Worst Oscar Wins Ever

Though the list is long and the cause of much dispute, we've decided to throw our two cents into the ring for what it's worth. There have been many disappointments in the Oscar's race to victory - so what are the worst films to have ever won an Oscar.

Groupon London deals often offer great cinema options, or low cost offerings to sign up to online streaming providers, so you can make your mind up for yourself.

Forest Gump

With a rating of only 71 per cent on critics site Rotten Tomatoes,  Forest Gump won Best Picture in 1994. Gump who is played by Tom Hanks, is a numbskull who manages to perform a number of acts of patriotism, mostly by mistake. The special effects wowed audiences, as did the somewhat heart warming story. However, looking back it seems a little poor when compared to the other contenders that year, which included Pulp Fiction, Four Weddings and a Funeral and The Shawshank Redemption - a pretty strong list.

Forrest Gump is not a bad movie, but maybe a little more unrealistic as Gump managed to win the Vietnam War and also become a millionaire through a stint in the shrimp business - he even managed to run across America without any prior training. Forest Gump manages to emotionally win the viewer over, but when compared to the competition that year, nowadays wouldn't stand a chance in most people's books, world cities, such as London deals with the issue, still.

Benjamin Button

Based on a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this film with Brad Pitt by David Fincher is a bit of an overrated puller of heartstrings, just like Forest Gump. With a cast consisting of Pitt, alongside Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton, it all seems onto a winner and it was having won a number of Golden Globes and Oscars.

Pitt is born as an old man and is destined to spend his life aging backwards through some snazzy special effects. However you always get that Forest Gump feel that it's a little superficial and plays its winning card through a mixture of emotion and special effects

Out of Africa

Would this film be nominated nowadays, well we hope not. This very inflated movie stars both Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, who both have a number of nominations and wins between the,. However, it's an amazingly slow movie, and not in a good way.

Out of Africa trails along at speeds similar to that of a crippled tortoise and really tries the audiences patience. Simply, in the day of the Internet it wouldn't be stood for with audience's short attention spans - which after sitting through it you realise is no bad thing.

Annie Hall

Annie Hall is a very good film, by a Woody Allen right in his prime. On paper it's also a lot stronger than any science fiction flick, or so you'd imagine. However, when that film is Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, you can be forgiven for imagining why many lament the best film category loss.

Allen is undoubtedly a master of American cinema - at times - and Annie Hall is probably his strongest work. However, the long and reaching impact of Star Wars, its cult status and just the film itself mean the Oscar should be revoked and rewarded in a similar way to that of those ill-fated Miss Worlds, who are subject to the bearing of dubious photos after white teethed victory.

Ghandi

A quite bloated film in the first place, Ghandi picked up a large number of Oscars for its portrayal of the peaceful struggle of the time. However a win for best costumes for a film where the leading character wears little more than a bed sheet, seems a little rich.

It gets better when you consider that the other nominations that year came from La Traviata, Sophie's Choice and Tron - a tad rich.

For those that enjoy the classics Netflix, which often offers great deals via Groupon England is a good bet to revisit the good, bad and the ugly

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

The Article is written by Cormac Reynolds at www.D3ALS.co.uk providing and aggregation of Daily Deals, Hotel Deals, Holiday Deals, Spa Deals including many for Groupon England. Visit http://www.D3ALS.co.uk for more information on www.D3ALS.co.uk Products & Services. Copyright information. This article is free for reproduction but must be reproduced in its entirety, including live links & this copyright statement must be included. Visit www.D3ALS.co.uk for all your daily deals in one place and in one email.

Why the PS Vita is a Winner

The device was received as a bit of a average machine when it was released in Japan a few months ago.

Sony saw quite low sales and expectations that the mobile phone had replaced the handheld gaming market were prevalent among reporters in the gaming world. However, the release in the UK and Ireland has seen a lot of acclaim for the new machine - so what are its specific exciting points?

Power

The Sony PS Vita offers power that is comparable to that of a Playstation 3 in the hand. Now that's a large amount of ability in the hand and allows for some graphically amazing games on a device not much bigger than a phone.

Sony has showcased these abilities with a great emerging lineup which includes WipeOut, Ridge Racer and a number of other great starter games. These games showcase the graphical power of the new Sony device, and it's easy to see its power over that of the Nintendo competitor the 3DS. Of course, the PS Vita isn't a machine capable of glasses-free 3D, but then again, is 3D TV not on the way out and more of a mere novelty than a necessity.

Build

Though made of plastic the PS Vita appeals as it is a very sturdy and well built device. Sony has used quality plastics and added some lovely additions in the shape of the excellent analogue joysticks. These two protruding pieces offer the excellent aesthetics and also functionality of the Sony Playstation 3 joypad, yet on this little portable machine.

The joysticks themselves work a treat with the machine and really feel excellent during use. In fact, we'd say there are the nicest controllers on any portable machine we've used for a long time. Add to this, the great game line-up and we can see the device trouncing the Nintendo equivalent. Also, expect to see a number of great accessories as time goes by, especially on sites such as KGBDeals

Screen

The 5-inch screen of the PS Vita is a lot larger than that of the original PSP and is all the better for it. Though the device is slightly larger, the screen offers a far more dynamic feel to it and really has that great punchy feel you get from top end mobile phones, which KGB offers accessories for quite often.

