Every day, billions of photos uploaded to the Internet contain faces. Experts say sophisticated algorithms can collect these images, compare and glean information – some for law enforcement agencies and some for hackers, intent on stealing and misusing that data. An Israeli company says there’s a way to prevent that. VOA’s George Putic has more.
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Shoes that promote health and safety were featured last week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Faith Lapidus reports.
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Washington became the first state Monday to set up its own net-neutrality requirements after U.S. regulators repealed Obama-era rules that banned internet providers from blocking content or impairing traffic.
“We know that when D.C. fails to act, Washington state has to do so,” Gov. Jay Inslee said before signing the measure that lawmakers passed with bipartisan support. “We know how important this is.”
The Federal Communications Commission voted in December to gut U.S. rules that meant to prevent broadband companies such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon from exercising more control over what people watch and see on the internet.
Because the FCC prohibited state laws from contradicting its decision, opponents of the Washington law have said it would lead to lawsuits.
Inslee said he was confident of its legality, saying “the states have a full right to protect their citizens.”
Oregon law has not been signed
The new law also requires internet providers to disclose information about their management practices, performance and commercial terms. Violations would be enforceable under the state’s Consumer Protection Act.
While several states introduced similar measures this year seeking to protect net neutrality, only Oregon and Washington passed bills. But Oregon’s measure would’t put any new requirements on internet providers.
It would stop state agencies from buying internet service from any company that blocks or prioritizes specific content or apps, starting in 2019. It’s unclear when Oregon’s measure would be signed into law.
Washington state was among more than 20 states and the District of Columbia that sued in January to try and block the FCC’s action. There are also efforts by Democrats to undo the move in Congress.
Governors in five states — Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Montana and Vermont — have signed executive orders related to net-neutrality issues, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Expect new rules by mid-June
Big telecom companies have said net neutrality rules could undermine investment in broadband and introduce uncertainty about what are acceptable business practices. Net-neutrality advocates say the FCC decision would harm innovation and make it harder for the government to crack down on internet providers who act against consumer interests.
The FCC’s new rules are not expected to go into effect until later this spring. Washington’s law will take effect mid-June.
Messages left with the Broadband Communications Association of Washington, which opposed the bill, were not immediately returned.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 70th birthday is coming up and it turns out there is something the composer really wants on his special day. More work.
The man behind such blockbuster shows as “Cats,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “School of Rock” has shows in London’s West End, Broadway and on tour, but he’d like to be composing another one.
“The biggest birthday present to me would be to know that I’ve found another subject. Genuinely, that’s what I would most want for my 70th birthday: To know I’m writing,” he said.
Lloyd Webber may actually be close to another musical subject but doesn’t want to jinx it by revealing details.
“Knowing me, I’ll find some speed bump along the line,” he said.
It’s typical of this restless, self-described perfectionist that he’s looking forward as his past is being celebrated in words, performances and music.
His autobiography, “Unmasked,” is being released this month, along with a massive, four-CD collection of his songs, performed by the likes of Barbra Streisand, Lana Del Rey and Madonna. NBC plans a primetime tribute March 28.
The Lloyd Webber-mania also includes an upcoming live televised NBC version of “Jesus Christ Superstar” starring John Legend and Sara Bareilles, and a new musical featuring his songs at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey in September. He was the subject of a Grammy Awards tribute, and winter Olympic fans would have noticed Lloyd Webber soundtracks for several skaters.
The book, which he jokingly refers to as a “medium sized doorstop,” covers the years from his birth to the birth of “The Phantom of the Opera.” It’s honest and very funny.
“I just hope it shows a little more about me to people who perhaps don’t know me,” he said in his apartment overlooking Central Park. “I just hope I’ve told some of the funniest stores and they’re not too boring for people.”
Readers will learn how close he was to being cast as Mozart in the Oscar-winning film “Amadeus,” the time he scribbled the title song in “Jesus Christ Superstar” on a paper napkin, how Judy Garland inspired “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” and the moment he accidentally exploded a bottle of Champagne all over Barbra Streisand’s hors d’oeuvres.
He also corrects the record about his first meeting with mega-producer Cameron Mackintosh. They did not consume four bottles of burgundy over a long lunch. “It was three bottles and two kirs,” he writes.
One of the book’s most fascinating sections involves the troubled creation of “Cats,” which became a global phenomenon. Lloyd Webber had to put his own money into the show and watched its progression nervously.
There were warning signs: The show was his first without lyricist Tim Rice, with whom he’s had success with “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and “Evita.” He was working with a then-unknown producer in Mackintosh and a director who’d never done a musical. Lyrics came from a dead poet, T.S. Eliot. The musical director resigned after having a nervous breakdown.
“We were asking people to believe that human beings were cats. It appeared to have no story-line,” Lloyd Webber said. “There was not one ingredient that anybody could see was anything other than a recipe for the worst disaster that had ever happened in the history of musical theater.”
Lloyd Webber is positive he’d be unable to get backing for a show like that on Broadway today, though he cheers the imagination of current hits like “Hamilton,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Come From Away” and “The Band’s Visit.” None seem safe bets: “Every single one of those four would be considered to be written by somebody who terminally insane,” he said, laughing.
His 480-page autobiography ends in 1986 with “Phantom”: “I resembled a jelly about to enter a pizza oven.” But he doubts he’ll write a second volume. By the end of the first, several key relationships have frayed and betrayal is felt.
“On the way down sometimes is when you see peoples’ true colors. I don’t want to write about that. I never want to write about the bad side of people or things,” he said.
Jonathan Burnham, the book’s editor at HarperCollins, said the book offers charming anecdotes along with Lloyd Webber’s thinking about music, including the mechanics of putting on musicals.
“What makes the book so valuable and entertaining is his voice, which is unshackled,” Burnham said. “It’s like spending a delightful series of evenings with a witty friend who’s lived lots of interesting experiences.”
