Raise your hand if you looked at the Oscar nominations and there was a movie you never heard of. Never mind, I’m sorry. You can put your hand down. I forgot I was typing.

One of my favorite movies of the year was Beginners, starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer. The truth is I almost didn’t see it. By the time someone recommended it, it was already on DVD. Thankfully, I’m a huge celebrity, so I was able to have them perform it live in my living room.

If you haven’t seen it, I hope you will. Ewan McGregor gives a beautiful and heartfelt performance you don’t want to miss, even if he did knock over one of my floor lamps.

Christopher Plummer was amazing, too. He plays a 75-year-old man who decides to come out of the closet after his wife dies. It’s so touching and so well done. He won a Golden Globe, a SAG Award, and I was thrilled he was nominated for an Oscar, especially since the movie didn’t seem to get the same attention some of the bigger blockbusters did.

I think everyone should see at least one independent film a year. It’s a great way to experience something different, and you get to wear a beret. Who knows? Maybe you’ll wind up seeing your favorite film of the year.

Raise your hand if you looked at the Oscar nominations and there was a movie you never heard of. Never mind, I’m sorry. You can put your hand down. I forgot I was typing.

One of my favorite movies of the year was Beginners, starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer. The truth is I almost didn’t see it. By the time someone recommended it, it was already on DVD. Thankfully, I’m a huge celebrity, so I was able to have them perform it live in my living room.

If you haven’t seen it, I hope you will. Ewan McGregor gives a beautiful and heartfelt performance you don’t want to miss, even if he did knock over one of my floor lamps.

Christopher Plummer was amazing, too. He plays a 75-year-old man who decides to come out of the closet after his wife dies. It’s so touching and so well done. He won a Golden Globe, a SAG Award, and I was thrilled he was nominated for an Oscar, especially since the movie didn’t seem to get the same attention some of the bigger blockbusters did.

I think everyone should see at least one independent film a year. It’s a great way to experience something different, and you get to wear a beret. Who knows? Maybe you’ll wind up seeing your favorite film of the year.

They Might Be Giants, “James K. Polk”
In 1844, the Democrats were split/The three nominees for the presidential candidate/Were Martin Van Buren, a former president and an abolitionist/James Buchanan, a moderate/Louis Cass, a general and expansionist/From Nashville came a dark horse riding up/He was James K. Polk, Napoleon of the Stump

Blackalicious, “Paragraph President”
Paragraph president/as a special treat this evening/I have asked America’s foremost young poet to read his latest poem for us

James Brown, “Funky President (People Its Bad)”
I’ve got a brand new funky president/And hey, I need to be the mayor/So I can change the things around here/I need to be the governor, huh/I need to be the governor, huh

The Legendary K.O., “George Bush Don’t Like Black People”
This mash-up released after Hurricane Katrina sampes from Kanye West’s song “Gold Digger,” and gets its refrain from West’s infamous quote, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

Bright Eyes, “When the President Talks to God”
When the president talks to God/Are the consonants all hard or soft?/Is he resolute all down the line?/Is every issue black or white?/Does what God say ever change his mind/When the president talks to God?

Pink and the Indigo Girls, “Dear Mr. President”
Dear Mr. President/Come take a walk with me/Let’s pretend we’re just two people and/You’re not better than me

Ella Fitzgerald, “Franklin D. Roosevelt Jones”
The Jones family has a brand new heir/He’s the joy heaven sent/And they proudly present/Mister Franklin D. Roosevelt Jones

Young Jeezy ft. Nas, “My President Is Black”
My president is black, my Lambo’s blue/And I’ll be goddamned if my rims ain’t too

Devo, “Whip It”
Devo’s Mark Mosthersbaugh on the inspiration for “Whip It”: “We had just done our second world tour when we started writing our third album. The one thing that we were impressed with that we noticed everywhere around the world was that everybody was totally freaked out by American politics and American foreign policy. At the time, Jimmy Carter was in charge. I thought of “Whip It” as kind of a Dale Carnegie, “You Can Do It” song for Jimmy Carter. We were like, ‘Jimmy Carter’s a good guy, but he vacillates on his foreign policy.’”

Sufjan Stevens, “Presidents and Magistrates”
Presidents and magistrates/spend on golf/and spring vacation/(Peace to me! We are the holy ones!)

Super Furry Animals, “Presidential Suite”
You know that we belong/In a presidential suite/Armed guards in the street/Waving back at crowds who greet/And when I look over/Over my shoulder/I can’t see my past/It seems so far away

Lou Reed, “The Day John Kennedy Died”
I dreamed I was the president of these United States/I dreamed I replaced ignorance, stupidity and hate/I dreamed the perfect union and a perfect law, undenied/And most of all I dreamed I forgot the day John Kennedy died

Manic Street Preachers, “The Love of Richard Nixon”
The love of Richard Nixon, death without assassination/The love of Richard Nixon, yeah they all betrayed you/The love of Richard Nixon, death without assassination/Yeah they all betrayed you/Yeah and your country too

Spin the playlist in full:

So “The Grey” star stopped by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant‘s office to show off his comic chops. Only to prove that he hasn’t really got any.

Trying various scenarios where he played a hypochondriac visiting the doctor’s office, Neeson was incapable of introducing any levity into his performance.

Playing the straightest straight man to an increasingly bored and irritated Gervais, Neeson wanted to inject pathos and drama into the scenarios they tried out. He was snippy, he was awkward and, well, he was a bit intimidating.

As his fellow “Star Wars” alum Warwick Davis looked on in bewilderment, Neeson ploughed on. In answer to Gervais’ doctor asking, “What seems to be the problem?” Neeson sighed and answered “I’ve contracted AIDS.”

