Category: Fashion and lifestyle

Troy Kotsur made history on Sunday as the first deaf man to win an Oscar for his role in “CODA,” and Ariana DeBose took the supporting actress trophy for “West Side Story” as Hollywood returned to all-out glitz at this year’s Academy Awards.

In “CODA,” an acronym for “child of deaf adults,” Kotsur played Frank Rossi, the father of a teenager who struggles to help her family’s fishing business while pursuing her own aspirations in music.

“This is amazing to be here on this journey. I cannot believe I am here,” Kotsur said in a heartfelt speech delivered in sign language as he accepted the supporting actor honor.

“This is dedicated to the deaf community, the ‘CODA’ community and the disabled community. This is our moment,” he added.

The only other deaf person to win an Oscar was Kotsur’s “CODA” co-star Marlee Matlin. She won best actress for her role in 1986 romantic drama “Children of a Lesser God.”

Supporting actress went to DeBose for playing the spirited Anita, who sings “America” in Steven Spielberg’s remake of the classic musical.

As she held her gold statuette, the Afro-Latina actress asked the audience to imagine her as a young girl “in the back seat of a white Ford Focus.”

“You see a queer, openly queer Latina, who found her strength in life through art. And that’s what we’re here to celebrate,” she said.

“So, anybody who’s ever questioned your identity. Or find yourself living in the gray spaces, I promise you this: There is indeed a place for us,” she added, referencing the moving song from “West Side Story.”

DeBose also thanked “divine inspiration” Rita Moreno, who earned the best supporting actress award in 1962 for playing Anita in the original movie version of the musical.

Beyonce opened the show by performing “Be Alive,” an Oscar-nominated song from the movie “King Richard,” about the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. She and her backup dancers, clad in sparkling yellow gowns, performed from a tennis court in the sisters’ hometown of Compton, California.

After going three years without a host, a trio was chosen to guide Sunday’s ceremony: Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes.

“This year, the Oscars hired three women to host because it’s cheaper than hiring one man,” Schumer joked.

“And for you people in Florida, we’re going to have a gay night,” added openly gay Sykes, referring to legislation in the state that limits LGBTQ discussion in schools and has been labeled by critics in Hollywood and elsewhere as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

A dark Western, “The Power of the Dog,” is battling the feel-good drama “CODA” for the prestigious best picture prize. A win by either movie would mark a milestone by handing the statuette to a streaming service.

Netflix Inc NFLX.O released “Power of the Dog” while “CODA” streamed on Apple TV+ AAPL.O.

Producers said they planned an upbeat show but will acknowledge the crisis in Ukraine, which has killed thousands and driven a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people from their homes. Actor Mila Kunis, who was born in Ukraine, is among the night’s presenters. Jason Momoa wore a handkerchief in the colors of the Ukrainian flag: blue and yellow.

Jessica Chastain, Nicole Kidman and other nominees donned a rainbow of colors for a ceremony with 2,500 gown- and tuxedo-clad attendees and free from last year’s pandemic restrictions. Nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee wore a light blue suit, while Chastain picked a lavender and gold gown with giant ruffles on the skirt. Kirsten Dunst and Marlee Matlin chose bright red.

After past complaints about a lack of diversity, two of this year’s four acting accolades may go to people of color. Will Smith is likely to earn his first Oscar for “King Richard,” awards watchers say, as is Ariana DeBose for “West Side Story.”

In a bid to draw more viewers, especially younger ones, after years of declining ratings, the show will add two awards, the results of fan votes for favorite film and scene. Some winners were announced ahead of the live show with their speeches edited into the show.

The best picture race hinges on whether the 9,900 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences back a gothic psychological thriller or an uplifting story.

“Power of the Dog,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch as a repressed cowboy who torments his brother’s new wife, outpaced all movies with 12 nominations. It had been considered the leader until “CODA” landed top honors from the Screen Actors Guild and Producers Guild.

Source: Voice of America

For the first time in two years, the Academy Awards are rolling out the red carpet at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre for what the film academy hopes will be a back-to-normal Oscars. Except for all the stuff that’s changed.

