Best delivery pizza

With all the options available from the nationwide pizza chains—thin crust, deep dish, stuffed crust, etc.—things can get a little confusing. Who better than Slice to coach you through the pizza playbook? Here is a careful analysis of the various crusts, toppings, and specialty pizzas from Pizza Hut, Domino's, and Papa John's.

My colleagues and I spent hundreds of dollars on delivery pizza from the major chains in order to study their plays. Armed with napkins, paper plates, a stack of soft drinks, and plenty of antacid, we plowed through piles of crusty, cheesy, saucy stuff, to find the best pizza for you to order. We ordered a selection of each chain's specialty pizzas, as well as one cheese pizza to judge the foundations of each contestant's line-up.

DOMINO'S

Strengths: Fast delivery; cool online Pizza Tracker; many crust options; low price.
Weaknesses: Underwhelming flavor; overly sweet sauce.
Available crusts: Classic Hand Tossed, Crunchy Thin Crust, Ultimate Deep Dish, Brooklyn Style, Crispy Melt.
Online ordering process: Awesome. Simple and intuitive, and allows you to add, remove, and edit pizzas easily while giving you the option to update pricing info without forcing a full page reload. Remembers your favorites. And has the great Pizza Tracker that updates in real time, so you can see exactly where your order is in the entire mouse-to-house enterprise.

MVP

The Philly Cheese Steak Pizza: This pizza, surprisingly, had the most going for it. It'd normally be an affront to both dishes—managing to muck up both iconic American foods—but its steak, Provolone and American cheeses, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms worked well together and had the best flavor among the Domino's line-up.
Recommended crust: Classic Hand Tossed is hearty enough to stand up to the topping load but not so thick as to throw things out of balance.

Second String

The Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza: I never thought we'd pick hybrids as the top two players on Team Domino's, but this pie was a strong second made with mozzarella, cheddar, ground beef, and bacon. Our analysts determined that its strength came from ... the bacon, of course.
Recommended crust: Try a Crunchy Thin Crust if you really want to emphasize the bacon-cheeseburger-ness of this specialty pizza.

The ExtravaganZZa: Good ratio of meat and vegetable toppings. The crisp vegetables are a nice foil to the otherwise doughy texture of the crust. Plus, the saltiness of the meat toppings masks the sweet sauce.
Recommended crust: Ultimate Deep Dish is a must in supporting the weight of pepperoni, ham, Italian sausage, beef, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, black olives, and extra cheese.

The Least Valuable Player

The Crispy Melt: Looks good on paper: a Crispy Thin Crust base and an equally thin layer of crisp dough on top that sandwiches sauce, cheese, and toppings of your choice. But this pizza doesn't complete the play. Too much dry, flavorless crust. Special notes: Only available in large, but you were going to order that anyway, right?

The Vegi Feast: Flavorless vegetables serve only to add texture to this pizza. Only order it to please your whiny vegetarian friends.

PAPA JOHN'S

Strengths: Higher-quality toppings; the most specialty pizzas; decent crust; ample toppings; excellent presentation.
Weaknesses: Higher cost. Only three crust styles. Again, the most specialty pizzas (some of them are pretty wack).
Available crusts: Original, Thin, Perfect Pan.
Online ordering process: Lame. The site itself looks like ass, and navigation is frustrating. Forces you to log in just to see ordering menu. Choosing/adding toppings is confusing.

MVP

The Works: This was the most visually pleasing pizza we encountered while scouting pizza pies. The crust had a rich, deep-golden-brown color around the edges and the toppings were artfully arranged: pepperoni, ham, spicy Italian sausage, onions, green peppers, baby portabella mushrooms, and black olives. All in a square pizza cut in a novel way. Amount of toppings exceeded those on comparable Domino's ExtravaganZZa and Pizza Hut Super Supreme. Example: Instead of laying pepperoni slices flat, several slices of the topping were nested together and placed on the pizza in concave hills of meat held in place by plenty of melted cheese. This seemed to increase the amount of pepperoni that could be placed on the pie. Small chunks of sausage dotted the pie evenly, around and hiding under pepperoni slices. Vegetables had better flavor than either Domino's or the Hut.
Recommended crust: Perfect Pan was light and bready, but here its airiness collapsed under the weight of the toppings. A denser Original crust might be the way to go

Second String

The Meats: Pepperoni, sausage, hickory-smoked bacon, and ham give this pizza plenty of flavor and is sure to please any carnivores you're eating with. Like The Works above, the sliced meats are arranged carefully to allow for ample loads. Looks are deceiving here, but in a good way: Meat appears above the cheese and
Recommended crust: We tried Original by chance, and it stood up well to the carnal onslaught. is hidden below it, so you get more than what you see. Be sure to keep plenty of beer or liquids on hand; the saltiness of the meat will make you thirsty.

