Oscar Hails "The King's Speech"

Image via WikipediaTo no one's surprise, a film about a stuttering king who was trained to speak flawlessly on the wireless at a time when his country needed him the most was the big winner at the 83rd Academy Awards.  "The King's Speech" won four Oscars out of 12 nominations for director Tom Hooper, actor Colin Firth's portrayal of George VI, original screenplay and for best picture.

Natalie Portman got her Best Actress trophy for "Black Swan", while "The Fighter" won supporting actor awards for Melissa Leo and Christian Bale.  If Leo almost sank her chances because of the way she handled her voting campaign, she became known for dropping the proverbial f-bomb during her acceptance speech (which ABC mercifully bleeped), then apologized for backstage.

Considering all the stories we've been hearing about the mysterious artist Banksy, whose work can be seen in various Los Angeles locales and has attracted considerable attention with law enforcement and copyright attorneys.  His film was nominated for Best Documentary, and everyone was wondering if he'd reveal himself to accept the award.  The Academy avoided embarrassment by awarding the prize to the film "Inside Job", which chronicled Wall Street's role in the financial meltdown of 2008.

The Oscar telecast was co-hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway, who did their darndest to become a 21st century version of Donny and Marie Osmond without quite succeeding.  One wonders how the Academy came up with this pairing until you consider how it all benefits Disney and ABC, the TV network it owns.   Franco used to be on the ABC soap "General Hospital", while Hathaway was introduced to movie audiences in Disney's "The Princess Diaries".  They were no match for Billy Crystal, who was on hand to introduce a hologram of Bob Hope introducing a special effects category.  Both were missed.

There were some things that the Oscar telecast improved on this time.  There were no boring montages of Great Movies of the Past.  The "In Memoriam" segment, sung by Celine Dion, was tastefully done with no camera pans of the giant screen onstage and no applause until the end, when Halle Berry saluted Lena Horne (which only served to remind folks that no black performers were nominated this year).  The embarrassing testimonials for the Best Actor and Actress nominees were limited to Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges, respectively, from the stage.  And the show ran just over three hours, not "127 Hours" as some had feared.

It was officially announced during the show that ABC will continue to televise the Academy Awards through 2020.  By then, the network will have been Oscar's TV home for over 40 years.  Who knows what TV--or the movies--will look like by then?

Standoff In Badgerland

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeGovernor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who's only been in office a few weeks, had to know what kind of havoc he just created.  He and his fellow Republicans are behind a bill that's going through the state legislature that would restrict collective bargaining for state employees, which in turn would help solve their budget crisis.  Without it, the governor says, layoffs would become necessary.  And he's not interested in compromise, which could be a big mistake politically.

Tell that to the protestors who jammed the state capitol in Madison, the 14 Democratic state senators who fled across the border to avoid voting on the bill, and to the parents whose kids stayed home from school because their teachers called in sick--but not sick enough to keep them from joining in the protests.

Unions have become less and less important as corporations have figured out that they could include many of the same provisions, such as a shorter workday and an hourly wage, that they had been resisting for a century without hurting their bottom line.  Now government is catching on.

Wisconsin and Minnesota are among several states that are now millions of dollars in debt.  The GOP and the Tea Partiers tell us that wasteful government spending is the problem, but it is also the national economic climate with fewer people working and more companies either shutting down or moving elsewhere.  That means those states aren't collecting as many tax revenues as they used to.  And still they have to provide certain services, such as health care and unemployment benefits,  for those who can't afford them any other way.

What's happening in Madison could soon be playing out on a national stage.  Republicans in Congress are threatening to shut down the federal government, which is trillions of dollars in debt, unless they get the budget done their way and not President Obama's.  They tried this tactic back in the mid-1990s when they took control of both houses of Congress, with the results being so disastrous for the GOP that President Bill Clinton was re-elected.

We're told by those who think they know that government has to live within its means, just like the rest of us do.  That's a nice thought, but is it possible?  What does "living within your means" actually mean, anyway?  You can cut and cut and cut your way to a balanced budget, only to find that the people you serve are going to suffer needlessly.  Is that what the Republicans really want?

