Classic film series update

Apparently Turner Classic Movies hired Michael Schwab to design their Summer Under the Stars campaign during the month of August. What a strange coincidence that I too am designing classic film pieces. Perhaps Schwab and I should team up? Maybe several years from now.

I’ll make sure I don’t create illustrations from any of the films TCM is promoting this month. Next in my Netflix list is “For Me and My Gal.” I believe it will be quite inspiring, but is it too soon to design Judy Garland again? Never!

Filed under: Classic Film Series, Design, Netflix, News, Judy Garland, Michael Schwab, Netflix, TCM, Turner Classic Movies

Official Predictions

Folks, tomorrow is the big day! The 82nd Academy Awards begin at 8 p.m. eastern on ABC. Don’t miss them.

Here are my final predictions for the awards. We’ll see if I can miss three or fewer so I can up my predictions record from last year. But I’m feeling doubtful because so many of the categories’ nominees are neck-and-neck for the prize.

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Directing: The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow
Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Actress in a Leading Role: Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Actress in a Supporting Role: Mo’Nique, Precious
Writing (Original Screenplay): The Hurt Locker
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Up in the Air
Animated Feature Film: Up
Music (Original Score): Up
Music (Original Song): The Weary Kind, from Crazy Heart
Visual Effects: Avatar
Cinematography: Avatar
Film Editing: The Hurt Locker
Sound Mixing: The Hurt Locker
Sound Editing: The Hurt Locker
Costume Design: The Young Victoria
Makeup: The Young Victoria
Art Direction: Avatar
Foreign Language Film: El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Argentina
Short Film (Animated): A Matter of Loaf and Death
Short Film (Live Action): Kavi
Documentary (Feature): The Cove
Documentary (Short Subject): Music by Prudence

Filed under: Academy Awards, Entertainment, Hollywood, Movies, Netflix, Oscars

The Road to the Academy Awards

The 82nd Academy Awards are coming late this year. Stars will gather at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood on March 7, two weeks later than last year’s show. I’m not complaining, because it was moved so as not to conflict with the Winter Olympics, which is another love of mine.

Today the official voting ballots were sent out the the folks in the Academy. They have until March 2 to send the ballots back to PricewaterhouseCoopers. You know, they’re the people who come out during the ceremony and explain how voting works, and they’re not nearly as beautiful as the celebrities in the audience, so it’s a perfect time to run to the restroom.

This year, PWC has a new challenge to tackle: the 10 best pictures. Sandy Cohen (no, not from “The O.C.,” but rather the AP) wrote an article about how the process works, but I don’t think the piece was written very well, so I’ll translate.

The way PWC is going to count the best picture votes is different than previous years. Instead of people voting for one ultimate favorite film, voters will rank the pictures from one to 10, with one being the highest.

PWC will then organize the ballots into 10 groups, one for each film, based on the number one choice. The smallest pile after round one will be eliminated from the race. The elimination will continue by organizing the number two films, removing the movie with the fewest votes, moving on to number three, and so forth until “The Hurt Locker” — I mean, a film has the majority.

Sounds simple enough, but it also sounds like it will take about 10 times as long to find a winner. If it’s not worth the time, I suggest the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences goes back to five best picture nominees.

So far, I’ve seen five of the 10. I remember when seeing five of the nominees meant seeing them all. Ah, well. With this change, it’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to see each best picture nominee before every year’s show. I think the only years I have actually seen all five were 2006, when “The Departed” won, and 2007, when “No Country for Old Men” beat one of my favorite films, “There Will Be Blood.”

I have “A Serious Man” and “District 9” from Netflix right now, so I’ll have to watch them this weekend and up my best picture tank to 70 percent. How have you been doing with your watching? Any predictions?

Filed under: Academy Awards, Entertainment, Hollywood, Netflix, Oscars

And the nominees are …

The nominations are in. The Academy Awards are within reach. Just a month away. March 7 cannot come soon enough. Of course I am thrilled.

And of course I am still upset about the 10-film best picture category. This is the first year the Academy has 10 movies up for the big prize. I still don’t get the point of having 10, especially now that the nominations have been revealed.

