as this rock star-y flash in the pan."

A genre-bending mash-up of the "men on a mission" war movie genre splintered into five "chapters," "Basterds" follows a Jewish terror squad that sets out to destabilize the Third Reich by killing and scalping German soldiers in occupied France. Some sections of the film spool out fueled by talk-y, monologue-driven drama, others with gritty shoot 'em up fantasy.

And while Brad Pitt may be the film's focal point as Aldo "the Apache" Raines, the scene-stealing Austrian actor Christoph Waltz, who portrays the polyglot Nazi colonel known as "the Jew hunter," is its heart and soul. Waltz is an odds-on favorite for the supporting actor Oscar (and so far has secured a Golden Globe nod).

But to hear it from Tarantino, casting the smooth-talking sadist Col. Hans Landa proved so difficult that until Waltz arrived, the writer-director considered scuttling the project.

"When I finished the script, I'm aware enough to know, this is one of the best roles I've ever written -- one of the best roles I'll ever write," Tarantino said. "It was so there on the page, if I couldn't get what was on the page onto the screen, I didn't want to make the movie."

Auditions began inauspiciously in Berlin. After seeing a number of German actors fluent in English, no one was nailing the essence of the character: a man who is, by turns, silky and bloodthirsty, debonair and extremely goofy -- in four different languages.

"Other German actors would come in, they'd do the German part fantastic, stumble through the French to one degree or another," Tarantino recalled. "But when it came to English, they couldn't make my dialogue sing."

He continued: "I pulled the producers together and said, 'Look, guys, I don't know if we are going to find Landa. I might have just written a role that's unplayable. And I don't want to make the movie without Landa. I'd rather just publish the script."

Waltz, 53, a journeyman stage and TV actor, became the 12th person to read for the part and iced it.

"Christoph came in, he sure looks like Landa. He carries himself in a certain way and that wasn't him trying -- Christoph is just very erudite," said Tarantino. "And halfway through the opening scene, I was like, 'This is the guy!' "

With his seemingly bottomless well of enthusiasm, eminent quip-worthiness and a born hustler's easy smile, Tarantino admitted that he has taken to the kind of Hollywood politicking that will result in Oscar votes like a duck to water. Having previously won an Oscar for best screenplay for 1994's "Pulp Fiction" (an award he shares with co-writer Roger Avary) and landed a Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for "Pulp," he's no stranger to the drill.

So, what kind of statuette-grabbing plays is master Oscar campaigner Harvey Weinstein calling from the sideline? "It's just, 'Go to the parties. Everyone loves your movie so just keep reminding them. When they see you, they'll be reminded of how much.' "

And again, the Southern California-reared former video store clerk pondered what academy validation for "Basterds" would symbolize at this point in his career. "The movie flew in the face of conventional wisdom in almost every aspect. It's a movie made out of five chapters, some are like one-act plays -- and with all these different languages in there," Tarantino said. "And there's nothing better for an artist like myself than to prove conventional wisdom wrong.

"So, it actually means a lot to be in contention at the end of my second decade in business," he said in a voice barely below a shout. "My wine is aging very well!"

Bryan Adams lands Juno Awards humanitarian honour

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams, who already has a few Juno Awards under his belt, is set to add another this spring when organizers of the Canadian musical honours will present him with the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award.

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences announced Adams as the latest recipient of the award in St. John's, N.L., on Wednesday.

The award pays tribute to fundraising and charitable efforts.

"I'm accepting this award in the hope that it will inspire and encourage others to contribute and/or also give back," Adams said in a statement.

The academy hailed the singer for being socially aware and taking part in charitable endeavours from early on in his career, including participating in Amnesty International concerts, Live Aid and Live 8, the annual Prince's Trust Rock Gala in the U.K. and similar events.

In 1985, Adams co-wrote and was among the host of singers who recorded Tears Are Not Enough, the Canadian charity single in support of Ethiopian famine relief. A past campaigner for Greenpeace and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Adams was also the first major Western artist to perform in Pakistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Adams's 2006 Karachi concert was held to raise money for victims of the massive October 2005 earthquake that roared through South Asia and devastated the Kashmir region.

Aside from his music, Adams has also established a namesake foundation that supports children's education and has sold his photography to raise money for cancer research.

"Without any fanfare, Bryan's foundation has quietly worked to enrich the lives of children and young people here at home and in the far-flung corners of the globe," said academy president and CEO Melanie Berry.

Academy honours one of its own

Officials also announced on Wednesday the 2010 winner of the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award: Ross Reynolds, longtime Universal Music Canada president as well as a founding board member and former chair of the academy.

In addition to being a music mogul who helped develop the careers of artists from Dan Hill to Lighthouse to The Tragically Hip, he has also served as an adviser, board member or executive at a host of organizations, including the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Canadian Recording Industry Association, the Audio Visual Preservation Trust Fund and Canada's Walk of Fame.

Elected chair of the academy in 2001, Reynolds was part of the group behind the popular idea to move the Juno Awards celebrations to a different Canadian city every year, with St. John's tapped as the inaugural host in 2002.

Adams and Reynolds will be feted during the Juno Awards festivities in St. John's this spring, beginning April 12 and ending with the live broadcast of the 39th annual Juno Awards gala from the Mile One Centre on April 18.

'Up,' `The Hurt Locker' top Golden Tomato Awards

LOS ANGELES – An animated adventure about a widower who sails away in a house lifted by a bouquet of balloons and an up-close look at a bomb-squad unit in Iraq were the top critical favorites of 2009. Now "Up" and "The Hurt Locker" are top winners at the Golden Tomato Awards.

The awards honor the best-reviewed films of the year as determined by the Web site RottenTomatoes.com, which compiles reviews from critics to measure the percentage of favorable critiques.

Pixar's "Up" collected positive reviews from 98 percent of critics, earning it the Golden Tomato for a film in wide release. "The Hurt Locker" was the best-reviewed limited release film, with 97 percent of critics recommending it.

"Up" is the sixth Pixar film to rank above all others. "WALL-E" won the Golden Tomato in 2008 and "Ratatouille" took the title in 2007.

"Every year since we started doing this award, if they've got a movie, they win," said Rotten Tomatoes Editor-in-Chief Matt Atchity. "They just consistently turn out really good quality movies."

While there's no direct relationship between the Golden Tomatoes and the Academy Awards, Atchity says "Up" and "The Hurt Locker" are both likely to earn Oscar attention this year.

"The Golden Tomato winners don't necessarily win the Oscar but they usually do show up in the nominees," he said, adding that he expects both to earn best-picture nominations.

The Moldy Tomato Award, for the year's worst-reviewed film, went to "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li." Only four percent of critics gave it a positive review.

Cameron, Tarantino score Directors Guild nods

LOS ANGELES – The science-fiction blockbuster "Avatar" has earned James Cameron his latest nomination for the top honor from the Directors Guild of America.

Cameron won the guild prize 12 years ago for "Titanic." Also nominated are Kathryn Bigelow for the Iraq War drama "The Hurt Locker," Lee Daniels for the Harlem teen tale "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," Jason Reitman for the recession-era story "Up in the Air" and Quentin Tarantino for the World War II hit "Inglourious Basterds."

Like the Golden Globes on Jan. 17, the awards put Cameron up against ex-wife Bigelow, a first-time Directors Guild nominee.

Daniels and Reitman also earned their first guild film nominations, while Tarantino previously was nominated for 1994's "Pulp Fiction."

Directors Guild picks usually are a good reflection of how the category will shake out at the Academy Awards. The winner at the guild awards usually goes on to win the directing Oscar, as Cameron did for "Titanic" and last year's guild winner, Danny Boyle, did for "Slumdog Millionaire."

The guild announces TV, documentary and commercial nominations Friday. Awards will be presented at a banquet Jan. 30 in Los Angeles, three days before Oscar nominations come out.

If the Oscar nominees match the guild picks, it would be one of the most diverse lineups ever in the directing category, which usually consists of five white men.

Daniels would follow John Singleton ("Boyz N the Hood") as only the second black filmmaker nominated for best director. Bigelow would be only the fourth woman nominated for director, following Lina Wertmuller ("Seven Beauties"), Jane Campion ("The Piano") and Sofia Coppola ("Lost in Translation").

Director Norman Jewison, whose films include "In the Heat of the Night," "A Soldier's Story" and "Moonstruck," will receive the guild's lifetime-achievement award.

'Avatar,' `Trek,' 8 others score Producer noms

LOS ANGELES – Science-fiction scored big with the Producers Guild of America, with "Avatar," "Star Trek" and "District 9" taking three of the 10 nominations Tuesday for the group's top film honors.

The group representing Hollywood producers also handed best-picture nominations to the animated blockbuster "Up," the World War II hit "Inglourious Basterds" and the critical favorites "The Hurt Locker," "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' By Sapphire," "Up in the Air," "An Education" and "Invictus."

The Producers Guild followed the lead of the Academy Awards and doubled its best-picture field to 10 nominees this season.

"Up" also is nominated for best animated film, along with "9," "Coraline," "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "The Princess and the Frog."

The guild picks typically are a good forecast for the eventual best-picture lineup at the Oscars, whose nominations come out Feb. 2.

If Oscar choices run the same way, the show will gain the mass appeal organizers had sought to bring to Hollywood's biggest party. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences doubled the best-picture field last summer, hoping to bring a broader range of films into the awards fold, including the sort of blockbuster fare the Oscars often have lacked in recent years.

"The Dark Knight," 2008's biggest hit, earned a best-picture nomination a year ago from the Producers Guild but was overlooked for the top Oscar category. Its omission was cited as a factor in the decision to expand the best-picture field, Oscar organizers saying they felt there were more than five films deserving nominations.

TV ratings for the Oscar show, on a general decline over the last few decades, usually climb in years when huge hits are in the running. The Oscars had their biggest audience ever when "Titanic," the modern box-office king with $1.8 billion worldwide, dominated the ceremony 12 years ago.

"Avatar" is "Titanic" director James Cameron's first narrative film since then. The sci-fi epic has topped $350 million domestically and shot past the $1 billion mark worldwide, and it appears headed to the No. 2 spot in the record books globally, behind "Titanic."

The Producers Guild lineup includes four other big hits — "Up" and "Star Trek," both $200 million smashes, and "District 9" and "Inglourious Basterds," which topped $100 million each.

The other nominees present a mix of star power and critical raves.

The recession-era comic drama "Up in the Air" has been an adult-audience favorite with plenty of box-office potential left and the celebrity appeal of star George Clooney.

The Iraq War drama "The Hurt Locker" has dominated key honors from critics groups and did solid independent-cinema business. The teen dramas "Precious" and "An Education" and the South Africa tale "Invictus," directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, also have been strong arthouse earners featuring some of the year's most acclaimed performances.

Other Producers Guild nominees Tuesday:
• Documentary: "Burma VJ," "The Cove," "Sergio," "Soundtrack for a Revolution."

• Long-form television: "Georgia O'Keeffe," "Grey Gardens," "Little Dorrit," "Prayers for Bobby," "The Prisoner," "Taking Chance."

Tracking the awards leading up to the Oscars

With movie awards season now in full swing, the Iraq war film "The Hurt Locker" is an early frontrunner, according to an award tracking survey by The Associated Press. But honors have been spread around to a number of movies as well. Jason Reitman's uber-relevant "Up in the Air," in particular, continues to win across multiple categories. And then there's James Cameron's "Avatar," another major heavyweight, particularly at the box office.

A lot could still change before the Academy Awards on March 7. In between, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Screen Actors Guild, Producers Guild, Directors Guild and the Film Independent organization all dole out awards.

A summary of the top film honors so far, in alphabetical order:

"(500) DAYS OF SUMMER"
Picture: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)
Actor, Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)

"AVATAR"
Picture: Golden Globe nomination (for drama), New York Film Critics Online
Director, James Cameron: Golden Globe nomination
Original Score, James Horner: Golden Globe nomination
Original Song, "I See You" by James Horner and Simon Franglen: Golden Globe nomination

"BAARIA"
Foreign Language Film: Golden Globe nomination

"THE BEACHES OF AGNES"
Documentary: National Society of Film Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, co-winner

"THE BLIND SIDE"
Actress, Sandra Bullock: Golden Globe nomination (drama), Screen Actors Guild nomination

"BRIGHT STAR"
Supporting Actor, Paul Schneider: National Society of Film Critics (co-winner)

"BROKEN EMBRACES"
Foreign Language Film: Golden Globe nomination

"BROTHERS"
Actor, Tobey Maguire: Golden Globe nomination (drama)
Original Song, "Winter" by Brothers: Golden Globe nomination

"CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS"
Animated Film: Golden Globe nomination

"CORALINE"
Animated Film: Golden Globe nomination
Top 10: American Film Institute

"THE COVE"
Documentary: National Board of Review, Los Angeles Film Critics Association (co-winner)

"CRAZY HEART"
Actor, Jeff Bridges: Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Golden Globe nomination (drama), Screen Actors Guild nomination
Score: Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Original Song, "The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)" by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett: Golden Globe nomination

"DISTRICT 9"
Screenplay, Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell: Golden Globe nomination
Production Design: Los Angeles Film Critics Association

"DUPLICITY"
Actress, Julia Roberts: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)

"AN EDUCATION"
Ensemble: Screen Actors Guild nomination
Actress, Carey Mulligan: National Board of Review, Golden Globe nomination (drama), Screen Actors Guild nomination

"EVERYBODY'S FINE"
Original Song, "I Want to Come Home," by Paul McCartney: Golden Globe nomination

"FANTASTIC MR. FOX"
Animated Film: New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Critics Association, Golden Globe nomination
Actor, George Clooney: New York Film Critics Circle
Production Design, Nelson Lowry: National Society of Film Critics

"JULIE & JULIA"
Picture: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)
Actress, Meryl Streep: New York Film Critics Circle, Screen Actors Guild nomination

"THE HANGOVER"
Picture: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)
Top 10: American Film Institute

"THE HURT LOCKER"
Picture: National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Boston Society of Film Critics, Golden Globe nomination (drama)
Ensemble: Screen Actors Guild nomination
Director, Kathryn Bigelow: National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Golden Globe nomination
Actor, Jeremy Renner: National Society of Film Critics, Screen Actors Guild nomination
Screenplay, Mark Boal: Golden Globe nomination
Top 10: American Film Institute

"INGLORIOUS BASTERDS"
Picture: Golden Globe nomination (drama)
Ensemble: Screen Actors Guild nomination
Supporting Actor, Christoph Waltz: National Society of Film Critics (co-winner), New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Golden Globe nomination, Screen Actors Guild nomination
Supporting Actress, Diane Kruger: Screen Actors Guild nomination
Director, Quentin Tarantino: Golden Globe nomination
Screenplay, Quentin Tarantino: Golden Globe nomination

"THE INFORMANT!"
Actor, Matt Damon: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)
Original Score, Marvin Hamlisch: Golden Globe nomination

"IN THE LOOP"
Screenplay: New York Film Critics Circle

"INVICTUS"
Actor, Morgan Freeman: National Board of Review (co-winner), Golden Globe nomination (drama), Screen Actors Guild nomination
Supporting Actor, Matt Damon: Golden Globe nomination, Screen Actors Guild nomination
Director, Clint Eastwood: National Board of Review, Golden Globe nomination

"IT'S COMPLICATED"
Picture: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)
Ensemble: National Board of Review
Actress, Meryl Streep: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)
Screenplay, Nancy Meyers: Golden Globe nomination

"JULIE & JULIA"
Picture: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)
Actress, Meryl Streep: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)

"THE LAST STATION"
Actress, Helen Mirren: Golden Globe nomination (drama), Screen Actors Guild nomination
Supporting Actor, Christopher Plummer: Golden Globe nomination, Screen Actors Guild nomination

"THE LOVELY BONES"
Supporting Actor, Stanley Tucci: Golden Globe nomination, Screen Actors Guild nomination

"THE MAID"
Foreign Language Film: Golden Globe nomination

"THE MESSENGER"
Supporting Actor, Woody Harrelson: National Board of Review, Golden Globe nomination, Screen Actors Guild nomination
Top 10: American Film Institute

"NINE"
Picture: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)
Ensemble: Screen Actors Guild nomination
Actor, Daniel Day-Lewis: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)
Actress, Mario Cotillard: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)
Supporting Actress, Penelope Cruz: Golden Globe nomination, Screen Actors Guild nomination
Original Song, "Cinema Italiano" by Maury Yeston: Golden Globe nomination

"OF TIME AND THE CITY"
Nonfiction Film: New York Film Critics Circle

"PRECIOUS"
Picture: Golden Globe nomination (drama)
Ensemble: Screen Actors Guild nomination
Actress, Gabourney Sidibe: Golden Globe nomination (drama), Screen Actors Guild nomination
Supporting Actress, Mo'Nique: National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Golden Globe nomination (drama), Screen Actors Guild nomination
Top 10: American Film Institute

"THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG"
Animated Film: Golden Globe nomination

"A PROPHET"
Foreign Language Film: National Board of Review, Golden Globe nomination

"THE PROPOSAL"
Actress, Sandra Bullock: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)

"SERAPHINE"
Actress, Yolande Moreau: National Society of Film Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics Association

"A SERIOUS MAN"
Actor, Michael Stuhlbarg: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)
Original Screenplay: National Board of Review, National Society of Film Critics
Top 10: American Film Institute

"SHERLOCK HOLMES"
Actor, Robert Downey Jr.: Golden Globe nomination (comedy or musical)

"A SINGLE MAN"
Actor, Colin Firth: Golden Globe nomination (drama), Screen Actors Guild nomination
Supporting Actress, Julianne Moore: Golden Globe nomination
Original Score, Abel Korzeniowski: Golden Globe nomination
Top 10: American Film Institute

"SUGAR"
Top 10: American Film Institute

"SUMMER HOURS"
Foreign Language Film: National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association

"UP"
Animated Film: Golden Globe nomination
Original Score, Michael Giacchino: Golden Globe nomination
Top 10: American Film Institute

"UP IN THE AIR"
Picture: National Board of Review, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association, Golden Globe nomination (drama)
Actor, George Clooney: National Board of Review (co-winner), New York Film Critics Circle, Golden Globe nomination (drama), Screen Actors Guild nomination
Supporting Actress, Anna Kendrick: National Board of Review, Golden Globe nomination, Screen Actors Guild nomination
Supporting Actress, Vera Farmiga: Golden Globe nomination, Screen Actors Guild nomination
Director, Jason Reitman: Golden Globe nomination
Screenplay, Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner: National Board of Review, Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Top 10: American Film Institute

"WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE"
Original Score, Karen O and Carter Burwell: Golden Globe nomination

"THE WHITE RIBBON"
Foreign Language Film: Golden Globe nomination
Cinematographer, Christian Berger: National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association

"THE YOUNG VICTORIA"
Actress, Emily Blunt: Golden Globe nomination (drama)

'The Hurt Locker' sweeps National Society of Film Critics Awards

"The Hurt Locker" swept the awards bestowed today by the National Society of Film Critics during its voting conclave held at Sardi's restaurant in New York. The Iraqi war drama won best picture, director (Kathryn Bigelow) and actor (Jeremy Renner as a daredevil U.S. soldier who disarms bombs).

The society voted Yolande Moreau best actress for "Seraphine." Previously, she won best actress for her portrayal of French artist Seraphine de Senlis at the Cesar Awards (France's equivalent of the Oscars) where "Seraphine" swept up seven trophies, including best picture. She also won the lead actress laurels bestowed by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Earlier this derby season, "The Hurt Locker" was voted best picture by the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Boston Society of Film Critics, Gotham Awards and other groups.

Other NSFC winners:

Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds," and Paul Schneider, "Bright Star"

Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, "Precious"

Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, "A Serious Man"

Foreign-Language Film: "Summer Hours"

Nonfiction Film: "The Beaches of Agnes"

Cinematography: Christian Berger, "The White Ribbon"

Production design: Nelson Lowry, "Fantastic Mr. Fox"

The society includes 64 members from major media outlets in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago, including Time, Newsweek, New Yorker, Village Voice and Salon.com. It's been bestowing awards since 1966.

Lennon's solo Walk of Fame star joins Harrison's

When fans recently noted John Lennon's Walk of Fame star had gone missing from Hollywood, nefarious motives were suggested, but a more sensible explanation for the displacement of the Beatles landmark has surfaced.

"The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce along with Capitol Records have moved the star of John Lennon next to the star of his friend George Harrison as a holiday gift to the community and fans of the Beatles," Ana Martinez, vice-president of media relations for the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, told information website Examiner.com.

"And the star of Ringo Starr will also be at that same site [on] Feb. 8, the 50th anniversary of the Walk of Fame."

The band's group star will remain at its current location, she told Examiner.com's Beatles columnist, adding that Paul McCartney has yet to set a date for his solo star-dedication ceremony.

Martinez also confirmed the Lennon star-move via her Twitter account, wofstargirl: "Yes, as a gift to fans, we moved John Lennon's star next to George Harrison's and Ringo's will be there soon 2. Just waiting for Paul now!"

Lennon fans who recently visited the site in Hollywood noticed his star was missing and the location covered by a black plastic trash bag.

They promptly reported the disturbance to Beatles websites and popular local blogs such as LAist last weekend, with the news spreading across music and fan sites this week amid no comment from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

Lennon walk of fame star missing

John Lennon’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has disappeared.

The brass monument has been reported missing from the sidewalk where it was placed in tribute to the Beatles legend in 1988 - eight years after he was gunned down outside his home in New York City.

According to Los Angeles website LAist.com, the asphalt has just an "empty outline of a star", which has been covered up with a plastic bag and tape.

The site speculates the plaque may have been stolen, damaged or removed to accommodate the area for the addition of Lennon's bandmate Ringo Starr's dedication, set to be laid down in February.

The Fab Four have their own group star, but the Imagine hitmaker was the first of the band to have his own solo tribute, while his bandmate George Harrison received a posthumous honour in April.

The London Film Critics' Circle Awards Quentin Tarantino Their Top Honor

Naturally, British Film Critic went nuts for An Education. Not only did Lone Scherfig’s coming-of-age drama nab nominations for five UK-only categories, but two international-friendly ones as well: Carey Mulligan for Actress of the Year and Nick Hornby for Screenwriter of the Year.

Funny thing is, An Education nabbed a nomination for The Attenborough Award: British Film of the Year, but not in the Film of the Year category. In fact, no British films were nominated. The list pits Avatar up against The Hurt Locker, A Prophet, The White Ribbon and Up in the Air. British critics not satisfied with domestic filmmaking this year? I thought this would have been Moon’s time to shine, but Duncan Jones and his film were relegated to the British Film of the Year, British Director of the Year and Breakthrough British Film-Maker categories. At least the film is still well represented.

Inglourious Basterds only received a nomination – and a well-deserved one – in the Actor of the Year category for Christoph Waltz’s performance. I’m sure that’s good enough for Quentin Tarantino because on top of that, he’ll be the recipient of The London Film Critics' Circle’s top honor, the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Cinema. He’ll be honored at the 30th Critic’s Circle Film Awards on February 18th, 2010.

Emily Blunt will get two chances at a win having been nominated for British Actress in a Supporting role for Sunshine Cleaning and British Actress of the Year for The Young Victoria. Peter Jackson was likely expecting far more notoriety, but should be pleased to see his young leading actress Saoirse Ronan get a nomination for The NSPCC Award: Young British Performer of the Year for her role in The Lovely Bones.

1979 may feel like ages ago, but Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now was fresh on the Critic’s Circle mind and named the best film of the last 30 years.

Take a look below to see the full list of nominees:

FILM OF THE YEAR
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
A Prophet
The White Ribbon
Up in the Air

THE ATTENBOROUGH AWARD: BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR
Bright Star
An Education
Fish Tank
In the Loop
Moon

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
The Class
Katyn
Let the Right One In
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Jacques Audiard - A Prophet
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
James Cameron – Avatar
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
Jason Reitman - Up in the Air

BRITISH DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Andrea Arnold - Fish Tank
Armando Iannucci - In the Loop
Duncan Jones – Moon
Kevin Macdonald - State of Play
Sam Taylor-Wood - Nowhere Boy

ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up in the Air
Tahar Rahim - A Prophet
Michael Stuhlbarg - A Serious Man
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Abbie Cornish - Bright Star
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Mo'Nique – Precious
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Peter Capaldi - In the Loop
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Tom Hardy – Bronson
Christian MacKay - Me and Orson Welles
Andy Serkis - Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Emily Blunt - The Young Victoria
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Katie Jarvis - Fish Tank
Kristin Scott Thomas - Nowhere Boy

BRITISH ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Michael Fassbender* - Fish Tank
John Hurt - 44 Inch Chest
Jason Isaacs – Good
Alfred Molina - An Education
Timothy Spall - The Damned United

BRITISH ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Emily Blunt - Sunshine Cleaning
Anne-Marie Duff - Nowhere Boy
Rosamund Pike - An Education
Kierston Wareing - Fish Tank
Olivia Williams - An Education

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche - In the Loop
Thomas Bidegain & Jacques Audiard - A Prophet
Joel & Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
Nick Hornby - An Education

THE NSPCC AWARD: YOUNG BRITISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Katie Jarvis - Fish Tank
Aaron Johnson - Nowhere Boy and Dummy
George MacKay - The Boys Are Back
Bill Milner - Is Anybody There? and Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
Saoirse Ronan* - The Lovely Bones

BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILM-MAKER
Daniel Barber - Harry Brown
Armando Ianucci - In the Loop
Duncan Jones – Moon
Peter Strickland - Katalin Varga
Sam Taylor-Wood - Nowhere Boy

DILYS POWELL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN CINEMA
Quentin Tarantino

Taylor Swift voted AP entertainer of the year

NEW YORK – It's a love story, baby.

Taylor Swift sang those words about a young romance, but they apply just as well to America's feelings for the 20-year-old country singer. Swift, adding to the heap of awards already bestowed on her, has been voted The Associated Press entertainer of the year.

Swift was chosen by newspaper editors and broadcast producers across the country in a survey of AP members. She follows last year's winner, Tina Fey, and 2007's pick, Stephen Colbert.

"I am so honored and so excited," Swift said in an interview by phone with the AP. "This was so unexpected, and I could not be more grateful."

Though her second album, "Fearless," came out in late 2008, Swift was ubiquitous in 2009.

She found critical acclaim for her autobiographical and infectious songwriting, exemplified in tunes such as "Love Story" and "White Horse." She led a sold-out tour across 52 cities in North America.

She won album of the year from the Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards. She hosted "Saturday Night Live" and performed at the Grammys. She won five American Music Awards, including artist of the year.
At one point, she had eight songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Swift said that several nights of her year were "golden and shiny and I'll remember forever." Hosting "SNL" was one of those.

"That entire week was life-changing, honestly," said Swift. "It makes you feel so thankful to be a part of the music industry, but more than that, to me, 'SNL' is show business."

Another live show, the MTV Video Music Awards, was more of a mixed blessing for Swift. She was accepting the award for best female video (the first VMA to be given to a country act) when Kanye West stormed the stage and interrupted her speech. West's stunt set off a media storm that perhaps said as much about Swift's popularity (fans and musicians alike came to her defense) than it did about West's.

Among those who voted for Swift for entertainer of the year was Danielle L. Kiracofe, entertainment editor for the Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper.

"In a time of 'made' musicians, she writes her own songs and has her own sparkly style," said Kiracofe. "She's managed to do all of this with grace, class and poise — and without uttering a swear word, dancing on a pole or wearing next to nothing. At the age of 20."

Ellis Widner, style editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, applauded Swift for superseding generational boundaries.

"She defines crossover appeal and would seem to be a strong business model in a declining music business," Widner said. "And to her fans, she's the real deal. On MySpace and in her songs, she wrote what she felt and sang about her experiences."

At year's end, Swift's life is in flux. She'll soon move out from home with her family, making this Christmas an emotional one for her.

She may well have more trophies to haul in, too: In January, she'll be attending the Grammys, where she's nominated for eight awards. She's already begun to look beyond 2009.

"The second that I put out `Fearless,' the moment that album came out and I was done with it, I started writing for my next album," said Swift. "I love to plan 20 steps ahead of myself, and it's really fun competition game that I play with myself, trying to top what I've done last. For this next record, that's all that I've been thinking about, that's all that my mind has been fixated on for the last year, and it's all that I'm going to be thinking about for this next year."

