Pink Floyd wins lawsuit with EMI over downloads

************************************************** Pink Floyd wins lawsuit with EMI over downloads ************************************************** Pink Floyd won a legal battle Thursday against 'EMI' that prevents the band's long-time record label from selling individual songs online. Sir Andrew Morritt, chancellor of Britain's High Court, ruled that Pink Floyd's contract forbids 'EMI' from breaking up the band's albums without its permission, according to a spokeswoman for the British judicial system. 'EMI' had argued that the stipulation only applied to physical albums, not online sales. The group's contract reportedly contained a clause to "preserve the artistic integrity" of their albums. The band has traditionally resisted selling individual songs from their "concept albums", which are meant to be listened to from beginning to end. Pink Floyd, best known for the classics The Dark Side of the Moon****** and The Wall,****** has become one of 'EMI''s most lucrative contracts since it was first signed in 1967. "We're huge fans of Pink Floyd whose great catalog we have been representing for more than 40 years and continue to represent exclusively and internationally", 'EMI' said in a statement. According to 'EMI', the case has been going on for "well over a year" and most of the issues have already been resolved. However, the record company added that there are "further arguments to be heard" and it expects the case to go on "for some time". A spokeswoman for the law firm representing Pink Floyd said the band does not have a comment at this time.

Corey Haim prolonged tragic Hollywood tradition

************************************************** Actor Corey Haim dies at 38 ************************************************** LOS ANGELES – Corey Haim's story is sadly familiar in Hollywood: A teen talent who discovered drugs as he tasted his first success and whose personal problems increased as his star-power faded. Haim died Wednesday at 38, another chapter in Hollywood's tragic history of careers ravaged by drugs. Brittany Murphy's career was rebounding when she died at 31 in December from pneumonia and prescription drugs. River Phoenix was 16 when he starred in Stand By Me and 23 when he died of a drug overdose outside a Hollywood nightclub. Haim died at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. His mother called paramedics after he collapsed while getting out of bed at his apartment. Haim started working in TV commercials at 10 and was a big-screen heartthrob at 15. The star of 1987's The Lost Boys****** discovered drugs while making that movie. "I was working on Lost Boys when I smoked my first joint", he told the British tabloid 'The Sun' in 1994. "I did cocaine for about a year and a half, then it led to crack". Haim said he went into rehab and was put on prescription drugs. In 2007, he told 'ABC''s "Nightline" that drugs hurt his career. "I wasn't functional enough to work for anybody, even myself", he said. "I wasn't working". Haim had returned to the spotlight in recent years, appearing in the A&E reality TV show The Two Coreys with The Lost Boys co-star Corey Feldman. The show was canceled in 2008 after two seasons. Feldman later said Haim's drug abuse strained their working and personal relationships. Haim was ill with flulike symptoms before his death, and police said he was taking over-the-counter and prescription medications. An autopsy will determine his cause of death. There was no evidence of foul play. "He could have succumbed to whatever (illness) he had or it could have been drugs", police Sgt. William Mann said. "He has had a drug problem in the past". Feldman said he wept when he learned Haim had died. "This is a tragic loss of a wonderful, beautiful, tormented soul, who will always be my brother, family, and best friend", Feldman said in a statement. Troy Searer, an executive producer of The Two Coreys, said Haim's "heart and his potential were only outmatched by his demons". Dr. Drew Pinsky, an addiction-medicine specialist and star of VH1's drug-treatment reality programs "Celebrity Rehab" and "Sober House", said the lure of Hollywood attracts many potential addicts. "There's a higher incidence of addiction among celebrities", he said. "It's not the Hollywood-ness. It's the fact that addicts show up in Hollywood and addicts are likely to die". Pinsky added: "Young Hollywood only reflects what's going on in the culture at large". Jennifer Gimenez, an actress and recovering drug addict and alcoholic who appears on "Sober House", said Hollywood's ultra-competitive environment can lead some people to seek escape in substances. "I don't feel like Hollywood takes you down", she said. "I just feel like it co-signs it a lot". Gimenez found success at 14 as a model and suddenly had to shoulder adult-sized responsibilities. Add the pressure of working in a competitive industry, and a person predisposed to addiction succumbs, she said. Successful actors are not immune to the dangers of addiction. Heath Ledger was poised for superstardom when he overdosed in 2008 at age 28. He posthumously won the Oscar the following year for his work as the Joker in The Dark Knight.****** Haim's career outlook had been improving in recent months, and his neighbors told reporters the actor was looking healthier and getting stronger. He had a role in the 2009 Jason Statham action flick Crank 2: High Voltage and was making appearances to support his new film American Sunset, billed on his Web site as the first film he had starred in "since he left the business on a sabbatical". Haim's agent Mark Sterling and producers of American Sunset did not immediately respond to calls for comment. Searer said he last spoke to Haim about six months ago, when the actor "seemed incredibly positive". "He had done a few smaller films and things seemed to be on the upswing for him", Searer said. Haim, however, seemed sadly prophetic when he was interviewed by 'CNN''s Larry King in 2007, calling himself "a chronic relapser for the rest of my life". R.I.P. Corey Haim !

Mo'Nique, Waltz win supporting-acting Oscars

************************************************** ************************************************** Mo'Nique and Christoph Waltz win supporting-acting Oscars ************************************************** LOS ANGELES – Villainous roles snatched the supporting-acting prizes Sunday at the Academy Awards: Precious****** co-star Mo'Nique****** as a contemptible mother and Inglourious Basterds****** co-star Christoph Waltz****** as a sociable Nazi fiend. Both performers capped remarkable years, Mo'Nique startling fans with dramatic depths previously unsuspected in the actress known for lowbrow comedy and the Austrian-born Cristoph Waltz leaping to fame with his first big Hollywood role. "I would like to thank the academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics", said Mo'Nique, who plays the heartless, abusive welfare mother of an illiterate teen (Gabourey Sidibe, a best-actress nominee in her screen debut) in the Harlem drama "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire". Mo'Nique added her gratitude to the first black actress to win an Oscar, Hattie McDaniel, the 1939 supporting-actress winner for Gone With the Wind. "I want to thank Miss Hattie McDaniel for enduring all that she had to so that I would not have to", she said, adding thanks to Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, who signed on as executive producers to spread the word on Precious after it premiered at last year's Sundance Film Festival. Precious also won the adapted-screenplay Oscar for Geoffrey Fletcher. "This is for everybody who works on a dream every day. Precious boys and girls everywhere", Fletcher said. Waltz's award was presented by last season's supporting-actress winner, Penelope Cruz***, who gave Waltz a kiss as he took the stage. "Oscar and Penelope. That's an uber-bingo", Waltz said. Though a veteran stage and TV actor in Europe, Waltz had been a virtual unknown in Hollywood before Quentin Tarantino cast him as the prattling, ruthless Jew-hunter Hans Landa in his World War II saga. "Quentin with his unorthodox methods of navigation, this fearless explorer, took this ship across and brought it in with flying colors, and that's why I'm here", Waltz said. "This is your welcoming embrace, and there's no way I can ever thank you enough". The Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker****** won its first three categories, including original screenplay for Mark Boal, who spun a story about the perils and pressures of a U.S. bomb unit in Iraq. The science-fiction blockbuster Avatar****** won for art direction and cinematography, beating The Hurt Locker for the latter. The Hurt Locker won out over Avatar for sound editing and sound mixing. With nine nominations each, The Hurt Locker and Avatar came in tied for the Oscar lead. The evening's last two categories, best director and best picture, mark the two films' main rivalry, which is spiced up by a personal connection between The Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow****** and Avatar director James Cameron******. They were married from 1989-91. Cameron took the directing prize at the Golden Globes, but Bigelow earned the top honor from the Directors Guild of America, whose recipient almost always wins the same award at the Oscars. If it happens, Bigelow would be the first woman in the 82-year history of the Oscars to win best director. Screenwriter Mark Boal thanked Bigelow, calling her an "extraordinary and visionary filmmaker", and dedicated his Oscar win to the troops still in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with those who did not make it home. Mark Boal also affectionately recalled his father, who died a month ago. Up****** earned the third-straight Oscar award for Disney's 'Pixar' Animation, which now has won five of the nine awards since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences added a category for animated features. The film features Ed Asner providing the voice of a crabby widower who flies off on a grand adventure by lashing thousands of helium balloons to his house. "Never did I dream that making a flip-book out of my third-grade math book would lead to this", said Up director Pete Docter. 