Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is a 2006 Academy Award-nominated mockumentary comedy film directed by Larry Charles. It stars the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in the title role of Borat Sagdiyev, a fictitious Kazakh journalist, traveling through the United States recording real-life interactions with Americans. It is the second film built around one of Cohen's characters from Da Ali G Show, following Ali G Indahouse, which also featured a cameo by Borat. It was a critical and commercial success, despite an initially limited release in the United States. Cohen won the 2007 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor: Musical or Comedy as Borat while the film was nominated for Best Motion Picture in the same category. Controversy surrounded the film even before its release. It has been criticised for having a protagonist who is sexist and antisemitic (although Cohen is Jewish himself), and some who have appeared in the film have criticised and even sued its creators. All Arab countries, except for Lebanon, banned it, and the Russian government successfully discouraged cinemas there from showing it. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borat%3A_Cultural_Learnings_of_America_for_Mak… _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1665: The London Gazette, the oldest surviving English newspaper, was first published as the Oxford Gazette. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Gazette) 1811: American forces led by Indiana Territory Governor William Henry Harrison defeated the forces of Shawnee leader Tecumseh's growing American Indian confederation at the Battle of Tippecanoe near present-day Battle Ground, Indiana. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tippecanoe) 1885: Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the first transcontinental railroad across Canada, concluded with financier and politician Sir Donald Smith driving in the "last spike" in Craigellachie, British Columbia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Pacific_Railway) 1917: Vladimir Lenin led a Bolshevik insurrection against the Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky, starting the Bolshevik Revolution, the second phase of the overall Russian Revolution. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution_%281917%29) 1987: Zine El Abidine Ben Ali deposed and replaced Habib Bourguiba as President of Tunisia, declaring him medically unfit for the duties of the office. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali) _____________________ Wiktionary's Word of the day: grandiloquent: Of a person, their language or writing: overly wordy, pompous, flowery, or elaborate. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grandiloquent)