For Your Consideration: Natalie Portman (again!), (female) binge-drinking, and LGBT youth

What were some of the scientific achievements that mattered most in 2010? The New Yorker‘s Michael Specter has 7 of them.

“Who’s White? Who’s Black? Who Knows?”

Are LGBT youth punished more harshly than their straight friends, and is “fat” bullying still prevalent?

Has the “Other Swiss” Stanislas Wawrinka peaked at No. 21 on the ATP rankings chart? And can Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova improve her head-to-head record against top players to move beyond the 21st spot?

Does Natalie Portman already have that “Best Actress” Oscar in the bag? (For more of Time‘s film-related reading, check out its Top 10 Movies and Top 10 Movie Performances of 2010.)

Are women really heavy binge-drinkers? And what did the vacillating banter between female celebrities Bristol Palin(?), Chelsea Handler, Margaret Cho, and Kathy Griffin have to say about the gestures of female friendship?

A Not-So-Precious Slumdog

Let me start by sharing two images with you:

Confused?

While the similarities might not be readily apparent, they are there. Both Slumdog Millionaire and Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire are films depicting protagonists struggling to overcome wretched circumstances predominantly involving poverty. Both were critically acclaimed, with Metacritic ratings of 86 and 79 and Rotten Tomato scores of 93% and 91%, respectively. And in the months following its release, Precious seemed to be on the Slumdog track as a strong Oscar contender.

But now? A(n incredibly well-deserved) Best Supporting Actress win for Mo’Nique, a token Best Picture nomination (even more token now that there are ten nominees and we will never know whether it was in the top five of those), and millions of enthralled viewers left bemused.

…What happened?

The Art of Talking About Something and Nothing

Today I am going to talk about Tony Hoagland’s poem “The Change.”

Today I am not, however, going to teach you how to write an effective hook for a blog post. XD

So. You read it? The poem? Good.

Kinda weird, huh? Hoagland’s an odd guy. Not my favorite. But he certainly gets props for bluntness. After the jump, see what Michelle Minkoff had to say about this piece: