Unlike recent years, this year's nominations had some nice surprises (I thought they were deserving but not likely to be nominated) for me: Judi Dench, Charlize Theron and Terrance Howard. There always seems to be at least one that evokes a "they must be kidding" response from me. Usually it's in an acting category. This year it's original screenplay nominee Match Point. Original song and screenplay usually get a "huh?" from me — too many mediocre ones nominated, too many more deserving ones stiffed. That's especially the case this year.

Some of the nominees I hope to see win are: Actor, Phillip Seymour Hoffman; Actress, Felicity Huffman; Supporting Actor, Paul Giamatti; Supporting Actress, Frances McDormand; Documentary, March of the Penguins; Director, Stephen Spielberg and Munich, Best Picture.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
78th Annual Academy Awards Nominations

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Philip Seymour Hoffman - CAPOTE
Terrence Howard - HUSTLE & FLOW
Heath Ledger - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Joaquin Phoenix - WALK THE LINE
David Strathairn - GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

George Clooney - SYRIANA
Matt Dillon - CRASH
Paul Giamatti - CINDERELLA MAN
Jake Gyllenhaal - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
William Hurt - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Judi Dench - MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS
Felicity Huffman - TRANSAMERICA
Keira Knightley - PRIDE & PREJUDICE
Charlize Theron - NORTH COUNTRY
Reese Witherspoon - WALK THE LINE

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Amy Adams - JUNEBUG
Catherine Keener - CAPOTE
Frances McDormand - NORTH COUNTRY
Rachel Weisz - THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Michelle Williams - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR

HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE
TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE
WALLACE & GROMIT IN THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
KING KONG
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
PRIDE & PREJUDICE

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY

BATMAN BEGINS
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
THE NEW WORLD

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTSPRIDE & PREJUDICE
WALK THE LINE

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
CAPOTE
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK
MUNICH

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE
ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS
MURDERBALL
STREET FIGHT

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

THE DEATH OF KEVIN CARTER: CASUALTY OF THE BANG BANG CLUB
GOD SLEEPS IN RWANDA
THE MUSHROOM CLUB
A NOTE OF TRIUMPH: THE GOLDEN AGE OF NORMAN CORWIN

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING

CINDERELLA MAN
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
CRASH
MUNICH
WALK THE LINE

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

DON'T TELL
JOYEUX NOèL
PARADISE NOW
SOPHIE SCHOLL - THE FINAL DAYS
TSOTSI

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
CINDERELLA MAN
STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES
(ORIGINAL SCORE)

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
MUNICH
PRIDE & PREJUDICE

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES
(ORIGINAL SONG)

"In the Deep" - CRASH
"It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" - HUSTLE & FLOW
"Travelin' Thru" - TRANSAMERICA

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
CAPOTE
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MUNICH

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

BADGERED
THE MOON AND THE SON: AN IMAGINED CONVERSATION
THE MYSTERIOUS GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORATIONS OF JASPER MORELLO
9
ONE MAN BAND

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

AUSREISSER (THE RUNAWAY)
CASHBACK
THE LAST FARM
OUR TIME IS UP
SIX SHOOTER

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING

KING KONG
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
WAR OF THE WORLDS

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
KING KONG
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
WALK THE LINE
WAR OF THE WORLDS

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
KING KONG
WAR OF THE WORLDS

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
CAPOTE
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
MUNICH

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MATCH POINT
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
SYRIANA

I am saddened to hear of the death of Wendy Wasserstein. I enjoyed her work very much.

Playwright Wendy Wasserstein Dies

By Michael Kuchwara, AP Drama Writer 39 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Playwright Wendy Wasserstein, who chronicled the feminist struggles and successes of the baby-boomer generation in such wryly observant works as "The Heidi Chronicles" and "The Sisters Rosensweig," has died of lymphoma at the age of 55.

Wasserstein died Monday at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, said Andre Bishop, header of Lincoln Center Theater and Wasserstein's close friend and mentor. She had been ill for several months.

Broadway theaters will dim their lights Tuesday in honor of Wasserstein.

"Wendy had a voice like no other and a great sense of the absurd," said Swoosie Kurtz, who appeared in "Uncommon Women and Others," Wasserstein's first stage success. "She could take something that was sad or somber in life, wrap her words around it and somehow make it light and not so disturbing."

Wasserstein's writing was known for its sharp, often comedic look about what women had to do to succeed in a world dominated by men.

"She was an extraordinary human being whose work and whose life were extremely intertwined," said Bishop, who produced most of her works, first at Playwrights Horizons and later at Lincoln Center Theater. "She was not unlike the heroines of most of her plays — a strong-minded, independent, serious good person who happened to have a wicked sense of humor."

Wasserstein found her greatest popular success with "The Heidi Chronicles," which won the best-play Tony as well as the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1989. Its insecure title character (played by Joan Allen) takes a 20-year journey beginning in the late 1960s and changes her attitudes about herself, men and other women. Equally popular was "The Sisters Rosensweig," which moved from Lincoln Center to Broadway in 1993, and concerned three siblings who find strength in themselves and in each other.

Her most recent work, "Third," which ended a New York run last December, dealt with a female college professor, played by Dianne Wiest, whose liberal, feminist convictions are put to the test by a student she sees as the epitome of the white male establishment.

