It’s the Golden Globes, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s own award show (on NBC at 5pm West Coast, 8pm East, right now!) with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey doing the hosting honors! The HFPA loves, loves, loves television and movie stars, and judging from the list of Best Director nominees, likes to set itself apart from those Oscar people.   So tune in, turn on, and drop names with Firedoglake as we dish the gowns, the speeches, and discuss who we would have voted voted for and why!

MOTION PICTURES

Best Drama
“Argo”
“Django Unchained”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Musical/Comedy
“Les Miserables”
Best Director
Ben Affleck, “Argo”
Best Actress in a Drama
Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Best Actor in a Drama
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”

Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy
Hugh Jackman, “Les Miserables”

Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy
Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Supporting Actress
Anne Hathaway, “Les Miserables”

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, “Django Unchained”

Best Screenplay
Quentin Tarantino, “Django Unchained”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Amour”

Best Animated Feature
“Brave”

Best Original Song
“Skyfall,” music and lyrics by Adele and Paul Epworth (“Skyfall”)

Best Original Score
Mychael Danna, “Life of Pi”

TELEVISION

Best TV Comedy or Musical
“Girls”

Best TV Drama
“Homeland”

Best Actress in a TV Drama
Claire Danes, “Homeland”

Best Actor in a TV Drama
“Damian Lewis, “Homeland”

Best Actress in a TV Comedy
Lena Dunham, “Girls”
Best Actor in a TV Comedy
Don Cheadle, “House of Lies”

Best Miniseries or TV Movie
“Game Change”

Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie
Julianne Moore, “Game Change”

Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie
Kevin Costner, “Hatfields & McCoys”
Best Supporting Actress in a TV Show, Miniseries or TV Movie
Maggie Smith, “Downtown Abbey: Season 2″

Best Supporting Actor in a TV Show, Miniseries or TV Movie
Ed Harris, “Game Change”

Oh we love a parade! Especially an awards show parade of  dazzling movie and teevee stars all dressed up! And the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Golden Globes–which have radically diverged from the Academy Awards this year  in the Best Director category.  I kinda thought Django Unchained was a comedy (and it would have swept in that category, though hard toss up between Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz as to who was the Best Supporting Actor no matter if it’s comedy or drama). And Philip Seymour Hoffman was brilliant in The Master. Alan Arkin in Argo–that may be the winner. It’s hard to say with the Globes/HFPA, a strange bunch who have managed to turn their little awards gig into the  major event of the pre-Oscars awards season.

So join us now!  Tune into the Globes (on NBC) as we let rip the bon mots and shred the arrivals.

MOTION PICTURES

Best Drama
“Argo”
“Django Unchained”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Musical/Comedy
“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
“Les Miserables”
“Moonrise Kindgom”
“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”
“Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Director
Ben Affleck, “Argo”
Kathryn Bigelow, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Ang Lee, “Life of Pi”
Steven Spielberg, “Lincoln”
Quentin Tarantino, “Django Unchained”

Best Actress in a Drama
Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Marion Cotillard, “Rust and Bone”
Helen Mirren, “Hitchcock”
Naomi Watts, “The Impossible”
Rachel Weisz, “The Deep Blue Sea”

Best Actor in a Drama
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”
Richard Gere, “Arbitrage”
John Hawkes, “The Sessions”
Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master”
Denzel Washington, “Flight”

Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy
Jack Black, “Bernie”
Bradley Cooper, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Hugh Jackman, “Les Miserables”
Ewan McGregor, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”
Bill Murray, “Hyde Park on Hudson”

Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy
Emily Blunt, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”
Judi Dench, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Maggie Smith, “Quartet”
Meryl Streep, “Hope Springs”

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, “The Master”
Sally Field, “Lincoln”
Anne Hathaway, “Les Miserables”
Helen Hunt, “The Sessions”
Nicole Kidman, “The Paperboy”

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, “Argo”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “Django Unchained”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”
Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln”
Christoph Waltz, “Django Unchained”

Best Screenplay
Mark Boal, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Tony Kushner, “Lincoln”
David O’Russell, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Quentin Tarantino, “Django Unchained”
Chris Terrio, “Argo”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Amour”
“A Royal Affair”
“The Intouchables”
“Kon-Tiki”
“Rust and Bone”

