World Most Powerful People

SINGAPORE - NOVEMBER 15: China's President Hu Jintao attends the declaration ceremony at the end of the APEC Summit on November 15, 2009, in Singapore. The 2 day APEC CEO Summit, part of APEC Leaders Week, had brought together over 800 of the world's top business leaders and 15 world leaders in Singapore to address key global trade and economic issues. 

Official portrait of President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 13, 2009. (Photo by Pete Souza)

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud awaits the arrival of Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah for an emergency summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh on January 15, 2009. Leaders of the six oil-rich monarchies of the Gulf are expected to paper over differences on the Gaza crisis in Riyadh this evening after Saudi Arabia called an emergency summit, while neighbouring rival Qatar is still trying to organise an Arab summit on the same issue. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, seen during a meeting with the leadership of the United Russia party at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow in Moscow, Saturday, Oct., 2, 2010. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti,Alexei Druzhinin, Pool)

Pope Benedict XVI greets the crowd after he presided over a Mass at Westminster Cathedral in central London, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010. Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday he was ashamed of the "unspeakable" sexual abuse of children by priests, telling the British faithful during Mass in Westminster Cathedral that he was deeply sorry and hoped the church's humiliation would help victims heal. Benedict also said he hoped the church would be able to use its contrition to purify itself from the "sins" of its ministers and be able to renew its commitment to educating the young. (AP Photo/Matt Cardy, Pool)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel smiles during an European Council summit on September 16, 2010 in Brussels. Europe heads for a fireball summit with France furious over attacks on its expulsion of Roma Gypsies and trouble brewing over how to prevent a repeat of the Greek debt crisis. AFP PHOTO / ERIC FEFERBERG (Photo credit should read ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images)

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron leaves 10 Downing Street, his official residence, in London, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010. Cameron is scheduled to outline the details of cuts likely to total as much as 3 billion pounds ($4.8 billion) from the defense ministry's annual budget of about 37 billion pounds ($59 billion). Britain will lose thousands of troops, build new aircraft carriers without new fighter jets and delay a multibillion-pound upgrade to its nuclear deterrent under sweeping defense cuts being announced Tuesday following the first major military review in more than a decade. (AP Photo/Akira Suemori)

WASHINGTON - SEPTEMBER 30: Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke waits for the beginning of a hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee September 30, 2010 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The hearing was to focus on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Ben Bernanke

Sonia Gandhi
India

Bill Gates, co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, listens during an interview at Roosevelt House in New York, U.S., on Monday, Jan. 31, 2011. Gates, chairman and co-founder of Microsoft Corp., called for urgent donations to stop the spread of polio and make it the first infectious disease 

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World's Richest Man -Forbes List

This year's list broke records in size (1,210 billionaires) and total net worth ($4.5 trillion). China doubled its number of 10-figure fortunes, and Moscow now has more billionaires than any other city. Mexico's Carlos Slim widened his lead at No. 1.

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Stop using Microsoft's IE6 web browser, says Microsoft

Microsoft has launched a website campaigning for people to stop browsing the web with its 10-year-old Internet Explorer 6 browser. In a highly unusual move, the company has said it would like IE6 to be used by fewer than one per cent of the world’s web browsers.

The new countdown site - www.theie6countdown.com – is “designed to monitor progress of moving worldwide market share of Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) to less than 1%”, Microsoft said in a statement. “Currently one in four Internet Explorer users continue to use IE6, a browser which lacks modern web standards and provides an unsatisfactory user experience,” said the company.

Microsoft has attracted substantial criticism for the number of security loopholes in IE6, which continues to be used by many large companies around the world because software often will not run on more up to date versions of the browsers. Although just 3.5 per cent of Britons use IE6, in China 34.5 per cent of web users are on the old browser. Only Norway and Finland already have fewer than one per cent of users on IE6.

Microsoft is urging visitors to the site to display a countdown banner on any websites they might be connected to, and also to “educate others” about IE6’s flaws.

Microsoft is preparing to launching IE9, and says that the aim of its new site is to persuade people to upgrade at least to IE8 or IE9 which, it says, “promises to be highly focused on modern standards”. Other web browsers, however, have reported rapid growth; Google's Chrome, for instance, is currently the world's fastest growing web browser, and not all consumers currently using IE6 are likely to stay with Microsoft.