The CD collection of 71 songs proves Lloyd Webber’s range, including a song he wrote for Elvis Presley, orchestral suites, and tunes performed by everyone from Donny Osmond to Beyonce. Lana Del Rey performs “You Must Love Me” and Nicole Scherzinger does “Memory.”
“I’m rather unfashionable now because I’m not sure that melody is as fashionable as it was,” he says. “What I do is melody and I still believe there’s a place for that.”
With that, one of music history’s most successful composers is itching to get to the airport, and back to work in England.
“I’ve already said I’m the most boring person I’ve ever met. I do not intend to bore people any further,” he said. “I just want to get to the theater and get on with the next case.”
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McDormand received the Oscar for Best Actress Sunday night — and promptly lost it.
A man named Terry Bryant is in jail on $20,000 bail for allegedly trying to steal McDormand’s award during the Governor’s Ball in Hollywood, the post-show party.
Bryant posted video of himself waving the Oscar around, kissing it, and soliciting congratulations from bystanders, shouting, “This is mine,” before leaving the party.
Meantime, McDormand was in tears lamenting her lost prize.
A suspicious photographer who did not recall Bryant winning an award followed him, retrieved the Oscar without a struggle, and turned Bryant over to police. McDormand and Oscar were shortly reunited.
It is unclear how Bryant got his hands on McDormand’s statuette or how he got a coveted ticket to the ball.
McDormand received the award for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” It was her second Best Actress Oscar.
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Call it the Snapchat effect.
Some high-tech mirrors out there are borrowing from the social media giant, which offers face “lenses” to decorate selfies shared among its users.
Instead of putting dog ears or sparkly rainbow tongues on photos, popular on Snapchat, these mirrors allow consumers to apply virtual lipstick shades, eyeglasses and earrings.
And they’re gaining popularity among retailers who want to lure shoppers back into stores.
“Virtual try-on offers people the ability to try on numerous products, many more than they would be able to try on otherwise,” said Peter Johnson of FaceCake Marketing Technologies.
Johnson was recently demonstrating Dangle — it uses augmented reality to let customers try on multiple earring styles without ever touching a pair of earrings.
In Dangle’s case, the “mirror” is actually a computer monitor and handheld tablet. Using the device’s cameras and facial recognition technology, Dangle positions virtual earrings on customers.
Each pair gently swings and sways, giving the experience a realistic feel. Retailers can showcase their entire stock of earrings, allowing customers to try on multiple styles and colors.
It’s a unique way to shop and gives retailers added benefits, too. No one can steal a pair of virtual earrings.
“In-store jewelry, even costume jewelry, is now quite expensive,” said Johnson, “This is a way to keep inventory secure, while people are making decisions about what they want to wear.”
Cross-selling is another advantage. A store associate who sells evening wear for example, can use Dangle to show how different earring styles will look with a particular dress or outfit.
Beauty makeover 2.0
For many shoppers, finding that just-right shade of foundation or lipstick can take several hit-or-miss attempts at the makeup counter. Smart mirrors can help. Customers at Neiman Marcus stores can use touchscreen mirrors by MemoMi to virtually apply and change multiple shades of makeup in one session.
The “Memory Makeover” mirrors also record and share videos of in-store makeovers, allowing customers to review the entire process, complete with voice notes.
“Customers, when they get a makeover, they don’t remember what order, how it was applied,” said Alec Gefrides, general manager of transactional retail at Intel, the computer chip giant. “Being able to teach an individual, ‘Okay, this is the makeup that we used with you today’ but also how to apply it, you can take that with you and try it, repeat the process at home.”
Bridging Online and Brick-And-Mortar Experiences
In the ongoing quest to drive in-store sales, retailers are continually building elements of online and mobile experiences into brick-and-mortar locations.
For the consumer, the experience is an extension of what they’re already come to expect from online shopping – an interactive and social experience with convenient, seamless checkout. Smart mirrors using Dangle do double duty, offering countless styles to try on while also functioning as a checkout system for speedier transactions.
MemoMi mirrors allow retailers to collect data – creating a profile of customers and gaining greater insight into their likes, dislikes and purchasing history. Just as an online retailer gleans information from customer data, these in-store fixtures can help sales associates make more informed product recommendations and tailor promotions to customers which will translate to sales.
As technologies improve, Gefrides sees brick-and-mortar retailers making a comeback.
“We always hear about the big store closings,” said Gefrides. But Intel is seeing more retailers turn to technology to improve customers’ in-store experience.
There are cameras everywhere at the Academy Awards, but some of the most intimate celebrity moments at the show still manage to escape the lens.
Here’s a look at some of the backstage interactions that never made it to TV screens:
LADY-BIRD BONDING: Greta Gerwig and Laura Dern shared some poignant moments backstage before presenting the documentary award.
The two women spent at least 10 minutes backstage together chatting and preparing for their moment onstage, during which Dern gave Gerwig a bit of a pep-talk.
“It’s amazing. And it’s historic,” Dern told Gerwig of her best director nomination – the fifth woman in academy history to be so recognized. “Are you breathing?” the elder actress asked.
“Your dress is perfect. Your makeup is perfect,” Dern said. {“Let’s check the booty.”
With that, Dern and Gerwig turned around to reveal the back of their dresses to each other, which they deemed camera-ready.
Dern also advised her co-presenter not to slouch or lean into the microphone.
“Shoulders back,” Gerwig said, convincing herself.
Still, Dern worried about having worn her eyeglasses.
“No, they look so cute!” Gerwig said. “There’s nothing hotter than a hot lady with glasses.”
They discussed whether they should walk out arm in arm or holding hands. Gerwig took an impromptu vote with backstage workers, who said holding hands would be their best bet.
“Good,” Gerwig said. “We crowd-sourced it.”
The two women emerged onstage holding hands.
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FOOT FETISH: Comedic actresses Maya Rudolph and Tiffany Haddish had planned to wear comfortable footwear onto the Oscar stage even before it became part of their lines Sunday night.
Haddish insisted on wearing her slippers onstage.
“Girl, I got bunions and corns,” Haddish told Rudolph. “The foot-fetish people will be all about it. Did you see that bunion? Did you see them corns?”
The comedienne joked to Rudolph that she’s been using “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” spray on her feet.
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DIVA IN THE HOUSE: Oscar-winner Faye Dunaway likes to make her own rules. She refused to stay in her position backstage before announcing the best picture winner.
The 77-year-old Dunaway repeatedly walked away from her prescribed spot backstage before she and Warren Beatty were to announce the final award of the night.
She demanded to know where her lines were and whether Allison Janney won for supporting actress (she did).
When a backstage photographer snapped a candid photo of Dunaway, she was livid. She told the man to “go away” and made the kind of shooing motion one might use for a pet dog.
She and Warren Beatty successfully announced the best picture winner this year: “The Shape of Water.”
Later, while posing for photos with the night’s winners, Dunaway continued directing the photographers who captured her image.
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Native Americans took to social media to express gratitude to Hostiles star Wes Studi, Cherokee, who, during the 90th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles last night, spoke Tsalagi, the language of the Cherokee people.
The Cherokee Nation itself took to Twitter to express gratitude.
“As a veteran, I am always appreciative when filmmakers bring to the screen stories of those who have served,” Studi said, introducing a filmed tribute to Hollywood’s portrayal of the military. “Over 90 years of the Academy Awards, a number of movies with military themes have been honored at the Oscars. Let’s take a moment to pay tribute to these powerful films that shine a great spotlight on those who have fought for freedom around the world.”
Studi has enjoyed a long career in movies, appearing in such classic movies as Dances With Wolves and The Last of the Mohicans, and most recently, he played Chief Yellow Hawk, co-starring with Christian Bale in Scott Cooper’s new western Hostiles.
Studi is affiliated with the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, based in Tahlequah, the largest of three federally-recognized Cherokee tribes. The other two are the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, also headquartered in Tahlequah, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in Cherokee, North Carolina.
Between 1836 and 1839, the U.S. military removed the Cherokee Nation from their lands in Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas and forced them west into Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) in the Western U.S.
Native Americans have served in every branch of the U.S. military and in every war and conflict since the Revolutionary War.
Studi is a veteran himself. Born in Nofire Hollow in rural Oklahoma, he joined the National Guard during his senior year at the now-defunct Chilocco Indian School, a boarding school in north-central Oklahoma. He later volunteered for the U.S. Army and served 18 months in Vietnam.
“Amongst themselves, Native Americans are treated with a lot more honor for having served the people,” he told the Military Times in January. “Our culture values the fact that our young men are willing and ready and able to put their lives on the line to protect others.”
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There’s a dirty little secret about artificial intelligence: It’s powered by an army of real people.
From makeup artists in Venezuela to women in conservative parts of India, people around the world are doing the digital equivalent of needlework -drawing boxes around cars in street photos, tagging images, and transcribing snatches of speech that computers can’t quite make out.
Such data feeds directly into “machine learning” algorithms that help self-driving cars wind through traffic and let Alexa figure out that you want the lights on. Many such technologies wouldn’t work without massive quantities of this human-labeled data.
These repetitive tasks pay pennies apiece. But in bulk, this work can offer a decent wage in many parts of the world – even in the U.S. And it underpins a technology that could change humanity forever: AI that will drive us around, execute verbal commands without flaw, and – possibly – one day think on its own.
For more than a decade, Google has used people to rate the accuracy of its search results. More recently, investors have poured tens of millions of dollars into startups like Mighty AI and CrowdFlower, which are developing software that makes it easier to label photos and other data, even on smartphones.
Venture capitalist S. “Soma” Somasegar says he sees “billions of dollars of opportunity” in servicing the needs of machine learning algorithms. His firm, Madrona Venture Group, invested in Mighty AI. Humans will be in the loop “for a long, long, long time to come,” he says.
Accurate labeling could make the difference between a self-driving car distinguishing between the sky and the side of a truck – a distinction Tesla’s Model S failed in the first known fatality involving self-driving systems in 2016.
“We’re not building a system to play a game, we’re building a system to save lives,” says Mighty AI CEO Daryn Nakhuda.
Marjorie Aguilar, a 31-year-old freelance makeup artist in Maracaibo, Venezuela, spends four to six hours a day drawing boxes around traffic objects to help train self-driving systems for Mighty AI.
She earns about 50 cents an hour, but in a crisis-wracked country with runaway inflation, just a few hours’ work can pay a month’s rent in bolivars.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but for me it’s pretty decent,” she says. “You can imagine how important it is for me getting paid in U.S. dollars.”
Aria Khrisna, a 36-year-old father of three in Tegal, Indonesia, says that adding word tags to clothing pictures on websites such as eBay and Amazon pays him about $100 a month, roughly half his income.
And for 25-year-old Shamima Khatoon, her job annotating cars, lane markers and traffic lights at an all-female outpost of data-labeling company iMerit in Metiabruz, India, represents the only chance she has to work outside the home in her conservative Muslim community.
“It’s a good platform to increase your skills and support your family,” she says.
The benefits of greater accuracy can be immediate. At InterContinental Hotels Group, every call that its digital assistant Amelia can take from a human saves $5 to $10, says information technology director Scot Whigham.
When Amelia fails, the program listens while a call is rerouted to one of about 60 service desk workers. It learns from their response and tries the technique out on the next call, freeing up human employees to do other things.
When a computer can’t make out a customer call to the Hyatt Hotels chain, an audio snippet is sent to AI-powered call center Interactions in an old brick building in Franklin, Massachusetts. There, while the customer waits on the phone, one of a roomful of headphone-wearing “intent analysts” transcribes everything from misheard numbers to profanity and quickly directs the computer how to respond.
That information feeds back into the system. “Next time through, we’ve got a better chance of being successful,” says Robert Nagle, Interactions’ chief technology officer.
Researchers have tried to find workarounds to human-labeled data, often without success.
In a project that used Google Street View images of parked cars to estimate the demographic makeup of neighborhoods, then-Stanford researcher Timnit Gebru tried to train her AI by scraping Craigslist photos of cars for sale that were labeled by their owners.
But the product shots didn’t look anything like the car images in Street View, and the program couldn’t recognize them. In the end, she says, she spent $35,000 to hire auto dealer experts to label her data.
Trevor Darrell, a machine learning expert at the University of California Berkeley, says he expects it will be five to 10 years before computer algorithms can learn to perform without the need for human labeling. His group alone spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year paying people to annotate images.
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Held one year ago, the 90th Academy Awards would have very likely been a rose-colored nostalgia fest.
But this year, with a culture-wide reckoning over decades of sexual misconduct, a film business in decline, a volatile political climate and the fact that last year the esteemed show couldn’t even manage to present its biggest award correctly, the film academy and host Jimmy Kimmel on Sunday staged a complex and sometimes incongruous dance of attempting to both honor and atone for the past.
In many ways, the show inside the Dolby Theatre went exactly as planned – scripted, tight, full of past-looking montages, forward-thinking speeches and produced to appeal to all. Presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty got a best picture redo, (“What happened last year is Waterhouse under the bridge,” Kimmel quipped) and 86-year-old Rita Moreno got to wear her dress from the 1962 ceremony again.
The Walt Disney Co. sneaked a fair amount of promos (“A Wrinkle in Time,” and “Mary Poppins Returns”) and self-congratulations (for “Black Panther”) into its ABC broadcast and the production did its best to appeal to the “regular moviegoer” by trotting out Gal Gadot and other stars to literally give candy to a theater full of people.
The awards also effectively skirted the awkwardness of having an accused man in the spotlight by shifting around long-held presenter traditions and having Jodie Foster and Jennifer Lawrence present the best actress award instead of Casey Affleck. Emma Stone got her Natalie Portman moment, presenting the directing award to “four men and Greta Gerwig.”
Activists like #MeToo creator Tarana Burke were included in a song segment. And three Harvey Weinstein accusers, Ashley Judd, Salma Hayek and Annabella Sciorra, were given a moment to themselves on stage for nothing more than the fact that they were brave enough to speak up before a hopeful video played highlighting a changing industry, post #MeToo and more diverse.
The video highlighted Greta Gerwig, the fifth woman to ever be nominated for best director, Yance Ford, the first transgender nominee for “Strong Island,” Dee Rees, whose “Mudbound” scored a historic cinematographer nomination and the Pakistan-born Kumail Nanjiani, nominated for “The Big Sick.”
The nominees signaled a renaissance. The winners told a slightly different story.
With a more diverse, more international and younger infusion of voting members into the film academy, the movie in love with movies still won the top awards. Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy romance “The Shape of Water,” won best picture, director, score and production design.
“Growing up in Mexico, I thought this could never happen,” del Toro said. “It happens.”
The acting awards, which have been locked for three months, went to the expected winners – all esteemed veterans and three of whom had never been nominated before: Frances McDormand won best actress for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and her co-star Sam Rockwell won for his supporting performance. Gary Oldman picked up the best actor prize for transforming into Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour” and Allison Janney for becoming Tonya Harding’s mother in “I, Tonya.”
At 89, James Ivory became the oldest Oscar-winner for his adapted screenplay for “Call Me By Your Name.” And Christopher Nolan’s ambitious World War II nail-biter “Dunkirk” picked up three technical awards.
But Gerwig’s “Lady Bird” left empty handed, Rachel Morrison did not become the first female cinematography winner (the long-snubbed Roger Deakins got that honor finally for “Blade Runner 2049” after 14 nominations) and Ford was not the first transgender Oscar-winner.
There were glimpses of progress, in Chile’s “A Fantastic Woman,” which starred the transgender actress Daniela Vega, won best foreign film. Disney and Pixar’s celebration of Mexican culture, “Coco,” took best animated feature, as well as best song for “Remember Me.”
“The biggest thank you of all to the people of Mexico,” said director Lee Unkrich to loud applause. “Marginalized people deserve to feel like they belong. Representation matters.”
And Jordan Peele became the first African-American to win best original screenplay for his horror sensation “Get Out.”
Peele said he stopped writing it “20 times,” skeptical that it would ever get made.
“But I kept coming back to it because I knew if someone would let me make this movie, that people would hear it and people would see it,” said Peele. “So I want to dedicate this to all the people who raised my voice and let me make this movie.”
Even McDormand used her moment on stage to make a statement on behalf of women.
“If I may be so honored to have all the female nominees stand with me,” McDormand said.
“We all have stories to tell and projects we need financed,” she added, before uttering the phrase “inclusion rider,” referring to actors signing contracts that mandate a film’s gender and racial inclusivity.
Everyone seemed to take this moment of an industry in flux to heart.
“We can’t let bad behavior slide anymore,” said Kimmel at the show’s start. “The world is watching us.”
And indeed as the last show in this very long season, made even longer thanks to the Olympics, and with an unprecedented pressure to address all the ills of society and 90 years of movies it was perhaps always going to be too big a feat for one group of entertainers to tackle in a single nearly four-hour production.
There’s only so much they can do, after all, and there is no one like Kimmel to remind everyone that it is still the movie industry.
In an aside about the pay disparity between Mark Walhberg and Michelle Williams for “All the Money in the World” reshoots, Kimmel said upon discovering that both actors were represented by the same talent agency that, “This one shook me.”
“If we can’t trust agents, who can we trust?”
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Here are some of the best looks from the red carpet at the 90th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, March 4, 2018.
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Bill Cosby is going to court to stop some of his dozens of accusers from testifying at his April 2 sexual assault retrial.
Cosby’s retooled defense team is due to clash with prosecutors over the potential witnesses at a pretrial hearing on Monday.
Prosecutors want to call as many as 19 women to the witness stand in an attempt to show Cosby engaged in a five-decade pattern of drugging and harming women.
Cosby is only charged in one case, an alleged assault on a former Temple University women’s basketball administrator at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
The 80-year-old entertainer’s first trial ended in a hung jury. A judge had allowed just one other accuser to testify.