The Least Valuable Players

Regular Cheese Pizza: We had high hopes for this one, based on the look and taste of The Works pie. But the plain cheese pizza from Papa John's really does need to be topped if it's going to have any flavor. Disappointing.
Recommended crust: N/A

BBQ Chicken and Bacon: Seemed promising. I mean, bacon? 'cue? We figured it was PJ's version of California pizza, but the substitution of barbecue sauce for the usual tomato sauce was a fake out we couldn't get our heads around. And the sweet intensity of the sauce drowned out any chicken flavor—not surprising as it's all white-meat chix.
Recommended crust: N/A

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken: See above, and add pineapple.
Recommended crust: N/A

The Towel Boys

We had to designate these specialty pizzas "towel boys," since they're not even in the game. We couldn't even bring ourselves to order them. I mean, could you imagine yourself ordering the following for your Super Bowl party?

• Spinach Alfredo
• Spinach Alfredo Deluxe
• Spinach Alfredo Chicken Tomato
• Chicken Alfredo Supreme

PIZZA HUT

Strengths: Innovative specialty pizzas; the most crust styles.
Weaknesses: Slow delivery; high price; innovative specialty pizzas (hello? Stuffed Crust?).
Available crusts: Hand-Tossed Style, Pan Pizza, Stuffed Crust, Thin 'n Crispy, Crunchy Cheesy Crust, Pizza Mia.
Online ordering process: Very good. Site itself looks beautiful. And ordering is just as intuitive and easy as Domino's, but gets upstaged by the Domino's Pizza Tracker. Allows you to store a "Pizza Playlist" (favorites) and your credit card info for even faster ordering.

MVP

Pizza Mia: OK. One of my colleagues in charge of getting pizzas went a little nuts and, unbeknownst to us, ordered one of Pizza Hut's new Pizza Mia pies with bacon and black olives. What kinda combo is that?!? But you know ... it worked! This was the best of the Pizza Hut pies we tasted. It was actually good and not just "good for Pizza Hut." The crust had a nice crispness to it and was thin but still just bready enough. The olives were flavorful without being overpowering, and the bacon wasn't half bad. The sauce is slightly sweet but not too much so, and the balance of crust, sauce, and cheese was pretty much on. We were all stunned that this thing came out of Pizza Hut. And, it's reasonably priced—much more so than the other pies we ordered.
Recommended crust: N/A. If you order a Pizza Mia, you get the special Pizza Mia crust, "created for the taste expert" and made with "fine white Great Plains flour."

Second String

The Super Supreme: Just barely makes it into the game. After the Pizza Mia, this is the best Pizza Hut pie we tried. Toppings aren't as flavorful or as abundant as Papa John's, and crust is greasy and spongelike. Sauce is slightly bitter.
Recommended crust: We ordered ours as a Pan Pizza, but this one would benefit from the Hand-Tossed Style crust. Notice how that's "Hand-Tossed Style." Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

The Least Valuable Player

Anything with the Crunchy Cheesy Crust: Have you ever had really bad garlic bread—you know, really dry with just too much of that garlic powder–salt mixture? That's what this is like. It wasn't discernably more crunchy than any other Hut pizza we had and was in fact nowhere near as crisp as the Pizza Mia.
Recommended crust: N/A

OVERALL ANALYSIS

For overall marks, we were most impressed with Papa John's. Its pizzas seemed to be made with more care, were tastier overall, and seemed to use better ingredients—and the delivery driver arrived quickly.

However, our favorite single pizza was, strangely enough, the olive-and-bacon Pizza Mia from Pizza Hut.

Domino's only seems worth ordering this Sunday if you want lots of inexpensive pizza.

Shark attacks on the rise

A diver who suffered a fatal shark bite in the Bahamas this week is part of a trend of increasing attacks around the world despite plummeting populations of the majestic fish.

If sharks are so threatened in the world's waters, why are attacks on humans on the rise?

Because the global population of humans is growing fast, so more people go to the beach, said George Burgess, curator of the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History. And nowadays, beach-goers don't just go for a dunk. They hang out in shallow water (home for many sharks) for long periods of time to surf, windsurf, boogie-board, kayak and dive.

The number of worldwide shark attacks overall increased from 63 in 2006 to 71 in 2007, continuing a gradual upswing over the past four years, Burgess said.

