Vaca!!!

Expanding the site while I expand my ass with food.

Going to be off until the third...have a great New Year!

Religion News Roundup, Monday: Lady Gaga, Jedi Knights, and Occupy Wallstreet

From http://www.religionnewsblog.com


- Pagan wins ‘family life’ human rights case: An American woman who worships Norse gods has won the right to stay in Britain because of her “family life” with her boyfriend and his wife. Home Office officials told Emily DiSanto, 25, that they would not grant her permission to stay in Britain because the law bans what are in effect polygamous relationships. But now she has won an extraordinary legal case in which she was allowed to remain here on the basis of her human right to family life. The 25-year-old now shares Alan and Anne-Marie Caulfield’s marital home in south-east London with his two children – one by each of the women. The tree are Odinist. Odinism is another name for Asatru.


- China party official warns members over religion: Religious practice among Chinese Communist Party members is increasing and threatens its unity and national leadership, a top party official said in remarks reported Monday. Party members are required to be atheists and must not believe in religion or engage in religious practice, said Zhu Weiqun, a member of the party’s Central Committee and executive vice director of its United Front Work Department in charge of dealings with nonparty groups.


- Jedi knights top 15,000 in Czech census: AFP: More than 15,000 Czechs follow the faith of the Star Wars movies’ Jedi knights, official census data showed Thursday, while half of the country’s 10.5 million people declined to list any religion. “Many people adhered to the moral values of Jedi knights from the Star Wars saga,” the Czech Statistical Office said in a statement, noting that the invented faith also had a strong following in countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Britain.


- Czech Republic Sees Rise of ‘Jedi Knights’ as Religious Movement: The rise of the Jedi religion, whether serious or not, shows a strong turn away from organized religion. Nearly 1.1 million people declared themselves Roman Catholic on this census, making it the country’s most popular religion. But that’s a sharp decline from the 2001 numbers, where 2.8 million listed themselves as Roman Catholic, Radio Prague notes.


- Religious leaders’ concern at library Scientology stock: Church leaders in Tonbridge (UK) have questioned why almost a quarter of the library’s religious section is dedicated to books on Scientology. A spokesman at the Scientology headquarters in East Grinstead, Graeme Wilson, said the books were donated to the library. Spamming libraries with the quackery amd pseudo-religious fantasies taught by the cult’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard is standard practice for the commercial enterprise.


- Why the Church Should Listen to Lady Gaga: The most popular, not most prolific or even the most accurate, theologian in the world right now is Lady Gaga. She talks about Jesus… a lot, interpreting Him for her staunch fans. She has covered sin, God’s creation, Jesus, internal spiritual struggles, etc. in her music. Lady Gaga openly claims to love Jesus and be a Christian. It’s a conversation that the Church needs to take notice of. What she gets right the Church needs to claim, and what she gets wrong the Church needs to critique.

Witch hunts on the rise in Papua New Guinea

M&C

Goroka, Papua New Guinea - After they had strung her up on a tree to die, her only hope was faith in God.

'I prayed a lot,' says Lisbeth Bulheg, whose name has been changed to protect her identity.

The horror of that day, Easter Sunday 2011, remains etched in a face scarred by the deep notches carved out by her nephew. Her husband's family had accused her of witchcraft.

And in Papua New Guinea (PNG), an impoverished South Pacific island nation north of Australia, witches are tortured and killed.

'Three suspected sorcerers are dead after being held hostage and tortured,' the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier reported in October. Similar incidents occur every couple of days, and police say they are increasing.

Human rights groups estimate that several dozen alleged witches or sorcerers are murdered in PNG each year. Police are powerless, and the church is halfheartedly fighting a hopeless battle against the crimes.

The Post-Courier recently quoted Chief Superintendent Teddy Tei, provincial police commander of the Southern Highlands, as saying that investigations into sorcery-related crimes were very difficult because police lacked physical evidence to convict someone for practising sorcery.

'If you feel that you are possessed by evil spirits, then you better go to church so that the living God Almighty will cleanse you and purify you,' Tei remarked.

'Of course sorcery exists,' the head of a Lutheran church board says near Goroka. Even pastors accuse each other of sorcery.