'Up in the Air,' 'Precious,' 'Basterds' lead SAG noms

If the Golden Globe nominees shook up award season two days ago, then the Screen Actors Guild provided a mild aftershock today.
While most of the contenders are the same, there are some notable exceptions.

Up in the Air, which led the Globe nominations with six, was among the top contenders for the SAG Awards, too. It tied with Inglourious Basterds and Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire with three each.

But while Basterds and Precious both received bids for best ensemble, the acting guild's version of best picture, Up in the Air was snubbed in that category.

The other contenders were the 1960s London coming-of-age story An Education, the musical romance Nine and the brutal Iraq war bomb-defuser saga The Hurt Locker.

With actors making up the largest voting bloc for Oscars, the Holy Grail of awards season, being left out of their guild's choice of best picture is a disappointment for Up in the Air. Nonetheless, writer-director Jason Reitman's story of a corporate downsizer trapped in a life of constant travel picked up more individual nominees than any other film.

A lead actor nomination went to star George Clooney, while supporting actress bids were given to co-stars Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga.

Precious, a drama directed by Lee Daniels about an overweight, abused black teenager trying to survive amid horrible circumstances, split its other two nominations between newcomer Gabourey Sidibe for lead actress and Mo'Nique, who played her psychotically abusive mother, for supporting.

Sidibe's competition for lead actress is Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side, Helen Mirren for The Last Station, Carey Mulligan's independence-seeking teenager in An Education, and Meryl Streep as Julia Child in Julie & Julia.

All were nominated for Globes, except Streep was in that award's musical/comedy category for Julie & Julia.

Meanwhile, Clooney will face off for a lead-actor award with Jeff Bridges' alcoholic country singer in Crazy Heart, Colin Firth as a gay professor in A Single Man, Morgan Freeman's take on Nelson Mandela in Invictus, and Jeremy Renner as a bomb-squad technician on the edge in The Hurt Locker.

Those nominations were exactly the same as the Globe contenders for lead-drama actor, except for Renner. Instead, a Globes nomination went to Tobey Maguire in that category for Brothers.

Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's history-bending romp through World War II, collected a supporting-actress mention for Diane Kruger's German starlet working as an American double-agent, and Christoph Waltz's bon vivant villainous Nazi.

In addition to Kruger, Kendrick, Farmiga and Mo'Nique, Nine's Penelope Cruz is also in the supporting-actress race. The difference from the Globes was again only a single nominee — Kruger got the bid instead of Julianne Moore, who is up for a Globe for A Single Man.

In the supporting-actor race, the two award shows matched up precisely. Waltz's opponents in both are Matt Damon for Invictus, Woody Harrelson for The Messenger, Christopher Plummer for The Last Station, and Stanley Tucci for The Lovely Bones.

Directors Tarantino, Daniels and Reitman are not among the nominees, but it's not a snub. The Screen Actors Guild only recognizes performers, not the other contributors to the filmmaking process.

The 16th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be simulcast nationally on TNT and TBS on Jan. 23.

'80s stars Platinum Blonde to enter Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame

TORONTO - The '80s pop band Platinum Blonde is being inducted into the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame.

Known for such melodic new wave hits as "Standing In The Dark," "Crying Over You" and "It Doesn't Really Matter," the band will be recognized at a luncheon March 12, 2010 in Toronto.

Vocalist Mark Holmes, drummer Chris Steffler and guitarist Sergio Galli broke onto the music scene in 1982 with catchy singles, big blond hair and glam-rock style.

Keyboardist Kenny MacLean joined the band in 1985, roughly four years before they would split up.

MacLean died in November 2008 at age 52 just as he was preparing to release his third solo CD and as the band was planning a long-awaited reunion gig.

The award will be handed out as part of festivities planned for Canadian Music Week, set for March 10-14, 2010.

Who Was Snubbed by The Golden Globes?

Do you know who stars in Avatar? Do you know who directed Precious? Golden Globe voters apparently don't, either.

A bunch of blue-faced folk and Lee Daniels, the answers to the above questions, respectively, were among today's MIAs, as were Zooey Deschanel and every human (and animal) who appeared in The Hangover.

James Cameron's Avatar did well with four nods, but scored none for its actors, regardless of their hue.

Daniels was the only director with a film in the best drama race to not snag a Best Director nod. On the flip side, Clint Eastwood was the only Best Director nominee to not snag a best drama nom for his film, the sorta-snubbed Invictus.

Deschanel didn't make the cut in the comedy category, even though her film, (500) Days of Summer, and her peer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, did.

And while The Hangover made awards season safe for R-rated raunch, it didn't get Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms or any of its actors seats at the grown-up table.

More Star Trek snubs—and District 9 surprises:

• Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen made more money than any 2009 movie, period. Its reward? Um, did we mention it made a lot of money?

• The difference between this year and last is that Transformers wasn't expected to be a player, and The Dark Knight, which infamously came away with only one nod, was. If there was a big surprise today, it's that the nominations went pretty much exactly as expected.

• Star Trek, great reviews, great box office and all, got zip. Then again, it wasn't "supposed" to get anything. Please see above.

• New Moon, great, um, hair and all, got zip. Then again, it wasn't "supposed" to get anything, either. Please see above.

• Globe voters loved Borat. As for Brüno? Eh, not so much. (Zero nominations.)

• Globe voters love Peter Jackson. Even King Kong—King Kong!—scored him a Best Director nod. So, one can only presume they really didn't like The Lovely Bones, which did well for Stanley Tucci, but nobody else involved.

• District 9 qualifies as both a snub and a surprise. The little sci-fi movie that could was shut out of best drama but welcomed in Best Screenplay. (Hey, Globe voters got to show Jackson a little love, after all—he produced!)

• The Proposal's Ryan Reynolds can relate to the Deschanel dilemma. His romantic-comedy partner, Sandra Bullock, was nominated for the film; he wasn't.

• Mariah Carey will always have the good buzz of appearing, sans her diva hair, in Precious. She just won't have the long-shot Globe nomination to go with it.

• Avatar and Precious, both up for best drama, were both denied for Best Screenplay. If that happens at the Oscars, both films' Best Picture dreams presumably would be all but dashed.

• The Hurt Locker is Avatar, with soldiers instead of blue people: Not a single acting nod. (It did, however, get a screenplay nod.)

• Michael Jackson's This Is It wasn't snubbed; it wasn't eligible.

• Monsters vs. Aliens made more money than any 2009 big-screen 'toon, save Up. Its reward? The same as Transformers', Star Trek's and New Moon's.

Rock Hall takes a chance on ABBA, Genesis, Stooges

CLEVELAND – ABBA is dancing its way into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with Genesis, Jimmy Cliff, The Hollies and The Stooges.

The list of the next class of inductees was released Tuesday by the Cleveland hall. ABBA and The Stooges made it in this time after being nominated previously but not making the cut.

ABBA, a Swedish pop group that became one of the most successful acts in pop history, continues to sell millions of records each year and has been finding new fans through the popularity of "Mamma Mia," a stage musical and film incorporating its songs, including "Dancing Queen," "Money, Money, Money" and "The Winner Takes It All."

ABBA's name is an acronym formed from the first names of band members Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Annifrid Lyngstad. They broke up in 1982 and have resisted reunion offers.

Genesis began in the late 1960s as an art-rock act fronted by Peter Gabriel and evolved after his 1975 departure into a more mainstream act, with drummer Phil Collins taking over as lead singer. Some of the band's more familiar songs include "Follow You, Follow Me," "Tonight Tonight Tonight" and "Invisible Touch."

Cliff, a Jamaican singer, is credited with introducing reggae music to a broader audience through his album "The Harder They Come" and the movie of the same name, in which he starred in the early 1970s.

Part of the British Invasion, the Hollies had a long string of pop hits in the 1960s characterized by the three-part harmonies of original members Allan Clarke, Graham Nash and Eric Haydock.

Led by the Iggy Pop, The Stooges came sneering out of Ann Arbor, Mich., in the late '60s with a primal, growling sound that paved the way for punk, new wave, grunge and other, edgier music genres.

The Rock Hall also announced that its Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers would go to music industry executive David Geffen, the songwriting teams of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, and individual songwriters Jesse Stone, Mort Shuman and Otis Blackwell.

Ertegun, the founder and chairman of Atlantic Records, died in 2006.

The hall's 25th annual induction ceremony is scheduled for March 15 in New York City.

'Up in the Air' leads Golden Globes with 6 noms

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – The recession-era tale "Up in the Air" led Golden Globe film contenders Tuesday with six nominations, among them best drama and acting honors for George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick.

Other drama picks were the space fantasy "Avatar," the Iraq War tale "The Hurt Locker," the World War II saga "Inglourious Basterds" and the Harlem drama "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' by Sapphire."

The musical "Nine" ran second with five nominations, including best musical or comedy and acting slots for Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz and Marion Cotillard.

Also competing for musical or comedy are the romance "(500) Days of Summer," the bachelor-party bash "The Hangover" and two Meryl Streep films, "It's Complicated" and "Julie & Julia." Streep is competing against herself as best actress in the musical or comedy, as chef Julia Child in "Julie & Julia" and a woman in an affair with her ex-husband in "It's Complicated."

In TV categories, nominations for drama series went to HBO's "Big Love," Showtime's "Dexter," Fox's "House," AMC's "Mad Men" and HBO's "True Blood." Musical or comedy series bids went to NBC's "30 Rock," HBO's "Entourage," Fox's "Glee," ABC's "Modern Family" and NBC's "The Office."

Nominees in the miniseries or movie category went to Lifetime Television's "Georgia O'Keeffe," PBS' "Little Dorrit," and three HBO offerings, "Grey Gardens," "Into the Storm" and "Taking Chance."

"Up in the Air" generally has been considered a comedy, but its inclusion in the film drama category could give it more weight as a potential favorite for the Academy Awards, where dramatic films tend to dominate. The film also earned best-director and screenplay nominations for Jason Reitman.

"I can't put into words how exciting it is to feel and to know that I'll be going to the Golden Globes with everyone I worked with on this film," Reitman said. "This was one of those ensembles that we really enjoyed working together. We're a tight-knit family. The idea that we're going together is just wonderful."

The directing category pits "Avatar" filmmaker James Cameron against ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow for "The Hurt Locker." Other directing nominees were Clint Eastwood for the South African rugby drama "Invictus" and Quentin Tarantino for his World War II rewrite "Inglourious Basterds."

Playing a frequent-flyer junkie in "Up in the Air," Clooney had a nomination for best dramatic actor, along with Jeff Bridges as a boozy country singer in "Crazy Heart," Colin Firth as a grieving gay academic in "A Single Man," Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela in "Invictus" and Tobey Maguire as a prisoner of war in "Brothers."

"I suspect we will do a little bit of celebration, not a whole lot, you know. But it's wonderful news," said Freeman, who got the nomination news in South Africa, where he is appearing for premieres of "Invictus."

With four nominations, Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" had a surprisingly strong showing. The film was a hit with audiences and critics, but it was considered a bit of an awards longshot beyond a performance by Christoph Waltz, a supporting-actor nominee as a gleefully savage Nazi.

Tarantino also was nominated for the screenplay, in which he changes the war's ending with a ferocious bloodbath at a Paris cinema.

"I'm extremely excited and overwhelmed," said "Inglourious Basterds" co-star Diane Kruger, who helped announce the nominations. "It's the first time I've been part of such a big movie that encountered so much success and love. I'm extremely happy for Quentin and Christoph. I think he gave one of those inspiring performances that only come around once in awhile."

Along with Streep, Sandra Bullock also had two nominations, as dramatic actress in the football story "The Blind Side" and as a dragon-lady boss forcing her assistant to pose as her fiance in "The Proposal."

Matt Damon picked up two nominations, as well, as musical or comedy actor playing a whistleblower spinning wild fabrications in "The Informant!" and as supporting actor playing a South African rugby star in "Invictus."

Other dramatic actress nominees were Emily Blunt as Britain's monarch in her early reign in "The Young Victoria," Helen Mirren as the imperious wife of Leo Tolstoy in "The Last Station," Carey Mulligan as a 1960s British teen in an affair with an older man in "An Education" and Gabourey Sidibe as an illiterate, abused teen turning her life around in "Precious."

Julia Roberts was a surprise nominee for musical or comedy actress as a corporate spy in "Duplicity," a box-office underachiever that generally was not on the awards radar. Along with Roberts, Streep and Bullock, Cotillard rounded out the category as the wife of an unfaithful filmmaker in "Nine."

Day-Lewis as the "Nine" filmmaker scored a nomination for musical or comedy actor. Besides Damon, the category also includes Robert Downey Jr. as the London detective in "Sherlock Holmes," Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a lovesick man in "(500) Days of Summer" and Michael Stuhlbarg as a 1960s Jewish academic besieged by crises in "A Serious Man."

"Up in the Air" co-stars Farmiga, playing Clooney's frequent-flyer soul mate, and Anna Kendrick, playing a smart but inexperienced efficiency expert, are competing against each other for supporting actress. Also nominated are Cruz as the filmmaker's insecure mistress in "Nine," Mo'Nique as a hateful welfare mother in "Precious" and Julianne Moore as a grief-stricken professor's best pal in "A Single Man."

Damon and Waltz are joined in the supporting-actor category by Woody Harrelson as a military man delivering bad news to next of kin in "The Messenger," Christopher Plummer as aging author Tolstoy in "The Last Station" and Stanley Tucci as a serial killer in "The Lovely Bones."

Hollywood's second biggest film honors after the Academy Awards, the Globes are a key ceremony that sort out the prospects leading up to the Oscar nominations Feb. 2.

The 67th annual Globes will be handed out Jan. 17, six days before nomination voting closes for the Oscars. Globe winners can get a last-minute bump for an Oscar nomination, particularly on smaller films such as 1999's "Boys Don't Cry," whose Globe triumph for Hilary Swank helped put her on the map for a best-actress win at the Oscars.

Last year's best drama winner at the Globes, "Slumdog Millionaire," went on to win best picture and dominate at the Oscars. Other Globe recipients who followed with Oscar wins included Heath Ledger as supporting actor for "The Dark Knight" and Kate Winslet, who won supporting actress at the Globes for "The Reader" and best actress for that film at the Oscars.

The Globes are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 85 critics and reporters for overseas outlets.

List of nominees for the Golden Globe Awards

Here are the nominees for the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards, announced Tuesday in Beverly Hills, Calif.:

MOTION PICTURES

_Picture, Drama: "Avatar," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglorious Basterds," "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," "Up in the Air."

_Picture, Musical or Comedy: "(500) Days of Summer," "The Hangover," "It's Complicated," "Julie & Julia," "Nine."

_Actor, Drama: Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"; George Clooney, "Up in the Air"; Colin Firth, "A Single Man"; Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"; Tobey Maguire, "Brothers."

_Actress, Drama: Emily Blunt, "The Young Victoria"; Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"; Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"; Carey Mulligan, "An Education"; Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire."

_Director: Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"; James Cameron, "Avatar"; Clint Eastwood, "Invictus"; Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"; Quentin Tarantino, "Inglorious Basterds."

_Actor, Musical or Comedy: Matt Damon, "The Informant!"; Daniel Day-Lewis, "Nine"; Robert Downey Jr., "Sherlock Holmes"; Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "(500) Days of Summer"; Michael Stuhlbarg, "A Serious Man."

_Actress, Musical or Comedy: Sandra Bullock, "The Proposal"; Marion Cotillard, "Nine"; Julia Roberts, "Duplicity"; Meryl Streep, "It's Complicated"; Meryl Streep, "Julie & Julia."

_Supporting Actor: Matt Damon, "Invictus"; Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"; Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"; Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"; Christoph Waltz, "Inglorious Basterds."

_Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, "Nine"; Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air"; Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air"; Mo'Nique, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"; Julianne Moore, "A Single Man."

_Foreign Language: "Baaria," "Broken Embraces," "The Maid (La Nana)," "A Prophet," "The White Ribbon."

_Animated Film: "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," "Coraline," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "The Princess and the Frog," "Up."

_Screenplay: Neill Blomkamp, "District 9"; Mark Boal, "The Hurt Locker"; Nancy Meyers, "It's Complicated"; Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"; Quentin Tarantino, "Inglorious Basterds."

_Original Score: Michael Giacchino, "Up"; Marvin Hamlisch, "The Informant!"; James Horner, "Avatar"; Abel Korzeniowski, "A Single Man"; Karen O, Carter Burwell, "Where the Wild Things Are."

_Original Song: "Cinema Italiano" (written by Maury Yeston), "Nine"; "I Want to Come Home" (written by Paul McCartney); "Everybody's Fine"; "I Will See You" (written by James Horner, Simon Franglen, Kuk Harrell); "Avatar"; "The Weary Kind (Theme from 'Crazy Heart')" (written by Ryan Bingham, T Bone Burnett); "Crazy Heart"; "Winter" (written by U2), "Brothers."

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED

Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award: Martin Scorsese.

Golden Globe Nominees to be Announced 12/15

173 live-action feature films (105 dramas and 68 comedies or musicals), 15 animated feature films, 133 television series (79 drama and 54 comedies), 33 mini-series or telefilms and a record 69 foreign language films have been qualified for "The 67th AnnuAl Golden Globe Awards" consideration honoring 2009 achievements, it was announced today by Philip Berk, President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

In addition, a record 103 songs are eligible for the Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture.

Nominations for "The 67th AnnuAl Golden Globe Awards" will be announced at 5:00 a.m. PT on Tuesday, December 15.

"The 67th Annul Golden Globe Awards," hosted by Ricky Gervais, will be broadcast live coast to coast Sunday, January 17 on NBC (5 to 8 pm PT, 8 to 11 pm ET) from The Beverly Hilton.

"The 67th AnnuAl Golden Globe Awards" will be seen in more than 160 countries worldwide and is one of the few awards ceremonies that span both television and motion picture achievements. The special will be produced by Dick Clark productions in association with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Philip Berk is President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Orly Adelson, president of Dick Clark productions, and Barry Adelman will executive produce the special. Chris Donovan is the director and Dick Clark productions' Bob Bardo is the executive in charge of production.

For more information, visit www.goldenglobes.org.

'Basterds,' 'Nine' among top Critics' Choice picks

NEW YORK – "Inglourious Basterds" and "Nine" lead contenders for the Critics' Choice Movie Awards with 10 nominations each, including best picture, the Broadcast Film Critics Association announced Monday.

James Cameron's "Avatar" received nine nominations, including best picture.
Other best-picture nominees are "An Education," "The Hurt Locker," "Invictus," "Precious," "A Serious Man," "Up" and "Up in the Air."

Best-actor nominees are Jeff Bridges for "Crazy Heart," George Clooney for "Up in the Air," Colin Firth for "A Single Man," Morgan Freeman for "Invictus," Viggo Mortensen for "The Road" and Jeremy Renner for "The Hurt Locker."

Nominated for best actress: Emily Blunt for "The Young Victoria," Sandra Bullock for "The Blind Side," Carey Mulligan for "An Education," Saoirse Ronan for "The Lovely Bones," Gabourey Sidibe for "Precious" and Meryl Streep for "Julie & Julia."

The 15th annual awards will be presented Jan. 15 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. The show, hosted by Kristin Chenoweth, will air on VH1.

L.A. critics honor Iraq war movie "Hurt Locker"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – "The Hurt Locker," an independent movie about a team of American bomb-disposal experts serving in Iraq, was named the year's best picture by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association on Sunday.

The movie also won the directing prize for Kathryn Bigelow, who ended a seven-year break from feature filmmaking with the acclaimed saga.

As with most other Iraq War-themed movies, "The Hurt Locker" failed to muster mainstream support. It grossed about $13 million at the North American box office.

The Los Angeles critics' top acting prizes went to Jeff Bridges for playing a bad-boy country singer in "Crazy Heart" and Belgian actress Yolande Moreau for her title role as a French painter in "Seraphine."

Austrian veteran Christoph Waltz was named best supporting actor for his chilling performance as a calculating Nazi with a disarming smile in Quentin Tarantino's revenge fantasy "Inglourious Basterds."

Comedienne Mo'Nique was honored for her supporting turn as the abusive mother of an overweight incest survivor in "Precious."

The Los Angeles critics are not normally considered an Oscar bellwether, although their best actor choices have gone on to win the Academy Award for the past four years. On the other hand, the last film to win best picture from both groups was 1993's "Schindler's List."

Separately on Sunday, "The Hurt Locker" was also named one of the year's 10 best movies by the American Film Institute, a Los Angeles-based group that promotes movie conservation and education.

Its annual list names the movies in alphabetical order. The others were "Coraline," "The Hangover," "The Messenger," "Precious," "A Serious Man," "A Single Man," "Sugar," "Up" and "Up in the Air."

Cohen, Jackson to get Grammy lifetime awards

Canadian music icon Leonard Cohen, country legend Loretta Lynn and the late Michael Jackson will be honoured with lifetime achievement prizes at the coming Grammy Award celebrations, organizers announced Thursday.

Montreal-born Cohen, the King of Pop and Lynn, the beloved "Coal Miner's Daughter," will be joined on this year's roll call by classical pianist and composer André Previn, jazz trumpeter Clark Terry, Delta blues artist David (Honeyboy) Edwards and the late singer-songwriter Bobby Darin.

"This year's honourees are a prestigious group of diverse and prominent creators who have contributed some of the most distinguished and influential recordings," Neil Portnow, president and CEO of the U.S. Recording Academy, said in a statement.

"Their outstanding accomplishments and passion for their craft have created a timeless legacy that has positively affected multiple generations, and will continue to influence generations to come."

The lifetime achievement award celebrates performers for their valuable artistic contributions to the recording industry, while a corresponding prize — the trustee award — toasts the contributions of non-performers in the music industry.

The newest recipients of the latter honour include:

Country Music Hall of Fame member Harold Bradley, who built early Nashville recording studio the Quonset Hut.

Pioneering Scepter Records founder Florence Greenberg, the first woman to own and run a major record label.

Producer-director Walter C. Miller.

Organizers will also pay tribute to microphone and headphone designer AKG as well as Thomas Edison, whose many inventions included the phonograph.

This year's special Grammy Award laureates will be honoured during a gala on Jan. 30 in Los Angeles.

They will also be acknowledged the following evening during the live Grammy Award television broadcast on Jan. 31.

'Anvil!' captures top prize at International Documentary Assn. Awards

Underdog of the year Anvil continued its winning streak when the documentary "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" took the top prize at the International Documentary Assn.'s 2009 Documentary Awards today.

Sacha Gervasi's film about the Canadian metal outfit won the Distinguished Feature award at a ceremony in Los Angeles; this was the second honor bestowed upon the film by the association, which presented Gervasi with the Music Award earlier in the week. Gervasi and Anvil frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner accepted the award.

The award is something of a vindication for "Anvil," which failed to secure a spot on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' shortlist for a best documentary Oscar. The decision was widely decried by fans and critics alike, who had praised the film as among the year's best.

Other awards presented at the ceremony were the Distinguished Short Film prize, which went to Michael Angus and Murray Fredericks' "Salt," about the arid landscape of Lake Eyre in South Australia. The Career Achievement Award was presented to legendary documentarian Errol Morris ("Fast, Cheap and Out of Control," "The Gates of Heaven," "The Fog of War") by his longtime collaborator, composer Philip Glass. Veteran director and producer Nicolas Noxon received the Pioneer Award. Independent film advocate and entertainment lawyer Michael Donaldson was given the Amicus Award, and "Al Otro Lado" director Natalia Almada took home the Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award.

A tribute to journalists and documentary filmmakers who lost their lives this year was paid by Current Media's Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor by a North Korean court this year before international intervention secured their release.

Reitman's Up in the Air gets best film nod in NYC

Canadian director Jason Reitman's Up in the Air has been chosen best film of the year by the National Board of Review, an influential group of New York film enthusiasts.

Up in the Air stars George Clooney as a perpetual traveller who tries to develop a personal life after his company revokes his flying privileges.

Reitman, director of Thank You for Smoking and the Oscar-nominated teen pregnancy film Juno, adapted the screenplay for Up in the Air from a 2001 novel by Walter Kim.

Montreal-born Reitman is son of comedy director Ivan Reitman and began his career working in his father's films.

He began developing Up in the Air in 2002 before making Thank You for Smoking, but didn't finish it until six years later. The film was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival this fall, and goes into commercial release this week.

The nod from the National Board of Review is significant as it has a good track record in selecting Academy Award winners. It chose 2007's No Country for Old Men and 2008's Slumdog Millionaire as best picture winners.

It is one of the first U.S. groups to announce its award winners, which are selected by a group of knowledgeable film enthusiasts, academics, filmmakers and students in the New York metropolitan area.

Up in the Air earned a total of four trophies from the group on Thursday, including best actor for Clooney, who shared the award with Morgan Freeman of Invictus and best supporting actress for Anna Kendrick. Reitman and Sheldon Turner earned the award for best adapted screenplay.

Carey Mulligan, who played the British schoolgirl seduced by an older man in An Education, was named best actress.

The South African-set drama Invictus earned Clint Eastwood best director honours.

Woody Harrelson was named best supporting actor for his performance as a soldier charged with notifying families of their loved ones' deaths in The Messenger.

Breakthrough performance awards went to Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker and Gabourey Sidibe, the young star of Precious.

Beyonce leads Grammy nominations with 10

LOS ANGELES – Beyonce has enough Grammy nominations for her and Sasha Fierce.

The omnipresent diva garnered the most Grammy nominations on Thursday with 10 nods, including nominations for album of the year for "I Am ... Sasha Fierce," song of the year for her anthem "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" and record of the year for "Halo."

Country crossover sensation Taylor Swift_ the year's best-selling artist outside of the late Michael Jackson — wasn't far behind Beyonce. The 19-year-old got eight nominations, including album of the year for her multiplatinum sophomore disc "Fearless," as well as song and record of the year for her hit, "You Belong With Me."

Swift, who has won everything from American Music Awards to Country Music Association trophies to that now-infamous MTV Video Music Award moonman, said her Grammy nominations represented the apex for her.

"To be recognized by the Grammys is the ultimate honor," said Swift in a telephone call shortly after finding out about her nominations. "The last couple of months has been a nonstop dream come true."

Another diva was also nominated in all three categories: Lady Gaga. The eccentric entertainer, who had five nominations overall, garnered a best album mention for her debut CD, "The Fame," while her "Poker Face" got nominations for record and song of the year.

Other nominees for album of the year included the Black Eyed Peas "The E.N.D." and Dave Matthews Band's "Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King."

The Black Eyed Peas were also nominated for record of the year for their feel-good song, "I Gotta Feeling," while the Kings of Leon were nominated for "Use Somebody."

The Kings of Leon hit was also nominated for song of the year, as well as Maxwell's comeback hit, "Pretty Wings."

The Black Eyed Peas, Maxwell and Kanye West got six nominations each, while Jay-Z and DJ David Guetta got five.

The country act the Zac Brown Band was nominated for best new artist, along with R&B siren Keri Hilson, rockers MGMT, the punk duo the Ting Tings and the rock group the Silversun Pickups. The year's most popular new artist, Lady Gaga, wasn't in the category because she wasn't eligible; her single "Just Dance" had been nominated last year, before she was a platinum-selling act; previous Grammy nominees can't be nominated in the category.

Recording Academy President Neil Portnow said that scenario won't likely happen again: "There will be some changes so that that particular situation won't repeat itself."

The nominations for the Grammys, to be held Jan. 31, were unveiled as part of a prime-time CBS special. It was the second year in a row that the Recording Academy revealed a handful of its 109 nominees during a televised concert; in the past, they had been announced during a morning news conference.

But Wednesday's special gave nominees the chance to perform, such as the Black Eyed Peas, who sang their ubiquitous hit, "I Gotta Feeling," as well as provided face time for CBS' stars, like LL Cool J, the rapper-actor who is the star of "NCIS: Los Angeles."

Maxwell performed a tribute to Jackson during the special; for Maxwell, the night was a culmination of his comeback after an eight-year layoff.

"This is very surreal for me. I'm not used to this," said Maxwell. "I've been throwing out my trash, buying my milk, and living in basic obscurity ... To come back and make a record based on my own living experiences and not on my desire to be No. 1 ... I feel like I've already won. If nothing comes of it it's already like the cherry on the cake for me."