There have been five unprovoked shark attacks so far this year (most shark attacks are unprovoked), Burgess said. However, the death of Markus Groh, 49, an Austrian lawyer, on Monday is under investigation and might be classified as provoked as he was part of an uncaged tourist dive off the Bahamas where chum is thrown into open water.

"There are more people in the water than there ever have been," Burgess told LiveScience. "We can pretty much predict that next year there will be even more attacks. Even if shark populations are declining, which we know they are, even in a local situation if populations have been depleted, there is still a probability of getting an attack."

Shark stats

Sharks are disappearing from the world's oceans due to overfishing, says Julia Baum, a researcher at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego. Baum and some of her shark-tracking colleagues made comments to reporters earlier this month at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston.

Sharks killed one human in 2007, according to the International Shark Attack File, but humans killed an estimated 38 million sharks for their fins each year, Baum said. That's as many sharks as the entire human populations of the 35 largest cities in the United States. Other estimates are nearly double that.

Some nations have banned shark fishing, but the bans are hard to enforce. And it's a free-for-all in international waters, Baum said.

The classic sharks, aka the "great sharks" such as the great white shark, scalloped hammerhead, mako sharks, thresher sharks, bull sharks and dusky sharks, are in trouble, she said. Deepwater species such as seal sharks, silky sharks, sleeper sharks and spined pygmy sharks are also at risk, said shark biologist Colin Simpfendorfer of James Cook University.

A study Baum conducted at her previous job at Dalhousie University showed all great shark species in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean have declined by more than 50 percent since the early 1970s.

Everyone agrees that the great sharks' numbers are declining, but some experts think Baum's estimates are faulty and the real situation is less dire, Burgess said.

Little is known about deepwater sharks, even after an assessment of them by IUCN-The World Conservation Union, said Colin Simpfendorfer of James Cook University. Almost half of the known species of sharks occur in deep water and they are more vulnerable to fishing than shallow water sharks (the great sharks), he said.

Data from two case studies, one in southeastern Australian waters and the other in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, showed reductions in abundance of about 90 percent in many species of sharks in less than 20 years, Simpfendorfer said.

New listings could help

The scale of the problem of disappearing sharks is global due to shark finning, the process of cutting off a shark's fins and throwing the rest of the animal overboard still alive, leaving it to die, Baum said.

Finning makes use of only 2 to 5 percent of the animal, but shark fins are now one of the most highly valued marine commodities. A bowl of shark fin soup can sell for $100, so there is high incentive for fishermen to fin.

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service is proposing to effectively close down much of the coastal large shark fisheries, Baum said. "This would be a very positive step forward for shark management in the U.S.," she said.

The European Union has acted to restrict pressure on deepwater sharks, Simpfendorfer said.

And white sharks have been listed as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List, said shark researcher Salvador Jorgensen of Stanford University.

In the 2008 IUCN Red List, forthcoming later this year, five additional great shark species will be listed in the threatened categories, including the shortfin mako shark and three species of thresher shark, each of which will be listed as vulnerable. The scalloped hammerhead will be listed as globally endangered, Baum said.

"Sharks evolved 400 million years ago, and yet we could now lose some species in the next decade, so that would be just the blink of an eye in evolutionary time," Baum said.

Sharks are thought to be crucial to the entire marine ecosystem: they are top predators and help to keep smaller sharks and rays from devouring too many scallops, clams and other commercially important species of marine life.

You'll live

Meanwhile, if you do suffer a shark bite, your odds of living are greater than 90 percent. The rate of shark-attack fatalities hit an all-time low in 2007 for the past 20 years, Burgess said.

In fact, the trend for shark-bite fatalities in the 20th century is "down, down, down, decade by decade," Burgess said. The reason is better medical care.

As a result of multiple wars in the last century, medicine has learned how to do a much better job of saving people with traumatic injuries, Burgess said. "The whole process from water onto operating table or stitches occurs with greater rapidity and more professionalism," he said.

The real story isn't shark attacks, Burgess said. "The real story is what is happening to skates, sharks and rays on a worldwide basis. We have witnessed, in the last 20 to 30 years, huge declines in these animals worldwide."

Peru's oldest monument

LIMA, Peru - A team of German and Peruvian archaeologists say they have discovered the oldest known monument in Peru: a 5,500-year-old ceremonial plaza near Peru's north-central coast.

Carbon dating of material from the site revealed it was built between 3500 B.C. and 3000 B.C., Peter Fuchs, a German archaeologist who headed the excavation team, told The Associated Press by telephone Monday.

