And the Oscar goes to… All over again…

The road to the 2007 Oscar Awards is so straight and narrow it might as well lead to heaven. Which it likely will for at least four people everyone’s expecting to win: Forest Whitaker, Helen Mirren, Eddie Murphy, and Jennifer Hudson.

Not only do we suspect they’ll win, we can practically see how they’ll take it. But if Oscar predictability is bad news for film buffs, it is good news for proposition betting. There is almost no losing money on the dead foreseeable turn-out of the 79th Academy Awards, to be held on February 25th, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres.

Below, find some Oscar predictables, er, Oscar predictions on who and what we ought to be ready for.

If Forest Whitaker wins Oscar Best Actor, prepare for Jamie Foxx meets the Rainman. His thank-you’s will be 50% fanatical thanking in stutters and broken sentences, 50% gasping for air in disbelief. “Wow… wow…” How many wins does Forest need to start believing his luck?

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role has Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland with 2/13 odds to win at Bodog film betting online. Peter O’Toole for Venus has odds of 4/1, a record 44 years apart from the last time he earned any Oscar nomination.

Will Smith for The Pursuit of Happyness has 9/1 odds to win, and will simply have to try harder by cutting his romantic comedies down to half. Leonardo DiCaprio for Blood Diamond has 14/1 odds, but who knows how much harder he can try after multiple nominations at the 2007 Golden Globes? Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson has 20/1, which is okay as he had won MTV Movie Awards‘ Best Kiss already.

If Helen Mirren wins Oscar Best Actress, prepare to shout, ‘Long Live the Queen!’, regardless of which queen you mean. But you’d be ill-advised to refer to 2007 Razzie queen Sharon Stone, who can take the cue from Helen, Judi, Cate, and Jeremy Irons: If you want…

Read More » Betting at Oscars 2007: So predictable you can’t lose? (1 of 2)

Yeah yeah yeah, Renault big boss Flavio Briatore is running his mouth again.

You have to wonder when will this fat boy stop eh? Yep, Flavio Briatore, after saying that McLaren won’t win with Fernando Alonso, he’s now saying that they can even with the defection of their former ace driver.

It seems Flavio is really taking Fernando Alonso’s departure to McLaren Mercedes hard eh? Yep, Briatore, (we’ve been talking about this guy a lot now haven’t we?) the flamboyant Italian head honcho of team Renault, is leading the revamped Anglo-French team (and by revamped, I do mean revamped, down to their new stupid unis…) into the new F1 season.

Giancarlo Fisichella will be returning for Flavio Briatore as Giancarlo will probably be taking Alonso’s spot as Renault’s no.1 driver. Rookie Heikki Kovalainen will play second fiddle to Fisi.

Speaking at the launch of Renault’s 2007 challenger in Amsterdam, Flavio Briatore said, ‘’This is not a one-man band. I always believe it is the team that is most important.'’

‘’We showed that with Benetton and now with Renault. Four championships with a very efficient budget in two years shows that. We have lost Fernando, who was an asset, but after he left, the team has extra motivation. Everyone in the factory has been working extra hard.'’

At least that’s what Flavio Briatore hopes if he wants to even have a chance in the coming F1 season against McLaren Mercedes and of course, Ferrari. And yeah, you can bet that Flavio is hoping Fisi can fill those big shoes Fernando left.

‘’Fisichella, for me, is better this year. I’m sure Heikki will push him a lot. He is not under more pressure, I think when you have Fernando Alonso as your teammate that is more…'’

Read More » “We don’t need Fernando Alonso to win in Formula One,” - Stupid Team Renault Big Boss Flavio Briatore

She can’t act decently, she can’t act her age, she can’t even really act at all.

She, in this case, pertains to four of six actresses nominated for the 2006 Razzie Award for Worst Actress. They are Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson, Hilary and Haylie Duff. They always get in trouble for behaving badly offscreen but now it turns out they act just as badly onscreen.

At Bodog prop betting, Lindsay Lohan for Just My Luck has 2/1 odds of winning Worst Actress while Hilary and Haylie Duff for Material Girls share a nomination with 3/2 odds. Jessica Simpson for Employee of the Month has 30/1 odds whereas Kristanna Loken for BloodRayne has 13/2 odds.

Sadly if not surprisingly, Sharon Stone for Basic Instinct 2 has 2/5 odds of being named Worst Actress.

From the Duff sisters, we move to the Wayans brothers. Shawn and Marlon Wayans share 1/2 odds of winning the 2006 Razzie Award for Worst Actor. Rob Schneider, for Benchwarmers and Little Man both, has 1/1 odds, and Larry the Cable Guy for Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector has 7/1 odds.