This latest example of political gridlock would be mere farce if the stakes weren't so high.  The protestors who are fighting this possible law are also fighting for their lives.  Trouble is, so is the state of Wisconsin.

I'll Take 'Man and Machine' for $200, Alex

Image by LeeLeFever via FlickrAn IBM computer named Watson defeated two human competitors--past champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter--to take the million-dollar prize on a special edition of TV's "Jeopardy".  Since computers can't spend money (unless it's the virtual kind), IBM says it is giving the prize winnings to an alleged charity.

This is the most buzz "Jeopardy" has had since Jennings set a record for consecutive wins a few years ago.  At times, the two-game, three-day competition played like an infomercial for IBM.  They spent so much time explaining Watson to the audience that they almost forgot to play the game.

Watson isn't infallible.  Though it racked up more points than either Jennings or Rutter could muster, not to mention being programmed to be quicker on the signaling devices, Big Blue's creation still got some things wrong just to prove it could be--human.  Take the Final Jeopardy category U.S. Cities.  The answer:  This city has two airports.  One was named for a World War II hero, and the other for a famous battle.  The correct question:  What is Chicago (for O'Hare and Midway airports)?  Watson's response was:  What is Toronto?

"Jeopardy", which has been hosted by Alex Trebek since the syndicated version went on the air in 1984, is still the best game show on TV.  They deserve credit for keeping difficult categories like Shakespeare, the Bible and classical music in the mix.  But we can certainly do without the word game categories that make the show and the contestants look ridiculous, as well as the celebrity and kids tournaments.

Some fear that, with Watson's victory, this is the beginning of the end for the human race.  Not so fast.  Maybe someday computers will be doing all our thinking for us.  But who's going to put in the information?  As far as we know, computers aren't capable of doing that.  Maybe IBM is working on it right now . . .

Arianna and Keith: Changing Partners

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeTwo progressive icons, Arianna Huffington and Keith Olbermann, have moved on with their professional lives.

First, Huffington.  She has gone from being a conservative pundit who was married to a Republican congressman, to becoming an Internet mogul with a popular website while continuing to appear all over TV as a commentator.

The website she co-founded, The Huffington Post, was bought by AOL for $315 million.  Huffington will now be chairing a new media group that oversees HuffPo and other AOL properties.

AOL, which used to be known as the dial-up service America Online (you did throw out those start-up discs, didn't you?), hasn't been relevant in years since their disastrous merger with Time Warner.  In fact, it came as a surprise to most people that AOL was still in business.

So what is AOL getting for its money besides having Arianna on its payroll?   They get a left-leaning news site that aggregates content from all over, with little that's original besides unpaid celebrity bloggers and the latest dish on the Kardashian sisters.

Fans of the liberal persuasion are concerned that Arianna has sold out literally and figuratively, and they fear that HuffPo might become more mainstream in its viewpoint.  Like we said, Arianna wasn't always a liberal.  Time will tell if this new venture can bridge the gap between right and left.

As for Olbermann, who recently quit MSNBC in a huff, he's going to work for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV channel with a new show to debut in the spring.  Besides owning stock in the channel, Olbermann will also have the title of Chief News Officer.

Current TV, which runs mainly documentaries, can be found on satellite and some cable systems.  It bears no relation to The Current, a Twin Cities-based alternative music radio station that is owned by Minnesota Public Radio.

We have no idea what Olbermann's new show is about, but we wonder if NBC claimed 'intellectual property' rights on the words 'countdown' and 'worst persons in the world' to prevent him from using those bits at his new network.  That is, the same kind of deal David Letterman and Conan O'Brien had when they left NBC in not exactly the best of terms.  But Olbermann's feud with Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck should continue.

When Olbermann suddenly left MSNBC, they reshuffled their prime-time lineup this way:  Lawrence O'Donnell in the old "Countdown" time slot, followed by Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz.  Right now they're having trouble competing with CNN (enjoying a resurgence because of their Egypt coverage), let alone Fox News Channel.

Both Arianna Huffington and Keith Olbermann deserve props for turning progressivism into a marketable commodity.   It's just that the smaller their platforms get, the less visible their causes become.  Just ask anyone who used to work for Air America Radio.

