The Prettiest Star

By Nelson Pellew

The star the burns twice a bright, lasts half as long. The next great star will surely come from the humblest of origins. This is a truism that is particularly apt in the entertainment industry. The actor that comes from an MFA program or carries PhD credentials is the actor doomed to play the FBI section chief or the bumbling father in a Doritos commercial. No, the great stars are never academic, and are always a generation removed from the blue-collar toil their parents were burdened with.

Making it as an actor is never as simple or straightforward a process as being scouted whilst lounging at Schwab's Pharmacy. To be sure, this may have worked for Lana Turner's publicity (she was not scouted, much less while sipping a milkshake at the counter). An actor must work in order to be seen and he or she must be seen in order to garner the attention of the gatekeepers positioned strategically about the walls of Hollywood.

Save for the most obscure of guild apprenticeships, no other industry treats its potential saviors and stars as poorly as the entertainment industry. It is a strange process, but a time-honored one. To make it, you must make it past the studio lot gate. Even then, less than 10% of card-carrying Screen Actors Guild members make more than $1 million a year. The majority of SAG actors will have to content themselves with pretending to enjoy high fructose corn syrup products whilst beaming maniacally at their commercial family. Ah, showbiz.

While the amenities most a-list actors enjoy do not come standard with this technology, a green screen foray may be the closest some people ever get to starring in a major motion picture. This is where companies, like Yoostar, allow the meager of means to taste a thimble-full of fame. Positioned by proprietary software, the green screen allows you to be grafted into any of the two dozen clips or so, playing opposite the icons of film.

Most would-be actors will never enjoy smelling the after-shave of their idols, unless, of course, they are serving said icon his Cobb salad at Musso and Frank's. While this may seem rather cynical, it could very well be the one tool that helps the would-be become the gainfully employed. The magic of the green screen isn't merely proximity to film icons, it's an opportunity to hone one's acting chops. - 31887

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List of Academy Award Winning Movies

By Bill G. Sheers

Love me them or hate them, there is no don't that the Academy Awards are the Super Bowl as far as the entertainment industry goes. It's the only movie related event that people actually bet on for crying out loud. Weather you are into the fashion, the actors, or the art directing, everybody usually has at least a passing interest in Oscar night.

Looking for some ammo to look cool at the party or just in front of the girlfriend or wife? He are a couple of the basics:

Who has hosted the academy awards the most times? Bob Hope, 19 times. Who was the first black performer to win an Academy Award? Hattie McDaniel, 1939 Gone With the Wind. Name the only "Oscar" to win an Oscar. Oscar Hammerstein for Best Song in 1941 and 1945. Which actor has the most Oscar nominations for his performances? Jack Nicholson, 12.

Alright, that should get you started and make you look like you know what you are doing. Now, here is a list of my favorite winners by decade:

1940's --- Picture: Rebecca, 1940 -- Actor: Laurence Olivier, Hamlet, 1948 -- Actress: Loretta Young, The Farmer's Daughter, 1947

1950's --- Picture: All About Eve, 1950 -- Actor: David Niven, Separate Tables, 1958 -- Actress: Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve, 1957

1960's --- Picture: In the Heat of the Night, 1967 -- Actor: John Wayne, True Grit, 1969 -- Actress: Julie Christie, Darling, 1965

1970's --- Picture: Patton, 1970 -- Actor: Jon Voight, Coming Home, 1978 -- Actress: Diane Keaton, Annie Hall, 1977

1980's --- Picture: Out of Africa, 1985 -- Actor: F. Murray Abraham, Amadeus, 1984 -- Actress: Meryl Streep, Sophie's Choice, 1982

1990's --- Picture: The Silence of the Lambs, 1991 -- Actor: Nicholas Cage, Leaving Las Vegas, 1995 -- Actress: Frances MacDormad, 1996

2000's --- Picture: Crash, 2005 -- Actor: Jamie Foxx, Ray, 2004 -- Actress: Nicole Kidman, The Hours, 2002

Have fun Sunday! - 31887

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