Hello, everybody. We begin first up with the news that Geraldine Ferraro, who in 1984 made history as the first female U.S. vice presidential candidate, died Saturday morning at age 75 from blood cancer at a Boston hospital.

Ferraro ran alongside Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential election against incumbents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush; in the end, Reagan won every state except Minnesota (Mondale's home state) though Ferraro would set the standard for women in politics to come. In 2008, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin attempted to pick up where Ferraro left off after John McCain picked her as his running mate, and on her Facebook page she paid tribute to Ferraro saying, "She broke one huge barrier and then went on to break many more. May her example of hard work and dedication to America continue to inspire all women."

The death of a political icon like Geraldine Ferraro came just a few short days after we said goodbye to a screen icon: Elizabeth Taylor. The double Academy Award winner died on Tuesday at 79 after a series of health problems over the years including congestive heart failure.

Throughout her lifetime, Liz was known for a lot of things including her marital statuses. Her first husband to hotel mogul Conrad Hilton lasted only nine months in the early 1950's, followed by Michael Wilding (1952-57), Michael Todd, (1957-58 until a plane crash took his life), Eddie Fisher (1959-64, Taylor converted to Judiasm afterwards), and then the three that really made headlines: Richard Burton (1964-74, 1975-76; the two met while filming "Cleopatra"), U.S. Senator John Warner of Virginia (1976-82, she really was the first real housewife of D.C.), and finally, construction worker Larry Fortensky (1991-96, they met while at the Betty Ford Clinic and were married at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch).

Another was her humanitarian work. Along with her two Best Actress Oscars for "Butterfield 8" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in the 1960's, Taylor received a special Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1992 for her AIDS activism. Prior to that, she was co-founder of amFAR, the American Foundation of AIDS Research, which came around the time her longtime friend Rock Hudson succumbed to the disease.

And then, of course, was the acting. Liz came into our lives in 1944 with "National Velvet" at the young age of 12 and throughout the '40s and '50s, became one of MGM's hottest commodities. In 1956, she starred with Rock Hudson and James Dean in "Giant"; a portion of it was already in the can after Dean's death.

Seven years later came "Cleopatra" with Richard Burton. The film may have been a colossal flop with a $40 million bill (which was big money back in 1963) that almost destroyed 20th Century Fox, but Taylor and Burton would really heat things up for years to come after it wrapped.

Several more films would follow throughout the '70s (with her last being "The Flintstones" in 1994), but during the '80s, it would be television work including stints on "General Hospital" and "All My Children" and even the voice of Maggie Simpson on "The Simpsons." Liz wrapped up her overall resume with the 2001 TV movie "These Old Broads."

And long before celebrities hawked their own merchandise, Taylor got the ball rolling first. Her perfume line -- White Diamonds, Passion, and Black Pearls -- have raked in an estimated $200 million.

But even till the end, Liz like most of the world jumped on the social networking bandwagon. Her Twitter account had 343,605 followers at the time of her death, and on July 12 last year she tweeted what would be her last words to the public: "Every breath you take today should be with someone else in mind. I love you."

Now that Elizabeth Taylor will be reunited with her longtime love Richard Burton and longtime friend Michael Jackson in heaven, her passing also marked the end of Hollywood's old golden age. The new golden age has already begun, and I'm thinking Anne Hathaway is already leading that charge. But of course, there was only one Elizabeth Taylor, and no one will come close to equaling or surpassing her. So long and stay strong.

Hello, everybody. It took him 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes, and 39 seconds with an average speed of 5.33 miles per hour to bring Lance Mackey's four-year dominance to an end, but Kotzebue's John Baker in that record time was the first to cross the Burled Arch in Nome Tuesday morning to win the 2011 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race; he's also the first Alaska Native musher since Gerald Riley in 1976 to do so. For his accomplishments, Baker receives a check for $50,400 plus the keys to a new Dodge Ram truck.

And Baker is not alone. Also breaking Martin Buser's 2002 record was runner-up Ramey Smyth; he arrived over an hour later followed by Hans Gatt in third place at 3:24 pm Alaska Time. And as of publish time, 2011 Yukon Quest champion Dallas Seavey just arrived at 5:27 pm.

Oh, yeah...what about ol' Lance? Right now, he's in White Mountain, and is expected to head to Front Street at the crack of dawn Wednesday morning. But right now, it's all about John Baker, the man who has done the impossible to finally claim victory in 39th annual running of The Last Great Race. So long and stay strong.

Hello, everybody. I'm sure most of you have already saw the devastation and aftermath of the horrific 8.9 earthquake that has engulfed Japan Friday afternoon. That would be followed by a 23-foot tsunami that put the entire Pacific including Alaska and British Columbia, Canada on alert, though waves were not as bad as expected.

The massive quake shook several cities and villages including Tokyo, which was hundreds of miles from the epicenter. In Sendai, 200 to 300 bodies were found by police; the estimated death toll throughout could exceed 1,000. This was the fifth biggest quake in world history; Japan's worst was an 8.3 in 1925 that claimed 143,000 lives, while 6,400 were perished in the 1995 Kobe quake that measured 7.2.

Japan is also home to the world's third largest economy, and it too was felt as auto plants, refineries, nuclear power plants, and electronic factories were shut while Tokyo's Narita Airport was closed and rail services nationwide were stopped. And even though they were far away from Japan, the tsunami forced Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner to evacuate Vancouver Island in Canada, where they were shooting "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn." Even Jimmy Kimmel had to cut his vacation in French Polynesia short when the quake hit, tweeting, "Suddenly, relaxing on an island in the South Pacific isn't so relaxing anymore. Good thing I brought my aqua stilts." Over in Hawaii, the tsunami no threat at all to production of CBS' "Hawaii Five-O."

Kimmel is among the handful of celebrities who took to Twitter to share their condolences after the tragedy; here are a few of them:

• Taylor Swift: "I'm sending my thoughts and prayers and love to those in Japan who are hurting."
• Katy Perry: "My prayers go out to anyone that is being effected by the disaster in Japan... #prayforjapan"
• Nicole Scherzinger: "My heart goes out to all those affected by the earthquake and subsequent tsunamis. Pls keep Japan in ur prayers. God bless and be with them."
• Justin Bieber: "Japan is one of my favorite places on earth…it’s an incredible culture with amazing people. My prayers go out to them. We all need to help."

And you, can by the way, by going to redcross.org; or if you're not near a computer, text REDCROSS to 90999 (a $10 donation will be added to your mobile bill).

But even though it was too long for Twitter, I liked Natalie Portman's Facebook statement the best: "I am completely stunned and shocked. I saw the pictures and videos of Japan, it's really terrible what happened, how the whole city destroyed the tsunami and earthquake. It hurts to know that there are many missing and dead. I can not believe what happened, our world is responding to what we do against them and I think over time it will be worse if we do not start to become aware of our actions."

You know, the Oscar winner has a point here: What was transpired in Japan hearkens me back to the last tsunami in Indonesia in 2004, or even worse, Hurricane Katrina several months later with Kanye West's remark (you know what he said) being the wake-up call. Over the last month or so we have seen Australia and later New Zealand being rocked by a flood and an earthquake respectively, and now with Japan, it has been shown proof positive that it's really not nice to fool around with Mother Nature. But...we've got Father Time to get us over this.

Now, on to some much lighter fare...the 2011 Iditarod, as we're near the homestretch and it's everybody's race as Hugh Neff and John Baker are right now preventing Lance Mackey from making it five in a row. On Friday, Neff reached Anvik and the Yukon River first, with $3,500 and a seven-course gourmet meal as his reward (I couldn't find any information on the meal; sorry). Over this past week we've some some constant lead changes by Martin Buser, Sebastian Schnuelle, and even Kelley Griffin, but the last 400 miles or so really makes the last great race.

As of publish time, Baker is in Eagle Island followed by Neff and Mackey, who's down to only nine dogs now. If Lance still wants to join the Five-Timers Club, he's going to need more than nine dogs to provide a lot of muscle; otherwise, it'll be Baker or Neff powering their way to Front Street in Nome in a few short days.

