Her Name Is Yola...
Tuesday, the Golden Globe nominations were announced by Kate Beckinsale, Marky Mark Wahlberg, and Steve Carell—a fact worth mentioning only because that particular trio will probably never be mentioned in the same sentence again.
A lot of good things were nominated (Brokeback Mountain), and a lot of bad things were nominated (Charlie Sheen), but this post isn't so much about the nominations, as it is about the nominators—that band of moochers, celebrity gawkers, and occasional journalists known collectively as The Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
It's a well-known fact that the HFPA is, well, bullshit. The organization is made up of around 100 people, most of whom aren't full-time journalists, and almost all of whom are happy to give an award to, say, Pia Zadora, for her 1981 performance in Butterfly, if someone like, say, Pia's husband, offers them something like, oh I don't know, a free trip to Vegas. There was even an entire TV documentary devoted to the subject: Trio's excellent The Golden Globes: Hollywood's Dirty Little Secret, which examined the Golden Globes' evolution from an awards show that even the winners wouldn't attend, to an awards show that everyone attends, with the all-day red-carpet coverage on E! to prove it.
So, the HFPA and the Golden Globes are a lie that everyone agrees to sell to the public. That sucks. It does. But, if you're like me, you might want to know more. You might wonder who exactly are these HFPA members? What do they look like? Do they have websites that feature dozens of photos of themselves awkwardly posing alongside celebrities? Are they, in fact, foreign? Well, look no further.
Meet Yola Czaderska-Hayek (no relation to Salma, though I'm sure Yola wishes there were).
This is her website:
As you can see, it's in Polish, but you can still enjoy the many photos of Yola posing awkwardly with some of today's brightest stars like Keira Knightly, Matt Damon, and, yes, Ernest Borgnine.
Who do you think Yola (and the rest of the HFPA) will vote for?