In public, Wasserstein was genial, often quite funny, presenting herself as a rumpled observer of her generation.

"So many people, whether they knew her or not, felt somehow connected to her," Bishop said. "If you went out with her to a restaurant in New York or anywhere in the country — because her plays were done all over the country — it was like going out with a rock star: people coming up to her and saying, `How much your work meant to me. I feel like I have seen my life through your eyes.'"

Wasserstein wrote "Uncommon Women and Others" as a Yale School of Drama graduate thesis. The one-act play was expanded and done off-Broadway in 1977 with Glenn Close, Jill Eikenberry and Kurtz in the cast. A year later, this satire about the anxieties of female college graduates was filmed for public television with Meryl Streep replacing Close.

The playwright continued her off-Broadway success with "Isn't It Romantic" — about a free spirit who rejects her fiance and tries to find a life as a single woman.

In 1997, Broadway saw "An American Daughter," Wasserstein's story of the political downfall of a perfect career woman, played by Kate Nelligan. It was followed in 2000 by "Old Money," her look at money, manners and morals at the beginning and end of the 20th century, done at Lincoln Center's small Mitzi Newhouse Theater.

While primarily a playwright, Wasserstein also wrote for TV and the movies, most notably the screenplay for the 1998 film version of Stephen McCauley's novel, "The Object of My Affection," about a gay man and a pregnant woman who meet and move in together.

Wasserstein was the author of the best-selling children's book, "Pamela's First Musical" (1996). She also wrote two collections of personal essays, "Bachelor Girls," published in 1990, and "Shiksa Goddess: Or, How I Spent My Forties" (2001).

At age 48, Wasserstein had a daughter, Lucy Jane, born in 1999, three months prematurely. Despite persistent speculation, she always declined to reveal the identity of the girl's father.

"The thing about having a baby (at an) older (age) is that she doesn't have to live her life for me," Wasserstein said in an interview with the Forward, a Jewish weekly. "I can see her, I hope, as a person."

Born Oct. 18, 1950, Wasserstein, the youngest of five children, grew up first in Brooklyn in what she has called, "a nice, middle-class Jewish family," and later in Manhattan. Her father, Morris, was a textile executive.

She attended Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts and then went to Yale University, where she became friends with such budding playwrights as Christopher Durang and Albert Innaurato and began her theater career.

Wasserstein is survived by her daughter Lucy Jane; her mother, Lola; a sister, Georgette Levis; and two brothers, Abner, and Bruce Wasserstein, chairman and chief executive of Lazard LLC.

I was happy to see that Phillip Seymour Hoffman won another award for the title role
in Capote, the SAG best actor statuette. And to see that Paul Giamatti won for
supporting actor in Cinderella Man, a film that is deserving of more honors than
it has received so far. Hopefully it will be nominated for the best picture Oscar.

Following is the list of winners.

12th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS® RECIPIENTS

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Philip Seymour Hoffman / CAPOTE – Truman Capote UA/Sony Pictures Classics

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Reese Witherspoon / WALK THE LINE – June Carter 20th Century Fox

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Paul Giamatti / CINDERELLA MAN – Joe Gould Universal Pictures

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Rachel Weisz / THE CONSTANT GARDENER – Tessa Quayle Focus Features

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture - CRASH Lionsgate

Chris “Ludacris” Bridges
Sandra Bullock
Don Cheadle
Matt Dillon
Jennifer Esposito
William Fichtner
Brendan Fraser
Terrence Howard
Thandie Newton
Ryan Phillippe
Larenz Tate

PRIMETIME TELEVISION

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Paul Newman / EMPIRE FALLS – Max Roby HBO

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
S. Epatha Merkerson / LACKAWANNA BLUES – Rachel “Nanny” Crosby HBO

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Kiefer Sutherland / 24 – Jack Bauer FOX

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Sandra Oh / GREY’S ANATOMY – Dr. Cristina Yang ABC

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Sean Hayes / WILL & GRACE – Jack McFarland NBC

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Felicity Huffman / DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES – Lynette Scavo ABC

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

LOST ABC

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Naveen Andrews
Emilie De Ravin
Matthew Fox
Jorge Garcia
Maggie Grace
Josh Holloway
Malcolm David Kelley
Daniel Dae Kim
Yunjin Kim
Evangeline Lilly
Dominic Monaghan
Terry O’Quinn
Harold Perrineau
Michelle Rodriguez
Ian Somerhalder
Cynthia Watros

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES ABC

Roger Bart
Andrea Bowen
Mehcad Brooks
Ricardo Antonio Chavira
Marcia Cross
Steven Culp
James Denton
Teri Hatcher
Felicity Huffman
Brent Kinsman
Shane Kinsman
Eva Longoria
Mark Moses
Doug Savant
Nicollette Sheridan
Brenda Strong
Alfre Woodard

Screen Actors Guild Awards 42nd Annual Life Achievement Award
Shirley Temple Black

I haven't often agreed with many of the awards given out in recent years by various arts organizations, but tonight's Golden Globes had a few that I cheered, including:

Hugh Laurie for House;

Mary Louise Parker for Weeds;

Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line;

Paul Newman for Empire Falls and

Jonathan Rhys Meyers for Elvis.