The PNG Sorcery Act of 1971 distinguishes between 'evil sorcery,' which is punishable by up to two years in jail, and 'innocent sorcery,' which is allowed. In the words of Paul Gamen, a Sepic River tour guide, the former 'kills' while the latter 'heals.'

People go to practitioners of black magic when they have a bone to pick with someone, and to practitioners of white magic when they want to free themselves from a curse, are unhappy in love or ill.

In the village of Lirako in the Tari area of the Southern Highlands, a woman named Amy demonstrated 'good' sorcery. 'This is how you keep your husband in line,' she said with a grin.

She rolled some tree bark, powder, paste and a hair from her spouse into a leaf, then suddenly began hacking at it with a knife. 'I'm cutting into his brain, his belly, his arms so that he'll follow me forever like a lap dog,' explained Amy, who said the mixture would be smeared on the door frames and was sure to work.

In a bamboo hut in the village of Tokua, near Mount Hagen, the 'kurmunw' - which in the local language means 'the man who conjures spirits' - displayed his craft. He was sitting in front of a pot filled with 'holy' stones.

'Each one represents a different spirit,' the interpreter whispered. The kurmunw began to chant, and moved his hands over the pot. 'Reveal yourselves!' the kurmunw cried. 'Which spirit is responsible for our brother's illness?' He touched a stone. 'What! You want a pig as a sacrificial offering again? You come too often!'

'When there's a serious illnesses, people always ask who, not what, caused it. But believing in such forces is totally misguided,' says Jack Urame, director of the ecumenical Melanesian Institute, who has been studying the phenomenon for years.

The accused witch Lisbeth is about 40 years old - she does not know for sure. She was living in the highlands with her husband, when doctors diagnosed him with bone tuberculosis. His family suspected that Lisbeth had caused it, and forbade her from seeing him.

As the man lay dying, they struck. 'It was night and I couldn't sleep,' Lisbeth recalled. 'I looked at my mobile phone - it was 4 a.m.' There was a knock at the door of her hut. At the door stood a nephew with several of his cronies. The young men grabbed her.

'Three held me tight, and my nephew hacked at me with a knife,' she said. 'He drew the blade across my lips so that my mouth hung open. I hardly had anything on. They cut into my stomach and back, again and again. I passed out because of the pain. Then they put a rope around my neck and dragged me to a mango tree.'

Lisbeth no longer remembers how she finally managed to haul herself, with two broken arms and grievous wounds, to a church in a nearby village. A group of youths found her there and took her to a hospital. Her nephew is now in pre-trial detention.

'The government is not doing enough to protect its own citizens and maintain the rule of law,' Apolosi Bose, Amnesty International's Pacific Islands researcher, said in 2009. But nothing has been done.

About 85 per cent of Papua New Guinea's population of 6.5 million live in rural areas, from hand to mouth, in villages without electricity, without schools, without medical care. The country's vast mineral resources benefit only a tiny elite.

'People often tell me, 'We gave up our magical powers in exchange for the Gospels',' Urame said. ''We pray, but our lives are still miserable. Now we are remembering what our ancestors knew.''

'Star Wars' Chosen As Religion In Czech Republic On New Census

Huffington Post

The Jedi Temple may have been destroyed in the Great Jedi Purge, but that hasn't deterred some people from worshipping The Force.

According to CzechPosition.com, the results of the Czech Republic's new census that were unveiled this month reveal that 15,070 citizens of the country listed their religion as Knights of the Jedi. While that may pale in comparison to the 1.08 million people who self-identified as Catholics and over four million who declined to list their faith, it's still a sizable portion of people who believe -- or jokingly claim to, in reaction to an intrusive census -- in the intangible energy made famous by the "Star Wars" films.

Though the Czech Knights of the Jedi wrote in their choice, other nations, such as New Zealand and Great Britain, already list the Jedi Church amongst the formal religion options. According to Time Magazine, over 390,000 Britons said that they practiced the religion in 2001.

The Church of the Jedi's website pitches their faith as less bizarre than it may seem. The Force, they say, is "an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together," and "is a concept that most religions of the world concur with. Some refer to it as their deity, some refer to it as a life force, but the one thing nearly all religions agree with, is that there exists a single unifying force."

"Star Wars," the Church says, helped create the religion's terminology, but it did not create the faith itself.

