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.
SYDNEY (AFP) – Rival Australian news crews said Monday that saving a life came before doing their jobs when they rescued an 18-month-old baby from underneath the rubble in earthquake-devastated Haiti.
The little girl was lying alongside the bodies of her dead parents who were killed in the 7.0 magnitude earthquake which hit Port-au-Prince on January 12 when the camera crews heard her moans and began to dig her out on Friday. Related article: Haitians pray in ruins Richard Moran, a cameraman with the commercial Nine Network, put down his camera and lifted pieces of concrete out of the way while Nine's interpreter and fixer Deiby Celestino climbed into the tangled mess to retrieve the child.
Not even growth that's a few weeks away from matching Brad Pitt's scraggly beard could stop Jon Hamm from being dashing as ever. The "Mad Men" hunk showed at the Motion Picture and Television Fund's premiere screening of Kirk Douglas' autobiographical film "Before I Forget" on Wednesday night in Los Angeles with actress and screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt on his arm.
Hamm and Westfeldt chatted with the acting legend at a pre-screening reception hosted by Netflix, where the Golden Globe nominee mingled with the likes of Kellan Lutz and director-producer Adam Shankman. While Shankman was enthused over Douglas' retrospective flick, he imparted to me his all-time favorite performance from the master thesp:
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama expressed confidence Saturday that lawmakers would approve his proposed tax on banks to recover bailout money, despite opposition from Republicans and the financial industry.
"Like clockwork, the banks and politicians who curry their favor are already trying to stop this fee from going into effect," he said, using his weekly radio and Internet addresses to promote the plan he announced this past week.
"The very same firms reaping billions of dollars in profits, and reportedly handing out more money in bonuses and compensation than ever before in history, are now pleading poverty. It's a sight to see."
If banks can afford to pay out all those bonuses, he said, then they can repay taxpayers, too.
We're not going to let Wall Street take the money and run. We're going to pass this fee into law," he said.
At 18 years of age, Melanie Oudin’s physique is similar to Belgium’s 27-year old Justine Henin. They are both 5’6”. Melanie outweighs Justine by a muscular 4 pounds.
Henin has navigated the tour quite successfully, thank you. Even after her nearly two-year layoff, Henin has banked more than $19 million in tour earnings. After a limited year on the tour, Melanie Oudin banked a cool $450,000. She’s pretty happy about that.
All along Oudin has viewed Henin as her role model. Joined by their need to overcome their vertical challenges, the Georgia native sees to be mirroring Justine’s career path. Eventually, she will develop a serve that will be more offensive than defensive. With experience, she will learn the other competitor’s nuances.
En route to her seven Grand Slam titles, Henin has had to travel the same path. She learned to serve. She learned to spot weaknesses and turn disadvantage to advantage.
