Games to Play While Lance Armstrong Lies, er Talks to Oprah: BingoSTRONG, Armstrong Bingo, A Doping Game and A Drinking Game.

Most every social bungle, depressing news item or fallen hero usually inspires some clever soul to create something humorous for the masses. To help stomach watching the Lance Armstrong Oprah two part interviews, there's a bunch of fun interactive games - and some products - circulating around the web.

Parody Silicone Bracelets:

above: you can buy the 'cheat to win' bracelet here at The Onion and/or the LiveWRONG bracelets here

BingoSTRONG and Armstrong Bingo, both play at home bingo games (you print out the hi-res boards I've included here), a doping game for those who keep steroids in their cupboards and of course, a drinking game. All mocking the once admired cycling legend Lance Armstrong while watching his interview with Oprah*.


click on the above image to download it at high-res

The game above now has rules, shown here:


Not the only Armstrong Bingo game out there. The Telegraph is offering this game board for you to play as well:



Join in the fun with the Lance Armstrong-Oprah Interview Doping Game:


And yes, of course, there's a drinking game, too.



*Oprah Winfrey's hotly anticipated, two-part interview with Lance Armstrong will air Thursday and Friday nights at 9 p.m. EST/PST on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. For those without a cable subscription, "Oprah and Lance Armstrong: The Worldwide Exclusive" will also be streamed live at Oprah.com.

Kate Middleton's First Official Portrait Is Revealed To Mixed Reviews. Let's Take A Close Look.

The Duchess of Cambridge's official portrait commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery in London was unveiled today.


above: Artist Paul Emsley reveals Kate Middleton's Official portrait to the press in London

The oil painting, by South African-born artist Paul Emsley, was a result of two sittings and three and a half month's work (and painting from a photograph). A frontal image of the 31 year old Kate's head, the painting is being criticized globally for prematurely aging the wife of the The Prince of Wales.



Several art critics are pointing out the fact that the painting includes bags beneath her eyes, deep lines around her mouth, a pale pallor and gives the Duchess a large nose.

I took the liberty of composing a close up of the portrait against a recent photo of the Duchess, so you can compare for yourself:


In the side by side comparison above, it seems that the artist created a very competent likeness, only in reality, her eyes seem a tad larger, her actual nose is smaller and less rounded and she has far more red in her skin tone than the painting suggests. That said, in my personal opinion, some of the critics are correct.

The photo I used for comparison:


The artist says he altered the color of her eyes to match her blouse (a silk teal shirt with a bow at the neck) and background.



Kate is wearing the sapphire diamond earrings that were said to be fashioned from a pair of Diana's in the portrait.

Can you see the artist painted himself as a reflection in Kate's left eye?:


The Duchess of Cambridge, 31, said that she wanted "to be portrayed naturally — her natural self — as opposed to her official self," Emsley said in the New York Daily News.

Of course the Royals are claiming to be thrilled with the portait (ABC news reports that William called it "beautiful") , but reviews in newspapers and blogs are calling it everything from "rotten' to  'just plain ugly.'
What do you think?

The 85th Oscar Nominees Have Been Announced - And Here They Are. The Entire Official Nominee List.

BEST PICTURE
•Amour (TBD, Producer)
•Argo (Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers)
•Beasts of the Southern Wild (Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers)
•Django Unchained (Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers)
•Les Misérables (Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers)
•Life of Pi (Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers)
•Lincoln (Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers)
•Silver Linings Playbook (Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers)
•Zero Dark Thirty (Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers)

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
•Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)
•Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)
•Hugh Jackman (Les Misérables)
•Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)
•Denzel Washington (Flight)

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
•Alan Arkin (Argo)
•Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook)
•Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)
•Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)
•Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
•Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)
•Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
•Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)
•Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
•Naomi Watts (The Impossible)

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
•Amy Adams (The Master)
•Sally Field (Lincoln)
•Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)
•Helen Hunt (The Sessions)
•Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook)

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
•Brave (Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman)
•Frankenweenie (Tim Burton)
•ParaNorman (Sam Fell and Chris Butler)
•The Pirates! Band of Misfits (Peter Lord)
•Wreck-It Ralph (Rich Moore)