The discovery is further evidence that civilization thrived in Peru at the same time as it did in what is now the Middle East and South Asia, said Ruth Shady, a prominent Peruvian archaeologist who led the team that discovered the ancient city of Caral in 2001. Shady serves as a senior adviser to Peru's National Culture Institute and was not involved in the project.

The find also raises questions about what prompted "civilizations to form throughout the planet at more or less the same time," Shady said.

The circular, sunken plaza, built of stones and adobe, is part of the Sechin Bajo archaeological complex in Andes foothills, 206 miles northwest of Lima, where Fuchs and fellow German archaeologist Renate Patzschke have been working since 1992.

It predates similar monuments and plazas found in Caral, which nonetheless remains the oldest known city in the Americas dating back to 2627 B.C.

The plaza served as a social and ritual space where ancient peoples celebrated their "thoughts about the world, their place within it, and images of their world and themselves," Fuchs said.

In an adjacent structure, built around 1800 B.C., Fuchs' team uncovered a 3,600-year-old adobe frieze — six feet tall — depicting the iconic image of a human sacrificer "standing with open arms, holding a ritual knife in one hand and a human head in the other," Fuchs said.

The mythic image was also found in the celebrated Moche Lords of Sipan tombs, discovered on Peru's northern coast in the late 1980s.

Walter Alva, the Peruvian archaeologist who uncovered the Lords of Sipan tombs, said the plaza found in Fuchs' dig was probably utilized by an advanced civilization with economic stability, a necessary condition to construct such a ceremonial site.

The excavation was the fourth in a series of digs at the Sechin Bajo complex that Fuchs and Patzschke began on behalf of the University of Berlin in 1992. Deutsche Forschung Gemeinschaft, a German state agency created to sponsor scientific investigations, has financed the most recent three digs.

The find "shows the world that in America too, human beings of the New World had the same capacity to create civilization as those in the Old World," Shady said.

Her discovery, Caral, made headlines in 2001 when researchers carbon-dated material from the city back to 2627 B.C., proving that a complex urban center in the Americas thrived as a contemporary to ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt — 1,500 years earlier than previously believed.

8 lower-stress careers

It's 11 p.m. on a Sunday night, and you're glued to the computer screen, biting your nails, pulse racing. No, it's not an exciting moment in your weekend-long Halo 3 tournament, or even a big sell on eBay. You're trying to meet yet another deadline for work. Sound familiar? If long hours and an unwieldy workload are stressing you out, maybe it's time to consider a career change.
Understanding the Enemy
Job stress is one of the most common complaints among Americans, and research indicates that it has become a more widespread problem in recent years. In 1992, the United Nations named job stress "The 20th Century Disease," and the World Health Organization has called it a "World Wide Epidemic." Also, studies have shown that too much negative stress can contribute to health problems ranging from migraine headaches and depression to life-threatening illnesses such as heart attacks. Is that pension plan really worth it if you won't be alive to cash it in?
Turn Off the Career Pressure-Cooker
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What's an overworked guy or gal to do? Though it may seem out of the question after a 60+ hour workweek, redirecting some of your energy toward identifying and training for a new career may be the best investment you can make. The careers listed below are not anxiety-free (every job by nature has some elements of positive and negative stress), but they do offer a combination of freedom, creativity, and personal satisfaction that can help keep your pulse rate normal
1. Accountant
If you're well-organized and have a knack for calculations, a balanced profit and loss sheet can offer a restful escape from the stress of complex office politics. You don't even have to leave your computer to earn an online accounting degree, which can be found at hundreds of accounting schools nationwide.
2. Preschool Teacher
Working with young children can definitely be a challenge. Yet introducing preschoolers to the world of education through art projects, group play, and music can be extremely therapeutic as well. Earn your degree in early childhood education and you could get paid to help three- and four-year-old kids on a daily basis. Even if you have to stay up late to get a teaching degree online, you can make up for that lost sleep when your students enjoy their post-lunchtime naps.
3. Nursing Assistant
Caring for patients as a nursing assistant delivers the feel-good perks of a medical career without the stress of med school or week ends on-call. A nursing degree could set you up to enter a career field projected to see 264,000 new job openings over the next 8 years.
4. Financial Planner
Though spending your own money can produce high levels of anxiety, helping others manage their funds can be just the opposite. A degree in finance can help you learn the basics of tax law, insurance, and investing principles to assist others as they prepare for retirement or plan their estate. To minimize the stress of funding your own education, keep costs down by researching your financial aid options for an online finance degree or an MBA.
5. Massage Therapist / Physical Therapy Assistant
Whether giving and receiving backrubs at a massage therapy school, or practicing flexibility techniques in a physical therapy assisting program, you can learn how to help people maximize relaxation. And if you incorporate some of these exercises into your own daily routine, you could have a recipe for a tension-free workday.
6. Pastry Chef
It's hard to get stressed when your office smells of butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Although some pastry chefs work odd hours, the love and creativity they put into their work can be extremely liberating. Most pastry chefs get their start in culinary school, where they can refine and hone their artistic skills.
7. Graphic Design
Being creative under pressure isn't easy, but earning a graphic design degree could help you join the ranks of the designers who are self-employed. Working for yourself can give you a tremendous amount of flexibility, and allow you to balance your personal and professional lives as you see fit.
8. Desktop Support
Desktop or computer support specialists use their expertise to help the rest of us deal with the stress of malfunctioning technology. With a bachelor's degree in computer science (or simply experience and technical training for some positions), you could enjoy low-stress super-hero status by saving hard drives from evil viruses.
Derail Your Stress Train
Though many factors can contribute to on-the-job stress, remember that you always have some control over how you react to it. As you begin your journey toward a lower-stress career, make sure you cultivate some personal stress-reducing habits as well. A little career training can go a long way in helping you launch your new low-stress career.

