Golden Globes: 10 Most funny Moments

A declawed Ricky Gervais, a near-sweep of the TV awards by cable programs, and a general spreading of the wealth among winners both big- and small-screen was the order of the day at Sunday’s 69th Golden Globe Awards. But before we turn the page on the annual kudos-fest, let’s take a look bad credit loans at the 10 Most Memorable Moments of a telecast that, in the words of its host, is “just like the Oscars…without all of that esteem.”

RICKY GERVAIS PUTS JOHNNY DEPP ON THE SPOT | Gervais proved a surprisingly tepid presence for the majority of the telecast, but his opening monologue kicked things off with an acidic bang, and he followed up with a hilariously inappropriate question — “Have you seen The Tourist yet?” — for the night’s first presenter, “the man who will wear literally anything Tim Burton tells him to.”

MICHELLE WILLIAMS’ MOTHER OF AN ACCEPTANCE SPEECH | “I consider myself a mother first and an actress second. So the person I most want to thank is my daughter, my little girl, whose bravery and exuberance is the example that I take with me in my work and in my life,” said the My Week With Marilyn star, collecting the win for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. Williams then credited her child “for suffering through six months of bedtime stories where all the princesses were read aloud in a Marilyn Monroe-sounding voice.” (Added bonus: A shout-out to Williams’ one-time Dawson’s Creek costar Busy Philipps, whose presence at Williams’ table could be interpreted as Bill Lawrence’s best Cougar Town cameo plant ever, noted TVLine live-blog reader Andrew.)

FELICITY HUFFMAN AND WILLIAM H. MACY MAKE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC TOGETHER | The husband -and-wife team displayed perfect harmony and comedic timing in a little ditty introducing the nominees for Supporting Actress in a TV Series, Movie or Miniseries Category. “These actresses did stunning work, heartbreaking true and bold/ Though four will go home empty-handed, one will take home gold/ Don’t be humiliated ’cause you all did a terrific job/ It’s an honor to be nominated, blah-blah blah-blah, blah-blah, blah.”

SETH ROGEN TAKES THE LOW, LOW ROAD | After walking to the podium with sexy Underworld star Kate Beckinsale to present the nominees for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, Rogen offered this terse, unwelcome bit of intel: “Hello, my name is Seth Rogen, and I am currently trying to conceal a massive erection.” Um, can we file a complaint to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s HR department on Beckinsale’s behalf?

OCTAVIA SPENCER SHOWS OFF HER HEART (AND HER SENSE OF HUMOR) | The night’s most emotional speech came from the winner for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for her work as a put-upon domestic worker in The Help. Spencer honored her character and all the real-world women like her by quoting Martin Luther King Jr. — “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance” — then cheerfully admitted she was overwhelmed by the moment: “Oh my God, I’m gonna fall off of these high-heeled shoes!”

MODERN FAMILY MAN STEVE LEVITAN TAKES SOME LIBERTIES WITH SOFIA VERGARA | As his voluptuous Colombian star accepted her show’s win for Best Comedy Series with an enthusiastic Spanish-language rant, show-runner Levitan provided a hilariously dubious translation declaring the sexiness of the Modern Family writing staff. “Film actresses, do yourselves a favor at the parties tonight and give them your phone numbers,” went Levitan’s Spanish-to-English interpretation. “They may look pasty and nervous and out-of-shape, but they’re the greatest lovers I’ve ever had. Seriously.”

MERYL STREEP LOSES FOCUS | Streep, who seemed shocked by her win for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for The Iron Lady, was forced to wing it when she got to the podium and realized she’d forgotten her glasses. As inebriated audience members tried to relay the spectacles to her, Streep gave a fun, freewheeling speech that was preceded by an enthusiastic smooch for presenter Colin Firth, began with a faux recollection of stepping in to play Margaret Thatcher after “Ricky Gervais’ deal fell through,” paused to thank “my agent Kevin Huvane, and God Harvey Weinstein,” and included an apology to “the British people” for allowing her to trample all over their history.

MADONNA NOT-SO-SUBTLY REMINDS US OF HER FILM FAME | “[The movies] that made me believe I could dream and think outside the box were foreign films, made by the likes of Fellini, Visconti, Truffaut, Godard, Resnais, just to name a few,” said the star of Shanghai Surprise, Body of Evidence, and The Next Best Thing. “So there’s nothing foreign to me about a foreign film!” [Insert your own eye roll or Who's That Girl From Michigan With the clipped European accent punch line here.]

A DANCING DOG STEALS THE SPOTLIGHT | As the cast and crew of The Artist took to the stage to celebrate their win for Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, all eyes (and the cameras) turned to the film’s canine star, who did a jaunty little jig on his hind legs and totally upstaged an otherwise touching speech from producer Thomas Langmann about how his late father couldn’t even afford to fly to the U.S. to collect his Best Short Film Oscar back in 1966. Rated A…for Adorable!

CLOONEY PRAISES MICHAEL FASSBENDER’S, UM, FASS-MEMBER | Giving props to his fellow nominees as he accepted the trophy for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama, George Clooney paid special attention to the endowment his rival showed off in Shame. “I’d like to thank Michael bad credit loans Fassbender for taking over the frontal-nudity responsibility that I had,” said Clooney, who then made the suggestive suggestion that Fassbender could “play golf with both hands tied behind his back.” (Side note: Expect to see some portion of that quote in any/all upcoming ads for Michael Fassbender movies.)

Netflix to lose Starz, its most valuable source of new movies , dayum

Premium cable network Starz Entertainment will end its deal to provide movies to Netflix, a surprise decision that will deprive the popular online video service of its most valuable source of recently released movies.

