The Tribune Online - Leo's 'Aviator' wins best picture

BEVERLY HILLS, Jan 17: The Howard Hughes epic The Aviator and the road-trip romp Sideways earned best-picture Golden Globes, boosting their status as front-runners for the upcoming Academy Awards. The Aviator won on Sunday for best dramatic film, giving it an edge at the Oscars, which favour heavyweight drama. Sideways won for comedy film.

Jamie Foxx of the Ray Charles film biography Ray , Hilary Swank of the boxing saga Million Dollar Baby , Annette Bening of the showbiz comedy Being Julia and Leonardo DiCaprio of The Aviator also boosted their Oscar odds by winning the top acting Globes. The Aviator ended up with three Golden Globes, while Sideways , Million Dollar Baby , and Closer won two apiece.

"Can I just tell you that I am having the ride of my life right now?" said Foxx, considered the favorite to win the best-actor Oscar for his uncanny emulation of Ray Charles, who died last year. "I wish I could take what I'm feeling right now and put it in the water system, and we would all love each other a whole lot more."

Earning a record three Globe nominations, Foxx lost in his other two categories, supporting movie actor for Collateral and actor in a TV movie or miniseries for Redemption. Bening won for best actress in a movie musical or comedy, playing an aging stage diva in 1930s London who plots gleeful revenge against the men in her life.

Backstage, Bening said that while Hollywood economics is geared toward roles for younger actresses, she said there are filmmakers eager to present tales of older women. "I think there's no question that sexism exists, but I think that as long as people are willing to fight and create interesting stories that involve women of all different ages, then the movies will get made," Bening said

Fashion Rio filled with easygoing fun

RIO DE JANEIRO (Brazil), Jan 17: When it comes to fashion this city is not Paris, Milan, New York or London. That's probably a good thing. Fashion Rio - the weeklong event of fall/winter collections, which ended on Saturday - is about fun almost as much as it is about fashion. It's the kind of event where Naomi Campbell can break character, lose her ever-present runway pout to smile and wave at friends in the front row.

"I feel at home. It's perfect. It's great," said Brazilian top model Isabelli Fontana as she readied for the catwalk. The audience is packed with tele-novela stars and local celebrities who often turn out to watch their children on the runway giving the whole event a small town air.

Maybe that's why aside from Campbell - who has become something of a fixture at Fashion Rio -most of the models who turn out for the event are internationally known Brazilians like Mariana Weickert, Caroline Ribeiro and Ana Claudia Michels. Not to forget the queen of them all: Gisele Bundchen. Bundchen usually stays away from the Rio shows, preferring Sao Paulo where the fashion industry is more established and, yes, more serious.

But this year she was on hand to parade for the Colcci label late on Friday. And the local talent doesn't end with the models. The shows feature a slew of inventive young Brazilian designers like Victor Dzenk, Liliane Rebehy, Danielle Jensen and Tito Bessa. This seasons' shows were dominated by browns and earth tones and many drew their inspiration from a gypsy look - a world away from skimpy color-infused clothing that usually characterizes Brazilian fashion.

Jensen designing for the Maria Bonita label leaned heavily on the brown monotones of wood and iron to create geometric dresses with richly textured materials. Rebehy designing for the Coven label also stuck to a brown palate with a soberly elegant show set in an artist's studio. The clothing included lots of shawls and heavy chains.

Dzenk, whose clothes sell under his own name, combined rich multicolored shawls with peasant dresses and black leather - must have clothing for high-concept hippies. Always elegant, Luciano Canale and Marco of Sta. Ephigenia, drew their inspiration from Eastern Europe offering flowing skirts with form fitting tops, with only sparing splashes of color. Bessa called his show for the TNG label "Brazilian Influence," and avoided the gypsy inspired look that seemed to dominate offering springy looking flower print dresses and variations on English school uniforms.

Naomi joins Nipplegate club

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 14: Wardrobe malfunction or fashion statement? That's what Brazilians were left wondering on Thursday, a day after top model Naomi Campbell paraded with her breasts bared at Fashion Rio - a weeklong event of fall/winter collections, which ends on Friday.

Campbell kicked off the fashion show for the TNG label in a simple white flower print dress, topped with a white mink stole. But less than halfway down the runway, the sleeveless deep V-neck dress proved more revealing than perhaps designer Tito Bessa had intended. It wasn't clear if a strap or button had come undone or whether it simply fit Campbell loosely.

Following the fashion show, neither Campbell nor Bessa were talking. "The people (in Brazil) are happy, I have great friends and the clothes make me look younger, too," was all Campbell, 34, had to say. In recent years, Campbell has been a frequent visitor to Brazil, parading at the Rio and Sao Paulo fashion shows. She spent New Year's at a fashionable island resort at Angra dos Reis.

After the show, Campbell said she was heading back to New York to promote a movie, the name of which escaped her. Brazilian top models Isabelli Fontana, Mariana Weickert, Caroline Riberio and Ana Claudia Michels also participated in the TNG show.

Swimsuit 2005

MUMBAI: In 2003, United Breweries introduced the Kingfisher Swimsuit Special Calendar and it has since become an extremely coveted possession. The Kingfisher Swimsuit Special 2005 has been shot in South Africa and features some of India's hottest models, including Yana Gupta.Here's a sneak peek at this rare combination of photography, fashion, sun, surf and sand!

Bollywood star Salman Khan launched the Kingfisher Swimsuit South Africa Special 2005 calendar in Mumbai on Sunday. Cindy Burbridge, Pia Trivedi, Vijay Mallya, photographer Atul Kasbekar, model-turned Bollywood actress Yana Gupta and Sheetal Menon were also present at the event. Dr Vijay Mallya was also seen posing with actress Shilpa Shetty at the calendar launch.

In February 2005, the model is Cindy Burbridge, the designer is Namrata Joshipura and the location is Klipspringer Koppies, Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve. In March 2005, the model is Asha Leo and the designer is Kiran Uttam Ghosh. The location is Kingfisher Lodge, Mabula Private Game Reserve. In May 2005, the model is Cindy Burbridge and the designer is Ranna Gill. The location is Amber Suite Earth Lodge, Sabi Sabi.

In June 2005, the model is Pia Trivedi, the designer is Shantanu & Nikhil and the location is Imbali Safari Lodge, Kruger National Park. In July 2005, the model is Asha Leo and the designers are Gauri & Nainika. The location is Kingfisher Lodge, Mabula Private Game Reserve. In December 2005, the model is Yana Gupta, the designer is Falguni & Shane Peacock and the location is Kingfisher Lodge, Mabula Private Game Reserve.

You just can't miss this kiss

Just when one thought that the tinsel towners are growing up - what with some of them actually coming out and confessing to their lurve affairs rather than the hackneyed 'we are good friends' - someone kisses, is 'caught', denies and its back to the same 'holier-than-thou' game.

If you haven't read/heard about it already, here goes the 'latest breaking news'. The Kapur and Kapoor lovebirds (Shahid-Kareena) were reportedly kissing at a Mumbai restaurant, were caught on camera (presumably a camera phone, one more down to MMS) and are now denying everything from puckering up to even being at the restaurant.

Along with denying, the two are also demanding an 'unconditional' apology (as opposed to a conditional apology being something to the effect of "I am sorry if..." just an after thought). Kareena is also apparently claiming Rs 20 crore damages for loss of reputation. All this over an innocent kiss (ignoring the darting tongue for now)?

On one hand, Bollywood declares smooching scenes in movie are aesthetical and important because they are a reflection of what is happening in society. The most popular refrain being, 'Couples kiss in real life; we are just portraying that.' On the other hand, two Bollywood 'stars' who have publicly declared they are in love are photographed kissing and then go about denying it.

One can try and empathise with the 'breach of privacy' issue. But then one wonders, privacy in a public place? So if you are kissing in a restaurant - a very public place, the public will see you kissing. It will see you kissing if you are a star and it will see you kissing if you are not a star.

We can understand when Kareena says that the pictures were an 'embarrassment' - you are watching the late night news with your folks and suddenly there are pictures of you smooching your beau. One can also understand two young people receiving flak from elders back home and therefore saying, "We didn't do it."

But what happens when the same 'kids from respectable families' lock lips on the screen (older sis Karisma in Raja Hindustani and Kareena with Fardeen Khan in Dev )? If it is alright to show kissing on screen - demands of script, reality, etc - why such a big deal about being photographed kissing? Or is it that respectability only rests for the moolah?

Let's forget that too for a while. Shahid, in a television interview went on to say that they had "never kissed in the restaurant or anywhere else". Give us a break please. It is alright for a couple to kiss, especially today when things are much more out-in-the-open.

Now to come to entire questionability of the situation - were the couple shown kissing actually Kareena and Shahid? According to the Mumbai tabloid, yes they were and they apparently have a video clip to prove it. According to Kareena, it was not them and she would "fight for her dignity".

For now, one can wait and watch... but if at all it was the two, we say, Kapur and Kapoor turn your back to the world, say "yes it was us, and so what?" and walk off into the sunset.