SO WHO WON THE TV SET?Byline: Fred Shuster Staff Writer By our stopwatch, the shortest acceptance speech at Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony was given by Michael Dudok de Wit, winner of the Animated Short trophy for ``Father and Daughter.'' De Wit kept it short and sweet and came in under the wire at a record-breaking 15 seconds. Compare that to some of the night's biggest yawners, the l-o-n-g thank- yous delivered by Russell Crowe, Julia Roberts and the producers of Best Picture winner ``Gladiator gladiator (Latin; swordsman) Professional combatant in ancient Rome who engaged in fights to the death as sport. Gladiators originally performed at Etruscan funerals, the intent being to give the dead man armed attendants in the next world. .'' What's the big deal about length? Well, even though those little golden men are priceless, the night's shortest acceptance speech was worth $2,500. That's the exact price of the high-definition television high-definition television (HDTV) Any system producing significantly greater picture resolution than that of the ordinary 525-line (625-line in Europe) television screen. Conventional television transmits signals in analog form. Oscar telecast producer Gil Cates n. pl. 1. Provisions; food; viands; especially, luxurious food; delicacies; dainties. Cates for which Apicius could not pay. - Shurchill. Choicest cates and the fiagon's best spilth. - R. Browning. offered to the most terse winner. It was a largely successful ploy on Cates' part to keep Oscar winners from their notorious spontaneous ramblings. Over 73 years of Academy Awards, the thank-you speech often offers the night's most memorable - and revealing - ad-libbed moments. The longest Oscar speech in history, incidentally, belongs to ``Mrs. Miniver'' actress Greer Garson Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson, CBE (September 29, 1904 - April 6, 1996) was an Academy Award-winning English actress very popular during the World War II years and was the leading lady in many pictures with Walter Pidgeon. , who spent more than five minutes in 1943 thanking everyone from the academy to the doctor who birthed her. Alfred Hitchcock may have given the shortest - a brief ``thank you'' when the master of suspense received the Irving G. Thalberg award in 1967. Cates said last week that he tried everything from humor to charm to various types of persuasion to keep the brevity factor high. Sunday, he opted for good old-fashioned bribery. He had actually asked winners to keep it under 45 seconds. Most did that. Many came in at 40 seconds or less. The show still went overtime by 30 minutes. While the animated de Wit made do with a speedy ``thanks,'' others clutched their golden guys and went whole hog whole hog Slang n. The whole way; the fullest extent: went the whole hog and ordered dessert. adv. Completely; unreservedly: swallowed the official version whole hog. , especially the top winners. Russell Crowe was timed at two minutes, 15 seconds. Did any of Sunday's winners really want the prize? Certainly not Roberts, who came in at about three minutes "Three Minutes" is the 46th episode of Lost. It is the twenty-second episode of the second season. The episode was directed by Stephen Williams, and written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. It first aired on May 17, 2006 on ABC. , starting her marathon thusly thus·ly adv. Usage Problem Thus. Usage Note: Thusly was introduced in the 19th century as an alternative to thus in sentences such as Hold it thus or He put it thus. : ``I have a television ...'' and in the middle of the speech directed those behind the camera to turn off that clock so she could go on and on and on, thanking everyone ... except Erin Brockovich, the woman whose story she starred in. |
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