(UPDATE: John Baker left Eagle Island early Saturday morning followed by Sebastian Schnuelle and Hugh Neff; Lance Mackey has now crashed to 12th place)

This weekend, we'll be springing forward as Daylight Savings Time begins, but I wish the only thing that should be falling back is the hefty gas prices. Everywhere you look, the cost for unleaded gas is now upwards to $5.00 a gallon. Now that's a sharp contrast to the price of milk, which in now up to $4.00/gallon in some areas. $4.00 a gallon!!!

Okay, what gives? A few years ago on this blog, I went off on the fact of rural areas here in Alaska paying steep prices for food, including $7.00 for a gallon of milk while we in Fairbanks and Anchorage pay about $3.00. But now, it's already becoming the norm all over the country: food costs are increasing everywhere, especially dairy and meats.

Subway recently surpassed McDonald's for the most number of restaurants worldwide, though in terms of sales, McDonald's still dominates that. The reason? In these trying economic times, we Americans were sitting on the same boat for countless years, though the popularity of "The Biggest Loser" literally changed all that, which still makes Jack LaLanne proud up above. But I swear...if I see a $5.00 gallon of milk the next time I shop, it'll be off to what I call the "backup" milk (i.e., dry milk or the milk you can store in the pantry until opened) until I start buying fresh milk again.

And last but not least...Charlie Sheen may have gotten the pink slip from "Two And A Half Men", but he remains uncontainable. And now there's news that Charlie's taking his antics on the road with two shows in Detroit and Chicago in April (with more possibly to come), which comes as the actor filed a $100 million lawsuit against Warner Bros. and CBS for breach of contract.

Sheen has garnered over 2 million+ Twitter followers and growing in the span of two weeks (Lady Gaga still leads the overall count with 8.7 million), but the big question now is: Who is tapped to replace him? Well, "Parks and Recreation" has got Rob Lowe in a headlock, and John Stamos said "Hell no!" The latest Funny Or Die video has Jerry O'Connell auditioning for the role (though his "The Defenders" is on the bubble), and other names being thrown in the hat: Matt LeBlanc, Jeremy Piven, Matthew Perry, David Hasselhoff, and even Ted McGinley!

But you know what? When it comes to thinking outside the box, the one name that pops up in my mind: Rick Fox! Yeah, the former NBA player turned actor would be the definitive candidate to take Charlie Sheen's job on "Two And A Half Men"; he got a career boost following "Dancing With The Stars" last season. Of course, that would make girlfriend Eliza Dushku very happy as he's trying not to make the show "One And a Half Men And a Dribbler Who's Banging The Girl From 'Dollhouse'". So long and stay strong.

Hello, everybody. We've got a ton of stuff to get to including the 120 vying for the Sexiest Woman of 2011 title, so let's get to it.

First up...Charlie Sheen's latest adventures may have cost "Two And A Half Men" the remainder of the season, but that didn't prevent him from shutting up. Earlier this week he launched his Twitter page which got 1 million followers after the first day, and the keyword for him may be "winning."

But it would later turn out that he would be losing custody of his children to ex-wife Brooke Mueller as they were snatched from Charlie's home in the middle of the night after going on a media blitz to prove his insanity. And now we're learning that secret talks have been in place to get Sheen back to work on "Two And A Half Men" as soon as possible. Somwhere, John Stamos and Ted McGinley are pissed.

Don't expect Charlie Sheen's career to be included in the "In Memoriam" piece during next year's Academy Awards, but as far ratings for the 83rd Annual extravaganza were concerned? Well, they were down 10 percent from last year, as hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway got mixed reviews for their hosting duties. But I think it's the telecast's writers to blame for the ratings drop, though Hathaway was really enjoying herself while Franco sort of pretended to be ignoring the spotlight.

Franco was on a plane back to the East Coast after the show, while a few hours and a turnaround later, Hathaway and Best Actor winner Colin Firth appeared on Oprah Winfrey's after-Oscar show. But where was Natalie Portman? After a good night's sleep following the biggest night of her life, she and fiance Benjamin Millepied were spotted getting breakfast at an L.A. area restaurant.