'Pixar' has a likely contender in the wings for next Oscar season with this summer's Toy Story 3, reuniting voice stars Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. The country-music tale Crazy Heart****** won for original song with its theme tune "The Weary Kind". The song category typically comes late in the show, after live performances of the nominees that have been spaced throughout the ceremony. Oscar producers tossed out those live performances this time in favor of montages featuring the songs and footage from the films they accompany. The Hurt Locker and Avatar lead an expanded field of 10 best-picture nominees. Either movie would represent a first at the Oscars. Cameron's Avatar would be the only science-fiction film ever to take home the best-picture prize. While war films have done well at the Oscars, Bigelow's The Hurt Locker would be the first winner centered on the war on terror, a subject that has stirred little interest among movie audiences shell-shocked by news coverage of Iraq and Afghanistan. The other eight films competing for best picture: the football drama The Blind Side******, the sci-fi thriller District 9******, the British teen tale An Education******, the World War II saga Inglourious Basterds******, the Harlem story Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire*** ***, the Jewish domestic chronicle A Serious Man******, the animated adventure Up******, and the recession-era yarn Up in the Air******. Oscar hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin opened the show with playful ribbing of nominees, including Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock, Woody Harrelson, Mo'Nique, James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow. They also made note of Oscar organizers' decision to double the best-picture category from five films to 10. "When that was announced, all of us in Hollywood thought the same thing. What's five times two ?" Steve Martin said. Leaders of the Academy widened the best-picture category from the usual five films to expand the range of contenders for a ceremony whose predictability had turned it into a humdrum affair for TV audiences. Oscar ratings fell to an all-time low two years ago and rebounded just a bit last year, when the show's overseers freshened things up with lively production numbers and new ways of presenting some awards. The overhaul continued this season with a show that farmed out time-consuming lifetime-achievement honors to a separate event last fall and hired Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin as the first dual Oscar hosts in 23 years. Audience darling Sandra Bullock****** is the best-actress favorite for The Blind Side******, which brought her the first Oscar nomination of her career. Jeff Bridges******, nominated four times previously without a win, looks like a lock for best actor for the country-music tale Crazy Heart******. Both Bullock and Bridges already had won other awards this weekend. At Friday's Spirit Awards honoring independent film, Bridges earned the best-actor prize for Crazy Heart. On Oscar eve Saturday night, Bullock won the worst-actress prize at the Razzies for her romantic comedy flop All About Steve******. A good sport about her worst-actress nomination throughout awards season, Bullock was a rare winner who showed up to accept her Razzie, tugging a little red wagon full of DVDs of All About Steve for the Razzies audience. **************************************************

