Taking Names

‘Basic 2’ tops Razzies

Sharon Stone achieved fame years ago with her starring role in the original “Basic Instinct,” but last year’s sequel flopped big time — making it a contender for top honors at the 27th annual Golden Raspberry awards for the year’s worst films.

“Basic Instinct 2” received seven nominations, tying with the unfunny comedy “Little Man” for the most nominations at the Razzies. The awards will be presented Feb. 24, a day before the Oscars are handed out, Reuters news agency reports.

“Basic” is nominated for worst picture, actress, supporting actor, director, sequel, screenplay and screen couple; “Little Man” earned nods for worst picture, remake/rip-off, director, screenplay, screen couple and actor, getting two bids in that category.

Shawn and Marlon Wayans star in “Little Man,” directed by their brother Keenen Ivory Wayans. Razzies’ founder John Wilson called the film a blatant knockoff of a 1954 Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Also competing for worst movie are M. Night Shyamalan’s fantasy “Lady in the Water”; “The Wicker Man,” starring Nicolas Cage; and “BloodRayne,” a bloodless vampire movie directed by Uwe Boll, who is hailed on the Internet as one of the world’s worst directors.

Five films are competing in a new category called worst excuse for family entertainment: “Deck the Halls,” “Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties,” “RV,” “Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” and “The Shaggy Dog.”

Vying for worst actor are Tim Allen, for three films — “Santa Clause 3,” “The Shaggy Dog” and “Zoom” — Mr. Cage for “Wicker Man,” Dan Whitney for “Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector,” Rob Schneider for “The Benchwarmers” and Marlon and Shawn Wayans for “Little Man.”

Competing with Miss Stone for worst actress are sisters Hilary and Haylie Duff for “Material Girls,” Lindsay Lohan for “Just My Luck,” Kristanna Loken for “BloodRayne” and Jessica Simpson for “Employee of the Month.”

Seeger wins book prize

Moving on to less dubious honors, a book by Pete Seeger about a young musician who loses his hearing and a wordless story about an underwater camera were among the winners of children’s book prizes announced yesterday by the American Library Association.

The John Newbery Medal for the year’s “outstanding contribution” was awarded to Susan Patron’s “The Higher Power of Lucky,” the adventures of a 10-year-old girl and her search for a “Higher Power.” Previous winners of the Newbery, started in 1922, include Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time” and Louis Sachar’s “Holes,” Associated Press reports.

The Randolph Caldecott Medal for best picture book went to “Flotsam,” a seaside story about photos taken by a vintage underwater camera, narrated exclusively through pictures by David Wiesner, now a three-time Caldecott winner.

Also yesterday, Mr. Seeger and co-author Paul DuBois Jacobs received the Schneider Family Book Award for “books that embody the artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.”

Their book, “The Deaf Musicians,” tells of a young boy who forms a jazz group with other deaf performers who then become a sensation for their nightly subway concerts.

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