-7-

Few things I forgot to mention on my last post. First of all, huge congratulations to Scott Rudin who got EGOT, meaning he has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards. He is the 11th person ever to do so, joining the ranks of Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand, Mel Brooks and Audrey Hepburn.  Rudin won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2008 for No Country For Old Men. He won a Tony Award for Best Musical for Passion in 1994. His Emmy he got for a documentary  He Makes Me Feel Like Dancing  back in 1984. And now with his most recent win Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album, he is the 11th person to receive EGOT, and first producer to do so.

 And I forgot to post these two golden videos from the red carpet. First there is the one from BAFTA, where beloved Muppett Miss Piggy got to interview all the greatest stars attending the evening, she even had few ideas for her upcoming projects, take a look! 

The second video is from the Grammy Red Carpet, the result of Sophia Grace and Rosie's Grammy adventures. Now they were back on Ellen to share their video. On the video they got to meet some of  their old friends, like Rihanna, who paid special visit to them when the girls were guests at Ellen few months ago. They also met Lady Antebellum and Katy Perry, who they previously got to interview at the AMA's.

A new award show was introduced Monday, when the 1st Annual Golden Collar Awards were held in LA. Full list of winners, like the one playing Stella on Modern Family, you can find here. Special action were taken to held this event, like places for the animals to eat and relieve themselves. With all the cat videos online, I wouldn't be surprised if cats got their own show too.

Few stories about my fav Adele. First of all, here you can find the full video of her interview with Anderson Cooper, which I mentioned in my pre-grammy post. Based on the video, I think I like her even more.  According to her Vogue interview, the songbird is planning an even longer hiatus from the business than her last one, she says she might take up to 5 years break. She says she needs at least 3 years to write a new album, but this all was before her triumphant return at the Grammys, and I wish she would release new material sooner than in three years. UPDATE: She wrote on her blog: “I’ve a few days off now, and then it’s the Brit Awards here at home and then I’m straight into the studio. BOYYAHH! 5 years? More like 5 days!”, YAY!

And now we are on to the movie news. Director  Andrew Stanton revealed  that his upcoming movie John Carter (Based on Edgar Rice Borroughs' character) would be a trilogy. The following movies depend a lot on the success of the first movie, with the rumored budget of over 250 million dollars. That is a lot, compared to the most expensive Finnish movie, which had a budget of 7,5 millions. The movie I'm talking about is the upcoming Iron Sky, an action-parody about Nazis who have stayed hidden on the moon. Go here for the trailer, and to shed maybe some light on the idea of the movie.

Another movie which has just released its trailer, is the new Bourne movie, called The Bourne Legacy. Matt Damon is now replaced with Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker, The Town).  See the mysterious trailer here.

A lot of castings were confirmed last week too. The most talked about was perhaps the casting of Naomi Watts (King Kong, Fair Game) to play Princess Diana in Caught In Flight, which focuses on the princess's last two years.  Angelina Jolie also confirmed that she would take on the role of Maleficent in the Disney's upcoming Robert Stromberg directed Sleeping Beauty. No other cast has yet been announced. With the fairytale genre booming at the moment, it was no wonder that the classic Beauty And The Beast would get a new film treatment too. The new version is to be directed by Guillermo Del Toro, and starring Emma Watson.

Lots going on in the world of TV too. I have to mention the last episode of Saturday Night Live, because it was hilarious. It was hosted by New Girl-star Zooey Deschanel, and had Karmin as musical guest. You can find nice recap at EW.com, the Clint Eastwood commercial parody was especially good. 

Like in SNL, Glee too remembered Whitney Houston, when character Mercedes (Amber Reilly) sang I Will Always Love You. The song came with good timing, since the episode was filmed well before the passing of the singer. The episode was full of romance, when the students tackled their love life, que the cheesy love-songs.

