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Five Things That Happened At The Oscars Plus All The Winners

WASHINGTON POST, VOICE OF AMERICA, YAHOO (USA)

Worldcrunch

LOS ANGELES - In case you missed it, the 85th Academy Awards took place last night. Life of Pi was the biggest winner of the night, scooping four golden statuettes. Here's what you need to know about this year's Oscars:

1. Daniel Day Lewis’ win for his portrayal of Lincoln means three oscars for the English-born Irish actor, making him the first actor to ever do so. Dustin Hoffman and Marlon Brando each only won twice. He dedicated his win to his mother and said that, “I don’t really know how any of this happened.”

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Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

2. Ben Affleck’s Argo, which won Best Picture, was criticized by Iranian media. The film is about the 1979 hostage crisis in the American Embassy in Tehran. The Washington Post reports that some criticized the way Affleck referred to Islamic Republic in his acceptance speech when he said, “I want to thank our friends in Iran who live under terrible circumstances.” Mehr News ran this headline: “After distorting history, Ben Affleck continues to show a bleak picture of Iran: Iranians live in terrible circumstances.”

3. The First Lady, Michelle Obama, presented the best picture award via video link. She's not the first political figure to do so this year, though - Bill Clinton made an appearance at the Golden Globes in January.

4. There were inappropriate remarks made about nine-year-old Best Actress nominee, Quvenzhane Wallis says Yahoo news. Online satire site, The Onion, tweeted that the girl was “kind of a c***” but the post was later deleted. Meanwhile, during the show, host Seth MacFarlane thought it would be okay to comment on her age: "To give you an idea of just how young she is, it will be 16 years until she's too old for Clooney." The remarks didn't seem to dampen her night - when her name was announced as nominee, she was very excited:

5. Best Actress, Jennifer Lawrence fell on the steps going up to collect her award. Not the first time the 22-year-old has tripped on the way up to get a prize – this is the third time this awards season alone!

THE WINNERS:

Best Picture: Argo- Ben Affleck

Achievement in Directing: Ang Lee - Life of Pi

Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln

Actress in a Leading Role: Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook

Actor in a supporting role: Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained

Actress in a supporting role: Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables

Foreign Language Film: Amour -Michael Haneke (Austria)

Best Original Song: Skyfall - AdeleAdkins and Paul Epworth

Best Original Score: Life of Pi- Michael Danna

Original Screenplay: Django Unchained - Quentin Tarrantino

Adapted Screenplay: Argo - Chris Terrio

Animated Short Film: Paperman - John Kahrs

Animated Feature Film: Brave - Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman

Cinematography: Life of Pi - Claudio Miranda

Visual Effects: Life of Pi - Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott

Achievement in Costume Design: Jacqueline DurranAnna Karenina

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyle: Lisa Wescott and Julie Dartnell - Les Miserables

Life Action Short Film: Shawn Christensen - Curfew

Documentary Short Subject: Sean Fine and Andrea Nix - Fine Inocente

Documentary Feature: Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn - Searching for Sugar Man

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food / travel

Pasta v. Fascists: How Italy's Staple Dish Became A Symbol Of Resistance

Pasta may not be considered controversial today, but it played an important role during Italy's fascist years, particularly in one family's celebration of community and liberation.

Photo of the Cervi family.

Photo of the Cervi family, whose seven children were shot by the Fascists on December 28, 1943, at the Reggio Emilia shooting range.

@comunisti_alla_ribalta via Instagram
Jacopo Fontaneto

ROME — Eighty years ago — on July 25, 1943 — the vote of no confidence by the Grand Council of Fascism, leading to Benito Mussolini's arrest, set off widespread celebrations. In Campegine, a small village in the Emilian province, the Cervi family celebrated in their own way: they brought 380 kilograms of pasta in milk cans to the town square and offered it to all the inhabitants of the village.

The pasta was strictly plain: macaroni dressed with butter and cheese, seen as more of a "festive dish" in that period of deprivation. As soon as the Cervi brothers learned about the arrest of Mussolini, they procured flour, borrowed butter and cheese from the dairy, and prepared kilos and kilos of pasta. They then loaded it onto a cart to distribute it to their fellow villagers. Pastasciutta (dry pasta) specifically regards dishes with noodles that are plated "dry", not in broth. That would disqualify soup, risotto, ravioli...

Even though pastasciutta is the most stereotypical type of pasta today, it had a complicated relationship with the government during Italy's fascist years.

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