Live-Blogging the Bond 23 "Skyfall" Press Conference

I couldn't begin to tell you why I do the things I do but rather than make you watch all 28 minutes of the Bond 23 conference, I'm watching it for you; I'm a giver.

007 by way of 11/03

50th Anniversaries on their way!

0:01 As the press conference begins we're reminded that it's exactly 50 years ago today Sean Connery was officially announced to play James Bond in Dr. No (1962). Fun, trivia right?

1:15 The confirmation of the worst kept secret in London: the title is "Skyfall"... They don't mention this but that make Skyfall the second shortest Bond title ever (after Dr. No). The longest title is On Her Majesty's Secret Service. #uselesstrivia

2:02 EDITED TO REMOVE COMPLETELY GARBLED NONSENSICAL SENTENCE WHICH IS WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU LIVE BLOG. The film will take place in London, Shanghai, Istanbul, and has a heavy Scottish component. 

3:21 Not present at the conference but in the film Sam Mendes tells us are wispy wonderful Ben Whishaw and Ralph Fiennes who are described in virtually the same way as playing...

a part I can't tell you about in scenes I can tell you nothing about"

4:25 The stars come out Berenice Marlowe, Naomie Harris, Dame Judi Dench (Mendes makes a funny "you won't have heard of her but i think she has a very promising career ahead of her"), Javier Bardem will play the villain and of course Daniel Craig as Bond, James Bond 007.

5:53 Sam Mendes says he was a huge fan of Bond films (English schoolboys grow up with him) and he says the first one he saw was Live and Let Die (1973) which is, incidentally, one of the Roger Moore titles.

press conference attendees: Bardem, Marlowe, Mendes, Dench, Craig, Harris, Broccoli and Wilson

6:30 Lots of mutual back patting. Mendes loves Craig (he doesn't mention it but he gave Craig one of his first big American movie roles in Road to Perdition), the Broccoli estate loves Mendes, etcetera. Everyone loves everyone. 

7:35 Producer Michael G Wilson "No one really thought we'd get 50 years of Bond, let alone 23 pictures." They mention 23 a lot but it depends on how you count the films.

8:30 They will start shooting today... BOND GIRLS & SHIRTLESS BOND AFTER THE JUMP

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Emmy Live Blog 2011

Arrivals and the Show, All Live-Blogged. Excuse Typos. Things Happen Fast

06:05 This does not bode well, the first arriving guest is a Nina Somebody from The Vampire Diaries who is quite possibly the most boring celebrity I have ever seen interviewed on the red carpet. She had so much airtime to say interesting or funny or quippy or diva things -- trust that you can spin those inane "who are you wearing? can you believe you're here at the emmys?""your career is hothothot" right now volleys whichever way you want. And it was all blah-blah-blah-blah-blah as if pre-recorded and lazily lip-synched to on the red carpet. And when Blake Lively is your aspirational figure that you'll have to work very very hard to deserve a like career. Wow. Let's move on. Please we must. But commercials.

Last year my Oscar dress was amazing. But tonight I wanted to be comfy."

06:15 Celebrities with personalities! Kat Deeley (sp) Lea Michele Taraji P. Henson. Sarah Hyland. Much better. Here's Lea braggin but her Oscar dress while wearing something she claims is comfy but in which she is clearly corseted like Scarlett O'Hara grabbing a bedpost. COMFY!

06:20 Sarah Hyland just had her I'M REALLY A NICE PERSON I SWEAR moment while explaining that she meant no harm when she did an impression of Lea Michele on an episode of Fashion Police. I've heard about this non-scandal but the real scandal is that E! is trying to pretend that that most famous of editorial poses -- elbow jutted out exagerrate contrapposto -- is LEA MICHELE's. I love my Rachel Berry but she wasn't even conceived yet when super-models started doing that. 

6:28 I really am not a Rainn Wilson fan but his carpet banter was funny. His TV crushes?

"The entire cast of Mad Men and the naked Dothraki girl who eats the stallion heart."

Hee.

6:30 Less funny was Paula Abdul's typical spaciness. She said "blueberries" when she meant "blue balls". Even if she'd gotten the word right, is that what you want to talk about on the red carpet?

