Oscar Open Thread

81st Academy Awards

Open Thread. Enjoy.

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3rd Annual GNB Oscar Contest

81st Academy Awards
Sunday, February 22, 2009
LIVE 5 PT/8 ET ABC

GNB Contest Rules:

1. Submit your picks to jwe.sea@gmail.com by Sunday 2/22 @ 3 PT/6 ET.
2. Only email entries count. Comment entries don't count (although we invite you to repost your email entry in comments if you wish.)
3. You may only enter once. No making corrections once you've entered. People who submit a second entry or a correction are automatically disqualified. (If you can't follow the rules...)
4. The person who predicts the most Oscars, wins the contest.
5. Tie-breaker: Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay. In that order. And if two of you have ALL of those, well, damn! Then both of you win (even if we have to give one of you a different book.)

The contest winner gets a copy of The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards. If you win, you'll need to provide us with a valid name, shipping address, telephone number, and email address, to receive the book.

We will announce the winner -- their real or GNB name -- within a week.

Good luck everyone.

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor" (Overture Films)
• Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon" (Universal)
• Sean Penn in "Milk" (Focus Features)
• Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
• Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

• Josh Brolin in "Milk" (Focus Features)
• Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder" (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt" (Miramax)
• Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)
• Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

• Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married" (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Angelina Jolie in "Changeling" (Universal)
• Melissa Leo in "Frozen River" (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Meryl Streep in "Doubt" (Miramax)
• Kate Winslet in "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Amy Adams in "Doubt" (Miramax)
• Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (The Weinstein Company)
• Viola Davis in "Doubt" (Miramax)
• Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
• Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler" (Fox Searchlight)

Best animated feature film of the year

• "Bolt" (Walt Disney)

  Chris Williams and Byron Howard

• "Kung Fu Panda" (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount)

  John Stevenson and Mark Osborne

• "WALL-E" (Walt Disney)

  Andrew Stanton

Achievement in art direction

• "Changeling" (Universal)

  Art Direction: James J. Murakami Set Decoration: Gary Fettis

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo

• "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

  Art Direction: Nathan Crowley Set Decoration: Peter Lando

• "The Duchess" (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films)

  Art Direction: Michael Carlin Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway

• "Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

  Art Direction: Kristi Zea Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

Achievement in cinematography

• "Changeling" (Universal)

  Tom Stern

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Claudio Miranda

• "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

  Wally Pfister

• "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)

  Chris Menges and Roger Deakins

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Anthony Dod Mantle

Achievement in costume design

• "Australia" (20th Century Fox)

  Catherine Martin

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Jacqueline West

• "The Duchess" (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films)

  Michael O'Connor

• "Milk" (Focus Features)

  Danny Glicker

• "Revolutionary Road" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

  Albert Wolsky

Achievement in directing

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  David Fincher

• "Frost/Nixon" (Universal)

  Ron Howard

• "Milk" (Focus Features)

  Gus Van Sant

• "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)

  Stephen Daldry

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Danny Boyle

Best documentary feature

• "The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)" (Cinema Guild) A Pandinlao Films Production

  Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath

• "Encounters at the End of the World" (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment) A Creative Differences Production

  Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser

• "The Garden" A Black Valley Films Production

  Scott Hamilton Kennedy

• "Man on Wire" (Magnolia Pictures) A Wall to Wall Production

  James Marsh and Simon Chinn

• "Trouble the Water" (Zeitgeist Films) An Elsewhere Films Production

  Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Best documentary short subject

• "The Conscience of Nhem En" A Farallon Films Production

  Steven Okazaki

• "The Final Inch" A Vermilion Films Production

  Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant

• "Smile Pinki" A Principe Production

  Megan Mylan

• "The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306" A Rock Paper Scissors Production

  Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

Achievement in film editing

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

• "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

  Lee Smith

• "Frost/Nixon" (Universal)

  Mike Hill and Dan Hanley

• "Milk" (Focus Features)

  Elliot Graham

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Chris Dickens

Best foreign language film of the year

• "The Baader Meinhof Complex" A Constantin Film Production - Germany
• "The Class" (Sony Pictures Classics) A Haut et Court Production - France
• "Departures" (Regent Releasing) A Departures Film Partners Production - Japan
• "Revanche" (Janus Films) A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production - Austria
• "Waltz with Bashir" (Sony Pictures Classics) A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production - Israel