Here they are in alphabetical order, because that’s the only way to show my biaslessness (I’ll show my bias in a minute):

• Avatar*
  
• The Blind Side*
  
• District 9#
  
• An Education%
  
• The Hurt Locker*
  
• Inglourious Basterds#
  
• Precious%
  
• A Serious Man%
  
• Up#
  
• Up in the Air%

* denotes “I have seen”
# denotes “On DVD and on my Nexflix list”
% denotes “I wanna/gotta see it!”

I’ve heard lots of wonderful things this season about all of the nominated films. But do all 10 deserve to be nominated?

Maybe.

I’m afraid The Blind Side was nominated for box-office results reasons, and because of Sandra Bullock. Hey, Sandra Bullock is one of my favorite actors and a beautiful, strong woman. But a one-woman show does not a good movie make. The Blind Side was good because of the true life story behind it (thank you Michael Oher for being you, and thank you Michael Lewis for writing the book). There was nothing else special about that film. I cried, and I used to judge a movie’s success on it’s ability to make me cry, but I squirt a tear during approximately 94% of all movies I see nowadays, and I have really dry eyes. Hmm.

I just saw The Hurt Locker this weekend. What was good about it? Everything. The story was real, the locations looked like a documentary and the men were lovely. Jeremy Renner? Yes. Congrats on the best actor nod, man.

Inglourious Basterds is sitting on my DVD player, waiting to be watched. It’s a long one, though, so I’m saving it for the weekend when I can give it my full attention.

Up was just moved to the top of my Netflix list today following it’s best picture and best animated feature and best original score AND best original screenplay nominations (oh, and sound editing, too). Jeepers! It must be a good one.

Should The Hangover have been nominated? It did win the best musical/comedy Golden Globe. And because it wasn’t nominated for, well, anything by the Academy, I moved it down on my Netflix list.

If only five films had been nominated, here’s what I could have guessed:

• Avatar
  
• The Hurt Locker
  
• Inglourious Basterds
  
• Precious
  
• Up in the Air

Since I can’t change the 10-film thing, all I can hope is that The Hurt Locker beats Avatar. Yes, I said it.

Update 02/03/10: A Serious Man comes out on DVD Feb. 9. It’s at the top of my Netflix list!

Filed under: Academy Awards, Entertainment, Hollywood, Movies, Netflix, Oscars

Whirlwind

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. I’ve had papers, articles, classes to register for, an internship to apply for, and a whole lot of excitement has been brewing on campus about the upcoming break!

Tomorrow, Ira Glass is coming to campus. I cannot wait to hear him speak. I just recently started watching his Showtime version of “This American Life.” It’s wonderful. Anyone who has Netflix can instantly stream both seasons, so check it out. The man knows how to tell a story.

There is still a lot of work to be done before Thanksgiving.

I recently took on the roll as design chair for Medusa Magazine, a brand new feminist magazine at SU. We’re trying to get an issue out before spring break, so I have a lot of headway to make in creating an identity for the magazine. They have already designed a flag, which is nice, but everything else about the magazine is spread out. It’s my job to bring it all together through design.

I am also managing a team for my content management research class. We have a group (about 10 of us right now, but it could grow by a few more people) who is looking at The Newshouse site. Each person has to find an issue and a solution for something content management related. While I am not responsible for a report, I am making sure everyone else is on top of things, reporting back to our professor, editing the reports and compiling them into a beautiful package. Things will get crazy in the next few weeks regarding that class.

For advanced reporting, we are done writing. Our final project is an audio slide show personality profile. While it may seem easier because we don’t have to have seven sources (like usual), it’s not any easier or less time-consuming. We are each responsible for our own story, so we have to collect the sound and the photos, edit both, and put it all together. I’m having trouble finding a subject. But once I find him/her, it’s full speed ahead on that project.

In web design we have to build a website for a client. We haven’t really talked about it all that much, but I’m in the process of securing a client. More about that when it’s solid.

Ethics class is slowing down, since we just turned in our research paper. But we’re still having some great (and some not-so-great) discussions in class. And there is the take home final exam to look forward to …

A week and a half until I see my parents! They are flying up to Syracuse for the holiday. We’ll visit Niagara Falls for a day, and I’ll finally get to show my mom Syracuse and the Newhouse complex. I am so excited, I can barely concentrate. But I know each finished task leads me one step closer to the break!

Filed under: Movies, Netflix, Newhouse, Syracuse, TV on DVD