Rick Santorum scored another two wins in the race for the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday night, indicating a potentially protracted race ahead. The former U.S. Senator won the Alabama and Mississippi primaries , overcoming the financial advantages of Mitt Romney and Southern allegiances to Newt Gingrich. Santorum strengthened his candidacy as the GOP campaign rolls into a state-by-state delegates battle in the weeks, and very possibly months, ahead. An aggressive push by Romney to try and capitalize on the still-divided conservative electorate failed to take hold, and he finished third in both states. “We did it again,” Santorum said, addressing jubilant supporters in Louisiana, which votes next week. “The time is now for conservatives to pull together.” The outcome of the Alabama and Mississippi primaries bolstered Santorum’s argument that he should emerge as the final GOP competitor to Romney. But Gingrich, who finished a close second in both states, noted that he earned about as many delegates as his rivals, and pledged to continue on. “The elite media’s efforts to convince the nation that Mitt Romney is inevitable just collapsed,” Gingrich said, addressing a subdued crowd here in Birmingham. “If you’re the front-runner and you come in third, you’re not much of a front-runner.” Yet Romney may end up no worse than when he started in the delegate count, which will ultimately decide the nominee (if he can win 50 percent or more). Early Wednesday, Romney was able to add to his delegate tally with a triumph in Hawaii’s Republican caucuses, as well as a victory in American Samoa. Alabama Republican Primary Results Rick Santorum 212,343 (34.5%)
The first trailer for Piranha 3DD has been released and boy, it lives up to expectations. Which were extremely low, but still! Remember what we’re talking about. When you name a film Piranha 3DD , you are talking about 3-D boobs. In the title. And that means, well, you’re going for the lowest common denominator. The Piranha sequel stars Danielle Panabaker, Matt Bush, Ving Rhames, Christopher Lloyd, David Hasselhoff (sporting a familiar red outfit) and John Gulager. This time, the action moves from the sea to a water park as the sharp-toothed fish just go to down on unsuspecting civilians. Scantily-clad ones, of course. Feast your eyes on the awesome terribleness below. Piranha 3DD Trailer
Davy Jones, an icon in the 1960s as the lead singer of The Monkees, has passed away from a heart attack. He was 66. Jones performed as recently as February 18 in New York City, as seen here: Davy Jones in NYC
For reasons unknown, Lifetime has ordered 10 episodes of Bristol Palin: Life’s a Tripp , a half-hour documentary series about Sarah Palin’s eldest daughter. Bristol Palin , for those unfamiliar, is best known for being: The daughter of former V.P. candidate Sarah Palin Knocked up by boyfriend Levi Johnston in 2008 Since giving birth to son Tripp, she’s appeared on DWTS , fought with Levi a lot and published a best-selling book, Not Afraid of Life: My Journey So Far . Whoever ghosted that must’ve done a bang-up job. “From the moment she was thrust into the public eye, Bristol and her son have been the subjects of a huge amount of curiosity and misunderstanding,” said Rob Sharenow , the executive V.P., Programming of Lifetime Networks, in a statement. The show will “provide an exclusive, rare glimpse into Bristol Palin’s real life as a young, single mother forging her own way in the world while living under the bright, constant spotlight as a member of one of America’s highest-profile families.” “This show will reveal the real Bristol Palin and her journey as a daughter, a mother and a young woman trying to make her way in this world.” Life’s a Tripp is scheduled to air sometime this year. Will you watch a Bristol Palin reality show?
You wanna believe George Clooney is gay? The actor possesses a resume full of the most beautiful girlfriends in the business, but go right ahead. He won’t stop you. “I think it’s funny,” the actor tells The Advocate of such rumors. “But the last thing you’ll ever see me do is jump up and down, saying, ‘These are lies!’ That would be unfair and unkind to my good friends in the gay community. I’m not going to let anyone make it seem like being gay is a bad thing. My private life is private, and I’m very happy in it.” Clooney, of course, is dating Stacy Keibler (or is he really?!?) and is a firm support of gay marriage. “One day the marriage equality fight will look as archaic as George Wallace standing on the University of Alabama steps keeping James Hood from attending college because he was black,” he says. “People will be embarrassed to have been on the wrong side.”
Gabe Watson, the accused and so-called Honeymoon Killer, who spent 18 months in an Australian jail for manslaughter, was acquitted today in an American court. Watson has been cleared in the 2003 death of wife Tina, who died on their honeymoon , suspiciously, and not even two weeks after the couple got married. Prosecutors in Birmingham, Ala., alleged that Watson, 34, shut off his 26-year-old wife’s oxygen supply while scuba diving in Australia to collect insurance money. But, when the prosecution rested after two weeks, the judge granted a defense’s motion for an acquittal on the grounds the prosecution failed to prove its case. “The evidence is sorely lacking that it was an intentional act,” Judge Tommy Nail told the courtroom, according to The Birmingham News . “The only way to convict him of intentional murder is to speculate. Nobody knows exactly what happened in the water. I’m sure we’ll never know.” Watson’s mother collapsed in tears outside court. Watson was being tried in Alabama because that’s where he had been married and where the alleged murder plan had allegedly been hatched. He stunned members of Tina’s family when he pleaded guilty in Australia in 2009 to a lesser charge of manslaughter. Australian authorities agreed to release him to the United States to face charges here after American authorities waived seeking the death penalty. In 2008, while still facing murder charges in Australia, Watson married Kim Lewis, with whom he had gone to high school.
