What's Trending: Golden Globes, Human Rights

Actors America Ferrera, Chloe Grace Moretz and Angela Bassett (L-R) react as they look over notes before announcing the nominations for the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California December 10, 2015. (REUTERS/Danny Moloshok)

This is What’s Trending Today.

Golden Globe Nominees

The Academy Awards, also known as The Oscars, may get plenty of attention in Hollywood each year. But the Golden Globes are important film and television awards, too. Many show business insiders say the Golden Globes can sometimes predict which movies will be recognized at the Academy Awards.

That explains why lots of people were paying attention to the Golden Globes nomination list when it came out on Thursday. There were over 100,000 tweets about the Golden Globes in the first few hours.

The awards ceremony will take place on January 10, 2016. That gives voters and movie lovers exactly one month to catch up on all the films and TV shows they may have missed in 2015.

The movies with the most nominations this year were “Carol” and “The Big Short.” The first film is based on a 1950s book called “The Price of Salt,” written by Patricia Highsmith. Highsmith was mostly known for mystery novels and thrillers. She wrote “The Price of Salt” under a pseudonym – a make believe name authors sometimes use to keep their real identity secret. In this case, Highsmith used experiences from her own life to write about a lesbian romance.

The other film, “The Big Short,” is based on a book about the banking industry by Michael Lewis. Two of his earlier books, “Moneyball” and “The Blind Side,” were made into successful films.

As for television, shows like “Veep,” “Mad Men,” “Empire” and “Mr. Robot” all received Golden Globe nominations.

Human Rights Day

Every December 10 is Human Rights Day. It marks the day in 1948 that the United Nations approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The declaration says “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

The document has 30 articles. Each one adds more clarity to the idea of freedom and equality in the first article.

The declaration condemns slavery, torture and cruelty. It notes the ideals of security, the right to practice a religion and express ideas freely.

There were more than 150,000 tweets using the hashtag #HumanRightsDay on Thursday. Many organizations used the day to express their desire to ensure Human Rights around the world.

A number of agencies like UNESCO and UNICEF offered their support, as did people who have become symbols of freedom like Malala Yousafzai and Caitlyn Jenner.

Serial Podcast, Season Two

One of the most-talked about podcasts last year was “Serial.” The show’s producers used multiple episodes to examine a difficult topic – some might call it a mystery.

Last year, “Serial” investigated the murder of a high school student from Maryland in 1999. The producers spoke with friends, family members, students and lawyers who were involved in the case that year. They were asked to remember events leading up to the murder.

Serial had 12 episodes, and according to a CNN.com story, each episode was downloaded an average of 3.4 million times within the first few months. It was the fastest podcast ever to reach 5 million downloads and has 100 million downloads since it came out.

The first episode from the new season came out Thursday. The show will report on Bowe Bergdahl, the American soldier who was held captive in Afghanistan for five years. Berghdal agreed to provide information for the podcast.

The surprise release of the podcast resulted in the Serial website crashing because so many people tried to download the new episode.

And that’s What’s Trending Today.

I’m Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Which movies do you need to see before the Golden Globe awards? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

Words in This Story

download – v. to move or copy (a file, program, etc.) from a usually larger computer system to another computer or device

episode – n. a television show, radio show, etc., that is one part of a series

lesbian – n. a woman who is sexually attracted to other women : a female homosexual

romance – n. an exciting and usually short relationship between lovers

thriller – n. a novel, movie, etc., that is very exciting : a story full of exciting action, mystery, adventure, or suspense

serial – adj. broadcast or published in separate parts over a period of time

symbol – n. a person or thing that represents something else

author – n. writer