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Twitter fast-tracked Charlie Sheen account

Twitter fast-tracked a verified account for Charlie Sheen so that he could continue his bizarre publicty campaign online, it has emerged.

Charlie Sheen and Bree Olsen in Sheen's first tweetpic

The troubled actor's verified account, @charliesheen, appeared on the social network on Tuesday, and has already attracted almost 1.2 million followers. He took over the account from a squatter, after a series of defiant TV and radio interviews in which he denied addiction problems.

Ad.ly, a firm that specialises in celebrity endorsements on Twitter, said it acted as a broker between Mr Sheen and the social network.

"Based on trusted relationships with our executives, Charlie's management team reached out to us," a spokeswoman told GQ.

"Right off the bat, we realised that Charlie's voice has no contemporary. We knew he had one speed: go."

Twitter no longer normally verifies whether celebrity accounts are genuine, after it was overwhelmed with requests. Ad.ly said executives were willing to make an exception for @charliesheen, however, as his public meltdown in recent weeks has become one of the most talked-about stories in the US.

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WikiLeaks, Net nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

(Credit: Nobelprize.org)

WikiLeaks and the Internet are among the 241 nominees for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel nomination comes as Julian Assange, the spokesman for the secret-sharing site, is facing possible extradition to Sweden on sex-related charges, and a criminal probe on likely espionage charges is underway in the Washington, D.C., area.

Nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize may come from any professor of "social sciences, history, philosophy, law and theology," in addition to national governments and former Nobel Peace Prize recipients, under the rules of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Previous Nobel Peace Prize winners have included Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, the United Nations and Kofi Annan, Al Gore, Desmond Tutu, and Henry Kissinger. They're awarded by a committee composed of current and former Norwegian government officials.

The committee doesn't announce nominees, but individuals who have submitted suggestions are free to disclose them.

"Looking at the long term, we can say interest in the prize is strong and growing along with the number of candidates," Geir Lundestad, a non-voting member of the Nobel panel, told Reuters. The winners will be announced in October.

One reason the Internet may have been nominated is the role it played in catalyzing revolts in Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt. Activists coordinated protests using Facebook and instant messaging services, and filed dispatches with YouTube and Twitter, leading to a complete disconnect in Egypt and severe disruptions in Libya.

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Abhi-Ash, Mallika dazzle on Oscar red carpet

Bollywood star couple Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, along with Mallika Sherawat, dazzled in their finery at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards red carpet here. 

Abhishek and Aishwarya got a chance invite to the prestigious event, where Hollywood's Who's Who gathers to celebrate international cinema. The duo was holidaying in Los Angeles and were not at all prepared to attend such a high-profile event at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood Sunday night.

However, last minute help from their designer friends helped them put their best foot forward at the red carpet.

Aishwarya sparkled in an off-shoulder Armani Prive bronze gown and kept her look minimalistic with just a pair of dangling earrings and hair on one side of the shoulder. Abhishek looked dapper in a traditional, formal black tuxedo.

Mallika, one of the most talked about Bollywood glamour girls, flaunted a sequinned white gown, with a daring front slit and a plunging neckline - just as she likes it always!

Among other Indians at the Oscars this year were composer A.R. Rahman, who was nominated in two categories - best original score and best original song - for his work in Danny Boyle's " 127 Hours". However, he lost out on both the titles.

Nevertheless, Rahman wore a charcoal Corneliani suit and a blue tie to the red carpet, and took a proud walk with his wife Saira Banu, who chose a beige Indo-western ensemble with a golden Judith Lieber clutch. 

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The morning after: Colin Firth can't wipe the smile off his face while unlucky co-star Helena Bonham Carter keeps her spirits up

Yesterday they were both keeping their fingers crossed ahead of the Academy Awards.

But The King's Speech stars, Colin Firth and Helena Bohnam Carter cut two very different figures today, following the big ceremony. 

Best Actor winner Colin could barely wipe the grin off his face as he left a post-Oscars interview with Oprah Winfrey, beaming.

Man about town: Oscar winner Colin Firth couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he left an interview with Oprah Winfrey in California this morning

The 50-year-old looked dashing in a slim line black suit with black shirt.

Across town, his female co-star Helena on the other-hand looked downcast as she accompanied her mother to LAX airport. 

After losing out to Melissa Leo in the best actress category, the 44-year-old was clearly ready to go home.