Bullock, 'Transformers' make Razzies worst list

************************************************** Bullock, 'Transformers' make Razzies worst list ************************************************** LOS ANGELES – Sandra Bullock warmed up for the Academy Awards with a stop at the Razzies to collect a dubious honor: a worst-actress prize for her romantic comedy flop All About Steve***.*** Bullock****** swung by the Razzies on the eve of her expected triumph at Sunday's Oscars, where she is considered the favorite to win best actress for The Blind Side******. If she wins Sunday, Bullock will be the first person to win an Oscar and a Razzie over the same weekend. "I think this is an extraordinary award", said Bullock, who had promised throughout awards season that if she won the Razzie, she would accept it in person. "And I didn't realize that, in Hollywood, all you had to do was say you'd show up, and then you'd get the award. If I'd known that, I would have said I was appearing at the Oscars a long time ago". Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen****** was picked as last year's worst picture and won two other Razzies, worst director for Michael Bay and worst screenplay for Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Bay and his team probably will not lose any asleep over it. Though reviled by critics, Transformers took in $402.1 million domestically, No. 2 on the 2009 box-office chart behind Avatar. Bullock, who also shared the Razzie for worst screen couple with All About Steve co-star Bradley Cooper, was the first acting winner to show up at the Razzies since Halle Berry won worst-actress for Catwoman five years ago. As she took the stage, Bullock pulled a little red wagon filled with DVDs of All About Steve, saying she was giving a copy to everyone in the audience of about 300. Bullock implied that many Razzie voters had not actually seen the movie but cast ballots for her hoping to get her to show up at the awards. Bullock said if they watched the DVD — "I mean really watch it" — and decided it was not the worst performance of the year after all, then she would come back next year and "give back the Razzie. ... then we'll go drink afterwards". The worst-actor Razzie went to siblings Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas for Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience. The Jonas' pal Miley Cyrus, star of Hannah Montana: The Movie, lost the worst-actress category to Bullock. But her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, was named worst supporting actor for the big-screen Hannah Montana. Sienna Miller received the worst supporting-actress Razzie for the action tale G.I. Joe. Will Ferrell's action comedy flop Land of the Lost had come in tied with Transformers for the Razzies lead with seven nominations, but it was nearly shut out in every category. Once ballots had been counted from the roughly 650 Razzies voters, Land of the Lost was tied for the group's worst remake, rip-off or sequel prize. Razzies founder John Wilson, who always votes last, gave the tie-breaking vote to Land of the Lost. "It really did stink and I thought, well, it ought to get something, because it is a very bad movie", Wilson said. Razzie voters also made worst-of-the-decade picks, with John Travolta's science-fiction debacle Battlefield Earth winning worst picture. Among all-time Hollywood dreck, Battlefield Earth is "like the 800-pound mongrel gorilla in the room", Wilson said. "It's one of my favorite type of bad movies. It's so bad, it's entertaining, in ways that the people who made it had no idea it would be". Paris Hilton was chosen as the decade's worst actress for movies such as The Hottie and the Nottie and Repo: The Genetic Opera. Eddie Murphy, a 2009 Razzie nominee for Imagine That, was named the decade's worst actor for such bombs as The Adventures of Pluto Nash, I Spy and Meet Dave.

The 82nd Academy Awards: Who Will Win, Who Should Win, and Why ?