Cosby’s lawyers want the same judge to limit the number of accuser witnesses again. They argue some of their claims are “virtually impossible to defend against.”
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The 90th Academy Awards crowned Guillermo del Toro’s monster fable “The Shape of Water” best picture at an Oscars that confronted the post-Harvey Weinstein era and sought to pivot to a vision of a more inclusive movie business.
A sense of change was palpable at the ceremony Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, where winners made impassioned arguments for gender equality and diversity.
Guillermo del Toro’s monster fable “The Shape of Water,” which came in with a leading 13 nods, took a leading four awards, including best production design, best score and best director for del Toro. He became the third Mexican-born filmmaker to win the award, joining his friends and countrymen Alejandro Inarritu and Alfonso Cuaron — who once were dubbed “the Three Amigos.”
“The greatest thing that art does, and that our industry does, is erase the lines in the sand,” said del Toro, alluding to his international career.
Jordan Peele won for his script to his horror sensation “Get Out,” becoming the first African-American to win for best original screenplay. Peele said he stopped writing it “20 times,” skeptical that it would ever get made.
“But I kept coming back to it because I knew if someone would let me make this movie, that people would hear it and people would see it,” said Peele. “So I want to dedicate this to all the people who raised my voice and let me make this movie.”
In a year lacking a clear front-runner the awards were spread around. Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic “Dunkirk” landed three awards, all for its technical craft: editing, sound editing and sound design.
Things went expected in the acting categories, where Frances McDormand won her second Oscar for her performance in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” McDormand asked all the attending female nominees stand up in the theater.
“Look around, ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell and projects that need financing,” declared McDormand. “I have two words to leave with you tonight, ladies and gentlemen, Inclusion Rider.”
Subbing for last year’s best-actor winner, Casey Affleck, in presenting the best-actress award were Jodie Foster and Jennifer Lawrence. “It’s a new day in Hollywood,” said Lawrence.
Three widely admired veteran actors won their first Oscars. Gary Oldman won for his Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour,” Allison Janney (“I, Tonya”) took best supporting actress, and Sam Rockwell (“Three Billboards”) won best supporting actor. Oldman thanked his “99-years young” mother. “Put the kettle on,” he told her. “I’m bringing Oscar home.”
But many of the show’s most powerful moments came in between the awards. Ashley Judd, Anabella Sciorra and Salma Hayek — who all made allegations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein — together assembled for a mid-show segment dedicated to the #MeToo movement that has followed the downfall of Weinstein, long an Oscar heavyweight. They were met by a standing ovation.
“We work together to make sure the next 90 years empower these limitless possibilities of equality, diversity, inclusion and intersectionality,” said Judd. “That’s what this year has promised us.”
Host Jimmy Kimmel opened with a monologue that mixed Weinstein punchlines with earnest comments about reforming gender equality in Hollywood. And of course, Kimmel — returning to the scene of the flub — dove straight into material about last year’s infamous best-picture mix-up.
“I do want to mention, this year, when you hear your name called, don’t get up right away,” said Kimmel. “Give us a minute.”
But while Kimmel spent a few moments on the fiasco known as Envelopegate, he expended far more minutes frankly and soberly discussing the parade of sexual harassment allegations in the wake of the revelations regarding Weinstein. Kimmel cited the industry’s poor record for female directors and equal pay.
“We can’t let bad behavior slide anymore,” said Kimmel. “The world is watching us.”
Gesturing to a giant statue on the stage, he praised Oscar, himself for keeping “his hands where you can see them” and for having “no penis at all.” But Kimmel introduced the broadcast as “a night for positivity,” and cited, among other things, the box-office success of “Black Panther” and “Wonder Woman.”
“I remember a time when the major studios didn’t believe a woman or a minority could open a superhero movie — and the reason I remember that time is because it was March of last year,” said Kimmel.
Several cinema legends won their first Oscar. James Ivory, 89, won best adapted screenplay for his script to the coming-of-age drama “Call Me By Your Name,” becoming the oldest winner ever. After 14 nominations, revered cinematographer Roger Deakins finally won for his photography on “Blade Runner 2049.” In the category, Rachel Morrison (“Mudbound”) became the first woman nominated for best cinematography.
Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani joined Kenyan-born Lupita Nyong’o to salute the so-called Dreamers — immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children and here without permanent protection from deportation. “Dreams are the foundation of Hollywood and dreams are the foundation of America. And, so, to all the Dreamers out there, we stand with you,” Nanjiani said.
Later, Pixar’s colorful ode to Mexican culture “Coco” won best animated film as well as best song for “Remember Me.” Best foreign language film went to Chile’s “A Fantastic Woman,” Sebastian Lelio’s drama starring transgender actress Daniela Vega.
“The biggest thank you of all to the people of Mexico,” said director Lee Unkrich to loud applause. “Marginalized people deserve to feel like they belong. Representation matters.”
Netflix scored its first feature-film Oscar, with best documentary going to “Icarus,” Bryan Fogel’s investigation into doping in sports, aided by the assistance of Grigory Rodchenkov, the head of the Russian anti-doping laboratory who candidly discussed the doping scheme under Vladimir Putin. Fogel dedicated the award to Rodchenkov, “our fearless whistleblower who now lives in grave danger.”
“Darkest Hour” won for best makeup. The period romance “Phantom Thread” won for costume design.
The ceremony was the crescendo of one of Hollywood’s most turbulent awards seasons ever — one that saw cascading allegations of sexual harassment topple movie moguls, upended Oscar campaigns and new movements launched to improve gender equality throughout the industry.
No Golden Globes-style fashion protest was held by organizers of Time’s Up, the initiative begun by several hundred prominent women in entertainment to combat sexual harassment. Their goals go beyond red carpets, organizers said in the lead-up to the Oscars. “We did the dress code thing and now we’re doing the work,” said (hash)MeToo founder Tarana Burke on the red carpet.
The parade of sexual harassment allegations made the normal superficial red carpet a place of sometimes more serious discussion than attire. Scrutiny fell Sunday on E! host Ryan Seacrest after his former stylist, Suzie Hardy, alleged sexual harassment against the red-carpet regular. Seacrest has denied it and E! has supported him. Best supporting actress Oscar nominee Mary J. Blige said Seacrest is “fighting for his life right now.”
Twenty years ago, a “Titanic” sweep won record ratings for the Oscar broadcast. But ratings have recently been declining. Last year’s show drew 32.9 million viewers for ABC, a 4 percent drop from the prior year. Even more worrisome was a slide in the key demographic of adults aged 18-49, whose viewership was down 14 percent from 2016.
Movie attendance also hit a 24-year low in 2017. But this year is already off to a strong start, thanks largely to Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther,” which many analysts believe will play a prominent role at next year’s Oscars. In three weeks, it has already grossed about $500 million domestically. The film’s star, Chadwick Boseman, was placed front-and-center, at the Dolby Theatre.
This year, the academy prohibited the PwC accountants who handle the envelopes from using cellphones or social media during the show.
With just a few minutes before the show started, Kimmel and his team emerged from his dressing room chanting, “Let’s get it right this time!”
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Chile’s “A Fantastic Woman” has been named the winner of the best foreign language film Academy Award.
The film from director Sebastian Lelio stars transgender actress Daniela Vega as a woman who faces acrimony and scrutiny after the death of her lover. Lelio called Vega the inspiration for the film.
Kimmel launches Oscars, Rockwell wins supporting actor
The 90th Academy Awards brought the most tumultuous awards season in recent memory to a close Sunday with a ceremony that confronted the post-Harvey Weinstein era for Hollywood while honoring the year’s best filmmaking, including the sound design of “Dunkirk,” the production design of “The Shape of Water” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” co-star Sam Rockwell.
Host Jimmy Kimmel got the Oscars underway Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles with an opening monologue that mixed Weinstein punchlines with earnest comments about reforming gender equality in Hollywood. And of course, Kimmel – returning to the scene of the flub – dove straight into material about last year’s infamous best-picture mix-up.
“I do want to mention, this year, when you hear your name called, don’t get up right away,” said Kimmel. “Give us a minute.”
But while Kimmel spent a few moments on the fiasco known as Envelopegate, he expended far more minutes frankly and soberly discussing the parade of sexual harassment allegations that have coursed through the movie business in the wake of the revelations regarding Weinstein. He also spoke straightforwardly about the industry’s poor record for female directors and equal pay.
“We can’t let bad behavior slide anymore,” said Kimmel. “The world is watching us.”
Gesturing to a giant statue on the stage, he praised Oscar, himself for keeping “his hands where you can see them” and for having “no penis at all.” But Kimmel introduced the broadcast as “a night for positivity.”
“I remember a time when the major studios didn’t believe a woman or a minority could open a super hero movie – and the reason I remember that time is because it was March of last year,” said Kimmel.
The night’s acting honors are considered fairly locked for nominees, and the first award of the evening – as expected – went to Rockwell for his supporting performance as a dimwitted and racist police officer in Martin McDonagh’s darkly comic revenge drama “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
Raising the award, the veteran character actor – celebrating his first Oscar – shouted: “For my buddy, Phil Hoffman.” Philip Seymour Hoffman died in 2014.
Kimmel, with stopwatch in hand, also emphasized keeping acceptance speeches short. He promised the shortest speech would win a Jet Ski. Go long, and winners might get Lakeith Stansfield screaming “Get out!” as the actor briefly reprised his character from the Oscar-nominated “Get Out” on stage.
Early wins went to makeup that adorned Gary Oldman’s Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour,” the period costume design of “Phantom Thread” and the sound editing for Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk.” Guillermo del Toro’s monster fable “The Shape of Water,” which came in with a leading 13 nods, took best production design.
Best documentary went to Netflix’s “Icarus,” Bryan Fogel’s investigation into doping in sports, aided by the assistance of Grigory Rodchenkov, the head of the Russian anti-doping laboratory who candidly discussed the doping scheme under Vladimir Putin. It’s the first feature film Oscar for Netflix. Fogel dedicated the award to Rodchenkov, “our fearless whistleblower who now lives in grave danger.”
“At least now we know Putin didn’t rig this election,” said Kimmel after the “Icarus” win.
In another topical moment, Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani joined Kenyan-born Lupita Nyong’o to salute the so-called Dreamers – immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children and here without permanent protection from deportation. “Dreams are the foundation of Hollywood and dreams are the foundation of America. And, so, to all the Dreamers out there, we stand with you,” Nanjiani said.
The ceremony is the crescendo of one of Hollywood’s most turbulent awards seasons ever – one that saw cascading allegations of sexual harassment topple movie moguls, upended Oscar campaigns and new movements launched to improve gender equality throughout the industry.
No Golden Globes-style fashion protest was held by organizers of Time’s Up, the initiative begun by several hundred prominent women in entertainment to combat sexual harassment. Their goals go beyond red carpets, organizers said in the lead-up to the Oscars. “We did the dress code thing and now we’re doing the work,” said #MeToo founder Tarana Burke on the red carpet.
Yet the #MeToo movement is sure to have a prominent place in the awards. Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”) is just the fifth woman nominated for best director. Rachel Morrison “Mudbound” is the first woman nominated for best cinematography. Ashley Judd, the first big-name actress to go on the record with allegations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein, is among the scheduled presenters.
Before he was tossed out of the film academy after a storm of sexual harassment and sexual abuse allegations, Weinstein was for the last two decades the grand poobah of the Oscars. By one study’s findings, Weinstein was thanked more often than God in acceptance speeches.
The parade of sexual harassment allegations has made the normal superficial red carpet a place of sometimes more serious discussion than attire. Scrutiny was falling Sunday on E! host Ryan Seacrest after his former stylist, Suzie Hardy, alleged sexual harassment against the red-carpet regular. Seacrest has denied it and E! has supported him. Best supporting actress Oscar nominee Mary J. Blige said Seacrest is “fighting for his life right now.”
