Nine Foreign Language Films remain in Oscar race

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science announced that nine foreign language films advanced in competition for the category of best Foreign Language Film. The original list consisted of 65 films in this category.

Here's the list of films in alphabetical order, by country:

Argentina, El Secreto de Sus Ojos Juan Jose Campanella, director;
Australia, Samson & Delilah Warwick Thornton, director;
Bulgaria, The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner Stephan Komandarev, director;
France, Un Prophète Jacques Audiard, director;
Germany, The White Ribbon Michael Haneke, director;
Israel, Ajami Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, directors;
Kazakhstan, Kelin Ermek Tursunov, director;
The Netherlands, Winter in Wartime Martin Koolhoven, director;
Peru, The Milk of Sorrow Claudia Llosa, director.

The Academy reports that the short list is determined in "two phases":

The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 65 eligible films between mid-October and January 16. The group’s top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.

The shortlist will be winnowed down to the five nominees by specially invited committees in New York and Los Angeles. They will spend Friday, January 29, through Sunday, January 31, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots.

The nominees will be announced February 2nd at 5:30 a.m at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The Oscar telecast will be Sunday, March 7th, 2010 at Hollywood and Highland and telecast on ABC.

Conan O'Brien on Fox Twitter account a hoax, suspended

The much-reported Conan O'Brien on Fox Twitter account - http://www.twitter.com/ConanonFox - has been suspended. The account was discovered two days ago leading to reports that Conan O'Brien was headed over to Fox after losing his 11:30 PM late night spot to Jay Leno after his 10 PM show failed to draw profitable ratings.

Now it has been reported that the Twitter account was a hoax; still the fact is that Conan's leaving NBC.

As for the fake Conan on Fox Twitter account, TMZ reports it was reportedly created by Red Sox fans, perhaps some of the same ones angry with Martha Coakley in her race against now Senator Scott Brown. But there was a real account in its place; that one was switched with tweet, "Triumph means so many things to so many people SoSH." And...

The SoSH can be traced back to a Boston Red Sox fan forum called "Sons of Sam Horn." TMZ contacted one of the site's moderators who told us one of their faithful members, "on his own ... recreated the Conan on FOX Twitter site and referenced SoSH."

The new show, or any new Conan show, could not start until after September 2010, according to Celebridoodle.com, because Conan's NBC contract prohibits his appearance on any other network until that time.

Stay tuned for more on Conan's planned drinking binge.

Conan O'Brien and NBC to reach settlement deal tonight

Late Night Talk Show Host Conan O'Brien and NBC are close to a settlement deal that would net Conan O'Brien with $8.1 million for his staff, a full $600,000 over the original deal.

According to TMZ.com, NBC will pay $7.5 million to his staff, and while his executive producer will make $4.5 million, it's in addition to the $7.5 million to staff as a whole.

NBC thinks they will make money if Conan walks and Jay Leno takes his spot on The Tonight Show. The reason for this is Jay Leno makes $45 million while Conan would lose $5 million.

Meanwhile, all signs point to a Friday farewell for Conan, according to Forbes, which reports Conan saying:

"Hi, I'm Conan O'Brien, and I'm just three days away from the biggest drinking binge in history."

Stay tuned.

Tornado warning in Santa Cruz, San Jose, Bay Area

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning for San Jose and The Bay Area, today, Wednesday. The NWS issued a tornado warning for parts of Monterey, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. This happened after wind gusts as fast as 85 mph were reported today.

This blogger has never heard of a tornado warning in The San Francisco Bay Area until today. In Santa Cruz County, California, 36,000 people lost power. Yesterday, Oakland was battered by hail storms. Rain has pelted the San Francisco Bay Area all day long.

According to SFGate.com and the National Weather Service' Dan Reynolds, what we're experiencing is called an El Niño, where thunderstorms over warm weather over the Pacific Ocean shoves clouds across the Pacific and into the West Coast. Since there's no high pressure system to crowd-out the El Niño, it dominates the weather.

