Jagged Linky Pill
Friday, March 18, 2011 at 10:15PM 
Grrrrrr. I'm totally not speaking to Critical Condition and Low Resolution right now because they did not include me in their awesome trip back through every track of Alanis Morrissette's "Jagged Little Pill" for its 15th anniversary. I'm going to write a list song about all the reasons I'm mad at Mark and Joe and then I'm going to screech it out unintelligibly over massive pop hooks and sell 14 million copies. I won't share a damn cent with them. They oughta know.
Under Link Swept
DListed Ewan McGregor being incredibly adorable with a puppy
For The Record is another theater event for movie fans in Los Angeles. It's a concert evening celebrating the music of Baz Luhrmann's films with a rotating cast from stage, tv, and screen. Sounds great. Between this and Streep Tease I so need a plane ticket right about now.
My new Plaid Pants loves Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins. I kinda wanna see it but I'm nervous about the intense violence. Audition was a little much for my girlish constitution... I nearly passed out.
Basket of Kisses checks in with the Mad Men cast during this agonizing wait for ANY news of a Season 5.
Vulture Billy Crystal will maybe possibly he'll think about it host the Oscars again if they have less statues handed out. F*** you Billy. I like seeing Costume Designer and Art Directors and all the rest win. Seriously, F*** you.
Socialite's Life Sandra Bullock is looking kind of deglam on the set of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
Kenneth in the (212) starts a funny rumor about Bradley Cooper.
Cinema Blend has some drawings of Mother Gothel before she morphed into the Mother Gothel we know from Tangled which comes to DVD/Blu-Ray real soon.
That's a wee sample. We trust you'll remember that we're happy with the Gothel we got.
Blogs of Entanglement
The Guardian does some frightening though highly plausible thinking about end game of the new world order of film journalism (i.e. fannish blogging).
Pajiba, in light of last week's Tech Crunch vs. Cinematical scandal, pats itself on the back for not playing the PR game. See I'm not the only one navel gazing this week about how I blog! Must be something in the air.
For the record I've never been told by anyone to tone it down -- though I do get the rare nasty e-mail from people in the biz about certain comments I have made about certain actors and actresses -- but I kind of wish the studios were giving me money so that I could theoretically be asked to tone it down. I'd welcome an ethical challenge for money. ;)
Supposed Former Celebrity Junkie
PopEater has a really interesting piece from Jo Piazza's CELEBENOMICS on Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan's mutual disintegration and why Charlie Sheen seems to be benefitting from his downfall financially whilst Lohan's fortunes and fandom continue to dwindle.
She theorizes that it's about branding and embracing of your flaws, or... "Make your mess your message." Good read but I still think the way these things usually play out this way is basic cultural sexism. Think for a minute how many anti-heroes the culture embraces to the point of total amoral adulation (Hi the entire gangster movie genre!) and then try to think of how many criminal women are similarly adored / emulated. Another thing that's totally not discussed is their respective talent. Lohan's self-immolation is SO much more depressing because to get where she's, uh, not, now, she had to cast aside real movie star presence (super hard to come by else every working actor would have it) and acting chops. Why shouldn't Sheen embrace his mess as a message? What else has he got? It's not like he was ever that magnetic on the big screen or particular genius at small screen comedy despite earning gazillions from those laugh tracks on Two and Half Men.
You Oughta See
My god. I keep forgetting to share this. You've probably seen it by now...
A Brief History of Title Design from Ian Albinson on Vimeo.
I think the best thing about it is how it trusts the audience to infer some of the titles, since the openings are so iconic. Like that flash insert of Rosie Perez shakin' her thang for Do The Right Thing or all those snippets of credits that are just names rather than the title itself. It's a beauty, huh? If I could ever figure out how to rip DVDs in a simple way (last time I asked it seemed to involve about 5 different programs for one task) without spending a fortune I would make such great edits. I know it must be much simpler than I understand since everyone and their dog does it, some with natural talent like this, others with expensive software but less artistry.
Baz, Bradley Cooper, Charlie Sheen, Ewan McGregor, Lindsay Lohan, Mad Men, Tangled, film critics
Reader Comments (20)
Sally Field it Sandra Sally Field it -- get that 2nd nomination and win.
You care about animated short? All of these tech winners have their speeches cut short anyway which is offensive to them to begin with -- they may as well have their ceremony with the honorary people a year before the actual Oscars.
/3rtfull -- the issue is where does it end? I would live if there were no shorts categories since they don't reflect the main gist of the evening which is honoring the feature films of the year. But once you pull a thread pretty soon there's nothing adn nobody thinks costume designers or art directors or cinematographers deserve their moment in the soon.
it'll be just another lame parade of stars with NO emphasis on the movies kinda like how the BFCA and GLOBES are now and who needs more of that? There's already plenty of that. The Oscars are the most important for a reason.