My favorite awards of the evening were :

Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote;

S. Epatha Merkerson for Lackawanna Blues and

John Williams for the Memoirs of a Geisha soundtrack.

With my favorite teams in this year's playoffs, the Colts and the Bears, out of the picture after today's games, the football season is effectively over for me. I'll still watch the Superbowl, but as in some past years, mostly for the commercials. Certainly not for the halftime show — in recent years I've tuned in to other programs while that's on. For football, it's wait until next season for me. Bring on the OIympics!

I was happy to see the latest honor for Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote. And March of the Penguins also.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - "Brokeback Mountain" won a leading three awards, including best picture and best director for Ang Lee, but it was Philip Seymour Hoffman's entrancing portrayal of Truman Capote that captured the best actor honor Monday at the 11th annual Critics' Choice Awards.

George Clooney received the Freedom Award, a special tribute "for illuminating our shared values of freedom, tolerance and democracy" through "Good Night, and Good Luck," his film about television reporter Edward R. Murrow and the McCarthy era. Oscar winner Julia Roberts, making her first public appearance since having twins, presented the award.

Reese Witherspoon was named best actress for her sassy performance as June Carter in the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line."

Michelle Williams of "Brokeback Mountain" tied for the award for best supporting actress with Amy Adams of "Junebug."

Paul Giamatti, whose "Sideways" co-star Thomas Haden Church was named best supporting actor last year, took the honor this year for his role as a fight promoter in "Cinderella Man."

Freddie Highmore won his second award for best young actor for his role in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Last year, it was for "Finding Neverland."

The awards were presented by the Broadcast Film Critics Association at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

Another special award, for Distinguished Achievement in Performing Arts, went to the movie epic "King Kong," for "revolutionary cinematic achievement in synthesizing visual effects with an actor's performance to create the character." Andy Serkis, whose movements and expressions were captured to animate the big ape, was among those on hand to accept.

The complete list of winners:

Picture: "Brokeback Mountain."

Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Capote."

Actress: Reese Witherspoon, "Walk the Line."

Supporting Actor: Paul Giamatti, "Cinderella Man."

Supporting Actress: (tie) Amy Adams, "Junebug," and Michelle Williams, "Brokeback Mountain."

Acting Ensemble: "Crash."

Director: Ang Lee, "Brokeback Mountain."

Writer: Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco, "Crash."

Animated Feature: "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit."

Young Actor: Freddie Highmore, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Young Actress: Dakota Fanning, "War of the Worlds."

Comedy: "The 40 Year-Old Virgin."

Family Film (live action): "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."

Picture Made for Television: "Into the West."

Foreign Language Film: "Kung Fu Hustle."

Song: "Hustle & Flow," written by Al Kapone and performed by Terrence Howard, from the film "Hustle & Flow."

Soundtrack: "Walk the Line."

Composer: John Williams for "Memoirs of a Geisha."

Documentary Feature: "March of the Penguins."

---

Special Awards:

Freedom: George Clooney.

Distinguished Achievement in Performing Arts: "King Kong."

These sorry politicos are worse than we thought.

Abramoff and DeLay have Dishonored the Work of Many

By Molly Ivins

Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, January 5, 2006

AUSTIN -- We live in a great nation. The police blotter of the Mill Valley Herald in California informs us that the constabulary there had to be called out on account of a citizen "dressed like a penguin" who was "standing on a street corner playing a ukulele." Makes me proud to be an American.

What does not make me proud to be an American is a specific twist in the Jack Abramoff/Tom DeLay scandal -- in fact, this makes me want to urp despite the fact that I have a strong stomach when it comes to political corruption. Practice, practice, practice, that's what Texas provides when it comes to sleaze and stink. Who can forget such great explanations as "Well, I'll just make a little bit of money, I won't make a whole lot"? And "There was never a Bible in the room"?

But this is a reach too far, just that little extra that takes normal putrid corruption and moves it to the ranks of "Excuse me, I have to throw up." Both Abramoff and DeLay and many of their web of colleagues have consistently used nonprofit organizations ostensibly formed for charitable purposes to launder money, to move peculiar proceeds and to pay for high-flying perks. Come on, guys, give us a break -- if you're going to make a mockery of democracy and show your mastery at flipping money, wiring the system and fixing the odds -- please don't use charitable organizations designed to help crippled children to do it.

That's bad taste.

According to Associated Press, Tom DeLay "visited cliff-top Caribbean resorts, golf courses designed by PGA champions and four-star restaurants, all courtesy of donors who bankrolled his political empire.

"Over the past six years, the former House majority leader and his associates have visited places of luxury most Americans have never seen, often getting there aboard corporate jets arranged by lobbyists and other special interests.

"Public documents reviewed by the Associated Press tell the story: at least 48 visits to golf clubs, and resorts with lush fairways, 100 flights aboard company planes, 200 stays at hotels, many world class, and 500 meals at restaurants, some averaging nearly $2,000 for a dinner for two.

"Instead of his personal expense, the meals and trips for DeLay and his associates were paid with donations collected by the campaign committees, political action committees and children's charity the Texas Republican created during his rise to the top of Congress."

How cynical does that make you? When I hear Speaker Dennis Hastert is returning his campaign contributions from Jack Abramoff or "donating it to charity," I wonder which little charmer of a Republican campaign fund masquerading as a charity he's sending it to.