Best Animated Feature
“Rise of the Guardians”
“Brave”
“Frankenweenie”
“Hotel Transylvania”
“Wreck-It Ralph”

Best Original Song
“For You,” music and lyrics by Monty Powell, Keith Urban (“Act of Valor”)
“Not Running Anymore,” music and lyrics by Jon Bon Jovi (“Stand Up Guys”)
“Safe & Sound,” music and lyrics by Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams, T Bone Burnett (“The Hunger Games”)
“Skyfall,” music and lyrics by Adele and Paul Epworth (“Skyfall”)
“Suddenly,” music by Claude-Michel Schonberg and lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil (“Les Miserables”)

Best Original Score
Mychael Danna, “Life of Pi”
Alexandre Desplat, “Argo”
Dario Marianelli, “Anna Karenina”
Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil, “Cloud Atlas”
John Williams, “Lincoln”

TELEVISION

Best TV Comedy or Musical
“The Big Bang Theory”
“Episodes”
“Girls”
“Modern Family”
“Smash”

Best TV Drama
“Breaking Bad”
“Boardwalk Empire”
“Downton Abbey”
“Homeland”
“The Newsroom”

Best Actress in a TV Drama
Connie Britton, “Nashville”
Glenn Close, “Damages”
Claire Danes, “Homeland”
Michelle Dockery, “Downton Abbey”
Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife”

Best Actor in a TV Drama
Steve Buscemi, “Boardwalk Empire”
Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad”
Jeff Daniels, “The Newsroom”
Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”
Damian Lewis, “Homeland”

Best Actress in a TV Comedy
Zooey Deschanel, “New Girl”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
Lena Dunham, “Girls”
Tina Fey, “30 Rock”
Amy Poehler, “Parks and Recreation”

Best Actor in a TV Comedy
Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock”
Don Cheadle, “House of Lies”
Louis C.K., “Louie”
Matt LeBlanc, “Episodes”
Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory”

Best Miniseries or TV Movie
“Game Change”
“The Girl”
“Hatfields & McCoys”
“The Hour”
“Political Animals”

Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie
Nicole Kidman, “Hemingway & Gellhorn”
Jessica Lange, “American Horror Story: Asylum”
Sienna Miller, “The Girl”
Julianne Moore, “Game Change”
Sigourney Weaver, “Political Animals”

Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie
Kevin Costner, “Hatfields & McCoys”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “Sherlock (Masterpiece)”
Woody Harrelson, “Game Change”
Toby Jones, “The Girl”
Clive Owen, “Hemingway & Gellhorn”

Best Supporting Actress in a TV Show, Miniseries or TV Movie
Hayden Panettiere, “Nashville”
Archie Panjabi, “The Good Wife”
Sarah Paulson, “Game Change”
Maggie Smith, “Downtown Abbey: Season 2″
Sofia Vergara, “Modern Family”

Best Supporting Actor in a TV Show, Miniseries or TV Movie
Max Greenfield, “New Girl”
Ed Harris, “Game Change”
Danny Huston, “Magic City”
Mandy Patinkin, “Homeland”
Eric Stonestreet, “Modern Family”

In Italy, Mussolini has a cult following in the small town of in Predappio where the dictator’s mug can be found on beer mugs. Oh and you can buy busts of Hitler too!:

Every year hundreds of thousands of visitors come to Predappio, filling its bars, restaurants, and especially the “Il Duce” devotional shops that line the main road. There you can buy letter-openers, ashtrays, coins, shirts, pants, coffee cans, wine, beer mugs and lighters brandishing slogans are like “Believe, Obey, Fight” or “Damned be he who gives up.” Of course, all bear images of Mussolini, replete with famous chin and fascist salute. There are flags with swastikas and SS insignia and 38-centimeter-tall bronze busts of “Il Duce” that go for €45.

There’s even a bust of Hitler, markedly smaller of course at 16 centimeters, for the bargain price of €15. Objects like these attract some German neo-Nazis, who seize the opportunity, as well as the bottle — in this case filled with beer and bearing Adolf ‘s image under the heading “The Comrade” for the price of €3.