So get an umbrella, if you must go outside.

Stay tuned.

Is All White Basketball League a good idea?

Other than the death of Jennifer Lyon, Senator Scott Brown, and Heidi Montag, one of the more controversial topics is the attempt to develop an All White Basketball League. According to Associated Content, a man named Don Moose Lewis is pushing the idea because, as he put it,..

"There's nothing hatred about what we're doing. I don't hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here's a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like. Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands or grabbing their crotch? That's the culture today, and in a free country we should have the right to move ourselves in a better direction."

But is this, an All White Basketball League, that better direction?

The plan is for the league to be based out of Atlanta, Georgia with all teams owned under a single entity. A $10,000 licensee fee is required to establish an organization in any one of 11 additional cities.

The response to an All White Basketball League has been anything but favorable. Ryan Christopher DeVault wrote:

This just seems like a bad idea all around, and something that won't find as much support as Don Moose Lewis is hoping that it will. While claiming that he isn't racist, isn't it racist in itself to create a league that won't allow people of color to play?

Don "Moose" Lewis is trying to drum up support for his league idea in Augusta, Georgia, where Tiger Woods became the first person of color to win The Masters. Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver thinks the idea is not in the sprit of inclusiveness:

"As a sports enthusiast, I have always supported bringing more sporting activities to Augusta," he said. "However, in this instance I could not support in good conscience bringing in a team that did not fit with the spirit of inclusiveness that I, along with many others, have worked so hard to foster in our city."

What's interesting is Moose" Lewis says he's not racist, but says he wants to emphasize fundamental basketball, and not "street-ball" played by "people of color." In this, "Moose" Lewis failed to mention the number of white players who have mastered the same "street-ball" he says only people of color play.

The other issue is the reverse racism Don Moose Lewis shows by stating that whites essentially don't play basketball well and have to be shielded from black and minority players. But what's more disturbing is Lewis is showing the same segregation active in the 1960s.

The problem with his league idea is that in the diverse 21st Century, players on his all-white league will eventually want to play with black, minority, and European players just to see how good they are. That dynamic alone will cause the league to fail.

Right now, the league is without a place to play. Given the looks of things, it may never get one.

Stay tuned.

Massachusetts Senate Race: Scott Brown won for Brown, not GOP

The Massachusetts Senate Race saw Scott Brown's win the US Senate seat that was occupied by the late Senator Ted Kennedy, but the victory a win for Scott Brown, not for the GOP. Only a charismatic, relatively young, youthful, cocky, and properous-looking white guy could get away with opposing aide to 9-11 volunteer workers and posing nude in Cosmo, yet still fill a seat occupied by the late, legendary Senator Ted Kennedy.

Senator-Elect Scott Brown (R) Mass.

Scott Brown looks like and carries himself like this blogger's good friend and Cal-Berkeley buddy Greg Haywood (who's a Democrat), who also has the great knack for endearing himself to people, sometimes saying ridiculous things, and yet coming away smelling like a rose. CNN's David Gergen is wrong (as usual) because President Barack Obama does not need to "back off" of anything, including health care.

(As a momentary aside, CNN's David Gergen's great at painting a broad-brush concept, yet not filling in the blanks. For example, he says that President Obama must now "Govern from the center". What does that mean? What's the center? How does that square with our economy's structural problems? Gergen doesn't say. But the people on CNN who listen to him come away thinking he's said something smart, whereas this blogger comes away thinking he doesn't really understand the nature of what he's saying.)

Scott Brown said "The independent voice of Massachusetts has spoken." Note, he said nothing at all about the "Republican voice". Why? Because there's is none.

In his acceptance speech, Senator-elect Brown never once referred to the Republican agenda, nor did he use the term "conservative" and that's not by accident.



Scott Brown's cocky, self-assured delivery is what's attractive about him and it has nothing to do with the GOP, and it has more to do with the generation he's part of: The Obama Generation.