The DeLay Foundation for Kids was set up 18 years ago and works on behalf of foster children. But it is also a way for companies to give unregulated and undisclosed funds: It's a way for companies to get into DeLay's good graces or, as Fred Lewis from Campaign for People says, "another way for donors to get their hooks into politicians."

Meanwhile, Abramoff was even more cavalier about "charity." He created the Capital Athletic Foundation supposedly to help inner-city children through organized sports. There is no evidence any of the money ever went to that purpose, but The Washington Post reports it went to a sniper school for Israelis on the West Bank, a golf trip to Scotland for Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and a Jewish religious academy in Columbia, Md. Abramoff's hapless Indian clients were generous contributors: I wonder if he thought it was funny that Indians would more likely identify with Palestinians than Israelis.

Believe it or not, there are nonprofit organizations in this country where the CEO barely makes more than the janitor, where nickels and pennies are saved so the clients or the cause can get a little more. There are nonprofits where good and faithful servants have spent decades devoting their entire lives to helping those less fortunate than themselves -- without ever going to a cliff-top Caribbean resort. There are nonprofits where extra-bright young people from top schools work for peanuts because they want to make a better world. While Jack Abramoff padded his bills and falsified expenses to tribal clients, there are people who work for minimum wages on Indian reservations to help some of the poorest people in America get a minimally decent chance at life.

Abramoff and DeLay and their crummy hangers-on haven't just cheated and lied. They have dishonored the work of many, many people who are devoted to helping others without even expecting a decent salary for it.

So, here's to a few of them here in Austin off the top of my head -- the cheesy, sleazy, brass "charity" of conscienceless climbers can never touch the real gold of all you do: Tom "Smitty" Smith, Peyton Wimmer, Sheila Enid Cheaney, Charlie and Pauline Sullivan, Ernie Cortes, the "twisted sisters" at the Center for Public Policy Priorities, Sister Patty Tenorio, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Casa Marianella, D'Ann Johnson, the Texas Observer, the Breast Cancer Resource Center and so many, many more. You are heroes.

I was glad to see this article. I'm hoping that Hoffman's astounding performance brings more awards.

National Critics Name Capote Best Film

By Associated Press

January 7, 2006, 9:13 PM EST

NEW YORK -- "Capote," which chronicles the years Truman Capote spent researching and writing the groundbreaking nonfiction novel "In Cold Blood," was named best picture of 2005 after a lengthy vote by the National Society of Film Critics on Saturday.

It took six ballots for 45 critics to come to the best picture decision at the Manhattan restaurant Sardi's, according to Liz Weis, the society's executive director.

The mafia story "A History of Violence" earned second place in the best picture vote, and "2046," the story of a former newspaper editor's exploits in a hotel room, ranked third.

"Capote" star Philip Seymour Hoffman was voted best actor for his transformation into the author who became obsessed with the 1959 murder of a farm family in Kansas.

Second place in the best actor category went to Jeff Daniels, who played a father of two boys in the Brooklyn divorce story "The Squid and the Whale." Heath Ledger, a cowboy conflicted about his feelings for another man in "Brokeback Mountain," was a close third.

Reese Witherspoon was selected as best actress for her performance as June Carter Cash in the biopic "Walk the Line." Keira Knightley won second place in that category for "Pride and Prejudice"; Vera Farmiga ("Down to the Bone") and Kate Dollenmayer ("Funny Ha Ha") shared third.

"A History of Violence" also took honors for best director, which went to David Cronenberg, and best supporting actor, awarded to Ed Harris for his portrayal of gangster Carl Fogarty. Best screenplay went to Noah Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale."

Amy Adams was voted best supporting actress for her performance in "Junebug." Best nonfiction film went to "Grizzly Man," Werner Herzog's documentary about Timothy Treadwell, who lived among bears in Alaska for a dozen years before being fatally mauled.

German director Fatih Akin's "Gegen die Wand" ("Head On"), about second generation Turks living in Germany, won best foreign language picture, and "2046" took top honors for cinematography.

Elaine Stritch is one of my favorite performers ever. The fact that she epitomizes the idea that you're never too old to do your thing is just icing on the cake. Following is an article about her from The New York Times.

A Broadway Legend's Lessons for Singers

By Anthony Tommasini

Published: January 7, 2006

During her cabaret act, "At Home at the Carlyle," which returned to the Carlyle Hotel's swanky cafe on Tuesday night after a six-week run in the fall, the indomitable actress and singer Elaine Stritch tells a revealing story about the intensely private conductor James Levine. As Ms. Stritch found out to her great surprise, Mr. Levine is one of her biggest fans.

Two years ago, after she presented her acclaimed one-woman show "Elaine Stritch at Liberty" at the Neil Simon Theater, the show played a limited run in Boston. One night after a performance there, Ms. Stritch was told that a man who said he had attended her show 12 times in New York and now twice in Boston dearly wanted to meet her.

At first she thought this guy must be "some kind of nut," Ms. Stritch said, recounting the tale on Tuesday. But she consented to see him. When Mr. Levine appeared, Ms. Stritch did not recognize him. Still, she was touched by his sincerity. He explained that he worked part-time in Boston and lived in New York and that he wanted to take her to dinner at the Carlyle Hotel, where, it happens, Ms. Stritch lives. He told her that seeing an artist perform with such intensity at this stage in a career (Ms. Stritch was nearing 80 at the time) "inspired him to go forward, to keep going," she recalled.