Unable to force a smile, he British actress walked through the terminal hiding her face with a pair  sunglasses.

Perhaps she was a feeling a little bit tender - after all, she and her co-stars had been up until the early hours celebrating their best picture Oscar.

Co-stars crushed: While Colin was basking in Oscar glory his co-stars Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush looked down at LAX airport

Helena did, however, keep her usual eccentric ensemble consistent with a floral dress, black coat and military boots.

The actress could may well commiserate with her co-star Geoffrey Rush, who was also spotted at LAX.

The 44-year old also lost out on a statuette in the best supporting actor category.

Home time? Actress Dame Helen Mirren was also spotted at LAX

The Australian actor looked non-to-impressed being snapped at security, where he was forced to take off his flat cap covering his bald head.

Singing to a more happier tune was Oscar presenter Dame Helen Mirren, who was also jetting out of sunny Los Angeles.

The 65-year-old dressed comfortably for her flight in a casual skirt, white t-shirt and cosy cardigan.

Family time: A dressed down Reese Witherspoon took her two children Deacon and Ava out shopping with new fiancé Jim Toth

After her stunning appearance on the red-carpet, a slimline actress and singer Jennifer Hudson spent her post-Oscar day slipping back into her motherly duties, as she took her one-year-old son David Daniel Otunga Jr out for a stroll.

Out and about in Beverly Hills the 29-year-old was beaming under the warm Californian sun.

As too was Reese Witherspoon, who also spent the day out with her family.

The actress took daughter Ava, 11 and Deacon, 7, out shopping, along with her fiancé Jim Toth to a kids store in Brentwood. 

Motherly duties: Halle Berry took daughter Nahla shopping at Toys R Us while singer Jennifer Hudson took her son David Daniel Otunga Jr out for a stroll in Beverly Hills

And Reese wasn't the only one spoiling her kids.

Halle Berry also had fun splurging on her two-year-old daughter, Nahla.

The 44-year-old was spotted leaving Toys R Us with a cartful of toys as her adorable daughter happily looked on.

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Posted in: Entertainment,Movies,People

My dream has come true: Mahesh Babu

We got news that will elate all Tamil and Telugu film goers. The super hot Mahesh Babu will be teaming up with one of the best directors of this time and age. 

Mahesh Babu had been wishing for an opportunity to work with Mani Ratnam and his wish has finally come true. Breaking this news to his fans via his micro-blog Mahesh Babu said, "My dream is coming true finally. I will be working in a Mani Ratnam film. This is one of the happiest days of my life."

The Prince of Tollywood met Mani on Sunday morning to discuss the film and other details and he's been on a high ever since. And why not? He has exciting projects ahead.

The heartthrob is currently shooting for Dookudu in Hyderabad's Chiran Fort palace. The film is directed by Sreenu Vaitla and has Samanta in the female lead.

About his project with Mani Ratnam, though Mahesh Babu hasn't revealed anything about the film and role he would be donning, buzz is that the film will be a period drama Ponniyin Selvam. This is the same film that Mani Ratnam has been ambitious about and will also star superstars Vijay and Vikram.

Contrastingly, industry insiders are also of the opinion that Mani has signed Mahesh for a completely different film which will be shot in Europe. Now only time will unravel what the project is all about. For now, we wish Mahesh congratulations for signing the film with Mani. 

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SocialEyes launches weird social videophone

Rob Glaser, the founder of Real Networks, is launching SocialEyes at the Demo conference today. It's a new video calling service that blends Skype and FaceTime features with Facebook's social graph. While on the surface, it appears like just another video calling service, its social architecture is unique.

Glaser says, "This is not Skype or YouTube or Facebook." So I asked him, "What is it?" Oddly, he shrugged and said, "We're going to find out." Normally I'd say that not knowing how your product is going to be adopted is negative indicator of future success, but in this case I'm not so sure.

SocialEyes CEO Robert Williams gives a more compelling pitch. He says that video products haven't kept pace with the way people communicate. They don't take advantage of either the rich social network that most people have through Facebook, nor an emerging semi-persistent communication style that people use in loose, contractor-heavy workgroups (some people, anyway).

