Today's Pet Peeve: Why Doesn't Oscar Allow Embeddable Videos?

The title is all wrong. It's Everyday's Pet Peeve. I was as thrilled as any Oscar Fanatic when they established a YouTube channel and began to upload plentiful old acceptance speeches from ceremonies past. But why, pray tell, are they non-embeddable? I legitimately wonder what purpose this serves when what's shared on social networks is so determinative of what gets seen, discussed and becomes beloved.

Of course the dread "embedding disabled by request" message is most tiresome and even downright evil when a YouTube channel that uses it is just a fan channel which owns the rights to nothing but still insists that you can't steal what they stole. (This is especially icky when it's exactly the clip you need and want to share.)  I won't name account names but my guess is this refusal to share is an older generation problem dating back to mindsets that existed before the internet -- I also existed before the internet but some of us adapted --  when sharing was something your parents told you to do with your friends and siblings but would never have dreamed of telling you to do with complete strangers. This is my guess primarily because the accounts most likely to refuse embedding seem to be the ones that are most devoted to material that predates the internet be it old movies, music, tv or what have you. I think this is terrible for everyone and does a great injustice to the art. If things aren't shareable in the modern sense they're more likely to stay forgotten and relegated to the dustbins of history.

Morgan Fairchild and Robert Hays -- anyone remember them?

This came up today because the latest video the Oscar channel posted was the Costume Design presentation for 1981's "Chariots of Fire" and I wanted to discuss it for about 10 different reasons but then thought "why bother?" since I couldn't embed it with the discussion and didn't have time for screencaps. Pity that. It's not that it's 'must-see' interesting. I shouldn't oversell. 

Moving on...

Can Oscar Sustain His Unlikeliest New Love Affair?

*Not all films discussed here exist outside my head.

Amir here, to obsess about the Oscars because, you know, March is never too early to start doing that around these parts.  Recently, I’ve started to wonder whether Oscar might have started an unlikely love affair with Iran.

Stop laughing and allow me to explain. Oscar took a long while to take notice of Iranian cinema or any of the Iranians who were working in Hollywood. To be fair to the shiny gold man, he wasn’t really spoiled with choices, but still took his time before deciding that Darius Khondji was a worthy cinematographer (Evita, 1996) and Habib Zargarpour’s did fine fx work (Twister, also 1996). Oscar has taken short trips to Iran a few times since then and last year, after watching A Separation, finally decided to stay awhile... in Asghar Farhadi’s house.

No one expected Oscar to go back so soon, especially with no major Iranian films present on the festival circuit, but AMPAS had other ideas. Oscar went back and took one of Hollywood’s golden boys along with him. Famously, they had such a hard time getting out of Iran they had to fake Canadian passports. Britain aside, Oscar doesn’t really embrace any foreign countries two years back to back, let alone a Middle Eastern one. What is happening?

Could this once politically forbidden passion turn into a stable relationship? I turned to the festival circuit, but to no avail. So I've decided to take the intiative and suggest a few projects that might turn the trick again with Oscar. more...

Click to read more ...

Here He Comes To Save The Day

JA from MNPP here, just taking a brief moment to delight over the fact that Bryan Singer just tweeted that for the new X-Men movie Daniel Cudmore will be returning as Colossus. He previously played the character in X2 and X3. Singer actually tweeted a picture of sixteen actors that will be in the movie, most of whom we already knew about (did we know about Anna Paquin and Ellen Page? I can't keep up), but I think you'll forgive me for having happy thoughts seeing Cudmore specifically, for you know... obvious reasons, and what not. Perhaps he and Michael Fassbender can have a scene where they fight each other at the suana? Or maybe he and James McAvoy take up Turkish Oil Wrestling? I'm just spitballing ideas here - feel free to use whatever, Bryan. You don't even have to give me credit - just make it happen.

Win Les Miz on Blu-Ray/DVD

I have three copies of Les Misérables Blu-ray™ Combo Pack to give out to you, the musically inclined readership. But first a brief message from the generous studio who'll send it to you should you win!

Academy Award® nominee Hugh Jackman and Academy Award® winners Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway star in Les Misérables, the critically acclaimed adaptation of the epic musical phenomenon.  Set against the backdrop of 19th-century France, Les Misérables tells the story of ex-prisoner Jean Valjean (Jackman), hunted for decades by the ruthless policeman Javert (Crowe), after he breaks parole.  When Valjean agrees to care for factory worker Fantine’s (Hathaway) young daughter, Cosette, their lives change forever. 

 

Les Misérables arrives on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, DVD and On Demand March 22 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The Blu-ray™ Combo Pack is loaded with an extra 45 minutes of exclusive content taking viewers behind the scenes of the groundbreaking production for an unmatched entertainment experience and includes a Blu-ray™ disc, DVD, Digital Copy and UltraViolet™ for the ultimate, complete viewing experience.

Do you hear the people sing... about entering reader appreciation contests?

Here's what you have to do before March 21st at Noon to enter:

1. Send me a message with LES MIZ BLU in the subject line with your name & shipping address (kept private unless you win in which case the studio gets it to send you your gift) and...
2. answer the following three questions (which might be reprinted here):
   1) which type of bread would you bake for Hugh Jackman so he doesn't have to steal a loaf?
   2) which movie prostitute do you most wish had sung deathbed songs before a cruel passing a la Anne Hathaway?
   3) Bring Him Home? (Crowe, Redmayne, Jackman or Tveit?)
3. Not Mandatory.
   For 1 extra entry like TFE on Facebook.
   For 5 extra entries, you can sing your show-tune loving lungs out in a video.

THREE WINNERS WILL BE DRAWN AT RANDOM ON MARCH 21ST. Will You Join In Our CRUSADE Contest? Even if you aren't entering, I expect answers to the bread, hooker, and home-bringing question right here in the comments. You know you wanna

Linky Brown

Vulture "How to Hug a Puppy" by Tom Hardy
Cinema Blend one man Disney Princess meets real world musical... after the ever after part
Pajiba best performances from SXSW films 

CHUD Veronica Mars and the invention of "pay to pay for play" 
i09 producers "notes" on Blade Runner... which they hated 
NPR on real life Ginger & Rosas in the 60s  
Empire on the latest big project director shuffle - Ang Lee considering a Spielberg drop and Tom Hooper looking at the Sacha Baron Cohen Freddie Mercury biopic
Coming Soon star portraits from the final day of The Wolverine production. Hugh Jackman and the ladies
Guardian the writer of the fake Haneke twitter account on Michael Haneke

Finally, if you're in Gotham, you should know that PAM GRIER, Jackie Brown and Foxy Brown herself, is getting the weekend festival treatment at the Walter Reade right now. She'll be appearing tonight for an interview before the screening of Jackie Brown (coming up on "Hit Me") and also making a midnight appearance at Scream Blacula, Scream. On Sunday she gets a full hour interview with film clips. Tickets are still available for some of the shows. And if you haven't seen any of her 70s blacksploitation movies, you owe it to yourself to see at least one.