One more condemnation of Russia:
Junk mail is of course now digital as well. Nearly 300 billion emails are sent and received every day, and spam messages accounted for more than 45 percent of email traffic in March 2021, according to Statista. Which country is most responsible for invading your inbox without permission? Russia, where nearly 25 percent of unsolicited emails originated.
Most spam emails are benign if annoying, but a growing number of variants include spyware, trojans, ransomware, and other malicious agents designed to damage systems or compromise recipients’ personal information. It was a so-called “phishing” expedition by Russian hackers that famously led to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s emails in 2016 when a fake “account reset” claiming to be from Google sent to Clinton campaign manager John Podesta was opened.
By the way, did you know that SPAM is called SPAM because it is a contraction of spiced ham, invented by Hormel Foods in 1937? It became widespread because of World War II, and is particularly popular in the Pacific Islands and the Orient, including, of course, Hawaii. Surely you've had a spam musubi. You'd think that the latest dietary trends would eliminate Spam from the marketplace. But, no, sales last year hit an all-time high, for the seventh year in a row.
What an appropriate switch to the subject of the day. One of the lowlights of the movie industry is the Golden Raspberry Award ceremony, to occur on March 26. A few things you should know:
- Members of the organization pay for membership, and number 650 from 19 countries.
- Both the nominations and awards are revealed the day before the Academy Awards, although they made an exception by having the session on April Fool's Day in 2012.
- Some recipients actually accepted their statuette, including Halle Berry and Sandra Bullock.
- Three actors received both Oscar an Razzie nominations for the same role: James Coco (Only When I Laugh), Amy Irving (Yentl) and Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy).
- An Aerosmith song I Don't Want to Miss a Thing from Armegeddon similarly was nominated for both.
- Wall Street is the only film to win both an Oscar and a Razzie.
- The Bodyguard won seven Razzie nominations, but was a huge box office hit.
- Rudy Giuliani was nominated for his role in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
- Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars the Phantom Menace won a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor.
The Golden Raspberry Awards, known as Razzies, honoring the worst cinematic under-achievements, was co-founded by UCLA film graduates and several film industry veterans. This will be the 42nd year. This statuette is a golden raspberry sitting on a super 8mm film reel with an estimated street value of $5. Sylvester Stallone has won 10 awards, beating out Madonna with nine. He was named the Worst Actor of the Century, and Madonna same for an actress.
Nominees for 2022 were revealed on February 7. You can read them all, but some of the worst include:
- Diana the Musical by Netflix. RT: 12/33. Wow, this is pretty miserable.
- Worst Actress, Amy Adams, The Woman in the Window, another Netflix loser. RT: 26/23.
- Worst Actor, LeBron James, Space Jam, as himself. RT: 25/79. Could be okay,
- Worst Supporting Actor: Ben Affleck, Nick Cannon, Mel Gibson and Jared Leto.
- Worst Supporting Actress, Amy Adams, Dear Evan Hansen. RT: 29/88. Hmm, might worth watching.
- BTS
- Taylor Swift
- Adele
- Drake
- Ed Sheeran
- The Weeknd
- Billie Eilish
- Justin Bieber
- Seventeen
- Olivia Rodrigo
Two meals featured this weekend. Artichoke with foie gras pâté, cheese and salad and a splendid La Crema Rose.
I hardly eat rice anymore and avoid those veggies, so I fried the tonkatsu in butter:
Bought some otoro (ultra fatty blue fin tuna) at Marukai. Have you ever paid $90/pound for fish?
Kirin beer, chilled sake, hot green tea and Toki Japanese whisky over rocks. Lots of cabbage, sea asparagus and avocado.
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