************************************************** The 82nd Academy Awards: Who Will Win, Who Should Win, and Why ? ************************************************** ************************************************** Yep, it's that time of year again: time to see who'll top the worst-dressed list, who'll deliver the sappiest acceptance speech, and just how many trophies The Hurt Locker will take home. But, there's a big difference between who'll win and who should. Don't forget to tune in to the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, airing on Sunday on 'ABC'. ************************************************** Best Picture*** Nominees: Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air*** Who Will Win: The Hurt Locker*** Who Should Win: Inglourious Basterds*** Why: Only three films have a legitimate chance of winning Best Picture: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, and Inglourious Basterds. But because Avatar’s mastermind, James Cameron, and Inglourious Basterds' writer/director, Quentin Tarantino, and distributor Harvey Weinstein are all hated by hordes of Academy voters, the Kathryn Bigelow-directed war drama will take home the evening’s top prize. ************************************************** Best Director*** Nominees: James Cameron (Avatar), Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds), Lee Daniels (Precious), Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)*** Who Will Win: Kathryn Bigelow*** Who Should Win: Kathryn Bigelow*** Why: Bigelow’s meticulous and mesmerizing work, accompanied by her Directors Guild victory, will result in history being made as the Academy finally honors its first-ever female Best Director winner. ************************************************** Best Actress*** Nominees: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Carey Mulligan (An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)*** Who Will Win: Sandra Bullock*** Who Should Win: Carey Mulligan*** Why: Newbies Carey Mulligan and Gabourey Sidibe would both have had a great shot at taking home gold had they been nominated in different years; but they weren’t, and as a result, they’ll cancel each other out. Helen Mirren, on the other hand, never had a shot. She got her trophy a few years ago for her role in The Queen. Oh, and nobody saw The Last Station. So, we’re down to first-time nominee Sandra Bullock and sixteen-time nominee and two-time winner Meryl Streep. In the closest race of the evening, Sandra will edge out Meryl for two reasons: she’ll probably never receive another nom, and Meryl will be back in the mix again next year. ************************************************** Best Actor*** Nominees: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), George Clooney (Up in the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)*** Who Will Win: Jeff Bridges*** Who Should Win: Colin Firth*** Why: Despite Firth's heartbreaking performance and Clooney’s award-worthy work, Bridges will have to make room on his crowded mantle for his very first Oscar. Voters love him; he’s won every major award leading up to Sunday; and with four previous noms, everyone feels that it’s simply his turn to take home the trophy. ************************************************** Best Supporting Actress*** Nominees: Penelope Cruz (Nine), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart), Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), Mo’Nique (Precious)*** Who Will Win: Mo’Nique*** Who Should Win: Mo’Nique*** Why: With Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick splitting the vote and Penelope Cruz out of contention, it comes down to first-time nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal and fellow newcomer Mo'Nique. While a few critics think Mo’Nique’s polarizing personality could hurt her chances coming down the home stretch, there's really no doubt in my mind that she’ll emerge victorious and deliver a mag'nifique acceptance speech come Sunday. ************************************************** Best Supporting Actor*** Nominees: Matt Damon (Invictus), Woody Harrelson (The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (The Last Station), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)*** Who Will Win: Christoph Waltz*** Who Should Win: Christoph Waltz*** Why: Let's be honest: Christoph Waltz gave one of the best supporting performances in recent memory. And with minimal competition from his fellow nominees, the 53-year-old Austrian actor will easily waltz away with his first, much-deserved Oscar. ************************************************** Best Original Screenplay*** Nominees: The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal), Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino), The Messenger (Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman), A Serious Man (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen), Up (Bob Peterson and Pete Docter)*** Who Will Win: The Hurt Locker*** Who Should Win: Inglourious Basterds*** Why: Inglourious Basterds could give The Hurt Locker a run for its money, but Mark Boal will triumph over Quentin Tarantino and the equally deserving Coen brothers. Best Picture nominee Up doesn’t have a shot; and The Messenger’s nomination was a victory in and of itself. ************************************************** Best Adapted Screenplay*** Nominees: District 9 (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell), An Education (Nick Hornby), In the Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche), Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher), Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner)*** Who Will Win: Up in the Air*** Who Should Win: An Education*** Why: In an effort to prevent Up in the Air from being shut out on Oscar night (which could very well happen), Academy voters will likely award Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for their timely script … unless they hand they statue to Nick Hornby, prohibiting An Education from also going home empty-handed. ************************************************** Best Animated Feature*** Nominees: Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells, Up*** Who Will Win: Up*** Who Should Win: Fantastic Mr. Fox*** Why: Not only is Up a fan favorite, a critical darling, and a box-office behemoth, it’s also only the second animated film in history to be up for Best Picture. As a result, it’s guaranteed to topple the four other films, giving 'Pixar' its third consecutive win in the category, following in the footsteps of WALL-E and Ratatouille. ************************************************** Best Documentary Feature*** Nominees: Burma VJ; The Cove; Food, Inc.; The Most Dangerous Man in America; Which Way Home*** Who Will Win: The Cove*** Who Should Win: Food, Inc.*** Why: Despite the fact that Food, Inc. was the most fascinating film of 2009, bet on The Cove to bag the Oscar. The tragic dolphin-hunting doc has swept the pre-Oscar soirees, and its producers have been campaigning harder than just about everyone in Hollywood, except for Harvey Weinstein and that guy who tried to trash Avatar’s Best Picture chances.