The new musical drama Smash, which premiered last week, lost a lot of viewers after its well promoted record breaking pilot. But I think the show still has a lot of potential, and its not like it is under a cancellation threat. Episode featured a new song 20th Century Fox Mambo, which to me sounded a lot like Miss Baltimore Crabs from the musical Hairspray, here performed by Michelle Pheiffer in the 2007 film version.

Yesterday one of my favourite shows returned, FINALLY, Cougar Town. The 3rd season pilot was full of hints on what to expect on the show, spoiler warning, like the engagement of Jules (Courteney Cox) and Grayson (Josh Hopkins). In an interview with Vulture, one of the stars Busy Philipps, who plays Laurie on the show, revealed that Laurie will start her own business and fall in love.  Can't wait to see the future of the self proclaimed Cul-De-Sac crew.

And here is the video from the past SNL, of Karmin performing their new single Brokenhearted from their upcoming first record. Can't wait next weeks SNL with host SNL-alumni Maya Rudolph, she is maybe the funniest actress ever.

(And like I predicted, the last post's Adele video has been removed from YouTube, but I think you can find some versions of the event still on YouTube)

-Grammy&BAFTA-

Weekend is over, and so are the parties. And busy it was, overall 104 awards were shared between these two events, and even more overall with the Irish Film Academy holding its event Saturday.

-BAFTA Winners- 

BAFTA evening was pretty uneventful, like they usually are, it is all about the awards and not about the event itself.  Evening was hosted by Stephen Fry, who has done so for several times in the past. BAFTAs have never been so into the red-carpet business, and now with the temperatures in UK, the attendees seemed very reluctant to stay outside with the reporters. Then after few hours of waiting, the show started.

The Artist took home seven awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor. And like in SAGs Octavia Spencer, Christopher Plummer won in the supporting acting categories.  I was bit surprised that Meryl Streep won for leading actress, after some scepticism from the British, but I guess she has won them over with her magnificent performance as Margaret Thatcher in Iron Lady.  She gave a bit startled acceptance speech after her shoe fell off and Colin Firth retrieved chivalrously. And that was about the most exciting happening of the evening.

And as predicted, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy received the award for Best British Film. Even Harry Potter got some love in the form of Best Special Visual Effects. And for good overall gallery of the red carpet, I suggest you check out this link to Hollywood Reporter

-Grammy Winners-

As a total opposite to the BAFTAs, the Grammy's are all bout the event. And due to the passing of Whitney Houston it also served as a memorial of sort, with people remembering her on stage and the red carpet. Since there are so many categories, even the interviewers on CBS Red Carpet had some difficulties recognising everyone. The red carpet lasted all throughout the pre-event up to the main event.

As for the winners, my predictions were pretty accurate, see the link above to see the full list. Adele won in all 6 categories she was nominated, and as such tied for the record for most wins in one night for female with Beyonce's record year 2010. She also made her triumphant return to the stage belting out her mega hit Rolling in the Deep. She received standing ovation, and remembered even to thank her doctors for giving her voice back during one of her many acceptance speeches.

Adele on the cover of the brand new Vogue

As a close second for the best performance of the night, was Jennifer Hudson. She paid tribute to Whitney by singing her hit I Will Always Love You. Jennifer looked divine while giving the most emotional performance. Chaka Khan was also rumored to be part of the tribute, but I was glad that they kept it simple. And after all we got to see one Disco Diva when Diane Ross presented the award for Best Album.

As for the rest of the performances, it's really hard to compare to the previously mentioned. Legends Paul McCarthy, Bruce Bringsteen, and the Beach Boys all gave audiences something to cheer about, but fell kinda low in my opinion. Rihanna's We Found Love was totally opposite to her glamorous self on the red carpet where she wore a very plunging Armani dress, on stage she was more white trash than Tailor Swift's redneck performance later on the evening. James Brown inspired show by Bruno Mars really got the audience moving, and Chris Brown amazed with his incredible moves (so amazing he had to lip-sync the whole time though). And there really are no words to describe what Nicki Minaj did on stage, it was more like bad acting than good singing, compared to her VMA performance, she really blew it, and I'm guessing got the hate of the catholic church upon her. Katy Perry premiered her new song Part of Me, which was officially released today. 

