The Worst Oscars Ever?
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 01:52 pm PST
The Atlantic Wire - There was no Sacheen Littlefeather moment during last night's Oscar telecast, no streaker sneaking up behind David Niven, no attempt by David Letterman to point out Oprah sounds a lot like Uma--all regrettable features of Oscars past. ABC censors even caught and edited an impromptu utterance of the f-word from Best Supporting Actress winner Melissa Leo. At a svelte 3 hours and 11 minutes, the telecast was a welcome reprieve from the four hour behemoths of the past. So why are critics this morning using phrases like "spectacularly unwatchable" to describe last night's show?The Washington Post's Hank Stuever blamed the curious pairing of co-hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco. While Hathaway "worked her derriere off" selling the show, "Franco came off like that lacrosse boy you wish your daughter didn't hang out with so much, sort of heavy-lidded and smirky." Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times found him "a little distracted and even blasé." Hathaway was game and did well in solo bits, writes Stanley, but the pairing of "Mr. Cooler-Than-Thou and Miss Eager-to-Please never really synched" onstage. "It was a strategic attempt at demographic synergy, but it was like pairing James Dean with Debbie Reynolds."Critics couldn't even agree on the evening's bright spots. Vanity Fair's John Lopez thought Kirk Douglas demonstrated "a carefree joie-de-vivre" with his flirty remarks to Hathaway and Melissa Leo during the presentation of the Best Supporting Actress award, injecting some life into a telecast that otherwise had all "the spontaneity of a coma patient." L.A. Weekly's Karina Longworth disagreed, deeming the "slurred come-ons" from Douglas "painful to watch." Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker emerged as one of the few defenders of the broadcast. "From Kirk Douglas' cleverly goatish leers to Randy Newman's gleefully grumpy acceptance speech," Tucker enthused, "it was a solid night for old pros who know how to ham it up entertainingly." Factor in hosts who "struck the right tone," and the entire evening amounted to "a happily surprising production."But the consensus leaned towards Roger Ebert's four word assessment: "Dead. In. The. Water."Update: The ratings are in and the Franco-Hathaway pairing doesn't seem to have moved the needle much in either direction. According to Nielsen's tracking numbers, ABC's telecast brought in a 25.7 ratings share, roughly equivalent to 39 million voters. Ad Week's Marc Berman notes that's a seven percent decline on 2010's ratings, but an improvement on the numbers from 2008 and 2009. Full Story | Top |
How the Libyan Revolution Could Play Out
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 07:28 am PST
The Atlantic Wire - The latest reports from Libya suggest that the country's ruler, Muammar Qaddafi, is striking back violently against protesters in western cities near the capital of Tripoli, as military defections continue (even Qaddafi's nurse has left him) and international pressure on Qaddafi mounts. On Monday, opposition forces shot down a military aircraft and captured the crew as the government sought to wrest back control of Misrata, the country's third-largest city. The U.N. Security Council, meanwhile, has agreed to sanctions on Qaddafi and other Libyan authorities, imposed an arms embargo, and frozen Libyan assets, while NATO allies consider instituting a no-fly zone over Libya and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the Obama administration is ready to offer assistance to rebel groups. Full Story | Top |
How the Arab world can prevent another Qaddafi: share a regional bill of rights
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 06:05 am PST
The Christian Science Monitor - The world has watched and cheered at the peaceful revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. But observers in the West have expressed fears that future autocrats might steal their victories. And citizens in Tunisia and Egypt can still be legitimately concerned about the possibility of an Iranian scenario. Will a populist government ignore the rule of law, steal future elections, and develop an adventurous nuclear program? Full Story | Top |
The Unmasking of @MayorEmanuel Reveals His Many Constituencies
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:49 pm PST
The Atlantic Wire - Who was the man behind @MayorEmanuel? Even Rahm Emanuel wanted to know. The mystery tweeter delighted many during the famously-profane real Emanuel's five-month campaign to be mayor of Chicago; on election night, he tweeted gems like, "If you have a giant f------ pile of money and a bunch of dumb f---- running against you, DREAMS DO COME TRUE." Full Story | Top |
RFK's Assassin Seeks Parole, Still Says He Remembers Nothing
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:23 pm PST
The Atlantic Wire - Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, the man convicted for assassinating Robert Kennedy in 1968, is being considered for parole this week. With the help of a new lawyer, Sirhan must convince a parole board that he is not a threat to himself or others, that he acknowledges he is guilty of the crime, and that he feels sincere remorse. Instead, Sirhan continues to maintain that he has no memory of the shooting. The Associated Press reports that Sirhan's new lawyer, William Pepper, believes that his client sincerely doesn't remember the event, going so far as to suggest that "Sirhan was 'hypno-programmed,' turning him into a virtual 'Manchurian Candidate,' acting robot-like at the behest of evil forces who then wiped his memory clean." But the AP notes the parole board is more likely to stick to the facts of what went down at the Ambassador Hotel the night Kennedy was shot, rather than "consider the many conspiracy theories floated over the years."Claiming to have no memory of an assassination--particularly one he once admitted to committing "with 20 years of malice aforethought"--seems like a particularly crazy way to prove one's innocence. Sirhan's hardly the nuttiest of these cases, though. John Hinckley Jr. famously insisted he only attempted to assassinated Ronald Reagan in order to impress Jodie Foster. John Flammang Schrank also had a pretty good story for his failed attack on Teddy Roosevelt. He claimed former President McKinley came to him in a dream and told him that he was actually murdered by Roosevelt, who was hoping to succeed him. Neither of these men were granted parole but, rather, life sentences in psychiatric institutions. Full Story | Top |
Does Michael Lewis Deserve to Get Sued Over 'The Big Short'?
