'The King's Speech,' 'True Grit' top Academy Award nominations

"The King's Speech" dominated the Oscar nominations on Tuesday morning, earning 12 nods including best picture and best lead actor for Colin Firth as King George VI, who battles to eradicate his stammer before he unexpectedly takes the throne.

Joel and Ethan Coen's spirited remake of the western "True Grit" followed with 10 nominations for the 83rd annual Academy Awards, including best picture. "The Social Network" and "Inception" scored eight apiece.

Those four films are in the running for best picture with six other movies: "Black Swan," "The Fighter," "The Kids Are All Right," "127 Hours," "Toy Story 3" and "Winter's Bone." "Toy Story 3" is also nominated in four more categories, including best animated feature...

(latimes.com)

Dead birds falling from sky still mystify experts

Scientists still don’t know what’s causing flocks of birds to drop from the sky in the South, even as several hundred more fell dead onto a Louisiana highway.

The puzzling phenomenon started on New Year’s Eve when thousands of blackbirds were found dead in central Arkansas. Townsfolk spent their holiday weekend removing the remains of between 4,000 and 5,000 dead red-winged blackbirds. Scientists have descended on the town, trying to find a cause for the mass die-off.

In the latest incident early this week, some 500 birds were discovered scattered on a rural road in Louisiana's Pointe Coupee Parish, 300 miles south of the Arkansas site. Officials there are stumped as to what caused the birds to plunge to their death.

Wildlife officials in both states were sending carcasses to researchers at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., and the University of Georgia. No one is yet connecting the two mass deaths, but the Audubon Society is closely monitoring the situation.

“Mass bird die-offs can be caused by starvation, storms, disease, pesticides, collisions with manmade structures or human disturbance,” says Greg Butcher, Audubon’s director of bird conservation. “Scientists are still investigating what happened to the birds in Louisiana and Arkansas, but initial findings indicate that these are isolated incidents that were probably caused by disturbance and disorientation.”

The birds that died –- red-winged blackbirds, common grackles, brown-headed cowbirds and European starlings –- are abundant species that flock together in large nighttime roosts during the winter months. Roosts can contain from tens of thousands to 20 million individuals or more, according to Audubon.

The U.S. Geological Service's website lists about 90 mass deaths of birds and other wildlife from June through Dec. 12. Five list deaths of at least 1,000 birds and another 12 show at least 500 dead birds.

The largest was near Houston, Minn., where about 4,000 water birds died between Sept. 6 and Nov. 26 from infestations of various parasites.

Red-winged blackbirds are among North America's most abundant birds, with somewhere between 100 million and 200 million nationwide, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, N.Y.

-- Julie Cart

Dino De Laurentiis, storied movie producer, dies at 91.

Dino De Laurentiis, the flamboyant Italian movie producer who helped resurrect his nation's film industry after World War II and for more than six decades produced films as diverse as the 1954 Federico Fellini classic "La Strada" and the 1976 remake of "King Kong," has died. He was 91.

De Laurentiis, who moved to the United States in the 1970s and continued to produce films until 2007, died Wednesday night at his Beverly Hills home, his daughter Raffaella De Laurentiis, said in a statement Thursday. The cause was not given.

A consummate showman whose epic career belongs to a bygone era of Hollywood grandeur, De Laurentiis produced more than 160 films.

2007 Decameron Pie (producer)

2007 L'ultima legione (producer)

2007 Hannibal Lecter - Le origini del male (producer)

2002 Red Dragon (producer)

2001 Hannibal (producer)

2000 U-571 (producer)

1997/I Breakdown - La trappola (producer)