It's also a capacitive screen and not a more irritating resistive version like the Nintendos. This allows for great in game fun and adds a lot to the machine. When you include the prevalence of the capacitive touch screen back on the Vita, which is used as an additional way of moving during the game and is set to be put to a number of creative uses, you realise how inventive this new device is and how for gaming phones and tablet's lie in, its wake.

Technology

For its price, the PS Vita is a fantastic machine, especially when you consider the additional array of technology inside its pretty interior. The dual cameras, analogue sticks, Wi-Fi

Sony recently released the new handheld PS Vita on the European market. The gaming

connectivity which allows you to download games and its number of graphical processors and sheer power - you realise it packs a lot of bang for its buck. You can also play your old PS1 games on it for free should you feel the need, so original WipeOut and Metal Gear Solid can be on the menu if you wish.

In fact, we're not sure what sort of profit margins Sony is making on this device. Considering they used to make a loss on the PS3 until it was around for a period, we don't expect they're making a lot and would imagine hope to make money back on peripheries and games - perhaps the reason you need to fork out £40 for a memory card to play the thing - a bit rich we felt. Wait and see if you can get lower cost third party versions on sites such as kgb deal.

The Vita is a lovely machine and we can really see it being a success for the Japanese company, no matter what the naysayers believe.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

The Article is written by Cormac Reynolds at www.D3ALS.co.uk providing and aggregation of Daily Deals, Hotel Deals, Holiday Deals, Spa Deals including many for KGB. Visit http://www.D3ALS.co.uk for more information on www.D3ALS.co.uk Products & Services. Copyright information. This article is free for reproduction but must be reproduced in its entirety, including live links & this copyright statement must be included. Visit www.D3ALS.co.uk for all your daily deals in one place and in one email.

What is Groupon

You may be quite familiar with hearing about Groupon, or the concept of the daily deals. So, what is this Groupon we constantly hear about, what can it do for you and how does it offer such amazing deals?

The Start

What is Groupon - Groupon is a relatively new concept and began in Chicago in 2008. However, spread to the UK and pretty much worldwide in the following years. So much so that there is now a Groupon for most cities and for large city's individual parts of these cities.

You may also have noticed there are also a number of other daily deal's sites on offer. The likes of KGB Deals, Living Social and City deals, as well as a number of smaller sites are very common. These all came to prevalence after Groupon, thanks, mainly to its popularity, though do offer similar deals.

What does it do?

Well, Groupon, which now includes Citydeal, offer discounts of up to 70 per cent on the price of everything from beauty treatments to clothing and other items. These deals mean that as a consumer you can save a substantial amount of money on items, you would not usually be able to afford.

The significant percentages of money saved by consumers has seen the popularity of these sites just mushroom. Daily deal sites have become popular for one obvious reason - they offer savings on luxury pastimes in a time of recession.

How do they do it?

Groupon and other daily deal sites contact retailers, or are contacted by retailers. These retailers are willing to offer them daily deals for a significantly reduced percentage for a number of reasons.

Advertising

Groupon has hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people each day receiving its daily deals newsletters and for many people it's one of the first things they do in the morning. This means it has a huge advertisement base, even if people don't purchase items, you get the benefits of advertising.

Business

Businesses generally sell their goods at cost, or slightly above the price. In the case of things such as treatments that is a substantial figure that even at a reduced cost is covered. Even with clothing where there is a 70 per cent mark up this is the case.

Business gives Groupon, or other daily deal's sites a percentage of the income they receive from these sales, though there is another factor, they depend on for making money - return sales.

Return Business

By offering a quality service these businesses hope to drum up a good opinion of their business and then receive return business at full price from happy customers. This return business is where they make their money and can ensure that their business become more successful.

For the customer, this is also a positive as it means that the business will perform to a very high standard as this is their chance to impress. This will then mean an impressed customer will be happy enough to return and then pay for the repeat business. Groupon will obviously have exited at this stage; however, it is not uncommon for business to decide on using the daily deal's sites on a regular basis due to the positive effects of the first effort.

In the case of many companies, they offer services that require return business, or will get customers interested in a long-term basis. They may also do things and then suggest from their expert advice how you can get a better service, or where problems lie with the existing scenario. This for the customer still means a good deal as they get a cheaper deal, while also are happy having received a positive service.

Daily deals offer both business and customer a very positive experience, while also mean that the value and competition in the daily deal's sector is stronger and stronger. This of course means better long-term value.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

The Article is written by Cormac Reynolds at www.D3ALS.us providing and aggregation of Daily Deals, Hotel Deals, Holiday Deals, Spa Deals including many for Groupon. Visit http://www.D3ALS.us for more information on www.D3ALS.us Products & Services. Copyright information. This article is free for reproduction but must be reproduced in its entirety, including live links & this copyright statement must be included. Visit www.D3ALS.us for all your daily deals in one place and in one email.