Lady's Night at the Grammys--Antebellum, That Is

Image via WikipediaLady Antebellum, a country band whose hit single "Need You Now" got on the pop charts for some reason, was the big winner at the 53rd Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.  They won five awards, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

When you think about what the other nominees were in those categories, such as Eminem's "Love The Way You Lie" and Cee-Lo Green's--uh--"The Song Otherwise Known As 'Forget You'", this was the relatively safe choice for the recording academy.  That's right.  A song about getting drunk and calling at one in the morning.  That's the stuff of pop radio.

Other shockers from what has got to be one of the weirdest nights in Grammy history:  Best New Artist went to someone named Esperanza Spalding, a jazz artist.  Is Justin Bieber that overexposed?

Barbra Striesand and her "A Star Is Born" co-star Kris Kristofferson were on hand to announce the Album of the Year, and the Grammy went to . . . "The Suburbs" by Arcade Fire, an alternative band from Montreal, who kept their acceptance speech short so they could play their second tune of the night.  Is Lady Gaga that overexposed?

Other highlights (and lowlights) from "Music's Biggest Night":

• A tribute to Aretha Franklin, led by Christina Aguilera and Martina McBride, kicked off the CBS telecast.  Apparently the folks at the recording academy thought they'd better do this before the Queen of Soul, who is not well and sent along taped best wishes, is no longer above ground.  Maybe it's best to keep in mind what Mark Twain once said about reports of his demise.
• Lady Gaga, who scored three Grammys and a "60 Minutes" interview, performed her new single "Born This Way" wearing plastic see-through costumes.  In one of her acceptance speeches, Gaga dedicated the song to Whitney Houston because she said she imagined her performing it.
• Justin Bieber performs with Jaden Smith as the cameras cut to Smith's proud parents.  Surely you've never heard of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith?
• The Old Guard was heard from.  Bob Dylan performed "Maggie's Farm", Barbra Striesand sang the love theme from "A Star Is Born" (aka "Evergreen"), and Mick Jagger performed what sounded like a tribute to Solomon Burke just after the obligatory "In Memoriam" montage.
• Cee-Lo Green performed--uh, what was the name of it again?-- with a band of puppets and Gwyneth Paltrow, wearing what looked like the NBC peacock (bet CBS was amused).  It was "Sesame Street" gone berserk.  

As for these Grammys, well, forget this.  If you can.

"Egypt Is Free!" Now What?

Image by Frame Maker via FlickrTwenty-four hours after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak enraged his country by refusing to step down, he had flown the coop, leaving his hand-picked vice president to announce on TV that power had been ceded to the military, who apparently no longer believed in him.

It took 18 days and 300 casualties, but the streets of Cairo and across Egypt are celebrating the fact that they have peacefully toppled a dictator who ruled for 30 years.  In reality, though, it was a military coup.

This was a revolution fueled by the advent of social media networks, bringing together those who had gotten tired of the way Mubarak and his minions had been running the show for three decades.  And it was all televised to a worldwide audience, in spite of the regime's best efforts to suppress it.

Until recently, Mubarak had good relations with the United States in terms of keeping the peace in the Middle East and with holding the line on terrorism.  The peace treaty Mubarak's predecessor, Anwar Sadat, signed with Israel is still in effect.

So what happens now?  Many questions remain.  Will there be real democracy in Egypt?  Mubarak pretty much outlawed opposition parties when he took office after Sadat's assassination under martial law, and has never rescinded it.  Will the military keep its promise to hold new elections, or did the revolution just trade in one autocrat for another?

As for the rest of the Middle East, where autocratic rulers abound, they're watching their backs and taking notes on how to deal with the next revolution.  So is Israel, but for different reasons.  The next wave would not so much be a victory for democracy as it would be for radical Islamists.  The United States, still dependent on Mideast oil and still Israel's biggest defender, would be a big loser in all of this.

For now, Egyptians have every reason to celebrate what they have accomplished.  Tomorrow, the real work begins to rebuild a country.

Deficit? What Deficit?

Image via WikipediaMinnesota Governor Mark Dayton dropped the usual happy talk that comes with describing the State of the State Wednesday, and laid it out to his audience of legislators jammed into the same chambers at the Capitol for the occasion.  To get this state out from under the mess Dayton's predecessor Tim Pawlenty created, the Democratic governor called for a bipartisan effort to invest (in so many words) in more jobs, more education funding, more money for transportation, and to streamline government services.

The Governor has yet to announce his budget plans, but one cat he did let out of the bag is that he still favors taxing the wealthiest Minnesotans, a leftover campaign promise.

That's not likely to fly with a Republican-controlled legislature trying to deal with a $6.2 billion deficit.  The one budget bill they did pass so far, which would have made $900 million in cuts, was just vetoed by Governor Dayton.

So what are the GOP's proposals to save the state some money?  How about . . . opening liquor stores on Sundays, so customers don't have to drive across the border to buy booze and pay their sales taxes?  Letting sex offenders go, whether they've been rehabilitated or not?  Deny funding for abortions?  Requiring voters to show some form of ID at the polls on Election Day?  This may be an unoriginal thought, but these proposals sound more like solutions in need of a problem.

In the same State of the State address, Dayton's calls for bipartisanship were undercut by his accusing Republicans of planning a government shutdown this summer if things don't go their way.  GOP leaders were flabbergasted, claiming they have made no such plans.  Well, we'll see about that.

The fireworks are just getting started in St. Paul, and it'll be interesting to see who or what gets caught in the crossfire.  Wonder if anything of significance will get done?

Showdown at Tahrir Square

Image via WikipediaTwo weeks have gone by since protesters took to the streets of Cairo, demanding the ouster of longtime Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.  In that time, the level of protests at Tahrir Square and other Egyptian cities have gone from the Summer of Love to the Age of Anger and back.

Mubarak has responded by replacing everyone in his government except himself, instituted scores of new reforms, and he has said he will remain president until new elections are held in the fall.  That is not enough for those who wanted Mubarak to step down ASAP, so the protests continue.

The Summer of Love abruptly ended when Pro-Mubarak supporters rode in on their horses and camels and crashed the party, clashing with the Anti-Mubaraks, Western journalists and anyone else who happened to stand in the way.  The Pro-Mubaraks may have a point in claiming that the worldwide news coverage has been skewed in favor of the Anti-Mubaraks.  But that doesn't excuse them from beating up and detaining journalists in a country where freedom of the press (as we know it) is unknown.  All that was really accomplished were reams of bad publicity for the regime, and for chasing all those high-value network news anchors out of Egypt.

Much to the disappointment of the Anti-Mubaraks, the Obama administration is still working behind the scenes (or dragging its feet, depending on where you stand) on a way to give Mubarak a graceful early exit.  This can be interpreted as the United States needing Egypt more than Egypt needs the U.S. when it comes to Mideast peace and terrorism.  That, and there's millions of dollars in foreign aid at stake to make sure things between the two nations go as smoothly as possible.

Back in this country, conservatives in Congress and on the airwaves seem to be using the crisis to raise fears of a Muslim planet.  Take Glenn Beck.  As ratings for his Fox News program are going downhill, he's becoming frighteningly desperate.  Beck's been telling his audience that soon Muslims will be in control of not only the Middle East, but also parts of Africa, Europe and the United States.  So buy some gold while you still can.  (What was it that the Bible said about false prophets?)

As we wait to see how this crisis will end, we must not forget that this is Egypt's chance to choose its own destiny.  Whether Mubarak steps down before September, or the military and state police crush the rebellion, all we can do is watch.

News From The House of Hubbard

Hot on the heels of purchasing a number of radio stations from a Mormon-owned media company, locally based Hubbard Broadcasting is still making news.

"The Kennedys" Have Landed

Hubbard-owned ReelzChannel, a heretofore little known cable network that runs old sitcoms and movie previews, has picked up a miniseries starring Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes (best known these days as Mrs. Tom Cruise) about John F. Kennedy that was headed for oblivion.