CINEMATOGRAPHY
•Anna Karenina (Seamus McGarvey)
•Django Unchained (Robert Richardson)
•Life of Pi (Claudio Miranda)
•Lincoln (Janusz Kaminski)
•Skyfall (Roger Deakins)

COSTUME DESIGN
•Anna Karenina (Jacqueline Durran)
•Les Misérables (Paco Delgado)
•Lincoln (Joanna Johnston)
•Mirror Mirror (Eiko Ishioka)
•Snow White and the Huntsman (Colleen Atwood)

DIRECTING
•Amour (Michael Haneke)
•Beasts of the Southern Wild (Benh Zeitlin)
•Life of Pi (Ang Lee)
•Lincoln (Steven Spielberg)
•Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell)

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
•5 Broken Cameras (Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi)
•The Gatekeepers (TBD)
•How to Survive a Plague (TBD)
•The Invisible War (TBD)
•Searching for Sugar Man (TBD)

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
•Inocente (Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine)
•Kings Point (Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider)
•Mondays at Racine (Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan)
•Open Heart (Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern)
•Redemption (Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill)

FILM EDITING
•Argo (William Goldenberg)
•Life of Pi (Tim Squyres)
•Lincoln (Michael Kahn)
•Silver Linings Playbook (Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers)
•Zero Dark Thirty (Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
•Amour (Austria)
•Kon-Tiki (Norway)
•No (Chile)
•A Royal Affair (Denmark)
•War Witch (Canada)

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
•Hitchcock (Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel)
•The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane)
•Les Misérables (Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell)

MUSIC (Original Score)
•Anna Karenina (Dario Marianelli)
•Argo (Alexandre Desplat)
•Life of Pi (Mychael Danna)
•Lincoln (John Williams)
•Skyfall (Thomas Newman)

MUSIC (Original Song)
•Before My Time - Chasing Ice (Music and Lyric by J. Ralph)
•Everybody Needs A Best Friend - Ted (Music by Walter Murphy, Lyric by Seth MacFarlane)
•Pi’s Lullaby - Life of Pi (Music by Mychael Danna, )Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
•Skyfall - Skyfall (Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth)
•Suddenly - Les Misérables (Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil)

PRODUCTION DESIGN
•Anna Karenina (Production Design: Sarah Greenwood,Set Decoration: Katie Spencer)
•The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Production Design: Dan Hennah, Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright)
•Les Misérables (Production Design: Eve Stewart, Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson)
•Life of Pi (Production Design: David Gropman, Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock)
•Lincoln (Production Design: Rick Carter, Set Decoration: Jim Erickson)

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
•Adam and Dog (Minkyu Lee)
•Fresh Guacamole (PES) See this here!
•Head over Heels (Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly)
•Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare” (David Silverman)
•Paperman (John Kahrs)

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
•Asad (Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura)
•Buzkashi Boys (Sam French and Ariel Nasr)
•Curfew (Shawn Christensen)
•Death of a Shadow/Dood van een Schaduw (Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele)
•Henry (Yan England)

SOUND EDITING
•Argo (Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn)
•Django Unchained (Wylie Stateman)
•Life of Pi (Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton)
•Skyfall (Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers)
•Zero Dark Thirty (Paul N.J. Ottosson)

SOUND MIXING
•Argo (John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia)
•Les Misérables (Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes)
•Life of Pi (Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin)
•Lincoln (Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins)
•Skyfall (Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson)

VISUAL EFFECTS
•The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White)
•Life of Pi (Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott)
•Marvel’s The Avengers (Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick)
•Prometheus (Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill)
•Snow White and the Huntsman (Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson)

WRITING (Adapted Screenplay)
•Argo (Screenplay by Chris Terrio)
•Beasts of the Southern Wild (Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin)
•Life of Pi (Screenplay by David Magee)
•Lincoln (Screenplay by Tony Kushner)
•Silver Linings Playbook (Screenplay by David O. Russell)

WRITING (Original Screnplay )
•Amour (Written by Michael Haneke)
•Django Unchained (Written by Quentin Tarantino)
•Flight (Written by John Gatins)
•Moonrise Kingdom (Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola)
•Zero Dark Thirty (Written by Mark Boal)

The Oscars air on ABC, Sunday, February 4th. For More info, visit Oscars.org

Her Men, Her Movies, Her Diamonds, Her Portraits. The Legacy Of Elizabeth Taylor. 32 Stunning Photos.