Meanwhile, a small town in Kentucky has

outsiders

from the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Wisconsin demanding a portrait of Jesus be removed from the school’s Hall of Honor which is filled with photographs of Jackson High School’s alumna. School Superintendent Phil Howard says:

It hangs here amongst many other photos here in our Hall of Honor. I honestly believe that for someone to say that photo excludes anyone is really a reach.

Santeria is pretty awesome. Santeria and other West Africa Diasporic Religions, also called ATR (African Traditional Religion), are fluid, adaptable, and from my perspective, effective, so Hugo Chavez might do well to heed the words of the Cuban babalawo (priests) who in their annual New Year “Letter of the Year” recommended that the Venezuelan President seek them out. Lazaro Cuesta, one of the babalawo said their priests are willing:

Whichever house he knocks upon, I expect he will receive the help he requires.

From the perspective of Santeria, Cuesta was referring not only to physical domiciles of the priests, but also to the casas (houses or worship) of the orisha, the Afro-Cuban gods, and the various lineages within each orisha’s worship, with their own initiated priest.

Chavez is currently in Cuba recovering from surgery for cancer; the type of cancer has not been reported. The babalawo will not perform a healing ritual for Chavez unless they are asked. Technically, someone aside from Chavez could ask for his healing, in the same way that Masses can be offered for someone by another.

Eleggua is the road opener and the messenger of the gods, and is syncreticized with Jesus, especially in the aspect of  the Infant of Atocha, and thus his altars often are decorated with toys and games, as well as the traditional rum and cigars. San Lazaro/St. Lazarus represents Babalú-Ayé, the orisha in charge of health and disease, especially epidemics, cancer, HIV/AIDS.

My past few New Year’s Eves have been really, well, not the best way to start the new year.  But sorry to argue with Bono and U2–this year something changed on New Year’s Day!

SURPRISE! Like always, New Year’s Eve companionship (when I had it, because sometimes I escaped parties early and stayed with the dogs, may they rest in peace, so they wouldn’t freak out over gunfire) was excellent; but this year somehow got off to a more optimistic start and has stayed that way. Men revealed themselves to be gentlemen, as opposed to men who were uncovered as lying cads (those new years holiday 2005/2006 and 2009/10 sucked); women were kind and more beautiful than ever. Plus there was a high speed chase through the Valley televised around 9:30 as I rested at home after six-course dinner (amuse-bouche; oysters with caviar and champagne foam or truffled eggs for appetizer; followed by the temptation of either house smoked/cured sea trout or the best steak tartare I’ve ever tasted; a choice of butter poached lobster or prime New York strip; and to finish either cheese or chocolate pots de creme. yes, I went chocolate. (Best of all, my friend Skip was cooking along with Chef Tim at Papilles, which is my local dining hall, so it was pretty cool).

Skip’s wife Stacy runs a company called Iconic PinUps, and I boldly had her and her partner Carol shoot me as a pin up girl for my Krampus gift to myself (To offset the meals at Papilles, I now work out 3-5 days a week, and now have three part time jobs as opposed to one, so maybe the whole Obama economic recovery thing is actually working!).

I overheard the best thing last night as I waited for my dude roommate Mark Ebner to pick me up after my return to Papilles for the New Year’s Eve toast. A couple walked by me outside and the guy said:

And then she tore the bow tie off my face and I was ‘What the fuck?!’

Uh, maybe you shouldn’t wear a bow tie on your face?

It got weirder in England where:

A spokesman for Norfolk Constabulary said: “Police are seeking a group of four people, two of whom were dressed as Oompa Loompas, who attacked a male on a night-out.

“Two of the males were dressed as Oompa Loompas from Charlie And The Chocolate Factory with painted orange faces and dyed green hair and were wearing hooped tops.”

The spokesman added: “One of the males in the group then pushed the victim to the floor before he got up.

“He was then hit on the head, fell to the floor and hit again.”

Ahhh, when Ooompa Loompas attack….

I always make Hopping’ John, black-eyed peas (coins) with greens (folding money); other friends have pancake breakfasts (pancakes being “gold coins”). Here are some other New Years Day superstitions. Do you have any?

