New Oscar Tech Stalks Stars

After 10 years, an opportunity to fix mistakes: Lowen Liu

(NEWSER) - Slate wants to fix the Oscars—"Academy Awards ceremonies are laughable, even to those of us who love them," the site declares —so it's asking writers and editors to offer up their proposals in advance of the Feb. 26 ceremony. Lowen Liu's idea : Allow for a re-vote on the major categories 10 years later. That would mean that this year, Academy voters could finally make up for the travesty that occurred when A Beautiful Mind won over such "diverse and dazzling" films as English manners mystery Gosford Park and the theatrical Moulin Rouge! More»

Grammy Awards also go to Chris Brown, Bon Iver, and more

(NEWSER) - The Grammys got started with—what else?—a performance. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band did a rousing rendition of "We Take Care of Our Own" before host LL Cool J even made an appearance. The host brought up Whitney Houston's death first thing after thanking the band (click for more on that ). Then:

• Nope, it's still not time for an award: Bruno Mars takes the stage, then the first presenters appear—20 minutes into the ceremony. But Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt first perform a tribute to Etta James before presenting Best Pop Solo Performance to Adele for "Someone Like You."
• Next up: Another performance, this time the controversial first Grammys performance by Chris Brown since he beat Rihanna before the ceremony three years ago.

Grammy Awards remember Whitney Houston

(NEWSER) - Grammy Awards host LL Cool J brought up Whitney Houston 's death almost as soon as he took the stage tonight, and started the ceremony with a prayer for her before formally welcoming the audience. Then it was more Whitney, with LL Cool J presenting a video of the beloved diva performing "I Will Always Love You" at a previous Grammy Awards. "Whitney, we will always love you," he said. Toward the end of the evening, Jennifer Hudson echoed him: Performing "I Will Always Love You" as a tribute to Houston, she closed by singing the line, "Whitney, we love you." Click to watch the video . More»

Yet Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' gets acclaim, actor laments

(NEWSER) - Daniel Radcliffe is "slightly miffed" that none of the Harry Potter films have won an Academy Award, whereas children's movie Hugo was nominated for Best Picture and 10 other categories this year. "I don't think the Oscars like commercial films, or kids' films, unless they're directed by Martin Scorsese," Radcliffe tells the Radio Times . "I was watching Hugo the other day and going, 'Why is this nominated and we're not?' I was slightly miffed. There's a certain amount of snobbery." More»

Martin Scorsese film scores 11 nods, silent film gets 10

(AP) - Martin Scorsese's Paris adventure Hugo leads the Academy Awards with 11 nominations, among them Best Picture and the latest Best Director nod for the Oscar-riffic filmmaker. Also nominated for Best Picture this morning: silent film The Artist; family drama The Descendants; Sept. 11 tale Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close; Deep South drama The Help; romantic fantasy Midnight in Paris; sports tale Moneyball; family chronicle The Tree of Life; and World War I epic War Horse. More»