It’s been an unusually lengthy – and often unpredictable – awards season, already an increasingly protracted horse race begun as most of the contenders bowed at film festivals last September. The Academy Awards were moved a week later this year because of the Olympics.
While the night’s other major acting categories are widely expected to go to Frances McDormand (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”), Gary Oldman (“Darkest Hour”) and Allison Janney (“I, Tonya”), the long season hasn’t produced a clear best-picture favorite.
Twenty years ago, a “Titanic” sweep won record ratings for the Oscar broadcast. But ratings have recently been declining. Last year’s show drew 32.9 million viewers for ABC, a four percent drop from the prior year. Even more worrisome was a slide in the key demographic of adults aged 18-49, whose viewership was down 14 percent from 2016.
Movie attendance also hit a 24-year low in 2017. But this year is already off to a strong start, thanks largely to Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther,” which many analysts believe will play a prominent role at next year’s Oscars. In three weeks, it has already grossed about $500 million domestically. The film’s star, Chadwick Boseman, was placed front-and-center, at the Dolby Theatre.
This year, the academy prohibited the PwC accountants who handle the envelopes from using cellphones or social media during the show. Neither of the PwC representatives involved in the mishap last year, Brian Cullinan or Martha Ruiz, will return to the show.
However, multiple reports say that Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway will be returning to again present best picture, a year after they announced “La La Land” as the winner instead of “Moonlight,” because Cullinan handed them the wrong envelope. The “Bonnie and Clyde” duo will, 12 months later, get “take two.”
With just a few minutes before the show started, Kimmel and his team emerged from his dressing room chanting, “Let’s get it right this time!”
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From a shopping center and an airport to a concert venue or even your own phone, these are all places facial recognition technology can now be used due to technological advancements in the last few years. The types of applications are growing in a world where the idea of privacy is constantly evolving. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee explains.
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Looks in neutrals, reds and purples brought the drama Sunday on the Oscars carpet at Hollywood’s biggest fashion show.
Salma Hayek looked like exotic royalty in a custom Gucci gown in lilac. It was heavily jeweled and had a busy, ruffled tiered skirt. Rita Moreno, meanwhile, honored Academy Awards history by donning the same gown (with a bold patterned full skirt) she wore in 1962, when she won an Oscar for “West Side Story.”
“It’s been hanging in my closet this whole time,” Moreno told The Associated Press.
Among the walkers in Los Angeles were a few recently returned Olympians, including skier Lindsey Vonn in a fringed black gown and diamond choker with statement red stones. Figure skaters Adam Rippon and Mirai Nagasu walked together. He wore belt-leather straps that crossed his chest and she chose a sheer, long-sleeve gown in soft blue.
In Photos: Oscars Red Carpet Looks
Allison Williams of “Get Out” went for neutral. So did Gina Rodriguez in a nude sheath with silver embellishment, a plunging neckline and full princess skirt, courtesy of Zuhair Murad.
Among those in red was Allison Janney of “I, Tonya,” in long sleeves that fell to the ground. Sofia Carson wore a red cape gown with 26.10 carats of diamonds in her Chopard choker. Meryl Streep also wore red, a deep plunge at the neck. Last year’s best actress Emma Stone chose skinny trousers and a pink-belted, red tuxedo jacket.
The purple peeps also included presenter Ashley Judd, who went strapless in a dark shade by Badgley Mischka, accompanied by diamond strands.
There was an abundance of white, including fitted looks worn by Margot Robbie, Jane Fonda, Laura Dern (in Calvin Klein) and Mary J. Blige. One actress, Taraji P. Henson, was all leg in ethereal black with a high slit.
Among the standout guys: “Get Out” writer-director Jordan Peele, in a creamy white tuxedo jacket, and Chadwick Boseman, who honored his kingly T’Challa character in “Black Panther” with a long embellished coat.
Boseman’s co-star, Lupita Nyong’o, repped Wakanda in royal, one-sleeved gold with a studded sash element that had black detailing.
One of the evening’s brightest pops of color came on Viola Davis in electric pink from the Michael Kors Collection, hoops in her ears and a clutch to match. “Lady Bird” star Saoirse Ronan wore soft pink from Calvin Klein, while Greta Gerwig, who wrote and directed the coming of age film, offered another bright pop – hers in marigold yellow.
In beauty, a side-part trend took hold, both in updos and loose.
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A radiant Grace Kelly glided from her seat, pulling up her long opera gloves, her little evening bag balanced on one arm, as she collected a best actress trophy for “The Country Girl” at the 1955 Academy Awards.
She kept her speech short and sweet: “The thrill of this moment keeps me from saying what I really feel. I can only say thank you with all my heart to all who made this possible for me. Thank you.”
It was a moment that might not have endured without the cool mint satin gown designed for her by Edith Head. At the time, Kelly was the screen’s most memorable blonde, radiating a sophisticated glamour pre-Princess of Monaco. Today, the thin-strapped gown is among the top fashion moments in the Oscars’ 90-year history.
It was also an inspiration for designers to come, said Hal Rubenstein, who wrote the book “100 Unforgettable Dresses.” The gently draped sheath with a near-bustle effect received a riff in soft pink by Ralph Lauren for Gwyneth Paltrow (albeit a little saggy up top) for the 1998 ceremony. Escada’s take in sherbet green was made for Kim Basinger’s Oscars turn the year before.
Kelly wore the gown two other times, at the film’s premiere before the Oscars and on the cover of Life magazine after. It offered a level of glamour that didn’t exist in 1929 at the very first Academy Awards, when best actress winner Janet Gaynor wore a simple skirt and sweater with a casual scarf draped cross her shoulders.
“Edith Head was a costume designer rather than a couturier. Worn with elbow length gloves and little other adornment, Grace Kelly set the bar for a new modern glamour and yet the color is deliciously unorthodox,” said Jo Ellison, fashion editor at the Financial Times and author of the book “Vogue: The Gown.”