Analysts had said that if Starz were to renew its agreement, which expires in February 2012, it could have been worth as much as $300 million to John Malone's Liberty Media-owned network.

However, executives at Starz apparently concluded that they would lose even more money by giving consumers a reason to subscribe to Netflix instead of the cable channel.

"This decision is a result of our strategy to protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the appropriate pricing and packaging of our exclusive and highly valuable content," Starz said in a statement Thursday. "With our current studio rights and growing original programming presence, the network is in an excellent position to evaluate new opportunities and expand its overall business."

Starz, which controls pay-cable rights to movies from Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures, signed its current agreement with Netflix in 2008. At that time, online video was watched by only a small number of tech-savvy young people and the estimated $30 million per year the cable network received was seen as new revenue that would have little impact on its traditional television business. unsecured loans

But Netflix now has 25 million subscribers, the majority of whom watch video online through a variety of devices, including Internet-connected TVs, tablets and smartphones. By providing recently released hit movies from Disney and Sony such as "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Karate Kid," Starz has helped to fuel that growth.

The only other recently released movies Netflix gets for its streaming service come from Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer via cable channel Epix. HBO, which has offerings from 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros., has refused to partner with Netflix.

Starz typically costs about $15 a month for cable and satellite television subscribers, while Netflix streaming costs only $8 a month and doesn't require a pay television subscription.

The move comes two months after Sony movies disappeared from Netflix due to a provision in its deal with Starz. However, people close to the matter had said at the time that they expected Sony movies to return to Netflix soon. With Starz choosing not to renew with Netflix, that will now be a moot point. bad credit loans

The Starz development came on the same day that Netflix implemented a previously announced, controversial price increase that eliminates hybrid plans and charges a minimum of $8 a month to receive DVDs through the mail and $8 a month for online video.

The latter service is likely to become less valuable in the eyes of consumers with the disappearance of Starz's movies and original TV series such as "Camelot."

Starz earlier this year implemented a 90-day delay from the premiere of original series episodes until they became available on Netflix, the first sign that it was reconsidering the value of the partnership.

Netflix stock plunged 8% in after-hours trading Thursday on the news, while Liberty Media stock was flat.

Starz has been a great content partner since 2008 and we are thankful for their support.

While we regret their decision to let our agreement lapse next February, we are grateful for the early notice of their decision, which will give us time to license other content before Starz expires.

While Starz was a huge part of viewing on Netflix several years ago because it was some of the only mainstream content Netflix offered, over the years Netflix has spent more and more licensing great TV shows from all four broadcast networks and many cable networks, and we have licensed 1st run movies from Relativity, MGM, Paramount, Lionsgate and others. Because we’ve licensed so much other great content,  Starz content is now down to about 8% of domestic Netflix subscribers’ viewing.   As we add even more content in Q4, we expect Starz content to naturally drift down to 5-6% of domestic viewing in Q1. We are confident we can take the money we had earmarked for Starz renewal next year, and spend it with other content providers to maintain or even improve the Netflix experience.

We have tremendous respect for the Starz creative team, and we look forward to someday licensing some of their original or licensed content.]

EastEnders - Violence overload...

i don’t see Eastenders very often, but over Christmas it is hard to miss. Perhaps the big gaps between seeing the programme makes me notice it more but I find the way the programme portrays women to be quite disturbing.

Yesterday I watched the Christmas day episode. The Character unsecured loans Zainab was being effectively held captive by Yusef her husband. He was drugging her with sleeping tablets and she was unable to leave the house without aggressive questioning and threats of violence, and she is also being controlled by the fact that Yusef has her child at a location unknown to her and is planning to take him out of the country.

Domestic violence happens, and it is important for it to be highlighted so that people understand that it is wrong and so that people act on it. But Eastenders seems to thrive on serious domestic violence. Women rarely seem to act and get help.

The last time I had watched Eastenders was in March this year, where Whitney who was being held captive, the victim of  human trafficking. I was pleased to see this at the time as I think it is something that needs more awareness. The time before that was  July 2010 when I saw an episode where the Character Denise bad credit loans was held captive in a cellar where she eventually escaped. I am starting to wonder now if  the normalising of dominance over and abuse of women in general on the programme is more harmful that the possible good that can come from highlighting domestic violence as an issue.

The low level subservience of women is a thread which runs through every episode. Little touches like Phil giving Shirley a few notes and telling her to go and get herself something nice. A common occurance  in Eastenders.

The way access to children is used to control women was a theme used twice in the Christmas special. In a scene with characters I don’t know the names of involves a mother wanting to give her child a gift but not being able to  as the father  says she cannot as they are busy. He treats her cruelly yet later on she is talking to the child through the wind and the father comes to see and says nothing , it seems to have been a bit of a game to not allow her to see the child.

The same family have a very male dominant little argument about who will sit a the head of the table/ who is head of the household.

There are some strong women in Eastenders, but they tend to be strong against other women, re-enforcing their sub servant role. Rather than standing up to the men. When Denise throws a brick through the windscreen of Phils car, his other half Shirley repeatedly tells Patrick to “take her home” . It’s like he is telling him that one of his women is of control.

Women seem to seek out the men who will abuse them, and repeatedly forgive them as they are ‘in love’. The men live lives which are much more based outside the family unit, making money through deals with other men. When women do cross men, any bad behaviour is stored as ammunition for the future, an excuse for future cruelty, and a reason for women to put up with future abuse.

With Eastenders being the most popular TV programme watched 9.9 million people  on Christmas day, the programme is very influential, directly and on a subconscious level.  what worries me is that it normalises this sort of behaviour and influences the ways that men and women treat each other. Surely there are ways to write story lines without all the Male aggression and female subserviency and oppression?