Several celebs were highlighted in nonmusical categories. Jimmy Carter and Michael J. Fox were among those recognized for their spoken word albums while David Hyde Pierce and Ed Asner were both nominated for their children's spoken word albums. "Weird Al" Yankovic, Stephen Colbert, Patton Oswalt, Kathy Griffin, George Lopez and faux rock band Spinal Tap will vie for best comedy album.

Safe bets for Grammy nominations

It's the beginning of December, which can only mean one thing: It's time to start griping about the Grammys.

The annual awards race -- and the complaints -- officially begins tonight when major nominees for the 52nd Grammys are named during a one-hour special airing tonight on CBS.

The annoyingly titled Grammy Nominations Concert Live!! Countdown to Music's Biggest Night -- broadcast from Los Angeles and hosted by LL Cool J -- will also feature performances by Black Eyed Peas, Sugarland, Maxwell and Nick Jonas' new side project, The Administration.

The awards get handed out Jan. 31 at L.A.'s Staples Center. But you don't have to be The Mentalist to guess who's going to walk away with nominations tonight.

Here are some safe bets:

Lady Gaga: While ironically ineligible for best new artist (because she was nominated last year in the dance category), Gaga could easily be this year's Amy Winehouse, thanks to the runaway success of her album, The Fame Monster.

Taylor Swift: The cat-eyed country-pop cutie was shut out last year despite performing at the nominations concert -- perhaps because, near as anyone can tell, she simply cannot sing -- but the undeniable success of her latest CD, Fearless, should guarantee her a spot this time.

Beyonce: Last year's I Am ... Sasha Fierce might not snag a nod, but you can count on her single Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) to be in the running.

U2: Whether you liked No Line on the Horizon or not, they're the biggest band in music. And let's face it, the music biz needs all the help it can get these days.

Green Day: Their 21st Century Breakdown wasn't quite as groundbreaking as American Idiot, but it was ambitious enough to earn them some Grammy love.

Kanye West: His electronica-based album 808s and Heartbreak was artistically and commercially risky. Besides, what's an awards show without Kanye storming the stage?

Eminem: Expect the real Slim Shady to stand up and accept a nomination for Relapse, his first studio album in five years.

Black Eyed Peas: I gotta feeling tonight's going to be a good night for will.i.am, Fergie and whoever those other two guys are.

Maxwell: His latest CD, BLACKsummers'night, his first album in eight years, earned the R&B crooner rave reviews. Plus, he's playing the nominations concert. Duh.

Whitney Houston: Her Clive Davis-produced comeback, I Look to You, was released early to meet this year's Aug. 31 qualifying deadline. Everybody loves a comeback. And fears Davis.

Noms fete promises to be a superstar-studded affair

There are plenty of other big names to look for tonight at the Grammy nominations ceremony: The Pretenders, Fall Out Boy, Morrissey, Jay-Z, Kings of Leon, Zac Brown, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Dead Weather, Wilco, M.I.A., AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen, Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry, Nickelback, Owl City, Pink, Phoenix and, of course, Michael Jackson (if you don't think they'll find some trophy to give him, you're kidding yourself).

Meanwhile, the American Recording Academy has already announced the names of some guaranteed winners -- their songs and albums are being inducted into the Hall of Fame. They include The Beach Boys (California Girls), Bob Marley (Catch a Fire), George Carlin (Class Clown), James Brown (It's a Man's Man's Man's World), Janis Joplin (Pearl), The Doors (Riders on the Storm) and many more.

As well, Canadian-raised legend Neil Young has been selected as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year in recognition of both his artistic achievements and philanthropic work. He will be honoured at a Jan. 29 gala that will include performances by CSN, Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, k.d. lang, Dave Matthews, Red Hot Chili Peppers, James Taylor, John Mellencamp, Wilco, Jackson Browne and Josh Groban.

Precious, Station & 500 Days Lead Independent Spirit Awards Nominations

Precious, The Last Station and (500) Days Of Summer lead the Best Film nominations for the 25th Independent Spirit Awards. Amreeka and Sin Nombre also made the list, which was announced in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning.

The Last Station, which chronicles the final days of Russian author Leo Tolstoy, and the acclaimed Precious scored the most nominations with five each.

Early Oscar favourite The Hurt Locker missed out on a nomination because it was selected last year.

To be eligible for an Independent Spirit nod, all films must have been made for less than $20 million (GBP12.5 million). Films must have either screened at a major film festival including Sundance, Toronto or Film Independent’s own Los Angeles Film Festival or had a one-week engagement at a commercial theatre.

The awards will be handed out in Los Angeles on 5 March.

"District 9" no alien to Oscar buzz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – In a year full of surprise hits without stars, "District 9" stands out as an even more unlikely box office champion than the crowd-pleasing comedy "The Hangover" or the supernatural thriller "Paranormal Activity."

The low budget production (it cost an estimated $30 million) with a cast of unknowns directed by another unknown (Neill Blomkamp) bucked conventional Hollywood wisdom by proudly wearing its message on its alien sleeve and slyly combining an apartheid allegory with a good dose of action.

The result? "District 9," which boasted the guiding hand of "Lord of the Rings"' Peter Jackson as producer, cleaned up at the box office, raking in over $200 million globally.

Even more impressively, the film, featuring a non-actor -- South African Sharlto Copley -- in the lead, also became one of best-reviewed releases of the year.

"That was the real surprise, the great critical reception we got," Copley, 35, told Reuters. "I'd anticipated that people would find all kinds of holes (in the plot) and problems with my performance, but I think critics overlooked a lot of things simply because it's such a fresh film."

"District 9" combines familiar commercial elements like aliens and violence with a new setting, some sharp political subtext and a character - Copley's nerdy bureaucrat Wikus -- that is unexpected in a genre piece.

Copley plays a South African official in charge of relocating some 2 million extra-terrestrials from a shanty town in Johannesburg but who ends up being hunted by his own employers.

"I made the film for me, which is the only way I think you can make a film as a director," said Johannesburg-born Blomkamp. "It's the only yardstick you have, and I thought it would appeal to a small core of diehard sci-fi fans, so all the mainstream critical praise just caught me off guard."

OSCAR CHANCES

So what chance does "District 9" have of breaking through at this year's Oscars now that the best picture category has been increased from 5 to 10 nominees?

"Everyone is very curious as to how it's going to play out," said Leonard Maltin, film critic for the TV show "Entertainment Tonight".

"It's one of the best-reviewed films of the year, and for good reason. It's one of the most original films of this, or any, year, and I think it's worthy."

Historically, the Oscars have recognized fantasy and science fiction genre films in every category but the big one, Maltin said. "So maybe this is the year."

Blomkamp, 30, said he would be shocked if it got a best picture Oscar nomination "but I think Sharlto deserves a (best actor) nomination, though I don't know how realistic that is."

Whatever happens at awards time, Copley and Blomkamp are already being wooed by Hollywood.

"My career's changed overnight," admits Copley who's currently shooting "The A-Team," a hard-core action version of the campy 1980s TV show that co-stars Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper.

"It was my favorite show as a kid, and now I'm playing Murdock, so it's a dream come true. And it all happened because of "District 9." One of the producers saw it and then went after me for the role."

But while Copley is happily meeting directors, studio executives and weighing up 20 new scripts, Blomkamp sounds more reserved.

"I'm a bit more of an anomaly. 'District 9's success has allowed me to go back to what I really want to do, which is to be in a powerful creative position where I can't be messed with too much," he said.

"But I'm not Peter Jackson or Jim Cameron, so I can't be at that level of creativity with a $200 million budget -- but I can certainly have it with a budget even slightly higher than "District 9", and that's my goal."

Blomkamp has already signed on to do his next film - "another sci-fi idea which is very much mine, and which I'm busy writing, and which I can keep control over," he adds.

"So Hollywood has come knocking, but I'm not opening the door the whole way."

Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin to co-host Oscars

LOS ANGELES – Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will co-host the Oscars.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says the two Hollywood veterans will share hosting duties at the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony.

Telecast producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman said in a statement the two actors are "the perfect pair of hosts for the Oscars."

Martin has hosted twice before, in 2001 and 2003, and has appeared as a presenter several times. Baldwin is a first-timer.

Baldwin, 51, who stars on NBC's "30 Rock," called the Oscar gig "the opportunity of a lifetime." He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2003 for his supporting role in "The Cooler."

Martin said that he is "happy to co-host the Oscars with my enemy Alec Baldwin." The 64-year-old entertainer is currently touring with the bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers in support of his album, "The Crow: New Songs for the Five String Banjo."

The 82nd Academy Awards will be presented March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre.

Jackman opts out of Oscarcast gig

While speculation is running high on who'll host the Oscars, one name that can be crossed off the list is Hugh Jackman.

The thesp, who's starring on Broadway with Daniel Craig in the drama "A Steady Rain," quietly turned down the job within the past few weeks, sources said.

Jackman drew praise for his first Oscar hosting gig in February under producer Laurence Mark and exec producer Bill Condon. He may take on hosting duties again in the future, but it's understood that he didn't want to do the show two years in a row.

Once his Broadway run ends, Jackman will take time off and prepare for "The Real Steel," the Shawn Levy-directed DreamWorks drama that will begin production in the spring.

The 82nd annual Academy Awards, to be held March 7, will be produced by Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman.

Could 'This Is It' win an Oscar?

LOS ANGELES – Sony thinks its new Michael Jackson documentary could be a contender for best picture.

Spokesman Steve Elzer said Thursday that the studio will submit "Michael Jackson's This Is It" for Academy Awards consideration this year.

It missed the deadline to be considered for a 2009 documentary Oscar, but the film about the late King of Pop's preparations for a series of comeback concerts will be eligible in several other categories at the Academy Awards, including sound, film editing, director and best picture.

"This Is It" opened worldwide Wednesday and has already earned $20.1 million at the box office, along with praise from critics and fans who say it restores Jackson's reputation as a world-class entertainer.

Director Kenny Ortega, a longtime Jackson collaborator who was overseeing his concert comeback, crafted the nearly two-hour film from more than 100 hours of footage recorded during rehearsals for the London shows, which were to have begun in July. Jackson died June 25 at age 50.

"What we did here was focus on telling a good story and creating a film for the fans really enabling them to understand what Michael Jackson had dreamed for them," Ortega said Wednesday.

He added it was his hope "the audience for this film will grow and that as many people come to see it as possible because I think that it's a wonderful story about a brilliant man. ... Awards, Oscars, that's all great wishful thinking."

It may be more than wishful, said Steven Gaydos, executive editor of the Hollywood trade paper Variety and a self-described cynic. With the Academy Awards best-picture slate expanded to 10 films this year rather than the traditional five, "This Is It" could find itself among the contenders, he said.

To qualify, the film must complete a seven-day run in Los Angeles County and filmmakers would need to "submit the proper paperwork," said Leslie Unger, spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which puts on the Oscars.

Sony, which paid $60 million for the global film rights, plans to keep "This Is It" in theaters for just over two weeks. Elzer said the studio will submit it for consideration for best picture "and other appropriate categories." He wouldn't specify which ones.

Entering it in the Oscar race this year means "This Is It" cannot be considered in the documentary category next year.

The movie includes plenty of music, but none of it is eligible for Oscar consideration because it wasn't created specifically for the film.

Ortega, a veteran director, producer and choreographer who counts TV's "High School Musical" among his credits, could also find himself in contention for a best-director nod, Gaydos said.

"He did a masterful job putting this whole thing together," he said. "It was so powerful and interesting, so creative and well-done, I think he should be considered... Kenny just won over all these critics like me with Michael Jackson that anything interesting could go on with this guy."

The film can't be considered for a Golden Globe. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the annual ceremony, doesn't permit feature documentaries to enter, said spokesman Michael Russell.

Ortega said an Oscar nod would be a fitting recognition of Jackson's last work.

"He deserves one," he said. "Come on people."

Ricky Gervais will host the Golden Globes

After stand-out guest appearances at several recent award shows, Ricky Gervais is going to try his hand as host of the Golden Globes in January.

The Golden Globes have not had a host since 1995, but Gervais will oversee the 2010 ceremony, which NBC will be airing live from coast-to-coast on Sunday, January 17 from the Beverly Hilton.

"Not only is this the biggest Hollywood celebration of the industry which includes both film and TV, but also an environment where I feel I can get free reign as a host. I have resisted many other offers like this, but there are just some things you don't turn down," Gervais explains in NBC's press release.

Indeed, Gervais' name has regularly been tossed out as a possible host for both the Emmys and Oscars in recent years after successful presenting stints on both shows.

"We are delighted to have Ricky Gervais as the host on our show," says Philip Berk, President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. "He'll bring his unique brand of humor and charm to what will continue to be a fast paced award show."

Gervais won a Golden Globe in 2004 for his work on the original British "The Office" and picked up a second nod in 2008 for "Extras." He has Emmy wins for "Extras" and in his capacity as executive producer on the American "Office." On the big screen Gervais recently starred in "The Invention of Lying," which also marked his feature debut as a writer-director.

"Ricky is certainly one of the funniest people on the planet and has provided some of the most hilarious and memorable awards show moments in recent memory," states Paul Telegdy, Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming, NBC and Universal Media Studios. "His unique comedic style will enhance the only awards show that brings together television and film stars to celebrate entertainment's biggest night of the year."

Nominations for the 67th Annual Golden Globes will be announced at 8 a.m. ET on Tuesday, December 15.

Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson lead American Music Awards noms

Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson and Eminem top the list of nominees for the 37th annual American Music Awards announced today Tuesday.

Swift dominated the categories with a total of six nominations, followed closely by the late Michael Jackson, who garnered five nods. Eminem also made it to the top with four nominations, while Beyonce, Kings of Leon, Lady Gaga, T.I. and the Black Eyed Peas collected three apiece.

Nominations for the awards, which are divided into several categories--including Pop/Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop, Soul/R&B, Alternative, Adult Contemporary, Latin and Contemporary Inspirational--were announced by Paula Abdul, Adam Lambert and Snoop Dogg at a press conference in Beverly Hills. The awards will be presented during a Nov. 22 live broadcast from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.

AMA nominations are based on sales data compiled by music-industry trade magazine Radio & Records and Nielsen SoundScan. For the third consecutive year, winners will be determined through an online vote open to the general public, beginning today (10/3). In previous years, winners were selected via a national sampling of about 20,000 people.

For the first time ever, fans will also vote via text message and online to determine the final four nominees for the T-Mobile Breakthrough Artist Award. Beginning Oct. 26 through the live awards show Nov. 22, voters will determine who among the final four will walk away with the trophy.

Nominees for the 2009 American Music Awards:

POP/ROCK MUSIC

Favorite Male Artist
Eminem
Michael Jackson
T.I.

Favorite Female Artist
Beyonce
Lady Gaga
Taylor Swift

Favorite Band, Duo or Group
Black Eyed Peas
Kings of Leon
Nickelback

Favorite Album
Lady Gaga, "Fame"
Michael Jackson, "Number Ones"
Taylor Swift, "Fearless"

COUNTRY MUSIC

Favorite Male Artist
Jason Aldean
Darius Rucker
Keith Urban

Favorite Female Artist
Reba McEntire
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood

Favorite Band, Duo or Group
Rascal Flatts
Sugarland
Zac Brown Band

Favorite Album
Rascal Flatts, "Unstoppable"
Taylor Swift, "Fearless"
Zac Brown Band, "The Foundation"

RAP/HIP-HOP MUSIC

Favorite Male Artist
Eminem
Jay-Z
T.I.

Favorite Album
Eminem, "Relapse"
Jay-Z, "Blueprint 3"
T.I., "Paper Trail"

SOUL/RHYTHM & BLUES MUSIC

Favorite Male Artist
Jamie Foxx
Michael Jackson
Maxwell

Favorite Female Artist
Beyonce
Keyshia Cole
Keri Hilson

Favorite Band, Duo or Group
Black Eyed Peas
Day26
Mary Mary

Favorite Album
Beyonce, "I Am...Sasha Fierce"
Black Eyed Peas, "The E.N.D."
Michael Jackson, "Number Ones"

SOUNDTRACKS

Favorite Album
"Hannah Montana: The Movie"
"Hannah Montana 3"
"Twilight"

ALTERNATIVE ROCK MUSIC
Favorite Artist
Green Day
Kings of Leon
Shinedown

ADULT CONTEMPORARY MUSIC

Favorite Artist
Daughtry
Jason Mraz
Taylor Swift

LATIN MUSIC

Favorite Artist
Aventura
Luis Fonsi
Wisin Y Yandel

CONTEMPORARY INSPIRATIONAL

Favorite Artist
Jeremy Camp
Brandon Heath
Mary Mary

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Kings of Leon
Taylor Swift
Lady Gaga
Eminem
Michael Jackson

T-MOBILE BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST
Kings of Leon
Lady Gaga
Gloriana
Zac Brown Band
Keri Hilson
Jermiah
Drake
Kid Cudi

Gasps as Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO – The announcement drew gasps of surprise and cries of too much, too soon. Yet President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday because the judges found his promise of disarmament and diplomacy too good to ignore.

The five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee — four of whom spoke to The Associated Press, said awarding Obama the peace prize could be seen as an early vote of confidence intended to build global support for the policies of his young administration.

They lauded the change in global mood wrought by Obama's calls for peace and cooperation, and praised his pledges to reduce the world stock of nuclear arms, ease U.S. conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthen its role in combating climate change.

"Some people say — and I understand it — 'Isn't it premature? Too early?' Well, I'd say then that it could be too late to respond three years from now," Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, told the AP. "It is now that we have the opportunity to respond — all of us."

Jagland said the committee whittled down a record pool of 205 nominations and had "several candidates until the last minute," but it became more obvious that "we couldn't get around these deep changes that are taking place" under Obama.

Obama said he was surprised and deeply humbled by the honor, and planned to travel to Oslo in December to accept the prize.

"Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations," he said at the White House. "To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize."

Obama will donate the $1.4 million cash award that comes with the prize to charity.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, who won the prize in 1984, said the decision showed that great things are expected from Obama and "wonderful recognition" of his effort to reach out to the Arab world after years of hostility.

"It is an award that speaks to the promise of President Obama's message of hope," Tutu said.

Many were shocked by the unexpected choice so early in a presidency that began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline for the prize and has yet to yield concrete achievements in peacemaking.

"So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far. He is only beginning to act," said former Polish President Lech Walesa, who won the peace prize in 1983.

Some around the world objected to the choice of Obama, who still oversees wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has launched deadly counterterrorism strikes in Pakistan and Somalia.

Jagland told AP that while the war in Afghanistan was a concern, the Obama administration "immediately started to reassess the strategy."

"That itself is important, because when something goes wrong, then you need to ask yourself why is it going wrong," he said.

Obama said he was working to end the war in Iraq and "to confront a ruthless adversary that directly threatens the American people and our allies" in Afghanistan, where he is seriously considering increasing the number of U.S. troops on the ground and asking for help from others as the war enters its ninth year.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi in Afghanistan condemned the Nobel committee's decision, saying Obama had only escalated the war and had "the blood of the Afghan people on his hands."

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called the Nobel decision "hasty."
"The appropriate time for awarding such a prize is when foreign military forces leave Iraq and Afghanistan and when one stands by the rights of the oppressed Palestinian people," he was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.

Aagot Valle, a lawmaker for the Socialist Left party who joined the Nobel committee this year, said she hoped the selection would be viewed as "support and a commitment for Obama."

"And I hope it will be an inspiration for all those that work with nuclear disarmament and disarmament," she told AP in a rare interview. Members of the committee usually speak only through its chairman.

The peace prize was created partly to encourage ongoing peace efforts, but Obama's efforts are at far earlier stages than those of past winners, and the committee acknowledged they may not bear fruit at all.

"If everything goes wrong, then one cannot say that this was because of Barack Obama," Jagland said. "It could be that it is because of us, all the others, that didn't respond. But I cannot exclude that Barack Obama also can contribute to the eventual failure."

In Europe and much of the world, Obama is praised for bringing the U.S. closer to mainstream global thinking on such issues as climate change and multilateralism. A 25-nation poll of 27,000 people released in July by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found double-digit boosts to the percentage of people viewing the U.S. favorably in countries around the world. That indicator had plunged across the world under President George W. Bush.

The award appeared to be at least partly a slap at Bush from a committee that harshly criticized Obama's predecessor for his largely unilateral military action in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

"Those who were in support of Bush in his belief in war solving problems, on rearmament, and that nuclear weapons play an important role ... probably won't be happy," said Valle.

At home, the picture is more complicated. Obama is often criticized by his political opponents as he attempts to carry out his agenda — from government spending to health care to Afghanistan.

Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele said Obama won because of his "star power" rather than meaningful accomplishments.

"The real question Americans are asking is, 'What has President Obama actually accomplished?'" Steele said.

Drawing criticism from some on the left, Obama has been slow to bring troops home from Iraq and the real end of the U.S. military presence there won't come until at least 2012.

The Nobel committee said it paid special attention to Obama's vision of a nuclear-free world, laid out in a speech in Prague and in April and at the United Nations last month.

Former Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, said Obama has already provided outstanding leadership on nuclear non-proliferation.

"He has shown an unshakable commitment to diplomacy, mutual respect and dialogue as the best means of resolving conflicts," ElBaradei said.

In July talks in Moscow, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed that their negotiators would work out a new limit on delivery vehicles for nuclear warheads of between 500 and 1,100. They also agreed that warhead limits would be reduced from the current range of 1,700-2,200 to as low as 1,500. The U.S. now has about 2,200 such warheads, compared to about 2,800 for the Russians.

There has been no word on whether either side has started to act on the reductions.

Obama also has tried to restart stalled Mideast talks with no progress yet reported.

In the Gaza Strip, leaders of the radical Hamas movement said they had heard Obama's speeches on better relations with the Islamic world but had not been moved.

"We are in need of actions, not sayings," Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said. "If there is no fundamental and true change in American policies toward the acknowledgment of the rights of the Palestinian people, I think this prize won't move us forward or backward."

Obama has said that battling climate change is a priority. Yet the U.S. seems likely to head into crucial international negotiations set for Copenhagen in December with Obama-backed legislation still stalled in Congress.

Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, the peace prize is given out by the five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Like the Parliament, the panel has a leftist slant, with three members elected by left-of-center parties and two right-of-center members. Jagland said the decision to honor Obama was unanimous.

The secretive committee declined to say who nominated Obama. In Nobel tradition, nominations are kept secret for 50 years, unless those making the submissions go public about their picks. This year's nominations included Colombian activist Piedad Cordoba, Afghan woman's rights activist Simi Samar and Denis Mukwege, a physician in war-torn Congo who opened a clinic to help rape victims.

Nominators for the prize are broad and include former laureates; current and former members of the committee and their staff; members of national governments and legislatures; university professors of law, theology, social sciences, history and philosophy; leaders of peace research and foreign affairs institutes; and members of international courts of law.

Obama is the third sitting U.S. president to win the award: President Theodore Roosevelt won in 1906 and President Woodrow Wilson was awarded the prize in 1919.

In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses."

Ron James to host Geminis

TORONTO - CBC funnyman Ron James has been announced as the host of this year's Gemini Awards.

The prizes, which celebrate the best in Canadian television, will be handed out Nov. 14 in Calgary.

The comedian is featured in the weekly series "The Ron James Show."

The leading nominee at this year's Gemini Awards is the CTV cop drama "Flashpoint," which is up for 19 trophies.

The Geminis are set to air on Global and Showcase.

Kiss, Jimmy Cliff nominated for Rock Hall of Fame

Jimmy Cliff, Kiss, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Donna Summer are among the latest influential musicians vying for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Organizers of the U.S. honour revealed on Wednesday another eclectic list of one dozen contenders for induction in 2010.

Cliff, Kiss and the Chili Peppers are among those nominated for the first time, along with Genesis, the Hollies, LL Cool J and Laura Nyro. On the ballot once again are Summer, Darlene Love, Abba, the Chantels and the Stooges.

Artists are eligible for induction into the Cleveland-based Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25 years after the release of their first single or album.

A group of more than 500 musicians and industry professions will cast votes to decide next year's inductees.

The five acts with the most votes will be announced in January, with their induction ceremony to follow in Manhattan on March 15.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is also celebrating its 25th anniversary with consecutive concerts in New York, on Oct. 29 and 30.

Doc Walker's Beautiful Life tops WCMA event

Beautiful Life continues to take Doc Walker for one helluva ride.

The song by the Manitoba trio was named country recording of the year Sunday night at the Western Canadian Music Awards.

It capped a triumphant week for band members Chris Thorsteinson, Dave Wasilyw and Murray Pulver. Doc Walker won group of the year at last week's Canadian Country Music Awards, in Vancouver.

Also from Manitoba, Winnipeg's Romi Mayes captured songwriter of the year and roots solo recording of the year — both for the song Achin in Yer Bones.

They were among 22 different artists up for awards in 14 different categories at the seventh annual show, at the Manitoba Centennial Auditorium.

Marianas Trench won pop recording of the year for Masterpiece Theatre, while rock recording of the year went to Scars and Souvenirs by Theory of a Deadman.

Krystle Dos Santos's self-titled work captured the urban recording category. Jerrold Dubyk's The Maverick was jazz recording of the year.

Steve Dawson won instrumental recording for Telescope and Eagle and Hawk's Sirensong won for aboriginal recording.

Among the other winners:

Blues recording: Big Dave McLean, Got 'em from the Bottom.

Children's recording: Bobs and Lolo, Action Packed.

Gospel recording: Steve Bell, Devotion.

Classical composition: T. Patrick Carrabre, A Hammer for Your Thoughts.

Francophone recording: Daniel ROA, Le nombril du monde.

Rap/hip hop recording: Grand Analog, Touch Your Toes.

Independent album: The Waking Eyes, Holding on to Whatever It Is.

Roots group recording: The Deep Dark Woods, Winter Hours.

Classical recording: Windrose Trio, Path of Contact.

Manitoba singer and composer Loreena McKennitt received the Hall of Fame Award for her "eclectic Celtic" music that has won critical acclaim and soaring album sales worldwide.

'Mad Men,' '30 Rock' take top series Emmys

LOS ANGELES – "Mad Men" and "30 Rock" led a pack of Emmy winners who successfully defended their titles at Sunday's show, but the snappy ceremony and a star turn by host Neil Patrick Harris made the evening far from a rerun.

AMC's glossy 1960s Madison Avenue saga "Mad Men," which last year became the first basic cable show to win a top series award, won the best drama trophy for a second time.

"It is an amazing time to work in TV," said "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner. "And, I know that everything is changing, but I'm not afraid of it because I feel like all these different media is just more choice and more entertainment. It's better for the viewers in the end and I'm glad to be a part of it."

NBC's "30 Rock," a satirical take on life inside a TV variety show, was honored for the third time as best comedy series, while star Alec Baldwin won his second award as best comedy actor.

"We want to thank our friends at NBC for keeping us on the air ... even though we are so much more expensive than a talk show," said "30 Rock" creator and star Tina Fey, referring to Jay Leno's new daily prime-time comedy show, which NBC likes to note is cheaper to produce than a scripted series.

Baldwin, accepting his acting trophy for "30 Rock" from "Brothers & Sisters" star Rob Lowe, joked, "I'll be honest with you. I'd trade this to look like him."

Glenn Close's performance as a ruthless trial attorney on "Damages" and Bryan Cranston's turn as a meth-making, cancer-stricken teacher on "Breaking Bad" were honored with the top drama series acting Emmys, the second consecutive trophies for both.

"Oh my goodness," exclaimed Cranston. "I'm a poor kid from the valley. I don't know what I'm doing up here. I feel like Cinderfella."

Close called it a "huge privilege" to be part of entertainment community, then tweaked her show's writers.

Her role is "maybe the character of my lifetime, depending on what they do this season," Close said.

Michael Emerson, who plays the cruelly devious Ben on "Lost," and Cherry Jones, the stalwart U.S. president on "24," were honored as best supporting actors in drama series.

"Wowza," Jones said. Emerson accepted his award for what he called "the role of my lifetime."

