Oscar

Elton John-Billy Joel concert to be first at D.C.'s Nationals Park Elton John and Billy Joel will perform together this summer at Nationals Park, the stadium's first music concert since opening last year. "Undoubtedly [the Face to Face Tour] will be a remarkable inaugural evening of music out under the stars, showcasing the ballpark's capabilities as a premier summer concert venue," Washington Nationals President Stan Kasten said in a statement. The concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. July 11. Tickets, from $56 to $182, go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday.

HOLLYWOOD - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave Kate Winslet half her wish, nominating her for best actress for her indelible performance as a one-time concentration-camp guard in The Reader, but skipping over her other acclaimed performance, as a suffering suburban housewife in Revolutionary Road, a film directed by her husband, Sam Mendes. Winslet apparently had hoped to avoid having her two performances go mano a mano by expressing her wish (via the studios' campaigns)

Hoping to latch on to the buzz surrounding former Vice President Al Gore's double dose of Oscar, the Annapolis and Anne Arundel Chamber of Commerce said yesterday that the Gore eco-friendly train will stop in Baltimore. Gore, whose documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, took home Oscars on Sunday night for Best Documentary and Best Song, will give a 90-minute speech May 8 on the effects of global warming -- the topic that has turned him into a hip wonk. "We snared him a good while ago and it just happened that he got the Nobel Peace Prize nomination and Oscar wins, so that was pretty cool," said Anne Joyner, who handles special projects for the Chamber of Commerce.

The mounting tension. The unexpected disaster. The potential for an over-the-top spectacle. The strutting stars. The chance to decide who's a winner and who's a loser. It's a night of pure drama, of sublime comedy, a roller-coaster ride of the powerful raised high and brought low.We're talking Oscar Night, of course. But not the Academy Awards. Let's face it: After they announce the half-dozen Big Ones, who cares about the winners of the Best Lighting or Best Sound-Effects Editing Awards?

Judi Dench was almost apologetic after receiving her Best Supporting Actress award for her imperious take on Queen Elizabeth in "Shakespeare In Love."Noting that she was only on camera for about eight minutes, Dame Judi said, "That's why I didn't reckon that I would be standing here with this...I certainly thought it would go to somebody who had the full length of the film."Asked if she saw similarities between her take on Elizabeth and her acclaimed performance as Queen Victoria in last year's "Mrs.

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Steven Spielberg could be overheard telling friends it didn't really bother him, but his "Saving Private Ryan" losing out to "Shakespeare in Love" in the best picture race kept the celebration a little muted at Monday night's Dreamworks/ Paramount post-Oscar bash.The gathering at Barnaby's near Beverly Hills was far from funereal: Spielberg got to hold court with his best director Oscar, and a host of other statuettes could be seen accompanying their tuxedo-clad new owners.

Tonight is Oscar night, and a few pressing questions will finally be answered: Who will be named Best Actress? Will "Saving Private Ryan" beat "Shakespeare in Love" for best picture? What will Whoopi wear?Winning an Academy Award is great, but Hollywood's biggest night is really an excuse for the average American to repeatedly scream at the television: "What the heck does she have on?!"Fashion has become so much a part of the Oscars and other award shows that it has spawned a new sartorial necessity: the celebrity stylist.

It's hard to deny that Elia Kazan is one of the country's greatest living filmmakers, with a resume that includes "A Streetcar Named Desire," "On the Waterfront," "Splendor in the Grass" and "East of Eden.'But it's just as hard to deny that Kazan's naming of names during the great red hunt of the 1950s damaged several careers and helped legitimize a process that would destroy dozens more. Of the seven actors he named before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) -- Lewis Leverett, J. Edward Bromberg, Phoebe Brand, Morris Carnovsky, Tony Kraber, Paula Miller and Art Smith -- not one had a career that amounted to more than a minor footnote in stage and movie history.

NEW YORK -- Perhaps it's time for Geoffrey Rush's second lightning strike.The droll Australian actor, 47, labored on the stage in relative obscurity for more than 25 years, then became an ``overnight sensation'' with his Oscar-winning, tour de force portrayal of mad/brilliant pianist David Helfgott in 1996's ``Shine.''``A film about a troubled pianist from Perth,'' Rush ruefully describes the movie that made him a hot property in international filmmaking circles. ``I mean, you try to pitch that one.''It certainly wasn't the kind of premise that might have attracted Hollywood A-list talents (such as Rush's one-time college roommate Mel Gibson)

"Titanic," James Cameron's $200 million epic about the 1912 sea disaster, tied "Ben-Hur" for the most Oscars in history, winning 11 at last night's 70th annual Academy Awards ceremony.The blockbuster, which just last summer was rumored to be a flop in the making, won the Oscar for best picture as well as awards for: costumes, sound, sound effects editing, visual effects, original dramatic score, film editing, original song, cinematography, art direction and direction.Its 14 nominations had tied the record set by the 1950 film "All About Eve."