The Santa Clause 3, The Shaggy Dog, and Zoom all conspired to get Tim Allen odds of 11/5. Oscar regular Nicholas Cage for Wicker Man, though, has 30/1 odds at Bodog betting to win Worst Actor. …Sure, but where the heck is Tom Hanks?

If the above are any indication, here are the…

Read More » Lohan, Simpson, Duff vie for Razzie Awards Worst Actress

For Andy Roddick, coming close to beating Roger Federer can feel like an accomplishment. Roddick was 1-12 against Federer, the world’s top-ranked player, entering their semifinal match at the 2006 Australian Open.

For Roddick, and perhaps an entire generation of players who would like to add their name to the tennis honour roll, Federer has become the source of intense frustration. Not only can they not beat the Swiss maestro, they can’t even hate him.

The only way I can see the other top men’s players beating the Federer is if they gang up on him three-against-one, but I don’t think the rules allow for that kind of competition.

But that doesn’t mean the other players and Roddick can give up on trying to beat Federer.

The only way to get to Federer is to be aggressive and attack, but that’s not easy because that’s just not the way players are thinking these days. Roddick has to try and crowd him and make him try and pass.

There’s always the hope that Federer has an off day, but that’s a tough strategy to bank for the other men trying to win majors.

No matter what progress the American makes, however, barring injury or an unlikely loss of form, Federer, one year the older of the two, will always be there to block him at his two favourite tournaments, Wimbledon and the US Open.

Roddick though feels that inch by inch he is getting closer to working out how to match the sport’s supreme talent.

Read More » Aussie Open semis odds: Can Roddick beat Federer?

Greener pastures were the compelling reason that Mexicans crossed the border to America. To newer generation Latinos, the reason might simply be to go get a pizza.

In a move that would leave Eva Longoria torn between patriotism and weight control, a US pizza chain is accepting Mexican pesos starting next week. Come Monday, Dallas-based Pizza Patron will allow all of its 59 pizza parlors to perform sale transactions using the foreign currency, wooing Hispanic Americans over.

The marketing ploy is arguably a first for a US business save for the currency crossovers that have been going on in border towns for a time now. It is hoped to attract what TIME Magazine reported in 2005 as “the country’s largest ethnic minority” — 41.3 million Hispanics commanding close to $600 billion in buying power.

“Spanish has become the U.S.’s de facto second language, Nuevo Latino has taken its rightful place in haute cuisine, the sounds of rock en Español and reggaeton have filtered up the charts, and Latinos not only star on but own and manage major league baseball teams”, according to TIME Magazine.

The Pizza Patron franchise operates business in five US states: Texas, Nevada, California, Arizona, and Colorado. Most of its customers, to begin with, belong to the Hispanic communities, so that “”unlike many other businesses, for us, [the decision] makes sense”, says brand development director Andrew Gamm.

The peso pizza welcomes 2007 in the wake of a year when racially fueled movie Crash won the Oscar, and reality TV show Survivor’s ethnic grouping of tribes so much as made it to Bodog betting props. Also, the offer comes in the midst of an America struggling to reserve for its people jobs across tiers that are potentially handed to some 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants instead.

Not everyone is charmed. Wrote a…

Read More » Texan Pizza Accepts Mexican Peso, a Nod to Latinos

“The Lord didn’t say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that.”

Thus was quoted televangelist Pat Robertson as saying, in regard to a recent conversation he had with God, in which the Absolute Supreme Being sounded off about an upcoming massacre albeit not categorically. Pat went public with it Tuesday, declaring God informed him of a mass killing by way of a terrorist attack on the United States in 2007.

Verily, in the 1400s, it was Joan of Arc who was a messenger of God in sparing the French people of mass murder.

Come the 2000s, it is Pat of The 700 Club: televangelist, Republican, founder of the Christian Coalition and Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), among others, and a messenger of God for the American people.

How tight are Pat and God, really, that they should be in speaking terms? Is this the first time God communicated with man in care of Pat to deliver an admonitory memo? Has Pat ever misread his pal God before, or has he always been spot-on that we should all pack our bags and move to Sweden? Will Pat be excellent in sports handicapping, and ought he be a bettor or the bet in Bodog betting propositions?

Marion Gordon ‘Pat’ Robertson is a Southern Baptist. He opposes abortion and gay rights. He was not always a televangelist: he held an authentic position in church when, in 1961, he was ordained as a minister of the Southern Baptist Convention. Pat resigned as…

Read More » From God c/o Pat Robertson: US Mass Killing in 2007

Only at Bodog Sportsbook can you bet on what you think the sex of Tiger Woods’ first baby will be!

The world’s no. 1 golfer turned 31 on Saturday and surprised friends and family by sharing some pretty big news: his wife, Elin Nordegren, is expecting their first child this summer.

“Obviously, we couldn’t be happier and our families are thrilled,” Woods said on his Web site. “I have always wanted to be a dad. I just wish my father could be around to share the experience.”