"The force has always existed and always will," their website reads. "Often references are made to the movies by our members, as a conceptual demonstration of how some might ascribe to the higher levels of a Jedi faith, in a far away land, a long time ago. The fact remains, that these concepts merely reflect a deep held innate morality, that we all have inside us... This morality existed prior to the movies. The movies do not in any way legitimize nor negate the legitimacy of the Jedi Church. They are merely a discussion point."

Given the sustained phenomenon of the "Star Wars" films, it would figure that millions of other people are having those conversations, as well.

For more, click over to CzechPosition.

Happy Birthday Alyssa Milano!!!

Thank you for being our favourite Charmed Witch!!!

Just because I can.... Daniel Craig!

Who else is looking forward to 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?'

Oh, yeah...

Weekend Report: Disappointing Debuts From 'Sherlock,' 'Alvin' Sequels

by Ray Subers for Box Office Mojo


While franchise titles did claim the top three spots at the box office this weekend, it wound up being a very mixed frame for sequels. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked both tallied solid grosses, though they were notably down from their predecessors. On the other hand, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol had a robust start in limited release. Even with all of these established brands entering the marketplace, the Top 12 wound up down roughly 13 percent from the same period last year. 


Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows opened to an estimated $40.02 million, which is way down from the original Sherlock Holmes's $62.3 million over Christmas weekend in 2009. In what could be an even more concerning comparison, the movie wound up lower than Tron Legacy's $44 million start at the same time last year. That's shocking, considering Game of Shadows opened just two years after a well-received original while Tron hit theaters 28 years after a first movie that wasn't even widely available on DVD or Blu-ray until after Legacy's release. Distributor Warner Bros. Pictures is reporting that the audience was 59 percent male and 50 percent under the age of 35, and that it received an "A-" CinemaScore. 


Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked debuted to an estimated $23.5 million, or less than half of The Squeakquel's $48.9 million. It was also significantly off from the first Alvin's $44.3 million. Distributor 20th Century Fox reports that the audience was 54 percent female and 53 percent under the age of 25. The movie earned a "B+" CinemaScore. 


Both Sherlock and Alvin struggled to live up to franchise standards this weekend, albeit for different reasons. The marketing for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows never sufficiently differentiated the movie from its predecessor. While the ads did often briefly mention Holmes's conflict with Professor Moriarty, the focus was mainly put on the slow-motion action and Holmes-Watson banter that were trademarks of the first movie. While that movie is generally well-liked, it probably doesn't have the sort of rabid fan base that will eagerly turn out for more of same, which seemed to bear out this weekend. 


In comparison, 20th Century Fox did a great job showing that Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked had a unique premise (the Chipmunks get stranded on a desert island) in comparison to the first two movies. Regardless of how interesting the premise is, though, the Alvin and the Chipmunks series probably isn't looked upon fondly by most adults. While usually this wouldn't be a huge problem, the generally poor performance of family movies lately indicates that parents are probably being far more judicious in deciding what movies they will take their children to.


Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol was the one bright spot at the box office this weekend. Opening at just 425 locations, Ghost Protocol earned an estimated $13 million for an impressive per-theater average of $30,588. That tops Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason ($8.7 million) for highest-grossing limited debut ever (fewer than 600 theaters). Ghost Protocol's 300 IMAX locations contributed an estimated $11 million, and it's $36,667 average was slightly better than that of Inception ($36,548) or Fast Five ($32,787). Of course both of those movies were in nationwide and IMAX release simultaneously, though it still serves to highlight the strong numbers from the fourth Mission: Impossible movie. 


By releasing the movie five days early in IMAX and consistently pushing the format's immersive benefits, distributor Paramount Pictures managed to at least initially turn Ghost Protocol in to an event movie that demands to be seen on the big screen. It probably didn't hurt that a six-minute prologue for The Dark Knight Rises was attached at around 42 locations, though that also isn't a large-enough sample to solely account for the above-average performance. It's tough to say for sure if Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol's success will continue when it makes its nationwide expansion on Wednesday, but for the time being the movie appears to be in very good shape. 


Last weekend's leaders didn't fare too well in their second outing. New Year's Eve dropped 43 percent to an estimated $7.4 million for a 10-day total of $24.8 million, while The Sitter plummeted 55 percent to $4.4 million for a total of $17.7 million. 