When Mr. Levine gave her his business card and she realized who he was, Ms. Stritch was terribly embarrassed, she said: "I told him, 'I really should work on getting out more.' "

Later in New York, Mr. Levine took Ms. Stritch for that dinner date at the Cafe Carlyle, where Barbara Cook was then appearing. During the show, when Ms. Cook sang a meltingly romantic rendition of "It Might as Well Be Spring," as Ms. Stritch recounted proudly, "James Levine held my hand." She was flattered by Mr. Levine's devotion. "Talent is seductive," she explained.

While this story gives a poignant glimpse into Mr. Levine's private life, it also suggests how highly this astute expert on singing regards Ms. Stritch's artistry.

During her tireless performance on Tuesday, with 16 songs woven into an engagingly rambling monologue about her bittersweet life in the theater and her midcareer struggle for sobriety, I, too, found her gritty vocal artistry an object lesson. Opera singers in particular could learn something from "At Home at the Carlyle," which runs through Feb. 4, two days after Ms. Stritch's 81st birthday.

To point to the gravelly-voiced Ms. Stritch as a vocal role model might seem a stretch. She is no Barbara Cook, a rich-toned singer with consummate technique who gives regular master classes in the interpretation of musical theater songs to voice majors at the Juilliard School. As Ms. Cook approaches her 80th birthday in October 2007, she continues to sing with miraculous elegance and, if anything, even greater depth. She will perform at the Metropolitan Opera House on Jan. 20.

Ms. Stritch, even in her youth, was a brassy belter who was tapped as the understudy to Ethel Merman in "Call Me Madam" in 1950. By 1970, when she appeared in the original production of Stephen Sondheim's "Company," Ms. Stritch had secured her place in Broadway history with a raspy account of "The Ladies Who Lunch." In this song, her character, Joanne, bitterly toasts the bored, bitchy and moneyed New York ladies, herself included, who swap histories of husbands over too many martinis.

What is remarkable about Ms. Stritch's singing these days has little to do with the quality of her vocalism. Her sound may be raw and patchy, her pitch may be approximate, but her cabaret show is a vivid reminder that, in essence, song is musicalized speech. Words come first in her artistry. She knows how to put lyrics across, how to deliver a song. In the ruminative "I Think I Like You" (music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse), you sense Ms. Stritch pondering her feelings with each new phrase, as if searching for the words to express them at that moment.

Her silences between phrases - when she holds a thought and hardly moves - are riveting. They reminded me of the way Maria Callas used to sing stretches of dramatic recitative as Bellini's Norma, making the silences as gripping as the arrestingly sung phrases. Of course, Ms. Stritch could not have taken such interpretive liberties were it not for the attentive playing of her excellent six-piece band, directed by the stylish pianist Rob Bowman.

Opera singers, who can become obsessed with technique, should read the letters of Mozart, who was always directing singers in his operas to "think carefully of the meaning and force of the words." For a demonstration of what Mozart was talking about, go hear Ms. Stritch sing "Why Him?" (music by Burton Lane, lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner). In this wistfully amusing song, the singer wonders why she fell for the man she loves, who on the surface would seem to be nothing special. "Where he should be he isn't thin. Why him?" she sings in one sweet lyric. Ms. Stritch performed the song in memory of her husband, the actor John Bay, and naturally her emotion infused her singing. But only a savvy actress and vocal artist could make "Why Him?" seem so spontaneous and true.

If Ms. Stritch does not have much voice left, she certainly has a whole range of expressively weathered vocal inflections. Sometimes, capping a song with a sustained high note, as in Rodgers and Hart's "He Was Too Good to Me," she sort of shouted the top note and defiantly thrust a hand in the air, as if to say, "You get the idea." It was easy for the audience to fill in what was missing.

The Cafe Carlyle is a dining room that accommodates about 90 (and dinner is required along with the $125 ticket). It was so wonderful to experience Ms. Stritch up close that I wished she and her band had taken a chance and simply turned off the amplification, which, though very subtle, was perceptible.

Still, if a little electronic assistance is what it takes to keep Elaine Stritch singing, even in this intimate cafe, then so be it. Classical singers looking for insights into the art of putting songs across should try to attend this show. Besides, they might just bump into James Levine.

Television networks trot out new series in January, along with some returning series. Following is an article from the Detroit Free Press about this year's changes.

There's one change that baffles me. NBC is moving the popular (why? who watches these turkeys?) My Name is Earl and The Office to Thursday nights. Their time slot competition is the most popular (deservedly) of all tv dramas, CSI, and The OC, among others. I hope the move will mean that the two NBC comedies will fall into oblivion.

Since I don't have cable, I don't have an opinion on the cable shows mentioned in the article. There are some unseen new shows so my opinion is based on descriptions read and seen elsewhere and reiterated in the article. Some of the returning shows have changed for the considerably worse from good beginnings. For all of the other non-cable shows listed, I have one word: ick.

New Year, New TV Lineups

By Mike Duffy

Detroit Free Press

The January frenzy is upon us as the networks play midseason schedule bingo, moving current shows to new time slots, introducing a slew of new series and bringing back old favorites for fresh fun.

