Critic’s Notebook: A Rogue Film Festival Earns Respect (sort Of)

The Oscar nominations are being pushed back almost a week from their original date amid the ongoing California wildfires. Nominations will now be announced on Jan. 23, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Monday. “We are all devastated by the impact of the fires and the profound losses experienced by so many in our community,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a joint statement.

For nearly half a century, NASA has been talking an awfully good game about its much-heralded Mars Sample Return (MSR) project. As long ago as 1978, the space agency requested funding to develop a mission that would see an uncrewed spacecraft land on the Red Planet, collect and cache samples of rock and soil, and bring them back to Earth for study—all without the risk and expense of sending human crews out to do the spelunking.

Which stopwatch is best? In sports, times of fractions of a second can mean the difference between first and second place or setting a new world record. When training, it is imperative to know where you stand, and as helpful as smartphones can be, they simply don’t measure up against specially crafted stopwatches. The best stopwatch for any need is the Ultrak 100 Lap Memory.

The Biden Administration’s move on Jan. 13 to curb exports on the advanced computer chips used to power artificial intelligence (AI) arrived in the wake of two major events over the Christmas holidays that rattled the world of AI. First, OpenAI released its latest model, o3, which achieved an 88% on a set of difficult reasoning tests on which no AI system had previously scored above 5%.

Which cycling shorts for women are best? Bike seats are not usually very comfortable, and you can go through some painful chafing if you are cycling for a long time and wearing normal shorts. Cycling shorts for women are designed to improve your overall comfort and decrease the risk of chafing while you ride your bike.

A Denver Thai restaurant, cherished for its service and “secret menu,” is closing this month as its owner seeks to relocate away from Colfax Avenue. Lucky Noodles on 1201 E. Colfax Ave. will have its last day Friday, Jan. 24, the restaurant announced on social media last week. “We would like to thank … all customers that supported us during 5 years,” owner Kamolrat “Ploy” Limpapath posted on Facebook.