There is no correlation between FTSE 100 bosses’ pay and the performance of the companies they run, a report reveals.

Visit link:
FTSE bosses ‘not paid by results’

Since audio recordings of last week’s health-care arguments before the Supreme Court were released, the performance of Solicitor General Donald Verrilli has been criticized. But factors such as the number of times a lawyer is interrupted or hesitates while arguing in our nation’s highest court are not a sound basis for judging the “ Worst Week in Washington ” — or even for guessing how the court will ultimately rule. Those who understand the challenges of Supreme Court argument — people who have argued before the court — have not criticized Verrilli’s performance. It is instructive to look closely at some rules of this particular game. Read full article > >

Visit link:
The flawed case against Donald Verrilli

By the time the second season premiere of “The Voice” starts after the Super Bowl , we’re well-acquainted with the four judges, thanks to many ads during the big game. Plus, Blake Shelton sang “America the Beautiful” with his wife, Miranda Lambert, before kickoff. Kelly Clarkson’s stellar national anthem brought up comparisons of Christina Aguilera’s incident last year. And Cee Lo Green nearly stole the halftime show from Madonna with a truly genius costume (though some will argue if they’ll all be upstaged by a certain gesture made by M.I.A. during the performance). Read full article > >

View post:
‘The Voice’ post-Super Bowl episode: Season 2 premiere

Sonja Sohn stood in front of her audience, confident about the performance she was about to give. This wasn’t surprising, considering her history as an actress who was just coming off a five-year run as Det. Shakima “Kima” Greggs on HBO’s “The Wire,” one of the most critically acclaimed shows in television history. To project professionalism, she had pulled her hair back and was wearing pressed slacks and a collared shirt. Her motivation was clear, her research was done, and after many months of preparation, she was ready. Read full article > >

Read the original:
After ‘The Wire’ ended, actress Sonja Sohn couldn’t leave Baltimore’s troubled streets behind

A moment of silence — oh, fine, a whole movie of silence — for “ The Artist ,” a near-wordless film (A wordless French film! A wordless black-and-white French film!) that took 10 nominations at Tuesday’s Academy Awards announcement, becoming the first silent film in 83 years to win a best picture nomination. Nods also went to Jean Dujardin for his performance in a leading role, Berenice Bejo for supporting actress and Michel Hazanavicius for directing. Fear not. Google helps you pronounce. Ah-za-na-Veeee-syoos. Read full article > >

Link:
Oscar nominations’ theme in 2012? Nostalgia.

PASADENA, Calif. — Hosting the Golden Globe Awards has become his “extreme sport,” Ricky Gervais said Friday, a couple of days before his third crack at the annual trophy show on NBC. Appearing at Winter TV Press Tour 2012, Gervais insisted that he “stands by . . . every joke I did last year, and I don’t care what people think” of his performance as host of the 2011 Globes. Read full article > >

Read more from the original source:
Ricky Gervais ready to rumble as host of Golden Globes 2012

The new year has arrived, and so investors are inundated with all manner of lists: Best and worst stocks for 2012, forecasts of where the economy is going, favorite investments for the year and more. What’s an investor to do? You should start by ignoring those lists. Let’s conduct a little experiment to demonstrate why: Do a quick Google search for “where to invest in 2011.” I read through the first dozen or so. For the most part, the performance was pretty awful. Before the excuse-making starts — 2011 was an unusual year, the ECB/Fed intervened, etc. — let me clue you in to this fact: Forecasters are pretty awful every year. Read full article > >

See the original post:
Investing in 2012: Get ahead of forecaster folly

A year ago, I dodged doing any actual, serious reporting during Thanksgiving week by writing a column picking the Washington region’s “Turkeys of the Year.” Why not make it a tradition? The awards recognize outstanding acts of foolishness, incompetence and other self-defeating or outrageous behavior. Rereading last year’s column , it seems that 2011 fell short of 2010 in displays of blatant ineptitude in our area. Nobody this year equaled the performance of Jack Johnson , the No. 1 winner a year ago. The then Prince George’s county executive told his wife to hide bribe money in her underwear while the FBI listened in on a wiretap. Read full article > >

Continued here:
Foolishness aplenty: D.C. region’s ‘Turkeys of the Year’ for 2011