It is for that reason President Obama can be more aggressive and yes, run Health Care Reform through Congress, full steam ahead.  Scott Brown is Obama's cattle-prod. His reminder that he serves at the will of the people and not the Democratic Party.

What Obama can use is essentially what will be Scott Brown's downfall: his cocky nature. It's going to rub a lot of people the wrong way and Brown will find himself alone out there if he keeps it up.  But it's that same nature that is a trademark of Obama's rise, so Obama's certainly interested in getting to know someone who is of like minds.

The best move is to give Senator-elect Scott Brown his chance. After all, he won. Moreover, what will happen is this: Senator Scott Brown will save President Barack Obama. Senator Brown will allow President Obama to be more populist, not centrist. There's a school of thought that perhaps President Obama was trapped by his own party - by Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid. Obama and Brown are cut from the same generational cloth and that will serve to bind them in a way few predicted.

The key here is basketball. Where problems were once solved in a smoke filled room, now they're settled on the basketball court. That "two-on-two" Senator Brown talked about playing with President Obama - that laughable line - is a foreshadowing of things to come.

The GOP has every reason to fear a new alliance between Obama and Brown, just as the old-line Democrats should be concerned as well. The real change is generational, not political.

Stay tuned.

Haiti Earthquake update: death toll at 70,000 and rising

The latest Haiti Earthquake news has the official death toll at over 70,000 and rising. One week after the 7.0 Haiti Earthquake hit ten miles away from and six miles below the capital city of Port-Au-Prince, Haitians and people from around the World have worked to rescue people trapped below the rubble of collapsed buildings.

In an email to those on The Clinton Foundation email list, Former President Bill Clinton reported:

I wish you could have seen what I saw. Haitians were performing surgeries at night, without lights, with no anesthesia, using vodka to sterilize equipment. It's astonishing what they've been able to accomplish in such devastating conditions.

Many corporations and foundations have donated over $200 million to the Haiti Earthquake Relief effort as of this writing. Around the country, from San Francisco to New York, groups, organizations, and people have established efforts to collect money, food, and clothing to send to Haiti; and more help is on the way.

Operation USA has collected 2 million water purification tablets - almost one for the estimated 3 million who need water. And they plan an airlift of medical supplies scheduled to leave next Tuesday. U.S Troops arrived in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti " in dramatic style", landing on the lawn of the badly damaged Presidential Palace.

The question is how long will it take to rebuild Haiti? The level of destruction and death is on a scale that's just awfully incredible. The question - for which there's not yet an answer - is just how long and how much will it cost to bring Haiti back to health.

Stay tuned.

U.S Unemployment and Underemployment rate at 17 percent

A 17 percent unemployment and underemployment rate. The real problem behind President Barack Obama's surprisingly dropping approval rating and what could be a factor in the Massachusetts Senate Race is a not-so-surprising reason; the combined U.S. unemployment and underemployment rate.

According to Portal Seven and based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the U6 Unemployment Rate is:

The U6 unemployment rate counts not only people without work seeking full-time employment (the more familiar U-3 rate), but also counts "marginally attached workers and those working part-time for economic reasons."

Note that some of these part-time workers counted as employed by U-3 could be working as little as an hour a week.

And the "marginally attached workers" include those who have gotten discouraged and stopped looking, but still want to work.

The age considered for this calculation is 16 years and over

The incredible 17 percent rate translates to almost one in five people either working part time or not at all. While the $787 billion Economic Stimulus program has kept America from plunging deeper into a Depression, it has not helped to stop the seemingly chronic high rate of underemployment and unemployment. It's too small.

The problem is that at the time the Stimulus bill was past, it represented at best two to three percent of Gross Domestic Product. But GDP was falling at a projected rate of eight percent per year at the time. While the Stimulus has worked to slow that to a halt, the rate of growth required to make up for the fall, at 3 percent last quarter, is not large enough to counter the economy's collapse. In other words, we still have not enough new jobs for the people who need them.

One solution is to do what some have suggested and that's to give American taxpayers under $100,000 $5,000 each or as one GOP Congressman suggested a $20,000 tax credit. The idea is to stimulate consumption which then causes business growth and employment.

