FILM & TV/ "DRAGON" TOPS ANNIE AWARDS: Dreamworks Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon" swept the 38th Annie Awards last night, winning 10, including best animated feature. Dreamworks alone won 15 of 24 categories. Though "Toy Story 3" was nominated for best animated feature, the favorite to win the animation Oscar wasn't expected to win at the Annies because Disney and Pixar had dropped out of the International Animation Film Society-Hollywood, which sponors the awards, last summer due to a dispute over voting procedures. Even so, Pixar's "Day & Night" did win best animated short. "Alice in Wonderland" won for best character animation in a live action film. On the TV side, "Kung Fu Panda Holiday" won 2 awards for best TV production and best character animation in a TV production. Full detail on all of the awards can be found on the Annie website.
FILM & TV/ "INCEPTION" AND "SOCIAL" TOP WGA AWARDS: Christopher Nolan’s "Inception" and Aaron Sorkin’s "The Social Network" took home top screenplay honors at last evening's Writers Guild of America awards. Nolan’s work beat out the scripts for “Black Swan,” “The Fighter,” “The Kids Are All Right” and “Please Give” in the original screenplay category. “The King’s Speech” and “Another Year," contenders for an Academy Award for best original screenplay, were ineligible in the WGA category under guild rules. Sorkin’s script bested those for “127 Hours,” “I Love You Phillip Morris,” “The Town” and “True Grit” in the adapted screenplay race. Oscar nominees such as “Toy Story 3” and “Winter’s Bone” were ineligible in the category under guild rules. In the documentary film category, the guild honored "Inside Job," produced, written and directed by Charles Ferguson and co-written by Chad Beck and Adam Bolt. On the TV front, “Modern Family” was named best comedy series and “Mad Men” was named best drama series. “Murphy Brown” star Candice Bergen presented the show’s creator, Diane English, with the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award, which is bestowed on the WGA member who “has advanced the literature of television through the years, and who has made outstanding contributions to the profession of the television writer". Full details on all of the awards can be found on the WGA website.
"The King's Speech," "Inception" and "Black Swan" won the top feature film awards at the 16th Art Directors Guild Awards last night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Eve Stewart won for excellence in production design for a period film for "The King's Speech"; Guy Hendrix Days won in the fantasy film category for "Inception"; and Therese DePrez took home the award in the contemporary film category for "Black Swan." On the television side, Dan Bishop won for the "Public Relations" episode of "Mad Men" in the single camera TV series category; Robb Wilson King won for television movie or miniseries for "Secrets in the Wall"; and Richard Berg earned the award for half-hour single-camera TV series for the "Halloween" installment of "Modern Family." The award for multi-camera, variety or unscripted series went to Keith Raywood, Eugene Lee, Akira Yoshimura and N. Joseph De Tullio for the Betty White/Jay Z episode of "Saturday Night Live." Full details on all of the awards can be found on the organizations website.
: BBC Sound of 2011 winner Jessie J has claimed the 1st chart-topping single of her career with "Price Tag". The singer went straight into #1 with her release, just weeks after her debut "Do It Like A Dude" peaked at #2. "Tonight" by Enrique Iglesias was the next highest debut, coming in at #5. In the album chart, Adele saw off a challenge from Chase and Status to remain in pole position with "21," for the 2nd week in a row. Her debut album, "19," held steady at #4, just behind Bruno Mars, while her single "Rolling In The Deep" is at #4 on the singles chart. A new collection containing songs by Eva Cassidy, who died in 1996, was another debut entry in the top 10 albums, going in at #6. Mars remained at #2 in the singles rundown with "Grenade," while last week's #1 by Kesha, "We R Who We R," fell to #3. Jessie J is due to collect the Critics' Choice prize at the Brit Awards on February 15, given to an artist deemed most likely to make a significant breakthrough in 2011. Her debut album has also been moved up by a month and will be released on February 28.
New York dance-rock band LCD Soundystem have announced that they will retire after playing one final concert at Madison Square Garden on April 2, 2011. The band made the announcement Saturday via a statement on their official website: "lcd soundsystem are playing madison square garden on april 2nd, and it will be our last show ever. we are retiring from the game. gettin' out. movin' on. but for just one more night, we will be playing with friends and family for nearly 3 hours-playing stuff we've never played before and going out with a bang. and we'd like you to be there. if it's a funeral, let's have the best funeral ever!!!". The band also requested that fans wear all black and white attire to the event. LCD frontman James Murphy composed the soundtrack for Noah Baumbach's Ben Stiller-starrer, "Greenberg". He is also co-founder of DFA Records, the label behind electro-dance bands Hot Chip, the Juan Maclean and YACHT.
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MUSIC/ GARY MOORE DIES AT 58: The renowned rock guitarist Gary Moore has died in a hotel room while on holiday in Spain. Moore, 58, originally from Belfast, was a former member of the legendary Irish group Thin Lizzy. The Thin Lizzy manager said he was found dead early today. Moore was originally drafted into Thin Lizzy by its late frontman Phil Lynott. He later gained acclaim for his solo work and was a former member of the Irish group Skid Row. The Northern Ireland guitarist was only 16 when he moved from Belfast to Dublin in 1969, to join Skid Row, which featured Lynott as lead vocalist. He was later brought into Thin Lizzy by Lynott to replace the departing Eric Bell, another guitarist from Northern Ireland. Lynott died in 1986 but a new line-up of Thin Lizzy continues to tour. Throughout his career, Moore was to embrace a range of genres including blues, metal and hard rock. He performed on stage with a range of major artists and released 20 studio albums in all. The editor of the Irish music magazine, Hot Press, described Moore as a "genius".
Zsa Zsa Gabor will be discharged later this afternoon from hospital, just in time to celebrate her 94th birthday. The Hungarian actress was recently taken to Los Angeles' Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center with a lung infection. Her publicist confirmed the diagnosis was pneumonia. Media reports say that Gabor's husband, Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, plans to get the actress a birthday cake with her name on it and invite friends over to their Bel Air mansion to celebrate. Both Gabor and her husband have been hospitalized multiple times in the past year. Most recently, the actress had her right leg amputated after she developed gangrene in January. Von Anhalt was also taken to the hospital last week and treated for exhaustion after collapsing in an elevator. Gabor began her career at the age of 15 in Austria but later emigrated to the United States in 1941. She was highly sought after in Hollywood during the 1950s and 1960s for her sex appeal and European flair.
Poor Zsa Zsa
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