Gongs for the good and bad
QUESTION Has anyone won an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year?
The Golden Raspberry Awards, popularly known as The Razzies, are a parody award show held a day before the Oscars, honouring the worst performances from hollywood the previous year.
Established by U.S. film buff John J. B. Wilson, the first Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 31, 1981. To date, three people have won Razzies and Oscars in the same year.
In 1993, composer Alan Menken, along with lyricist Jack Feldman, was awarded the Razzie for Worst Original Song for high Times, hard Times, a song from the film Newsies, a Disney musical about newspaper boys featuring a young Christian Bale. The lyrics were excruciating: ‘High times, Hard times Sometimes the living is sweet And sometimes there’s nothing to eat But I always land on my feet’ The next day Menken won the Oscar for best Original Song for A Whole New World from Disney’s Aladdin, this time lyrics were provided by Tim Rice. To date Menken has eight Oscars.
In 1998, Brian helgeland won the award for Worst Screenplay for his work on the Kevin Costner film The Postman. helgeland subsequently picked up the
Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for L.A. Confidential. In a later interview he said he’d put his Oscar and Razzie side-by-side on the shelf to remind him of ‘the quixotic nature of hollywood’.
The most famous occasion was when Sandra Bullock showed up, in person, to the 2010 Golden Raspberry Award ceremony at the Barnsdall Theatre in hollywood. She was accompanied by three people wearing black ‘Team Bullock’ Tshirts and pulling a bright-red trolley full of All About Steve DVDs, the film that earned her the Worst Actress award.
The very next day, Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar for The Blind Side. She wasn’t the first celebrity to show up in person to the awards. Paul Verhoeven received a standing ovation when he accepted Worst Picture and Worst Director awards for the 1995 film Showgirls, at the Razzie ceremony at The hollywood Roosevelt hotel.
Charlie Francis, London SE10.
QUESTION Why are non-stick pans wet when everything else is dry in a dishwasher?
NON-STICK pans and, to a lesser extent, plastic materials such as Tupperware, retain water as the surface is coated with a hydrophobic layer that repels water, so the water will form beads.
Because the contact angle between water and the hydrophobic material is higher, it causes rounder drops to form, while hydrophilic material has the water spread out flatter on it. With more surface area, the sheets of water on hydrophilic materials, such as glass and china, evaporate faster than the drops of water on a hydrophobic surface.
It should be noted that unless the manufacturer specifically states that an item is dishwasher safe, one should not put cookware with a non-stick coating in the dishwasher. Over time, the dishwashing process can break down the coating, ruining the non-stick finish.
Jane Marsden, Nottingham.
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