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:04 pm PST
The Atlantic Wire - Michael Lewis's bestselling-book The Big Short has been called many things: a meticulous explanation of Wall Street's collapse, the only book you need to read on the financial crisis and "the single best piece of financial journalism ever written," to name a few. Today, however, it's going by another name: defamation. Wing Chau and his asset management firm Harding Advisory LLC are suing Lewis and his publisher W.W. Norton & Company, accusing the author of depicting Chau as a "villain" of the crisis. "In sharing the purported insider's view of the mortgage market meltdown, Lewis made false and defamatory statements about an experienced investment professional, Wing Chau, and his firm, Harding Advisory LLC," the lawsuit claims. "This [book] makes a series of accusations of grave professional misconduct, incompetence, and irresponsibility.†Full Story | Top |
Why the Right Attacked Unions, ACORN and Planned Parenthood
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 02:46 pm PST
The Nation - The Nation -- For the past two weeks, all eyes have been glued to Madison, Wisconsin. The collective and joyful resistance to Governor Scott Walker’s power-grabbing budget bill has inspired the demoralized progressive base and put the corporate-backed assault on working people front and center in the national conversation. Full Story | Top |
Sarah Palin's Secret Twitter Account Follows Drudge, Newt, Sarah Palin
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 02:41 pm PST
The Atlantic Wire - It is possible that the three people Palin is taking advice from are Newt Gingrich, Matt Drudge, and herself? Just maybe.Let's back up for a second: For a while there, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin seemed like a savvy social network user. With frequent updates and occasional malapropisms, Palin seemed to grasp the extent to which active and direct engagement of Facebook and Twitter would help capture and hold the attention of critics and supporters alike. But were reports of Palin's mastery of social media overblown?Consider Wonkette's new apparent discovery that Palin, in addition to establishing a secret Facebook page for someone named Lou Sarah, has been accessing Twitter from the account @mckinely777. Why would a public figure create a shadow Twitter account? Presumably to keep tabs on people they'd get in trouble for following under their real name. @mckinely777 doesn't do that--instead, the account follows only three users: Palin, Newt Gingrich, and The Drudge Report.Wonkette's Jack Stuef used Palin's personal Gmail address to find this out, the address being given in ex-aide Frank Bailey's leaked book proposal. This raises more questions about Palin's Internet aptitude. Stuef points out "Twitter will only let you see a contact's account...if she allows herself to be found by her e-mail address." When Stuef clicked on the button requesting that the user behind the address allow this, apparently the user did.In other words, if all this checks out, Sarah Palin might not be the digital whiz she appears to be. And that's before we even get to the misspelling of "McKinley." Full Story | Top |
Reuters: Fidel Castro Expected to Resign As Party Leader
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 01:29 pm PST
The Atlantic Wire - Cuba may not be experiencing the same type of revolution that has shaken many countries in the Middle East recently, but that doesn't mean it's not undergoing some fundamental shifts in its decades-old political system. Reuters reports from Holguin, Cuba that Fidel Castro is expected to resign as party chief of country's Communist party--the only legal political party in Cuba--in April. If he does, he will step down from his last official leadership position, though he does remain a symbolic and influential presence on the island. One of the world's longest serving rulers at the time, Castro officially handed over the duties of president to his brother Raul Castro in February 2008 due to his declining health. According to Reuters, the 84 year-old Castro had previously handed over the responsibilities of first secretary of the party, but held on to the title. Raul is in line to succeed Fidel as top leader of the Communist party. As Reuters notes, "because there are currently no other Castro family members in leading positions, the second secretary spot [previously held by Raul] likely will be filled by someone without Castro as a last name for the first time since the party was created in 1965."It's worth noting that President Raul Castro, who has said that modernizing the country's Soviet-style economy is a goal, is no youthful politician either--he's 79. Meanwhile, many have intensified their calls for increased freedom in Cuba in lieu of the social upheaval taking place across the globe. Full Story | Top |
Meet Mark Zandi, the Man Behind the Latest Job-Loss Report
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 01:28 pm PST
The Atlantic Wire - Hey, have you heard about this new report from Moody's Analytics? The one that says that if Republicans implement $61 billion in spending cuts like they've been talking about, it'll result in 700,000 jobs lost by the end of 2012? (John Boehner, somewhere, probably: "Meh.") It's pretty crazy. But in response, some Republicans are throwing shade at the report's author, a guy named Mark Zandi. Why? Who is this person? Let's take a look. Full Story | Top |
Why Amazon May Soon Collect Sales Tax
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:27 pm PST
The Atlantic Wire - You may or may not have realized it in the course of shopping online, but Amazon.com has avoided collecting sales taxes from most customers for 16 years. Those days may be over. Full Story | Top |
More Highways, Less Congestion
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:49 am PST
The Weekly Standard - In 2008 the Virginia Department of Transportation began work adding a fourth lane to the six-mile stretch of I-95 between the Springfield interchange and the exit for Virginia State Road 123. This is likely of very little consequence to you, but it was a life-changing moment for me: I live not far from State Road 123. And my daily commute along that stretch of I-95 had been slowly killing everything that was once good inside me. Full Story | Top |
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