Oscars 2011: best song contenders unveiled

 

Two of the eligible songs come from Gwyneth Paltrow film Country Strong 

A total of 41 songs are in contention for the best original song category at the 2011 Oscars, it has been announced.

Three of them come from Burlesque, starring Cher and Christina Aguilera, which had its UK premiere this week.
Tracks performed by Gwyneth Paltrow, Janet Jackson and Alanis Morissette also feature on the longlist.
The eligible songs will be whittled down to a list of no more than five by the time the Academy Award nominations are announced on....
25 January.
The 2011 Oscars will be held on 27 February at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.
Paltrow - who previously had a singing role in 2000 film Duets - features on two eligible tracks taken from her country music drama, Country Strong.
One of them, Me and Tennessee, which Paltrow sings with country star Tim McGraw - was written by her husband, Coldplay star Chris Martin.
Under Academy rules, a maximum of two songs may be nominated from any one film.
Last year's best song award went to The Weary Kind, from the Jeff Bridges music drama Crazy Heart.

Twitter raises $200m in new finance

 

Twitter is increasing efforts to boost its profits

 Twitter has raised $200m (£129m) in new finance, in a deal that values the social networking service at $3.7bn.

It said the investment had come from venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, and existing investors.
Twitter is also adding two new board members, including David Rosenblatt, boss of digital advertising group DoubleClick.
The moves come two months after the US firm said it was increasing efforts to make itself more profitable.
The announcement in October saw the company's co-founder Evan Williams stand down as chief executive to focus on product strategy......

Mr Williams was replaced as chief executive by Dick Costolo.
Also now joining Twitter's board is Mike McCue, chief executive of digital social magazine application FlipBoard.
Twitter allows users to send 140-character text messages, or Tweets.
It has 175 million registered users and 300 employees.

Colin Firth nominated for Screen Actors Guild award

 

Firth was nominated for the same award this year for A Single Man Colin Firth's Oscar chances have been further boosted by his inclusion in the Screen Actors Guild nominations.

The 50-year-old is up for the best actor award for his role as stammering monarch George VI in The King's Speech.
The period drama has four nominations, as does boxing drama The Fighter.
Both films are up for the best cast in a movie prize - the Guild's equivalent of a best film accolade - alongside Black Swan, The Kids are All Right and Facebook drama The Social Network.
British actors Helena Bonham Carter and Christian Bale are nominated in the supporting categories for their work in The King's Speech and The Fighter respectively....

Hugh Laurie and Sir Patrick Stewart are among their compatriots in the running for the Guild's television awards.
Laurie receives his sixth consecutive nomination for best actor in a drama series for House, an award he won in 2007 and 2009.
Sir Patrick is recognised for playing the title role in a filmed version of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Ernest Borginine will receive a lifetime achievement honour at next year's awards, to be held in Los Angeles on 30 January.
Awards will also be presented to "stunt ensembles" working in motion pictures and on television.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is granted bail

The founder of whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has been granted conditional bail by a judge.

The 39-year-old was granted bail in London earlier this week but remained in jail after prosecutors objected.
The Australian is fighting extradition to Sweden over sex charges involving two women. He denies the allegations.
Mr Justice Ouseley granted conditional bail at the Royal Courts of Justice and supporters put up £240,000 in sureties. His release is expected on Thursday.
However, the BBC understands he may not be freed until Friday because those who provided the finances must complete paperwork at a police station.
Mr Assange's solicitor, Mark Stephens, said afterwards the bail appeal was part of a "continuing vendetta by the Swedes".
He said: "We have won costs today but they should be paid by Sweden not the hard-pressed Crown Prosecution Service."
Mr Assange's mother, Christine, said she was "very, very happy" with the decision and thanked his supporters....

"I can't wait to see my son and to hold him close. I had faith that the British justice system would do the right thing and the judge would uphold the magistrates' decision, and that faith has been reaffirmed," she said.
'Nomadic lifestyle' Gemma Lindfield, representing the Swedish authorities, had told the judge there was "a real risk" Mr Assange would abscond and pointed to his nomadic lifestyle.

She said he had "the means and ability" to go into hiding among Wikileaks' many supporters in this country and abroad.But Mr Justice Ouseley pointed out Mr Assange had offered to meet the police in London when he heard the Swedish matter was still live and he said: "That is not the conduct of a person who is seeking to evade justice."