The perks of caffeine

Talk about happy trends. More and more yum-ola foods that used to be considered bad news are turning out to be good for you. First it was wine. Then olive oil. Chocolate. Guacamole. And now coffee. (Hey, can ice cream be far behind?!)

What restored coffee's reputation? Caffeine. After years of being viewed with suspicion, caffeine has pulled a scientific switcheroo. Besides helping students pull all-nighters and weekend warriors jumpstart their jump shots, there's now evidence that it defends against diabetes, Parkinson's, asthma symptoms, post-workout soreness, and even hunger pangs. Cool.

It's not totally benign, of course - is anything? So the RealAge experts advise limiting yourself to about 250 mg a day (the average cup of joe has about 100 mg) to avoid jitters and a possible boost in blood pressure. But few labels list caffeine content, so stick this on the fridge. It covers the caffeine sources generating the most buzz, plus some timeless favorites. We checked the calories too, BTW, but most are pretty harmless.

DIET COKE Everybody's default diet drink
THE CAFFEINE FIX 45 mg
THE CALORIES 0
THE OTHER STUFF A lot of flavorings and colorings,
not much else-call it caffeine lite

WATER JOE For the purist: plain H2O with a jolt
THE CAFFEINE FIX 60 mg 16.9-ounce bottle
THE CALORIES 0
THE OTHER STUFF Artesian water and caffeine—that's it.
No additives, no carbonation

RED BULL The energy drink that started it all
THE CAFFEINE FIX 80 mg per 8-ounce can
THE CALORIES 110
THE OTHER STUFF Has taurine, a "detox," amino acid;
B vitamins; loads of sugar—so beware
the crash after the rush

TAB ENERGY A revved-up version of old Tab cola
THE CAFFEINE FIX 95 mg per 10.5-ounce can
THE CALORIES 5
THE OTHER STUFF Sweet and pink, it's spiked with ginseng
and guarana, a mild caffeine-like stimulant

ENVIGA Controversial new green tea drink
THE CAFFEINE FIX 100 mg per 12-ounce can
THE CALORIES 5
THE OTHER STUFF Laced with 200 mg of calcium and
green tea antioxidants but in trouble for
claiming that it makes the body burn up
extra calories

ROCKET
CHOCOLATES Candy with more zip than a cup of joe
THE CAFFEINE FIX 150 mg per piece
THE CALORIES 70
THE OTHER STUFF Comes in trendy flavors like mocha latte;
individually wrapped so you can stash in
a pocket—but can you eat just one?

FUSION ENERGY 7/Eleven's new-ish "functional" brew
THE CAFFEINE FIX 250 mg per 12-ounce cup
THE CALORIES 0
THE OTHER STUFF Freshly-ground coffee brewed with an
alertness-boosting blend of ginseng,
guarana, and yerba mate

STARBUCKS Coffee, just coffee
THE CAFFEINE FIX 280 or so per 12-ounce cup
THE CALORIES 0
THE OTHER STUFF Starbucks coffee averages twice the
caffeine of a regular 8-ounce cup of java,
but the hit can vary wildly-in one study,
by 200 mg on different days

SPIKE SHOOTER Heavy-hitter energy drink
THE CAFFEINE FIX 300 mg per 8.4-ounce can
THE CALORIES 0
THE OTHER STUFF Spiked with tyrosine, yohimbine, and
a huge dose of vitamin B12; label warns
you not to drink more than 1 a day

Big night for dark films

The Coen brothers completed their journey from the fringes to Hollywood's mainstream on Sunday, their crime saga "No Country for Old Men" winning four Academy Awards, including best picture, in a ceremony that also featured a strong international flavor.