Woods and Nordegren of Sweden married in October 2004, and although he did not say when in the summer the baby is due, simple math tells us it will likely happen sometime between the US Open and British Open.

Will Tiger Woods & Elin Nordegren deliver their baby closer to the US Open or the British Open? Get your Tiger Woods baby bets at Bodog!

So, that means the world’s No. 1 player will skip the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship next week on Maui.

“I’m going to stick close to home for the next few weeks,” he said. Woods will start his 2007 season playing in…

Read More » Bet on Tiger Woods’ new baby at Bodog Sportsbook

Hmm. Did I have it backwards, and mean Hilton sues paparazzi for lewd celeb photos? Nope.

Often it is celebrities who take paparazzi to court for exposing them in private, usually embarrassing moments caught on camera. The tables are turned this time when paparazzi do the suing, not of a mega-popular celebrity but close. A Hilton is under fire for raunchy celebrity pictures but she isn’t Paris. He is Perez.

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton is being sued for the unauthorized use of several celebrity photos owned by X17 Inc.

The photo agency based on Los Angeles claims Hilton, whose celebrity blog PerezHilton.com is also based on Los Angeles, has used 51 celeb photos of theirs without permission, payment, or credit.

Perez Hilton is the online alias of Mario Lavandeira. He runs a celebrity blog out of LA, where he posts tabloid-flavored celebrity pictures along with captions often to deride the celebs. He has received a joint letter from seven other photo agencies demanding that he stop using their celeb photos, but they have yet to sue him and X17 was the first to do so.

What are these celebrity photos owned by X17 and allegedly used by Hilton in his blog? See if you recognize any: Britney Spears exposing her tush (There are only a million versions of it out there!), Kevin Federline pumping gas (Why would anyone waste time posting that one?), and a pregnant Katie Holmes (Good luck IDing which one in plenty).

“We’ve had trouble with a lot of bloggers, but he’s the biggest, and the most arrogant and pigheaded about it, frankly,” says Brandy Navarre, who co-owns X17 with her…

Read More » Hilton Sued by Paparazzi for Lewd Celeb Photos

Cellphones pose NO cancer risk to users, for crying out loud. Or anyway, it’s too early to tell.

A study from Denmark is the biggest and strongest yet to come out in favor of the stance that mobile phones do not trigger cancer. It presents more overwhelming proof than previously that heavy cellphone users are no more likely to have cancer than rare to non-users.

It’s just that people have not been using cellphones long enough for experts to know for sure, and for that, we need time.

Questions linking cellphones to health risks have floated for as long as the words SMSing and txts have entered our vernacular. Radio frequency energy from mobile phones penetrates the brain’s outer edge, which may or may not increase the possibility of brain tumors, cancers of the head and neck, or leukemia in frequent and long-time users.

A concern has also been raised recently by a pan-European study regarding genetic damage. And then there is that issue of cellphones causing supermodels to hit their personal assistants or even unknowing passersby. The World Health Organization thus far has no definitive conclusion to these questions.

As you’re picking out who will win Superbowl 2007 for hours over the cellphone, could you be picking up the Big C? It’s all talk, according to the study from Denmark, where there are 5.118 million mobile cellular lines in use compared to…

Read More » Cellphones Don’t Cause Cancer, Wanna Bet?

I hate to say it but Paris Hilton isn’t cheap, and there are billions of dollars of reasons why not.

She is a billionaire heiress, just like sister Nicky Hilton, or cousins Amanda Hearst and Lydia Hearst-Shaw, or Georgina Bloomberg and Holly Branson. Celebutantes of the likes of them have so penetrated popular culture that we’ve started believing we live next door to one of them. Not a chance.

The fact is they belong to the richest Two Percent, which a recent report confirms still owns more than 50% of the world’s household wealth. Your favorite rich b!tch, whose BFFs like to parade their nipples and crotches in pictures, is literally an heiress to father Richard Hilton’s multibillion dollar fortune that includes the chain of Hilton Hotels.

The report comes from the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research. It is a followup to an earlier revelation, in 2000, that the richest One Percent of adults owned 40% of global assets. Six years later, surprise, surprise, they still do.

The original report found that wealth is concentrated — an overwhelming 90% of all the world’s riches — in the United States and North America, Europe, and some high-income nations of Asia-Pacific. Countries like China and India, for example, are getting rich fast, while countries like Bangladesh, due to micro-credit institutions, are helping their people gain more personal wealth.

Average wealth in the US was $144,000 per person in 2000, and in Japan, $181,000. Compare this with India, where it’s a mere $1,100 per capita, or Indonesia, with $1,400. According to…

Read More » Paris Hilton Isn’t Cheap, She’s a Billionaire Heiress