MetaFilter posts tagged with oscars

Preceded by silence... followed by more silence

aught — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:37:37 -0800

When Resul Pookutty won the Oscar for Sound Mixing last weekend, it's probably the first time an Oscar acceptance speech, or really any U.S. network television broadcast, has mentioned the "primordial syllable," Om, which is very important to Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists.

Colbert predicts the Oscars

twoleftfeet — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:14:37 -0800

Once again, Stephen Colbert predicted the winners in all of major Academy Award categories ten days in advance, using an unconventional methodology. Well kinda... there was one category where he waffled.

Silver's Picks for the Silver Screen

jonp72 — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 08:34:51 -0800

He predicted a losing season for the White Sox in 2007 and foresaw that the Tampa Bay Rays would be the best team in the American League in 2008, although he wrongly predicted that the Rays would win the World Series. He also predicted Obama's 6-point victory over McCain. Now the stats guru Nate Silver is picking the Oscar winners and predicting an upset win for Taraji P. Henson in the Best Supporting Actress category.

Robert Downey Jr. should (but won't) get an Oscar

JVA — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:41:05 -0800

Heath was great but Robert Downey Jr. should win.

Pirating the 2009 Oscars.

the dief — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:42:55 -0800

Pirating the 2009 Oscars Metafilter's own waxpancake gives us an exhaustive analysis of the current crop of Oscar nominees, and how many of their releases are available via Bittorrent. With spreadsheets!

And the winner is . . .

Skot — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:41:39 -0800

Oscar Night In Hollywood "If we can huckster a President into the White House, why cannot we huckster the agonized Miss Joan Crawford or the hard and beautiful Miss Olivia de Havilland into possession of one of those golden statuettes which express the motion picture industry's frantic desire to kiss itself on the back of its neck?" The Atlantic reprints an indispensible Raymond Chandler article from 1948.

Oscar winning shorts

vronsky — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 10:42:40 -0800

Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase and 45 more Oscar winning animations.

2008 Animated Short Film Oscar Noms

jonson — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:31:26 -0800

The 2008 Oscar nominated animated shorts are online. Via.

My Fair Ladys are both in control and easily led

arcticwoman — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 08:29:44 -0800

Oscarology is a system of astrology I invented -- excuse me, that was revealed to me in a powerful mystical experience -- based on what movie won the Best Picture Oscar for the year you were born. I have been communing with the Spirit of the Oscars and transcribing the visions it has vouchsafed to me.

"Every time an Oscar is given out, an agent gets his wings" ~ Kathy Bates

amyms — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 11:08:03 -0800

Oscar Lists: Records And Curiosities. A plethora of fun facts to keep you entertained while you wait for the start of the 79th annual Academy Awards ceremony today/tonight. It's part of Oscar Lists: The Index, which is filled with almost every Oscar fact you could possibly need.

Oscar the Grouch

Horace Rumpole — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 09:54:15 -0800

AMPAS ankles Oscarwatch skein The Academy has brought the banhammer down on the Oscarwatch blog, issuing a demand that blogger Sasha Stone cease and desist from using the Oscar trademark in her domain name. Why now after 7 1/2 years of blogging under that name? Maybe because they found out about her whopping $20k yearly ad revenue.

I am shocked -- shocked! -- to hear the Academy doesn't always vote for quality

docgonzo — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 04:24:21 -0800

A Sour Grapes Rant: "The people connected with Brokeback Mountain, including me, hoped that, having been nominated for eight Academy awards, it would get Best Picture... We should have known conservative heffalump academy voters would have rather different ideas of what was stirring contemporary culture... Next year we can look to the awards for controversial themes on the punishment of adulterers with a branding iron in the shape of the letter A, runaway slaves, and the debate over free silver." -- E. Annie Proulx unleashes in The Guardian.

Oscar Roundups

mediareport — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 10:47:30 -0800

"Mixed" reviews of John Stewart's performance last night. A reminder that someone warned in February that Crash might win best picture because many Academy members were "unwilling to screen Brokeback Mountain" [permalinks broken, scroll down]. Marvel that YouTube somehow managed to get rights [cough] to Oscar video, at the Oscar frocks and that thing on Charlize Theron's shoulder, and at the persistent myth that a billion people watched the awards.

Oscars moments

FeldBum — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 17:45:23 -0800

The Oscars don't only breed argument about who should have won--but also about the speeches? Were they good? Did they suck? What are the classics? What's Memorable? What's Misquoted? How would your speech go? Would you thank your "makeup man"? Oprah? Complain? Or just go crazy? And here are some more top ones (1,2,3) and another bottom. And Oscar Night bingo in case it all gets to be too much, too boring or too damn long.