What's black and white and red all over? At the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel last weekend, that would've been the "2009 Heart Ball," the 25th annual fundraising gala for the American Heart Association Mid-Atlantic Affiliate. Its 600 guests were encouraged to add some red to their black-tie attire - a suggestion most took to heart. Event chair Ken Banks greeted folks decked out in a tux and jaunty red patterned bow tie. Interior designer Carolyn Ross looked positively divine in a ruby goddess gown, while her husband, Samuel Ross, the chief executive officer of Bon Secours of Maryland, sported a splash of red over his heart with a pocket square tucked in his tux. "I've got red studs going down the front ... red cuff links.

Elton John-Billy Joel concert to be first at D.C.'s Nationals Park Elton John and Billy Joel will perform together this summer at Nationals Park, the stadium's first music concert since opening last year. "Undoubtedly [the Face to Face Tour] will be a remarkable inaugural evening of music out under the stars, showcasing the ballpark's capabilities as a premier summer concert venue," Washington Nationals President Stan Kasten said in a statement. The concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. July 11. Tickets, from $56 to $182, go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday.

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Slumdog Millionaire, a joyous story of enduring love and unexpected riches among the lower castes of India, took home the Oscar for best picture at last night's 81st annual Academy Awards, capping an unlikely awards season for a movie that barely got released in this country. The movie, which was picked up at the last minute by Fox Searchlight Pictures, dominated the awards, winning eight of the nine categories in which it was nominated (its only loss came in the sound editing category)

Inside * Help wanted: awards show host. Why the once-splashy job is one no one wants. Page 3. * Sun movie critic Michael Sragow picks his favorites for the big night. Page 5. And online * The Oscars aren't the only awards show this weekend. Read about the winners - and losers - of the Spirit Awards and the Razzies at baltimoresun.com/ movies * Sun TV critic David Zurawik reviews the Oscar telecasts' top moments as they happen Sunday night on his blog, baltimoresun.com/ zontv * Follow our instant Oscar updates and observations at twitter.

HOLLYWOOD - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave Kate Winslet half her wish, nominating her for best actress for her indelible performance as a one-time concentration-camp guard in The Reader, but skipping over her other acclaimed performance, as a suffering suburban housewife in Revolutionary Road, a film directed by her husband, Sam Mendes. Winslet apparently had hoped to avoid having her two performances go mano a mano by expressing her wish (via the studios' campaigns)

On December 28, 2008, OSCAR SELLERS, SR. Friends may call at THE CHATMAN-HARRIS FUNERAL HOME, 5240 Reisterstown Rd., Wednesday 1 to 6 P.M. The family will receive friends Friday 11 A.M., at the New St. Mark Baptist Church, 3905 Springdale Avenue. Funeral services will begin at 11:30 A.M. Interment Lorraine Park Cemetery.

WILLIAM GIBSON, 94 'Miracle Worker' playwright William Gibson, a playwright who had a gift for creating strong, popular female characters and wrote The Miracle Worker, died Tuesday in Stockbridge, Mass. First written for television, The Miracle Worker, which portrayed the relationship between the young blind and deaf Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan, was adapted for Broadway in 1959 and won the 1960 Tony Award for best play. Nearly half a century later, it is still performed at regional theaters around the country.

Alex Gibney's film on the abusive treatment of Iraqi and Afghan prisoners, Taxi to the Dark Side, won the Oscar for best documentary feature of 2007. His earlier film, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, was also nominated for an Oscar. He was in town over the weekend for the Maryland Film Festival showing his new film, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. We caught up with him. How do you manage to go from Enron to Guantanamo to Hunter Thompson? Is there a thread there that connects all of those?

No Country for Old Men, the most accomplished and exciting of the best picture nominees, deservedly took home the top prize for putting the moral maelstrom of 1980 America into tough, thrilling Western form. But the 80th annual Academy Awards registered like a ceremony in transition. It was a night when risk-taking auteurs, virtuoso craftsmanship and cultural confusion bumped together with erratic results. Although Hollywood and critics have been proudly proclaiming the embrace of difficult movies, the crowd-pleasing The Bourne Ultimatum was the only film that won every prize for which it was nominated.

Television: The 80th Annual Academy Awards airs at 8:30 tonight on WMAR, Channel 2