Yes, my icon is in honor of our new Best Supporting Actress
Tomorrow looks like it may be a busy day, so let's go ahead and deal with the linkspam pileup before it gets even worse:
Linkspam that somehow includes what I was doing at three in the morning:
Your 2008 Oscars in 120 Seconds [Putting Things To Bed]; Viggo Mortensen is Nominated, World Fails to Notice; Cotillard Fed Up With Talking About Herself; Do Not Disturb Diablo [The Morning After]; Biggest Oscar Travesty? (David Carr's answer: the musical categories); Oscar Nation Shrinks; Joan and Melissa Rivers Relegated To Podcasting Their Red Carpet Barbs; MTV Intern: My Night At The Oscars.
Also: Discuss: Help Pick a New Oscars Category. You know, I actually like the suggestion of Best Comedy, because comedy is so under-represented. Possibly Best Musical? Ten years ago a category like that wouldn't have been able to support itself, but nowadays we could probably drum up at least three nominees every year or so, as with Best Animated Feature. The one I was thinking about last night, although it verges a bit into MTV Movie Awards territory, is best action sequence. Or maybe Best Physical Action Sequence--I'm thinking here of choreographed fights, as opposed to car chases or CG sequences. I mean, you'd automatically have Eastern Promises and The Bourne Ultimatum in that category. There's a lot of work that actually goes into a good fight, a lot of choreography and design, a lot of training for the actors and often a lot of stunt work, not to mention the editing of the actual film, and you could even consider the sound effects that go into making fake punches sound painful.
Also? Best Computer-Generated Character (Performance?). I think this one will actually happen eventually, now that people are calming down from the hysteria of a few years ago and realizing that computerized characters aren't going to replace physical actors (although Robert Zemeckis seems hellbent on proving this wrong), but rather offer new opportunities to do new things and have fantastic interactions we couldn't have done ten years ago. I mean--Gollum, Dobby, Davy Jones, Aslan, Iorek and the daemons (have you heard my new band, Iorek and the Daemons?)--all kinds of fantasy creatures are available to us now (and I still feel like Andy Serkis and Bill Nighy in particular deserve awards of some kind). Anyhoo. Think about it, guys.
Writers overwhelmingly OK contract; Did writers show networks that networks don't really need them?
Ala. wind leaves 1 dead, 40,000 without power. Yeah, we had a scary-ass storm last night. I was kind of half-awake, tossing a bit, and all of a sudden there's this UNEARTHLY BLAST OF THUNDER and the house shakes and the power blinks on and off and my overhead light turns on and my computer turns off and my printer starts rumbling. It was, for about thirty seconds, like something out of Poltergeist. And then it stormed like hell for about an hour. It's funny--I'm not actually scared of storms themselves. I know a lot of people dig the rain, like listening to it and all, and I'm down with that. What spooks me is the idea that any of the electronics might get fried (which has happened before) or that one of the 500 skyscraping half-decrepit pine trees is going to come thudding down on the house (which has happened to a lot of people around here). So when we have a bad storm like that, we are literally in electronic and mortal peril. So I tend to get a little nervous.
Rove says he didn't interfere with Siegelman investigation; Who Cut Off '60 Minutes' in Alabama?
4.7-magnitude quake rattles England.
Pakistan causes worldwide YouTube outage.
Kremlin closes the European University at St. Petersburg.
Archeologists find 5,500-year-old plaza in Peru.
A "Reset Button" for the Brain Could Cure Alzheimers.
'Doomsday' seed vault opens in Norway.
Teens losing touch with historical references.
39-year-old man fails in attempt to pass as high school girl. Wait, what?
Anne Rice reviving Lestat. "Yes, I am contemplating one last novel involving the Vampire Lestat, and the Talamasca, the fictional organization I created years ago in the Vampire novels. The novel, if ever written, would be entirely Christian in framework and would involve Redemption. It would affirm my dedication to Christ and my belief in Him and my commitment to write only for Him." This is going to end well, I'm sure.
The Ebb and Flow of Box Office Receipts. This looks like a totally awesome graph. I mean, I think, because I can't make heads or tails of it.
Sarah Silverman was fucking Matt Damon; Jimmy Kimmel is fucking Ben Affleck (a clip that includes appearances from Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Don Cheadle, Joan Jett, Robin Williams, and Lance Bass. Yes, Harrison Ford); Now Elizabeth Banks is Fucking Seth Rogen (which one of these is not like the others?); Five Rules For Getting Ten Million Views With A Parody.
WonderCon: Complete Wrap-Up and Thoughts.
WonderCon: First X-Files 2 Footage Plus Duchovny and Anderson; X-Files Reunion Emotional; Carter Offers X-Files Hints.
