Once again, the Chlotrudis Society's annual awards ceremony at the Brattle Theatre on Sunday made up for the numbing, disappointing spectacle of the Oscars, though there might have been a few too many (four)Trudies going to "Winter's Bone" for my taste. But any bunch with the astuteness to honor "Dogtooth," "Marwencol," "Animal Kingdom," and "Mother" in the same evening is okay in my book.

The turmoil in Egypt dominates the news from the Middle East, overshadowing the recent oppressive measures imposed by the Iranian despots. Apparently in an attempt to stifle any anti-regime resistance inspired by the events in Cairo, the Tehran government has hanged at least 73 people in recent weeks, many of them political prisoners.

The surprise Director's Guild Award for Tom Hooper and the awards from the Screen Actors Guild -- Best Actor for Colin Firth and Best Ensemble Cast -- pretty much guarantee an Oscar sweep for "The King's Speech," the lush period biopic about King George VI, who, with the help of a non-elitist therapist managed to shake off a debilitating stutter, a toffee-nosed dissolute, Nazi-leaning elder brother, and a paralyzing father complex, and, apparently, go on to win World War II singlehandedly.