As for the fashion, the ladies and gentlemen kept it surprisingly classy. See Huffington Post for their Best and Worst Dressed list. 

Since it was the best performance of the night, I'll only post this video of Adele. And because CBS can be a hard mistress, I wouldn't be surprised if they delete almost all Grammy videos, hopefully not this one. But anyways, she is super amazing, enjoy! (And look how slim she looks)

I'll post weekly update later this week, since I don't have time now.

Happy Valentine's Day!! <3

-RIP Whitney Houston-

Her publicist confirmed the news of the singers passing away today. Houston was only 48 years. Here is her probably most well known song (originally by Dolly Parton):

-Pre-Grammy and BAFTA-

Just a quick post before Sunday, when both British Academy Film Award and the Grammy's will be held. BAFTA's take place in Royal Opera House in London honoring British and foreign film, and Grammy's in L.A awarding the top of the music industry. Now I can't say I'm expert on either of the awards, since I don't follow British film's that much, and the Grammy's with over 50 categories are just too much for one guy to cover, so  here is a bit of an overall package.

-Full list of BAFTA nominations- 

 See the BAFTA trailer below:

Even though Oscar nomination leader Hugo didn't fare so well in BAFTA's, director Martin Scorsese will not be leaving empty handed for he is to receive the Academy Fellowship award for his contributions to cinema. John Hurt will be honored with a special award too for his acting contributions, he recently starred in the second most nominated film of the evening: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He is also well know for his role from Harry Potter-series and V for Vendetta .

BAFTAs can be hard to predict due to the differences in categories. Will Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which alongside with The Artist are the major combatants in the awards, take home the trophy for Best Film or British Film, or both? BAFTAs also tend to have a little different opinions in acting categories, such as Berenice Bejo who is nominated for Leading Actress as her role has so far been nominated as supporting in most other awards. That is one reason I like BAFTAs, since sometimes they represent the audiences opinions better, the Oscars can be bit snobbish sometimes though I still love them.

This will also be sad occasion, since it is probably the last big happening for the cast of Harry Potter which includes so many British acting legends, they tend to get invited anyways. Another sad thing was that no woman got nominated for Rising Star Award, wich is just wrong with keep last year in mind. I mean does the name Jessica Chastain ring a bell? They nominated Chris "Thor" Hemsworth for god's sake. No wonder British drive on the wrong side of the road.

-Full list of Grammy nominations- 

I know you might think that video has nothing to do with the Grammys, but it's the best part of it! The amazing Sophia Grace with her hype-girl Rosie will be covering the red carpet of the event for Ellen Degeneres.  They were hilarious at AMA's. So I can't wait to see the results. They are living every little girl's dream.

Well anyway, the second thing I'm looking forward to, is the long waited return of Adele!! She will be making her return to stages after going through throat surgery. Thank god it went well and we get the hear her again. She even gave little preview to Anderson Cooper, sounding good! And with 6 nominations, she might have the greatest night ever. She is expected to take home at least the awards for Best Album and Best Song (Rolling in the Deep). 

Kanye West leads the nomination with seven and Foo Fighters, Bruno Mars and Adele all have six. I'm really waiting to see who wins the award for Best New Artist after last year the audiences felt snubbed when Justin Bieber didn't win. Bon Iver has been mentioned as the pick in lots of sites, but I don't see why Nicki Minaj or Skrillex couldn't win after they both took over the world during last year. Amy Winehouse will most likely receive a post-humous award shared with Tony Bennet for their beautiful duet Body And Soul, which I think deserves to win even without the sorry votes. 

