They say Death comes in Threes

What a surreal day, and an odd week. Ed McMahon's death? Not too surprising. Farrah Fawcett? Perhaps a more tragic and brave figure, but also not shocking. But Michael Jackson? I don't know what to say.

That's the kind of shocking death (shocking, but not surprising - know what I mean?) that is so jolting, you remember where you heard it. I saw that he had suffered cardiac arrest while at the gym, but I heard the news of his death over the radio at a liquor store.

I hear Walter Cronkite is gravely ill. Yes, he's 92, but can we handle losing another icon this week? Jeez.

Back to Ninotchka

Word on the street (or straight out of the Academy's mouth) is that next year's field for Oscar's Best Picture will be expanded to ten movies.

This is actually nothing new. Many years in the late 30s and early 40s sported ten nominees for Best Picture. In 1939, for example, Gone With the Wind prevailed over such classics as The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Ninotchka, Dark Victory, Love Affair, Of Mice and Men, Wuthering Heights, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

But there's a big difference between then and now: quality. Those early years sported many classics worthy of nominations. Now, there's a real chance we may hear the phrase, "Best Picture nominee The Hangover."

Don't get me wrong, that's a great movie, and so are others like Star Trek that are likely to benefit from this ego boost. But it's also going to lessen the prestige associated with awards. It's not going to be as special to be nominated for an Academy Award. Yes, more movies will get notice they deserve, but the club will get bigger.

Where will they hold the Oscars in 2020? Wrigley Field?

The Unpublished Marilyn

Have you seen the newly released, previously unpublished photos of a 24-year-old Marilyn Monroe, courtesy of the LIFE Magazine vaults?

You can view some of them here: http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/27412

They were recently discovered when a LIFE employee (um, one of the two or three left?) uncovered them while they were in the process of digitizing the defunct magazine's massive photo archive.

It's nice to see her unglamorized by celebrity, naturally beautiful and free of her oversexed image. It seems a more true portrait of the Marilyn Monroe depicted in several biographies, the best of which is Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto.