LOS ANGELES (AP) ? "The Artist" waltzed away with its first wins of Hollywood's awards season.
The black-and-white ode to the silent-film era directed by Michel Hazanavicius led winners with four honors at Thursday's 17th annual Critics' Choice Awards, which are presented by the 250 members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association.
"The Artist" took the evening's top prize, best picture, as well honors for best score, costume design and director.
"I made a silent movie," French director Hazanavicius joked in English while accepting the award for best picture. "I don't like to speak so much."
"The Help," the adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel about black maids speaking out about their white employers during the civil-rights movement, followed behind "The Artist" with three wins in the ceremony's acting categories: Viola Davis as best actress, Octavia Spencer as best supporting actress and the film's cast as best acting ensemble.
"I absolutely knew I wanted to be an actor because I wanted to be somebody," an emotional Davis said accepting her award. "I wanted to dream big and make a mark somehow. That's something absolutely that Aibileen was not afforded. I considered it my honor to pay homage to these women at this time period who were not allowed to dream and not allowed to find their purpose."
Others who accepted trophies at the lavish Hollywood Palladium ceremony included George Clooney as best actor for "The Descendants," Christopher Plummer as best supporting actor for "Beginners" and Thomas Horn as best young actor for "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."
"Frankly, I didn't even imagine I would get this, but I have," beamed a surprised Horn.
Funnymen Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel hosted the ceremony, which was broadcast live on VH1.
Other winners included "Bridesmaids" as best comedy movie, "Drive" as best action movie, "Rango" as best animated feature, "Midnight in Paris" as best original screenplay, "Moneyball" as best adapted screenplay, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" for best editing and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" for best makeup and best sound.
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VH1 is owned by Viacom Inc.
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AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.
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Online:
http://www.criticschoice.com
ama awards 2011 ama awards 2011 uekman uekman music awards music awards giants eagles
Dear Lifehacker,
Meetings are particularly boring because you have nothing to do but listen. If you can find a way to participate, that can make a big difference. One of the best ways to do this (if there's not a specific task available to you) is to ask questions. If the leader of the meeting asks you to hold questions until the end of the meeting, you can always just write them down as they come to you and save them for later. Of course, if you're actually able to give input during the meeting you should attempt to contribute as much as possible. While that may cause the meeting to last slightly longer, at least you will have something to do while you're required to sit through it.
I used to draw during every meeting. Some people find this rude, but I find people talking at me inefficiently for hours on end to be rude so it's kind of a fair trade. But in all seriousness, drawing is a good thing to do during a meeting because it can actually help you focus. If you're concerned about offending the meeting leader, it might help to talk to them in advance and let them know that drawing helps you focus and you'll be listening the entire time, but for the most part you shouldn't really have that problem. So long as you don't start drawing massive genitals or your boss' slow and steady disembowelment, drawing can be a healthy and easy way to pay attention and avoid boredom in a meeting.
Perhaps it's a long shot, but if much of your day is taken up by meetings and your time could be used more efficiently, it would stand to reason that your boss/manager would like to hear how that happens. Nobody actually likes meetings, but sometimes they're a necessary evil. That said, there are often ways you can create a meeting structure that doesn't take up a ton of time and suck the energy out of everyone involved.
Not wanting to be outdone by their larger rivals, Sprint also has a big LTE-related announcement today. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse just confirmed to everyone at Citigroup's 22nd Global Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference that Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio will be the company's 
HBO delivered a figurative slap this week to its growing competitor Netflix. The premium cable network has apparently cut Netflix off from discounted DVDs, forcing the company to look elsewhere for supply
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