Achievement in makeup

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Greg Cannom

• "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

  John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan

• "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (Universal)

  Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Alexandre Desplat

• "Defiance" (Paramount Vantage)

  James Newton Howard

• "Milk" (Focus Features)

  Danny Elfman

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  A.R. Rahman

• "WALL-E" (Walt Disney)

  Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

• "Down to Earth" from "WALL-E" (Walt Disney)

  Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman Lyric by Peter Gabriel

• "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Gulzar

• "O Saya" from "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

Best motion picture of the year

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.) A Kennedy/Marshall Production

  Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers

• "Frost/Nixon" (Universal) A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production

  Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers

• "Milk" (Focus Features) A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production

  Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers

• "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company) A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production

  Nominees to be determined

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) A Celador Films Production

  Christian Colson, Producer

Best animated short film

• "La Maison en Petits Cubes" A Robot Communications Production

  Kunio Kato

• "Lavatory - Lovestory" A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production

  Konstantin Bronzit

• "Oktapodi" (Talantis Films) A Gobelins, L'école de l'image Production

  Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand

• "Presto" (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production

  Doug Sweetland

• "This Way Up" A Nexus Production

  Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

Best live action short film

• "Auf der Strecke (On the Line)" (Hamburg Shortfilmagency) An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production

  Reto Caffi

• "Manon on the Asphalt" (La Luna Productions) A La Luna Production

  Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont

• "New Boy" (Network Ireland Television) A Zanzibar Films Production

  Steph Green and Tamara Anghie

• "The Pig" An M & M Production

  Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh

• "Spielzeugland (Toyland)" A Mephisto Film Production

  Jochen Alexander Freydank

Achievement in sound editing

• "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

  Richard King

• "Iron Man" (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment)

  Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Tom Sayers

• "WALL-E" (Walt Disney)

  Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood

• "Wanted" (Universal)

  Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten

• "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

  Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty

• "WALL-E" (Walt Disney)

  Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt

• "Wanted" (Universal)

  Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Achievement in visual effects

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron

• "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

  Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin

• "Iron Man" (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment)

  John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

Adapted screenplay

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

  Screenplay by Eric Roth Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord

• "Doubt" (Miramax)

  Written by John Patrick Shanley

• "Frost/Nixon" (Universal)

  Screenplay by Peter Morgan

• "The Reader" (The Weinstein Company)

  Screenplay by David Hare

• "Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight)

  Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Original screenplay

• "Frozen River" (Sony Pictures Classics)

  Written by Courtney Hunt

• "Happy-Go-Lucky" (Miramax)

  Written by Mike Leigh

• "In Bruges" (Focus Features)

  Written by Martin McDonagh

• "Milk" (Focus Features)

  Written by Dustin Lance Black

• "WALL-E" (Walt Disney)

  Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

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GNB Sushi-USB-Flash Drive Prizes Go To....

I decided to give out two sushi flash drives for your fabulous participation in our vote predictions earlier this week. One for each race. Drum roll, please.

Closest on the Kentucky Prediction... BALDHEADEDDORK (off by 6)

and the Oregon Winner is... TANBARK (off by 5)

Congratulations. Please contact me via the info here. with your preferred mailing address. And your nifty-gifty will be in the mail.

This prize brought to you by the GNB Samurai. Stay tuned for more fun and games in the months to come.
Final Results as reported on MSNBC
Oregon Obama 59 Clinton 41
Kentucky Obama 30 Clinton 65

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Winners: Weekend GNB Caption Contest

Click PHOTO to view full size or CLICK HERE to jump to Comic Strip

Questionable Content By J. Jacques, comic strip writer-artist

Last Saturday we ran a Weekend GNB Caption Contest.

Contest rules:

• Read the above cartoon. (In full size.)
  
• Come up with your own "Worst possible thing you could say."
• Submit your entry (entries) in comments.

Prizes:

• Glory, fame, and general bragging rights go to our Honorable Mention(s).
• All of the above, PLUS, a book of our choosing ships to the Winner (tie.)
  

