The Oscars and The Golden Globes

AND THE WINNE IS...THE SAME PERSON!

Source: Speak Up

Making predictions is rarely a good idea as there is a strong possibility that you will be wrong. It’s difficult in sports matches, where there are two teams to choose from, but it’s even harder with film awards like the Golden Globes and the Oscars, where there are five nominees per category. Politicking by studios and actors that want to win and less forecasting by Hollywood journalists and deep secrecy by voters cloud the results for all unitl awards night.

THE GOLDEN GLOBES

The 83^rd edition of the Academy Awards (which are organised by AMPAS, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) took place at the Kodak Theatre on February 27 . Often – but not always – the Golden Globe Awards, which are held six weeks earlier, are a good indication. The members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (FPA: these are not the same people as the 6.000 members of the Academy of Motion Pictures.

COLIN FIRTH

British actor Colin Firth dominated Hollywood’s major awards this year, winning “Best Actor! For The King’s Speech at both the Globes and Oscars. The film is directed by Tom Hooper, who directed another “true life story.” The damned United. It the Damned United was about English soccer, then The King’s Speech is about the Royal Family. Firth plays George VI, the man who reluctantly became King of England (in 1936), when his brother, Edward VII, abdicated to marry an American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. George VI (who was the father of the present Queen) had a problem, he stuttered and this became particularly traumatic when he had to address the nation on radio during the Second World War. The film tells the story of his relationship with Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist. Logue is played by Geoffrey Rush, who was nominated for (but didn’t win) a Golden Globe or an Oscar for “Best Supporting Actor.” The film itself lost the “Best Picture” race at the Globes to The Social Network (aka “the Facebook movie), but won top prize at the Oscars.

JAMES FRANCO

James Franco was in a unique position on Oscar night serving a co-host of the show while also being a “Best Actor” nominee for his part in Danny Boyle’s disturbing movie. 127 Hours (that prize went to Firth). Boyle is famous for films like Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting, but this is far darker. Like The King’s Speech, 127 Hours tells a true story, that of Aron Ralston, a mountaineer in Utah who was obliged to take “drastic measures –i.e. amputating part of his arm with a penknife! – when he was trapped by a boulder. The films based on Ralston’s book. Between a Rock and a Hard Place. Language fans may like to know that this is a colloquial expression for a difficult situation, but in Ralston’s case it was literal.

PAUL GIAMATTI

The Golden Globes divide films into two categories: “Drama” and “Musical” or Comedy.” The prize for “Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy” went to Paul Giarmatti for Barney’s Version (he  wasn’t among the five nominated for the Oscars). The film, which won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Festival, is based on the novel by the Canadian Mordecal Richier, sadly Richler died in 2010, but his story now lives on in cinema, thanks in part to the talent of Giamatti.

NATALIE PORTMAN

We apologise for dealing with the ladies last (and not first), but this is a Hollywood convention and not ours. Nowadays the word “actress” is considered politically incorrect: female stars are also “actors” The Oscars began in 1929 (and the Golden Globes in 1944) and so the female category in the award ceremonies is still called “Best Actress.” Natalie Portman won the Golden Globe for “Best Actress” in the “Drama” section, for her portrayal of an obsessive ballet dancer in Black Swan, and Annete Bening won the “Musical and Comedy” Golden Globe as a lesbian mother in The Kids Are All Right…On Oscar night there was just one “Best Actress” award to give out, and Portman beat Bening  and three others for the prize.

Among 11 award categories where the Globes and Oscars overlapped, eight winners were the same, reinforcing the popular theory that the Golden Globes are a good predictor of who’ll win the Academy Awards.

SAN FRANCISCO'S GOLDEN GATE

SAN FRANCISCO’S GOLDEN GATE (No audio)

WALKING THE BRIDGE

You can walk, cycle or drive across one of the most famous bridge in the world. The Golden Gate Bridge on the north side of the city of San Francisco in California spans 2, 7 kilometres across the Golden gate Strait. It was the world’s longest suspension bridges when it was built in 1937. Today it is a famous landmark and a matter of huge pride to the people of the area.

PARTY TIME

The city of San Francisco had a one-week festival called the Golden Gate Bridge fiesta to celebrate the opening of the bridge in 1937. The festivities began on May 27^th when the bridge opened to foot traffic only. More than 200.000 people crossed the bridge that day, many of them competing to be the first person ever to run, roller skate, tap dance, ride a unicycle or walk on stilts across the bridge.

POETRY IN MOTION

Most of the festivities, including parades and fireworks, took place in a nearby park called Crissy Field. The designer of the bridge, Joseph Strauss, even turned up there on the first day to read a poem he’d written called ‘At last, the mighty task is done.” On the second day, the bridge opened to motorists and the US president at the time, Franklin D Roosevelt, sent a telegraph from the White House telling the world the bridge was open at last.

INTERVIEW

Source: Speak Up www.speakup.com.br

Language level: C1 Advanced

Speaker: Chuck Rolando

THE FOG FACTOR

The Golden Gate Bridge first opened for business in 1937. Today it is one of the world’s most recognizable symbols. And it has the advantage of being located in San Francisco, one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Yet the weather in San Francisco isn’t always great. It is alleged that Mark Twain once commented: “The coldest winter I ever saw was that summer I spent in San Francisco.” For this reason we asked Mary Currie, the Golden Gate Bridge’s public affairs director, for advice or when to visit:

Mary Currie

(Standard American Accent)

Well, the Golden Gate Bridge is situated in San Francisco: the greatest challenge the summertime fog. Usually, from about May through August, September, it can be very foggy. There’ll be days when you don’t even see the bridge! I’ve been here for 19 years now and there have been days on end where you can hardly see the bridge because of the heavy summer fog. I recommend that people try to visit in the spring or the fall because then they’re avoiding the summer fog and the winter rain, but not everybody can come and I think some people arrive in the summer and are disappointed, but the fog is a factor we have to deal with.

ON TWO WHEELS

More than 112.000 vehicles cross the bridge every day but other forms of transport are catching on:

Mary Currie

It’s interesting than in the last five years in particular bicycling has gotten very, very popular. In San Francisco, at Pier 39, there are bicycle rental shops. People rent bicycles, ride to the Golden Gate Bridge and go down to Sausalito, which is a nearby, small town that’s very highly visited as well, and then they take the ferry back to San Francisco. So bicycling is a very popular way to visit the Bridge.

But you can visit on foot:

Mary Currie

Well, you know, everybody has their own style of how they want to experience the Golden Gate Bridge, but one of the very unique things about the Bridge is that it does have sidewalks that are open, and you can walk out onto the Bridge and you can touch it, you can feel it moving in response to the traffic. It’s very noisy when you walk out onto the Bridge, in fact.

You can experience it from the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which surrounds the Golden Gate Bridge and has incredibly fabulous viewpoints on both the north and the south side of the Bridge.

EARTHQUAKE (no audio)

It was a big deal then and it’s an even bigger deal now. The bridge costs millions of dollars to maintain and improve. Engineers are currently implementing a $392 million retrofit program to prevent the bridge from collapsing in an earthquake. More than 100.000 people cross over the bridge every day and about 200 people work to keep it safe and secure .

DEATH WISH

Many of the workers on the bridge, including the security guards, ironworkers and painters, are trained to identify suicidal people and prevent them from taking their own lives.

Sadly an estimated 1.500 people have killed themselves by jumping off the bridge, making it the world’s top suicide location.

Officials have installed telephones on the bridge that allow people to call for help. They are planning to install nets under the bridge in the near future to prevent more suicides there.