The 1960s and ’70s provided some fashion wow, of course, but red carpet frenzy reached stratospheric heights among designers in the 1980s, Rubenstein said.
“If it wasn’t for Armani, nobody would have cared,” he said. “He’s the one who discovered the PR quality in dressing people for the Oscars. He’s the one who latched on to Anjelica Huston and Jodie Foster and Michelle Pfeiffer.”
Among Ellison’s top Oscar moments: Lauren Hutton in 1980, in a shiny gold short playsuit by Zoran.
“Wearing gold to the Academy Awards is today such a cliche. I hardly notice, but this gold lame stops me in my tracks every time – the glossiest, most glamorous and most glorious gold outfit to grace the red carpet ever,” she said.
Today, the Oscars is the most important carpet of the awards season, but those moments depend as much on the human inside the outfit.
It was Lupita Nyong’o’s vibrant red Ralph Lauren gown with cape at the 2014 Golden Globes that launched her as a fashion It Girl in 2014, but it was her soft blue Cinderella Prada later that year, with its crystal sparkle in the pleats, low V neck and delicate headband that secured her spot, let alone on screen with “12 Years a Slave” and, now, “Black Panther.”
“She took it to the next level,” said Joyann King, editor of HarpersBazaar.com. “It was stunning and it really set her apart.”
The next year, Nyong’o wore a white faux pearl-embellished dress by Calvin Klein to the Oscars. Yes, it’s the one that was stolen soon after but later returned by the thieves.
Sometimes, it’s all about color. Oscar fashion moments based on that factor include Michelle Williams in her ruffled buttercup yellow Vera Wang in 2006 and Nicole Kidman’s 1997 embellished chartreuse Dior by John Galliano, Ellison and others said.
”Nicole Kidman completely transformed the red carpet culture,” Ellison said. “It was one of the rare times an actress had worn a designer gown from a French couture house, cementing the union between high fashion and the film aristocracy.”
For Williams’ look, it was as much about style and personality, she said.
“The dress was totally captivating with the strong color and the red lip, all accessorized with her beaming smile. It earns my nomination for the best Academy look of all time,” Ellison said.
King points to precursors who took some risks.
Arnold Scaasi put Barbra Streisand in a see-through sparkly trouser look in 1969, the year she tied with Katharine Hepburn for an Oscar for “Funny Girl.” The sheer set with a white Peter Pan collar, black bow at the neck and wide white cuffs remains one of the more puzzling fashion moments for a major star in Oscar history.
The pants included huge, swishy flares that began below the knee and tripped her up a tad on the stairs on her way to collect her statuette, which she greeted with a resounding: “Hello, gorgeous.”
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The Academy Awards, or Oscars, will be presented in Hollywood on Sunday, celebrating the movies and showcasing Hollywood glamour. Mike O’Sullivan reports, the ceremony will probably have some political moments in a year when many in Hollywood have their minds on politics.
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For months, university students Ash Bhat and Rohan Phadte had been tracking about 1,500 political propaganda accounts on Twitter that appeared to have been generated by computers when they noticed something odd.
In the hours after the February school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the bots, short for robots, shifted into high gear, jumping into the debate about gun control.
The hashtag #guncontrol gained traction among the bot network. In fact, all of the top hashtags among the bots were about the Parkland shooting, Bhat and Phadte noticed.
Explainer: What Is a Twitter Bot?
Twitter under fire
Since the 2016 U.S. presidential election, technology companies have come under fire for how their services were used by foreign-backed operations to sow discord among Americans before and after the election.
Twitter, in particular, has been called out repeatedly for the sheer number of computerized accounts that tweet about controversial topics. The company itself has said 50,000 accounts on its service were linked to Russian propaganda efforts, and the company recently announced plans to curtail automated, computer-generated accounts.
On Monday, executives from Twitter are expected to be on Capitol Hill to brief the Senate Commerce committee about how the service was manipulated in the wake of the Parkland shooting.
For Bhat and Phadte, students at the University of California, Berkeley, the growing public scrutiny on bots couldn’t come fast enough.
Figuring out Twitter fakes
Childhood friends from San Jose, Calif., the two work out of their shared apartment in Berkeley on ways to figure out what is real and fake on the internet and how to arm people with tools to tell the difference.
“Everyone’s realizing how big of a problem this is becoming,” Bhat, co-founder of RoBhat Labs, said. “And I think we’re also at a weird inflection point. It’s like the calm before the storm. We’re building up our defenses before the real effects of misinformation hit.”
One of their projects is Botcheck.me, a way for Twitter users to check whether a person on Twitter is real or fake. To use botcheck.me, users can download a Google Chrome extension, which puts the blue button next to every Twitter account. Or users can run a Twitter account through the website botcheck.me.
Some of the characteristics of a fake Twitter persona? Hundreds of tweets over a 24-hour period is one. Another, mostly retweeting others. A third clue, thousands of followers even though the account may be relatively new.
Polarizing the debate
The result is a digital robot army ready to jump into a national debate, they say.
“The conversation around gun control was a lot more polarizing in terms of for and against gun control, as opposed to seeing in the Parkland shooting other issues, such as mental illness,” Bhat said.
The two do not speculate who may be behind the bots or what their motives may be. Their concern is to try to bring some authenticity back into online discussions.
“Instead of being aggravated and spending an hour tweeting and retweeting, or getting madder, you can find out it’s a bot and stop engaging,” Bhat said.
In recent months, the students say they have seen a lot of Twitter accounts they have been tracking suspended.
But as fast as Twitter can get rid of accounts, the students say new ones are popping back up. And suspicious accounts are starting to look more like humans. They may tweet about the weather or cars for awhile before switching over into political content.
“You can sort of see these bots evolve,” Bhat said. “And the scary thing for us is that if we aren’t keeping up on their technological progress, it’s going to be impossible to tell the difference.”
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Social media users like to have friends and followers on various platforms. But how many accounts are real and how many are generated by computers? Two university students in California say they have a way of detecting if you’re communicating with a human or a “bot”. Michelle Quinn reports.
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