Judges: Lower Manhattanite & Doc

Honorable Mention (in no particular order):

• I choose you, Pikachu! -- Thalia Considine
• "I'm sorry, Mommy!" -- John D.
• "Wow, my ex-gay therapy really does seem to be working" -- Kevin de Bruxelles
• I went off my meds for this?
 -- suburban refugee

Winner (Tie):

• "Go, go, Gadget Penis!" -- John D.
• "Pass the loofah, wouldya?" -- Marek

Congratulations to everyone and thanks for playing.

And if you liked the comic, make sure you get into Questionable Content -- a new strip every weekday morning. Tasty. (My favorite character is Hanners, the OCD girl. A great sequence where Hanners' mom comes to visit starts here.)

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Weekend GNB Caption Contest

Click PHOTO to view full size or CLICK HERE to jump to Comic Strip

Questionable Content By J. Jacques, comic strip writer-artist

It's a blogging weekend and we're running a Group News Blog Contest. Create a Caption based on Questionable Content Comic Number 810 (shown above.)

If the winning caption is good enough -- in GNBs' sole editorial opinion, and there are enough entries, not um, just four or five of you -- we'll send something to the winner.

Yes, an actual, physical prize.

(Not some cheap lame-ass virtual prize like we tried to pan off to the winner of our last GNB contest.)

Contest rules:

• Read the above cartoon. (In full size.)
  
• Come up with your own "Worst possible thing you could say."
• Submit your entry (entries) in comments.
• You may have as many entries as you want in one comment; just make sure there's a full white-space line between one entry and the next. (Remember to save your work as you go, because if HaloScan eats it, we're not entertaining any whining.)
  

Winner announced middle of next week.

Winner shipped an ACTUAL PHYSICAL PRIZE. Our choice of:

• a shiny babble,
• a book,
• or the package we got yesterday -- the one with the small air holes addressed to me personally (GNB Liberal Asshole In Seattle), scribbled in Red & Yellow crayon: "Personnel & Confidental -- Non-Vemonous" (sic).

I swear, it's pure coincidence we're running this contest the very next day, plus, what are the odds you're actually funny enough to win?

I'm arguing with Sara we keep the box here; what with Hubris and his onion-following monkeys, she can come down from Vancouver and we can have us some tasty bar-be-cue.

Come on GNBers... Lay it on us. Win a shiny prize.

(Anti-venom not included. All medical expenses and health care the responsibility of a failing U.S. health care system and/or the Presidential Candidate of your choice.)

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Why Should God Bless America?

Imagine If Hillary, Obama or John Did This

On September 17, the Church of God Choir of Springfield, Ohio sings beautifully as they open the Values Voter Presidential Debate in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The choir sings new words to the American classic, "God Bless America" more suited to their right-wing agenda. The lyrics are transcribed below, courtesy Right Wing Watch.

Truly, the choir's voices are beautiful... And then you hear the words. *sighs*

As TPM points out, I'm getting very very tired of writing variations of, IOKIYAR.

Really, can you imagine the shit which would have gone down if Hillary Rodham had changed even two sentences in God Bless America to point out, say, the need for national health care and stopping the war in Iraq, and had a church choir sing it? Or better, a choir of little children?

Jesus Christ, it'd be Kerry's "I voted for it before I voted against it" times 50, leading every national broadcast, hell, breaking in to national news feeds with SPECIAL REPORT "Hillary Desecrates United States: Children Forced Into Choir - Damaged For Life By Hillary" on the Big 3 Networks and "Bill Clintons's SLUT Hillary: How Long Have She Hated America?" on FOX.

The actual story -- of course -- wasn't mentioned anywhere. Well... blogs. *shrugs*

Business as usual for Republicans.


GNB Competition:

Hilliary, Obama, John; this story.

Write the breaking news headline &/or the second headline for any broadcast network. CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, ESPN, the WB (or whatever it's called now), BBC, SPIKE TV, OXYGEN, Jeopardy, Weekend Update, The Daily Show, even the 700 Club.

1. Make sure you tell us what network (even if you're sure we'll know.)
2. Write as many entries as you want in your comment; just put each on a separate line.
3. Funny is good. Too long isn't.

Have fun. Winner gets to write the SLUG (that's the top headline above the photo) for a future GNB story; the SLUG is the name which a story gets archived by.

