Beauty vs Beast: Follow That Bird

Jason from MNPP here, delicately fondling every cane in sight in honor of the birth of one of my favorite all-time scene-stealers, Mr. Peter Lorre, who was born on in this day in the year 1904. I, like many of you, probably first knew Lorre without actually knowing him, via his animated likeness always popping up for a quick n creepy gag in Looney Tunes; funny enough my mom wasn't rushing to show me Fritz Lang's masterpiece M as a child. But once I did see M... wowza. And Casablanca. Double wowza! And Hitchcock's original The Man Who Knew Too Much -- wowza squared! And on and on... but for today's "Beauty vs Beast" let's pit him against that other favorite of the Looney Tunes animators, his co-star in John Huston's 1941 classic noir The Maltese Falcon...

PREVIOUSLY I'm sure some of you are still wearing your Nicole Kidman party hats - the celebration never ends! - but let's take stock of last week's Moulin Rouge competition oh right shocker Nicole Kidman won. She took 58% of your vote over poor suffering Ewan. But y'all were torn. Said Sawyer:

"The Hardest One Ever. As usual, it's Nicole by a nose."

50 Appropriate Ways to Celebrate Nicole Kidman's Birthday

On this very day in Honolulu, Hawaii, 50 years ago, grad student Antony Kidman and his wife Janelle Ann welcomed a baby girl into their lives. Her Hawaiian name was "Hōkūlani" which means "Heavenly Star" and she turned out to be one. Twenty-two years later she was headlining motion pictures. A few years after that she was breaking through and in 2001 she ascended permanently into the canon of great film stars with the one two punch of Moulin Rouge! and The Others. Her name is Nicole Kidman. Perhaps you've heard of her? So happy birthday to the one and only at her half-century mark.

50 Appropriate Ways to Celebrate Nicole Kidman's 50th Birthday
Try them and report back on your success!

01 Have patience with the mere mortals around you who keep expecting you to prove yourself or don't "get" you. Humor them and keep on working because genius comes naturally to you.

02 Vote for Nicole Kidman on your Emmy ballot for her deep dive into Celeste's psyche in Big Little Lies

03 Drift in and out of an Aussie accent all day, mate

04 Kiss someone who can carry a tune or will sing you a country music song...

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Beauty vs Beast: All You Need Is Lovers

Jason from MNPP here with this week's "Beauty vs Beast," which is falling square on Nicole Kidman Eve - the actress, perhaps you know her work, is turning the big Five-Oh tomorrow, and I heard if you put a cube of ice below your pillow tonight she might visit you while you sleep! I kid, don't come as me, Kidmaniacs - I adore her every bit as much as you all do. Which is problematic for this series - where could I possibly find someone to challenge her? I mean there's... no... I couldn't... could I? I am sorry, folks, but this is the only choice. Who else might beat her but the one whose heart beats so big and free...

PREVIOUSLY It appears that none of you learned anything from Rosemary's Baby, and you're all perfectly willing to fall prey to a pretty face covering up a treachorous heart - you gave Guy (John Cassavettes) the win with 56% of your vote over Roman (Sidney Blackmer), and while I'll admit they're both bad choices I really find Guy the most despicable so I can't agree with y'all. He deserves that loogie he gets! Or as Nick T put it:

"I'm sitting by this bag of garbage at work and like. It's less charismatic, sure, but also less morally repugnant, so it's got the edge. Still, I don't think Roman's creepiness is given its due since his wife is way more fun to watch. I'll give him my first born as tribute. It only seems fair."

Today's 6: Jolie's Wedding, West Side Story's Dominance, and More

We promised you a few anniversaries a day, but with the new twist of mood-boosting inspiration. Here we go

6 Anniversary Mood Busters for May 5th

2000 Angelina Jolie married Billy Bob Thornton. She famously carried a vial of his blood around her neck.

In this honor: Remember how immature YOU were 17 years ago. Evolving is good but so too (in moderation) is uninhibitedness of youth. Do something you used to do 17 years ago for fun. Find out if it's still a thrill!

Five more after the jump

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Tuesday Top Twenty: Ranking Nicole Kidman's Work

By Nathaniel R

Nicole at the ACM Awards this weekAs mentioned in our piece on the finale of Big Little Lies the internet is finally accepting that Nicole Kidman is a genius. Why they haven't noticed that she's been a regularly gripping actor since Dead Calm (1989) with her ascent into intermittent genius happening as early as 1995 (twenty-two years ago!) with her sly breakthrough as fame-obsessed Suzanne Stone in Gus Van Sant's To Die For (Golden Globe win, Best Actress in a Comedy) we will never understand.

But it is what it is. Actresses not named Meryl Streep have to go through this from time to time with people doubting their talent. One imagines if Michelle Pfeiffer is brilliant in any of her comeback roles this year we will get a raft of "who knew this 80s sex symbol, Catwoman herself, was also a great actor?!" articles and we will have to roll our eyes with a "anyone who was paying any attention at all!" answer and a weary shrug.

But it's fun to do quick rankings, so herewith...

Nicole Kidman's 20 Best Performances

The order would vary if the list were composed on a different day though the top eight would remain the top eight, give or take the exact numbers...

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