Now a lot of fans were cheering and shedding tears of joy over Natalie's much-deserved Best Actress win, but potential 2012 presidential candidate and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee wasn't one of them. In a radio interview with Michael Medved, Huckabee lashed out on Portman for glamorizing pregnancy, calling it "troubling." Hey, weren't Catherine Zeta-Jones and Rachel Weisz pregnant when they collected their Oscars years ago? If I was Natalie, I would fly to wherever he his and use that Oscar to pound him in the balls!

"The Social Network" picked up four awards including Adapted Screenplay, and last year, I brought up which Academy Award winners are on Twitter, from Kevin Spacey (still the most-followed with 1.8 million) to Tom Hanks (not far behind with 1.5 million) to the newest member of the Twitterverse, Marisa Tomei at a mere 1,000-plus followers.

(UPDATE (3/14): Just recently, Julia Roberts joined Twitter, though she hasn't tweeted yet. Maybe when it hits 100,000 followers, she will.)

But what about on Facebook? Well, Marisa has recently established a Facebook home on there as well, but Colin Firth's page has continually been getting congratulatory messages for his win though he has yet to post a "thank you" message.

Now unlike Twitter, celebrity Facebook pages don't have the "Verified Account" on there, simply because they change their wall photos occasionally. But when they get the chance, they do update their status. Most of them create an additional page themselves to keep away from "posers"; look at Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, Hilary Duff, Jessica Simpson, Eva Longoria, Justin Bieber, and Rihanna. You can see these and more on my Facebook, including Hilary Swank and Natalie Portman.

And speaking of Portman (once again)...I'm leaning toward the fact that even though she graduated from Harvard around the time Mark Zuckerberg started dreaming up Facebook, I am 95% certain that Natalie H. Portman (she doesn't have a middle name, by the way) is her official Facebook. The remaining five percent disagrees with me, and no, Natalie says she doesn't use Twitter.

(UPDATE (4/17): It turns out that Natalie H. Portman's Facebook was another of those "posers" and has been expunged; dunno about whether or not this is her Twitter. But at least she's keeping herself occupied until she gives birth later this year.)

Anyway...the roster for Season 12 of "Dancing With The Stars" has been released, and headlining that is Kirstie Alley. Also joining her: Talk show host Wendy Williams, boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, musician and former WWE wrestler Chris Jericho, reality star Kendra Wilkinson-Baskett, radio personality Mike Catherwood, "The Karate Kid" himself Ralph Macchio, singer Romeo, Disney star Chelsea Kane (keeping up with the synergy), model Petra Nemcova, and Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward. All in all, this is shaping up to be the season to watch as "Dancing With The Stars" resumes their mission on March 21 to finally bring "American Idol's" six-year reign as TV's #1 show to an end.

This past week, Apple CEO Steve Jobs got out from his sick bed to unveil the iPad 2, which will be out next week. The iPad 2 will be thinner and lighter than the iPad 1, but with a few more amenities: longer battery life, HD video recording (yeah, good luck taking that to concerts!), FaceTime, and a "Smart Cover."

Last year I originally considered getting me an iPad, but I had to spend the $600 for a new computer to replace the one that finally crapped out on me. The iPad 2 is something I won't pass up on this time around.

And last but certainly not least...it's the moment you've waited several paragraphs for! That's right, it's that time of year again when we start asking the question: Who is the sexiest woman of 2011???

This year like I've done in 2009, the field has increased from 90 to 120 all itching to take the coveted title. So enough BS; in no particular order, here they are starting with the Juniors (ages 16-25):

Group A

AnnaLynne McCord

Leighton Meester

Hilary Duff

Emmy Rossum

Lacey Schwimmer

Brittany Snow

Ashley Tisdale

Miranda Cosgrove

Brooklyn Decker

Lea Michele

Group B

Victoria Justice

Emma Stone

Julianne Hough

Dianna Agron

Ashley Greene

Jessica Stroup

Vanessa Hudgens

Taylor Swift

Kristin Cavallari

Hayden Panettiere

Group C

Audrina Patridge

Emma Watson

Jessica Lowndes

Miley Cyrus

Blake Lively

Kristen Stewart

Camilla Belle

Megan Fox

Amanda Seyfried

Joanna "JoJo" Levesque

Group D

Emma Roberts

Selena Gomez

Taylor Momsen

AnnaSophia Robb

Alyson Michalka

Kaley Cuoco

Amanda Bynes

Michelle Trachtenberg

Maria Sharapova

Rihanna

And now, the Seniors:

Group A

Halle Berry

Scarlett Johansson

Jennifer Love Hewitt

Jessica Alba (2000 and 2003 winner)
Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson
Denise Richards
Eva Longoria
Olivia Wilde
Christina Applegate
Gwyneth Paltrow

Group B
Natalie Portman (2002 runner-up)
Paula Abdul
Kylie Minogue
Stacy Keibler (2007 third-place finisher)
Sofia Vergara
Courteney Cox
Jennifer Lopez (2001 runner-up)
Shakira
Emily Blunt
Maria Menounos

Group C
Kristen Bell (2007 runner-up/2008 winner)
Jessica Biel
Kate Beckinsale
Mandy Moore
Nicole Kidman (2001 winner)
Sandra Bullock
Claire Danes
Christina Milian
Helen Mirren
Anna Paquin

Group D
Nicole Scherzinger
Heather Graham
Marisa Tomei
Carrie Underwood
Britney Spears (1999 winner/2001 third-place finisher)
Hilary Swank
Eva Mendes
Reese Witherspoon
Rachel Bilson
Heidi Klum

Finally, the Underdogs:

Group A
Karina Smirnoff
Jennifer Lawrence
Anna Kendrick
Kelly Brook
Kim Kardashian
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
Erika Christensen
Jillian Michaels
Sarah Hyland
Jenny McCarthy

Group B
Olivia Munn
Anna Faris
Nancy O'Dell
Adriana Lima
Katy Perry
Cat Deeley
Alexa Vega
Minka Kelly
Alison Sweeney
Milla Jovovich

Group C
Malin Akerman
Melanie Brown
Miranda Kerr
Teresa Palmer
Brooke Burke
Sarah Shahi
Pauley Perrette
January Jones
Melissa Rycroft

Group D
Christina Hendricks
Michelle Rodriguez
Diane Kruger
LeAnn Rimes
Yvonne Stravhovski
Cheryl Cole
Chelsea Handler
Julianna Margulies
Erin Andrews

(NOTE: This field is not yet final and can change at any time)

Yeah, this is shaping up to quite a tournament like no other, and here's how things will go:

In the first half of Round 1, the field will decrease from 120 to 90 (30 Juniors, 30 Seniors, 30 Underdogs); in the second half, it'll be down to 60 (20 from each category). Then in Round 2 of course, we continue that process with 30 remaining.

But when we get to Round 3 after a summer break, the real battle begins when we remove the categories and last year's third-place finisher Cheryl Burke plus a surprise 31st entrant joins the party. 30 will become 20 for Round 4 with last year's runner-up Jennifer Aniston stepping in.

The top ten ladies after Round 4 (plus two more from the Second Chance Round) will go on to face last year's winner Kate Walsh in the final round for the title of Sexiest Woman of 2011; if everything goes according to plan, that will be around mid-November!!!

Rounds 1, 2, and the vote-offs (and I'm sure there'll be some) will be web votes only, while there will be both web and text votes in the remaining rounds plus Second Chance. And to make things a whole lot better, I'm increasing the web votes limit from one to FIVE, meaning you can max them all out for one person or split them for a few!

But by looking at the field, you can sure bet that Natalie Portman will be the heavy favorite; she lost to Sarah Michelle Gellar in 2002, by the way. Others to watch for are Miley Cyrus, Brooklyn Decker, Katy Perry, Rihanna, and Sofia Vergara. And at 65 going on 66...could Helen Mirren go all the way to become the oldest Sexiest Woman winner ever???

These questions and more will be answered when Round 1 of Sexiest Woman of 2011 gets underway on Monday, March 28! So long and stay strong!