Hat top TPM, Right Wing Watch


Why should God bless America?
She's forgotten he exists
And has turned her back
On everything that made her what she is

Why should God stand beside her
Through the night with the light from his hand?
God have mercy on America
Forgive her sin and heal our land

The courts ruled prayer out of our schools
In June of '62
Told the children "you are your own God now
So you can make the rules"
O say can you see what that choice
Has cost us to this day
America, one nation under God, has gone astray

Why should God bless America?
Shes's forgotten he exists
And has turned her back on everything
That made her what she is

Why should God stand beside her
Through the night with the light from his hand?
God have mercy on America
Forgive her sins and heal our land

In '73 the Courts said we
Could take the unborn lives
The choice is yours don't worry now
It's not a wrong, it's your right

But just because they made it law
Does not change God's command
The most that we can hope for is
God's mercy on our land

Why should God bless America?
She's forgotten he exists
And has turned her back on everything
That made her what she is

Why should God stand beside her
Through the night with the light from his hand?
God have mercy on America
Forgive her sins and heal our land

(Reading from 2nd Chronicles 7:14) If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land

God have mercy on America forgive her sins and heal our land.

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“Bang, zoom, straight to the moon!”

Google and X-Prize Foundation
Back Private Moon Landing Attempt

Damn. Now that is technological leadership.

BBC

Search giant Google is offering a $30m prize pot to private firms that land a robot rover on the Moon. The competition to send a robot craft to the Moon is being run with the X-Prize Foundation.

To claim the cash, any craft reaching the lunar surface must perform a series of tasks such as shoot video and roam for specific distances.

Firms interested in trying for the prize have until the end of 2012 to mount their Moonshot.

The top prize of $20m will be given to the private firm that soft lands a rover on the Moon which then completes a series of objectives.

These include roaming the lunar surface for at least 500m and gathering a specific set of images, video and data.

A prize of $5m will be given to the second firm that manages to reach the Moon with a rover that roams the surface and shoots some pictures.

Google said it would give bonuses of $5m if the rovers complete other objectives such as travelling further on the Moon, taking pictures of Apollo hardware, finding water-ice and surviving the freezing lunar night.

The prize is the third offered and administered by the X-Prize Foundation.

The first was run to encourage private space travel. The $10m (£4.9m) Ansari-sponsored prize was won in October 2005 when the SpaceShipOne rocket plane climbed to an altitude of 100km twice inside seven days.

In October 2006, the X-Prize Foundation created the $10m Archon X-Prize for Genomics, which will be given to the first private research group to sequence 100 human genomes in 10 days.

LA Times

Peter Diamandis, founder of the Santa Monica-based X Prize Foundation, estimates the cost of building and landing the rover at $20 million to $40 million.

He said the contest already had spurred interest from potential competitors, including a major aerospace company and Carnegie Mellon University roboticist William "Red" Whittaker.

"Our hope is that the technology coming out of this will really spark a commercial revolution that will see new types of companies and new types of robotics used to explore the moon, asteroids and beyond," said Diamandis, whose foundation also offers prizes for feats in automobile design, genomics and other fields.

Space travel has long captured the imagination of Silicon Valley. Elon Musk, a PayPal founder, has developed rockets through his company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. "The Sims" video game designer Will Wright's latest effort is "Spore," in which players evolve a species from a single-celled organism to a space-exploring civilization.

Now Google has a team working on Moon 2.0, which supporters hope will be a launching pad for exploring the solar system. Google products including Google Earth, which was recently updated with moonscape images, and YouTube will support the teams building the moon rovers, said Dylan Casey, Google's manager for the project.

"The entire team at Google is honored to participate in something that will have such a profound effect on all of humankind," Casey said.

Want to register a team?

Official Google Lunar X-Prize Moon 2.0 rules and web site.

"The Earth is too small and fragile a basket for the human race to keep all its eggs in." - Robert A. Heinlein

Bring it baby.

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Do You Know What I Mean?

(Work Safe and in a bloody New Zealand accent anyway mate.)

Contest! Can You Name That Innuendo?

This is a hard one. Come up with the most innuendos from the New Zealand commercial. The winner gets 69 GNB points (not redeemable at the Republican convention).

No cheating by looking at the list where we stole this.

No. We won't explain them to you. Or say if we've participated in... it, them, er...those activities.

Mind your own business. Or ask very nicely at YearlyKos. I'm bribeable with sushi. Feed me enough salmon-avocado-maki and I might wrap you up tight, dip you in something hot and spicy, and roll you in my mouth... if you know what I mean.

