February 25, 2008

The 80th Annual Academy Awards went more or less according to script. As many prognosticators had predicted, No Country for Old Men was the evening's biggest winner, snagging awards for BEST PICTURE, DIRECTOR, ADAPTED SCREENPLAY and SUPPORTING ACTOR (Javier Bardem). For only the second time in Oscar history, all four of the top acting prizes went to Europeans. In addition to Spaniard Bardem's win, Britain's Daniel Day-Lewis was named BEST ACTOR for his role in There Will Be Blood, while fellow Brit Tilda Swinton took BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS for her role in Michael Clayton. France's Marion Cotillard took BEST ACTRESS honors for her portrayal of singer Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. Diablo Cody's story Juno got the nod for BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY. Ratatouille was named BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM. [AP, 2/24/08]

Elsewhere over the weekend, other actors and films ended up with the trophy nobody wants, the anti-prize known as the Golden Raspberry. The biggest "winners" at the Razzies this year were Lindsay Lohan and Eddie Murphy. Lohan's I Know Who Killed Me netted a record eight awards, including WORST PICTURE. Meanwhile, Murphy's comedy Norbit, in which he played multiple male and female characters, enabled the actor to walk away with both WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR and ACTRESS trophies. So dominant were Lohan's and Murphy's films, in fact, that only one other film even got an award, Daddy Day Camp, which was named WORST SEQUEL. [eonline.com, 2/23/08]

QUOTE: "I look at it as art, and as Lindsay doing a character. So I don't look at [the photographs] like it's Playboy; she was being a character. So if you look at it that way, you can look at it as a mother." —Dina Lohan's response to daughter Lindsay's nude photo shoot, published in New York magazine, which re-created Marilyn Monroe's last photo session. Because Lindsay was just playing a "character," Dina saw nothing wrong with Lindsay's 14-year-old sister Ali tagging along for the shoot as well. "Trust me, I wouldn't have sent my 14-year-old daughter to the set [if the shoot was in bad taste]. And obviously Lindsay wouldn't do anything with her sister there that was risqué." [AP, 2/19/08; msnbc.com, 2/19/08]

QUOTE: "I don't believe in [premarital sex]. I think it's better to wait for marriage—that's me here saying that. I'm not doing anything like that, so pregnancy is impossible." —Miley Cyrus, responding to rumors circulating last fall that she was pregnant. She also added, "I probably have an earlier curfew than anyone just because my mom wants to keep me really safe." [CosmoGIRL!, 3/08]

QUOTE: "I am at peace with my life—past, present and future. I know all things that are good come from Almighty God above. I count my blessings every single day. Every day I pray God will show me the doors He wants me to walk through, the people He wants me to talk to, the songs He wants me to sing. I want to be the light He wants me to be in this world." —singer/actor Billy Ray Cyrus, who says of his relationship with daughter Miley, "I've always tried to be my kids' best friend, and so far, so good. With Miley, I'm her daddy, but I'm also her friend. That's what my dad was [to me], and it worked pretty good." [Christianity Today, Jan./Feb. 2008]

Since its release on Feb. 1, Miley's big-screen debut, Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert has become the top-grossing concert movie of all time. The film's box office take of $61.9 million (and counting) is already four times more than the $15 million made by the next closest competitor, Madonna's Truth or Dare in 1991. For a more current comparison, Miley's box office numbers positively dwarf those of U2. The Irish band's concert film U2 3D is also in theaters right now; it's made $4.9 million. [Billboard, 2/23/08; boxofficemojo.com, 2/24/08 stats]

Tween fans of High School Musical and Hannah Montana might be driving their parents crazy with endless repetitions of one saccharine hit after another. But Salon columnist Mary Elizabeth Williams believes music from these two Disney franchises still has something genuinely positive to offer young female fans. "We cast a bittersweet glance at our tween girls and know all that awaits just a few years from now for them. So if they're learning, through parental-patience-testing repeated plays of 'Who Said,' that 'every girl has a choice,' if they hear 'Nobody's Perfect' enough to consider that it's OK to cut themselves a little slack, perhaps they'll have just a little more ammunition for the esteem-battering days to come. God knows I need to hear that message too. It's not the best of any world. But it's close enough." [salon.com, 2/12/08]

Celebrities continue to sell pictures of their babies for boatloads of cash. Christina Aguilera recently sold snaps of herself and her new son, Max, to People magazine for $1.5 million. Jennifer Lopez is rumored to be finagling a deal to sell pics of her soon-to-be-born twins to People for $4-6 million. While celebrities say that selling photos of their tots helps quell the inevitable paparazzi storm surrounding such new arrivals, some ethicists believe stars are exploiting their own progeny for a buck. "If your own parents are literally selling you out, where can one feel safe?" said Dr. Bruce Weinstein. "What's especially troubling is that the person who's the subject of these photos isn't able to give informed consent." [abcnews.com, 2/21/08]

QUOTE: "I think you would have to be naive in the extreme to think celebrity culture doesn't shape trends. The celebrity trend seems to be 'baby as ornament'—it's like a fashion accessory almost. I don't think the effect is as direct as some might expect, but it certainly is playing a role." —Bill Albert, deputy director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, on how out-of-wedlock celebrity pregnancies may be impacting the teen birth rate, which was up 3% in 2006 after steadily falling from 1991 to 2005. [LiveScience, 2/6/08; msnbc.com, 2/6/08 stats, c&e]

Sports stars often deny that they are role models for youth. But a new survey suggests otherwise. A study published in the January issue of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise focused on approximately 3,200 high school students and found that among those who admitted using anabolic steroids, 57% said professional athletes' usage of the substance influenced their decision. Eighty percent of users—and 35% of non-users—said they believed steroids could help them achieve their athletic dreams. [msnbc.com, 2/6/08 stats]

Young people ages 16 to 20 who watch professional wrestling are more likely to have unprotected sex or be overly aggressive, according to a new report in the Southern Medical Journal. Researchers found that for each instance someone in this age group watched pro wrestling in the two weeks prior to the survey, their likelihood of injuring someone with a weapon was up 19%, their odds of having sex without birth control increased 13%, and the chance that they fought with a girlfriend or boyfriend climbed 16%. Still, the researchers responsible for the study caution that wrestling might not cause kids to become more violent. It might be that violent kids are just more attracted to professional wrestling. But the study does support a growing body of research which indicates violent media desensitizes viewers to violence and can indeed beget real-life aggression. [Reuters, 2/19/08 stats, c&e]

Those circle, triangle and R1 buttons on your favorite video game controller may soon be a thing of the past. Emotiv Systems plans to unleash a new sort of controller to the public later this year—that you put on your head. Emotiv's "neuroheadset," which you wear like a baseball cap, will detect thoughts, expressions and (supposedly) even "non-conscious emotions" and then translate those brainwaves into onscreen action. [AP, 2/21/08; washingtonpost.com, 2/21/08]