I just feel this is going to be a good year, and hope you all feel the same way. And that we’re correct in our beliefs!

Best of all, look at what 2013 backwards spells… And can’t we all use a little of that?

I had 70 people over for Hexmess/Krampus/Saturnalia! We had goose, ham, steak, cornish game hens, and tons of sides, plus home cured gravlax–all pot luck. I hope your holidays were joyful and that 2013, which backwards is Eros, will be just that!

So many millions are disgusted by Westboro Baptist Church, and even more disgusted than normal this week by the psychotic nutbags’ attempts to protest the funerals of those slain in the Sandy Hook massacre. Anonymous has been busy DDOSing the WBC website and otherwise messing with WBC in their own inimitable style; and a petition has been sent to the White House calling for the recognition of WBC as a hate group and to be stripped of their tax exempt status. Even the Ku Klux Klan loathes WBC:

And now, on the Winter Solstice, a day held holy in the vast underground river of religious practitioners in the United States and abroad who worship in the Old Ways through magick, witchcraft, and other occult means, an ecumenical malediction on Westboro Baptist Church has been called down. Posted by The Sensei on Facebook:

Brothers and Sisters of ALL TRADITIONS: for too long, we have sat back and done nothing, while Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist “Church” have hidden behind the Constitution to spread their message of hate. These attention whore hatemongers have disrupted and desecrated the funerals of our fallen war heroes, and innocent people whose only “crime” was being Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender. Now they plan to set up their “protests” at the funerals of the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy. Join me, as we take action as only we, as Magick users, can.Starting at sundown, on Friday, December 21st, the longest night of the year, LET US RAIN DOWN NIGHT AND HELL UPON WESTBORO BAPTIST!!! Curse them, bind them, crush them utterly, as one group mind throughout that long night, so that with the rebirth of the Sun, a Golden Dawn shall, indeed, arise.You, your friends, your covens, can make a difference. Even if you only offer up prayers to stop Westboro from further perpetrating their evil, you can be part of an event that can make a difference.

So far over 60 participants and groups in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada have acknowledged that they will be praying, lighting candles, and casting spelling within their traditions to being an end to the Phelps’ reign of hatred (and that’s not counting those who are practicing anonymously). Not all occult traditions advocate destroying enemies (some go for binding bad folks to prevent further harm, while  others work to dissolve their negativity), the results should be impressive. Some effects may be immediate, while others will take place over a period of time.

Astaru, Chaos magicians, Druids, Setians, Thelemites, Voudons, Wiccans and members of other traditions are all involved. I’m a practicing witch and doing my own thing for this project.

The bottom line: WBC are a huge embarrassment to all religions everywhere, and most certainly to Christians who hopefully will be praying as well for WBC to see the errors of their ways and STFU.

Oil. Oil to the world. And that’s what America is hoping for by 2020. That flow of generosity, that holiday spirit has seeped into Versus, where creator Marcy Schaffer has penned a new set of lyrics to celebrate that we’re fracked.

Oil to the world
Could POUR here from
It is miraculous
That we foresee such plenty
By roughly 2020
This flow indigenous
Giving back our muscle, thus
oh, NO one, NO, no one
can frack with us

All hail to shale
That blessed rock
And to its crude home-brewed
Take thanks to all the frackers, who
Break ranks with all the squackers, who
Cry slime will prime mutant food
And climate change will conclude
With heaven and nature
getting barbecued

Oil fields unfurled
As Europe saves
What China craves like crack
When gas IN every Audi
No longer must be Saudi
We’ll rule the power pack
Our fuel the jewel they lack
No bluster
a blockbuster
cluster frack

Oil to the world
The US may
Have extra to transact
We boast by sweet Light carol
To toast each sweet light barrel
For as wells like Shell’s extract
Only time will tell how they act
And how much in fact exactly
we’ll be fracked

How much in fact exact
will we be fracked?