As for Rock category, Foo Fighter is a pretty sure bet for the winner after fighting their way back to the top. Bon Iver rules at the alternative categories. Jason Aldean can easily take the award for Best Country Album, so Taylor Swift might not take home an award, shocking! She can do her trademark surprised face either way. Best Rap Album is really between Jay-Z&Kanye West and Nicki Minaj. The voters might prefer Nicki if they overlook her in New Artist category, but it will most likely go to the super-duo.

~ ~

Next weeks post will be pretty full if I write about Grammy and BAFTA winners and other topics, so I might have to break them down a bit, but let's see :)

 

-6-

In the past few posts I mentioned upcoming new shows, and the kind people at Hollywood Reporter have made us a great guide to all new series, so check it out! The list includes among others the adaption of novel "Scuples", the new series tells the story of a women who starts her own store after losing a lot of wight and becoming successful. The show will be EP'd by one miss Natalie Portman!! The guide also includes the newest additions like the comedy about a cosmopolitan woman adapting to the suburbs, with Judy Greer cast as lead.

And Judy Greer's old cast mates on Arrested Development (one of the most brilliant TV comedies) had some great news to share too. The too-early-cancelled series will be getting a whole new season and a film according to the writer Dean Lorey. Revival has been talked about ever since the shows cancellation and the new seasons is set to premiere in 2013 on Netflix.

One of my new favourite comedies Raising Hope  also announced that actress Vivica A. Fox (Kill Bill) will be guest starring in the hilarious comedy as a enthusiastic church goer who clashes with Burt (played by Garret Dillahunt). The show focuses on Chance family who struggles with low income especially after the son's one stand leaves them raising a little baby Hope. Show is currently on its second season. My favourite person on the show is Maw Maw, played by Cloris Leachman, here is a small video about the character, only way to describe her is to watch this:

Then some movie news:

One of the movies of 2012 I'm most looking forward to see is Les Miserables. And the ensemble cast got new additions last week when Samantha Barks was confirmed to play Eponine by Universal. Barks played Eponine in one of the London productions of the beloved musical which celebrated 25th anniversary back in 2010. The rest of the cast includes Russel Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried and recent breakout star Eddie Redmayne. Film is premiering in December.

And the new sequel to the movie X-Men Origins: Wolwerine finally got a release date according to Entertainment Weekly. Named The Wolverine, the sequel is coming out July 23th 2013. Hopefully the film wont be overshadowed by the sequel to X-Men First Class, but then again, that sequel hasn't even been fully scripted yet.

Also the upcoming comedy, starring Bridesmaids-alumni Kristen Wiig, John Hamm among other well known comedians, called  Friends With Kids, released its new poster. You can find the trailed here.

And I'd be fool not to mention the Super Bowl held last week (New York Giants won), but since I don't follow American Football, I'll just focus on the entertainment. The much anticipated halftime show by Madonna lived up to the expectations, but not everyone thought so, judge yourself: 

I thought the video projected on the ground was a great idea, since it is a huge stadium, and the people over there need entertainment too and they might not see all the little things on screen. And there wouldn't be Madonna without a little controversy, but hold on, this time it wasn't Madonna, the spark was  caused by M.I.A when she flipped the audiences during the performance of her collaboration with Madonna. Madonna also revealed the album covers of MDNA scheduled for release on March 26th. Judging by the looks of it, she is going to defy laws of aging once more. In my opinion the new single was a little bit too young for her.

And it wouldn't be Super Bowl without the movie trailers. Among others was this amazing trailer for the Marvel Comics epic collaboration the Avengers. Looking good guys!

And NBC spot made me realise how many great series they have, with the likes of 30 Rock, SNL, Parks And Rec, Community, The Office, Up All Night, Jimmy Fallon, Jay Leno, Chelsea and the list goes on and on. See all your favourites in this great spot by NBC:

At the end I want to share a very disturbing first look at the new Lord Of The Rings Lego toy line. I wouldn't have wanted that Gollum on my night stand as a kid. And for those of us who have already started losing sleep thinking about the upcoming Hobbit movie, here is the trailer, just to tease us all, have a great week!