Javier Bardem won for supporting actor in "No Country," which earned Joel and Ethan Coen best director, best adapted screenplay and the best-picture honor as producers.

Accepting the directing honor alongside his brother, Joel Coen recalled how they got their start in a career that has seen them advance from oddballs with a devoted cult following to broader audiences. He noted they have been making films since childhood, including one at the Minneapolis airport called "Henry Kissinger: Man on the Go."

"What we do now doesn't feel that much different from what we were doing then," Joel Coen said. "We're very thankful to all of you out there for continuing to let us play in our corner of the sandbox."

Daniel Day-Lewis won his second best-actor Oscar for the oil-boom epic "There Will Be Blood," while "La Vie En Rose" star Marion Cotillard was a surprise winner for best actress, riding the spirit of Edith Piaf to Oscar triumph over Julie Christie, who had been expected to win for "Away From Her."

All four acting prizes went to Europeans: Frenchwoman Cotillard, Spaniard Bardem, and Brits Day-Lewis and Tilda Swinton, the supporting-actress winner for "Michael Clayton."

The only other time in the Oscars' 80-year history that all four acting winners were foreign born was 1964, when the recipients were Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, Peter Ustinov and Lila Kedrova.

As a raging, conniving, acquisitive petroleum pioneer caught up in California's oil boom of the early 20th century, Day-Lewis won for a part that could scarcely have been more different than his understated role as a writer with severe cerebral palsy in 1989's "My Left Foot."

"My deepest thanks to the academy for whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town," Day-Lewis said.

The Coens missed out on a chance to make Oscar history — four wins for a single film — when they lost the editing prize, for which they were nominated under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes.

"The Bourne Ultimatum" won the editing Oscar and swept all three categories in which it was nominated, including sound editing and sound mixing.

Past winners for their screenplay to 1996's "Fargo," the Coens joined an elite list of filmmakers to win three Oscars in a single night, including Francis Ford CoppolaThe Godfather Part II"), James Cameron ("Titanic") and Billy Wilder ("The Apartment"). ("

With $64 million domestically, "No Country" is the biggest box-office hit for the Coens, whose tales often are an acquired taste appealing to narrow crowds. Their films include the modest hits "Fargo" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and such lesser-known yarns as "The Hudsucker Proxy" and "The Man Who Wasn't There."

Cotillard, the first winner ever for a French-language performance, tearfully thanked her director, Olivier Dahan.

"Maestro Olivier, you rocked my life. You have truly rocked my life," said Cotillard, a French beauty who is a dynamo as Piaf, playing the warbling chanteuse through three decades, from raw late teens as a singer rising from the gutter through international stardom and her final days in her frail 40s.

"Thank you, life; thank you, love. And it is true there (are) some angels in this city."

A relatively fresh face in Hollywood, Cotillard has U.S. credits that include "Big Fish," "A Good Year" and the upcoming "Public Enemies," featuring Johnny DeppChristian Bale. and

With a heartbreaking turn as a woman succumbing to Alzheimer's in "Away From Her," Christie had been expected to win her second Oscar. She won best actress 42 years ago for "Darling."

Heavies ruled the acting prizes. Along with Day-Lewis' greedy oilman, Bardem played an unshakable executioner in "No Country" and Swinton played a malevolent attorney in "Michael Clayton." Bardem, referring to the sinister variation of a page-boy bob his character sported, said: "Thank you to the Coens for being crazy enough to think I could do that and for putting one of the most horrible haircuts in history over my head."

Host Jon Stewart joked that Bardem's haircut in the film combined "Hannibal Lecter's murderousness with Dorothy Hamill's wedge-cut."

Mickey Mouse gained a rival as Hollywood's favorite rodent as the rat tale "Ratatouille" was named best animated film, the second Oscar win in the category for director Brad Bird.

Bird thanked his junior-high guidance counselor, who expressed repeated skepticism over his desire to become a filmmaker.

"It went on like this until we were sick of each other," said Bird, who also won the animation Oscar for 2004's "The Incredibles" and shared a nomination for original screenplay for "Ratatouille," a $200 million blockbuster. "I only realized just recently that he gave me the perfect training for the movie business."

The ceremony's montage of photos and film clips of stars, filmmakers and others in cinema who died in the past year ended with a scene from "Brokeback Mountain" featuring Heath Ledger, who died of a prescription drug overdose last month.