Robert Pattinson Talks Cedric Diggory, Twilight Movie and More.
Yeah... they have kind of changed the plot of The Other Boleyn Girl. I mean, I guess it shakes out the same either way, and Peter Morgan's a good screenwriter, but it's kind of odd to me that he positions Anne as the sister who goes after the king first. I mean, to me, the point was that Anne gets or takes away everything that Mary wants (until Mary realizes that maybe it's all bullshit and she doesn't want any of it after all. That's pretty much the story in a nutshell); if you start it out with Mary taking something that Anne wants, it up-ends that a bit. The review is positive, though, singling out Natalie Portman for praise, and I'll watch pretty much anything if it's got fab costumes, so I'm not really vexed about it.
New hi-res Caspian pics! Yes, I actually deem this worthy of an exclamation point!
‘Bond’ Screenwriter Paul Haggis Has ‘No Idea’ What ‘Quantum Of Solace’ Means.
'Indy 4' To Debut at Cannes?
4th ‘Terminator’ film slated for May 2009. Yes, starring Christian Bale.
Related: Wall-E-nator Mashup Proves Cuteness May Destroy the Future. Also: 'WALL-E' Plays With Rubik's Cubes; New Wall-E Concept Art and Photos.
Damon and Greengrass to Return for 'Bourne 4.'
Johnny Depp doing 'Crooked Tree' next? "The book has been described as Jaws meets The Exorcist. And that's accurate, if you also throw in Poltergeist. Yes, it's a dreamy, terrifying blend. Bears attack. A woman is possessed. Native American folklore is key."
Jonathan Rhys Meyers Gets 'Shelter' from Julianne Moore.
A Bright Young Thing, Emperor Ming, and Rorschach Head to 'Shutter Island.'
Images from Scorsese's Stones Doc, 'Shine a Light.'
Smart's 99 [Anne Hathaway] Honors Feldon.
Could Smallville's Lex Luthor Be the New Freddy Krueger?
California 'Signal' Screening Interrupted By Multiple Stabbings.
Gondry Preps ‘Be Kind, Rewind’ Sequel, Starts Race War, Kills Dog.
What The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Movie Could Have Been ['The Fall'] ("The Fall unites an unlikely band of steampunk-era heroes -- The Indian, The Ex-Slave, The Explosives Expert, The Masked Bandit, and Charles Darwin -- to fight a common enemy, Governor Odious").
McLovin Fights Back: "I'm completely different than the Vote for Pedro guy."
Linkspam that somehow includes what I was doing at three in the morning:
Your 2008 Oscars in 120 Seconds [Putting Things To Bed]; Viggo Mortensen is Nominated, World Fails to Notice; Cotillard Fed Up With Talking About Herself; Do Not Disturb Diablo [The Morning After]; Biggest Oscar Travesty? (David Carr's answer: the musical categories); Oscar Nation Shrinks; Joan and Melissa Rivers Relegated To Podcasting Their Red Carpet Barbs; MTV Intern: My Night At The Oscars.
Also: Discuss: Help Pick a New Oscars Category. You know, I actually like the suggestion of Best Comedy, because comedy is so under-represented. Possibly Best Musical? Ten years ago a category like that wouldn't have been able to support itself, but nowadays we could probably drum up at least three nominees every year or so, as with Best Animated Feature. The one I was thinking about last night, although it verges a bit into MTV Movie Awards territory, is best action sequence. Or maybe Best Physical Action Sequence--I'm thinking here of choreographed fights, as opposed to car chases or CG sequences. I mean, you'd automatically have Eastern Promises and The Bourne Ultimatum in that category. There's a lot of work that actually goes into a good fight, a lot of choreography and design, a lot of training for the actors and often a lot of stunt work, not to mention the editing of the actual film, and you could even consider the sound effects that go into making fake punches sound painful.
Also? Best Computer-Generated Character (Performance?). I think this one will actually happen eventually, now that people are calming down from the hysteria of a few years ago and realizing that computerized characters aren't going to replace physical actors (although Robert Zemeckis seems hellbent on proving this wrong), but rather offer new opportunities to do new things and have fantastic interactions we couldn't have done ten years ago. I mean--Gollum, Dobby, Davy Jones, Aslan, Iorek and the daemons (have you heard my new band, Iorek and the Daemons?)--all kinds of fantasy creatures are available to us now (and I still feel like Andy Serkis and Bill Nighy in particular deserve awards of some kind). Anyhoo. Think about it, guys.
Writers overwhelmingly OK contract; Did writers show networks that networks don't really need them?