Earlier, the judge made a ruling banning the use of Twitter to give a blow-by-blow account of Thursday's proceedings.
Mr Assange has received the backing of a number of high-profile supporters including human rights campaigners Jemima Khan and Bianca Jagger, and film director Ken Loach.
Wikileaks has published hundreds of sensitive American diplomatic cables, details of which have appeared in the Guardian in the UK and several other newspapers around the world.
He has been criticised in the US where former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has said he should be hunted down like the al-Qaeda leadership.
Mr Assange argues the allegations against him are politically motivated and designed to take attention away from the material appearing on Wikileaks.
One of his supporters, writer Tariq Ali, said: "I'm relieved. He should never have been denied bail in the first place."
He said Mr Assange had suffered from some "vindictive and punitive" decisions and he claimed: "The Swedes are acting on behalf of a bigger power."
Mr Assange is accused of having unprotected sex with a woman, identified only as Miss A, when she insisted he use a condom.
He is also accused of having unprotected sex with another woman, Miss W, while she was asleep.

‘King Khan Live in Dhaka’..... Enthralls Dhaka Fans

Bollywood King Khan Shah Rukh Khan received a grand welcome in Dhaka when he performed there along with colleagues Rani Mukerji and Arjun Rampal. SRK was there to perform at the show ‘King Khan Live in Dhaka’ and he was supposed to campaign to make Sundarban’s mangrove forests as one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
However, the adulation by the audience was so lucrative that King Khan probably forgot about the serious job! Shah Rukh even greeted the fans in Bengali saying that he has brought good wishes from India to this nation of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was the founding leader of Bangladesh. SRK performed on his popular numbers like ‘Dard-e–disco’ and ‘Shava Shava’....

Rani, who is a Bengali, thrilled the audience when he started speaking in Bengali. She also performed on her hit tracks like ‘Hum Tum. ‘Saathiya’ and ‘Shava Shava’.
When both Rani and SRK charmed the Bengali audience in Dhaka, Arjun Rampal was also not left behind. He made a dramatic entry on a motorbike and yelled to the audience in his broken Bengali. The handsome actor said that he has come to Dhaka even when he is not keeping well. He is here so that his fans in the country are not left disappointed.
Earlier, the organizers of the show claimed that Shah Rukh will promote the mangrove forests of Sunderban but it was not done. So, is it done intentionally or Shah Rukh really forgot about it? The answer is only with the organizers or King Khan himself!

The Golden Globe nominations –

Justin Timberlake and Anna Paquin

Rob Rich/Everett, Juan Rico/Fame

The Golden Globe nominations – long considered an indication of which stars will shine on Oscar night – are in, and while there are a many expected names on the list (Natalie Portman, James Franco, Glee, to name a few), several stars, T.V. shows and movies didn't score a single nod.

• Leonardo DiCaprio
Inception is not only up for best picture, but its director, Christopher Nolan, scored a nod for best director. And yet the film's star – who has been up seven times for a Golden Globe, winning once in 2004 for The Aviator –
is absent from the list.

• Justin Timberlake
His scene-stealing performance in The Social Network has left the singer-turned-actor with Oscar buzz. But were those whisperings of an Academy Award nod premature? Timberlake is left without any recognition, while The Social Network is up for best picture, star Jesse Eisenberg is up for best actor and Andrew Garfield is up for best supporting actor.

• Lost
The end of arguably one of the biggest pop culture events of the past few years, and it goes out with a whimper – where the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is concerned.

• True Grit
Okay, we get that the movie isn't out yet. But it's Joel and Ethan Coen! It's Jeff Bridges (who won last year)! It's Matt Damon! And it's long been considered a top contender for awards-season love.

• True Blood
Sookeh, I am a vampire ... without nominations! While HBO's campy vamp show was up for best drama (and show star Anna Paquin scored a best actress nod) last year, the HFPA decided to stake the show this year.

Shahrukh Khan: Turning All Foes Into Friends

Shahrukh Khan the King of Bollywood has certainly been in the news these days due to the fact that two of his biggest films are due to release this coming year, one being Faran Akhtar’s Don 2 and the other being his home production RA.ONE.
However there is something else that SRK is being spoken about quite appreciatively. Now what could that be?
Well the fact that Shahrukh Khan had recently gone on to publicly acknowledge the fact that his animosity between the two top names in the industry- Salman Khan and Farah Khan could well be due to his own fault.
Now, this bit of amazing revelation coming out right from the King of B town’s mouth was quite surprising to one and all.
Shahrukh Khan has always maintained silence while there has been a crack in his relationship between Salman Khan due to some ruckus on Katrina Kaif’s birthday bash a couple of years ago and him and even with Farah Khan as reports are that he was quite upset that Farah had not taken him in her latest venture Tees Maar Khan. SRK has never ever come out with what the trouble between him and Salman Khan was or with Farah Khan is.
But now it seems that SRK is trying to clear away all the sad memories and the misunderstandings with his foes and is trying to turn them into friends.
Well let’s hope that the New Year sees a lot of change in the relationship status of these three and Shahrukh makes up with both Salman and Farah-then perhaps we can see a Karan Arjun type movie with SRK and Salman as on screen brothers!