Glen Hansard of the Irish band the Frames and Marketa Irglova, both non-actors who starred in the musical romance "Once," won the best-song Oscar for "Falling Slowly," one of several tunes they wrote for the film.

"What are we doing here? This is mad," Hansard said, recounting the low-budget history of "Once." "It took us three weeks to make. We made it for a hundred-grand. We never thought we'd come into a room like this and be in front of all you people."

The song won over three nominated tunes from "Enchanted" written by composer Alan Menken, an eight-time Oscar winner, and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, a three-time winner, whose previous academy prizes included their song and score collaborations for "Pocahontas."

The sound-mixing win for "The Bourne Ultimatum" extended the years of Oscar futility for Kevin O'Connell, a nominee for "Transformers," who holds an academy record: 20 nominations, no wins.

Michael Moore, who assailed President Bush over the Iraq War in his Oscar speech for documentary winner "Bowling for Columbine" five years ago, missed out on a chance to take the podium again. His health-care study "Sicko" lost the documentary prize to "Taxi to the Dark Side," a war-on-terror chronicle that centers on an innocent Afghan cab driver killed while in detention.

Box-office dud "The Golden Compass" scored an upset for visual effects over the blockbusters "Transformers" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

Other winners included "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" for costume design, "La Vie En Rose" for makeup and "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" for art direction.

The Oscar broadcast began with a fanfare and an effects-laden opening segment showing key characters and creatures from past films lining Hollywood Boulevard.

Stewart started his opening monologue with a wisecrack about the 100-day writers strike that ended just in time for the Oscars to come off as usual.

"These past three and a half months have been very tough. The town was torn apart by a bitter writer's strike, but I'm happy to say that the fight is over," Stewart said. "So tonight, welcome to the makeup sex."

___

On the Net:

Academy Awards:

http://www.oscars.org

What caused stealth crash?

The US military was investigating on Saturday after a B-2 stealth bomber crashed on take-off from the Pacific island of Guam, the first such incident involving the futuristic craft.

Both pilots on board ejected safely as the 1.2-billion-dollar radar-evading plane, with its distinctive triangular shape, went down at Andersen airbase on the remote island, the US air force said.

"Two pilots from the 509th Bomb Wing were on board and ejected. They have been evaluated by medical authorities and are in good condition," it said.

"Emergency responders are on scene. A board of officers will investigate the accident," said the headquarters of the US air force in the Pacific.

It was the second US air force crash this week after two F-15C jets collided during training over the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, killing a fighter pilot.

Crowds gathered at the crash site after the bomber, one of just 21 in the air force inventory, went down at about 10:45 am (0045 GMT).

A thick plume of smoke rose over the airbase and officials closed one of its two runways, diverting planes to Guam International Airport, the Pacific Daily News website said.

"Everybody was on their cellphones and the first thing everyone wanted to know was did the pilots make it out in time," said an eye-witness quoted by the website.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, here with visiting US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, confirmed the crash but did not give further details.

"We are grateful for the safety of the pilots," said Mike Cruz, acting governor of the US territory.

"The Air Force and Guam have a long-standing relationship and we help each other in this community we share, especially during times like these."

The long-range bomber was visiting from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Operated exclusively by the US, the B-2 has never crashed since first seeing combat in the air war over Kosovo in 1999.

The 172-foot (52-metre) wide stealth bomber, which can carry nuclear as well as conventional weapons, has also been used in US campaigns over Iraq and Afghanistan.

It emits minimal exhaust, noise and heat, making it hard to detect by radar or infra-red.

Guam, in the northwest Pacific, and neighbouring US territories including the Northern Mariana Islands are considered by Washington as strategic locations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Guam, population 170,000, is home to one of the largest US military naval bases in the region and 8,000 marines will soon be relocated there from Japan.

The US and Japan are spending 15 billion dollars on the relocation of the marines from Japan, which is expected to further boost Washington's military strength in the Asia-Pacific

Games could save music biz

The music industry is changing, and fast. The old model based around full album consumption simply doesn't work anymore. Single track downloads grew by 53 percent in 2007 to $2.9 billion and digital sales account for 30 percent of sales in the US and 15 percent worldwide, all while CD sales continue to dive like broken Xbox 360s, falling between 10 to 20 percent in 2007. Heck, 2008 had one of the least-watched Grammy ceremonies in television history.

And yet in less than three months, Harmonix's video game Rock Band notched 2.5 million song downloads at around two bucks per -- twice as much as a regular iTunes song retails. Everyone who buys Rock Band downloads at least two songs, on average. With a little over one million copies of the game sold, that's some sexy math.

