Independent Spirit Award Winners 2013

The 2013 Film Independent Spirits Awards were handed out in Santa Monica, CA today and lots of Oscar frontrunners cemented their status by dominating in their categories once more.

Check out all the winners below:


Best Feature


Beasts of the Southern Wild

Bernie

Keep the Lights On

Moonrise Kingdom

Silver Linings Playbook


BEST FEMALE LEAD


Linda Cardellini, Return

Emayatzy Corinealdi, Middle of Nowhere

Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook


Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Smashed


BEST MALE LEAD


Jack Black, Bernie

Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

John Hawkes, The Sessions


Thure Lindhardt, Keep the Lights On

Matthew McConaughey, Killer Joe

Wendell Pierce, Four


BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE


Rosemarie DeWitt, Your Sister's Sister

Ann Dowd, Compliance

Helen Hunt, The Sessions


Brit Marling, Sound of My Voice

Lorraine Toussaint, Middle of Nowhere


BEST SUPPORTING MALE


Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike


David Oyelowo, Middle of Nowhere

Michael Pena, End of Watch

Sam Rockwell, Seven Psychopaths

Bruce Willis, Moonrise Kingdom


BEST DIRECTOR


Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom

Julia Loktev, The Loneliest Planet

David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook


Ira Sachs, Keep the Lights On

Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild


BEST SCREENPLAY


Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom

Zoe Kazan, Ruby Sparks

Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths

David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook


Ira Sachs, Keep the Lights On

For the full list of winners, click here.

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Death of ex-Post employee 'suspicious'








The death of a former New York Post employee whose body was found in her Cobble Hill apartment Friday is being investigated as suspicious, sources said.

Elizabeth Borst, 55, was found on her kitchen floor after her husband, Gaetano Lisco, called neighbors and asked them to check on the victim because he couldn't reach her.

Although Borst's death has not been ruled a homicide, the autopsy on her was inconclusive, and the victim had several unexplained injuries, sources said.

Borst suffered broken ribs, a broken wrist, a ruptured spleen and a gash to her head, sources said. Toxicology reports have not been completed.



The victim called cops on her husband for a domestic dispute March 4, 2010 but no one was injured, records show. He was grilled by detectives after she was found dead but released.

kconley@nypost.com










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South Beach Wine & Food Festival changes Miami's culinary scene, impacts economy




















For Miami restaurateurs, this is Showtime.

With dozens of top chefs — Bobby Flay, Todd English, Daniel Boloud and Masaharu Morimoto among the list — in town for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, the pressure is on everywhere, from Michy’s to the new Catch Miami. The goal: Show everyone from around the country that Miami’s food scene has arrived on the national stage.

Chef Michelle Bernstein’s staff whipped up dishes designed to impress guests at Michy’s — like foie gras, oxtail and apple tarte tatin — while she juggled menus for multiple events. Bernstein kept her cellphone handy to make sure any chef friends could get a table, even though her namesake restaurant was sold out.





As always, Joe’s Stone Crab was a must-do stop for many, including Paula Deen and New York restaurateur Danny Meyer. Aussie Chef Curtis Stone attracted a string of admirers as he ate his way around town, with stops at Prime 112, Pubbelly Sushi and Puerto Sagua. Khong River House and Yardbird Southern Table & Bar hosted Meyer, The Food Network’s Anne Burrell and Chef Anita Lo.

Michael’s Genuine was another hot spot.

“This is kind of our coming out party for Khong and it’s our chance to knock it out of the park and wow people,” said John Kunkel, owner of Khong and Yardbird.

Prime 112 owner Myles Chefetz admits he’s a fanatic about checking plates when they come back from a chef’s table. And he’s always on the lookout for the table ordering 20 different items, because that’s usually a restaurateur doing research.

“If you have Jean-Gorges or Bobby Flay eating at your restaurant, you want to make sure he has a great experience,” Chefetz said. “You want to put your best foot forward because you know you’re going to get scrutinized.”