NASA continues to peer into the future, claiming that the world did not end on 12.21.12. We’ll address that on 12.22.12. If we’re here. Meanwhile, I got email from JP Sottile at newsvandal with whom I have an ongoing tinfoil millinery competition:

the real question is whether or not A.I. was a secret endorsement of the mayan apocalypse and if nasa is getting back at kubrick ex post facto? joel haley osment is the catalyst for a mayan ragnarok

Why would NASA want to get back at Kubrick? Well, pull out your tinsel top hat and settle in for what I put JP through the other night, bwhahhaha! Seems that, according to conspiracy theorist film geeks, while Kubrick was making 2001: A Space Odyssey, he was also faking the moon landing, and he felt so guilty about it that he later tipped everyone off in The Shining, if you can just find at the clues. And to make it easy for you, there’s a video that lays it all out. (It’s an hour long, so here’s the short TL/DW version):

 A.I. was originally developed by Kubrick beginning in the mid-1970s. Despite the growth in technology over the decades, Kubrick felt that neither computer generated effects nor child actors were good enough to portray the character of David, so he handed it over to Steven Spielberg in 1995, and it was only after Kubrick’s death in 1999 that the project gained momentum and was finally made. A.I. was released in 2001 with Haley Joel Osment as David.

Meanwhile, Martin Scorsese will be directing a documentary about Bill Clinton for HBO. Suggested titles:

Goodbubba
Hillary Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
New York! New York!
Last Temptation of Clinton
The President of Comedy

And once again Santacon took to the streets! This annual tradition, begun in 1995 in San Francisco, features  people in cities around the world dressing up as Santa and acting like slightly better-behaved Krampuses (Krampi?), thereby creating Santarchy.

Here’s a look at the first Santacon, a 39 minute mini-doc in glory days before TSA took away the airport fun, and their recent exploits in Los Angeles:

the East Village

and San Francisco

And if you love Santa, or sci-fi, on Monday December 24, we’ll be celebrating the 200th movie of Firedoglake Movie Night with Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, a special request from my producer Bev who is also the driving force (and heavy-lifter)  behind FDL Book Salons. You can watch the full version of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians FREE here.

Oh this is just so many levels of wrong and before this even airs, my eyes are bleeding and brain is screaming

CANNOT UNSEE!

I am sure musicologists can cite all sort of reasons about parallel complex harmonies in the Beatles and Nirvana, and critics can reel off both bands’  influences on society. But that doesn’t stop that fact that Paul McCartney, who dyes his hair a really ugly shade of Arnuld Schwarzenegger brown (which used to be called Ronald Reagan auburn–can’t these rich dudes afford a decent colorist?), and is like, not really that angry a guy (unless he can channel his Heather Mills divorce rage) will be fronting Nirvana. I mean it’s cool that he’s 70 and still wants to like be in a band. But NIRVANA?!

Except it’s not Nirvana, really, it’s some thrown together jam, and they will be playing a new song, if you can believe UK tabloid, The Sun. (Numerous news reports have confirmed that McCartney will be joining Nirvana)

Granted it will get us to watch. But still, really…WTF was anybody thinking?

How about SNOOP DOGG. Singing “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Or  “About a Girl.” Or “Clean Up Before She Comes.” Or “Come As You Are.” Now that would have been bad ass.  But no, according to The Sun, it will be a new song.

Sir Paul said he rang Dave Grohl [now Foo Fighter, formerly Nirvana's drummer]who asked him to come along to “jam with some mates”. Macca had suggested they “just make something up”

Make something up?! WTF?

He jammed with Grohl on drums, bassist Krist [Novoselic] and guitarist member Pat Smear and then, The Sun reports, Paul said:

I didn’t really know who they were. They are saying how good it is to be back together. I said ‘Whoa? You guys haven’t played together for all that time?’ And somebody whispered to me ‘That’s Nirvana. You’re Kurt.’ I couldn’t believe it.

Yo, Paul. Kurt’s dead. And according to some rumors, so are you.Billboard, which will be live streaming the event beginning at 7:30 ET, says:

The Hurricane Sandy Benefit  will feature performances by Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, Dave Grohl, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Eddie Vedder, The Who, Roger Waters and Paul McCartney. For over four hours, music’s brightest stars will scorch the stage to benefit the Robin Hood Foundation, which will aid disaster victims following this fall’s super-storm.