2020 Current Events Study Guide

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MarkBarrett
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

Post by MarkBarrett »

The State of the Union rebuttal is always a chance (at least for me) to add a new political name to the mental Rolodex: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

There will also be one by Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar in Spanish.
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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Legendary actor Kirk Douglas has died at the age of 103. Born Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam, NY, Douglas was the only son of Russian Jewish immigrants. In his autobiography The Ragman’s Son, he described the abject poverty in which he was raised. “Even on Eagle Street, the poorest section of town... the ragman was on the lowest rung on the ladder. And I was the ragman’s son.”

Douglas's many memorable film roles include the titular slave-turned-rebel in Spartacus and Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was also nominated for Best Actor for his performances in Champion and The Bad and the Beautiful. He was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1996 for "50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community." Douglas also originated the role of Randle McMurphy in the 1963 Broadway production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Douglas is credited with helping to break the 1950s blacklist when he insisted that Dalton Trumbo (one of the Hollywood 10) be credited for his screenplay on the film “Spartacus.” Trumbo had written a number of scripts during the ’50s, but always under pseudonyms. Douglas was later honored by the ACLU with a Bill of Rights Award “for having the courage and conviction to break the infamous Hollywood blacklist and forcing the full recognition of one of its victims.”

He has also been rewarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and was the recipient of the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999.

Douglas is the father of four children, including Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas.

A partial list of Kirk Douglas's films:

Spartacus
Lust for Life
Champion
Paths of Glory
Out of the Past
Detective Story
Lonely Are the Brave
The Bad and the Beautiful
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Seven Days in May
Ace in the Hole
The Final Countdown
The Man from Snowy River
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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Orson Bean struck and killed by a car in Los Angeles at age 91

https://abc7.com/amp/5912587
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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Actor Robert Conrad dies at age 84

https://people.com/tv/robert-conrad-dead-at-84/
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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Roger Kahn, author of Boys of Summer, continues the Grim Reaper’s March through 2020...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com ... at-92/amp/
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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"Parasite" became the first foreign language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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LucarioSnooperVixey wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2020 11:30 pm "Parasite" became the first foreign language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
It is also the first film to win the Palme d'Or and the Oscar for Best Picture since Marty (1955).
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Volante
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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More Oscars Notes:

Brad Pitt - Best Supporting Actor (Once Upon A Time In...Hollywood)
Laura Dern - Best Supporting Actress (Marriage Story)

Hair Love - Best Animated Short, Oscar went to Matthew Cherry, former NFL player
Taika Watiti - Best Adapted Screenplay, Jojo Rabbit. New Zealander
American Factory - Best Documentary. Produced by the Obama's production company Higher Ground but, like Inconvenient Truth, neither got their own statue.
Hildur Guðnadóttir - Best Original Score, Joker. First woman to be nominated in 19 years. Icelandic, and the writers like their -dottir TOM

Joaquin Phoenix - Best Actor, Joker
Renee Zellweger - Best Actress, Judy [Garland] Wordplay opportunity, both one word 'J' titles

Bong Joon Ho - Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature, Best Director, Best Picture all for Parasite. South Korean

https://news.avclub.com/here-are-the-wi ... 1841563157
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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Volante wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 9:53 am More Oscars Notes:

Joaquin Phoenix - Best Actor, Joker
Phoenix is the second actor to win an Oscar for playing the Joker, after Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. The only other time two actors have won for playing the same character is Marlon Brando and Robert de Niro winning for Vito Corleone.
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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jev15 wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 10:06 am
Volante wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 9:53 am More Oscars Notes:

Joaquin Phoenix - Best Actor, Joker
Phoenix is the second actor to win an Oscar for playing the Joker, after Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. The only other time two actors have won for playing the same character is Marlon Brando and Robert de Niro winning for Vito Corleone.
Thanks for this. I thought that came up as FJ once, but it wasn't in the Archive.

Not exactly Current Events but worth knowing. Bong Joon-Ho also directed "Snowpiercer", a 2013 film about a train that circles the earth following a climate catastrophe. It hasn't appeared on the show previously, per the Archive, but I bet it will soon, thanks to Bong's win last night.
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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MinnesotaMyron wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 10:37 am
jev15 wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 10:06 am
Volante wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 9:53 am More Oscars Notes:

Joaquin Phoenix - Best Actor, Joker
Phoenix is the second actor to win an Oscar for playing the Joker, after Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. The only other time two actors have won for playing the same character is Marlon Brando and Robert de Niro winning for Vito Corleone.
Thanks for this. I thought that came up as FJ once, but it wasn't in the Archive.

Not exactly Current Events but worth knowing. Bong Joon-Ho also directed "Snowpiercer", a 2013 film about a train that circles the earth following a climate catastrophe. It hasn't appeared on the show previously, per the Archive, but I bet it will soon, thanks to Bong's win last night.
If Snowpiercer appears, it might be because it's been adapted for a US TV series, appearing on TNT later this year. (There's talk of the same for Parasite.)
Bong Joon-ho also directed Okja (2017), about a genetically altered pet, for Netflix, and The Host (2006), a monster movie that first got him attention in the US.
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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With first preference ballots in and second preference being counted, Sinn Fein looks like it will hold a plurality of seats in the Irish 2020 general election.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... ianna-fail
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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Volante wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 9:53 am More Oscars Notes:

Brad Pitt - Best Supporting Actor (Once Upon A Time In...Hollywood)
His second Oscar, first for producer of 12 Years a Slave
Volante wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 9:53 am Bong Joon Ho - Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature, Best Director, Best Picture all for Parasite. South Korean
Your best bet here is to respond "Who is Bong?", just like "Who is Xi?" and "Who is Abe?"