The telecast for the 94th Academy Awards will begin, as usual, at 8 p.m. EDT on ABC. But little else about how this year’s Oscars will get underway is traditional. An hour before the broadcast begins, attendees will assemble in the Dolby for the presentation of eight awards and acceptance speeches that will be edited into a broadcast that producer Will Packer has promised will be a tight three hours.

It’s one of many shifts, both slight and tectonic, around this year’s ceremony. After two years of pandemic — and a socially distanced 2021 edition with record-low ratings — the Academy Awards will try to recapture their exalted place in pop culture with a revamped telecast that’s expected to see a streaming service win best picture for the first time.

It won’t be easy. The film industry recovered significantly from the pandemic in 2021, but despite one of the biggest hits in years in “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” the rebound has been fitful. The global movie industry sold about half the tickets last year as it did two years ago, $21.3 billion in 2021 compared to $42.3 billion in 2019, according to the Motion Picture Association. Hollywood pushed more of its top films directly into homes than ever before; half of this year’s 10 best-picture nominees were streamed at or very near release. Even the film academy shifted entirely to a streaming platform for voters, rather than DVD screeners.

Then there are the challenges of commanding worldwide attention for a night of Hollywood self-congratulation after two years of pandemic and while Russia’s war ravages Ukraine. Packer has said the war in Ukraine will be respectfully acknowledged during the broadcast.

Netflix’s “The Power of the Dog,” Jane Campion’s gothic western, comes in with a leading 12 nominations and a good chance of snagging the top award. But all the momentum is with Sian Heder’s deaf family drama “CODA,” which, despite boasting just three nods, is considered the favorite. A win would be a triumph for Apple TV+, which acquired the movie out of the Sundance Film Festival last year and has spent big promoting it to academy members.

But expect the most awards on the night to go to “Dune,” Denis Villeneuve’s sweeping science fiction epic. It’s the odds-on-favorite to clean up in the technical categories.

After several years sans-host, the Oscars will turn to the trio of Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall to emcee the broadcast, which is also streaming on platforms including Hulu Live TV, YouTubeTV and on ABC.com with provider authentication. Producers have also lined up a star-studded group of performers including Billie Eilish and Beyoncé to sing nominated songs, while the “Encanto” cast will perform Lin-Manuel Miranda’s breakout hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.”

It will be a staggered start, with stars making their way into the Dolby at different times. ABC’s red carpet preshow will run 6:30 to 8 p.m., with the first hour of awards happening inside the theater between 7-8 p.m. News of those winners will spread first on social media and later be woven into the telecast. To accommodate the shift, the red carpet will also open an hour earlier than usual, at 4 p.m. Eastern.

The rejiggered approach, which has been deeply unpopular with some academy members, should make for some complicated red-carpet logistics. The academy, wanted to give each winner an uncompromised moment, is urging attendees to be in their seats by 7 p.m. Some stars, like “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” nominee Jessica Chastain, have said they won’t do red carpet interviews if it means missing the presentation of awards like best hair and makeup, for which the artists of “Tammy Faye” are nominated.

That’s one of the eight pre-show categories to be handed out during what producers are calling the “golden hour.” The others are: film editing, sound, original score, production design, live-action short, animated short and documentary short.

Earlier this month, more than 70 Oscar winners, including James Cameron, Kathleen Kennedy and Guillermo del Toro, warned that the change would turn some nominees into “second-class citizens.”

Behind the change is alarm over the Oscars fast-falling ratings. While drops have been common to all major network award shows, last year’s show attracted only about 10 million viewers, less than half of the 23.6 million the year before. A decade ago, it was closer to 40 million.

To help restore the Oscars’ position, some argued in the lead-up to this year’s awards that a blockbuster like “Spider-Man: No Way Home” should have been nominated for best picture. It’s up for just visual effects.

Instead, a wide gamut of films are in the hunt, ranging from the much-watched Netflix apocalyptic comedy “Don’t Look Up” and the roundly acclaimed three-hour Japanese drama “Drive My Car.”

One thing producers have promised: the night’s final award will be best picture. Last year’s show concluded awkwardly with the unexpected presentation of best actor to a not-present Anthony Hopkins.