The History channel, which had spent tons of money to produce the film, apparently took one look at "The Kennedys" before rejecting it.  They said it didn't measure up to their standards.  Oh?  And specials about Nostradamus, "Ice Road Truckers" and "Life Without People" do?

There's speculation that the real reason History (and other networks) passed on "The Kennedys" was the alleged influence of a certain Kennedy family member who didn't like the way JFK was portrayed, and that there were too many diversions from the truth in the name of advancing the story.

Reelz will run "The Kennedys" in April, so we'll get to decide for ourselves whether the film is accurate or not.  That is, unless someone in the Hubbard family knows a Kennedy or two.

Big Change at 1500ESPN

It's the end of "Saturday Morning Sports Talk" as we know it, and Joe Soucheray must be feeling fine.

Starting in mid-February, Soucheray won't be working weekends at KSTP-AM any more.  He'll be leaving the Saturday show to longtime broadcast partner Patrick Reusse and his new co-host Judd Zulgad, a Minneapolis Star tribune sportswriter who used to moonlight at KFAN-AM.

Reusse and Soucheray will still be together for one hour weekdays, but now the focus shifts to Soucheray's popular "Garage Logic", where he can still bash liberals and deny climate change in afternoon drive.  So, uh, why is there still a political talk show on what's supposed to be a sports station?

When "Sports Talk" began 30 years ago on Sunday nights (later Mondays), it was like no other talk show on Twin Cities radio.  It used to be wild and crazy with some of the quirkiest callers you've ever heard.  As the program migrated to Saturdays, it became old and boring with Soucheray and/or Reusse checking out some weeks, leaving producer "The Rookie" to hold the fort.  It got worse when (A) "Sports Talk" became an extension of "Garage Logic", and (B) the bottom-of-the-hour newscasts became extended and unlistenable when Soucheray or Reusse interrupted the newscaster all the time.

Since leaving the sports beat at what is now the Star Tribune a quarter-century ago, Soucheray hasn't written much about sports in his other job as a general columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press.  Now he doesn't have to pretend any more.

Triumph of the Trivial

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeSometimes, a nation's priorities get off balance.  Blizzards are socking the East and Midwest.  We need to use less salt in our diets.  Charlie Sheen goes into rehab, shutting down production of his popular TV sitcom.  The Super Bowl is next Sunday, and previews of the commercials that will air during the game are already on the air.

Oh yeah.  There's a bunch of people rioting in Egypt, one of America's biggest allies.  Its president, Hosni Mubarak, has said he's stepping down after elections in September.  The multitudes who remain on the streets of Cairo just want him to go away ASAP.  You may have heard about it.

There's a reason for the triumph of the trivial.  TV networks have slashed budgets in their news departments to the point where there are hardly any bureaus in cities around the world (unless you're CNN), and they have to rely on international broadcasters like the BBC and first-person accounts from whoever is wielding a camera phone or has Internet access.

If a story is so big that it requires extra people to cover it, then the networks will send Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer and Brian Williams to anchor their evening news live from the scene.

Much of this event-driven international news coverage can also be explained this way:  The networks claim that Americans don't care about what goes on beyond their own borders.  Not unless it involves Our Brave Troops who are marking time in Iraq and Afghanistan, how China and India are taking away our jobs, or what Kate Middleton is going to wear at her royal wedding.  Is there a natural disaster or a political riot somewhere?  We're so there, dude.

Meanwhile, we turn on Fox News instead of CNN so we can listen to Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck react to international crises, in the hope that they know more than the rest of us.  Or maybe even Jon Stewart and his "Daily Show" colleagues can find the funny in the situation.

Some people have been calling on cable and satellite services to start adding the Arab news channel Al-Jazeera English to its lineup, as a way to balance out the lack of international coverage they get at home.  Just one problem.  Isn't Al-Jazeera best known as the go-to channel for Osama bin Laden's videotaped rants, and for its perceived anti-American slant?

If broadcasters and cable networks are too cash-strapped and ratings-blinded to tell you what's happening in the rest of the world, there's always the Internet, where you can find plenty of sites that cater to international news.  That is, until net neutrality takes over.

Meanwhile, we can all look forward to coverage of a certain groundhog seeing his own shadow.