(Did I get that right??)
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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A few more Academy Awards milestones from this year's Oscars:

The four Oscars for Parasite are the first ever won by a South Korean film.

Three different foreign-language films have won four Oscars: Ingmar Bergman's Fanny & Alexander (1982), Bong Joon Ho's Parasite (2019), and Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

Renée Zellweger and Cate Blanchett are the only two actors to win an Academy Award for portraying a previous Oscar winner. Zellweger won this year for playing Judy Garland in Judy, and Blanchett won for playing Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator in 2004.

Three people have now won both an acting Oscar and an Oscar for producing a Best Picture winner: Brad Pitt for acting in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood and producing 12 Years a Slave; Michael Douglas for acting in Wall Street and producing One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest; and George Clooney for acting in Syriana and producing Argo.

Taika Waititi, writer-director of Jojo Rabbit, is the first Maori to win an Oscar. (Waititi also co-starred as Jojo's imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler.)

Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, who scored Joker (2019), is the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Original Score, although both Rachel Portman and Anne Dudley won an Oscar for the now-defunct Best Musical or Comedy Score category. Portman for Emma (1988), and Dudley won for The Full Monty (1998).

Pixar has now won ten Oscars for Best Animated Feature—more than all other studios combined.

Martin Scorsese is the first director with two different films that lost all ten awards for which they were nominated: Gangs of New York (2002) and The Irishman (2019). The record for Oscar futility is 0-for-11, set by Herbert Ross’s The Turning Point (1977) and tied by Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple (1985).

Eminem performed his Oscar-winning song “Lose Yourself” last night, 17 years after skipping the 2003 show and failing either to perform or pick up his award.
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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cinemaniax7 wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 4:44 pm Renée Zellweger and Cate Blanchett are the only two actors to win an Academy Award for portraying a previous Oscar winner. Zellweger won this year for playing Judy Garland in Judy, and Blanchett won for playing Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator in 2004.
Judy Garland's only Oscar was an Academy Juvenile Award; one can still single Cate Blanchett out for winning an Oscar for playing a winner of a competitive Academy Award.
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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cinemaniax7 wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 4:44 pm Pixar has now won nine Oscars for Best Animated Feature—more than all other studios combined.
Something didn't add up there, the first award was for 2001's Shrek so that makes this the 19th. Pixar actually has 10 of 19 winners.
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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Volante wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 12:09 pm With first preference ballots in and second preference being counted, Sinn Fein looks like it will hold a plurality of seats in the Irish 2020 general election.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... ianna-fail
Damnit, I knew I should've waited.

After all is said and done, Fianna Fail ended up with the plurality, 38 seats to Sinn Fein's 37. That said, it's now time for them to try forming a government...don't expect an update for a while
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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A standard poodle (as opposed to miniature or toy variant) named Siba took Best in Show.
Bourbon, a female whippet, which would have made for a more hilarious headline, took second.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN2051RJ
The best thing that Neil Armstrong ever did, was to let us all imagine we were him.
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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Yes, I received and read the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly :D

Disney Pixar movie: Onward
Family of elves:
Ian Lightfoot - Tom Holland
Barley Lightfoot - Chris Pratt
Laurel Lightfoot (widowed mother of the brothers) - Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Season 40 Survivor Winners at War with 20 previous champions including Boston Rob

Julianna Margulies & Corey Stoll join Billions on Showtime for 5th season (rich people and investments) along with returning Damian Lewis (Axe) and Paul Giamatti (Chuck Rhodes)

June sequel: Wonder Woman 1984 (Gal Gadot)

Hunters on Amazon starring Al Pacino about Nazi hunters

The Call of the Wild
with Harrison Ford as John Thornton and Yukon sled dog Buck based on Jack London novel

#4746, aired 2005-04-04 ALTERNATIVE HISTORY NOVELS $1200: In his 2004 novel "The Plot Against America", Nazi sympathizer Charles Lindbergh beats FDR in 1940

Philip Roth book going to be HBO series with Zoe Kazan, Winona Ryder & John Turturro

#7830, aired 2018-09-28 YOUR SIGNIFICANT AUTHOR $800: In 2018 Celeste Ng was hot on the bestseller list with "Little" these "Everywhere"

Little Fires Everywhere upcoming TV show on Hulu with Reese Witherspoon & Kerry Washington

#3894, aired 2001-07-05 BLACK AMERICANS $600: Madame C.J. Walker became the USA's first black female millionaire with a method of doing this to hair

Octavia Spencer starring in Netflix series about Walker famous for straightening hair

*********
The Stage

Six about Henry VIII's wives

Medea with real life couple Bobby Cannavale & Rose Byrne

Plaza Suite (Neil Simon) with real life couple Sarah Jessica Parker & Matthew Broderick

Rob McClure in Mrs. Doubtfire

Sing Street about rock-obsessed teen in Dublin

versions of Stephen Sondheim's Company and Assassins

Take Me Out homophobia and baseball with Patrick J. Adams, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jesse Williams

Birthday Candles with Andre Braugher & Debra Messing

American Buffalo (David Mamet) with Laurence Fishburne & Darren Criss
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Re: 2020 Current Events Study Guide

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Charles Portis, author of "True Grit", passes away at 86.

He has one hit in the Archive

#7747, aired 2018-04-24 LITERATURE ON THE MAP $1600: Rooster Cogburn is a deputy marshal in Fort Smith, Arkansas in this Charles Portis novel

"Rooster Cogburn" being the more important clue there, of course.
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