Blog Posts by Vera H-C Chan

Burt and Linda Pugach (Photo: Magnolia Pictures)

Was it a love story about unfathomable forgiveness or a tale about obsession?

Few could grasp the story of Linda Pugach, who died this week at age 75. She made media headlines, blinded in 1959 by a man hired by her former lover, who would later marry her after his 14-year prison sentence for the crime.

The Pugaches, though, were never shy about talking about their lives (including a 1996 case in which his mistress of five years accused him of sexual abuse and aggravated harassment), be it on the talk show circuit, in a book, or in a 2007 Sundance documentary.

Sally Field in Palm Springs on Saturday (Photo: John Shearer/Invision/AP Images)Sally Field has romanced the best of them onscreen — James Garner, Paul Newman, Burt Reynolds, Daniel Day-Lewis — but a pelican?

Field — whose weepy "Places in the Heart" acceptance speech lives in Oscar history — scored another memorable one at the Palm Springs International Film Festival this past Saturday when she accepted the career achievement award. The Wrap dubbed her look back as a "killer speech," and the Los Angeles Times said she "brought down the house."

'Risky Buisness,' 'Sleepless in Seattle' and 'Cleopatra' (Photo: Everett Collection)

An epic that broke up two marriages, nearly killed a film studio, and reigned as the most expensive film ever made for 30-plus years. A thriller that made flocks of birds a fearsome sight for an entire generation.

Throw in the last great "Star Wars" film (before prequels and Jar Jar Binks dimmed the franchise), a few holiday classics (including an unlikely "holiday"), World War II tales of heroism, and pop-culture peaks and a Valley Girl, and you have a 2013 packed with notable movie anniversaries.

(WireImage)

Bradley Cooper, who plays a man recovering from a mental breakdown opposite Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook," has already received nods from the Screen Actors Guild, Broadcast Film Critics, Independent Spirit, National Board of Review, and Hollywood Film Awards (he won the last two). On Thursday morning, he picked up yet another nomination, this time for a Golden Globe. The spotlight is on as he transforms into one of the leading men of Hollywood, and here are the most buzzworthy details about the handsome actor:

This was a year of high anticipation: franchises staked at both ends of 2012, a crossover with "Harry Potter" implications, and a summer stuffed with superheroes in spandex to shake up box-office doldrums.

Could hype measure up to expectation -- and did it deliver in 2012? One good way to measure is to stack up movies' buzz -- in this case, the number of Searches on Yahoo!, visited by a half a billion people each month, during each film's debut month -- against its critical reviews and box-office receipts. One thing to note: Hollywood-hyped titles like "John Carter" and "Battleship" weren't fooling audiences; they knew to save their online energy for bigger things.

[Photos: 2012 Breakout Stars]

'The Hunger Games' (Photo: Lionsgate Films) 

1. "The Hunger Games." The Suzanne Collins series had the makings of a crossover juggernaut like "Twilight" and "Harry Potter" before it. Its premise, however, involved a 16-year-old archer in post-apocalyptic America, sacrificing herself to fight in a killing field. Oh, and

Photo: Film District

Where's the China paranoia in pop culture?

If and when you see "Red Dawn," the rah-rah remake of mature-looking teenagers and their kin fighting against an invasion against America, remember -- the enemy is North Korea, even though they're Chinese.

A tad confusing, but here's the backstory: The original, as a Gen X subset might recall, pitted the likes of Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, and C. Thomas Howell against Russian forces. Since the Soviet Union is so Cold War 1984, the natural invading forces of the 21st century should by all rights be China, due to its sheer size, military might, and the fact that it owns about 8 percent of U.S. debt. In a way, a Chinese invasion would be the equivalent of Mafia money lenders coming to break a few legs.

Photo: Dreamworks

Did Abraham Lincoln "steal" Thanksgiving Day from the states? And was he merely a hired thug for the woman best known for a nursery rhyme?

Before 1863, observing Thanksgiving fell to the province of the states. Having an annual day of thanks was controversial for many reasons; while Puritan in the making, Puritans such as Judge Samuel Sewall, who famously sentenced 19 people to death for witchcraft, feared people would feel entitled to the Lord's bounty with an annual event. Some argued that a day of prayer should be called by the church, not civil authorities.

Photo: CorbisSteven Spielberg's Abraham Lincoln may be more historically accurate — and far more Oscar-likely — but "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" wasn't far off with its focus on No. 16's colonial ax-fu.

While Daniel Day-Lewis's portrayal focuses on bringing the union together as the commander in chief, Lincoln had a reputation of being something of a strongman. According to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography "Team of Rivals," which inspired both Spielberg's film and the current president's approach to his first cabinet:

Derisively called "rail splitter" because he split railroad ties [for fences] as a youth, Lincoln was uncommonly strong ... [Once, a]s the presidential party lounged on the deck, Lincoln playfully demonstrated that in "muscular power he was one in a thousand," possessing "the strength of a giant." He picked up an ax and "held it at arm's length at the extremity of the [handle] with his thumb and forefinger, continuing to hold it there for a number of minutes. The most