What's Ailing Oscar?

Best actor, actress races tighten ahead of Oscars

For weeks, Britons Daniel Day-Lewis and Julie Christie have looked like sure bets to win the coveted best actor and actress Academy Awards, but in the days ahead of Sunday's gala ceremony, momentum has shifted.

Hollywood enjoys surprises on the movie industry's most prestigious night, and pundits think popular actor George Clooney and little-known French actress Marion Cotillard would be wise to start practicing their acceptance speeches.

"There is no such thing as a shoo-in at the Oscars. Hollywood is a town of bull-headed, contrary-minded people," said Tom O'Neil, columnist for www.TheEnvelope.com..

Day-Lewis, 50, an actor known for lengthy preparation, is well-liked by Academy voters. He won an Oscar playing a man who overcomes cerebral palsy in 1989's "My Left Foot," and has been nominated two other times for "In the Name of the Father" and "Gangs of New York."

This awards season, he has earned numerous honors playing a sadistic, early 20th century oil prospector in dark drama "There Will Be Blood" -- only his fourth film in a decade. Yet, Oscar watchers say, his work is as sharp as ever.

"Day-Lewis hasn't really lost anything. Even if you don't like the movie, it's a big performance and he dominates the film," said Pete Hammond, movie critic for Maxim magazine.

But opinions are split over the film's overall appeal, and Oscar voters prefer inspiring characters over villains.

"Clooney's never been nominated for lead actor and in 'Michael Clayton' he's a hero who sheds his evil ways, so the question is, how Clooney-crazy is Hollywood?" said O'Neil.

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Oscar countdown begins in Hollywood
It is Oscar week in Hollywood, and after three months in the dark winter of a bitter labor strike, the movie industry finally has something to celebrate -- itself.

This Sunday, the world's top film awards get under way with a full array of stars such as George Clooney and Cate Blanchett parading up the red carpet outside the Kodak Theatre where Academy Award nominees hope to be named best actor or actress.

Some 5,800 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will anoint one film as their favorite among nominees that include crime drama "No Country for Old Men" and teen pregnancy comedy "Juno."

With a fresh crew of writers, Oscar host Jon Stewart hopes to keep audiences laughing through the three-hour live telecast.

"Here we are. After a long winter, comes the spring and now the summer," said Oscar producer Gil Cates. "It's been a terrible three months."

Some 10,500 members of the Writers Guild of America walked off the job on Nov. 5, throwing into disarray the awards season that runs from December through the Feb. 24 Oscars.

Gala dinners and ceremonies honoring films and their makers were canceled or changed drastically. January's glitzy Golden Globe Awards turned into a news conference watched by about a quarter of the typical audience of 20 million viewers.

But the strike ended one week ago, and Oscar organizers are promising a traditional ceremony for a global TV audience with big stars, dazzling fashion and, hopefully, memorable winners.
Oscar watchers expect some drama in key races, despite the fact many categories have clear front-runners. Academy Award voters, the experts said, enjoy defying the oddsmakers.

"Sometimes the Hollywood honchos vote with their heart just to remind us they have one," said Tom O'Neil, veteran Oscar watcher with awards Web site, TheEnvelope.com.

"No Country" heads into Sunday leading the race for best film because it earned top honors from the guilds of producers, directors, actors and writers -- four key indicators of Academy Award success.

But the pundits sense taut legal thriller "Michael Clayton" is surging due to the popularity of its star Clooney, and note the emergence of "Juno," which is the only nominated film to surpass the pivotal $100 million mark at U.S. box offices.

The other two nominees are oil drama "There Will Be Blood," a meditation on the corrupting power of money, and romance "Atonement," another drama with a dark ending.

Briton Daniel Day-Lewis playing a hard-charging oil man in "Blood" has earned front-runner status in the best actor race by virtue of several critics' and other awards this season, but the experts said Clooney is giving him a run for his money.

Among best actress nominees another Briton, Julie Christie, has been the darling of award season as an Alzheimer's sufferer in "Away From Her." But don't count out French actress Marion Cotillard as singer Edith Piaf in "La Vie En Rose" or Ellen Page as the defiantly pregnant teen in "Juno
In other races, Spain's Javier Bardem is tipped to win supporting actor playing a killer in "No Country." Tilda Swinton leads supporting actresses in her role as a manipulative corporate lawyer in "Clayton."

Finally, brothers Joel and Ethan Coen look to be the team to beat in the race for best director with "No Country." And regardless of who wins or loses, Academy Award organizers are happy about one thing: this year, the Oscar goes on.

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Lohan The New Marylin?

Lindsay Lohan: You're no Marilyn Monroe
What do starlets insist on channeling Marilyn Monroe? At some point, every actress decides to have her "Marilyn moment" and dons a platinum wig and a fake mole to prove that she's capable of playing an American icon. This week, Lindsay Lohan graces New York magazine in a spread shot by Bert Stern. Yes, that would be the same Stern who shot Monroe six weeks before she died of a reported overdose in 1962.

In the story, Lohan says of Monroe and Heath Ledger's tragic outcome: "I sure as hell wouldn't let it happen to me." Then, why are you bouncing in and out of rehab and recreating a photo shoot that precisely mimics a suicidal woman's last flirtation with fame? And Stern should be ashamed of himself for aping such a memorable photo shoot for a 21-year-old actress whose most notable credit is "Herbie Fully Loaded." Monroe - who starred in fantastic movies like "The Misfits" and "Some Like It Hot" - died of acute barbiturate poisoning at age 36.

Lohan joins the ranks of Monroe-philes like Mischa Barton (right), Scarlett Johansson and Drew Barrymore (above, on George cover.) It may be flattering to the icon, but the Rage finds it rather sad that so many young actresses crib Monroe instead of inventing their own unique images. If you're devoid of charisma and innate sexual appeal, maybe it's time to try beekeeping.

Lindsay Lohan is following in the footsteps of the most famous blond bombshell of them all _ Marilyn Monroe.

In the issue of New York magazine on sale Monday, the 21-year-old star of "Mean Girls" and "Freaky Friday" poses nude for photographer Bert Stern in a recreation of one of Monroe's most famous photo shoots, done shortly before she died.

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Lohan The New Marylin?
Lindsay Lohan bares all in the new issue of New York magazine as a tribute to Marylin Monroe's last photo shoot.

Lindsay Lohan may be having a hard time finding work in film at the moment. But she has no problem looking elsewhere. She recently agreed to pose for New York magazine in a Marylin Monroe-esque spread.

According to the New York Times, Bert Stern, who was the photographer on the late Monroe's last photo shoot, shot the spread. His spread for Monroe became known as the last sitting since Monroe died 6 weeks after the shoot. Stern was excited to shoot Lohan because he believed, "she had a lot more depth to her."

For the shoot Lohan had to bare all and sport a blonde bob. Lohan told People magazine, "I was comfortable with it." "It" being posing nude. She also told them she did 250 crunches the night before the shoot.

Lohan is no stranger to the trouble that Hollywood can bring; she's been to rehab three times and is followed by paparazzi wherever she goes. During her interview Lohan drew a parallel between the recent passing of Heath Ledger and the death of Monroe saying, "They are both prime examples of what this industry can do to someone.

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A Third Of All Food Is Destined For The Bin

Britain throws away a staggering £8 billion worth of food every year - a third of everything we buy, according to campaigners.

We throw away a whopping 6.7 million tonnes of food from our homes a year, according the government-funded Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

And most of the grub we dump could have been eaten, experts said.

That's the equivalent of waste needed to fill Wembley Stadium eight times over and it means for every three bags of shopping brought home, one in effect ends up in land fills.

Experts said too much food was being thrown away because consumers let it go off in the fridge or cupboard, - or portions are too big and leftovers are just binned.

And that's just the amount thrown away by households - with the figure likely to be much higher when food wasted by businesses is included.

WRAP said most of the waste was edible - not just peelings and bones - and estimate that if the squandering ended it would save 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is the equivalent to taking one in five cars off the road.

It comes after a Christmas period in which it was estimated the amount of food wasted soared by 80 per cent - with 230,000 tonnes of food - worth around £275 million - thrown away.

But a poll found nine in ten people don't have a clue how much they throw away.

As well as the cost, the wasted food is a major contributor to the production of greenhouse gases in the UK. Most of the food thrown away ends up in landfill where it produces methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas.

And campaigners say energy used to produce, package, transport and deliver the food to our homes produces the equivalent of at least 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

WRAP have launched a campaign - Love Food Hate Waste - in an attempt to raise awareness about just how much food Brits waste, with a website giving advice on how to be more food efficient.

Richard Swannell, director of retail and organics programmes at WRAP, said food wastage was a "very major problem" - with financial and environmental implications.

He said: "The food being wasted is at a cost of £8 billion - we throw away 6.7 million tonnes, and most of that could have been eaten.

"So if we ate it all we would save a staggering amount, and reduce our impact on the environment."

Mr Swannell said nearly all ages and social classes were culpable, apart from some people over 60.

He added said the causes of the problem could be put into two categories, saying: "First, we let too much food go off in the fridge and in the cupboard.

"And the other is we cook too much food and don't get portioning right, so people get full up and leave stuff on their plates and it goes in the bin."

But Mr Swannell admitted they faced a difficult task getting the message about wastage across as so much of the country was in the dark about the problem.

He said: "There is a huge mountain to climb in terms of doing this. But you could make a big difference.

"The important thing is we are doing this day by day and it is costing us a lot of cash. One of the easiest things people can do to help the environment is throw away less food.

"It's not just for us, it's for our children."