Source: Voice of America

Brent Sass continued to lead the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Sunday, but he must hold off the defending champion as mushers have reached the Bering Sea coast and its treacherous ice.

Sass breezed through the checkpoint in the village of Shaktoolik on Sunday morning, staying only eight minutes. The village is 1,213 kilometers (754 miles) into the nearly 1,609-kilometer (1,000-mile) race, and the winner is expected to cross the finish line in Nome on Tuesday or Wednesday.

According to GPS trackers each musher carries, Sass had a lead of just over 16 kilometers (10 miles) on Dallas Seavey, who tied Rick Swenson for the most Iditarod victories at five with his 2021 Iditarod win.

But the GPS data on the race’s Iditarod Insider website also showed Seavey running at a faster clip even though he is mushing with two fewer dogs than the 12 Sass has in harness.

Aaron Burmeister was in third place, but about 64 kilometers (40 miles) behind Seavey.

Sass picked up another award late Saturday when he was the first musher to reach the Gold Coast. Among the prizes presented to him in the community of Unalakleet was 28.35 grams (one ounce) of gold nuggets, worth about $2,000.

He’s previously been awarded several cash prizes, artwork and a gourmet meal for being the first musher to reach checkpoints dotting the trail from the Anchorage area to the Gold Rush town of Nome.

Sass turned down the gourmet meal, however, because he didn’t have time to eat it.

The world’s most famous sled dog race began with 49 mushers on March 6 in Willow, about 121 kilometers (75 miles) north of Anchorage. Since then, four have withdrawn from the race.

Source: Voice of America

With a flick of his brush, Ghanaian painter Daniel Anum Jasper armed actor Paul Newman with a pair of revolvers. Unfinished paintings of a bell-bottomed John Travolta and nunchuck-spinning Bruce Lee adorned the walls of his crammed Accra studio.

Jasper, a veteran movie poster designer, was finishing up one of the 1969 classic “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” commissioned by a foreign collector who had reached out over Instagram.

From the late 1970s to the 1990s, Ghana developed a tradition of advertising films with vibrant hand-painted posters. Local cinemas were flourishing in the West African country, and artists competed over who could entice the largest audience with their often gory, imaginative and eye-popping displays.

Jasper was a pioneer of the tradition and has been painting movie posters on repurposed flour sacks for the last 30 years. But the market for his work, which once had people clamoring for theater seats, has changed.

“People are no longer interested in going out to watch a movie when it can be watched from the comfort of their phones,” Jasper said.

“But there is a growing interest in owning these hand-painted posters internationally,” he added. “Now they hang them in private rooms or show them in exhibitions.”

With the rise of the internet, Ghana’s independent cinemas fell into obscurity. But Jasper’s work has gained appeal abroad, including in the United States, where the posters are valued as unique representations of a specific period in African art.

Western action flicks were mainstays of the tradition, as were Bollywood films and Chinese pictures. Many of the posters include paranormal elements and gratuitous violence even if the films had none, and physical features are wildly exaggerated.

Joseph Oduro-Frimpong, a professor in pop culture anthropology at Ghana’s Ashesi University, has several of Jasper’s paintings. He has collected the posters for years and has been known to buy up a closing video store’s entire supply.

He plans to display his posters at the Centre for African Popular Culture opening at the university later this year, and said he hopes people appreciate their historical significance.

“Of course there is an esthetic value to the posters, how crazy it is and all of that, but we use them to have a conversation with students,” he said.

“We tell them not to think about what they’re seeing now… [but] to think of these art forms as symbols of history that can tell their own stories.”

Source: Voice of America

A virtual version of the handwritten notes for the song “Hey Jude” has been sold at auction in California for almost $77,000, the latest hammer price success for NFTs.

Originally entitled “Hey Jules,” the Fab Four’s hit was written in 1968 by Paul McCartney to comfort a young Julian Lennon during father John’s separation from his mother, Cynthia.

The NFT version of the notes was presented as an animation in which the words are progressively inscribed on the page and was accompanied by an audio commentary from Lennon junior.