Jenna Elfman, Tom Cavanaugh ("Ed"), Heather Graham, Fred Savage, Aidan Quinn and Jane Curtin are among those debuting in new series this month. "Scrubs," "Monk," "Dancing with the Stars" and "The Shield" — along with the twin Fox heavyweights "American Idol" and "24" — swing back into action in January, as well.

As for big moves, NBC is making one of the most notable changes.

In a risky attempt to kick-start the revival of its once dominant Thursday night lineup, the Peacock Network moves red-hot, first-year comedy "My Name is Earl" from Tuesdays to 8 p.m. Thursdays starting tonight.

"Dancing with the Stars" (7 p.m. tonight and Friday). The summer sensation puts its dancing shoes on again to face tougher regular season competition. George Hamilton, Tatum O'Neal and NFL superstar Jerry Rice are among the stars testing their tango and waltz talents.

"In Justice" (8 p.m. Friday). A crime procedural with a twist. It focuses on sloppy police work, biased juries and false testimony in the stories of the National Justice Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to overturning wrongful convictions. Kyle MacLachlan ("Twin Peaks") heads the cast. Premiered Sunday.

"Jake in Progress" (8:30 p.m. Monday). Back for a second season, John Stamos plays a Manhattan babe magnet who wants to settle down, in a male "Sex and the City" knockoff. Maybe Jake should meet Emily.

"The Bachelor: Paris" (9 p.m. Monday). Hunky Dr. Travis Stork has the tough job of sorting through the hot female suitors in search of a soul mate. Poor baby.

"Crumbs" (8:30 p.m. Jan. 12). Fred Savage ("The Wonder Years") plays a closeted gay writer who returns home to cope with his estranged brother, philandering father (William Devane) and mentally unhinged mother (Jane Curtin) in a dysfunctional family comedy.

"Sons & Daughters" (winter premiere to be announced). Channeling the neurotic screwball spirit of "Arrested Development," this promising ensemble family comedy is produced by "Saturday Night Live" guru Lorne Michaels.

"What About Brian" (March premiere). "7th Heaven's" Barry Watson stars as Brian in the lighthearted drama about a group of Los Angeles friends. Everyone's married or romantically entangled but Brian. Maybe he should audition for "The Bachelor."

"The Evidence" (spring premiere). Crime time. Rob Estes of "Melrose Place" portrays a San Francisco police detective still carrying the emotional wounds of his wife's unsolved murder in a new procedural.

CBS

"Love Monkey" (9 p.m. Jan. 17). Dating games. Tom Cavanaugh ("Ed") stars as a single, 30-something New York record executive juggling work, romance and friendship in a comic drama based on a best-selling book by Kyle Smith. Jason Priestley and Larenz Tate ("Crash") are two of Cavanaugh's buddies.

"Courting Alex" (8:30 p.m. Jan. 23). Dharma, is that you? Yep, Jenna Elfman returns to the Planet Sitcom as a single, attractive, semi-workaholic Manhattan lawyer looking for romance. Fellow lawyer Dabney Coleman plays her father.

"The Unit" (March premiere). Testosterone City. Dennis Haysbert, Scott Foley and Robert Patrick head the cast of the action drama about a team of globe-trotting Special Forces operatives. Produced by hard-guy storytellers Shawn Ryan ("The Shield") and David Mamet ("Glengarry Glen Ross").

NBC

"Four Kings" (7:30 Thursday). Four lifelong buddies hit the real estate jackpot, sharing the spacious Manhattan apartment one of the friends inherits from his dead grandmother. Seth Green ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") is the snarky smart-aleck of the skirt-chasing group in a sitcom from the makers of "Will & Grace."

"Scrubs" (8 p.m. Tuesday; began this week). Calling Dr. Chucklehead. J.D. (Zach Braff) and his friends and tormentors at Sacred Heart Hospital return for another season of screw-loose fun in the quirky, colorful medical sitcom.

"The Biggest Loser: Special Edition" (8 p.m. Wednesday). Fighting the fat. A short run, five-episode spin-off of the popular weight-reduction contest features families and engaged couples.

"The Book of Daniel" (8 p.m. Friday). Are you talking to me, Jesus? Yes, Jesus has a speaking part in this darkly irreverent drama about an unconventional Episcopalian minister (Aidan Quinn) hooked on painkillers and dealing with his mixed-up, shook-up family.

"Windfall" (Spring premiere). Money, honey. Luke Perry ("Beverly Hills, 90210") and Jason Gedrick ("Boomtown") are two of the 20 friends who share $38 million from their winning lotto ticket in a tangled, "Lost"-influenced drama that follows the fates of many different characters.

FOX

"Trading Spouses" (8 p.m. Friday). Plugging the hole left by the cancellation of gruesome crime procedural "Killer Instinct," Fox trots out new episodes of the gruesomely cheesy reality sideshow.

"24" (7 p.m. Jan. 15-16). Let's get it on. The signature Fox suspense thriller cranks up a new season of cliff-hanger thrills when Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) returns to save the world again after national security is treacherously breached. The fifth season kicks off with a four-hour, two-night special premiere. Airs regularly at 9 p.m. Mondays starting Jan. 23.