After a decent week in limited release, Young Adult expanded to 986 locations and earned an estimated $3.65 million. That's not a very encouraging figure, but Young Adult also isn't the type of movie that's designed to open big anyway. A solid long-run target now looks to be director Jason Reitman's first movie, Thank You for Smoking, which wound up with $24.8 million in 2006.

RIP Christopher Hitchens, writer and Vanity Fair contributor, dies at 62

Christopher Hitchens, the author, writer and Vanity Fair contributing editor, has died, themagazine announced late Thursday. He was 62.

Hitchens, who had been battling esophageal cancer since early 2010, died at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, surrounded by friends, Vanity Fair said.

"There will never be another like Christopher," Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter said in a statement. "A man of ferocious intellect, who was as vibrant on the page as he was at the bar. Those who read him felt they knew him, and those who knew him were profoundly fortunate souls."

The brash, combative and provocative Hitchens was an "incomparable critic, masterful rhetorician, fiery wit, and fearless bon vivant," Vanity Fair's Juli Weiner wrote in one of what will assuredly be many memoriams in the next several hours.

His last book, "Hitch-22," was published shortly before his diagnosis, forcing him to cancel a book tour.

"I have been advised by my physician that I must undergo a course of chemotherapy on my esophagus," Hitchens wrote then. "This advice seems persuasive to me. I regret having had to cancel so many engagements at such short notice."

Yet, he continued to write about his fight with cancer--among other weighty topics--in the months that followed.

"Cancer victimhood contains a permanent temptation to be self-centered and even solipsistic," he wrote in Vanity Fair last year.

In June 2011, he observed: "My chief consolation in this year of living dyingly has been the presence of friends."

We'll post selections of remembrances from some of those friends, and obituaries, below. Check back here for updates.

The New Yorker's Christopher Buckley:

We were friends for more than thirty years, which is a long time but, now that he is gone, seems not nearly long enough. I was rather nervous when I first met him, one night in London in 1977, along with his great friend Martin Amis. I had read his journalism and was already in awe of his brilliance and wit and couldn't think what on earth I could bring to his table. I don't know if he sensed the diffidence on my part—no, of course he did; he never missed anything—but he set me instantly at ease, and so began one of the great friendships and benisons of my life. It occurs to me that "benison" is a word I first learned from Christopher, along with so much else.

NPR's David Folkenflik:

Hitchens confronted his disease in part by writing, bringing the same unsparing insight to his mortality that he had directed at so many other subjects. Over the years, Hitchens' caustic attention was directed at a broad range of subjects, including Henry Kissinger, Prince Charles, Bob Hope, Michael Moore, the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa.

"If you're at Vanity Fair and you're talking about some of the things that Christopher has taken on, at the top of the list is going to be Mother Teresa," said Graydon Carter, editor at Vanity Fair and a longtime friend.

The Associated Press' Hillel Italie:

Eloquent and intemperate, bawdy and urbane, he was an acknowledged contrarian and contradiction—half-Christian, half-Jewish and fully non-believing; a native of England who settled in America; a former Trotskyite who backed the Iraq war and supported George W. Bush. ... He was a militant humanist who believed in pluralism and racial justice and freedom of speech, big cities and fine art and the willingness to stand the consequences. He was smacked in the rear by then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and beaten up in Beirut. He once submitted to waterboarding to prove that it was indeed torture.

The Washington Post's Matt Schudel:

Hitchens [was] a sharp-witted provocateur who used his formidable learning, biting wit and muscular prose style to skewer what he considered high-placed hypocrites, craven lackeys of the right and left, "Islamic fascists" and religious faith of any kind.

ABC News' Joel Siegel:

Hitchens became the public face of atheism. Critics assumed his cancer diagnosis, in 2010, would lead Hitchens to relent and embrace God. But he remained a proud non-believer to the very end, as he made clear in an early October 2011 speech at the annual Atheist Alliance of America convention in Houston, as he accepted the Freethinker of the Year Award. His body gaunt from the ravages of cancer, Hitchens said, "We have the same job we always had: to say that there are no final solutions; there is no absolute truth; there is no supreme leader; there is no totalitarian solution that says if you would just give up your freedom of inquiry, if you would just give up, if you would simply abandon your critical faculties, the world of idiotic bliss can be yours."