Toni Collette of Showtime's "United States of Tara" was honored as best lead actress in a comedy series for her role as a mother with multiple personalities.

"Wow, this is insanely confronting," said a beaming Collette. She thanked series creator Diablo Cody, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "Juno."

Collette's victory deprived Fey of "30 Rock" of winning a second consecutive award in the category. But Fey took the stage a few moments later to acknowledge a guest actor award she received for her Sarah Palin impersonation on "Saturday Night Live."

Kristin Chenoweth of "Pushing Daisies" and Jon Cryer of "Two and a Half Men" won supporting acting Emmys for their comedies and proved that acceptance speeches can be entertaining.

"I'm not employed now so I'd like to be on `Mad Men.' I also like `The Office' and `24,'" said Chenoweth, alternating between tears and smiles as she accepted for her canceled ABC series. "Thank you so much to the academy for recognizing a show that's no longer on the air."

Backstage, the Tony Award-winning Chenoweth noted that she is appearing on an upcoming episode of Fox's show "Glee," has shot two movies and is doing a series of concerts.

Cryer, whose series is the most-watched comedy on TV, brought a wry tone to his speech.

"I used to think that awards were just shallow tokens of momentary popularity, but now I realize they are the only true measure of a person's worth as a human being," Cryer said.

"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" won the trophy for best variety, music or comedy series, its seventh in a row.

"Grey Gardens," the story of a reclusive mother and daughter who were relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and the Dickens adaptation "Little Dorrit" won for best movie and miniseries, respectively.

Harris, a nominee as well as host, lost to Cryer for his role on "How I Met Your Mother" but won on-stage accolades for his emcee work, including a heartfelt compliment from Jon Stewart.

Harris, who moved the show along with good-natured humor, started the evening on a lively note, performing "Don't Touch That Remote," a custom-made tune from Broadway composers Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman of "Hairspray" fame. Harris implored viewers to stay glued to the show and called attention to some of the stars in the house.

"I see legends galore, Lange, Barrymore," Harris sang to Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore, later adding, "But like next season on `Idol' I'm not seeing Paula Abdul." Meanwhile, the camera panned to an empty seat at the Nokia Theatre.

Harris' winning turn as host also was lauded by Jeff Probst, honored as best reality show host for CBS' "Survivor." Probst was one of the five reality hosts who emceed the Emmys last year and received scathing reviews.

"Neil Patrick Harris, this is how you host the Emmys. Nice job," Probst said, pointing his Emmy toward him.

"The Amazing Race" won its seventh consecutive Emmy in the outstanding reality-competition category, once again turning top-rated "American Idol" into an also-ran.

An exception to the upbeat mood came in clips from animated series "Family Guy," which showed the dog character Brian beaten bloody, followed by a reality show snippet with barely concealed swearing.

In a bid to give viewers reasons to stick with the show, CBS put advisories on-screen of upcoming moments, including Justin Timberlake's appearance as a presenter.

The TV academy, meanwhile, hoped to avoid an unwanted rerun at the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards: paltry viewership. The 2008 ceremony was the least-watched ever with an audience of 12.3 million.

Acclaimed but low-rated series like "Mad Men" are seen as one reason viewers bypassed the awards, so major categories were expanded to increase the odds for more popular fare. There were as many as seven nominees per category, compared with the traditional five.

Harris and Emmy executive producer Don Mischer promised to keep the scheduled three-hour ceremony snappy, but they had less room to maneuver than planned. A TV academy proposal to pre-tape some acceptances and show them in a truncated version — gaining time for something more entertaining than speeches — was quashed by industry opposition.

Harris also was a supporting actor nominee for "How I Met Your Mother."

HBO went into the ceremony as the awards leader after last weekend's Creative Arts Primetime Emmys ceremony for technical and other achievements. The channel earned 16 trophies, followed by NBC with 11 and Fox and ABC with eight awards each. CBS, PBS and Cartoon Network had six each.

After Sunday, HBO emerged with a leading 21, followed by NBC with 16, ABC with 11 and Fox with 10. CBS and PBS had nine each.

Taylor Swift: Kanye hasn't 'personally reached out'

Kanye West may have told Jay Leno last night he wants to apologize in person to Taylor Swift, but she told The View today that "sure," she'd meet up with him, but, "I mean, he has not personally reached out or anything."

Taylor recalled the night and what she was thinking the moment Kanye came onstage, saying, " I think my overall thought process went something like, 'Wow, I can't believe I won. This is awesome. Don't trip and fall. I'm going to get to thank the fans. This is so cool. Oh, Kanye West is here!'" She paused, then added, "'Cool haircut. What are you doing?' And And then 'Ouch.' And then, 'I guess I'm not gonna get to thank the fans."

It might have been worse, she said, but she was surrounded by well-wishers backstage. "All the artists came and showed me love and all the people tweeting about it. and all the fans, I never imagined there were that many people out there looking out for me, defending me so I didn't have to."

Johnny Reid wins 5 Canadian country music awards

Johnny Reid danced away with five trophies at the Canadian Country Music Association awards Sunday, including album of the year for his release Dance With Me.

Reid also won for video of the year, male artist of the year, the fans' choice award and songwriter of the year for A Woman Like You.

Reid, a Scottish-born Canadian who moved to Ontario with his family as a teenager, thanked his parents for all the sacrifices they've made in his name.

"I was given the opportunity to come to Canada in 1988. My mother and father packed up and sold everything they had in search of opportunity. Thank you for giving me an opportunity," he told the cheering crowd.

Reid, who's known for his romantic songs, also thanked the women in his life — his mother, grandmother, wife and "my wee baby that's going to be here in January," he said in his Scottish burr.

Doc Walker, last year's big winner at the CCMA awards, won again in the group of the year category.

The Manitoba group's Murray Pulver also won in the guitar player of the year category.

Crystal Shawanda, who grew up on Ontario's Manitoulin Island and wrote her first song at nine years old, won the female artist of the year award.

"It feels amazing," Shawanda told the media after winning. I didn't expect it at all."

Tara Oram, the winner of the rising star award, came to the stage in tears.

"I grew up as a little girl in Newfoundland just watching this show," she sobbed.

She went on to thank God, her family, her manager, country radio, everyone in Hare Bay, N.L., and finally her hamster Gertie, her rabbit Jack and her cat Phoebe.

Dean Brody, who grew up in tiny Jaffray, B.C., took home single of the year for his track, Brothers.

Corb Lund and his Hurtin' Albertans took the award for roots artist or group of the year.

Televised on CBC and hosted by Canadian actor and director Jason Priestley, the two-hour show featured performances by Reid, Doc Walker, Shawanda, Aaron Pritchett, Paul Brandt, Terri Clark, George Canyon and Richard Marx.

American country superstars Reba McEntire and Martina McBride also thrilled more than 6,000 fans at Vancouver's GM Place with their performances.

Priestley rumbled into the show on a Harley Davidson motorcycle and after shaking hands with some in the crowd, he saluted his hometown of Vancouver.

He went on to poke fun at some of the nominees, suggesting George Canyon's latest album is not only about how much he loves his kids, but also how much he loves Johnny Reid's wife. Reid's wife was a common target for Priestley on this night.

While he dished out his fair share of jabs, Priestley was also on the receiving end of a poke by McEntire.

In one sketch, he asked McEntire what she was posting on Twitter.

Countered Reba, "I'm so excited to meet Luke Perry" — confusing Priestley with his former Beverly Hills 90210 co-star.

The final award handed out for the night was the fans' choice, which also went to Reid. He told the crowd the award meant the world to him.

"This will be a night that lives for ever in my heart. Thank you very, very much."

Sunday's awards ceremony was the wrap-up of a four-day event of artist showcases, workshops, and country-music industry networking in a city not known for country tunes, but was awash in cowboy hats leading up to the event.

Tina Fey wins Emmy award for Sarah Palin spoof

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actress Tina Fey won an Emmy on Saturday for her uncanny portrayal of former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live," while pop star Justin Timberlake also was honored for his appearance on the NBC network's veteran sketch-comedy series.

Both won their guest-starring awards at the creative arts portion of the Emmys, where 72 awards mostly in technical categories were handed out. Awards in 28 high-profile races will be given out during a live broadcast on September 20.
The Emmys are the top awards for U.S. television.

The top network was Time Warner Inc's HBO, which won 16 awards led by "Grey Gardens" and the Iraq war miniseries "Generation Kill" with three each.

In winning her Emmy, Fey beat out two contenders from her own NBC comedy, "30 Rock," which leads all shows with 22 nominations. She made reference to Palin, who resigned in July as governor of Alaska less than a year after she was chosen as Senator John McCain's running mate in last year's U.S. presidential election.

"Mrs. Palin is an inspiration to working mothers everywhere because she bailed on her job right before Fourth of July weekend. You are living my dream. Thank you, Mrs. Palin!"

It marked Fey's sixth career win, and she is in contention for two awards at the main ceremony, including best comedy actress.

Timberlake won his second career Emmy, this time for playing various characters on an episode of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" that he hosted. NBC is a unit of General Electric Co.

In the dramatic categories, the guest-starring awards went to veteran actress Ellen Burstyn for NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and Michael J. Fox for "Rescue Me" on FX.

It marked Burstyn's first Emmy win after four nominations. She previously won an Oscar in 1975 for "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore."

'I WAS A LITTLE LACKING'

"It did seem like I was a little lacking in that side of the mantelpiece. I just felt it would be balanced if I had an Emmy, too," said Burstyn, who appeared in the veteran crime show as the mother of series star Chris Meloni.

Fox, who was not present at the ceremony, now has five Emmys -- including three for "Family Ties" and one for "Spin City." In Denis Leary's firefighter drama "Rescue Me," he played an angry, drug-abusing paraplegic.

A big winner at the ceremony was the Charles Dickens miniseries adaptation "Little Dorrit," whose four wins overshadowed favored contenders "Grey Gardens" and "Into the Storm." "Little Dorrit" aired on U.S. television on PBS.

By the time "Little Dorrit" won its fourth award, for cinematography, cameraman Lukas Strebel succinctly summed up the mood. "I'm speechless and everything's been said," he said.

"Grey Gardens," a TV movie based on the documentary about two socialites who love in squalor, was one of seven shows to pick up three awards. It received 17 nominations overall, second only to "30 Rock," and remains in contention for seven awards.

"30 Rock" won a pair of Emmys, and will compete for 13 at the main ceremony, including best comedy, which it won last year.

Among other big guns, defending best-drama champ "Mad Men" won a single award, but will hope to add up to nine awards at the main ceremony. It airs on the AMC cable network.

"Saturday Night Live," with 13 nominations, won two awards and will compete for six more Emmys.

Comedy Central's "South Park" was named best animated program (for programing less than one hour) for the third time, beating Fox's 10-time winner "The Simpsons." The two shows have taken turns winning the prize since 2005. Dan Castellaneta, who voices Homer Simpson, won his fourth Emmy in the voice-over category.

Host Kathy Griffin lost in both her categories. California first lady Maria Shriver, who was not present, won a pair of Emmys as an executive producer of two documentaries about Alzheimer's disease.

Madonna, Janet pay tribute to Michael at VMAs

NEW YORK – Michael Jackson, who was not only one of the most influential forces in MTV's history but also provided its Video Music Awards with some of its most irreverent moments, got reverential treatment Sunday as Madonna and his sister Janet provided emotional tributes — one through words, one through song.

Madonna kicked off the show at Radio City Music Hall with a poignant speech about her relationship with Michael Jackson, which began when she was a youngster idolizing the then-child star, then morphed into a friendship when both were at the apex of their careers, and later, grew distant.

Madonna lamented the negative publicity that dogged him in his later years.
"Sometimes, we have to lose things before we can truly appreciate them," said Madonna, dressed in black.

"Yes, Michael Jackson was a human being, but yes, he was a king," she told the celebrity-studded crowd, which included Michael's brother Jermaine and father Joe Jackson. "Long live the king."

The musical tribute began afterward, as Jackson clones dressed in some of his signature outfits recreated his famous dance moves from videos like "Bad," "Smooth Criminal" and "Thriller."

Then, as "Scream," his duet with Janet, appeared on a large screen, his sister came out to recreate the moves from their only video together as the crowd, including Beyonce, cheered her on. Afterward, she looked heavenward, and bowed.

It was a tender, special moment — a rarity for the Video Music Awards — that didn't last for long. Kanye West, known for his awards show outbursts when he doesn't win, had another one — this time, on behalf of Beyonce.

Beyonce, nominated for best female video for "Single Ladies," was bested by country and pop sensation Taylor Swift. The 19-year-old was giddy when she won, saying: "I always wondered what it would be like to maybe win one of these someday, but never actually thought it would happen."

But West ruined her moment when he jumped on stage, and protested.

"Taylor, I'm really happy for you, and I'm gonna let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time," he said, as a shocked Beyonce looked on and the crowd began to boo West.

A crestfallen Swift didn't finish her speech, but the crowd tried to cheer her own and applauded her.

It was another wacky moment for the VMA archives, and a contrast to the tribute to Jackson. Jackson died in Los Angeles on June 25 at age 50. The medical examiner's office has labeled the death a homicide, and prosecutors are still investigating.

Jackson was not only an integral part of MTV's history — his legendary videos changed the way music clips were made and he was the first black artist whose work was aired on the fledgling network — but he also provided the VMAs with some of its most memorable moments, including his infamous smooch with then-wife Lisa Marie Presley, in 1994.

The Jackson tribute wasn't the only moment where Jackson's presence was be felt. The network is also aired a brief premiere of the trailer for "This Is It," the documentary about Jackson's preparations for his comeback concerts that were to be held in London. The film is due to come out in October.

Comedian Russell Brand also paid tribute to Jackson:

"Tonight is dedicated to the great Michael Jackson," Brand, in a top hat, told the audience. "Let's honor Michael tonight by loving one another in his memory."

Last year, Brand made his debut as host by poking fun at the Jonas Brothers' vow of purity, among other ribald moments. This year, he cracked jokes about Katy Perry's posterior.

There were plenty of colorful moments before the show began, as celebrities including Pink and Buzz Aldrin mingled in front of the cameras at Radio City Music Hall.

Lady Gaga made one of the more intriguing entrances, wearing a top hat, a gold mask looking like something out of "Phantom of the Opera" and feathered bodice. She also had some intimate moments with a celebrity date even more famous — Kermit the Frog. They kissed several times, leading Kermit to openly worry about the reaction from longtime galpal Miss Piggy.

Not to be outdone, teen sensation Taylor Swift arrived in a fairy-tale carriage drawn by white horses.

Beyonce and Lady GaGa lead all artists with nine nominations each, but the show's winners aren't nearly as memorable as the wacky and wild moments, and noteworthy performances.

Both superstars are expected to perform, along with Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Green Day and other acts. And the night won't just focus on music: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, the much fawned-over stars from the vampire film "Twilight," will present clips from the movie's sequel, "New Moon."

Brad Paisley leads with 6 CMA nominations

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Brad Paisley leads Country Music Association Award nominees with six nods announced Wednesday, while Taylor Swift snagged a nomination for entertainer of the year, the show's highest honor.

The 19-year-old sensation is the first female solo artist to be nominated for the top award since 2000.

Swift joins Keith Urban, George Straight, Jamey Johnson and Zac Brown with four nominations each.

The CMAs announced five categories on ABC's "Good Morning America," and the rest later in the morning on the CMT network.

Swift's CD "Fearless" has sold more than three million copies and made her the top selling act in country and in pop. Her competitors in the top category are Kenny Chesney, Strait, Paisley, and Urban. She was also nominated for female vocalist of the year, along with Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire and Carrie Underwood.

Darius Rucker — the former Hootie and the Blowfish singer whose transition to country music was embraced by fans — was nominated for male vocalist of the year, along with veterans like Strait, Paisley, Chesney and Urban.

"It feels great. It feels like I'm part of the family," said Rucker, who along with Lee Ann Womack announced the nominations on ABC.

"I love being in country music because of the accessibility and the relationships you have with fans and with radio is awesome."

Rucker was also nominated for new artist of the year along with Randy Houser, Jamey Johnson, Jake Owen and the Zac Brown Band.

Womack was another nominee Wednesday morning: her song with George Strait, "Everything But Quits," was nominated for vocal event of the year. Also nominated were "Cowgirls Don't Cry," by the soon-to-be disbanded Brooks & Dunn and McEntire; "I Told You So," by Underwood and Randy Travis; "Down the Road" by Chensey and Mac McAnally; and "Old Enough," by the rock group Racounteurs, Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe.

Houser, who announced the rest of the nominations on a live broadcast of "CMT Insider" from a Nashville studio, said getting the nomination for the new artist category is a honor he's been patiently waiting on.

"I've told myself for so many years, 'Maybe next year, maybe next year,'" said Houser, who also was nominated for his music video, "Boots On."

He credited his record label with coming up with the idea of the music video, which featured a toddler rocking out to his song on a toy guitar.

The CMA Awards, now in its 43rd year, are scheduled for Nov. 11 on ABC., with Underwood and Paisley as hosts.

Metallica snub angers Mustaine

Dave Mustaine has blasted his former Metallica bandmate Lars Ulrich for leaving him out of the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Mustaine wasn't among the Metallica members, past and present, in April's Class of 2009, because he didn't feature on any of the band's albums - despite performing with them for two years.

The guitarist reveals drummer Ulrich invited him to the ceremony, but only to watch - infuriating the Megadeth frontman.

He tells Metal Hammer, "Lars said... 'If you were on the record you got inducted, if you weren't on the record, you didn't', and would I come along and hang out and watch them get inducted? It makes for the same kind of mentality as a guy watching some other guy f**k his girlfriend.

"To say that I'm not on the record, well, I'd say that there are 40 million fans with Megadeth and Metallica records in their collections that would say that Dave is on the Metallica records because my name's on there, but I guess Lars never really looked past the word 'Ulrich'."

The experience has made Mustaine even more determined to make it into the Hall of Fame on his own accord, adding, "Bottom line is, I'm going to get into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame one way or another and he can't keep me out! When I do, I'm going to ask him to induct us and I'm gonna give eggs to everyone in the front row!"

Butt puzzled by Gemini nom snub

TORONTO - "Corner Gas" creator and star Brent Butt says it's "kinda goofy" that his celebrated show has been shut out of the Gemini nominations this year, adding that he's taking the snub "with a pound of salt."

Nominations for the awards, which celebrate the best in Canadian television, were announced Tuesday, but "Corner Gas" did not make the cut in a single category.

Butt said Wednesday from Vancouver that he's surprised but is not upset.

"I always say in show business you have to take everything with a pound of salt," Butt said.

"If you win an award, you can't go around thinking you're the bees' pyjamas.... And when you don't get an award, you can't think, 'Well, this is a travesty of justice and I am outraged.' You've got to put it in perspective."

Butt said he's received several emails from others connected to the show and notes that "everybody's just kind of confused."

"I understand not winning any awards. If we went to the Geminis and didn't win any awards, you'd kind of roll with it and go, 'Oh, alright, whatever.' But to not even have a nomination, that is kind of goofy. I'm not angry or outraged, I'm too busy trying to wrap my head around it, you know? To kind of go, 'Really? Not a nomination? In 99 categories, after 107 episodes? OK."'

"Corner Gas" is widely considered the most popular Canadian sitcom of all time. It ended a critically acclaimed six-season run in April with a final episode that drew nearly three million viewers to CTV and the "A" channel. CTV says that's the biggest audience that has watched a Canadian-made scripted television series since the network began keeping electronic records in 1994.

The quirky series has been a hit with critics as well as audiences, and has nabbed five Geminis over the years including the best comedy titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007. This is the first year the show has not been up for the best comedy trophy since debuting in 2004.

This year, Citytv's dark comedy "Less Than Kind" leads the nominations among sitcoms with nine nods. It will face off against CBC's "Rick Mercer Report," CBC's "This Hour Has 22 Minutes", CMT's "Three Chords from the Truth," and Showcase's "Testees" for the title of best comedy.

CTV's cop drama "Flashpoint" leads overall with a record 19 nominations.

Nominees for the annual bash are determined by secret ballot by members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. Deliberations are confidential.

The Geminis have not been without controversy. A few years back, CTV announced it would no longer submit news coverage for consideration.

This year's ceremony will take place Nov. 14 in Calgary and will be broadcast on Global and Showcase.

A spokesperson for the academy was not immediately available to comment.

Former "Gas" writer Paul Mather, now working on a new sitcom with Fred Ewanuick - another alum from the show - said he, too, was bewildered by the snub.

"With all due respect to the Geminis, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me that you wouldn't nominate them," Mather, who did not work on "Gas"'s final season, said from Toronto.

"It does the Geminis themselves a disservice not to have Brent Butt and the gang there at the awards ceremony. Three million people watched that finale, that's just a big part of Canadian TV this year and I think that it's a missed opportunity for the Geminis not to recognize that. I don't think it's good for the industry and I don't think it's good for the Gemini Awards themselves. And I don't think it's fair."

While Mather said he was pleased to see the critically acclaimed but little-watched "Less than Kind" earn recognition, he argued that nominating smaller series alongside popular shows like "Gas" would go a long way towards promoting the industry as a whole.

"There's a lot of talk about trying to build a star system in Canada and if we're going to build a star system, let's put the TV stars on TV, you know," he said.

Butt said he's more preoccupied these days with work on his new sitcom, "Hiccups." He said shooting is expected to begin in the third week of September.

"All I can really do is sit back and scratch my head and go, OK, on to the next thing."

Tudors, Flashpoint vie for Gemini Awards

CBC programs Being Erica, The Border and The Tudors are among the nominees for best dramatic series at the 2009 Gemini Awards, Canada's honours for the best in television production.

CTV crime drama Flashpoint led the pack with 19 nominations, including best drama, as nominations for the Geminis were announced Tuesday in Toronto.

ZOS: Zone of Separation, the eight-part drama about Canadian peacekeepers working in a fictional town in the Balkans, also received a nomination for best drama. It was shown on The Movie Network and Movie Central.

The best comedy category includes novice programs Less Than Kind, on Citytv; Testees, on Showcase; and Three Chords from the Truth, on Country Music Television; as well as CBC favourites Rick Mercer Report and This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

The Tudors, the CBC multinational co-production about the life of Henry VIII, has 11 nominations, including a best performance nod for Natalie Dormer as the doomed Anne Boleyn.

Other multiple nominees include Being Erica, Global TV's Diamonds, Less than Kind and The Border, each with nine Gemini nominations.

Flashpoint dominates actor categories

Flashpoint, the drama about a police tactical unit created for CTV and CBS, dominated nominations for performance.

The show's stars, Enrico Colantoni, Hugh Dillon and Amy Jo Johnson, were among the nominees for best actor and actress in a dramatic series.

Guests stars on the series, which was in its second season by May 2009, also earned nominations for their performances, among them Nicholas Campbell, Henry Czerny, Mpho Koaho, Sarah Gadon and Kristin Booth.

Koaho played a wrongfully convicted man who spent 11 years in Kingston Penitentiary and after he is released is determined to find out what went wrong with his prosecution.

"I really like the positive ending … and as a black man, the way the story wasn't catering to negative stereotypes," Koaho said of the role.

"I don't play a gangster — the kinds of parts I usually get. He's just a guy whose life goes wrong, and he's trying to figure it out."

The young Toronto actor is a double nominee, also receiving a nod for best supporting role in a drama for his part in Soul.

Less Than Kind, the Winnipeg-shot drama about a dysfunctional family that runs a driving school, earned acting nominations for Benjamin Arthur and Brooke Palsson.

They are competing in the comedy performance category with Debra DiGiovanni at the Halifax Comedy Fest, Jon Dore of The Jon Dore Television Show and Terry McGurrin of Comedy Now!

TV reporting also honoured

Dormer, who won the best leading actress in a drama Gemini in 2008, is competing for the honour this year with Andrea Menard, playing the police investigator in the Aboriginal People's Network series Rabbit Fall, Amanda Tapping in SyFy series Sanctuary and Being Erica star Erin Karpluk.

Karpluk told CBC News she was thrilled with her nomination, and credited the cast and crew of Being Erica with turning it into a winning series.

The Erica character, who is transported to the past to confront her own mistakes in each episode, is "very relatable," she said.

"The theme of regrets is very universal regardless of your age, or class or background," Karpluk said.

The time travel aspect of the show never seems out of place because it's not meant to be realistic, she said. "It's just a catalyst for my character to delve into her past," she said.

CBC earned several nominations for best reporting, with nods for Adrienne Arsenault for coverage of the Beijing Olympics; Neil MacDonald for his work on the U.S. economic crisis; and Frédéric Zalac for reports for The National. Also nominated in this category are Kevin Newman, Geoff Fontes and Bryan Mullan of Global National.

Heather Hiscox, Janet Stewart, Diana Swain and Peter Mansbridge of CBC are all nominated for best news anchor, along with Kevin Newman of Global.

Les Stroud, who in 2009 completed his last season of Survivorman, in which he tests himself against the elements, has three nominations, including best host, best direction and best documentary series.

CBC's The Lens, TVO's The View from Here, History TV's Ancestors in the Attic and The Adventurers also have nominations for best documentary.

There are 99 Gemini categories. Most of the awards will be given out in Toronto on Oct. 19 and 20.

The main Gemini gala will be held Nov. 14 in Calgary and broadcast on Global TV and Showcase.

Gemini Awards selected nominees
Best drama
Flashpoint
Being Erica
The Border
The Tudors
ZOS: Zone of Separation

Best comedy
Less Than Kind
Rick Mercer Report
Testees
This Hour Has 22 Minutes
Three Chords from the Truth

Best reality TV show
disBAND - The Homecoming
Dragons' Den
GoldMind
Project Runway Canada
The Week the Women Went

Best ensemble comedy performance
Rent-a-Goalie
Three Chords from the Truth
Billable Hours
This Hour has 22 Minutes
Black Cake, White Cake

Best dramatic mini-series
Burn Up
Diamonds
The Last Templar
XIII

Best preschool series
Are We There Yet: World Adventure
Get Ready for School
Kids' Canada
The Mighty Jungle

Best children's or youth series
Instant Star 4
The Latest Buzz
Life with Derek

Passchendaele leads directors guild award nominations

Paul Gross's Canadian war epic Passchendaele has received five nominations for the Directors Guild of Canada Awards, including best feature and best direction.

Gross wrote, directed and starred in the movie about the Canadian experience during the First World War.

Deepa Mehta's Heaven on Earth, Gary Yates's marijuana comedy High Life and Michael McGowan's road movie One Week also are nominated for best feature, the DGA said Tuesday.

Heaven on Earth, about an abused Indian bride living in Canada, also earned a nod for sound editing.

Gross is vying for the best director's honour with Kari Skogland for Fifty Dead Men Walking, Patricia Rozema for Kit Kittredge: An American Girl and McGowan for One Week.

Fifty Dead Men Walking, which just had its commercial release, is about a man recruited by the British to spy on the Irish Republican Army during the so-called Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Documentaries to be recognized include The Most Interesting Group of People You'll Ever Meet by John Houston, Air India 182 by Sturla Gunnarsson, Malls R Us by Helene Klodawsky and Prom Night in Mississippi by Paul Saltzman.

CBC's The Border has a total of four nominations in the television drama categories, including best drama.

Other CBC productions to get nominations include Little Mosque on the Prairie for best comedy, Booky's Crush for best family TV film and Heartland for best family series.

Murdoch Mysteries, Flashpoint and Capture of the Green River Killer also have multiple nominations.

The awards will be handed out Oct. 24 at a gala hosted by comedian Shaun Majumder in Toronto.

Beyonce, Lady GaGa, Britney Dominate MTV VMA Noms

Pop stars Beyonce and Lady Gaga on Tuesday each earned nine nominations for next month's MTV Video Music Awards, more than any other artist, while Britney Spears continued her musical comeback with seven nods.

All three will compete for the honor of video of the year, with Beyonce earning a bid for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), Lady Gaga for "Poker Face" and Britney Spears for "Womanizer."

They square off against rappers Kanye West with "Love Lockdown" and Eminem for "We Made You" in the video of the year race. Honors will be given out at New York's Radio City Music Hall on September 13 in a show hosted by British prankster Russell Brand.