1996 Specchio della memoria (producer)

1995 Slave of Dreams (TV movie) (producer)

1995 Assassins (executive producer)

1995 Solomon & Sheba (TV movie) (producer)

1993 Body of evidence, Corpo del reato (producer)

1992 L'armata delle tenebre (executive producer)

1992 Sette criminali e un bassotto (producer)

1991 A volte ritornano (TV movie) (executive producer)

1990 Ore disperate (producer)

1986 King Kong 2 (executive producer)

1986 Tai-Pan (executive producer)

1986 Manhunter - frammenti di un omicidio (producer)

1986 Brivido (executive producer)

1985 Unico indizio la luna piena (producer)

1985 L'anno del dragone (producer)

1985 L'occhio del gatto (producer)

1984 Dune (executive producer)

1984 Conan il distruttore (executive producer)

1984 Il Bounty (executive producer)

1983 La zona morta (executive producer - uncredited)

1982 Amityville Possession (producer)

1982 Conan il barbaro (executive producer - uncredited)

1981 Ragtime (producer)

1980 Flash Gordon (producer)

1979 Uragano (producer)

1978 Il re degli zingari (executive producer)

1978 Pollice da scasso (executive producer)

1977 L'uovo del serpente (producer)

1977 L'orca assassina (executive producer)

1977 Sfida a White Buffalo (executive producer)

1976 King Kong (producer)

1976 Drum, l'ultimo mandingo (producer)

1976 Buffalo Bill e gli indiani (executive producer)

1976 Stupro (executive producer)

1975 I tre giorni del Condor (executive producer - uncredited)

1975 Mandingo (producer)

1974 Porgi l'altra guancia (producer)

1974 Il giustiziere della notte (producer - uncredited)

1974 Uomini duri (producer)

1974 Crazy Joe (producer)

1974 Una matta, matta, matta corsa in Russia (producer)

1973 Serpico (executive producer)

1973 Valdez, il mezzosangue (producer - uncredited)

1972 La più bella serata della mia vita (producer)

1972 Lo Scopone scientifico (producer)

1972 Boccaccio (producer)

1972 Causa di divorzio (producer)

1972 La violenza: Quinto potere (producer)

1972 Carteggio Valachi (producer)

1971 Io non vedo, tu non parli, lui non sente (producer)

1971 Osvobozhdenie: Napravleniye glavnogo udara (producer)

1971 La spina dorsale del diavolo (producer)

1970 Sledge (producer)

1970/I Waterloo (executive producer, producer)

1970 Io non scappo... fuggo (producer)

1969 Una breve stagione (producer)

1969 Il primo premio si chiama Irene (documentary) (producer)

1969 Barbagia (producer)

1969 Nerosubianco (producer)

1969 L'amante di Gramigna (producer)

1969 Fräulein Doktor (producer)

1968 Roma come Chicago (producer)

1968 Barbarella (producer)

1968 Lo sbarco di Anzio (producer)

1968 Capriccio all'italiana (producer)

1968 Banditi a Milano (producer)

1968 L'odissea (TV mini-series) (producer)

1968 Diabolik (producer)

1968 Vietnam, guerra e pace (documentary) (producer)

1967 Amare per vivere (producer)

1967 Matchless (producer)

1967 Le streghe (producer)

1967 Vietnam guerra senza fronte (documentary) (producer)

1966 La bibbia (producer)

1966 Se tutte le donne del mondo (executive producer)

1965 La battaglia dei giganti (executive producer - uncredited)

1965 La tigre profumata alla dinamite (producer)

1965 I tre volti (producer)

1965 Menage all'italiana (producer)

1965 Thrilling (producer)

1964 Il disco volante (producer)

1964 La mia signora (producer)

1964 Cadavere per signora (producer)

1963 Il boom (producer)

1963 Il diavolo (producer)

1963 Le ore dell'amore (producer)

1963 Il processo di Verona (producer)

1963 Il giovedì (producer)

1963 Il maestro di Vigevano (producer)

1962 Mafioso (executive producer)

1962 Il commissario (executive producer)

1962 Le pillole di Ercole (producer)

1961 Barabba (producer)

1961 Una vita difficile (producer)

1961 Il giudizio universale (producer)

1961 I due nemici (executive producer)

1961 Il re di Poggioreale (producer)

1961 Maciste contro il vampiro (executive producer)

1961 Il federale (executive producer)

1961 Crimen (producer)

1960 Tutti a casa (producer)

1960 Sotto dieci bandiere (producer)

1960 Jovanka e le altre (producer)

1960 Il gobbo (producer)

1960 Io amo, tu ami (documentary) (executive producer)

1959 La grande guerra (producer)

1958 La tempesta (producer)

1958 Fortunella (producer)

1958 La diga sul Pacifico (producer)

1958 Guardia, ladro e cameriera (producer)

1957 Le notti di Cabiria (producer)

1957 Guendalina (executive producer)

1957 Malafemmena (producer)

1956 Guerra e pace (producer)

1955 La bella mugnaia (producer)

1955 Le diciottenni (producer)

1955 Ragazze d'oggi (producer)

1954 La donna del fiume (co-producer - as Dino de Laurentiis)

1954 Siluri umani (producer)

1954 Attila, il flagello di Dio (producer)

1954 Un americano a Roma (producer)

1954 L'oro di Napoli (producer)

1954 La romana (producer)

1954 Ulisse (producer)

1954 Mambo (producer)

1954 La strada (producer)

1954 Miseria e nobiltà (producer)

1954 Dov'è la libertà...? (producer)

1954 Un giorno in pretura (producer - uncredited)

1953 Anni facili (producer)

1953 La lupa (co-producer)

1953 Le infedeli (producer)

1953 I sette dell'orsa maggiore (producer)

1952 Fratelli d'Italia (producer)

1952 I tre corsari (producer)

1952 La tratta delle bianche (producer)

1952 Europa '51 (associate producer)

1952 Gli undici moschettieri (documentary) (producer)

1952 Jolanda la figlia del corsaro nero (producer)

1952 Totò a colori (producer)

1951 Anna (producer)

1951 Guardie e ladri (producer)

1951 Il padrone del vapore (producer)

1951 L'ultimo incontro (producer)

1951 Totò terzo uomo (producer)

1951 Accidenti alle tasse!! (producer)

1950 Il brigante Musolino (producer)

1950 Napoli milionaria (co-producer)

1950 Romanticismo (producer)

1949 Il lupo della Sila (producer)

1949 Adamo ed Eva (producer)

1949 Riso amaro (producer)

1949 I pompieri di Viggiù (producer)

1948 Il cavaliere misterioso (producer)

1948 Molti sogni per le strade (producer)

1947 La figlia del capitano (producer)

1946 Il bandito (producer)

1946 Aquila Nera (producer)

1941 L'amore canta (producer)