"American Idol" (7 p.m. Jan. 17-18). Is there another William Hung out there somewhere? God forbid. But as usual, sarcastic Simon Cowell and his pals launch another season of the pop music talent search juggernaut with a series of audition specials that feature the tone-deaf and talent-challenged.

"Skating with Celebrities" (7 p.m. Jan. 23). Fall down, go boom. Hey, it's "Dancing with the Stars" on ice as B-list folks like Bruce Jenner, Jillian Barberie ("Fox NFL Sunday") and "Full House" star Dave Coulier team up with real figure skaters. Special premiere at 9 p.m. Jan. 18 following "American Idol."

"The Loop" (Spring premiere). A madcap corporate satire about a wonderboy junior executive (Bret Harrison, "Grounded for Life") who lives with his less career-obsessed friends in Chicago.

UPN

"South Beach" (8 p.m. Wednesday). Paradise calling. Two guys (Chris Johnson, Marcus Coloma) leave Brooklyn behind and head for Florida to seek their bliss among the beautiful people, sandy beaches and hot spots of trendy South Beach in a slick, shallow drama series.

"Get This Party Started" (8 p.m. Jan. 24). "Laguna Beach" teen queen Kristin Cavallari and "Extra" infotainer Ethan Erickson host the reality show that follows an elite team of party planners to the stars as they cook up elaborate surprise parties for ordinary, deserving people.

WB "Beauty and the Geek" (8 p.m. Jan. 12). The sweet, cheerful and silly summer reality hit — nerdy guys team up with pretty girls in contests of social and intellectual skills — returns for a new season. "Beauty and the Geek" audition special airs Wednesday.

"Pepper Dennis" (March premiere). Breaking news! Rebecca Romjin plays a glamorous, self-confident Chicago TV newswoman who gets goofily bent out of shape by the station's dashing new anchorman (Josh Hopkins) in a new comedy.

"The Bedford Diaries" (Spring premiere). Let's talk about sex. They do a lot of that in this college drama about students taking a course called "Sexual Behavior and the Human Condition."

ON HIATUS UNTIL SPRING

"Everwood" (8 p.m. March 16, WB). The warmhearted Colorado mountain family drama, starring Treat Williams, returns from a winter vacation in Hiatusville.

"Prison Break" (7 p.m. March 13, Fox). The sharp cellblock suspense thriller begins its spring season with an encore of November's fall season finale and then kicks off new episodes March 20.

CABLE:

"Battlestar Galactica" (9 p.m. Friday, Sci Fi). The dark, compelling space odyssey jumps back into action

"The L Word" (9 p.m. Sunday, Showtime). The clever, high-gloss lesbian soap opera begins a third season.

"American Chopper" (9 p.m. Monday, Discovery). The Teutul family vroom-vroom platoon is back for more customized motorcycle fun and mischief.

"The Shield" (9 p.m. Jan. 19, FX). Andy Sipowicz was Little Bo Peep compared to Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), the bad cop heart and soul of television's toughest crime drama. And for the fifth season, Forrest Whitaker ("The Crying Game") joins the cop shop games as a wily internal affairs officer determined to bring Mackey down.

"Monk" (9 p.m. Jan. 13, USA Network). Whodunit? The obsessive San Francisco sleuth (Tony Shalhoub) returns with fresh mysteries in his fourth entertaining season.

"Hu$tle" (9 p.m. Jan. 14, AMC). Robert Vaughn ("The Man from U.N.C.L.E.") heads a crew of London-based con artists in a stylish caper drama that's already a hit in England and now comes to the United States as a BBC/AMC co-production.

"The Sopranos" (8 p.m. March 12, HBO). Having skipped all of 2005, Tony Soprano should be well rested, hungry for some baked ziti and ready to hatch nasty business with his Jersey mob associates down at the Bada Bing club.

"Big Love" (9 p.m. March 12, HBO). Hello, controversy. The newest HBO drama follows the provocative, polygamous odyssey of suburban Salt Lake City resident Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton), his three wives and their seven children. Hoo, boy.

"Thief" (FX, March). Say, didn't you used to be Det. Frank Pembleton? Yes, it's "Homicide" star Andre Braugher. But now he's on the wrong side of the law, heading the ensemble cast of a crime drama that follows the lives of a team of professional thieves whose latest high-stakes heist is headed for big trouble.

"Huff" (Showtime, spring). The tormented life of a Los Angeles psychiatrist (Hank Azaria) and his eccentric, loving family is at the heart of this darkly comic, Emmy Award-winning drama, which begins a second season.

Although the sale of Bober's is no surprise, it is yet another independent store to be forced out of business by a national chain. The same thing has happened elsewhere on Grand Avenue (and everywhere in the US), most notably, and regrettably, to the Hungry Mind/Ruminator bookstore.

The demise of an independent business is not simply the loss of a place to buy things. It is the loss of personalized, informed and caring service, almost universally absent in chain stores. It is the loss of the independent spirit, hard work and support of community projects characteristic of most small business owners. It is sad.

Bober on Grand sells to CVS

BY LAURA YUEN
Pioneer Press

The owner of Bober Pharmacy & Gift, a store fastened to St. Paul's trendy Grand Avenue for more than 40 years, has decided to sell the shop to the CVS national drugstore chain.