Beyonce has enjoyed a hugely successful solo career since leaving the all-female group "Destiny's Child." Her third solo album, "I Am ... Sasha Fierce," had the No. 1 hit "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)."

"I've been blessed this year to have 'Single Ladies' become a video people really connected with and responded to," Beyonce said in a statement released by MTV.

The annual awards are one of the cable TV channel's most-watched programs, as much for the celebrity antics and performances as the awards themselves.

At the height of Spears' early career in 2003, she and Madonna famously kissed on the show. Later her personal life veered out of control and her father took control of her business affairs. But recently she has rebounded.

Spears is currently on tour and her video for the song "Circus" was nominated for best choreography.

New Yorker Lady Gaga's 2008 debut album, "The Fame," included the hit single "Just Dance" and was among the top five CDs in countries including the United States, Britain and Germany.

"Poker Face" earned Lady Gaga not only a video of the year nomination but also a nod for best female video, a category that pits her against Katy Perry with "Hot N Cold," Beyonce with "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)," Kelly Clarkson with "My Life Would Suck Without You," Taylor Swift with "You Belong With Me" and Pink with "So What."

Lady Gaga thanked MTV "for being our video flagship, and for supporting this bunch of inspired kids, who love to get wasted and make art, together."

Eminem ("We Made You") and Kanye West ("Love Lockdown") will square off in the best male video category against hip hop star Jay-Z with "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)," rapper T.I. (featuring Rihanna) with his "Live Your Life" and Ne-Yo with "Miss Independent."

First-time nominees include U.S. rockers Kings of Leon as well as rappers Drake and Asher Roth. Both rappers were nominated in the best new artist category.

Other categories include best hip hop video, best pop video and best rock video.

Johnny Reid leads field with 6 country award nods

Scottish-born, Toronto-bred singer Johnny Reid leads the field going into this year's Canadian Country Music Association awards with six nominations.

Reid received nods for top single, album, songwriter, video, male artist and for the fans' choice prize.

This year's show, to be held Sept. 13 at GM Place in Vancouver, will be hosted by actor Jason Priestley.

Reid's latest album "Dance With Me" was released in March and was certified gold in less than 48 hours.

The singer moved to Canada when he was 16, and went on to attend Bishop's University in Sherbrooke, Que., where he met his wife. He now lives in Nashville with his wife and three sons.

Following close behind Reid are George Canyon and Victoria Banks, with five nominations apiece. Last year's winner of the top new male talent award, Gord Bamford, nabbed four nominations this year.

Newcomer Dean Brody is also up for four awards including the Rising Star award and top single, video and songwriter.

Along with Reid and Canyon, Doc Walker, Jessie Farrell and Aaron Pritchett are up for the fans' choice award.

Voting can be done online at www.cmt.ca until the end of the day on Sept. 6.

Country superstar Reba McEntire is scheduled to perform at this year's show, along with Reid, Doc Walker, American chart topper Martina McBride and Montreal's Terri Clark.

Priestley shot to fame playing Brandon Walsh in the 1990s teen soap "Beverly Hills, 90210," but later turned to directing.

Recently, he directed CMT Canada's "The Road Hammers," which followed the country band of the same name.

The 2009 CCMA awards will be broadcast on CBC-TV with encore broadcasts on CMT in Canada.

Tickets for the event, which is part of Country Music Week, are available through Ticketmaster.

'30 Rock' leads Emmy nominations with 22 bids

LOS ANGELES – Tina Fey's satire-rich sitcom, "30 Rock," received a leading 22 Emmy Award nominations Thursday, while the '60s retro series, "Mad Men," led the drama pack with 16 bids.

The shows were honored last year as best comedy and drama and have a chance to repeat the performance at September's awards.

The TV movies "Grey Gardens," with 17 nominations, and "Into the Storm," with 14 nods, were among the front-runners. Chandra Wilson of "Grey Anatomy's" and Jim Parsons of "The Big Bang Theory" helped make the announcement at the TV academy's theater — and both proved to be among the lucky.

"No! ... This is some sort of trick fest," said Parsons, when his nomination for lead actor in a comedy series for the CBS show was announced.

"I'm going to the party" was Wilson's response to her bid for outstanding lead actress in a miniseries or movie for "Accidental Friendship." She was also nominated for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for "Grey's Anatomy."

The number of contenders in series and acting categories were expanded this year, which may have allowed room for some unexpected bids, including a rare best-comedy series nomination for an animated series, "Family Guy."

The series fields are especially crowded, with seven contenders in both drama and comedy categories. Joining "Mad Men" are fellow cable dramas "Big Love," "Breaking Bad," "Damages" and "Dexter." Two network dramas, "House" and "Lost," also made the cut.

Among comedies, the nominees besides "30 Rock" and "Family Guy" include other network series "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Office." Cable contenders include "Entourage," "Flight of the Conchords" and "Weeds."

In announcing that the traditional five nominees would grow to six in top categories, the TV academy noted that a tie could expand the field even more.

Affection was scarce for series that came to an end last season, including long-running medical drama "ER," "Boston Legal" and "Battlestar Galactica." There was a scattering of nominations among them, but nothing in the marquee categories of acting or best series. Another just-ended series, "The Shield," was shut out.

Vampire saga "True Blood" and its star Anna Paquin, who won a Golden Globe earlier this year, were shut out of the major categories.

Fey, the executive producer as well as star of "30 Rock," had a chance to repeat as lead actress in a comedy series. Other contenders in the category are Christina Applegate for the canceled "Samantha Who?", Toni Collette for "United States of Tara," Julia Louis-Dreyfus for "The New Adventures of Old Christine," Mary-Louise Parker for "Weeds" and Sarah Silverman for "The Sarah Silverman Program."

Joining last year's winner Alec Baldwin of "30 Rock" and Parsons in the comedy category for lead actor is Steve Carell of "The Office," Jemaine Clement of "Flight of the Conchords," Tony Shalhoub of "Monk" and Charlie Sheen of "Two and a Half Men."

Russell Brand returns to host the VMAs

NEW YORK – MTV liked Russell Brand so much, they called him back for more.
The British comedian-actor — known for his deadpan, off-kilter humor — will host the Video Music Awards for the second year in a row, MTV announced Tuesday.

Brand, 34, says he feels "invigorated" to return as master of ceremonies for the live event, which will be held in New York on Sept. 13.

"It's very bracing, like stepping into a warm — no, a cool — powerful ocean," he said, poetically.

Brand, whose film roles include a scene-stealing role as a rock star in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," famously mocked the Jonas Brothers' purity rings at last year's show in Los Angeles.

"I'm gonna personally invite them because I love those boys," he quipped, noting "there will be some controversy" this time around.

The telecast will be staged at different venues, including Radio City Music Hall, where the VMAs were broadcast in 2006. MTV said country superstar Taylor Swift will perform; the nominees and other performers will be announced later.

"There's gonna be huge performances all over New York City," Brand said. "On Brooklyn Bridge, there will be a performance. You know that spike on top of the Empire State Building? Someone is gonna perform on top of that. ... Its gonna be mind-blowing ... get ready. I don't know if you're wearing a hat, but if you are, you should hold on to it."

Neil Patrick Harris to host CBS' Emmycast

NEW YORK – Neil Patrick Harris, who won critical acclaim hosting last month's Tonys, will fill the same role for the prime-time Emmys.

He had been rumored for more than a week to have the job. CBS made it official Monday.

"After having had such a hoot hosting the Tonys, I was thrilled to get the call about the prime-time Emmys," said Harris, adding that he looks forward to "adding my own voice" to the ceremony: "But which voice to choose? I'm torn between gangsta, foppish Brit, and robot. Really proud of my robot. We'll see what happens on the night."

Harris, 36, will also serve as a producer for the CBS broadcast, which will air live Sept. 20 from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.

Harris, who begins his fifth season on the CBS comedy "How I Met Your Mother" in the fall, has landed a Golden Globe nomination and two Emmy nominations in his role as womanizing Barney Stinson.

He has appeared on Broadway in "Cabaret" and "Proof," and won a Web following in Joss Whedon's zany "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog." He first gained stardom in the title role of the ABC comedy "Doogie Howser, M.D." (1989-1993), playing a genius teenage doctor.

Neil Patrick Harris closes in on Emmys gig

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – CBS is close to signing "How I Met Your Mother" co-star Neil Patrick Harris to host this year's Emmys.

The two-time Emmy nominee is fresh off a well-received stint as host of the Tonys, telecast by CBS in June.

The 61st annual Emmys will be broadcast September 20.

The event is under pressure to stage a turnaround this year. Ratings for the Academy Awards, MTV Awards, Tonys, Grammys and Country Music Awards have increased during their most recent airings, while the perpetually sinking Emmys last year hit an all-time viewership low.

Academy may silence original-song Oscar

Trophy will only be awarded if at least one song rates above new threshhold

Another shakeup in the Oscar rules makes it possible there will be no original song category in any given Academy Awards year.

The new rules, announced by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in a news release Friday, stipulate that at least one of the songs nominated for an Oscar in the original song category achieve a minimum score of 8.25 on a scale of six to 10 in nominations voting.

If no song ranks at least an 8.25, no Oscar will be presented in the category that year. If only one song scores that high, it and the next-highest-rated tune will be the finalists in the category. If two or more songs score above the threshhold, they will all receive nominations, up to a maximum of five tunes.

Bruce Broughton, head of the academy's music branch, said it is trying to improve the quality of songs that receive the award.

"There's been a lot of talk about the songs in films, the lack of memorability compared to songs in the past," he said. "This is an attempt to really make the songs as good as possible."

Last year, the academy limited Oscar song nominations to two per film.

The academy will also move its honorary Oscars, such as the Thalberg and Humanitarian awards, out the Academy Award ceremony and present them at a separate event.

Earlier in the week, the academy announced it will double the number of nominees for the best picture category to 10.

Nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards will be announced Feb. 2, with the ceremony to follow on March 7.

Michael Jackson's legacy honored at BET Awards

LOS ANGELES – The BET Awards became the official Michael Jackson TV celebration on Sunday, with joyous tributes to the King of Pop from a New Edition medley of Jackson 5 songs to host Jamie Foxx's tender monologue delivered in that classic red leather zipper jacket and white glove.

Joe Jackson, the singer's father, was on hand to represent the grief-stricken family. "I just wish he could be here to celebrate himself," he said. "Sadly, he's not here, so I'm here to celebrate for him."

Already an affair of major star wattage, the night's show at the Shrine Auditorium was thrown under a white-hot spotlight in the wake of Michael Jackson's death Thursday, adding attendees and guests, doubling the number of media requests, adding an extra half-hour to the telecast and even lengthening the red carpet to accommodate all who wanted to take part.

While Jackson's incredible influenced stretched across genres, races, and cultures, he had a very unique place in the world of black entertainment. His influence is arguably most visible in urban music, seen in stars like Usher who mimic his dance moves, to Ne-Yo, whose music is marked by its Jackson-isms. But that influence went beyond music: Jackson was black America's biggest star, who broke racial barriers that allowed for so many other superstars to follow.

Foxx kicked off the show with a re-enactment of the choreography from Jackson's iconic "Beat It" video in front of the star-studded crowd, on its feet from the start of the show. Throughout the night, Foxx wore some of Jackson's signature looks, like the wide-collar black leather outfit from "Billie Jean."

"No need to be sad. We want to celebrate this black man," said Foxx.

Producers of the annual awards show — which recognizes the best in music, acting and sports — revamped the show to meet the moment. While Beyonce and T.I. were the leading award nominees with five apiece, giving out trophies was an afterthought: Honoring Jackson was became the show's main focus.

While some performed their own hits, most made sure to incorporate some of the man who influenced them in their performances. A chant of "Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson" was heard while Keri Hilson performed, and Foxx's "Blame It" incorporated some of the Jacksons' dance hit "Blame It On the Boogie."

New Edition, the 1980s teen sensations who were considered that generation's Jackson 5 with their own version of bubble-gum soul, ran through several of the Jackson 5's greatest hits, from "I Want You Back" to "ABC," mirroring their idols right down to the group's original choreography. Ne-Yo sang one of Jackson's most sensual songs, "Lady in my Life."

"He's the man who made it possible for me to be on the stage; I love you and I miss you," he said later.

And winners acknowledged Jackson when they received their awards.

"We all know none of us in this in this room wouldn't be here for Michael Jackson," said Lil Wayne, as he picked up his award for best male hip-hop star.

"My heart and prayers go out to the whole Jackson family," said basketball star LeBron James, who won best male athlete. "What they did for us, ... for the whole world was amazing."

The Shrine stage was where Jackson's hair and scalp were burned during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in 1984 and the location for several of his Grammy and American Music Award performances.

Star Trek for Oscar? Academy Expands Best Picture to 10

Los Angeles (E! Online) – It's a year too late for The Dark Knight, but maybe those Hangover guys will have something extra special to celebrate.

This year's Best Picture field will be expanded to 10 contenders, the Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.

The move could mean typically overlooked genres like sci-fi, comedy and animation could get a crack at the big prize—and could spell good news for this year's biggest hits, Star Trek, The Hangover and Up.

While the Best Picture category, like the rest of the Oscar fields, has traditionally been limited to five nominees in recent decades, it hasn't always been so.

During the early years of the Oscars, there were 10 (and sometimes more) nominees, up until Casablanca beat back nine rivals at the 16th Academy Awards at the 1943 ceremony.

Today's announcement comes as the Academy continues to mark the 70th anniversary of "Hollywood's Greatest Year"—1939 saw the release of such classic films as Best Picture winner Gone With the Wind, along with fellow Oscar nominees The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Ninotchka, Dark Victory, Love Affair, Of Mice and Men, Wuthering Heights, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

Nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards will be announced Feb. 2, 2010, with the ceremony set March 7.

Nickelback golden at MMVAs

Alberta rockers Nickelback may have picked up a leading three trophies at the MuchMusic Video Awards last night, giving music critics across the country another reason to groan, but in the end it was all about Lady Gaga's "flaming boobies."

The critically unpopular group, who picked up three Juno Awards back in March, went into the televised street-oriented awards show -- which saw thousands of fans take over the blocks surrounding MuchMusic's Toronto Queen and John Sts. headquarters -- with a leading five MMVA nods, tied with R&B Toronto newcomer Danny Fernandes.

Nickelback's trio of trophies were for best video and best rock video for Gotta Be Somebody while the clip also got the nod for best post production.

"Wow," said frontman Chad Kroeger, arriving on the red carpet with his bandmates in a bullet-proof van to find out they'd already won two awards before the official show even began.

"I give it all to the fans. The fans have stuck with us, they've been amazing. We're just trying to sustain it."

Added guitarist Ryan Peake: "Couldn't be a better band for this (bullet-proof) vehicle."

Fernandes, whose debut disc, Intro, was produced by Palestinian-born, Ottawa-based rapper Belly, picked up a single trophy for best pop video for Private Dancer and busted out a dance move as a presenter alongside MuchMusic veejay Sarah Taylor.

Piano-rockers The Midway State, whose members hail from Collingwood and Thornhill, Ont., were surprise double winners, picking up two MMVA trophies for best independent video for Never Again and Ur Fave new artist for the same song.

Montreal pop-punk band Simple Plan won Ur Fave video for Save You.

Teen-pop sibling act the Jonas Brothers, who were also co-hosts for the evening, opened the show with their hit song, Burnin' Up, which later won the award for Ur Fave international video, and were immediately followed by St. Catharines, Ont., post-hardcore-screamo act Alexisonfire performing Young Cardinals in a wild contrast of music styles.

And while the trio of brothers can certainly sing -- they returned to sing their current hit, Paranoid, to screaming female fans -- a skit later in the show with celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton fell totally flat.

"You guys truly are the greatest fans in the world -- we love you so much," said Nick Jonas, upon accepting their award.

When it came to international winners, many were on hand to pick up their hardware as they were also MMVA performers.

Lady Gaga picked up best international video (artist) for her breakout single, Poker Face.

"You guys make it so hard to live anywhere else," said Lady Gaga in a gold braided outfit and matching headband.

"To God and the gays!"

But she really had people talking when she later transformed the MMVA stage into a New York subway station and wore a revealing black leather and silver studded ensemble that barely covered her nether regions for her performance of LoveGame/Poker Face that also included dancing NYPD officers and sparks flying out of a metal frame bra she was wearing by the end of the song.

Black Eyed Peas, who currently have the No. 1 album in Canada with The E.N.D., won for best international video (group) for that album's first single, Boom Boom Pow, which they also performed with female singer Fergie decked out in hot pants, thigh-high boots and long fake finger nails on one hand.

Kelly Clarkson also blew the roof off the joint -- okay so there was no roof outside -- with her big-voice and hit song, My Life Would Suck Without You, as she performed barefoot in jeans.

One Canadian group who did well last night was Billy Talent. The Toronto pop-punk outfit picked up the international video award (Canadian) for Rusted From the Rain, the first single from their new album, Billy Talent III, due later this summer, and performed the song during the MMVAs broadcast on an elevated platform.

"I don't have any flaming boobies," said Billy Talent frontman Ben Kowalewicz as he picked up the award, in reference to Lady Gaga's eye-popping performance which had just occurred.

'Billy Elliot' wins 10 Tonys; `Carnage' best play

NEW YORK – "Billy Elliot," the big British musical about a coal miner's son who dreams to dance, bowled over Broadway on Sunday, winning 10 Tonys, including best musical and a unique best actor prize for the three young performers who share the title character.

The trio — David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish — traded off thank-yous during their acceptance speech, shyly thanking people associated with the show only by their first name. They also acknowledged siblings and parents. Finally, Kulish told the cheering crowd at Radio City Music Hall: "We want to say to all the kids out there who might want to dance, 'Never give up.'"

"Billy Elliot" collected eight other awards, including director of a musical, book of a musical and choreography, but its composer Elton John was upset for best score. That award was taken by "Next to Normal" — which seemed to stun "Normal" composer Tom Kitt and lyricist Brian Yorkey. Alice Ripley, who portrays battling mental illness in "Next to Normal," received the actress musical prize.

"God of Carnage," Yasmina Reza's savage comedy of manners about two liberal, middle-class couples whose children get into a fight, was named best play and picked up two other major awards, one for its director, Matthew Warchus, and the other for actress Marcia Gay Harden.

Reza, who previously won a best-play Tony for "Art," said: "Maybe you missed my accent; you wanted to hear it again. I'm very grateful for all the people who gave their best for the production."

"The Norman Conquests," Alan Ayckbourn's trilogy, received the revival-play prize, while "Hair," the iconic 1960s rock extravaganza roared to a win in the musical-revival category.

The director/musical award went to Stephen Daldry of "Billy Elliot."

"I have been blessed in my life to spend the majority of last 10 years of my life working on the story of 'Billy Elliot,'" said Daldry, who called it "a long, extraordinary journey."

He said the award belonged to everyone connected to the show and especially to "three great gifts of Broadway, our three little Billys."

"Billy" also received prizes for featured actor (Gregory Jbara), sets, lighting, sound and a tie with "Next to Normal" for best orchestrations, which Kitt shared with Michael Starobin.

Geoffrey Rush's extravagant portrait of a dying monarch in "Exit the King" took the top actor prize.

"I want to thank Manhattan audiences for proving that French existential absurdist tragicomedy rocks," Rush said.

Angela Lansbury received her fifth Tony, this time for her performance as the dotty medium Madame Arcati in a revival of Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit." Her win in the featured-actress category tied the record for acting prizes held by Julie Harris, who has five plus a special lifetime achievement award given in 2002.

"Who would have thought," the 83-year-old Lansbury began, drowned out by a standing ovation. "Who knew that (at) this time in my life that I should be presented with this lovely, lovely award. I feel deeply grateful."

An emotional Liza Minnelli accepted the prize for special theatrical event for her show "Liza's at The Palace."

"This is exquisite," Minnelli said, asking for a list of people to thank because she didn't think she was going to win. "Lastly, I want to thank my parents and the greatest gift they ever gave me, Kay Thompson," her godmother. Minnelli recreated part of Thompson's club act as part of her Palace entertainment.
Roger Robinson's portrayal of a mystical shamanlike character in "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" was honored with the featured-acting prize.

"It has taken me 46 years to come from that seat, up these steps, to this microphone," said Robinson, who thanked his mother in Bellevue, Wash., "who's 98 years old ... who encouraged me and raised seven children single-handedly."
Featured actress-musical went to Karen Olivo as the spitfire Anita in the revival of "West Side Story."

"I'm completely unprepared for this. ... I just want to dedicate this to everyone who has a dream," Olivo said, thanking the production's 91-year-old director, Arthur Laurents, and then dissolving in tears.

The Tonys twittered this year, with Mark Indelicato of "Ugly Betty" as the night's uber-tweeter from backstage. He offered such timely nuggets as "NPH's (host Neil Patrick Harris) favorite beverage while warming up for the start of Tonys? RED BULL, natch!" Jane Fonda, nominated for lead actress in a play, offered: "The trick is to be Zen about it. Winning is sometimes not the prize."

Bret Michaels injured himself in the show's opening production number when he rocked it out with a number from "Rock of Ages." The extent of his injury was not immediately known.

Broadway had a surprisingly robust 2008-2009 season.

Attendance during the 2008-2009 season slipped a bit (to 12.15 million from 12.27 million the previous year) but not as much as was feared because of the recession. And grosses for plays and musicals actually were a bit higher than a year earlier, setting a record of $943.3 million.

Forty-three shows opened during the season, the highest number of new productions since 50 opened during the 1982-83 season.

The awards were voted on in 27 competitive categories by more than 800 members of the theatrical community, including producers, actors and journalists. The Tonys are presented by the League and the American Theatre Wing, a nonprofit service organization. The Wing founded the Tonys in 1947.

Sad day for Ostanek as Grammys drop polka

Bad news for Canada's polka kings.

The Recording Academy, which puts on the Grammy Awards, has decided to eliminate the category for best polka album.

"I don't like to see it happen," legendary bandleader and three-time Grammy winner Walter Ostanek said Thursday from his home in St. Catharines, Ont.

"There's room for our music."

John Gora, who's been nominated four times in the polka category but has never won, was more blunt.

"That sucks," he said from Burlington. "Of course I'm disappointed."

In a statement, the academy said polka was scrapped to "ensure the awards process remains representative of the current musical landscape." Grammy organizers also split a folk category in two and combined two Latin categories into one.

There will be 109 awards handed out at next year's Grammys instead of 110. The ceremony takes place Jan. 31, 2010 in Los Angeles.

Polka was by no means the only obscure category at the annual music bash.

Trophies will still be handed out for best packaging, liner notes, surround sound album, classical crossover album, Hawaiian music album and zydeco or Cajun music album.

Gora blamed the polka decision on politics, pointing out that American bandleader Jimmy Sturr has won the category 18 times.

"You can't have a polka guy holding world records," he said. ``You can't have Jimmy Sturr winning more Grammys than Quincy Jones, for example."

But Sturr has long had competition from Ostanek, the undisputed Canadian polka king.

Ostanek's treks to Los Angeles have practically become an annual Grammy tradition – after all, he's racked up more than 20 nominations (his three wins came in consecutive years, from 1992-94).

In fact, the gregarious musician was nominated at this year's show but lost out to – who else? – Sturr.

Still, even though his category is gone, Ostanek, 74, didn't have a bad word to say about his experiences with the glitzy show.

"I personally don't have any regrets," he said. "I've met a lot of nice people. The Grammys have treated me good."

A member of Canada's Walk of Fame and the Order of Canada, Ostanek has appeared on The Tonight Show and some have speculated that he was the inspiration for SCTV's famed Shmenge Brothers.

Ostanek, who owns a music shop in St. Catharines, says the Grammys have given him tremendous exposure and lamented that young polka musicians would not receive the same boost.

"I personally have had a good ride and I feel sorry for the future artists coming up," he said. "There are fans out there and there will be more fans down the line. But that's the way it is."

Meanwhile, Gora worried about the effect the academy's decision could have on polka music in general.

"It's a bad thing (for polka)," he said. "A Grammy nomination just recognizes you, puts you on another level. It just recognizes the talent of the local guys that really don't have the big budget to operate but are still excellent musicians."

Gora, who plans to begin recording a new CD this weekend, said he intends to submit his recordings in the world music category now.

He certainly isn't giving up on trying to win his first Grammy.

"Why should I?" he said. "The guys work hard and we put out good material.

"I even have a new song about the crazy bailout that's going on with the financial and automotive companies. We have a new song about it. It's just a 2/4 beat and why shouldn't it be heard by others?"

Ostanek, who diligently collected autographs from his favourite artists during his trips to the Grammys, said the show made him feel special.

"Everybody wants to be a somebody," he said. "You're mingling with Tony Bennett and other people like him on a one-to-one basis .... I've had a wonderful ride."

MTV's Eminem-Bruno Stunt Was Completely Staged, Says Host Andy Samberg's Head Writer

Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno gave Eminem a "new moon" preview of his own.
The "face-off" between Sacha Baron Cohen's bare backside and Eminem's mug came as a surprise to the viewers of Sunday's MTV Movie Awards, but just how shocked was the rapper also known as Marshall Mathers?

To hear host Andy Samberg's head writer, Scott Aukerman, tell it, not at all.

Ending nearly 24 hours of silence from all involved parties, Aukerman took to his blog to set the record straight: "Yes, the Eminem-Bruno incident was staged. They rehearsed it at dress [rehearsal] and yes, it went as far as it did on the live show."

As previously reported, Cohen's "Bruno" alter ego landing in Eminem's lap was of course a prearranged stunt. "There's no way it was an accident," an industry insider who was seated a few rows in front of Eminem told TVGuide.com. "You don't let two stars collide without a detailed plan."

As such, Bruno's airborne entrance was purposely detoured by speakers that were lowered into his path during the previous commercial break. That bit of equipment manipulation — coupled with the director's cut to Eminem several seconds before Bruno's "fall" — made for the first "smoking gun."

What about the appearance that tensions escalated when Cohen thrust his bare derriere in Eminem's face? While a spokesperson for the recording artist has not yet responded to multiple requests for comment, head writer Aukerman's blog now confirms that it was all for show. (When considering Eminem's compelling performance, remember that he did collect the occasional accolade for his acting debut in the semibiographical 2002 film 8 Mile.)

"Everyone was laughing about it during the next break," says our eyewitness, "especially the MTV staffers."

While it is true that Eminem, after "storming out" in disgust, never returned to his seat, that was the M.O. of many a star who shone at the awards show.

"Most of the big celebs came, did their thing and left," reports our onlooker.

MTV reps declined to comment on the incident.

'Twilight' takes a bite out of MTV Movie Awards

LOS ANGELES – The MTV Movie Awards were a blood bath Sunday night with "Twilight" taking five trophies, including best movie. But it was Sacha Baron Cohen who gave the show it's trademark bizarro moment when he landed on Eminem — who may or may not have been deeply offended.

The popular vampire drama starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart sucked up the golden popcorn trophies for best movie, fight, kiss, breakthrough male performance and female performance during Sunday's over-the-top ceremony at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif., which honors the best in film from the past year as voted on by viewers.

"The fans are the ultimate driving force," Stewart said while accepting her best female performance trophy (which she promptly dropped on the floor, breaking off a chunk of the golden popcorn).

Other winners included "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" star Zac Efron for male performance and his co-star Ashley Tisdale for female breakthrough performance. Miley Cyrus accepted the best song from a movie prize for "The Climb" from "Hannah Montana: The Movie," preventing "Twilight" from winning all six categories in which it was nominated.

Amy Poehler's urinating in a sink in "Baby Mama" won an award that was new to this year: The "WTF moment."

But even that was upstaged by Baron Cohen, who flew in above the audience as his flamboyant character "Bruno." Dressed in a pair of feathery white wings with his rear end mostly exposed, the comedian crashed into an overhead obstacle and was lowered directly into in Eminem's lap in the audience, his bare hindquarters in the rapper's face.

"Is the real Slim Shady about to stand up?" chirped Baron Cohen.

Eminem seemed visibly upset by the encounter, and members of his entourage roughly removed Baron Cohen as the rapper struggled to get out. But had Baron Cohen and MTV punked the self-styled homophobic rapper, or was he in on the elaborate joke?

Eminem acted visibly upset at the mishap, saying "Get this (expletive) off me" and turning his face away in disgust. He then stormed out with his entourage in tow — and cameras rolling — and beat a path for the exits.

Baron Cohen's descent to the audience was included in earlier rehearsals, but Eminem — who performed Sunday night — didn't take part in that piece of the run-through. As the rapper stormed off it sounded as though he was wearing a microphone, and cameras were in position to record his fast exit, but he was not seen or heard from again.

It wasn't the first tantrum for Slim Shady at an MTV ceremony: Sparks flew when the rapper was interviewed by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at the 2002 show.

Before this year's broadcast, Heath Ledger was awarded the best villain trophy for his twisted turn as the Joker in "The Dark Knight." Jim Carey later won for best comedic performance for "Yes Man." Ben Stiller received the MTV Generation Award, the show's highest honor, from a trio of presenters: Efron, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and a weeping Kiefer Sutherland.

"Ben, I have never had the privilege of working with you, but when I see the remarkable consistency you display in your films, whether you're portraying a man with his balls caught in his zipper or a man struggling to control his diarrhea on a date, I see a consummate professional who commands the respect of his co-actors," said Sutherland.

In addition to handing out awards for movies from the past year, MTV debuted new footage from the upcoming films "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" and "New Moon." Andy Samberg initially teased "Twilight" devotees by introducing the vampire sequel preview with footage of Samberg as an amateur Dracula.

The zany host kicked off the show with a movie mash-up featuring cameos from Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake before launching into an on-stage rap performance in which he attempted to woo a surly-looking Megan Fox in the audience. Samberg later crooned with Will Ferrell during an explosive movie montage that "cool guys don't have to look at explosions."

Underwood, Swift, Hough: Women rule the ACMs

LAS VEGAS – The women of country have taken the wheel.

Carrie Underwood captured entertainer of the year Sunday night at the Academy of Country Music Awards, winning the top honor that has eluded women for nearly a decade, while Taylor Swift won album of the year and Julianne Hough snagged top new artist.

Country music's boys' club was adjourned for the year when Underwood broke Kenny Chesney's four-year win streak and became the first woman to hold the title since the Dixie Chicks in 2000. The significance wasn't lost on the 26-year-old superstar.

"I accepted that award on behalf of myself and my fans, but also on behalf of other women who came before me that kicked butt but never got the recognition they deserved," Underwood said. "I can't wait (for) the day, which I hope is in the very near future, where having females in the category is no big deal whatsoever."

In 39 years of recognizing a top entertainer, the academy has granted the honor to a woman seven times, including Underwood. The others were Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Barbara Mandrell, Reba McEntire, Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks. Each won once.

Chesney, who missed the chance to tie Alabama for most entertainer of the year awards, kissed Underwood as she walked up to accept the honor.

"He told me he was proud of me," said Underwood, who's enjoyed astounding success since winning "American Idol" in 2005 with eight No. 1 country hits including the signature single, "Jesus Take the Wheel."

Swift, another woman dominating not only country music but the entire industry, won album of the year for her sophomore disc "Fearless." Both of Swift's albums have topped the 3 million mark — a rare feat today. She's connected with fans both young and old for her intensely personal songs, which she writes usually on her own or with a co-writer.

Backstage, Swift told reporter that she "obsessed" over making "Fearless."

"I labored over this album for two years," she said. "The fact that you can write songs in your bedroom about your feelings and boys and can win album of the year at the ACMs. I just didn't think that was possible."

Swift, who had four nominations going into Sunday's show, also got a special honor as McEntire presented her with an ACM Crystal Milestone Award for bringing so many young people to country music.

A tearful Hough, who added country singer to her "Dancing with the Stars" credentials, thanked "everybody that has followed me from the beginning and believed in me." She bested Jake Owen and the Zac Brown Band for the honor.

Other winners included Jamey Johnson, Sugarland, Trace Adkins and Brad Paisley, but the evening's most memorable moments came during the performances.

Adkins performed "'Til the Last Shot's Fired," a somber salute to U.S. troops, with the West Point Glee Club in honor of servicemen and women. The performance was introduced by Lt. Andrew Kinard, who had been wounded. He told the crowd, "As you listen to this song, please consider that it's not about the war, it's about the warrior."

John Rich's angry anthem "Shuttin' Detroit Down" also stirred the crowd.
"I'd like to dedicate this song tonight to all the hard-working, taxpaying Americans from coast to coast who love this country as much as I do," Rich said while holding a guitar tagged with a "Made in the U.S.A." sticker.

"We wrote this song specifically for you," he said before launching into his searing song that feeds into taxpayer resentment about the bailouts on Wall Street.

Other performances included teen sensation Miley Cyrus, dancing atop a high staircase on stage; Heidi Newfield singing "Johnny and June," inspired by the late Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, around an appropriate ring of fire; and Underwood in a burgundy dress so overwhelming that it took up most of the stage.

"Can I borrow that?" host Reba McEntire quipped afterward.

Newcomer Johnson beat out veterans like George Strait and Paisley in nabbing the night's first honor, song of the year for his poignant hit about an old man looking back on his life, "In Color."

"Thanks to my band for going in on an off day and producing an off record," Johnson quipped in a brief acceptance speech.

Adkins won single of the year for his heartfelt hit "You're Gonna Miss This." The deep-voiced singer said the song, about how people want to grow up and move on with life when they should slow down and enjoy the moment more, was very personal to him, but he didn't think others would relate to it. When his label said they were going to release it as a single, he said, "Go ahead. Nobody's going play it."

"I'm glad I'm an idiot," Adkins cracked. "Thank you very much."

Sugarland broke Brooks & Dunn's lock on the vocal duo award, and lead singer Jennifer Nettles received an ACM Crystal Milestone Award for her songwriting.

Strait and Paisley led all nominees with six. Paisley was linked up by video from Nashville, where his wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley is expecting their second child, and accepted the trophy for male vocalist of the year from there.

"I wish I could be there but I didn't want to take the chance of missing the birth of our next child. I hope you understand," said Paisley, who also won video of the year for "Waitin' on a Woman" and vocal event of the year for "Start a Band," his guitar-slinging duet with Keith Urban.

Jamie Foxx introduced Strait's performance of "Troubadour," and joked that the country scene was getting more diverse.

"Things are changing," Foxx said, mentioning his repeat appearance at the ACMs and Darius Rucker's success on the country charts. "(An) African-American singing country. Things are changing. Got a black man running the country. Things are changing. ... I mean what's next, white people going to Tyler Perry movies?"

Genies struggle to focus Canadian eyes on homegrown films

The Genie Awards, hosted by comedian Dave Foley of Kids in the Hall fame, are to be handed out in Ottawa Saturday night.

A festival devoted to screening Genie-nominated movies around the national capital region and the four-year-old Reel Canada program that brings Canadian films to high school students have run this week, in advance of the awards.

Both focus attention on what seems to be an uphill battle, trying to get English Canada to watch homegrown movies.

"In some ways we were inspired by the struggle in the '70s to get CanLit into high schools and how hard people fought to make that happen," Jack Blum, executive director of Reel Canada told CBC News. Now in its fourth year, Reel Canada has screened nearly 200 Canadian films to almost 20,000 students across Ontario and in Vancouver, beginning with films like The Red Violin and Away from Her.

"We have a wonderful body of work and it was time kids were introduced to these movies," Blum said.

Actor and former Genie winner for scriptwriting Don McKellar says it is essential that young people be exposed to Canadian film.

"People have to be aware at [an] early age. It's like learning language — there's Canadian language for film. It's exciting, it reflects their culture, experience, it will make huge difference," he said.

Benoît Pilon's Ce Qu'il Faut pour Vivre (The Necessities of Life) goes into the Genie Awards this Saturday with eight nominations and a best picture win at Quebec's Jutra Awards.

The film about an Inuit hunter confined to a Quebec sanatorium in the 1950s has earned star Natar Ungalaaq a best actor nomination and a best director nomination for Pilon.

Bernard Émond is competing for a best screenwriter Genie for his script, which details the cultural dislocation of the sick man and his tender relationship with an Inuit boy, who also has been wrenched from his family to recover from TB.

The film has been a critical darling, but has had nowhere near the box office legs of another best picture nominee, Passchendaele, Paul Gross's story of a Canadian soldier in one of the First World War's most tragic battles.

Passchendaele has already won the Golden Reel award, running for more than 15 weeks in some parts of Canada and earning $4.4 million.

It was a rare box office success for an English Canadian film. Domestic films suffer from inadequate distribution and lack the big-budget promotional hype that accompanies films out of Hollywood.

As always, the Genies attempt to focus attention on some rare gems of Canadian cinemas. This year's best picture nominees include Amal, the story of an auto-rickshaw driver in Delhi who inherits a rich man's estate.

The Hindi-language film directed by Richi Mehta won a dozen awards on the film festival circuit, but is little known by Canadian moviegoers.

Tout est Parfait, the French-language film about teen suicide, just opened in English Canada and Normal, Carl Bessai's film about the fallout from a car accident, has come and gone almost without notice, despite being a best-picture nominee.

Lesser known films among nominees

The best actor and actress categories also highlight some little known films, though this year's crop has drawn criticism for centring on well known names.

Well-knowns include Paul Gross, nominated for Passchendaele, and Christopher Plummer (for Emotional Arithmetic), but a surprise nominee was Aaron Poole in low budget film This Beautiful City.

Poole lost 37 pounds and had a dentist remove a crown in his mouth to play a recovering drug addict in the film, about five characters in Toronto's west end whose lives become interconnected after a woman falls from her balcony.

"Johnny's struggling to rid himself of his addiction and at the same time sustain the love he has for [his girlfriend] Pretty," said Poole, who also acted as producer for the film.

"It's hard to do that, he's sucked back into the world of drugs, he self-medicates his schizophrenia and the combination of those three things is difficult to manage."

Also nominated is Ungalaaq's moving performance in The Necessities of Life, which struck especially close to home for the actor because his grandfather had suffered in the same TB epidemic.

Well-known actresses Ellen Burstyn in The Stone Angel, Susan Sarandon in Emotional Arithmetic have nominations but the awards also focus attention on Quebec's outstanding Isabelle Blais and Bollywood actress Preity Zinta.

Part of the Genie Awards ceremony will be broadcast Saturday at 9 p.m. on Global.

Bill Cosby to receive Mark Twain prize

WASHINGTON–Bill Cosby will be awarded the 12th annual Mark Twain Prize for humour for his groundbreaking career.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Wednesday that Cosby, 71, will be honoured with what's considered the top U.S. humour prize. Some of the biggest names in comedy will salute Cosby on stage in Washington on Oct. 26.

Cosby said in a statement accepting the award that his mother read Twain's famous stories to him as a child, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

"I would like to apologize to Mr. Twain for falling asleep hundreds of times, but he should understand that I was only four,'' Cosby said.

Still, he said several of Twain's stories inspired his work, including How to Tell a Story and The Mysterious Stranger.

The award honours people who have had an impact on society in ways similar to Twain, a satirist, commentator and storyteller.

"Over the course of his extensive career as a standup comedian, writer, actor, and social activist, Bill Cosby has earned countless accolades for his groundbreaking brand of humour," said Kennedy Center Chairman Stephen Schwarzman.

Perhaps best known as the star and producer of the popular sitcom The Cosby Show during the 1980s, the Philadelphia native started his career as a standup comedian in nightclubs. He caught the eye of TV producers and landed a role in the "I Spy" series in the 1960s, which broke new ground by casting a black man and a white man as equals.

The Cosby Show, portraying an upper middle-class black family and everyday life, ran from 1984 to 1992 as a Thursday night hit for its NBC network. Cosby also produced a second hit sitcom, A Different World, from 1987 to 1993. He brought Cosby back as a sitcom for CBS from 1996 to 2000.

Cosby dropped out of high school to join the U.S. Navy. He earned his diploma while in the service and later enrolled at Temple University with the goal of becoming a physical education teacher. Cosby went on to earn master's and doctorate degrees in education and has been a leading voice on race.

He's proven to be one of the nation's most popular and enduring entertainers. Nine of Cosby's comedy albums have been certified gold, and six went platinum on recording industry charts. He has authored several books, including Fatherhood and Time Flies, that became best sellers.

"Of course we really like that he's a real author of words on paper," which rounds out his profile in the Twain tradition, said Peter Kaminsky, co-executive producer of the Twain prize.

"You don't need to have been a boy who grew up in a small town in Mississippi to understand Mark Twain. That's the particular genius of Bill and the African-American experience," Kaminsky said. "He universalized the African-American experience. Anybody could understand the themes of family, loyalty and obligation – and the human comedy.''

Cosby has homes in Massachusetts, New York and Los Angeles. He married his wife, Camille, in 1964, and they raised four daughters and a son, Ennis, who was shot to death on a Los Angeles freeway in 1997. The Cosbys have three grandchildren.

When Cosby entered the polling booth in his Los Angeles neighbourhood last year to vote for the first black president, he carried with him photographs of his late parents and Jimmy, his brother who died in childhood. Some have argued that Cosby helped pave the way for President Barack Obama by breaking down stereotypes – a credit that Cosby rebuffs.

The Kennedy Center board chooses the prize winner with recommendations from a committee that includes former Twain honourees, the show's producers and others.

Tickets for the award show go on sale to the public Aug. 12. Proceeds benefit the center's education programs.

Last year the Kennedy Center honoured the late George Carlin with the Mark Twain prize. Past honourees have also included Billy Crystal, Steve Martin and Whoopi Goldberg. The first honouree was Richard Pryor in 1998.

THE GEORGE FOSTER PEABODY AWARDS

Athens, Ga. – Thirty-six recipients of the 68th Annual Peabody Awards were announced today by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. The winners, chosen by the Peabody board as the best in electronic media for 2008, were named in a ceremony in the Peabody Gallery on the University of Georgia campus.

“The works recognized by the Peabody Board this year not only reflect great diversity of content and genre, but also true technical innovation and the varied roles of new distribution systems,” said Peabody Director Horace Newcomb. “The list of winners this year clearly indicates a changing media environment that will continue to require judgment and evaluation through the Peabody Awards process.”

The recipients included Lost, ABC’s innovative, mind-bending adventure serial; “The Giant Pool of Money,”a remarkably comprehensible explanation of the current financial crisis from public radio’s This American Life; and YouTube, the video-sharing Web site that puts a boundless array of video artifacts, from historic political speeches to cell phone videos, at every Internet user’s fingertips. Black Magic, ESPN’s fascinating examination of the integration of basketball and its impact on the programs of historical black colleges and universities, received a Peabody, as did Saturday Night Live’s campaign-season political satire.

A Peabody went to Sichuan Television for its immediate coverage of the deadly earthquake that struck its Chinese province. For several days, SCTV was the only source of video for television news organizations around the world. National Public Radio was also recognized for its exhaustive and sensitive daily reporting on the quake. Peabodys went to CNN’s coverage of the Presidential primaries and debates, and to the election-year broadcasts of Washington Week with Gwen Ifill. The Hearst-Argyle television-station group was awarded for its extensive Commitment 2008 coverage of local and regional political contests.

In the realm of the arts, Peabodys went to The Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series; The Gates, an HBO documentary tracking the 24-year making of a now-celebrated installation in New York’s Central Park; and to NBC’s dazzling telecast of the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony and the ceremony director, Zhang Yimou. An institutional Peabody was awarded to Turner Classic Movies, the cable channel devoted to showing, preserving and fostering a critical appreciation of vintage films.

The entertainment series selected included Breaking Bad, AMC’s thorny drama about a terminally ill science teacher who turns to making and selling methamphetamine to build an estate for his wife and disabled son. John Adams, HBO’s richly detailed miniseries about the lawyerly founding father, his wife, Abigail, and the times in which they lived, received the award. Also cited was HBO’s comedy Entourage, a wicked take on Hollywood and the joys and sorrows of minor stardom. Avatar: The Last Air Bender, an animated, Asian-influenced mythological epic shown on Nickelodeon, received a Peabody, as did Jungle Fish, a handsomely stylized slice of South Korean teen life from the Korean Broadcasting System.

In addition to YouTube, a Peabody was awarded to The New York Times’ Web site (www.nytimes.com). Another went to Onion News Network (www.theonion.com/content/video), where video parodies of newscasts and newsmakers are so shrewdly conceived and produced that they’re often hard to distinguish from the real thing.

“We recognize the great transformations affecting dissemination of news and information,” Newcomb said. “The variety of choices available to citizens does in fact range from the best traditional journalism expanded for the Web, to sharp critiques in the form of parody and satire. Both can achieve a level of excellence that reaches the Peabody standard and both require citizens to respond with careful analysis of their own.”

A Peabody went to NOAH Housing Program Investigation, a series of more than 50 reports by New Orleans’ WWL-TV exposing problems and possible fraud in a multi-million dollar program designed to help homeowners rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. Awards also went to Failing the Children: Deadly Mistakes, Denver TV station KMGH’s multi-part expose of tragic incompetence in the city’s Department of Human Services. National Public Radio’s 36 Years of Solitary: Murder, Death and Justice on Angola received a Peabody for a gripping investigative report questioning the guilt of two inmates at Louisiana’s notorious prison farm. The two have been kept in solitary confinement for more than three decades.

Newcomb commented on a “stunning array of notable documentaries,” saying “This year the Peabody Board was faced with what can only be described as a renaissance in the form. Our decisions came after difficult, but thorough reviews of one of the best pools of docs ever submitted.”

Among the documentary winners, Shanghai Television Group’s The Red Race provided a shockingly intimate portrait of the rigorous—some would say sadistic—training that Chinese child gymnasts undergo. Campaign, a quirky P.O.V. film, illuminated Japan’s political system by following one guileless candidate’s run for a city-council seat. Hear and Now, shown on HBO, poignantly chronicled the process and consequences of a middle-aged deaf couple who undergo cochlear implant operations. One splendid Independent Lens documentary, Mapping Stem Cell Research, followed a neurologist obsessed with discovering a way to reverse the effects of his beloved daughter’s spinal injury, while another, King Corn, is a deceptively whimsical exploration of what our corn-syrup saturated diet means to our health and the environment.

Peabodys also went to Ape Genius, a NOVA documentary examining the latest research on how the intellectual capacity of gorillas, chimps, bonobos and orangutans compares to ours. Cinemax’s Nankingoffered a wrenching remembrance of a small group of Westerners who tried to save Chinese civilians from the horrors of the 1937 Japanese invasion. Crossfire: Water, Power and Politics, a documentary from Las Vegas’ KLAS-TV that achieved network quality, dared to look hard at a plan to pump massive amounts of water from rural Nevada to its booming, major city and at what this will mean to ranches, farms, Native Americans and the environment.

Depression: Out of the Shadows, a multi-dimensional, ultimately hopeful examination of the devastating disorder that affects millions of Americans, received a Peabody, as did Hopkins, ABC News’ compelling verite series filmed in the halls and operating rooms of the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

A Peabody also was awarded to Richard Engel Reports: Tip of the Spear, a series of reports under-fire by the NBC News correspondent from the deadliest zone in Afghanistan. Lifeline, a CBS News 60 Minutes report, received a Peabody. It memorably encapsulated the plight of America’s 47 million uninsured by showing some of the 18,000 people who showed up when a free-clinic mission, designed for Third World charity, set up shop for a weekend in Tennessee.

The Peabody Awards, the oldest honor in electronic media, do not recognize categories nor are there a set number of awards given each year. Today the Peabody recognizes distinguished achievement and meritorious public service by TV and radio stations, networks, cablecasters, Webcasters, producing organizations and individuals.

The Peabody Board is a 16-member group, comprised of television critics, broadcast and cable industry executives, academics and experts in culture and the arts. They make their annual selections with input from special screening committees of UGA faculty, students and staff.

All entries become a permanent part of the Peabody Archive in the University of Georgia Libraries. The collection is one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most respected moving-image archives. For more information about the Peabody Archive or the Peabody Awards, see www.peabody.uga.edu.

Established in 1915, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers seven undergraduate majors including advertising, broadcast news, magazines, newspapers, public relations, publication management and telecommunication arts. The college offers two graduate degrees, and is home to WNEG-TV, the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and the Peabody Awards, internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious prizes for excellence in electronic media. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu.

Comedian Dave Foley tapped as Genie Awards host

With less than a week to go, organizers of Canada's annual celebration of homegrown cinema have announced comedian Dave Foley as host of this year's Genie Awards.

The former Kids in the Hall and NewsRadio star will preside over a host of celebrity presenters on Saturday at the 29th Genie Awards gala, being held in Ottawa for the first time. The ceremony will take place at the Canada Aviation Museum.

Benôit Pilon's celebrated Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (The Necessities of Life), which was Canada's 2009 submission for a best foreign film Oscar, leads the race to the Genies with eight nominations.

Tout est Parfait (Everything is Fine), Passchendaele, Fugitive Pieces, Amal and Maman est Chez le Coiffeur (Mama is at the Hairdresser's) are also among the top condenders.

Special awards announced

Earlier this month, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, which organizes the annual celebration of film, revealed a trio of special honours.

Passchendaele, Paul Gross' First World War epic and romance, was named the 2009 Golden Reel Award-winner for being the highest grossing domestic film ($4.4 million) at the Canadian box office over the past year.

Filmmaker Yves-Christian Fournier is this year's winner of the Claude Jutra Award for Tout Est Parfait (Everything is Fine), his feature directorial debut. The critically lauded film centres on a suburban teen who is left adrift after several of his friends follow through on a suicide pact.

Saturday's gala will also include the presentation of an outstanding achievement honour for makeup design to Adrien Morot, Bruno Gatien and Marie-France Guy for their work on Cruising Bar 2. Set nearly two decades after the original, the quirky Quebec comedy hit returns to the four male leads — all portrayed by Michel Côté — as they encounter various mid-life relationship crises.

Batman Wins Big At Empire Awards

Batman was the big winner at the 2009 Jameson Empire Awards in London as Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and director Christopher Nolan were honoured for their parts in making The Dark Knight.

The annual ceremony at the city's Grosvenor Hotel on Sunday celebrated the film industry's success stories of the year, with Empire magazine readers voting for the winners in all the major categories.

And Batman movie The Dark Knight continued its award season haul, taking home the Best Movie trophy, as well as gaining a Best Actor prize for its star Christian Bale and the Best Director statuette for filmmaker Christopher Nolan.

The event also paid homage to late actor Heath Ledger, who won a posthumous Oscar for his role as evil villain The Joker in the blockbuster, by honouring him with a special commemoration award for his life works.

Moviemaker Danny Boyle, whose Slumdog Millionaire garnered a massive eight Academy Awards at this year's ceremony, turned out to receive an Outstanding Contribution to Film honour in recognition of his 14 year directorial career.

Brit star Helena Bonham Carter walked away with the Best Actress award for her role in Tim Burton's sinister musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Guy Ritchie's latest gangster thriller RocknRolla won the Best British Movie prize, while Abba musical Mamma Mia took home the trophy for Best Soundtrack.

Bond film Quantum of Solace won two awards; one for Best Thriller and another for Best Newcomer for Brit actress Gemma Arterton.

And Hollywood tough guys were the toast of the night - Russell Crowe and Viggo Mortensen received special tributes in honour of their longrunning dedication to acting.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Best Film: The Dark Knight

Best Actor: Christian Bale

Best Actress: Helena Bonham Carter

Best British Film: RocknRolla

Best Director: Christopher Nolan

Icon Award: Viggo Mortensen

Best Thriller: Quantum of Solace

Best Comedy: Son of Rambow

Best Horror: Eden Lake

Best Newcomer: Gemma Arterton

Best Soundtrack: Mamma Mia

Outstanding Contribution to British Film: Danny Boyle

Actor of our Lifetime: Russell Crowe

Nickelback scores Juno hat trick

VANCOUVER — The Dark Horse turned out to be a sure thing.

Can-Rock icons and Juno frontrunners Nickelback won a triple crown at the Juno Awards last night, easily galloping to victory on the strength of their best-selling 2008 album Dark Horse.

The Hanna, Alta., quartet fronted by singer-guitarist Chad Kroeger took home trophies for Group of the Year and Album of the Year, in addition to winning the Juno Fan Choice Award.

Indeed, the band dominated the two-hour show virtually from beginning to end, opening the broadcast with a pyro-filled performance of Something in Your Mouth from Dark Horse — the best-selling Canadian album of 2008 — and taking home the final trophy of the night for Album of the Year.

"The press is going to hate this tomorrow," laughed Kroeger, referring to the band's reputation among critics. "The press is going to have a field day with this."

Later, he elaborated backstage on the band's relationship with the media.

"We're a very mainstream band. That's not very popular among the press," he said. "But that's OK; that's the kind of music our fans like.

"Actually, I'm terrified now because it seems you're almost letting up on us a bit. So if you wanna go back to beating us up, I'm fine with that. I want this roller coaster to go along just as it is."

He added he was surprised the band won the Fan Choice Award.

"I was hoping for Hedley," he admitted. "I really love those guys. I wanted them to win badly."

Kroeger, whose brother Mike is Nickelback's bassist, also thanked his mom onstage "for giving birth to half the band" and Dark Horse producer Mutt Lange for moving into his house for months to work on the disc.

Dark Horse surpassed two pop-punk discs (Hedley's Famous Last Words and Simple Plan's self-titled third album) and two popular Quebec releases (Sylvain Cossette's ’70s Volume 2 and gypsy-jazz trio The Lost Fingers' Lost in the ’80s) to take the album honours. Nickelback also defeated Great Big Sea, Simple Plan, The Trews and Tokyo Police Club in the Group of the Year category. The public voted to give Nickelback the Fan Choice prize over Celine Dion, Feist, Hedley and The Lost Fingers.

While Nickelback finished at the front of the pack, they weren't the only winners during Sunday night's ceremony held at General Motors Place. Sam Roberts won Artist of the Year, taking home his second trophy of the weekend — the Montreal pop-rocker's Love at the End of the World CD won Rock Album of the Year at Saturday night's non-televised event. Likewise, rapper Kardinal Offishall snared Rap Recording of the Year for his album Not 4 Sale, adding to the Single of the Year award he was given on Saturday for the hit Dangerous. Other award winners announced Sunday were Toronto synth-popster Lights (who won New Artist of the Year) and Dallas Green of City and Colour (who took Songwriter of the Year for tunes from his Bring Me Your Love CD).

The tattooed Green played one of those numbers — Sleeping Sickness — during the broadcast, accompanied by special guest vocalist Gord Downie of Tragically Hip. It was one of several collaborative performances peppered throughout the show. Hometown hero Bryan Adams was joined by roots-rocker Kathleen Edwards on fiddle for an acoustic version of his song Walk On By. Rising country star Crystal Shawanda, R&B diva Divine Brown and pop-rocker Serena Ryder — the latter two Juno winners on Saturday night — performed their hits back-to-back. Idiosyncratic pop-rocker Hawksley Workman and members of Eccodek took to the stage with Great Big Sea for a show-stopping (and show-closing) rendition of Led Zep's Gallows Pole. Other performers included Sam Roberts Band (who sprinted through a crackling version of Them Kids), Humanitarian Award winner Sarah McLachlan (backed by a full band on a lush rendition of U Want Me 2), double-winners The Stills (who justified their Best New Group and Alternative Album wins with a stylish performance of Being Here) and Simple Plan (who wooed the girls with the power ballady Your Love is a Lie).

Extra star power was supplied by a list of presenters that included Buffy Sainte-Marie and k.d. lang, Hedley, Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy, R&B singers Deborah Cox and Kreesha Turner, chanteuse Sarah Slean, last year's big winner Feist, superstar couple Elvis Costello and Diana Krall, and producer Bob Rock, who inducted Loverboy into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

Standup comic Russell Peters tried to be funny for the second year in a row as host, taking the stage with a Bollywood-meets-B-Boy dance routine, venturing into the crowd to heckle celebrities ("Looks like somebody's been eating for the weekend," he said to rotund Loverboy singer Mike Reno) and poking fun at the bizarre set, which mixed high-tech video screens and moving lights with psychedelic vegetation.

"I know this is Vancouver, but what's with the grow-op onstage?" he cracked. "Do you know what the street value of this stage is?"