Don’t give up the day job, Liam.

Check out Maureen Ryan’s take on “Life’s Too Short.”

Warwick Davis has revealed that he’s currently in negotiations to host his own talk show. Follow his other show business adventures on “Life’s Too Short,” Sundays at 10:30 p.m. EST on HBO.

TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.

Fassbender and “Shame” did not light up 2012′s nominations, contrary to the critical acclaim the film received. The reason for this, according to “Shame” director Steve McQueen, was as plain as day: the Fassboner.

“In America they’re too scared of sex, that’s why he wasn’t nominated. If you look at the best actor list you’re saying, ‘Michael Fassbender is not on that list?’ It’s kind of crazy. But that’s how it is, it’s an American award, let them have it.”

The great Fassbender snub has not tarnished the director’s view of his muse — they have worked on two previous films together, with a third on the way — but McQueen just wants you to know he’s not like, married to the guy or anything.

“It’s all about the script, if Michael’s the right person for the character and if he likes the script. What I like about our relationship is it’s not tied, it’s not a marriage, it’s friendship and it’s done out of respect of each other’s talents and each other’s love of film.”

[via Yahoo]

Whether it’s for bragging rights or a little extra spending money, Moviefone is here to help you fill out an airtight Oscar ballot. (Get your printable ballot right here.)

Find out who will take home Best Director, Best Cinematography and more in the first episode of Awards Night Pool Picker. Check back throughout the week for the rest of the videos in this series.

City slicker Vinny and his co-worker and “Dallas Socialites” team mate Jacqueline had gone to learn the ancient — and often controversial — art of handfishing from expert Skipper Bivins and his gang, but he got more than he’d bargained for when he came face-to-face with a monstrous flathead.

Vinny ended up in what he described as “a tug of war with the dang fish!” When the man vs. fish battle seemed to have come to an impasse, Skipper helped out as Vinny continued to wrestle with the catfish.

Eventually Vinny was victorious and emerged from the depths clutching his whopper of a catch. Fish subdued, his team mate Jacqueline was suitably impressed by his noodling prowess, as were the experts who estimated his catch to weigh in at — what else? — 50 lbs.

Watch half-naked hairy men try to catch fish with their hands and feet on “Hillbilly Handfishin’,” Sundays at 8 p.m. EST on Animal Planet.

TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.

A black velvet dress that belonged to Whitney Houston and a pair of earrings she wore in “The Bodyguard” will be sold to the highest bidder next month.

Celebrity auctioneer Darren Julien said Sunday the pieces and other Houston items became available after the singer’s unexpected death on Feb. 11 and will be included among a long-planned sale of Hollywood memorabilia such as Charlie Chaplin’s cane, Clark Gable’s jacket from “Gone With the Wind” and Charlton Heston’s staff from “The Ten Commandments.”

Julien said celebrity collectibles often become available after their namesakes die.

“It proves a point that these items, they’re an investment,” Julien said. “You buy items just like a stock. Buy at the right time and sell at the right time, and they just increase in value.”

But could it be too soon to profit from Houston’s passing? She was just buried on Saturday.

“It’s a celebration of her life,” Julien said. “If you hide these things in fear that you’re going to offend someone – her life is to be celebrated. These items are historic now that she passed. They become a part of history. They should be in museums. She’s lived a life and had a career that nobody else has ever had.”

Houston is “someone who’s going to maintain a collectability,” he said. “For people who are fans of Whitney Houston and never would have had a chance to meet her and never got to talk to her, these are items that literally touched a part of her life. They are a way to relate to her or be a part of her life without having known her.”

The singer’s floor-length black dress is valued at $1,000 but likely to collect much more. Same goes for the vest she wore in “The Bodyguard,” listed at $400, and the faux-pearl earrings that start at $600.

Houston fans and other collectors can bid online, by phone or in person during the “Hollywood Legends” auction on March 31 and April 1. Lots will be shown during a free public exhibition beginning March 19 at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, Calif., just blocks from the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where Houston died at age 48.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: . http://www.twitter.com/APSandy

___

Online:

http://www.juliensauctions.com

She became a hoarder after two failed marriages. Paralysed by overhwelming guilt, Faye believed she didn’t deserve to live in a clean house, so she punished herself by living in a filthy one.

As her daughters Robin and April took a tour of their mother’s squalid home they agreed they’d never seen anything so awful. There were dead cockroaches in the sink, piles of dirt and trash everywhere, and vast networks of cobwebs covered the walls.

However, the coup de grace for them was the pile of big, dead and rotting rats they found in the house. As they looked on in horror, one of the sisters summed it up: “I’m amazed she hasn’t already died.”

“Hoarding: Buried Alive” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. EST on TLC.

TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.

They will also trap snakes when necessary, and on Sunday night’s episode volunteer Tre went along for the ride when the boys got a call about a python in a woman’s garage.

Pythons are a new and invasive species in South Florida and the Everglades. Capable of growing up to 20 feet in length they are not only a nuisance for people, they also challenge the local gators for food.

Tre bravely tried to extricate the 9-feet long snake but when he grabbed onto it, the python grabbed him back.

When the boys pulled Tre out of the garage the python was wrapped tightly around his arm and Tre was going purple. However, when they removed the snake they realized that it had also bitten him on the wrist.

Although pythons are not venomous, a bite can still be dangerous. If its fangs had pierced a vein or an artery in his arm Tre could have bled out before help arrived.

Catch all the reptilian and herpetological action on “Gator Boys,” Sundays at 9 p.m. EST on Animal Planet.

TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.