Elizabeth Taylor, 1932-2011

She loved men. And diamonds. And we loved her. This morning's death of legend Dame Elizabeth Taylor is being felt around the world. The world's most glamorous actress of all time passed away at age 79 of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles early this morning, prompting bloggers and newspeople to begin publishing the many incredible images of the violet-eyed beauty and details of her illustrious career.

Over the past three decades much has been published about her many marriages, her incredible personal collections of some of the most magnificent diamond jewelry, her substance abuse problems, her avid activism on the behalf of AIDS sufferers [she helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and established her own AIDS Foundation] and her bizarre friendship with Michael Jackson.



In addition to the aforementioned, she was a savvy businesswoman, creating a collection of fine jewelry (House of Taylor) and several best selling perfumes. But let us not forget, she also was a fine actress.

She's also been immortalized by some of the most well-known and talented photographers and artists of all time. Here are a few of my favorite images of Liz.

THE PORTRAITS
By Richard Avedon (1964):

By Franceso Scavullo (1964):

By Andy Warhol (1964):

By Philippe Halsman (1948):

by Frank Worth (1955):

By Norman Parkinson (mid 1950s):

By Angus McBean (1966):

By Burt Glinn (1959):

By Douglas Kirkland (1961):

By William Klein, 1965 cover of Paris Vogue:

By Cecil Beaton (1971):

By Helmut Newton (1986):


More of my favorite images of Liz, only I do not know the photographers:





A few basic stats:
Date of Birth: 27 February 1932, Hampstead, London, England, UK
Date of Death: 23 March 2011, Los Angeles, California, USA
Birth Name: Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor
Nicknames: Liz, Kitten
Height: 5' 2" (1.57 m)

HER HUSBANDS & WEDDING PHOTOS
Taylor was married eight times to seven husbands. Here are photos of each of her weddings:

* Conrad "Nicky" Hilton (May 6, 1950 – January 29, 1951) (divorced):

* Michael Wilding (February 21, 1952 – January 26, 1957) (divorced):

* Michael Todd (February 2, 1957 – March 22, 1958) (widowed):

* Eddie Fisher (May 12, 1959 – March 6, 1964) (divorced):

* Richard Burton (March 15, 1964 – June 26, 1974) (divorced):

* Richard Burton (October 10, 1975 – July 29, 1976) (divorced):

* John Warner (December 4, 1976 – November 7, 1982) (divorced):

* Larry Fortensky (October 6, 1991 – October 31, 1996) (divorced):



HER JEWELS:
Liz was bought some of the world's finest and most expensive jewels from husbands Richard Burton, Michael Todd and Eddie Fisher. Her love affair with gems is well known and her perfumes were named after them as well.

Most famous of her extensive collection are the 33.19 carat Asscher-cut Krupp Diamond, a ring which she wore for many decades:





And the 69.42 carat Taylor-Burton Diamond, which she wore as a pendant on a necklace as well as a ring:


above: The Taylor-Burton diamond necklace consisting of 67 pear-shaped diamonds with the central diamond of 69.42 carats. The necklace was made for Cartier in 1969. Image Courtesy of Oscar Heyman, Inc., New York.

She also wore the enormous pear-shaped Taylor Burton Diamond as a ring:


She has a very extensive collection of diamond tiaras and many emeralds, rubies and more. Many of which can be found in her book, Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry


above: the cover of her book, My Love Affair With Jewelry

HER MOVIES:

above: Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Giant in 1955

If you're going to memorialize her by renting a few of her movies this weekend, I highly recommend the following, which really were her most memorable performances:

• Suddenly, Last Summer
• Butterfield 8
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
• The Sandpiper
• Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
• The Taming of the Shrew

Not as great but worth renting for the novelty are:
• Giant
* The Last Time I Saw Paris
* Cleopatra
* Raintree County
* A Place In The Sun

For the kids, you may want to consider:
• National Velvet
• Lassie Come Home
• Father Of The Bride

See her complete filmography here.
Books on Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor Movies on DVD

The world will not be the same without you. Rest in peace, Liz.
images courtesy of Magnum photos, Artnet, LIFE magazine and Getty images