Touré:

Hitchens was a throwback to the Norman Maileresque vision of the writer as macho, brilliant, argumentative [and], critically, hard-living.

The Atlantic's Nicholas Jackson:

He's the only writer that I've ever written a fan letter to.

Vanity Fair's Weiner:

At the end, Hitchens was more engaged, relentless, hilarious, observant, and intelligent than just about everyone else—just as he had been for the last four decades.

Review - 'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows' A+

It is very rare to walk into a film with EXTREMELY high expectations and not be disappointed.  A great example of this is 'Green Lantern,' all froth, no bite.  I was wishing for lots of yellow bullets to end the movie...

'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows' exceeded my expectations and more.  In my lowly opinion, I found it superior to the original.  The additions of Mycroft Holmes (the brilliant Stephen Fry) and Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris) have completed Guy Ritchie's Sherlock circle.  Their impeccable timing and grace on the screen is nothing short of a dance you never want to end.  

As with the original, the action sequences are well-paced and stylized.  Noomi Rapace holds her own as Madam Simza Heron.  Her introduction in the film is breathtaking fun.  I love a ballsy gypsy chick!  Kelly Reilly, Mary Watson, has also found her voice.  I thought that she lost her way in the first Sherlock.  She was one of the few characters that didn't hold depth.  Mary was relegated to window dressing.  They more than make up for it this time.

All in all, this film is one of my favourite of the year, behind perhaps 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2', but just barely...

Without giving anything away, listen to the music.  It sets up a GREAT plot twist!

Pagan Content: The dance of the Tarot and the gypsy village scenes with make your sad little Pagan heart sing.  I found their portrayal gratifying.

***There is nothing after the credits, but stay for the score.  It is fantastic!***

SPOILERS - Doctor Who News!!!

End of the line for the Ponds
Posted by Marcus for Doctor Who News


Doctor Who Showrunner Steven Moffat has announced that the next series of Doctor Who will see the departure of Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill when the story of Amy and Rory comes to an end. 


Speaking at the press screening of the Christmas Episode, The Doctor The Widow and The Wardrobe, Moffat confirmed that the duo will rejoin the Doctor in the TARDIS for Series 33 of the show, but that sometime during the series the couple's story will come to a heartbreaking end. 


Moffat teased that he wouldn't say when, and certainly not how, the couple would leave, but that it would happen during the series and then their story would be over. 


Matt Smith was asked if he would be sad to see Gillan leave.
Yes, absolutely…and Arthur. We’ve had the most incredible journey and we took over the show and we really had to sort of hold hands and help each other through it in many ways. So, yeah, it’s very disappointing. But, you know, one has to sort of remember that this show is about change and regeneration and that’s what galvanises it and pushes it forward and it’s about looking forward always
A new companion, who has yet to be cast, will be joining the Doctor. 


The press launch was held in Studio One at Television Centre in London, where so many episodes of the Classic Series of Doctor Who were recorded. It was attended by a specially invited audience, including several MP's including Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls and, reportedly, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. 


For a full report, including an audio clip of the announcement, see Life of Wylie.

Russell Simmons Named PETA's Person Of The Year

Perez Hilton Filed under: Awardz > Music Minute > PETA

Russell Simmons has now joined the ranks of Bill Clinton, Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey and more as PETA's person of the year!

Ever since Simmons learned about the yogic principal of 'ahimsa,' which means "doing no harm," he has rejected the meat industry.

His outspoken public advocacy of peace and respect for all living beings, regardless of race, religion, gender or even species is what earned him the title PETA's Person of the Year 2011.

Simmons said:

"The horrible abuse of animals is the worst karmic disaster in the history of human kind. The work that PETA does to combat this catastrophe is amazing.

I'm truly humbled to be chosen as this year's Person of the Year, but the praise should go to the hundreds of thousands of volunteers that are on the ground doing the work. I accept this honor on their behalf."

PETA's Senior Vice President Lisa Lange said:

"Simmons' philosophy-that everyone should stick up for the little guy-is one that everyone can follow."

So c'mon everyone, let's follow him!

Live a life of peace and respect for everyone and everything around you!

[Image via Jeff Grossman/WENN.]

Sexy Yoga Boy - Russell Brand!

Russell Brand to host late-night FX show 'specials'

Jon Stewart, Conan O’Brien and… Russell Brand?


