Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

We haven't done this in a while.  Here's some of the top stories of the past week...

Oscar Winner Goldie Hawn

In Entertainment...

Huffington Post: Easily the best entertainment news of the week, Goldie Hawn has signed with CAA, giving us hope that she's returning to show business.  Hawn hasn't made a film in twelve years (her last was her Golden Globe-nominated work in The Banger Sisters), and I've missed her perfect comic timing and sassy onscreen presence desperately.

Grantland: Mark Harris wrote this week's "must-read" piece-a fascinating look at how the larger Best Picture field has actually limited the number of films that are nominated for the Oscars.  It's truly a remarkable observation-I hadn't noticed before, but if you look at the "Big 8" (producing, acting, writing, and directing) only twelve films take up the forty slots, a mere three of which weren't Best Picture nominees.  That's absurd, and this locks out the truly little films (such as last year's Compliance with Ann Dowd's superb work in a bid for Best Supporting Actress or the excellent Short-Term 12 in a bid to gain a writing citation) that aren't playing in Best Picture but are trying to make a run at it in other categories.

CNN: Harvey Weinstein has vowed to no longer make violent pictures.  This is A) a little bit late to the conversation, Harvey and B) infuriating.  Censorship is almost never the answer, and a better rule would be for Harvey to make it more difficult for theatergoers to let children into R-rated films (such as how it is in Europe) or to make violence have the same sorts of strict criteria that sex have with the MPAA.  But at the end of the day, violent films, television, and video games are not what you should be focusing on in this debate-easy access to guns and violent weapons and lack of proper background checks are where the real issue is.  Not the movies.

The Guardian: Speaking of Harvey, have you heard that Grace of Monaco will once again disappear from the release schedule?  The film, about the late Princess Grace, starring Nicole Kidman, was at one point a threat in the Best Actress race, and had now moved to March (release dates are up-in-the-air right now).  Now the question is simply will anyone ever see it, as the delays sound to be of a pretty tumultuous nature.

In Politics...

Ezra Klein

Slate: The world's most adorable political/economics blogger, Ezra Klein, will be leaving the Washington Post to start a new project.  As someone who reads the Post daily online, this is a big disappointment, as Chris Cillizza is no Ezra Klein, and Klein actually has opinions and insights that you couldn't read on every Politico article.  Hopefully his next project (which is mired in secrecy) will be out soon.

Mediaite: Have you all seen Lawrence O'Donnell's attack ad against Chris Christie?  I am not a Christie fan at all, but I feel like this is a step too far from MSNBC.  There's being partisan, and then there's going to a place you can't come back from-is there where we're at now with the news?  Is this where we want to be with the news?  My guess is no one wants their newsmen out there writing political ads against sitting members of the government.

Just One More...

CNN: I don't have a lot to say on Justin Bieber (I'm really too old for either, but since I don't like to tie myself down with age-specific stereotyping, I'm a proud Directioner and not at all a "Belieber").  However, I do want to say that A) someone needs to get involved in this young man's life and fast before we run into another Amy Winehouse style situation and B) what's with the smiling in the mugshot?  I get that his publicist probably said right beforehand that he should smile because it will play well in the media (still one of the smartest decisions Tom DeLay ever made), but this was a bit much, and made him look...odd.  Perhaps skip the teeth next time Justin?