PRIZEFIGHTERS With 12 nominations and a Golden Globe, the crowd pleaser Gladiator hopes to fend off critics’ favorite Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to capture the Best Picture Oscar at Sunday’s Academy Awards. Let the games begin. Illustration for TIME by James Bennett
Winners
ELVIS PRESLEY
He left the buildingbut not the bank. The King tops Forbes’ list of the richest dead celebrities
OLIVER STONE
U.S. judge rejects suit blaming director’s film for killings. Now sue him for Any Given Sunday
BOB THE BUILDER
Animated British construction worker takes U.S. TV by storm. Payback for 1776? Losers
PIN CHAKKAPHAK
U.K. court approves Thai financier’s extradition. That whole Asian financial crisis? His fault
BANGARU LAXMAN
Still time for med school. Prez of India’s ruling party caught on camera accepting bribes
MIR
Russian space station crashing below the 2000 levelno, wait, that’s the NASDAQ
Verbatim
“You do feel vindicated that the make-believe companies are crashing down.”
JOHN ROGERS JR., chairman of U.S. firm Ariel Mutual Funds, on the plight of Internet companies in the ongoing tech bust
“It will happen, he will pass. He is an anachronism in the 21st century.”
COLIN POWELL, U.S. Secretary of State, saying sanctions against Cuba would be lifted, but not while President Fidel Castro is in power “This is the ‘New Japan’ and it’s spelled ‘T-O-U-G-H.'”
JESPER KOLL, chief economist at Merrill Lynch Japan, on the need for real reform, not old-style pork-barrel solutions
“I’ve tried to be charming and humorous. I’ve tried persuasion and bribery.”
GIL CATES, producer of the Academy Awards ceremony, begging actors to keep their acceptance speeches short
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