As the GOP candidates have been thrashing it out in debates that seem to occur every couple of hours or so, one almost misses the iconic wink that enraged or beguiled the nation a political season ago. Admit it. You miss Sarah Palin just a little: The wink, the red shoes, the pointing finger, the heck-with-ya attitude and, given the performance of some of her Republican colleagues, her Taser-like intelligence. Read full article > >

Read the original post:
Perry, Cain and a parade of painful moments

NEW YORK — President Obama is not on the ballot in Tuesday’s surprisingly close congressional election here, but Republicans in Queens are doing everything they can to make the race a verdict on his performance. This bastion of Democrats is tilting toward a 70-year-old Republican businessman who has never been elected to any office, and whose campaign is focused on “sending a message” to Obama — over the economy and his support for a Palestinian state and rolling back Israel’s borders to 1967 lines, a big issue for many Jews in the Ninth District. Read full article > >

Link:
GOP hopes for upset special election win in N.Y. Democratic district

NEW YORK — President Obama is not on the ballot in Tuesday’s surprisingly close congressional election here, but Republicans in Queens are doing everything they can to make the race a verdict on his performance. This bastion of Democrats is tilting toward a 70-year-old Republican businessman who has never been elected to any office, and whose campaign is focused on “sending a message” to Obama — over the economy and his support for a Palestinian state and rolling back Israel’s borders to 1967 lines, a big issue for many Jews in the Ninth District. Read full article > >

Read more here:
GOP hopes for upset special election win in N.Y. Democratic district

MEXICO CITY — Hours after his capture, authorities paraded the alleged mass murderer Oscar Osvaldo Garcia before the news media to have his picture taken. This performance — called “the presentation” — is an almost daily ritual in Mexico. What is new: Mexican law enforcement officers are increasingly bolstering these high-profile “perp walks” with edited video clips of the accused confessing their crimes on camera. In Mexico, the bad guys are allowed to say they want a lawyer. Instead, they say, “I killed 600 people.” Read full article > >

Here is the original post:
For Mexico’s accused criminals, made-for-TV confessions

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki faces a new challenge Tuesday with the expiration of the 100-day cooling off period he set to quell violent protests nationwide, as the government struggles to implement reforms and expand services. As protests threatened governments across the Middle East this year, Maliki moved quickly in late February to head off unrest in Iraq following the deaths of more than two dozen people in clashes between demonstrators and security forces. Maliki, under pressure both from the public and the country’s fragile coalition government, promised at the time that he would spend the next three months evaluating the performance of cabinet ministers and would ask for the resignations of those found to be not up to the job. Read full article > >

Read more:
Maliki faces possibility of new Iraq protests

The MTV Movie Awards show is not exactly the Oscars. In terms of classiness, it’s not even the Golden Globes or the People’s Choic Awards. The annual, decidedly silly ceremony — which airs live tonight at 9 ET on MTV — involves handing out popcorn bucket trophies in such illustrious categories as Best Scared-as-[Expletive] Performance and, more importantly, relentlessly promoting movies coming to a multiplex near you. It also specializes in delivering unexpected and decidedly crude TV moments carefully designed to keep MTV in the pop culturally relevant category. (Please see Sacha Baron Cohen sticking his posterior into Eminem’s face a couple of years ago. Or don’t, since it’s probably taken two years to erase that image from your brain.) Read full article > >

More here:
The MTV Movie Awards: What to expect

In 2007, the Italian tenor Giuseppe Filianoti gave a triumphant New York performance in Francesco Cilea’s opera “L’Arlesiana” at Carnegie Hall. Filianoti, 33, had won fans in his Metropolitan Opera debut; this performance cemented the love. “Remember his name,” said the Associated Press. “He’s going to be a major tenor.” In 2008, Filianoti was in the headlines again — because La Scala had uninvited him from its opening night at the very last minute. In Milan, Filianoti was supposed to sing the title role of Verdi’s “Don Carlo,” a significantly heavier part for his light, lyric voice. Was the problem a mistake he made during the dress rehearsal; general backstage intrigue; or the fact that he was over-singing, taking on roles that were too big for him? Read full article > >

Read more from the original source:
Promising tenors, hitting a low note