Whatever the case, a taxpayer bailout has not been done, and the economy is not improving. If something's not done, and soon, Democrats will lose more than a few seats in the House and Senate.

Bill name Chan Gailey coach over Leslie Frazier; why?

The Buffalo Bills took Chan Gailey as their new head coach and to replace the fired Dick Jauron. Chan Gailey brings an 18 win, 14 loss NFL record to Buffalo, and a reputation of being a conservative offensive coordinator.



The hiring of Chan Gailey is shocking in the wake of the way Minnesota Vikings Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator Leslie Frazier's "minority token interview" by the Seattle Seahawks and now apparently The Buffalo Bills.

The NFL now must answer for The Rooney Rule, because it appears NFL owners outside of a few, have a desire to limit the number of coaches in the league who happen to be black. Chan Gailey is not a proven winner; his selection as head coach is questionable. ESPN's John Clayton writes that the Bills wanted "An offensive mind" with "head coaching experience."

Leslie Frazier has a better record with the Vikings as assistant head coach than Chan Gailey does at 18 and 14, and the Vikings 34 to 3 NFC First Round Divisional Playoff win just helps his credentials. Chan Gailey is seen by many NFL fans as "conservative", take this commenter over at the Chicago Sun-Times blog who wrote this before Gailey was selected by the Bills:

Well at least the (Chicago) Bears are looking at Chan Gailey, one of the most conservative coordinators ever. He is highly mediocre, but suits the role of coordinator who only gets one or two year contracts before he is fired. By that criteria he meets every qulification that Lovie is looking for. Mediocre, Conservative, Doesn't last long with a team, easy to fire, easy to hire, attacks a defense by not attacking a defense. But most think Gailey will end up with the Bills.

With this evaluation, the Buffalo Bills must explain to their fans why Chan Gailey really was their choice. If it was to escape a "Rooney Rule" hire, as Leslie Frazier would have been, then "The Rooney Rule" itself is to be reevaluated. Moreover, it appears something is going on here.

While Sports Illustrated's Peter King mentioned the Chan Gailey hire is "easy to knock" because of his "conservative" offense, he failed to mention The Rooney Rule issue, or even a single African American NFL coach that the Bills could have interviewed. King says that Gailey "took a team in decline and staved it off for as long as he could" - that's called being a "coach killer". A "coach killer" is good enough to field a competitive team, but not good enough to build a championship team.

Stay tuned.

Scott Brown for Senate supporters accused of sexism

The Massachusetts Senate Race between Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley and State Senator Scott Brown has taken an ugly turn according to The Boston Globe. In an article by Joan Vennochi, Scott Brown's supporters are shown as displaying a large degree of sexism.

In talking about Coakley, a Brown supporter yelled "Shove a curling iron up her butt", regarding a controversial sex abuse case. But Brown is reported to have said "We can do this" in response. This video, circulating the Internet features Scott Brown making the statement:



While Scott Brown does say that, and it may be just a cry to supporters that they can win, there's no evidence that he took time to say "We're not going to do that."

The "curling iron rape remark", as the NY Daily News called it, has gathered steam and could sink Scott Brown's campaign.

Stay tuned.

Mayor Ron Dellums and Port of Oakland - Michael Lighty tie breaker?

[Aimee Allison - OaklandSeen] Mayor Dellums is finally using his city-chartered right to break a council tie by casting a vote for his appointee Michael Lighty to the Port Commission. The Mayor, who recently brokered a deal with port truckers and the state over tighter emissions regulations, is finally playing his hand at strong mayor.

The Port Commission is one of the most powerful groups in city politics, and plays a key role in approving development project like the BART extension and housing, environmental fights as in the ongoing stand-off between truckers and the port, and jobs - as in whether local people are going to get the 6,000 jobs that will be created by the project at the old army base.

More from Sanjiv Handa, East Bay News Service:

Mayor Ron Dellums is still planning on attending the Oakland City Council
meeting Tuesday, Jan. 19, to cast the tie-breaking vote approving the nomination
of Michael Lighty to the Board of Commissioners of the Port of Oakland.It has
been so long since a mayoral tie-breaking vote was cast that many, including
some Council members, are rusty on the process.

Pursuant to the new
rules of procedure adopted effective May 1, 2003, mayoral tie-breakers appear on
the non-consent portion of the Council agenda — which cannot be called prior to
7 p.m.

Tuesday's Council meeting begins at 6 p.m. with open forum,
consent calendar items, closed session report, and ceremonial items. Four
ceremonial presentations, including two lengthy retirement honors, will be heard
during the 6 p.m. portion.

Deputy Police Chief Dave Kozicki and Chief
Technology Officer Bob Glaze are scheduled to be recognized for their long
careers with the city. Both retired as of Dec. 2009.

Councilmember Larry
Reid was quoted in local media as saying he might change his vote. Two local
blogs also indicated changes in the voting lineup, without citing names,

The official meeting agenda states:

Rule 29 [of City Council
Rules of Procedure] provides the following regarding the procedure: "Council and
public discussion is permitted on the item to be voted on by the Mayor; however,
Council members cannot change their vote unless the item has been properly
noticed for reconsideration. The Mayor must appear at the Council meeting to
cast his vote."
If the Mayor does not cast the tie breaking vote, the motion
fails.

The votes, according to draft minutes of the Jan. 5, 2010,
Council meeting was:

4 AYES — Kaplan; Kernighan; Nadel; Quan
4 NOES
— Brooks; De La Fuente; Reid; Brunner

Many speakers are expected to sign
up for the item. It is likely speaker time will be reduced to one minute per
person.

Upon approval, Lighty can take the oath of office on the spot if
he makes arrangements with the City Clerk's Office — or the next day in the
Clerk's office during regular business hours.

The Port has cancelled its
Jan. 20 Audit, Budget and Finance Committee meeting, which is chaired by Tony
Batarse, whom Lighty would replace. The next Port Commission meeting is not
scheduled until Feb. 2.

Scott Brown, who snubbed 9-11 workers, posed nude, ahead of Coakley?

Massachusetts State Senator Scott Brown, who voted against providing assistance to 9-11 workers, is reportedly ahead of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley in the race to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of Ted Kennedy.



But all of the news organizations reporting the lead are conservative: Fox News, The Washington Examiner, and Politico have Scott Brown ahead in their polls; the liberal Daily Kos calls the race a tossup and has many newspapers endorsing Coakley.

Still, it's questionable that Massachusetts voters would actually replace Ted Kennedy with a man who not only voted against providing assistance to Massachusetts 9-11 aid workers, but posed nude and has a questionable record of legislative experience.

The Attleboro Sun Chronicle wrote this endorsement:

The candidates in Tuesday's special U.S. Senate election have given a pretty clear idea of how they would vote on the major questions of the day. Martha Coakley is right on more of the big issues, mainly health care and the economy. We endorse her for election.

As the state's first female attorney general, Democrat Coakley since 2007 has proven herself an effective administrator. Throughout her career as a lawyer and district attorney she has exhibited rare skills in mediation and conciliation - the arts of finding middle ground for divergent viewpoints. It will serve her, and Massachusetts, well in the Senate.

(snip)

There's much to be said for endorsing a local candidate. However, we have an insurmountable problem. To paraphrase words Brown applied to his Democratic opponent, "he's a nice man, but he's wrong on all the issues."

Brown initially took a militant stand against gay marriage, which we have consistently supported. While he has softened his position some, his outlook on equal rights in a private matter remains worrisome. After voicing support in this space for health care reform, we can't very well back Brown when he is promising to submarine national health care on his own as "the 41st Republican senator." We are left instead to wonder how he sees himself as a fitting successor to Sen. Edward Kennedy, who made health care reform a signature issue, while planning to spoil the best chance for reform the nation has ever had.

The vote is today; stay tuned.