Surprises at Academy Awards May be Few

LOS ANGELES (AP) — After a blustery few days of torrential downpours, Hollywood appears ready for smooth sailing at the Academy Awards.

The 86th annual Oscar ceremony kicks off Sunday night from the Dolby Theatre. Unlike the stormy hosting of Seth MacFarlane last year, this Oscar show with host Ellen DeGeneres has a deliberately safe vibe of cheery song-and-dance.

The nimble and amiable DeGeneres is expected to return the broadcast to more traditional territory. Many of the night's biggest categories, too, seem to hold little chance for surprise.

The well-established favorites include Matthew McConaughey, Cate Blanchett, Lupita Nyong'o and Jared Leto. Each comes into Oscar Sunday having won a parade of awards over the last few months, including honors at Saturday's Spirit Awards.

The night's biggest question mark won't come until the very end. The historical drama "12 Years a Slave," the 3-D space spectacle "Gravity" and the con-artist caper "American Hustle" are vying for best picture in the night's closest contest.

"Gravity" is expected to lead the ceremony in total awards, cleaning up in technical categories like visual effects and cinematography. Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron is considered a lock for best director for seamlessly marshalling new digital technology to render the lost-in-space drama. He would be the first Latino to win the category.

While the global hit easily topped the other eight best-picture nominees at the box office, the lower budget, less widely seen "12 Years a Slave" is believed to have a narrow edge for the academy's top honor.

Though voters last year chose entertainment over history lesson (Ben Affleck's "Argo" over Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln"), many see Steve McQueen's brutal adaptation of Solomon Northup's memoir as a landmark film difficult to watch but impossible to overlook.

ABC, which is telecasting the ceremony, hopes the drama of the best-picture race will be enough to entice viewers. The show last year drew an audience of 40.3 million, up from 39.3 million the year before when the silent-film ode "The Artist" won best picture.

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I-25 Accident Kills One, Injures 30 In Denver

DENVER, March 2 (UPI) -- One woman died and at least 30 people were hospitalized Saturday morning after a series of three accidents on Interstate 25 in Denver, police said.

Some 104 vehicles were involved in the pileups that took place as snow fell on the area, the Denver 

Post reported.

The accidents caused the northbound stretch of the interstate to be closed for five hours and traffic was at a complete stop for more than a mile behind the crash.

Four people were taken to St. Anthony Hospital, 14 to Denver Health Medical Center and 12 to Swedish Medical Center, Denver Health reported on Twitter.

Red Cross: 51 killed in car bombs in north Nigeria

MAIDUGURI: A Nigerian Red Cross official says 51 people died in twin car bomb blasts at a marketplace in Maiduguri, the northeastern city that is the birthplace of the country's terrorist group. 

The official, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the press, said more people are believed buried in rubble from last night's explosions. 

He said among the dead are children who were at a wedding celebration and others watching a soccer match on an outdoor .. 

Survivors at the scene today say they captured and beat up one suspect. A security guard said he died in the hospital. Vigilante leader Hassan Ali said his group collected 50 corpses. 

The blasts are a major setback to a new military offensive against the Islamic uprising.

'Movie 43,' Will and Jaden Smith top Razzie Awards

Will smith and Jaden Smith

It's once again time to recognize the worst of the worst in film with the industry's anti-Oscars.

The 34th annual Razzie Awards celebrated the year's most terrible movies Saturday in Los Angeles, handing out pseudo-accolades to those who helped make them.

The bizarre Movie 43, named worst flick of the year, and the sci-fi futuristic After Earth, starring father-son duo Will and Jaden Smith, were the night's big winners, each garnering three of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation's prizes.

The short, raunchy interconnected stories that make up Movie 43 took home worst director (awarded to the 13 people who directed it) and worst screenplay (awarded to the 19 people who wrote it). The film also beat out After Earth, Grown-Ups 2, The Lone Ranger and A Madea Christmas for the "top" prize.

The Smiths didn't fare too well, either. Jaden, 15, was awarded the worst actor Razzie, and his famous father picked up the supporting actor award — and to top it off, the team won worst screen combo.

Tyler Perry pulled off a feat, winning worst actress for his drag role in A Madea Christmas, while Kim Kardashian anchored the individual acting categories with the worst supporting actress win for Tyler Perry's Temptation.

And last year's infamous box-office bomb, The Lone Ranger, snagged the worst remake/rip-off or sequel award.

But there was positive news for Razzie regular Adam Sandler; he and his Grown Ups 2 walked away empty-handed this year, making it the only worst-movie nominee that failed to pick up any hardware.

Votes for eight of the nine Razzie Awards were cast online by about 800 of the foundation's members in 47 U.S. states and 15 foreign countries. The worst screen combo award was decided by votes from more than 80,000 RottenTomatoes.com users.

Obama And Biden Star In Workout Video

It helps to have a house the size of a few football fields to run in, but U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden believe that everyone should do it – and they've created a video to show us how.

Part of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” fitness campaign, the clip opens with Obama sitting in the Oval Office, checking his watch. Then Biden walks in.  

“Mr. President, are you ready to move?” Biden asks. "Absolutely," Obama says. The two leaders of the Western world jog through the White House hallways, past dogs Sunny and Bo, and along the building’s exterior as workout music plays.

 They stretch before walking back inside. “Man, you’re hard to keep up with,” Biden says. Obama pours two glasses of water. 

“After a good workout, gotta drink up,” he says, “otherwise we’re gonna get in trouble with Jill and Michelle.” The Let’s Move campaign is designed to fight obesity among children by promoting healthy eating and an active lifestyle.

 The first lady appeared on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last week and promised viewers that she'd get the president and Biden "to show us how it's done," if viewers gave the campaign enough coverage on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Apparently they did just that, because the video of Obama and Biden went up on the campaign's website last Friday.
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