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Electrocuting Barbie

Best Science Project EVER

Young jesseratfink is a girl out of my own twisted heart.

She writes:

instructables

Barbie Doll Electric Chair Science Fair Project!

This is a science fair project that I did in middle school and completely disgusted the entire female staff of Benton Middle. The purpose of this project is to show how the electric chair works and discuss basic electricity - currents and conductivity.

This is perhaps not the most politically correct science fair project, but it definitely gets attention. And although it is more based on presentation than science, most people find it very interesting to learn how an electric chair works. :D

[She goes on...]

Step 5 Now, strap your Barbie into the chair.

You'll want to make sure she's dressed and her head has been shaved, as well! We want this to be accurate.

[More...]

Now the electric chair has been phased out for the most part. As of writing this instructable, Nebraska is the only state left that uses the electric chair as its primary means of execution. Other states still offer the chair, but prefer to use lethal injection. This is most likely the result of many botched executions. There have been several cases in which an electric chair has severely burned and bloodied the condemned. Men have withstood the one round of voltage and suffered until they died during the second. The numerous horror stories far overshadow the properly carried out executions!

A liberal! She's a liberal.

Hee hee.

What were your favorite science/school projects? Freak out anyone?

Hat tip: Boing Boing.

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Behold...The Winners!

Of The Group News Blog's Book Title Contest!

If you're just joining us, and hell, even if you were here for it but missed it,—on Sunday, I posted about the inane, and humor-deadening reality of Laura Bush and Jenna Bush's writing a children's book about a boy who doesn't like to read. The news came from the purveyor of such things, the estimable TBogg. And I could read in his post—nay, I could read/hear him sniffing, at something. That something being the distinct aroma of decomposition. Something had died. It was irony, and I could smell it too—as surely as Lennie Briscoe could sniff out a corpse in an apartment from two stair landings away. Promptng me to say:

“Irony is now officially dead. Its body has been hacked to bits, dipped in lye, drizzled with quicklime, then run through a wood-chipper...and finally, fed to the feral pigs out back.”

But I wouldn't—I couldn't let irony just go, into that cold, black night—so I enlisted you, the readers' aid. I asked you to help us all to retain our sanity, and “Keep Irony Alive!” by submitting your own ideas for fun books dealing with this bed-shit of an administration—and you came through with flying colors! There were so many good ones kicked in, that I had to expand the winning total that would be Photoshopped into reality from three, to five, and then again to a lucky THIRTEEN!

There were so many good 'uns, it was hard to choose—but I had to pick, and those chosen were selected for that rare combination of teh funny, what struck me visually/graphically upon reading them, a sense of irony—and yeah, that certain je nes saís mean, too.

So, without any further ado, here are your winners—the first books to be stacked in the Group News Blog's wingnut bookshelf of shame!

(CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE)

Top row from L to R:
“Invisible Man”,—by Colin Powell (from Julia), “I Am Too Well Raised To Say I Told You So”—by Howard Dean (from the wry the littlest gator), “The Dirty Walrus plus 100 Other Explosive Sex Positions” (from the prolific Thor Heyerdahl).

Bottom row:
“A Connecticut Yankee In King George's Court”—by Joe Mentum (from the littlest gator, again), “The Prince and the Pill Popper” (from Myrtle June) and “Witless Shrugged” (from that old rapscallion Driftglass).


(CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE)

Top center:
“The Laurabot 2000 User's Manual—Maintenance Book For Your Robot First Lady (from the very funny John D).

Middle row from L to R:
“One Lump or Two?—The True Story of W. Laura and Condi” (from murfmom), “The Foley Boys—The Mystery of the Laughing Page” (from prof. fate —I actually pulled something laughing at this one), and “Poodle Grooming” (again, from the mighty Thor H).

Bottom row:
“Healthy Sexuality”—by David Vitter (from Ivory Bill Woodpecker), “The Fat Cat in the Hat” (another killer from perfesser fate), and lastly, but not least, “The Cheney, The Thief, His Wife and The Yellowcake” (all bow to blksista).

And there you have 'em! Click on 'em, blow 'em up, print 'em out and trade with your friends! But most importantly, thank you for your contributions, and helping to really make this THE GROUP NEWS BLOG!

Enjoy!,
Lower Manhattanite

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