Pope Nano I

Pope Benedict XVI was given the £139 gizmo by staff at Vatican Radio.

It stores 1,000 tracks and his officials have loaded it with his favourites — mostly religious music, plus pieces by Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin.

The Pope, 78, is a pianist and appreciates good music. He has been spotted around the Vatican using his iPod and distinctive white earphones. A spokesman said: “He is very pleased with the iPod.”

The Sun Online

NewMexiKen is thinking Benedict’s iPod must have a copy of “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pope.”

Take a walk

The American Podiatric Medical Association has ranked 100 American cities on “their walking conducive environments and habits.” Here’s the top 10:

#1 Portland, OR: Portland consistently ranked in the top 25 percent in each of the competition’s criteria. With cool summers and relatively mild winters, walkers in Portland can hit the streets and trails year round.

#2 Colorado Springs, CO: Colorado Springs scored extremely high in both the general physical fitness index and the percentage of adults that participate in sports.

#3 Madison, WI: Ranking fourth in miles of trails per square mile, Madison also has more residents that bike to work than any other city in the nation.

#4 Boise, ID: The largest city in the Gem State boasts a high percentage of adults that participate in athletics, and ranked fourth in the number of residents that walk for exercise.

#5 Las Vegas, NV: More than glitz and gambling, this desert oasis has a high number of households that are physically active and participate in sports.

#6 Austin, TX: Home to the main campus of the University of Texas and a vibrant downtown, Austin scored favorably because of its many parks and the number of residents that bike for exercise.

#7 Virginia Beach, VA: More than just a haven for beach goers, Virginia Beach reached the top ten due to a low crime rate, lots of parks and the number of residents that play golf.

#8 Anchorage, AK: Despite a chilly climate, Anchorage made the list because of its vast square mileage of parks and more dog owners than any other city in the U.S. Nearly 50 percent of Anchorage residents walk for exercise.

#9 Fremont, CA: Topping the list for the number of residents who walk for health, Fremont outscored many cities because of the number of residents that take public transportation to work.

#10 Raleigh, NC: With several parks to choose from, Raleigh residents have many places to walk.

Albuquerque is 17th. Here’s the list of all 100 (small PDF).

Another note about the best picture

“[T]he last time a film was named best picture without an editing nomination was the 1981 ceremony, when “Ordinary People” won.”

Crash had an editing nomination (it won the editing Oscar, in fact). Brokeback Mountain did not have an editing nomination.

Source: The Envelope.com

How ‘Crash’ went bang

From the Los Angeles Times‘ The Envelope.com, a report on how Crash campaigned and won. An excerpt:

Much of the morning-after punditry and blog logic has centered on whether members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had trouble giving “Brokeback Mountain” a best picture nod because of its gay love theme. Another theory: Like a cinematic John Edwards, “Brokeback” peaked too early and its Oscar buzz dissipated.

In fact, the key to the success of “Crash” was that the film itself — and the carefully orchestrated promotional campaign undertaken by its distributor, Lionsgate — appealed to the academy’s largest voting bloc: actors. With 22% of the voting members, the acting contingent is nearly three times as big as the next-largest group, producers.

It was actors — specifically, those in Los Angeles — who were targeted to deliver votes. And judging by the upset, deliver they did.

Playing dress up

Dan Neil had a big Hollywood party to attend Sunday evening. An excerpt:

This would be the place to establish my cool cynicism about the affair, to assert my purely forensic interest in the entertainment industry—which is, first of all, an industry, a business, and not a very pretty one despite the relative prettiness of the employees. Yes, I have many sober things to say about the crass and empty, and destructive, illusionism of Hollywood, which I’d be happy to run up the rhetorical flagpole if only I weren’t so worried about what I’m going to wear.

Now, obviously, my sartorial dilemma is nothing, nothing compared to my wife’s, a fact she hastens to point out. But Tina has an advantage. She would look fabulous in anything—a dress made of chocolate-covered doughnuts, or parking citations, or pink building insulation. If she went wearing a family of possums, the next week you’d see wives in the OC sporting possum couture.

Me? Not so much.

On this date

… a bunch of stuff happened and a bunch of people were born but, frankly, none of it or them interest NewMexiKen much.

Other than maybe, the fact that Oscar-winner Rachel Weisz is 35 today.