The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival is not just a forum for impressing the culinary elite. It’s among the top three tourist draws for Miami restaurants and hotels. In its 12th year, the festival draws more than 60,000 people to Miami Beach for a weekend of decadence, featuring more than 50 events spread over four days.

It is neck and neck with two of the area’s other most prominent weekends: Art Basel and Presidents’ Day (which coincides with the Miami International Boat Show).

There’s the immediate economic impact, of course, but the festival has made its mark in other ways: helping transform Miami’s food scene from a cultural wasteland to one of the country’s hot spots, one where top chefs all want to set up shop.

“Twelve years ago I don’t know if you could even name five really good restaurants. Now, you can’t think of where you want to eat because there are so many good restaurants,” said Lee Brian Schrager, festival founder and vice president of communications for Southern Wine & Spirits, its host. “What the festival can take credit for is introducing the culinary world to the great talent down here, and really highlighting South Florida as a great dining destination.”

There has been plenty of indulgence to go around. Flay finally broke his losing streak and took home top honors at the Burger Bash with his award-winning crunchified green chili burger. At the Q, barbecue lovers had their choice of Al Roker’s lamb ribs with baked beans or Geoffrey Zakarian’s smoked tagarashi crusted tuna, among other offerings.





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Teen dead after Liberty City shooting




















Miami Police were investigating the murder of a male teenager in Liberty City early Saturday.

Marquis Bronson, 16, was shot near the intersection of 62nd Street and NW 11Tth Avenue, according to Miami Herald news partner CBS 4.

He was taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.





This post will be updated as more information becomes available.





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Double Take Celebrity Lookalikes



Alice Eve and Brooklyn Decker







ETonline has found the lookalikes to the stars and, as it turns out,
it's their Hollywood peers. Click the pics and let us know if you think
these celebs bear a resemblance to one another.








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Third arrest in video where little girls are forced to fight








Youtube


Stills from the sick YouTube hit, which has since been taken down.



Another teen was busted for forcing a fight between two grade-school girls in the Bronx that was captured on YouTube video, authorities said.

The 14-year-old was charged as a juvenile with endangering the welfare of a child, cops said.

Sources said she may be the sister of the 6-year-old victim, but it was not immediately clear and the two had separate names.

One other older girl is still being sought in the case, authorities said.

Two other girls, 14 and 15, were previously charged with child endangerment, police said.



The disturbing video showed the two youngsters, 6 and 7, hitting each other and grabbing one another's hair at Poe Park on Jan. 3 as older girls giggle and egg them on.

The video has since been taken off of You Tube.

The fight may have stemmed from a feud between two older girls over candy, sources said.










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The faces of Florida’s Medicaid system




















The tea party governor now says he wants to expand Medicaid. The Republican Legislature isn’t as sure.

Hanging in the balance?

Access to health care for 1 million or more poor Floridians.





Billions of dollars in federal money.

The state budget, which — already — pumps $21 billion a year into care. Florida’s Medicaid system today serves more than 3 million people, about one in every six Floridians. The decision whether to expand the system by a full third will be made by men and women in suits in Tallahassee’s mural-filled chambers this spring.

But the impact is elsewhere, in children’s hospitals in Tampa and Miami, in doctors’ offices in New Port Richey and in the home of a woman who recently lost her full-time teaching job.

The Suddenly uninsured

This was not how she envisioned her 60s.

Jean Vincent dreamed of turning her five-bedroom home into a bed and breakfast. She painted murals on walls, created mosaics on floors and let her imagination guide the interior decorating. There is a “garden” room, a “bamboo” room and a “canopy” room.

In 2010, Vincent lost her full-time job teaching in Citra north of Ocala. Her mother became sick with cancer and needed around-the-clock care before dying in August. Then, doctors began prescribing Vincent costly medications to treat osteoporosis and early-onset diabetes.