FX has made a deal with the British comic actor to host a late-night comedy show in front a live studio audience.
Currently described as “specials,” the six half-hour installments will feature the Forgetting Sarah Marshall star’s “unfiltered take on current events, politics and pop culture” in front of an audience and drawing “heavily on interaction with that audience.” If that sounds a bit vague, that’s because the format is still being hammered out, but sources say that the description shouldn’t be mistaken for a talk show.


“I am so excited I’m on the point of climax, in fact I will put the ‘O’ into FX, which spells Fox, which is actually the channel’s real name,” Brand said. “That’s the only thing that worries me about all this to be honest. At least I’ll be able to have a Christmas drink with Bill O’Reilly.”


Well, if Brand is going to do a comedy show on a U.S. cable network, he’s going to have to learn the difference between Fox and Fox News.


Brand is teaming with Flight of the Conchords producer Troy Miller on the specials, which debut this spring.


Source - Entertainment Weekly

Reese Witherspoon Toplines New West Memphis Three Movie, Devil's Knot

Hollywood is all over the tragic story of the West Memphis Three. We're talking white on rice here. Several projects are in the works, including a recently wrapped Peter Jackson film, and we wouldn't be surprised to see several more announced soon. The latest one to hit our radar is Devil's Knot.


According to Variety, Reese Witherspoon is attached to star in Atom Egoyan's West Memphis 3 flick as Pam Hobbs, the mother of one of the victims.


The West Memphis Three are three men who were tried and convicted as teenagers in 1994 of the 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. Damien Echols was sentenced to death, Jessie Misskelley, Jr., was sentenced to life imprisonment plus two 20-year sentences, and Jason Baldwin was sentenced to life imprisonment. During the trial the prosecution asserted that the children were killed as part of a satanic ritual. A number of documentaries have been based on the case, and celebrities and musicians have held fundraisers in the belief that they are innocent.


In July 2007 new forensic evidence was presented in the case, and a status report jointly issued by the State and the Defense team stated, "Although most of the genetic material recovered from the scene was attributable to the victims of the offenses, some of it cannot be attributed to either the victims or the defendants." On October 29, 2007, the defense filed a Second Amended Writ of Habeas Corpus, outlining the new evidence.


After a series of appeals regarding the DNA evidence, including an argument before the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2010, the West Memphis Three reached a deal with prosecutors. On August 19, 2011, they entered Alford pleas, which allow them to assert their innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them. Judge David Laser accepted the pleas and sentenced the three to time served. They were released with ten-year suspended sentences, having served 18 years and 78 days in prison. -- Wikipedia

Golden Globe Nominations for 2012

The show is 15 Jan, 2012 and will be hosted by the amazing Ricky Gervais!



Best Motion Picture - Drama
Nominees:
The Descendants (2011)
The Help (2011)
Hugo (2011/II)
The Ides of March (2011)
Moneyball (2011)
War Horse (2011)


Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
The Artist (2011)
Bridesmaids (2011)
50/50 (2011)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
My Week with Marilyn (2011)


Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
Nominees:
George Clooney for The Descendants (2011)
Leonardo DiCaprio for J. Edgar (2011)
Michael Fassbender for Shame (2011)
Ryan Gosling for The Ides of March (2011)
Brad Pitt for Moneyball (2011)


Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Nominees:
Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs (2011)
Viola Davis for The Help (2011)
Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady (2011)
Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)


Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Jean Dujardin for The Artist (2011)
Brendan Gleeson for The Guard (2011)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt for 50/50 (2011)
Ryan Gosling for Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
Owen Wilson for Midnight in Paris (2011)


Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Jodie Foster for Carnage (2011)
Charlize Theron for Young Adult (2011)
Kristen Wiig for Bridesmaids (2011)
Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn (2011)
Kate Winslet for Carnage (2011)


Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Nominees:
Kenneth Branagh for My Week with Marilyn (2011)
Albert Brooks for Drive (2011)
Jonah Hill for Moneyball (2011)
Viggo Mortensen for A Dangerous Method (2011)
Christopher Plummer for Beginners (2010)


Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Nominees:
Bérénice Bejo for The Artist (2011)
Jessica Chastain for The Help (2011)
Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs (2011)
Octavia Spencer for The Help (2011)
Shailene Woodley for The Descendants (2011)