For an undisclosed sum, business owner Ron Johnson will hand over all of the store's customer records and pharmaceuticals, sell the building and promise to shutter the shop in time for CVS' scheduled opening across the street, Johnson said Wednesday.

In fact, Bober will close Jan. 28, one day before the new store opens, he said.

Community members for months had predicted such an outcome, though they had rooted for the popular Bober to stay open to help preserve the balance in favor of independent businesses along the changing avenue. To many observers, CVS' decision to move directly across the street from Johnson's shop symbolized the brazen encroachment of so-called "formula businesses" on the signature street.

"If they take just half of our business, they put us out of business," Johnson said, referring to the small margins on which the store operates. "If they cut that down, there's no way we could possibly make a profit."

The time to leave might be right, said Johnson, who has seen his property's taxes triple over the past five years. The owner of four additional drugstores in Minnesota would not disclose the amount CVS agreed to pay, other than to say that the price was "more than fair."

"They're not trying to put us out of business and say, 'Tough luck, we're here and we're going to kill you,' " said Johnson, who bought the store from its previous owner in the early 1980s, when the renaissance of Grand Avenue still was relatively new.

To counter the proliferation of formula businesses, the neighborhood's Summit Hill Association drew up a plan that sought to limit chain businesses on Grand Avenue. The Planning Commission approved a modified plan that toned down the language targeting formula businesses.

Instead of restricting types of businesses, the commission advocated taking on a "more supportive role" for small businesses, said city planner Yang Zhang. The City Council could review the new plan and hold a public hearing on the issue as early as next month. In September, the City Council passed a yearlong building moratorium in response to neighborhood concern over massive projects on Grand.

As part of the agreement with Bober, CVS will interview all of the store's 35 employees to fill the new positions across the street, Johnson said. Company officials also told Johnson, at his urging, that they would continue Bober's tradition of delivering medications to its clients.

"We said, 'If you're going to take over the business, you should do it the way we did,' " Johnson said.

A spokesman for Rhode Island-based CVS could not be reached Wednesday afternoon. The new store will sit on the first floor of the new Oxford Hill Condominiums building.

It is no surprise that Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Tice was fired (AP story below.) It is time to clean house.

But I don't understand the reason for owner Zygi Wilf announcing the decision today. Tice should at least have been given the courtesy of time to savor today's victory over the Bears and to prepare for what he must have known was inevitable. The announcement could have waited until tomorrow — there was no great urgency.

Wilf's timing was totally classless. It gives me even more reason to doubt that he is a good owner for the Vikings than I had when his interest in becoming the new owner of the team was first announced.

(Ed.) Tice is right now appearing, as he has every Sunday during the season, on the KSTP Sports Wrap show. Nobody would have faulted him for canceling after what happened today. But he kept his committment. Now that's class.)

I had an "I told you so" moment when former owner Red McCombs showed his true colors, which I suspected from the beginning. I had such a moment when Reggie Fowler's ownership bid for the team fell apart, which I predicted the day he announced his interest in buying the team. Will I have such a moment about Wilf somewhere down the road? Hopefully not, but I'm not optimistic after today.

AP Updated: 8:56 p.m. ET Jan. 1, 2006

MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota Vikings fired coach Mike Tice after Sunday’s victory over Chicago.

Owner Zygi Wilf announced he would not renew Tice’s contract in a statement less than an hour after the Vikings’ 34-10 win over the Bears in the regular season finale. Tice, who finished his fourth full season with a 32-32 overall record, had already addressed the media before the move was made public. The announcement came via press release after most players had left the Metrodome.

“I don’t know who was more shaken by it, him or me,” Tice said of what he called an emotional meeting with Wilf.

The timing of the move and the means by which it was delivered stunned the few players still at the Dome.

“It’s the owner’s decision,” said quarterback Brad Johnson, as he left the stadium with his family. “It’s a tough business, and I appreciate Mike and the way he treated me and the way he treated the team. I wish him greatness.”

Tice’s tenure was mostly marked by streaks and scandals, with a $100,000 fine levied last summer against him by the league for scalping his Super Bowl tickets, and a wild boat party during the team’s bye week this season that produced misdemeanor charges against four players.

After starting 2-5, the Vikings won six straight before losing two in a row to fall out of contention for the playoffs.

“After significant evaluation, we feel that now is the time to make a coaching change,” Wilf said in the statement.

The owner was gone when the statement was issued to media in the locker room and he scheduled a news conference for Monday.

Pro Bowl kick returner Koren Robinson had to compose himself before commenting, managing a “Whoa, that’s crazy,” while he read the statement at his locker.

“In the locker room? Right after a game you just won?” Robinson said. “Give the man respect enough to wait until Monday to enjoy the win, at least.”

Pro Bowl safety Darren Sharper crumpled up the release and threw it on the floor before declining comment and running back Mewelde Moore also tersely declined to comment.

Wilf said previously that Tice’s job status would be discussed at the team’s headquarters on Monday, but shortly before 7 p.m. CDT, the release was issued.

When asked about his mind-set after Minnesota’s 34-10 victory over the Bears, Tice said the situation weighed on him as he contemplated 13 years with the organization. He progressed from a tight end in 1992 to offensive line coach to head coach.

“Of course it did, I’m a human being, a man,” Tice said. “I’ve been here since ’92 ... I’ve poured a lot of energy into this program.”