“I started getting a little behind with my mortgage,” said Vincent, 61. “All of a sudden, I found out I had to have an emergency retina eye surgery.”

Today, Vincent is searching for roommates to move into her home and help pay the bills. She begs Gainesville’s Sante Fe Community College and City College to schedule her for as many classes as she can handle as an adjunct geography professor; this semester’s four is the most she’s ever had.

But her biggest worry? Not having comprehensive health care.

Vincent —who is too young for Medicare — is enrolled in CHOICES, a health services program the Alachua County government created for the uninsured. It covers preventative care like her flu shots and helps with her drug therapy. But if Vincent ever got so sick she needed to go to the hospital, she’d be on her own.

Under current Florida law, adults with no dependents are not eligible to participate in Medicaid no matter how little they make. Vincent’s four children are all grown, which means even as her income has dwindled she can’t become eligible for the health insurance program run jointly by the federal and state governments.

If Florida decides to expand the Medicaid system, people in Vincent’s position for the first time could be covered.

The expansion would allow any single adult making about $16,000 a year eligible for Medicaid.

On the matter, Vincent has become an activist. She joined with patient rights group Florida CHAIN and traveled to Tallahassee to lobby lawmakers.

“When I gave my testimony, that’s all I wanted them to do was see there were people out there that weren’t just trying to take advantage of the system,” she said.

This summer, she expects to only be assigned one class at Sante Fe. That will provide about $2,000 for her to live on for three months. Meanwhile, her retirement dreams are put on hold.





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30-slip marina opens in Hallandale Beach




















Boat owners looking to store their vessel now have a new option.

On Friday, Hallandale Beach welcomed its new $1.2 million, 30-slip marina at 101 Three Islands Blvd.

The public marina, which was paid for by the city, the Broward Boating Improvement Program and the Florida Inland Navigational District, offers 26 slips for annual rental, three for daily use and one for the Hallandale Beach Police Marine Unit.





Located midway between the Haulover Inlet and the inlet at Port Everglades, the marina is the southern-most public dockage in Broward County.

The cost for docking a boat — the marina can accommodate vessels from 20 feet to 60 feet and a maximum beam of 15 feet — is $15 per foot, per month, on an annual basis and $1.75 per foot, per day for the three transient slips. The fee includes electricity, water and Intranet Wi-Fi. A pump-out facility is available for use at an additional cost.

For more information on the Hallandale Beach City Marina, visit the Hallandale Beach Parks and Recreation Department page at www.cohb.org, or call 954-457-1653.





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ET Gears up For Academy Awards with Dunkin' Donuts

Oscar Sunday is quickly approaching, and the ET team is working around the clock to prepare for Hollywood's biggest night! 

Nancy O'Dell, Brooke Anderson, Rocsi Diaz and Rob Marciano have their work cut out for them come February 24 as some 3,000 people are expected to grace the 500-foot red carpet at L.A.'s Dolby theater.

Pics: The 15 Best Oscar Dresses of All Time

With weeks of meetings, research and fittings leading up to the big event, our talented crew is often in need of a trusty pick-me-up.

This awards season, ET's red carpet (and the reporters covering it) run on Dunkin'.

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Heat's back on Wendy's finger-in-chili liar: This time she made up story about son's shooting, cops say








SAN JOSE, Calif. — A Northern California woman convicted of planting a severed finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili has been arrested again after police say she made up another tale, this one about a shooting involving her son.

The San Jose Mercury reports that Anna Ayala, the so-called Chili Finger Lady, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of being an accessory to a felony and filing a false police report.

Authorities say she told officers that her son, Guadalupe Reyes, had been shot in the ankle by two unknown people and gave them a detailed description of the assailants. They say she later acknowledged that Reyes had shot himself.



The 26-year-old Reyes, a convicted felon, was not supposed to be in possession of a gun.

Both are scheduled to be arraigned Friday.










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