Is Jon Stewart ready for his closeup?

skepticallypleased — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 19:39:05 -0800

At this Larry King interview and in other places, Jon Stewart is getting ready for his very big "before and after" moment. In one week he will go from hosting a sort of anti-establishment "basic cable" talk show to hosting the very establishment (of some sort at least) Oscars viewed by usually at least 40 million people. Despite what most of us me-fiers might think, Stewart is sort of unknown outside his core devotees and especially for a Oscar host -- unlike Bob Hope, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, and even Chris Rock -- he has never been responsible for a hit movie. Moreover, his ratings (at 1.1 -- or about two and half million people a night) would place him at about the sixth most seen cable news "show" -- behind Greta, Shepard Smith, Hannity, Larry, and, of course, the factor. Now, that's a very wealthy, influential 2-3 million viewers that policy makers and advertisers love, so it's not chicken change but you can still understand what the Oscars might mean for fans of Jon. For people who believe Stewart is the only effective keeper of a liberal flame, you can only hope he will continue to impress on the bigger stage. However, some people are getting worried -- a la the NYT and the New Republic which is already claiming Stewart is losing his bite in order to please Hollywood and that he might not be so funny in the first place.

"Myrna Loy, Luminous Activist"

matteo — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 12:37:07 -0800

“Wouldn’t you know, the kid they pick to play tramps is the only good girl in Hollywood.”
Before Myrna Loy rose to stardom with Manhattan Melodrama and The Thin Man (both 1934), she was often relegated to playing vamps, mistresses, and other assorted flavors of wicked women. Then, after 80 movies playing mostly bad girls, Montana native Loy became “the perfect wife.” “Men Must Marry Myrna Loy” clubs were formed around the country. She and Clark Gable, in a poll conducted by Ed Sullivan, were voted by 20 million of the nation’s moviegoers as The King and Queen of Hollywood. She was FDR's favorite actress, and John Dillinger died just to see her new movie. A staunch anti-Nazi since the mid-Thirties (to MGM's dismay, Hitler promptly banned her films from the lucrative German market), wondered aloud in the press why blacks were always given servants' roles, and was the first major star to buck the studios in a contract dispute (the issue: equal pay for equal work. She was making half what William Powell was, didn't like it and quit work for nearly a year until MGM capitulated). When WWII broke out she quit Hollywood and worked full time for the Red Cross, and helped run a Naval Auxilary Canteen. More inside.

The Oscar Noms

Hanover Phist — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 06:10:38 -0800

78th Annual Academy Awards Nominations

Decision 2006

Robot Johnny — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 15:28:47 -0800

Jon Stewart to host 2006 Academy Awards. "As a performer, I'm truly honored to be hosting the show,' Stewart says. "As an avid watcher of the Oscars, I can't help but be a little disappointed with the choice.'

FUCKING MONEY!!!

shmegegge — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 00:06:11 -0800

Ryan , the Oscar winner for Best Short Film, is a canadian 3d and 2d animated masterpiece. I wish I could provide more than the material already provided by Andy Baio, but I just felt like you all should see this. It's the true story of Ryan Landis, a brilliant artist devastated by the real world. It's also the story of his impact on the director. That really doesn't do it justice. Please just click. apology inside

A Berry for Berry

XQUZYPHYR — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 09:38:02 -0800

The 25th annual Razzies were held this weekend, honoring the worst films of 2004. Without a doubt, the highlight of the event was the nomination (and subsequent winning) of Halle Berry for her abysmal participation in Catwoman. Why? Berry actually attended the ceremony to recieve her award, saying among other things "I want to thank Warner Brothers for casting me in this piece of shit."

Oscar Goodie bags

mathowie — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 08:47:30 -0800

girlhacker's 2005 Oscar Goodie bag list is out (here's 2004's, and 2003's) so now we can envy all the free stuff stars will be getting, even though they could easily afford to buy it all a thousand times over.

Oscars for stuntmen

mediareport — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 21:49:44 -0800

Do Hollywood stuntmen deserve their own Oscar category? Judge for yourself [qt]. Major stunt organizations have now joined forces to lobby the Academy to finally create an award for Best Stunt Coordinator. Does athleticism, courage and sheer gung-ho physicality deserve the same kind of recognition given to other Oscar categories? Only once has the Academy officially recognized a stuntman, with an Honorary Oscar for pioneering stunt coordinator Yakima Canutt in 1967.

Spurning Giamatti

LairBob — Tue, 25 Jan 2005 06:25:50 -0800

Nominations for 77th Annual Academy Awards: OK, so Sideways gets nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay (Adapted), Best Supporting Actor aaaand Best Supporting Actress, but Paul Giamatti--arguably the linchpin of the whole flick--gets stiffed. (Jamie Foxx, on the other hand, gets nominated twice...not that there's anything wrong with that!)

Travesty, or just an indication of an incredibly rich "Best Actor" field?

Why Gollum shouldn't win an Oscar.

tranquileye — Tue, 13 Jan 2004 12:23:28 -0800

Why Gollum shouldn't win an Oscar. Many Lord of the Rings fans think Andy Serkis should be nominated for an Academy Award for his work in the films, but as Roger Ebert writes, the actor shouldn't benefit because animators kept Gollum from falling into the Uncanny Valley.

For Your Inconsideration...

WolfDaddy — Thu, 02 Oct 2003 13:36:20 -0800

"I aim to close every kind of hole in the dike I can find on piracy," and with those words, MPAA demon Jack Valenti banned all DVD and VHS screeners of this years Oscar nominated films. File under "Throwing the baby out with the bathwater." Next up: Valenti plans to remove everyone's eyeballs with a rusty spoon.