Last Night's Winners:

Group of the Year
Nickelback

Album of the year
Dark Horse, Nickelback

Juno Fan Choice
Nickelback

Artist of the Year
Sam Roberts

New Artist of the Year
Lights

Songwriter of the Year
Dallas Green (Waiting ..., Sleeping Sickness, The Girl from Bring Me Your Love by City & Colour)

Rap Recording of the Year
Not 4 Sale, Kardinal Offishall

*******************************

Juno Quips and Quotes

"Who knew I had boobs?" — Roots-rocker Kathleen Edwards on her revealing gown.

"I'm on Lipitor!" — Mike Reno

"Knock, knock. Who's there? Brown people. Now give me a million dollars." — Michael Bublé, summing up Russell Peters' act.

"It should be called Best Group We've Just Heard Of." — Dave Hamelin of the decade-old band The Stills on their Best New Group award.

"Get enough sleep, take a bath now and then, don't miss the airplane ... If you're a singer, learn how to dance. It keeps you skinny!" — Buffy Sainte-Marie's career advice to young artists.

"She made me fall in love with the thing I thought I would never fall in love with in my life — and that was the fanny pack." — Serena Ryder on Buffy Sainte-Marie.

"We always get excited at the Junos, and then we have to practise the happy-for-the-other-person face." — Chris Thorsteinson of country-pop trio Doc Walker, who won their first Juno on their fourth nomination.

*****************************

JUNOS IN BRIEF

SARAH'S SERENADE:

TV viewers weren't the only ones who got to see one of Sarah McLachlan's rare recent live performances. The singer-songwriter and recipient of this year's Allan Waters Humanitarian Award treated reporters backstage to a brief a cappella version of the chorus from her song Aida at the request of one scribe. McLachlan also explained why it's been six years since she released her last album. "I am writing; it's slow," she said, explaining that she spent the last six months promoting her Greatest Hits album, celebrating Christmas with her family and dealing with a three-month bout of laryngitis. "I just didn't feel like writing and working when I couldn't sing." Fair enough; but judging by her impromptu backstage performance, she's now officially out of excuses.

BEAUTY AND THE GEEK:

There's hope for you yet, nerds. Synth-pop starlet Lights — winner of this year's Best New Artist Juno — may look out of your league, but she's actually a comic-book geek at heart. "I'm definitely a fan of comic books," she confessed backstage after her win. "I actually have my own biographical comic … I read Wonder Woman." She also wears her: Lights' back is decorated with a tattoo of Wonder Woman battling a giant monster. And if that isn't cool enough for you, she also has a pet tarantula. You know what? On second thought, she really is out of your league after all.

Junos' early winners list

Here is the full list from Saturday night's gala ceremony at Vancouver's Westin Bayshore Hotel:

POP ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Flavors of Entanglement, Alanis Morissette

ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Love at the End of the World, Sam Roberts

ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Oceans Will Rise, The Stills

ADULT ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

is it o.k, Serena Ryder

NEW GROUP OF THE YEAR

The Stills

SINGLE OF THE YEAR

Dangerous, Kardinal Offishall

ABORIGINAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Running For The Drum, Buffy Sainte-Marie

BLUES ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Ramblin' Son, Julian Fauth

COUNTRY RECORDING OF THE YEAR

Beautiful Life, Doc Walker

DANCE RECORDING OF THE YEAR

Random Album Title, Deadmau5

R&B/SOUL RECORDING OF THE YEAR

The Love Chronicles, Divine Brown

REGGAE RECORDING OF THE YEAR

Everything, Humble

CHILDREN'S ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Snacktime!, Barenaked Ladies

CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN/GOSPEL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Ending Is Beginning, Downhere

FRANCOPHONE ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Tous les sens, Ariane Moffatt

INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Nostomania, DJ Brace presents The Electric Nosehair Orchestra

INTERNATIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Viva La Vida, Coldplay

ROOTS AND TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SOLO)

Proof of Love, Old Man Luedecke

ROOTS AND TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (GROUP)

Chic Gamine, Chic Gamine

WORLD MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Africa to Appalachia, Jayme Stone and Mansa Sissoko

CONTEMPORARY JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Embracing Voices, Jane Bunnett

TRADITIONAL JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Second Time Around, Oliver Jones

VOCAL JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Lucky, Molly Johnson

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (LARGE ENSEMBLE)

Beethoven: Ideals of the French Revolution, Orchestre symphonique de Montreal and Kent Nagano

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SOLO OR CHAMBER ENSEMBLE)

Homage, James Ehnes

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR (VOCAL OR CHORAL PERFRMANCE)

Gloria! Vivaldi's Angels, Ensemble Caprice

CLASSICAL COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR

Flanders Fields Reflections, John Burge

JACK RICHARDSON PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

Daniel Lanois, Here Is What Is and Not Fighting Anymore (Here is What Is, Daniel Lanois)

RECORDING ENGINEER OF THE YEAR

Kevin Churko, Disappearing and The Big Bang (U-Catastrophe, Simon Collins)

CD/DVD ARTWORK DESIGN OF THE YEAR

Anouk Pennel and Stephane Poirer, En concert dans la foret des mal-aimes avec l'Orchestre Metropolitain du Grand Montreal, Pierre Lapointe

VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Anthony Seck, Honey Honey (Feist)

MUSIC DVD OF THE YEAR

Blue Road (Blue Rodeo), Christopher Mills, Geoff McLean

WALT GREALIS SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Fred Sherrett

ALLAN WATERS HUMANITARIAN AWARD: Sarah McLachlan

Oscars: 82nd annual awards show to air March 7

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – The Oscars will be presented a little later next year.
The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will air live on ABC from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on March 7 to avoid coinciding with the Winter Olympics, said Leslie Unger, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The 2010 Winter Games are scheduled Feb. 12-28.

This year's Oscars telecast, hosted by Hugh Jackman, aired Feb. 22.

For many years, until 2004, the awards ceremony was held at the end of March.

"It has been in February since then, except for one year, in 2006, where the circumstances were the same as next year, to not coincide with the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics," Unger said Wednesday.

Nominations ballots will be mailed to members Dec. 28 and nominations polls will close Jan. 23.

Nominations will be announced Feb. 2.

"In terms of the nominating process, that puts another week in the schedule for members to see movies," Unger said.

Rock Hall presenters to include Eminem, Jimmy Page

CLEVELAND (AP) — Rapper Eminem, guitar legend Jimmy Page and Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones are among the presenters for this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cleveland.

The ceremony will be held April 4 at Public Auditorium.

Inductees were chosen by the 600 voters of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. Artists are eligible 25 years after their first recording is released.

Run-DMC will be inducted by Eminem. Jeff Beck will be inducted by Page, best known for his work with The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin. Wood will induct Bobby Womack.

Metallica will be inducted by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Passchendaele honoured with Golden Reel Award

Passchendaele, the First World War drama directed by Paul Gross, is the winner of the Golden Reel Award, one of three special prizes to be handed out by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (ACCT).

The ACCT also announced two other special trophies Monday evening that will be given out at the 29th annual Genie Awards on April 4 in Ottawa.

The Golden Reel is handed to the Canadian film with the highest domestic box office receipts. Passchendaele brought in more than $4.4 million.

Passchendaele recounts an epic battle by Canadian soldiers, who drove back the German army in a brutal 12-day offensive across marshland to take the Belgian village of Passchendaele.

Some 16,000 Canadians were killed or wounded.

Gross, known for his acting role in the TV series Due South as well as the movie Men With Brooms, produced the feature along with Niv Fichman, Frank Siracusa and Francis Damberger.

The other major award announced was the Claude Jutra prize for a directorial debut. The winner of the 16th annual award is Yves-Christian Fournier for Tout Est Parfait (Everything is Fine ).

The prize is named in honour of the renowned late Quebec director Claude Jutra.

Fournier's dark movie delves into the world of a teen living in a suburb whose friends have killed themselves.

The last prize is for outstanding achievement in makeup design.

Bruno Gatien, Marie-France Guy and Adrien Morot will share the accolade for their work in Cruising Bar2, directed by Robert Ménard and Michel Côté.

The trio created prosthetics and tattoo work for Côté, who played four characters in the movie.

Andy Samberg to host 2009 MTV Movie Awards

NEW YORK (AP) — Saturday Night Live star Andy Samberg will host the 2009 MTV Movie Awards.

It will be Samberg's first time as host of the event, to air live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif., on May 31.

Samberg says he grew up watching the awards and was a writer for the show before landing his gig on SNL, so "it will be a sweet and satisfying homecoming. I can't wait to act really important."

Samberg, 30, has appeared on the NBC sketch comedy show for four seasons, building a fan base with quirky video shorts featuring himself, fellow SNL players and celebrity guests such as Justin Timberlake and Natalie Portman.

The MTV Movie Awards are presented in unconventional categories including "best villain" and "best kiss."

Elvis Costello, Michael Buble, Feist among presenters for Juno Awards

TORONTO - Legendary rocker Elvis Costello will be among the presenters at the Juno Awards.

Michael Buble, Feist and Costello's wife, Diana Krall, will also present awards at the March 29 show at Vancouver's GM Place. Others appearing on the show include Canadian Olympians Jeremy Wotherspoon and Mellisa Hollingsworth, says CTV, which will air the ceremony.

The Juno Awards will be hosted for the second consecutive year by comedian Russell Peters.

Nickelback, who lead with five nominations going into the show, are scheduled to perform, along with Bryan Adams, Sarah McLachlan and Sam Roberts.

War epic Passchendaele among GG winners

Acadian singer Edith Butler, dancer Peggy Baker and filmmaker/playwright Robert Lepage are among the winners of this year's Governor General's Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.

Also named as winners are playwright George F. Walker, composer R. Murray Schafer and writer/singer Clemence Desrochers.

Each recipient receives $25,000.

The awards will be presented at Rideau Hall May 8.

As well, actor/director Paul Gross was honoured for his film Passchendaele, winning this year's National Arts Centre Award for achievement over the past performance year.

And philanthropist James D. Fleck was named the recipient of the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts.

"The presentation of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards is a time for us to recognize the invaluable contribution of our artists who have chosen the stage as a space in which to create and to express themselves and who dedicate their lives to enriching our own," said Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean.

Atlantic Canadian musicians feted at ECMA gala

Four days of celebrating Atlantic Canadian music culminated in Corner Brook, N.L., on Sunday night with the annual East Coast Music Association Awards.

Newfoundland and Labrador's Hey Rosetta! picked up three awards, with the rising indie rock group's album Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood) snagging the FACTOR recording of the year prize, as well as group and alternative recording of the year.

Taking the awards podium for the third time, Hey Rosetta! frontman Tim Baker quipped that he had "already given the speech that I prepared, twice."

However, he added thanks to "basically any funding body and anyone who lobbies for the arts and in favour of the arts. Sometimes it's not a lot of money [we receive], but it means a lot and it means you can make something beautiful and meaningful.... [It] keeps the process really pure. Thank you for that."

Cape Breton singer-songwriter and producer Gordie Sampson, now based in Nashville, was among the evening's early winners, taking the single of the year trophy for We Are Young and So Is the Night. Later on, he was also named winner of the SOCAN songwriter of the year trophy.

Halifax singer Jill Barber was also an early ECMA Award recipient. She won for jazz recording of the year for Chances.

After a skit featuring Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams revving up the people of Corner Brook kicked off the televised broadcast of the ECMAs, singer Damhnait Doyle and CBC Radio personality Jian Ghomeshi continued the evening as co-hosts.

Prizes presented prior to the television broadcast included:

Aboriginal recording: This Is the Life for Me, The Flummies.

Instrumental album: Raindrops, Duane Andrews.

Blues recording: Something in Between, Matt Andersen.

Classical recording: A Child's Cry from Izieu Oskar Morawetz, complete works for violin and piano, Jasper Wood.

Aside from the slate of traditional awards, organizers will also present the inaugural ECMA Fan's Choice Award, a new publicly voted honour. The evening will also include a star-studded tribute to singer-songwriter, guitarist and Newfoundland musical pioneer Dick Nolan.

Hugh Jackman plans for `intimate' Oscars

LOS ANGELES – Hugh Jackman says he knows the Oscars ceremony isn't about him, but he'd better enjoy it all the same.

"Celebration is the key. I'm certainly going to have a good time. If I'm not going to have a good time, how the hell is anybody else?" said Jackman, who sounded up for the job in a phone interview Friday, less than two weeks before the Feb. 22 ceremony airing on ABC.

Academy Awards producers Laurence Mark and Bill Condon have said they plan to take the ceremony in a new direction. Asking the multitalented star of "Australia" and the "X-Men" films to host was their first apparent step.

The rest of the details have been under wraps, but Jackman, who thrice soared as host of the Tony Awards, dropped a few hints — including a more "intimate" look for the ceremony's home, the Kodak Theatre.

Jackman declined to give his favorites among the contenders, with one emotional exception: the late Heath Ledger, a best supporting actor nominee for "The Dark Knight." Ledger died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs last year at the age of 28.

"I can't hide the fact that I would really love for that honor to be bestowed upon him," Jackman said of his fellow Australian. "It would be fitting and I think he deserves it."

AP: How would you compare your Tony experience to that of the Oscars?

Jackman: The Oscars is obviously a very different beast. There's a lot of hype. There's so much anticipation. ... I chatted with Steve Martin on the phone who gave me some great tips. The first five or six minutes you're going to have possibly the best audience you've ever had in your life, because all of them know they're going be on camera at any moment, none of them have lost yet and they're all sort of generally ready for a good time. He said from that point on, just move it on quickly. Just be quick.

In terms of style, there's a quantum shift happening this year, and fingers crossed we get a lot of it right. ... There's an obvious amount of business that has to happen in the night. There's 24 awards; you can't change that. But I think Oscars could do a little more of the show in show biz. I think there's been a little too much business.

AP: The producers intend to try different things. Does that add to your excitement or trepidation?

Jackman: I think it's great. ... Obviously I'm not a standup comedian and generally there's been comedians who are actors as well (who) have been doing it for the last however many years. So there's not the same pressure. I don't think people expect me to come out and do seven minutes of bang-bang-bang jokes. ... They really just encourage me to do what I feel I do best. It's a night to have a feeling of celebration, of community.

The look of the theater is very different. It's more like the nightclub of your dreams. It's very intimate. ... It's got to be a lot closer. It's been a little austere in the past. You know, there's that stage, the host being up above the stalls, looking down at everybody. ... But this is a lot more intimate. It's still spectacular, being in the Kodak Theatre. But it's a real difference in the way things are laid out.

Peter Gabriel won't perform at Oscars

Though he won't perform his nominated song, Peter Gabriel says he'll still attend the Oscar ceremony and hopes that the producers will still ask the Soweto Gospel Choir to back up his replacement.

The singer of Big Time and In Your Eyes is nominated for best song for his tune Down to Earth from Wall-E, but says in a video on his website, PeterGabriel.com, that the producers' decision to do a medley of the three nominated songs left him only 65 seconds of performance time.

"I've now decided very recently to withdraw from the ceremony," Gabriel says, adding that he'll still attend the ceremony "because it's a fun adventure."

He says in the video that it's unfortunate to give songwriters such minimal time to showcase their work, even though it's a small part of the filmmaking process. "I'm an old fart, and it's not going to do me any harm to make a little protest," he says. "But I think for some of the other artists it's not so easy."

Gabriel adds that he hopes The Soweto Gospel Choir, which accompanied him on the song, would still be allowed to perform with whoever ends up singing the song.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences declined to comment.

Despite economy, the show must go on in Hollywood

LOS ANGELES – It's a city where perception is reality and image is everything. But Hollywood is having trouble keeping up appearances in the midst of the nation's economic downturn, even during its splashiest, most self-celebratory time: awards season.

Of course, the show must go on. The Academy Awards bring $130 million into Los Angeles, and city economists expect that to be true this year, too. But it's in the ancillary activity — parties, studios' campaigns for Oscar votes, glossy ads in trade publications — where less money is being thrown around.

Even director Danny Boyle, whose "Slumdog Millionaire" is the front-runner to win the best-picture Oscar, acknowledged the awkward paradox of backslapping as the economy slides backward.

"When you read a headline like last week, I read 60,000 jobs lost in a day in America, you just think you've got to be very careful because we live in a very glamorous world, you take lots of photographs, there's lots of smiling asked for and stuff like that," Boyle said backstage after winning the top prize from the Directors Guild of America.

"We're very lucky," he added. "And we're aware of that."

So how does the lavish machinery keep running during such tough financial times?

Longtime events planner Chris Benarroch says smaller parties are the new normal, "not having things for 1,500 people, maybe 100 or 250." Entertaining at home is also becoming a popular option, with studio or agency executives hosting a dinner, for example. With elegant linens, candles and flowers, that costs maybe $50,000, versus the half a million dollars and more that can go into enormous soirees staged from the ground up.

"There's more emphasis on buying out a restaurant like Spago, not going over the top where you were building a tent with decking, floor-to-ceiling creating a whole environment in a parking lot or a raw space. You're using an already existing venue," she said. "You're going to see a lot of people attending the (post-Oscar) Governor's Ball more than ever before, taking advantage of that opportunity. Everyone is just really scaling back."

The annual Vanity Fair party on Oscar night will be more intimate with a smaller guest list — the Sunset Tower Hotel expects about 750 people — and chicken pot pie will be on the menu: "The whole idea of, in tough times, it'll be cozier and we'll be serving comfort food, the kind of food that makes people feel better," said the magazine's spokeswoman, Beth Kseniak.

The added benefit: It'll be even more exclusive than ever before. "It's always hard to turn people down," Kseniak said, "and this will make us have to."

Normally corporate sponsors help pay for the cost of a party and get the prestige of their association — Cartier co-hosted a Golden Globes viewing and post-party with NBC/Universal, for example. But that money is drying up, too.

"One by one they were like, `We just can't do it. We just don't have the funds,'" said Benarroch. "Normally it's a huge coup to have a company come on board and host an Oscar party. Normally we have the pick of what works best with the film. This year, it's slim pickings. ...

"What company's not laying off people?" she added. "How do you justify that?"

The economy is also affecting the way awards campaigns play out in the trade publications, where high-profile ads are a crucial component of the annual bragging rights.

"It would be ridiculous to say it isn't," said Variety president and publisher Neil Stiles. "You can see it in the volume of advertising we're carrying and The Hollywood Reporter is carrying or not carrying, coupled with the L.A. Times on the fringes and The New York Times."

Stiles wouldn't say exactly how much Variety's print ad sales are down, but said it's less than 40 percent. (The Hollywood Reporter declined comment because it didn't want to reveal financial figures.) Variety's online ads, meanwhile, are up about 6 percent from 2007 to 2008, though the expectation was that they would have increased by 15 percent.

Several elements are at work simultaneously, Stiles said. Almost half the number of films were offered for awards consideration compared with previous years. Then the art-house branches of several major studios, often the origin of such awards contenders, got folded into the studios themselves — Warner Independent into Warner Bros., for example — shutting down internal promotional infrastructure.

Now, the corporations that own these studios are reporting huge quarterly losses. News Corp., parent company of 20th Century Fox, announced that it lost $6.4 billion in its most recent quarter. Walt Disney Co. reported a 32 percent decline. Time Warner Inc., which owns Warner Bros., posted a $16 billion loss in that period.

The result: They just don't have the money to promote their films the way they once did.

Studios are traditionally reluctant to go on record discussing the financial specifics of their campaigns. But longtime awards observer Tom O'Neil, columnist for the Web site TheEnvelope.com, estimates Oscar budgets are down 30 percent to 40 percent this year.

"The average Oscar campaign now is in the range of $5-10 million, where it used to be in the range of $7-20 million. `Gladiator's' was $20 million" when it won best picture and four other Academy Awards in 2001, he said.

Meanwhile, new emphasis has been placed on online ads and Q&A screenings, where a studio brings in the director or stars to answer questions after a showing of the film.

"There used to be a lot of luncheons and dinners they would do for about $15,000 apiece to bring in 80 Hollywood insiders, hoping to net 30 Oscar votes, and they realized that's not efficient — that for $6,000 to $10,000, they can do a Q&A screening and bring in 200 guild members, which is likely to have a much higher percentage of Oscar people."

Another way the studios are cutting back, O'Neil said, is in the number of what he called "illegal Oscar parties."

"There's always some bogus, alleged reason for, you know, a star's birthday, or congratulations 'cause they just won a guild award or got nominated. You're not, obviously, allowed to campaign blatantly to Academy members — it's against their rules, they can pull your number of tickets to the ceremony per studio, that's the punishment — but there are scores of illegal Oscar parties that go on every season. There used to be, certainly, more than 100 of them during Oscar season."

Now, he estimated those have been cut by about 75 percent.

Still, glamour must prevail. Jack Kyser, founding economist of the Kyser Center for Economic Research at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., still expects the Feb. 22 Academy Awards to bring $130 million to the city. That's everything from hotel suites, where designers share their fashions with top stylists for weeks before the big event, to the annual nominees luncheon to plastic surgery sessions.

"You're on stage globally so you've got to look your best," Kyser said. "So you'll go get your lips plumped, you'll have Botox injections, maybe a little tan sprayed on you."

Maybe the escapism Hollywood provides is more necessary now than ever, said veteran jeweler-to-the-stars Neil Lane. Celebrities are still making a statement, but perhaps it's through valuable yet understated pieces and less bling; then again, that might be a matter of individual taste, he said, not an effort to avoid seeming ostentatious.

"If the look commands a huge, expensive diamond then that's what you wear. I don't think the economy is going to prevent that. If that's what the look is about then that's what you need to do," said Lane, whose designs most recently appeared on Katy Perry, Sheryl Crow, LeAnn Rimes and others at the Grammys. "Hollywood is definitely aware of the world. Hollywood is definitely sympathetic. I am very sympathetic to the crisis in the world. But again — it is Hollywood. ...

"The world doesn't want to see paupers going to the red carpet in rags and tatters," Lane added. "They want a moment of respite and happiness and joy. They want to go `Wow!' and have their eyes open. They want to dream."

'Necessities of Life' tops Genie noms

OTTAWA - There's a common theme in this week's roster of Genie Award nominees for best motion picture: average people struggling to cope after their worlds are turned upside-down.

An Inuit hunter is stranded in the alien confines of a Quebec hospital in "The Necessities of Life" ("Ce qu'il faut pour vivre.") A teenager's life is thrown into chaos when four of his friends commit suicide in "Everything is Fine" ("Tout est parfait.")

A battered First World War soldier returns home to Alberta in "Passchendaele."

Families pick up the pieces after a car accident in "Normal."

And a young rickshaw driver inherits a fortune - and a heap of trouble - in "Amal."

Canadian film gets its share of ribbing for being intense with sometimes difficult subjects, and this year's group is no exception.

The nominees for Canada's top film awards were announced Tuesday by veteran actor Gordon Pinsent and Quebec entertainer Caroline Neron.

"The Necessities of Life" grabbed the most nominations with eight, including best picture, best director and best screenplay.

It was a semi-finalist for a nomination in the run-up to the Oscar nominations, and has been a favourite on the film festival circuit. The movie follows the story of Tivii, pulled out of despondency by a young orphan who helps him bridge two cultures.

"Everything is Fine," another Quebec film, received seven nominations. In the film, Josh is left behind when his circle of friends carries out a suicide pact.

The other top Canadian films up for multiple awards include the war epic "Passchendaele," "Fugitive Pieces," "Amal," and Quebec filmmaker Lea Pool's "Mommy is at the Hairdresser's" ("Maman est chez le coiffeur"), each film with six nominations.

Sara Morton, CEO of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, said there's something quintessentially Canadian about the collection of films this year.

"I think the thing I would comment on is the sheer diversity of the films.

"'Ce qu'il faut pour vivre' is about somebody who comes down from the North into Quebec, and that's partly in Inukitut. You've got strong films in French and in English, we've got films from across the country, so really it's a very diverse crowd this year and I'm very pleased with that.

"I think that represents Canadian cinema very well at the Genies."

Some international names got nods, including Max Von Sydow and Susan Sarandon for the movie "Emotional Arithmetic," and Ellen Burstyn in "Stone Angel."

The nominations were announced against the backdrop of antique planes at the Canada Aviation Museum, also the location of the 29th Genie Awards ceremony on April 4. It will be the first time the ceremony is being held outside of Toronto or Montreal.

Organizers plan to promote a "Genies Week" around the awards to engage locals - and perhaps a politician or two.

Last year, the Conservative government axed two programs that directly helped up-and-coming filmmakers. Budgets at Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board have been tight.

"Obviously we view being in the nation's capital as a very positive step we can take to make sure Canadian decision-makers and all Canadians become aware of the great talent we have and that it is necessary to nurture it," said Morton.

-

Some top Genie Awards nominees:

Best motion picture: "Amal," "The Necessities of Life" ("Ce qu'il faut pour vivre"), "Norma," "Passchendaele," "Everything Is Fine" ("Tout est parfait").

Original screenplay: Bernard Emond, "The Necessities of Life" ("Ce qu'il faut pour vivre"); Deepa Mehta, "Heaven on Earth"; Travis McDonald, "Normal"; Randall Cole, "Real Time"; Guillaume Vigneault, "Everything Is Fine" ("Tout est parfait").

Achievement in direction: Richie Mehta, "Amal"; Lyne Charlebois, "Borderline"; Benoit Pilon, "The Necessities of Life" ("Ce qu'il faut pour vivre"); Carl Bessai, "Normal"; Yves-Christian Fournier, "Everything Is Fine" ("Tout est parfait").

Performance by an actor in a leading role: Paul Gross, "Passchendaele"; Rupinder Nagra, "Amal"; Christopher Plummer, "Emotional Arithmetic"; Aaron Poole, "This Beautiful City"; Natar Ungalaaq, "The Necessities of Life" ("Ce qu'il faut pour vivre").

Performance by an actor in a supporting role: Normand D'Amour, "Everything Is Fine" ("Tout est parfait"); Benoit McGinnis, "Le Banquet"; Callum Keith Rennie, "Normal"; Rade Sherbedgia, "Fugitive Pieces"; Max Von Sydow, "Emotional Arithmetic."

Performance by an actress in a leading role: Isabelle Blais, "Borderline"; Ellen Burstyn, "Stone Angel"; Marianne Fortier, "Mommy Is at the Hairdresser's" ("Maman est chez le coiffeur"); Susan Sarandon, "Emotional Arithmetic"; Preity Zinta, "Heaven on Earth."

Performance by an actress in a supporting role: Celine Bonnier, "Mommy Is at the Hairdresser's" ("Maman est chez le coiffeur"); Kristin Booth, "Young People F**king"; Eveline Gelinas, "The Necessities of Life" ("Ce qu'il faut pour vivre"); Anie Pascale, "Everything Is fine" ("Tout est parfait"); Rosamund Pike, "Fugitive Pieces."

The 2009 Grammys: What You Didn't See On TV

With Alison Krauss' five Grammys on the night, she now has an astonishing 26 total Grammy wins. It makes her the most-winning woman of all time (a title she even held before tonight's haul) -- and is one behind Quincy Jones' living record of 27.

"I'm still amazed I get to do this for a living," she says. (The most ever wins is 31, from the late conductor Georg Solti.) When asked where Krauss keeps all her Grammys, Plant interjected, "That's silly. She keeps them in the back of my car."

Backstage, Krauss, Robert Plant and T Bone Burnett were jubilant: "Yes, we're doing another record!" Burnett yelled. Plant's only hint was that some of the songs were in the key of E.

On a serious note, Plant says the diversity of their musical inspirations served them well. "We ostensibly come from such different places on the musical map," Plant said. "Alison showed me so much I never been exposed to." "There are a limited number of people who like music and the record industry got in the business of trying to sell music to everybody," Burnett said. "We care about music, so we tried to make music we care about."

And will Led Zeppelin tour? "How old are you, man?" Plant asked. "Because you look older than me. You try to do 'Communication Breakdown' in these pants."

What does Paul McCartney think about the Beatles' body of work? "I think it's fine," McCartney said backstage. Just ... fine? "I'm kind of amazed we did it, because we were kids." His most successful song, in his view? "Yesterday," which has been covered endlessly. "I woke up one morning, and I had dreamed it," said McCartney of writing the song. "I don't know where it came from ... I believe in magic."