The relationship between games and music is only getting peachier: coming this June, Activision is planning to release a Guitar Hero game dedicated to Aerosmith and "celebrated artists that the band has either performed with or has been inspired by in some way." Clearly, bands are taking notice of gaming's reach and influence. Here's a look at the past, present and future of the mutually beneficial relationship between music and games.

• Related: Songs Featured in Rock Band on Yahoo! Music

Early Days: iD's Nine Inch Nails

One of the standout events in the merger between games and popular music came when Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame scored iD's seminal shooter, Quake. Worlds collided, as music fans who'd never looked twice at gaming suddenly took interest in online fragfests. Ironically, Reznor has since become a staunch opponent of the music industry's old guard, going so far as to leak his own tracks and remixes.

See NIN Artist Page

Old Tunes, New Audience

Where new audiences might once have been introduced to classic tunes through movies (think Martin Scorsese and his love for The Rolling Stones, or Wes Anderson's faithful use of The Kinks), now new generations get their musical education from games.

WATCH GTA: SAN ANDREAS TRAILER

Rockstar lived up to their name and built radio stations right into the Grand Theft Auto series that cemented gamers' love for tracks like Ice Cube's 'It Was A Good Day' and introduced many to stuff like Gary Numan's 'Cars'.

See Today Was A Good Day Song Page See Cars Song Page

Rocking in the free market

Dueling arena-rocking franchises Rock Band and Guitar Hero have only amped up that trend by going far beyond the niche track selections of older rhythm games. While labels struggle to sell CDs, Rock Band has already pushed well over 2 million songs. That sales market developed overnight; Rock Band has only been in stores for a few months. But it's consistent with the music industry's current trend towards single-track downloads, which have been increasing weekly.

Snacks that promote sleep

One of the best natural sedatives is tryptophan, an amino acid component of many plant and animal proteins.

Tryptophan is one of the ingredients necessary for the body to make serotonin, the neurotransmitter best known for creating feelings of calm, and for making you sleepy.

However, the trick is to combine foods that have some tryptophan with ample carbohydrate. That’s because in order for insomnia-busting tryptophan to work, it has to make its way to the brain.

Unfortunately, all amino acids compete for transport to the brain. When you add carbs, they cause the release of insulin, which takes the competing amino acids and incorporates them into muscle…but leaves tryptophan alone, so it can make its way to the brain, be converted to serotonin, and cause sleepiness.

Serotonin-producing bedtime snacks should be no more than 200 calories and should be eaten at least 30 minutes prior to bed.

Here are a few great ideas:

Bedtime Snacks for Adults

--6-8 oz container of non-fat, flavored yogurt topped with 2 tablespoons low-fat granola cereal
--Sliced apple with 1-2 teaspoons natural peanut butter
--3 cups low-fat popcorn – sprinkled with optional 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Bedtime Snacks for Teens

--One cup healthy cereal with skim milk
--Low-fat granola bar
--Scoop of vanilla or strawberry low-fat ice cream

Bedtime Snacks for Children

--1/2 cup low-fat vanilla pudding
--1/2 banana with 1-2 teaspoons peanut butter
--One cup skim milk with a bunch of grapes (or other fruit)

No-Bake Macaroni and Cheese

1. 8 ounces whole-wheat elbow noodles
2. 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped broccoli
3. 1 3/4 cups low-fat milk, divided
4. 3 tablespoons flour
5. 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
6. 1/2 teaspoon salt
7. 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
8. 3/4 cup shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
9. 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
10. 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Nutrition Info

Per Serving

• Calories: 396 kcal
• Carbohydrates: 57 g
• Dietary Fiber: 7 g
• Fat: 10 g
• Protein: 22 g
• Sugars: 8 g

2. Cooking Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta for 4 minutes. Add frozen broccoli and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the pasta and broccoli are just tender, 4 to 5 minutes more.
2. Meanwhile, heat 1 1/2 cups milk in another large pot over medium-high heat until just simmering. Whisk the remaining 1/4 cup milk, flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl until combined. Add the flour mixture to the simmering milk; return to a simmer and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in Cheddar, Parmesan and mustard until the cheese is melted.
3. Drain the pasta and broccoli and add to the cheese sauce. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, over medium-low heat, until heated through, about 1 minute.

Yield: 4 servings

3. Still Hungry?

Not only is this ultra-creamy version of mac-and-cheese nearly as fast as the boxed variety, but your family will be able to pronounce every ingredient. If they aren't broccoli fans, substitute a frozen vegetable of your choice.