Ala. wind leaves 1 dead, 40,000 without power. Yeah, we had a scary-ass storm last night. I was kind of half-awake, tossing a bit, and all of a sudden there's this UNEARTHLY BLAST OF THUNDER and the house shakes and the power blinks on and off and my overhead light turns on and my computer turns off and my printer starts rumbling. It was, for about thirty seconds, like something out of Poltergeist. And then it stormed like hell for about an hour. It's funny--I'm not actually scared of storms themselves. I know a lot of people dig the rain, like listening to it and all, and I'm down with that. What spooks me is the idea that any of the electronics might get fried (which has happened before) or that one of the 500 skyscraping half-decrepit pine trees is going to come thudding down on the house (which has happened to a lot of people around here). So when we have a bad storm like that, we are literally in electronic and mortal peril. So I tend to get a little nervous.
Rove says he didn't interfere with Siegelman investigation; Who Cut Off '60 Minutes' in Alabama?
4.7-magnitude quake rattles England.
Pakistan causes worldwide YouTube outage.
Kremlin closes the European University at St. Petersburg.
Archeologists find 5,500-year-old plaza in Peru.
A "Reset Button" for the Brain Could Cure Alzheimers.
'Doomsday' seed vault opens in Norway.
Teens losing touch with historical references.
39-year-old man fails in attempt to pass as high school girl. Wait, what?
Anne Rice reviving Lestat. "Yes, I am contemplating one last novel involving the Vampire Lestat, and the Talamasca, the fictional organization I created years ago in the Vampire novels. The novel, if ever written, would be entirely Christian in framework and would involve Redemption. It would affirm my dedication to Christ and my belief in Him and my commitment to write only for Him." This is going to end well, I'm sure.
The Ebb and Flow of Box Office Receipts. This looks like a totally awesome graph. I mean, I think, because I can't make heads or tails of it.
Sarah Silverman was fucking Matt Damon; Jimmy Kimmel is fucking Ben Affleck (a clip that includes appearances from Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Don Cheadle, Joan Jett, Robin Williams, and Lance Bass. Yes, Harrison Ford); Now Elizabeth Banks is Fucking Seth Rogen (which one of these is not like the others?); Five Rules For Getting Ten Million Views With A Parody.
WonderCon: Complete Wrap-Up and Thoughts.
WonderCon: First X-Files 2 Footage Plus Duchovny and Anderson; X-Files Reunion Emotional; Carter Offers X-Files Hints.
Robert Pattinson Talks Cedric Diggory, Twilight Movie and More.
Yeah... they have kind of changed the plot of The Other Boleyn Girl. I mean, I guess it shakes out the same either way, and Peter Morgan's a good screenwriter, but it's kind of odd to me that he positions Anne as the sister who goes after the king first. I mean, to me, the point was that Anne gets or takes away everything that Mary wants (until Mary realizes that maybe it's all bullshit and she doesn't want any of it after all. That's pretty much the story in a nutshell); if you start it out with Mary taking something that Anne wants, it up-ends that a bit. The review is positive, though, singling out Natalie Portman for praise, and I'll watch pretty much anything if it's got fab costumes, so I'm not really vexed about it.
New hi-res Caspian pics! Yes, I actually deem this worthy of an exclamation point!
‘Bond’ Screenwriter Paul Haggis Has ‘No Idea’ What ‘Quantum Of Solace’ Means.
'Indy 4' To Debut at Cannes?
4th ‘Terminator’ film slated for May 2009. Yes, starring Christian Bale.
Related: Wall-E-nator Mashup Proves Cuteness May Destroy the Future. Also: 'WALL-E' Plays With Rubik's Cubes; New Wall-E Concept Art and Photos.
Damon and Greengrass to Return for 'Bourne 4.'
Johnny Depp doing 'Crooked Tree' next? "The book has been described as Jaws meets The Exorcist. And that's accurate, if you also throw in Poltergeist. Yes, it's a dreamy, terrifying blend. Bears attack. A woman is possessed. Native American folklore is key."
Jonathan Rhys Meyers Gets 'Shelter' from Julianne Moore.
A Bright Young Thing, Emperor Ming, and Rorschach Head to 'Shutter Island.'
Images from Scorsese's Stones Doc, 'Shine a Light.'
Smart's 99 [Anne Hathaway] Honors Feldon.
Could Smallville's Lex Luthor Be the New Freddy Krueger?
California 'Signal' Screening Interrupted By Multiple Stabbings.
Gondry Preps ‘Be Kind, Rewind’ Sequel, Starts Race War, Kills Dog.
What The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Movie Could Have Been ['The Fall'] ("The Fall unites an unlikely band of steampunk-era heroes -- The Indian, The Ex-Slave, The Explosives Expert, The Masked Bandit, and Charles Darwin -- to fight a common enemy, Governor Odious").
McLovin Fights Back: "I'm completely different than the Vote for Pedro guy."