“For me, just looking at a picture is not enough if I was a buyer,” Lennon earlier told AFP in Los Angeles. “So I wanted to add something a little more personal. And for me, that was writing and narrating a little bit of story that would be behind the images.”

The sale, by Julien’s Auctions, also included an NFT of the Afghan coat worn by his father on the set of “Magical Mystery Tour,” which fetched $22,400

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique digital objects that confer ownership.

While their content may be copyable, the NFT is “the original,” in much the same way that there are innumerable prints of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa,” but only the Louvre Museum has the original.

Investors and wealthy collectors have clamored in recent months to get involved in the latest digital craze, which relies on the same blockchain technology that powers cryptocurrencies and cannot be forged or otherwise manipulated.

Recent auctions have seen eye-watering sums paid for NFTs, including a staggering $69.3 million for a digital work by artist Beeple at a sale at Christie’s.

Source: Voice of America

It’s time again to celebrate Hollywood’s grandest ambitions and most daring risk takers.

No, I’m not talking about Jackass Forever.

On Tuesday morning, nominations for the 94th annual Academy Awards will be announced. Nominations are occurring a little later than usual. To make way for the Olympics, the Oscars are to be held March 27.

And for the second straight year, the Oscars will unfold during the pandemic. The industrial complex of parties, galas and little gold statuettes known as “awards season” has again gone largely virtual, sapping the season of some of its usual buzz. The Oscars’ typical opening act — the Golden Globes — were much reduced and untelevised this year.

But the Oscar nominations, which will be announced Tuesday beginning at 8:18 a.m. EST by presenters Tracee Ellis Ross and Leslie Jordan, will try to again seize the spotlight after a year of profound change for the industry and a still-unfolding recovery for movie theaters. Nominations will be broadcast live on Oscar.com, Oscars.org, the academy’s social media accounts and on ABC’s Good Morning America.

But those are far from the only headwinds facing the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Last year’s Oscars, held in late April at an audience-less Union Station rather than the Oscars’ usual home, the Dolby Theatre, plummeted to an all-time low of 9.85 million viewers.

Can Tuesday’s slate of nominees stem the tide? Among the films expected to do well are Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic Dune, Kenneth Branagh’s autobiographical coming-of-age tale Belfast and Jane Campion’s gothic western The Power of the Dog. Alas, Jackass Forever, the current no. 1 movie at the box office, will have to wait until next year.

Here are five questions heading into nominations.

Just how much will streamers dominate?

Streaming services have for years made inroads into the Oscars, but they may overwhelm this year’s best-picture field. After academy rule changes, 10 films will be nominated for best picture, and it’s possible that only a few of them will have opened traditionally in theaters. Netflix, which is still pursuing its first best-picture trophy, has three contenders in The Power of the Dog, Adam McKay’s apocalyptic comedy Don’t Look Up and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical adaptation Tick, Tick … Boom!

Apple has the deaf family drama CODA and Joel Coen’s Shakespeare adaptation The Tragedy of Macbeth. Amazon is represented with Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos.

Two films that premiered simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max — Dune and the Will Smith-led King Richard — are in the hunt. That has made contenders like Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza (MGM, Focus Features) and Belfast (Focus) stand out as theater-first throwbacks.

Will the biggest box-office hits crash the party?

Given the waning audience for the Oscars and a tumultuous year for theaters, some would like to see as many crowd-pleasers represented Tuesday as possible. Could Spider-Man: No Way Home, the biggest hit of the pandemic with $749 million in domestic ticket sales and $1.77 billion globally, or Daniel Craig’s 007 swan song No Time to Die ($774 million worldwide) score a best picture nomination?

As much as the Oscars’ populism could use some pop, don’t count on either to join the 10 nominees. The segment of the academy most supportive of big-budget box-office success — producers — passed up the chance to do so in their highly predictive guild nominations. That

would likely leave Dune ($399 million worldwide) as the category’s biggest ticket seller. But there are also other metrics to measure today’s most popular movies. Don’t Look Up is Netflix’s second-most popular movie ever with some 359,790,000 hours watched, according to the company.

How international will the nominees be?

Two years after Bong Joon Ho’s Korean thriller Parasite won best picture, a group of acclaimed international films could vie in several top categories. While no film has the broad support that made Parasite the first non-English language film to win Hollywood’s top honor, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s masterful three-hour Japanese drama Drive My Car could squeeze into best picture, best director or best screenplay.

Other films with strong support outside of the academy’s best international film category including Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers (look for Penélope Cruz in the uber-competitive best actress category), Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God and Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated Flee.

In expanding and diversifying its membership in recent years, the academy has grown more international — and enlarged the sway of overseas voters.

Will Kristen Stewart get in?

Kristen Stewart had once been widely expected to land her first Oscar nomination for her performance as Princess Diana in Pablo Larrain’s Spencer. But that film has proved divisive among critics and moviegoers, and Stewart’s once sturdy Oscar bid now appears far from certain.

The 31-year-old actor was looked over by the Screen Actors Guild and the BAFTAs. She could mount a comeback with the academy, but best actress is brutal this year. Among the favorites: Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter), Lady Gaga (House of Gucci), Jennifer Hudson (Respect), Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos), Cruz, Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye) and Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza).

If Stewart isn’t snubbed, someone — several someones — will be.

Will enough people watch?

This is probably the biggest question facing the Oscars this year, and it hovers over everything. Ratings for award shows all around have been declining for years, but the pandemic and the growth of streaming has accelerated the dismantling of Hollywood tradition.

This year, the academy has signaled that everything is on the table. Should Spider-Man star Tom Holland be called upon to emcee?

No details have yet been announced about the show, but the academy has said there will be a host for the first time since 2018.

Maybe Johnny Knoxville has a few tricks up his sleeve?

Source: Voice of America

The risk of dying from cancer in the United States has fallen by nearly a third in three decades, thanks to earlier diagnoses, better treatments and less smoking, an analysis said Wednesday.

The cancer death rate for men and women fell 32% from its peak in 1991 to 2019, the American Cancer Society said in its annual report.

The drop represents about 3.5 million total deaths averted.

“This success is largely because of fewer people smoking, which resulted in declines in lung and other smoking-related cancers,” the report said, adding that lung cancer causes more deaths than any other kind.

And the rate of decline is accelerating, data show. In the 1990s, the risk dropped 1% yearly. Between 2015 and 2019, the rate shrank twice as fast, about 2% a year.

“Accelerating declines in the cancer death rate show the power of prevention, screening, early diagnosis, treatment and our overall potential to move closer to a world without cancer,” the cancer society report said.

“In recent years, more people with lung cancer are being diagnosed when the cancer is at an early stage and living longer as a result,” it added.

In 2004, only 21% of people diagnosed with lung cancer were still alive after three years. In 2018, the number grew to 31%.

Disparities persist

Improving treatments and early screening are also helping to decrease death rates, but disparities in cancer outcomes persist.

The cancer society reports that cancer survival rates are lower for Black people than for white people across almost every type of cancer. Black women are 41% more likely to die of breast cancer than white women, even though they are 4% less likely to get it.

And American Indians and Alaska Natives have the highest liver cancer incidence of any major racial/ethnic group in the United States — a risk more than double that in white people.

The cancer society attributes the gap to “inequities in wealth, education and overall standard of living,” stemming from “historical and persistent structural racism and discriminatory practices.”

Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic “greatly reduced” people’s ability to access cancer services, including prevention, detection and treatments, the organization said.

“These delays in care will probably worsen cancer disparities given the unequal burden the pandemic is having on communities of color,” the report warned, adding that the numbers do not account for the toll of the pandemic because the most recent data available are from 2019.

Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the United States behind heart disease.

In 2022, the cancer society expects 1.9 million new cancer cases and nearly 610,000 deaths, or about 1,670 deaths a day.

According to the organization, 42% of the predicted cancer cases are “potentially avoidable,” since they can be caused by smoking, excess body weight, drinking alcohol, poor nutrition and physical inactivity.

President Joe Biden, who lost his son Beau to brain cancer in 2015, wanted to make the fight against the disease a priority in his presidency, but it has so far been largely eclipsed by efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Voice of America