SocialEyes combines person-to-person video chat with an easy way to make a conversation multi-person. It also blends real-time video chat with store-and-forward video messages

In SocialEyes, you get, by default, a six-pane video chat window. The upper-left pane is you. The other five panes are the people you connected to by video. From the six-pane window, you can talk to anyone or any collection of people of at once, mute individuals or groups, or record messages to send out. Where SocialEyes gets weird and interesting -- if I understood the demo correctly -- is that it gives each user the capability to connect together people he or she is connected to, who might not already be connected to each other. If I'm talking to person A and person B, for example, and they're not friends of each other other SocialEyes, I can connect them together, if I am communicating with them both at once. SocialEyes thus brings friend-of-a-friend networking to video chat. In a work setting, this is a powerful concept. In a social setting, I don't see the utility, but it could make for either silly party-line conversations or weird matchmaking conversations.

Everyone you're connected to on the system has this same capability, which can lead to an extraordinarily complex Web of video connections. But while the table of who's connected to whom is kept on the SocialEyes servers, the actual video connections are point-to-point, using capabilities built in to Flash 10. Flash video makes this app technologically feasible; it probably wouldn't be if SocialEyes had to process each video stream.

The SocialEyes social network is also pre-built: It relies on Facebook. Glaser said he did this specifically to keep the service from devolving into anonymous Chatroulete-like silliness; it also means new users don't have to work as hard to get their network up and running.

The service's unique capabilities give rise to new social gestures. For example, if you have someone muted on SocialEyes -- you can see them but not hear them -- but then they want to talk to you, they have to "knock" to request an unmute; this is after you've already "called" and connected to a user. (Glaser says a full audio/video mute, or "pause," is also built into the system, but people rarely use it.)

The service does have a few checkmark features that seem pointless, though: You can "collect" locations of people you connect to, and there's a game-y way to score "Karma points" by using it. You can also share online video streams with anyone you're connected to, which seems a bit less off-target, but is probably a free feature for SocialEyes given its Flash-based foundation.

The planned mobile app will obviously have to use technology other than Flash. But Glaser is enthusiastic about a front-facing camera coming to the next iPad; he thinks his multi-pane video window will work great on tablets. Smaller smarthphones, he says, "will be first-class citizens even if they don't get all the group features."

SocialEyes really is a different way of looking at video chat and conferencing. It's so different that its likely that people who could potentially get a lot of benefit from it won't see why they should switch from using, say Skype plus instant messenger instead. But the ideas in this product deserve attention.

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Posted in: People,Technology

Winners of Academy Award 2011

Actor in a Leading Role

• Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
• Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
• Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
• Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
• James Franco in “127 Hours”

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
• John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
• Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

Actress in a Leading Role

• Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
• Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
• Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
• Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
• Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
• Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
• Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
• Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Animated Feature Film

• “How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
• “The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
• “Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

Art Direction

• “Alice in Wonderland”
  Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
  Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
• “Inception” 
  Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
• “The King's Speech” 
  Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
• “True Grit” 
  Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Cinematography

• “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
• “Inception” Wally Pfister
• “The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
• “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
• “True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design

• “Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
• “I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
• “The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
• “The Tempest” Sandy Powell
• “True Grit” Mary Zophres

Directing

• “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
• “The Fighter” David O. Russell
• “The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
• “The Social Network” David Fincher
• “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Documentary (Feature)

• “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
• “Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
• “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
• “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
• “Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)

• “Killing in the Name” Jed Rothstein
• “Poster Girl” Sara Nesson and Mitchell W. Block
• “Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
• “Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
• “The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing

• “Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
• “The Fighter” Pamela Martin
• “The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
• “127 Hours” Jon Harris
• “The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Foreign Language Film

• “Biutiful” Mexico
• “Dogtooth” Greece
• “In a Better World” Denmark
• “Incendies” Canada
• “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup

• “Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
• “The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
• “The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)

• “How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
• “Inception” Hans Zimmer
• “The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
• “127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
• “The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)

• “Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
• “I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
• “If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
• “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Picture

• “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
• “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
• “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
• “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
• “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
• “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
• “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
• “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
• “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

• “Day & Night” Teddy Newton
• “The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
• “Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
• “The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
• “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action)

• “The Confession” Tanel Toom
• “The Crush” Michael Creagh
• “God of Love” Luke Matheny
• “Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
• “Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing

• “Inception” Richard King
• “Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
• “Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
• “True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
• “Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing

• “Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
• “The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
• “Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
• “The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
• “True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects

• “Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
• “Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell
• “Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
• “Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• “127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
• “The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
• “Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
• “True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• “Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• “Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
• “The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
  Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
• “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
• “The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
• “The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

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