Best Director - Motion Picture
Nominees:
Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris (2011)
George Clooney for The Ides of March (2011)
Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist (2011)
Alexander Payne for The Descendants (2011)
Martin Scorsese for Hugo (2011/II)


Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Nominees:
The Artist (2011): Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants (2011): Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
The Ides of March (2011): George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
Midnight in Paris (2011): Woody Allen
Moneyball (2011): Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin


Best Original Song - Motion Picture
Nominees:
Albert Nobbs (2011): Brian Byrne, Glenn Close("Lay Your Head Down")
Gnomeo & Juliet (2011): Elton John, Bernie Taupin("Hello Hello")
The Help (2011): Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason Jr., Damon Thomas("The Living Proof")
Machine Gun Preacher (2011): Chris Cornell("The Keeper")
W.E. (2011): Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry("Masterpiece")


Best Original Score - Motion Picture
Nominees:
The Artist (2011): Ludovic Bource
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011): Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Hugo (2011/II): Howard Shore
War Horse (2011): John Williams
W.E. (2011): Abel Korzeniowski


Best Animated Film
Nominees:
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
Arthur Christmas (2011)
Cars 2 (2011)
Puss in Boots (2011)
Rango (2011)


Best Foreign Language Film
Nominees:
The Flowers of War (2011)(China)
In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011)(USA)
The Kid with a Bike (2011)(Belgium)
A Separation (2011)(Iran)
The Skin I Live In (2011)(Spain)


Best Television Series - Drama
Nominees:
"American Horror Story" (2011)
"Boardwalk Empire" (2010)
"Boss" (2011)
"Game of Thrones" (2011)
"Homeland" (2011)


Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
"Enlightened" (2011)
"Episodes" (2011)
"Glee" (2009)
"Modern Family" (2009)
"New Girl" (2011)


Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
Cinema Verite (2011) (TV)
"Downton Abbey" (2010)
"The Hour" (2011)
"Mildred Pierce" (2011)
Too Big to Fail (2011) (TV)


Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
Nominees:
Steve Buscemi for "Boardwalk Empire" (2010)
Bryan Cranston for "Breaking Bad" (2008)
Kelsey Grammer for "Boss" (2011)
Jeremy Irons for "The Borgias" (2011)
Damian Lewis for "Homeland" (2011)


Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
Nominees:
Claire Danes for "Homeland" (2011)
Mireille Enos for "The Killing" (2011)
Julianna Margulies for "The Good Wife" (2009)
Madeleine Stowe for "Revenge" (2011)
Callie Thorne for "Necessary Roughness" (2011)


Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Alec Baldwin for "30 Rock" (2006)
David Duchovny for "Californication" (2007)
Johnny Galecki for "The Big Bang Theory" (2007)
Thomas Jane for "Hung" (2009)
Matt LeBlanc for "Episodes" (2011)


Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Laura Dern for "Enlightened" (2011)
Zooey Deschanel for "New Girl" (2011)
Tina Fey for "30 Rock" (2006)
Laura Linney for "The Big C" (2010)
Amy Poehler for "Parks and Recreation" (2009)


Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
Hugh Bonneville for "Downton Abbey" (2010)
Idris Elba for "Luther" (2010)
William Hurt for Too Big to Fail (2011) (TV)
Bill Nighy for Page Eight (2011) (TV)
Dominic West for "The Hour" (2011)


Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
Romola Garai for "The Hour" (2011)
Diane Lane for Cinema Verite (2011) (TV)
Elizabeth McGovern for "Downton Abbey" (2010)
Emily Watson for "Appropriate Adult" (2011)
Kate Winslet for "Mildred Pierce" (2011)


Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
Peter Dinklage for "Game of Thrones" (2011)
Paul Giamatti for Too Big to Fail (2011) (TV)
Guy Pearce for "Mildred Pierce" (2011)
Tim Robbins for Cinema Verite (2011) (TV)
Eric Stonestreet for "Modern Family" (2009)


Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nominees:
Jessica Lange for "American Horror Story" (2011)
Kelly Macdonald for "Boardwalk Empire" (2010)
Maggie Smith for "Downton Abbey" (2010)
Sofía Vergara for "Modern Family" (2009)
Evan Rachel Wood for "Mildred Pierce" (2011)