McCartney's outfit for the Grammys was a T-shirt designed by his daughter, Stella, which will go on sale next month as a benefit for Comic Relief. It's a photograph taken by Linda McCartney of the Beatles -- except on this shirt, red clown noses have been superimposed on all of them. And McCartney stayed mum on his plans for his upcoming Coachella set, saying "I'll play what seems right on the day. I never plan it."

The late George Carlin's daughter Kelly Carlin-McCall accepted a Grammy for best comedy album on behalf of her father, for "It's Bad For Ya." She promised to take care of the trophy better than her father did in 1972, when he won a Grammy and, "in a chemically-induced altered state, took it apart, to point that the Academy had to send him a new one."

Gospel artist Yolanda Adams explained Aretha Franklin's much-discussed choice of headwear for her Inauguration performance: "It is really a statement piece for us," Adams said of the significance of a big hat. Historically, for African-American women, "Their hats were a statement of royalty," said Adams. At church on Sundays, "They were regal ... they weren't the janitors' assistant or the lady who scrubbed floors."

Asked how the five-time Grammy winners Blind Boys of Alabama felt about the election of the first black president without being able to see him, Ricky McKinnie said, "The Blind Boys may have lost their sight, but we haven't lost direction ... I don't think about it as just having an African-American president. Mr. Obama is qualified to do the job. A lot of times we weren't the choice, but we had the ability. We're glad that he has an opportunity to serve the country." The winners of best traditional gospel album for "Down in New Orleans" were one of the big favorites on the red carpet, as they serenaded the press at each stop.

Whitney Houston's performance at a Recording Academy party honoring Clive Davis was on everyone's lips backstage. "Whitney Houston rocked the house," said Herbie Hancock. "Whitney is back," echoed Mary Mary's Tina Campbell. Said Yolanda Adams, "We are constantly praying for her. My joy is that the world saw that you don't have to stay in the shape you're in. You can move up."

In retrospect, They Might Be Giants' Grammy win for best musical album for children, "Here Come the 123s," doesn't say much for the album's educational value, said the band's John Linnell. "I think kids already know numbers and letters so we weren't teaching them anything, really," says Linnell of the group's first two children's albums on Disney. TMBG's next kids' album will have a science theme, says Linnell, prompting the group to hire someone to fact-check the information. "We've got somebody else who will share responsibility for the false information that may wind up [there]."

Tia Carrere, on winning the Grammy for best Hawaiian music album: "I can't believe I'm holding this priceless artifact [in] a $30 Bebe dress."

Herbie Hancock's favorite work of his so far? "The next one." Hard to say if this means it'll always be the next one in a theoretical sense, or if he means his current project, a global collaboration "to trace the journey of humanity from its ancestral home in Africa," around the world, with music in different languages. We "can turn each other on to each other's greatness," says Hancock.

Darius "Deezle" Harrison, who co-produced Lil Wayne's best rap song-winning "Lollipop," countered Nas' famous suggestion that hip-hop is dead. "People are trying to emulate what they know works," said Harrison, but emphasized that's nothing new. "You have people trying to copy Picasso, you have people trying to copy Van Gogh. Is painting dead? No ... it is alive. It's just taking different forms, brother."

Chrisette Michele sang her thanks to God backstage for her Grammy win for best urban/alternative performance, for "Be OK" featuring will.i.am. "You are the source of my strength and I lift my hands in praise to you," Michele, a deacon's daughter, belted out. "I definitely have to do a gospel album someday," added the singer, whose next album, "Epiphany," is due Mar. 31.

Carrie Underwood visibly shook onstage in accepting her Grammy for best female country vocal performance for "Last Name." Underwood says being nervous, even after having won so many awards, is a good thing. "I hope that stays around, too. If you're nervous, it means you care."

Gospel duo Mary Mary are coming out with a bath and body care line at Wal-Mart, an inspirational book for teenage girls, and a line of jeans "for girls with a little extra curve," says Erica Campbell, who joined sister Tina backstage after winning a Grammy for best gospel performance. "There are so many people in jobs that suck that they hate. To be in that space and to be here winning this, it's a great time for me."

Duke Fakir, the surviving member of the Four Tops, confirmed that a biopic on the group is "in motion." "The concept is there, we have the financing and all that," says Fakir, who is also working on a new album. "By the way, it'll be a love story of four guys, who didn't get married, but it's about all the trials and tribulations they [had] to stay together. That's whey I call it a love story."

Just because you're famous doesn't mean you don't want to be infamous. 83-year-old B.B. King's -- the winner of the night for best traditional blues album for "One Kind Favor" -- next goal? "I want a movie of my life of what I've done -- and what people have said I've done."

Sugarland's Kristian Bush said he hung around Grammy rehearsals just to watch Paul McCartney practice. "He was mesmerizing -- c'mon, he's a Beatle!" he said. And bandmate Jennifer Nettles laughingly worried that they'll never get the chance to work with him after her "psychotic" on-stage thank you.

Estelle's hero of the night? Full-term mom-to-be M.I.A., who performed "Swagga With Us" with Jay-Z, T.I., Kanye West and Lil' Wayne. "I was like, 'She's going to break any minute now,'" she said. "I have so much respect for her. I'd be like that too, to get a chance to perform with them. Broken leg? I'd be like, 'Hang on, I'm here.'"

Katy Perry admits the banana set for her Grammy performance was her idea. She pitched it to the Grammys a year ago and was shocked when they said yes. "Really?! I can ascend from the ceiling in a banana into a clear fruit bowl of androgynous dancers?!" she laughed.

And sometimes, it is just an honor to be nominated: Jazmine Sullivan didn't win any of her five nominations. (It's not as bad as India.Arie, who was shut out in 2001 with seven noms.)

Recording Academy President Neil Portnow said he found out that Rihanna and Chris Brown were not performing around two on Sunday afternoon. He said he’s never been faced with two cancellations on one Grammy night during his tenure. "I’m sorry they weren’t there for their moments on the stage. That’s the thing that is most unfortunate to me at the moment."

Plant & Krauss nab 5 Grammys

LOS ANGELES -- Raising Sand raised a whole lotta Grammy gold at the Staples Center.

Sixty-year-old Led Zeppelin belter Robert Plant and 37-year-old bluegrass star Alison Krauss led the way with five Grammy Award wins, including album and record of the year, thanks to their collaborative CD.

Rapper Lil Wayne won four Grammys. Coldplay won three.

Plant and Krauss won two Grammys for Raising Sand -- album of the year and contemporary folk/Americana album -- and three more for songs from that album: Killing The Blues won for country collaboration with vocals, Rich Woman for pop collaboration with vocals, and Please Read The Letter for record of the year.

"When we started this project together the whole game was a mystery," said Plant in accepting the latter award.

"We gave ourselves three days. We said, 'If it doesn't work, we'll just take lunch and I'll go back to Wolverhampton.' But we brought this song out. It's an old song that Jimmy Page and I wrote together, post-Led Zeppelin, and it's been given that Nasvhille touch and it feels pretty good."

Earlier, Plant said, "Wow, 40 years after landing in this town, it's all different, it's fantastic."

Krauss has won more Grammys than any other female artist; she entered the night with 21. Plant had won only two previously -- and none with Led Zeppelin, which never won a Grammy.

Coldplay won song of the year (the songwriting award) for Viva La Vida, which also won as best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals. The band also won for best rock album for Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends.

"Thank you and sorry to Sir Paul McCartney for blatantly copying the Sgt. Pepper's outfits," said Coldplay drummer Will Champion of he and his bandmates being decked out in brightly coloured jackets.

Accepting the best rock album award, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin said: "We're more limestone, a little softer but just as charming. We feel so grateful to be here. I'm going to tear up, it's going to be crazy."

One of the telecast's early emotional high points was Jennifer Hudson's Grammy win for best R&B album for her self-titled disc.

"I would like to thank my family in heaven and those that are here today," said Hudson, who was appearing in public for only the second time since an alleged domestic dispute led to the murder of her mother, brother and nephew.

There was also controversy at the outset, as scheduled performers and longtime couple Rihanna and Chris Brown were last-minute no-shows. Brown turned himself in to authorities investigating an alleged domestic battery felony that took place early yesterday. Jail records showed Chris Brown being held on $50,000 US bail.

The police department said in a release that Brown, the 19-year-old R&B singer, and a "woman" were in a vehicle in L.A.'s Hancock Park neighbourhood when they began arguing. Police say they got out of the car and the fight escalated, and the woman identified Brown as her attacker. The report did not say whether the "woman" was the 20-year-old Rihanna, a pop/R&B singer.

In Rihanna's place, Justin Timberlake and Al Green performed a duet of Green's classic Let's Stay Together.

The only other breath-holding moment was when nine-months-pregnant British rapper M.I.A. performed Swagga Like Us with T.I., Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and Kanye West and didn't actually give birth on stage.

Raspy-voiced, tattooed and prolific southern rapper Lil Wayne had led all other artists with eight nominations, followed closely by Coldplay with seven and rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West and R&B artist Ne-Yo with six apiece.

Lil Wayne picked up his Grammys during the pre-telecast portion of the ceremony, during which 100 of the 110 trophies were handed out -- for best rap performance for A Milli, best rap song for Lollipop, and best rap performance for a duo or group for Swagga Like Us, which also featured Jay-Z, T.I. and Kanye West.

West got a second Grammy for American Boy with Estelle, which won best rap/sung collaboration.

British art-rockers Radiohead, nominated in five categories, won for best alternative music album for In Rainbows, another album-of-the-year nominee, while their art directors won for best boxed or special limited edition package.

Other early double winners were Ne-Yo, Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, French electronica duo Daft Punk and Al Green.

Carrie Underwood won best female country vocal performance for Last Name, while Brad Paisley won the male equivalent for Letter To Me.

With the exception of the Juno soundtrack, Canadian nominees were shut out this year.

Juno director Jason Reitman of Montreal was on hand to pick up the best compilation soundtrack album Grammy and said the win was an "enormous surprise" during the pre-telecast ceremony.

"I forgot to thank the people of Canada," Reitman, son of filmmaker Ivan, said backstage. "I say to you now, this award is dedicated to the people of Canada, the great people of British Columbia who provided my crew."

Reitman also praised his Canadian actors Ellen Page and Michael Cera, who sang the show-ending Moldy Peaches song, Anyone Else But You, at the end of the movie.

"It's a scary thing when you ask your actors to suddenly close a movie in song. Fortunately I had Ellen and Michael, who were terrific musicians and singers. They learned the song immediately," said Reitman backstage.

During the pre-telcast, the late George Carlin's daughter, Kelly Carlin, was on hand to pick up his Grammy for best comedy album, for It's Bad For Ya. She said her dad, who passed away last summer, had destroyed a previous Grammy he had won in 1972 for his album FM & AM.

"In a chemically-induced altered state, he took it apart, to the point that the academy had to send him a new one," Carlin-McCall said up on the stage at the Staples Centre to huge laughs.

Backstage, she explained further: "I guess it was a little bit of a project or something and it was in pieces, and then I think maybe the pieces got lost."

She said her father's fifth Grammy win was "bittersweet."

"It's been an incredible week, with the Mark Twain honours happening earlier this week, and I just told someone it's like the cherry on top of really big beautiful cake. So it's a lovely honour and I'm just so happy that people are honouring my dad. And yet, he's not here," she said. "You know, I'd rather have him."

'Slumdog' wins seven BAFTAs

LONDON - Rags-to-riches story "Slumdog Millionaire" continued its fairy-tale journey Sunday, winning seven prizes including best picture at the British Academy Film Awards and sealing its place as favourite for the Oscars later this month.

Kate Winslet and Mickey Rourke also gained Oscar momentum with acting wins - Winslet for her role as a former Nazi concentration camp guard in "The Reader," Rourke for his career-reviving performance as a washed-up athlete in "The Wrestler." Heath Ledger won a posthumous supporting actor award for The Dark Knight."

"It's such a pleasure to be back here, out of the darkness," said Rourke.

After her onstage emotional meltdown at the Golden Globes last month, Winslet was a model of composure, thanking her parents in the audience "who I will not look at right now, otherwise I will burst into tears."

"Slumdog," Danny Boyle's film about a Mumbai street boy's rise from poverty to game-show triumph, went into the ceremony with 11 nominations and won prizes for best film, best director, adapted screenplay, music, cinematography, editing and sound.

The low-budget film, shot partly in Hindi, has gone from rank outsider to Academy Awards favourite since it won four trophies at the Golden Globe awards last month and became a box-office hit.

Its makers are still getting used to the change.

"I thought at one stage we were going straight to DVD," said screenwriter Simon Beaufoy.

The film has caused controversy in India, where some have complained it shows the country in an unflattering light, and others have said its title insults the poor.

Boyle dedicated his award partly to the people of Mumbai, where it was shot - and also to people closer to home.

"The wiring in my dad's house blew overnight, and it's just a a big shout-out to everyone who helped him get the extension cable in so he could watch this on television," Boyle said.

The London awards, popularly known as the BAFTAs, have a reputation for predicting who will win at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles. All four of last year's acting prize winners went on to take home Oscars.

Winslet, Rourke, Meryl Streep, Daniel Craig and Penelope Cruz were among the celebrities who braved a wintry London drizzle - and hundreds of screaming fans - to walk the red carpet in front of the grand, neoclassical Royal Opera House.

The crowd's biggest cheers were for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie - he wearing a moustache, she an elegant, old-Hollywood strapless black-and-yellow Armani dress.

Cruz was named best supporting actress for Woody Allen comedy "Vicky Christina Barcelona."

Ledger's widely anticipated victory was the only win for the "The Dark Knight" from nine nominations. Clint Eastwood's L.A. noir "Changeling" was nominated in eight categories but won none.

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," also lost out, taking just three awards - production design, hair and makeup, and visual effects - from 11 nominations.

The 6,000 voting academy members rewarded the quirky and eclectic. Tightrope-walking documentary "Man on Wire" was named best British film, and the prize for best original screenplay went to Ireland's Martin McDonagh for hit man comedy "In Bruges."

Director and Monty Python member Terry Gilliam was given an Academy Fellowship, a lifetime achievement award.

Pinewood and Shepperton studios, mainstays of British filmmaking for decades, were awarded for outstanding British contribution to cinema.

"WALL-E" took the prize for animated feature, French drama "I've Loved You So Long" was named best film not in the English language, and Steve McQueen won the award for best first film for his directorial debut, "Hunger," about Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands.

In the acting categories, Winslet defeated Jolie for the missing-child drama "Changeling," Streep for the moral thriller "Doubt" and Scott Thomas for "I've Loved You So Long."

Rourke beat "Slumdog Millionaire's" Dev Patel, Sean Penn for "Milk," Frank Langella for "Frost/Nixon" and Pitt for "Benjamin Button.

Here are the winners of the 2009 Orange British Academy Film Awards, presented Sunday:

Film - "Slumdog Millionaire"

British Film - "Man on Wire"

Actor - Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler"

Actress - Kate Winslet, "The Reader"

Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"

Supporting Actress - Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Christina Barcelona"

Director - Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire"

First-time Director - Steve McQueen, "Hunger"

Rising Star - Noel Clarke

Original Screenplay - Martin McDonagh, "In Bruges"

Adapted Screenplay - Simon Beaufoy, "Slumdog Millionaire"

Film Not in the English Language - "I've Loved You So Long"

Music - A.R. Rahman, "Slumdog Millionaire"

Cinematography - Anthony Dod Mantle, "Slumdog Millionaire"

Editing - Chris Dickens, "Slumdog Millionaire"

Production Design - "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Costume Design - "The Duchess"

Sound - "Slumdog Millionaire"

Visual Effects - "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Makeup and Hair - "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Animated Feature - "WALL-E"

Short Animation - "Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death"

Short Film - "September"

Academy Fellowship - Terry Gilliam

'Milk,' 'Slumdog Millionaire' win top WGA awards

LOS ANGELES – The Oscar contenders "Milk" and "Slumdog Millionaire" won top honors Saturday at the Writers Guild of America Awards.

Dustin Lance Black won the original screenplay prize for "Milk," a biography of murdered slain gay-rights leader Harvey Milk.

The adapted screenplay award for "Slumdog Millionaire" went to Simon Beaufoy, who based it on a novel by Vikas Swarup about an Indian street orphan's journey of survival and love.

"Slumdog Millionaire" has been an unlikely hit. The low-budget feature has 10 Oscar nominations, including best picture, and also has taken awards at the Golden Globes and from the Producers Guild of America, Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild.

"Milk" has eight Academy Award nominations, including best picture and best actor for Sean Penn.

Ari Folman won the documentary screenplay award for "Waltz with Bashir." The film, which is nominated in the foreign-language category at the Academy Awards, is an animated study of an Israeli soldier struggling to recall suppressed memories of his involvement in the war with Lebanon.

In television categories, writers for NBC's "30 Rock" and AMC's "Mad Men" won in the comedy and drama categories, respectively. Both also won WGA awards last year: "30 Rock" for TV comedy and "Mad Men" for new series.

Some of the other awards were:
• New Series: "In Treatment."
• Episodic Drama: "Breaking Bad" (Pilot).
• Episodic Comedy: "30 Rock" (Succession).
• Animation: "The Simpsons" (Apocalypse Cow).
• Daytime Serials: "As the World Turns."

James Franco wins Harvard Hasty Pudding award

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – James Franco, who won recent acclaim for playing both a goofy pot dealer and Harvey Milk's lover, has been named Harvard's Hasty Pudding Man of the Year.

Franco will receive the award at a roast Feb. 13 by the Hasty Pudding — the nation's oldest undergraduate drama troupe.

The 31-year-old actor was nominated for a Golden Globe for his supporting role in "Pineapple Express" and starred opposite Sean Penn in "Milk." He has appeared in TV's "Freaks and Geeks" and the "Spider Man" trilogy and portrayed James Dean in the TNT biopic.

Renee Zellweger will be honored as the Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year on Thursday. Last year's honorees were Christopher Walken and Charlize Theron.

Terry Gilliam to receive BAFTA honor

LONDON (Hollywood Reporter) – Former "Monty Python" star Terry Gilliam will receive a BAFTA Fellowship in recognition of his contribution to film during Sunday's British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards show.

Orange British Academy Film Awards organizers said the fellowship is the "highest accolade" bestowed upon someone in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film.

Previous honorees include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, Judi Dench and Anthony Hopkins.

Writer-director Gilliam's latest movie, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," was Heath Ledger's final film. After Ledger's death in January 2008, Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp and Jude Law stepped in to help complete the film.

The BAFTA ceremony takes place at London's Royal Opera House on Sunday.

Nickelback leads Juno noms

They’re not dark horses this year, not when it comes to the Junos anyway.

Alberta hard rock band Nickelback lead the pack with five nominations heading into the 2009 Juno Awards, slated for March 27-29 at Vancouver’s General Motors Place.

Sam Roberts, Celine Dion and Hedley are the other leading nominees.

Nickelback are confirmed as performers for the televised ceremony on CTV on March 29, to be hosted by Russell Peters. They’re up for album of the year (for Dark Horse), single of the year (Gotta Be Somebody), group of the year and the Jack Richardson producer of the year award with Joey Moi (Gotta Be Somebody and Something In Your Mouth).

Roberts, a Montreal rocker, has four nominations: artist of the year, rock album of the year (Love at the End of the World) and two nominations for video of the year (Detroit ’67 and Them Kids).

Dion and Hedley, along with The Lost Fingers and Feist, are up for the JUNO Fan Choice award — the lone prize voted on by the public.

Dion, who spent most of last year on a world tour after her lengthy Las Vegas stint, is also up for top single (Taking Chances) and DVD (Live In Las Vegas — A New Day).

Hedley, led by energetic front man Jacob Hoggard, is nominated for top album (Famous Last Words) and songwriter of the year.

Other nominees for top single include Divine Brown (Lay It On The Line), Kardinal Offishall (Dangerous) and crooner Michael Buble (Lost). The Lost Fingers (Lost In The 80’s), Simple Plan (Simple Plan) and French singer Sylvain Cossette (70’s Volume 2) are the other top-album nominees.

The artist of the year features some veterans in Bryan Adams and k.d. lang alongside Roberts, singer-songwriter Serena Ryder and City and Colour. the side project of Alexisonfire’s Dallas Green, who are confirmed to perform during the televised ceremony.

Great Big Sea, Simple Plan, The Trews and Tokyo Police Club are the other contenders for group of the year. The top rock album field has a distinct Maritime component, with Nova Scotia acts Matt Mays & El Torpedo (Terminal Romance), Sloan (Parallel Play) and The Trews (No Time For Later) up against Protest The Hero (Fortress) and Roberts.

Young jazz sensation Nikki Yanofsky, Crystal Shawanda, Kreesha Turner, Jessie Farrell and Toronto-based Lights are competing for new artist of the year. Top new group nominees include Montreal “trip rock” band Beast, Cancer Bats, Crystal Castles, Plants And Animals and The Stills.

As for huge, non-homegrown acts, Coldplay (Viva La Vida), AC/DC (Black Ice), Guns N’ Roses (Chinese Democracy), Jack Johnson (Sleep Through The Static) and Metallica (Death Magnetic) are up for international album of the year.

Sarah McLachlan, who is also slated to perform, will receive the 2009 Allan Waters Humanitarian Award, while longtime rock band Loverboy will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

More performers will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Here are some selected 2009 Juno Award nominees:

JUNO FAN CHOICE AWARD: Celine Dion, Feist, Hedley, Nickelback, the Lost Fingers.

SINGLE OF THE YEAR: “Taking Chances,” Celine Dion; “Lay It on the Line,” Divine Brown; “Dangerous,” Kardinal Offishall; “Lost,” Michael Buble; “Gotta Be Somebody,” Nickelback.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: “Famous Last Words,” Hedley; “Dark Horse,” Nickelback; “Simple Plan,” Simple Plan; “70’s Volume 2,” Sylvain Cossette; “Lost in the 80’s,” The Lost Fingers.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Bryan Adams, City and Colour, k.d. lang, Sam Roberts, Serena Ryder.

GROUP OF THE YEAR: Great Big Sea, Nickelback, Simple Plan, the Trews, Tokyo Police Club.

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Crystal Shawanda, Jessie Farrell, Kreesha Turner, Lights, Nikki Yanofsky.

NEW GROUP OF THE YEAR: Beast, Cancer Bats, Crystal Castles, Plants and Animals, the Stills.

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR: Alanis Morissette, Dallas Green, Gordie Sampson, Hedley, Nathan Ferraro.

COUNTRY RECORDING OF THE YEAR: “Thankful,” Aaron Pritchett; “Dawn of a New Day,” Crystal Shawanda; “Beautiful Life,” Doc Walker; “What I Do,” George Canyon; “Chasing the Sun,” Tara Oram.

POP ALBUM OF THE YEAR: “Flavors of Entanglement,” Alanis Morissette; “No Sleep at All,” Creature; “Wake Up and Say Goodbye,” David Usher; “Passion,” Kreesha Turner; “Holes,” the Midway State.

ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR: “Terminal Romance,” Matt Mays & El Torpedo; “Fortress,” Protest the Hero; “Love at the End of the World,” Sam Roberts; “Parallel Play,” Sloan; “No Time for Later,” the Trews.

RAP RECORDING OF THE YEAR: “A Captured Moment in Time,” DL Incognito; “The Book,” D-Sisive; “I Rap Now,” Famous; “Not 4 Sale,” Kardinal Offishall; “Point Blank,” Point Blank.

WORLD MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR: “Shivaboom,” Eccodek; “The Art of the Early Egyptian Qanun,” George Dimitri Sawa; “Africa to Appalachia,” Jayme Stone & Mansa Sissoko; “Contrabanda,” Lubo & Kaba Horo; “Cairo to Toronto,” Maryem & Ernie Tollar.

Oscar nominees be warned: Surprises lay ahead

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Fans of this month's Academy Awards — and nominees themselves — are in for something new at Hollywood's biggest party, the show's overseers said Monday.

Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, told the 112 contenders gathered at the annual nominees luncheon to expect a lot of new things at the Feb. 22 ceremony.

"Your categories are being presented in a completely different way. Heads up," Ganis told actors. "Cinematographers, editors, composers. All of you guys. You're in for a big surprise."

Ganis did not elaborate, in keeping with Oscar organizers' efforts to maintain secrecy about the show, including the names of awards presenters.

While academy officials kept mum, nominees had plenty to say as a mix of first-time contenders and old hands turned up at a news conference before the luncheon.

Going zero-for-five on her previous Oscar nominations, best-actress contender Kate Winslet said the experience has given her a "good losing face." Yet considering her competition this time — including Meryl Streep with a record 15 nominations — Winslet said she felt the honor and intensity even more this time.

"I get very emotional about these things, I discover. I think I'm not cut out for this. I'm too emotional to lose, and I'm too emotional to win," said Winslet, nominated for her role as a former concentration-camp guard in "The Reader."

"I sort of wish there was some lessons in how to cope with awards seasons, even though I've gone through it so many times before. It always feels like the first time."

While Winslet has become a perpetual nominee, Robert Downey Jr. has not been up for an Oscar in 16 years, since he earned a best-actor slot for the title role in "Chaplin."

Downey found irony in his supporting-actor nomination for "Tropic Thunder," in which he's cast as an obsessed actor who undergoes a medical procedure to darken his skin to play a black soldier.

"The funny thing is, I was playing an Oscar-crazed weirdo whose every motivation was somehow geared toward accolades," Downey said.

Downey is back on top in Hollywood after years of substance-abuse problems. Another Hollywood reclamation project, Mickey Rourke, has a best-actor nomination for "The Wrestler," playing a former ring star with a fresh shot at glory.

The story mirrors the real life of Rourke, who squandered his early promise with bad behavior off-screen.

"I was out of work for about 14 years," Rourke said, adding that his biggest surprise this awards season was "the fact that so many years went by and I got a second chance."

Penelope Cruz — earning her second Oscar nomination, this one for supporting actress as a volatile artist in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" — said winning would be great, but she simply wants to cherish the whole Oscar ride.

"I am so happy to be part of a group of people that can work, that can make a living out of this profession that I've loved so much since I was a little girl, that I really don't want to obsess about winning," Cruz said.

Oscar newcomer Melissa Leo, a best-actress nominee for her role as a destitute mom who turns to crime in the border-smuggling drama "Frozen River," said she never gave a thought about competing for an Academy Award.

"I'm an actor. I think about what the next job is. I think about what my character is. I think about what my director's needs are. I don't dream about this. So it's a dream I have not yet dared to dream," Leo said. "Win, lose or draw come the 22nd, I've gotten more than I ever dreamt of."

Frank Langella, a first-time nominee with an acclaimed stage background, said his Oscar nomination as Richard Nixon in "Frost/Nixon" was a career high-point but that it would not alter his career.

"I don't really think that I'm suddenly going to turn into one of those actors who makes millions and millions of dollars and stars in films holding a gun," said Langella, who reprised the role he originated on stage alongside co-star Michael Sheen. "I'm very lucky that I can continue to work on the stage almost any time I want. I think I'll just continue along apace."

Supporting-actress contender Viola Davis summed up what it feels like to be a first-time nominee having lunch with such Oscar veterans as Winslet, Downey, Cruz and Sean Penn.

"This is probably a morbid metaphor. People say if you're in a major accident and your whole life flashes before you, and of course, it's always all the important moments," said Davis, nominated for playing a mother whose son may have been abused by a priest in "Doubt." "This would be one of the moments that would flash."

Kung Fu Panda kicks competition's butt at animation awards

Kung Fu Panda wiped out its competition at the 36th annual Annie Awards, which honours the best in animation.

The DreamWorks Animation film earned kudos as best movie among its 10 trophies, beating out acclaimed front-runners WALL*E and Waltz With Bashir.

It also captured a directing award for John Stevenson and Mark Osborne; writing honours for Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger; animated effects, Le-Ming Lawrence Lee; character animation, James Baxter; and storyboarding, Jen Yuh Nelson.

Dustin Hoffman, who plays the Kung Fu master Shifu, nabbed a voice acting accolade. That didn't end the film's awards run — to top it off, Activision's Kung Fu Panda game won the prize for best video game.

The film's 10-award collection bested the nine won last year by Pixar's gourmet rat Ratatouille.

Other winners included:

Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death by Britain's Aardman Animations for best a