Billy Bob Thornton ’s Jayne Mansfield’s Car , screening in competition here at the Berlinale , is a sprawl of a movie, wonderful in some small, intimate ways but confounding when you step back to look at the bigger picture. This is a multi-generational family story set in late-1960s Alabama: A curmudgeonly patriarch, played by Robert Duvall, learns that his ex-wife, who’d long ago decamped to England to marry another man, has died; he’s forced to open his home to the second husband (John Hurt) and his two children when they arrive in the United States for the funeral. Duvall’s three sons, all veterans of the second World War, include Robert Patrick, who served but never saw action; Kevin Bacon, who worked as a medic and now, at the height of the Vietnam War protest, has become a pot-smoking peacenik; and Thornton, a former pilot whose mind has been addled by his wartime experience. Duvall also has a daughter, played by the gifted actress Katharine LaNasa (who may be best known for her work on TV shows like Big Love ), a flirtatious blonde who feels she sometimes gets lost in this family of strong and/or confused and/or ineffectual men. In fact, there’s a lot of “and/or” in Jayne Mansfield’s Car . (The title refers to the wrecked vehicle in which the Hollywood bombshell died in 1967, which makes its way to Duvall’s town as a morbid curio.) Thornton and cowriter Tom Epperson try to cram in so many relationship dynamics that the ensuing conflicts begin to lose significance. Duvall resents Hurt; Duvall’s sons all resent their father. Characters have crushes that amount to nothing, to the point where you wonder what these developments are even doing in the story. And while these disparate family members have been brought together by a death, no one, not even her own children, has much to say about the woman who has just died – she’s a screenwriter’s device in a handy casket. It doesn’t help that the three brothers, particularly Bacon’s character, are weirdly anachronistic for World War II vets. In 1969, most of those guys weren’t smoking pot or otherwise acting like petulant teenagers; at around age 50, they would have been, or would have been expected to be, certified grown-up men. This is the first picture Thornton has directed in 11 years – the last was the 2001 comedy Daddy and Them – and he isn’t fully in control of this messy, unfocused material. But he does have some terrific actors in his corner: Hurt and Duvall, in particular, are great fun to watch. But what struck me most about Jayne Mansfield’s Car – and it’s the single biggest reason to see the movie – is Thornton’s performance. This is the part that actors who work as directors usually mess up: They can’t direct themselves. (There are notable exceptions, of course, like Orson Welles or Laurence Olivier, but who wants to try to measure up to them ?) Yet Thornton is so relaxed here, and so believably befuddled, that your heart reaches out to him. There’s something extremely vulnerable-looking about Billy Bob: That too-big head on that too-skinny body (which now, at middle age, also features a slight, real-live-person paunch, as opposed to chiseled movie-star abs). He’s superb in an awkwardly tender seduction scene with Frances O’Connor (who plays his late mother’s English stepdaughter) – he stands before her literally and figuratively stripped down, his emotions distilled into something so intense and beautiful that it’s almost painful to watch. I suppose, after playing a scene like that, an actor-director could easily enough watch the playback and say, “Yep, that works.” But can Thornton himself really see how wonderful it is? Particularly in the midst of a movie that, scene for scene, doesn’t really work? Maybe the performance comes from a place where objective assessment recedes and instinct takes over. However it happened, it’s a small, sturdy miracle. Read more of Movieline’s Berlinale coverage here . Follow Stephanie Zacharek on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The mtvU Woodies are once again heading to SXSW, with plans for a day-long festival leading up to the awards themselves. By James Montgomery Jay-Z and Kanye West Photo: Getty Images The mtvU Woodie Awards are heading back to South by Southwest, and this year, they’re going to be bigger than ever. That’s because on Wednesday (February 8), mtvU announced that, in addition to the awards themselves, the Woodies will channel the SXSW spirit and become a day-long festival. It begins March 15 at 1 p.m. CT with a host of live performances — open to all SXSW badge holders (though, if you’re not going to be down in Austin, you can watch the fest unfold live on Woodies.mtvU.com ) — and culminate with the 2012 Woodie Awards. The best moments from the awards will air on MTV and mtvU on March 18 at 8 p.m. ET, though the music lovers can stay up to date on all Woodie-related mania — interviews, performances and SXSW updates — beginning on March 11, when “Woodie Awards Week” kicks off on MTV, mtvU and MTV.com. Woodie performers will be announced in the coming weeks, but the nominees have already been announced, and fans can vote for their favorite nominated artists beginning Wednesday through Woodies.mtvU.com . Kanye West and Jay-Z, The Black Keys, Skrillex, Mac Miller, Frank Ocean, J.Cole and more lead the field that will vie for the coveted big hunks of wood in categories like “Woodie of the Year” (given to the artist who left their mark on music in 2011) and the “Performing Woodie” (given to the year’s best touring musician). And this year, the Woodies have unveiled a brand-new category to honor electronic dance music: the “EDM Effect Woodie.” Voting in all Woodies categories closes March 9. Here’s a look at all the nominees. Woodie of the Year
Did you know that “bin Laden” is the vice president of the Unted States, or that the Civil War led to America’s independence? Well, that’s what some local students at (what appears to be) a Washington state high school think. In a video that’s probably a few hours from going viral, a young man decided to question classmates for a video called “Lunch Scholars.” It is anything but scholarly. HuffPo… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Blaze Discovery Date : 03/02/2012 04:49 Number of articles : 4
Florida Communist Party USA leader Josh LeClair interviews Scott Douglas , executive director of Alabama’s Greater Birmingham Ministries. Douglas is leading the charge against Alabama’s comparatively tough new anti illegal immigration laws. Douglas poses as a man of faith, a religious leader of Birmingham’s black community. In reality, Douglas was a long time Communist Party Broadcasting platform : Vimeo Source : Big Government Discovery Date : 03/02/2012 16:54 Number of articles : 2
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