Wait a minute, I don't think that's what Billy Crystal is saying.
I think he simply means that there are too many precursors and awards ceremonies, and the Academy has to make an effort to stay relevant. I can't imagine an eight time-Oscar host dissing entire swaths of Hollywood professionals.
I agree with Robert Hamer. I totally interpreted Crystal's comments as "please get rid of the predursors" or beat them to the punch. What was that comment Meryl Streep made, about how the best performance people give is when they win the Academy Award and look surprised despite having won everything else leading up to it?
"I do get the rare nasty e-mail from people in the biz about certain comments I have made about certain actors and actresses"
whoa. care to share?
I honestly believe that Sandra is going to have a fantastic Post-Oscar career...and if that meant she had to win over Gabourey or Streep or Mulligan then so be it. At least Sandra is challenung herself and showing us WHY she deserved to win...unlike other recent Best Actress winners...
1. How can AMPAS get rid of precursors? Crystal can't be part of that as a host, as AMPAS doesn't control the BFCA.
2. The show's LONGEST under Crystal and Goldberg: it actually moved very swiftly under Hathaway/Franco (In terms of length).
3. Sheen's immolation and his recontextualizing of it is rather terrifying, imo. I don't get it.
Arkaan -- i don't get it either but it's totally working for him. He's selling out entire nights at Radio City Music Hall with EXORBITANT ticket prices. I guess people love watching train wrecks. ...if they're male ;)
oh and that's why i'm certain Billy is talking about dumping awards from the broadcast itself. he says they need to "freshen up"... AMPAS has never had any control over what all the precursors do with their shows.
Love the title montage. But I really wish they hadn't ended with Enter the Void. I really liked Gaspar Noe's first two films, but this one...the opening credits are sort of like the film: pretty and critically appreciated (at least by Tarantino), but not very good.
That Guardian article is interesting but I think a little alarmist. I don't disagree that fannish film blogging is creating a more niche centric and less critical (though there'll always be a place on the internet for criticizing things) environment, at least they're writing enthusiastically about films.
Aside from a few institutions like the New York Times or the Guardian, when I go to the "news" for film news, I get Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan and lowest-common-denominator condescention, and that's the way it's been for years. It seems silly to suggest just now that film reporting is going to crap when the E! Network has been around for at least 20 years.
It's true, Lohan had real charisma and was working with good people -- I can't wrap my head around why she would want to destroy that, but then I remember that she is a straight up addict with massive psychological problems. Only a hardcore addict would willingly mess their life up like that. If she had never screwed up so badly, she could've been much higher up the food chain at this point.
Didn't Sandra Bullock deglam for All About Steve, too? Put her on a pair of red boots and some nerdy glasses (?) and that's it. And for the first part of Miss Congeniality? Isn't that actually part of her thing, playing the "girl" next door who's not stunningly beautiful but it's just because guys haven't looked closely?
I don't have a solid opinion on the issue of Sexim and Hollywood trainwrecks, but I guess you're right. People are not only ready, but openly willing to forgive Gibson from the very first minute, but Wynona is still the target of bad jokes.
Lmao at that Bradley Cooper link. Cooper's into older men (40's-50's) so that rumor is false.
Do not know about you all, and I loved it. Someone may say that there is nothing special about fasting is not that these - hundreds, that information is not new, and so on. And I say in response - if you do not wonder why or comment? To me, the post just perfect - I am pleased to not only honored, but also recounted the contents of colleagues.
Title design is so important, at least for me, and the best movie with the WORST title intro has got to be The Silence of the Lambs. It smacks of made-for-tv, circa 70's, fromage. Thankfully, Howard Shore sorta saves the day. What were they thinking (especially Demme)? If you have a copy, and don't recall what I have said, check it out. The years passing by only contribute to it's awfulness.
Oh and by the way, everyone posting here tonight seem to be rather drunk or on da bong. More spelling mistakes and grammatical chaos than I am used to on TFE (lol).
Also, I disagree with any more cutting from the Oscar broadcast. The cutting of the honorary awards has been disastrous, considering that, for the most part, they are often the highlight of the O-Experience. And, furthermore, I want to know who wins best shorts in each category, because often they are budding auteurs.
Finally, the belief that Bullock is now going to start making oscar-worthy movies is, frankly, laughable. My opinion.
I agree totally about the sexism; we love to forgive and embrace our male bad boys, but everyone has a spare insult in their pocket for Lindsay, Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, et al. They're worse? Really?
Love the title design video: 3 Bonds, at least 2 Saul Bass (3?), and Mad Men. I'm in heaven. I've always adored title design.
I don't understand Sandra Bullock de-glamming. Bullock's roles have always been earthy and unglamorous.
Deborah -- yes, u might be right on Sandra. it was just a surprise to see her look that dowdy after this very glam year.
I will go back to just reading rather than posting anymore comments.
why?