6:38 Darren Criss's nose should be growing like Pinnochios. He hasn't really even thought about whether or not the Glee cast is graduating this year. Uh, yeah.

6:40 I just caught sight of what looks like a VERY unusual dress on Julianne Marguiles which will undoubtedly get her tons of attention. Will snap a photo as soon as I can. A giant white cylindrical cheese grater? 

6:49 DAMNIT. I was wrong. It is not thick plastic with circular cut-outs but regular old white fabric with big circular looking jewels. Less insane than expected and therefore much uglier. Christina Hendricks on the other hand is bang on beautiful. YUM YUM YUM. 

6:54 Charlize Theron's new "Dior Commercial" is crazy glam explosion and she is ridonculously hot. Like molten hot. If she had been around in Golden Age Hollywood she would have been an enormous star. But Hollywood doesn't understand In Movie Glamour anymore. Only red carpet glamour. Charlize should be looking that good IN a movie.

6:58 This happened awhile ago but I am still haunted...

I bet that's how Ryan kisses all the girls.

MUCH MUCH MORE AFTER THE JUMP

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Downton Abbey Returns. The Emmys Are Coming.

Pssssst. Don't tell any Kate Winslet fans* but I'm secretly rooting for Downton Abbey to totally own Mildred Pierce this weekend at the Emmys.

*oops. That's like everyone reading. And me.

Whatever, Downton Abbey is primo tv, obscenely addictive. Closing Statement: Mildred Pierce doesn't have Maggie Smith. I rest my case.

P.S. I'll be live blogging and tweeting the Emmys this weekend so check in, won'cha?

The 65th Tony Awards - Live Blog Song & Dance!

UPDATED WITH VIDEO

6:33 I feel like a 14 year old Michigander again, all excited for the Tony Awards to start despite not having any access to the shows. It's so masochistic, loving the theater! See, this has been my most poverty stricken year yet, so all I've seen is Catch Me If You Can, The Normal Heart, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (which didn't get the main nomination it deserved in Best Actor) and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown which was kinda terrible but still got some nominations.

6:35 Norbert Leo Butz arrives. He's nominated for Catch Me If You Can in the Tom Hanks role. Tom Hanks couldn't catch him if he tried Butz is so great in it. He says he's feeling...

joyous, celebratory, triumphant.

He also reveals that he met his wife while doing Wicked, a "showmance" that lasted and he says he filled out Fiyero's super tight pants better than his current Catch Me co-star Aaron Tveit

I couldn't find good pictures so you'll have to imagine the captain tight pants competition.

Norbert (original cast) & Aaron (one of many replacements)

poll by twiigs.com

6:52 My showmance with the theater, like Butz's, also lasted. Obviously due to my masochism.

6:53 They're talking to John Benjamin Hickey, who is the frontrunner for Featured Actor (i.e. "Best Supporting") for The Normal Heart. He is quite incredible in it -- easily best in show -- but he says he won't be doing much celebrating tonight because he has an early morning call on The Big C. From Tony to Linney... nice work if you can get it !

7:00 Sutton Foster and Bobby Cannavale we're just introduced as 'theater's new "It" Couple' and this was their reaction. Heh. Sutton Foster has been "it" for some time but Bobby is welcome to join.

Bobby & Sutton

The reporter is IN LOVE WITH THEM  even commenting on how "in shape" they are? Lol. (Keep it in your pants, Donna!!!) but that love is going around. It's what happens to it couples, don'cha know.

7:11 Harry Connick Jr has just announced that he is going to star in a revival of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER. Good luck finding a Barbra Streisand level co-star, Harry!

7: 15 Victoria Clark from Sister Act says...

God is front and center this season, I'm happy to say.

Huh. I don't remember seeing him in the nominee list. Was he even eligible? 

More after the jump including VIDEO plus Vanessa Redgrave, Hugh Jackman, Neil Patrick Harris. And Frances McDormand is on the way to a triple crown, you betcha!

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Oscar Live Blog. Hour #3 FINALE

ARRIVALS | HOUR 1 | HOUR 2 | HOUR 3 (YOU ARE HERE)

10:52 We're almost done. And we'll be like that was so long!" and then next week we'll feel sad that it's so far away.

10:53 SNIFFLE. in memoriam. Sally Menke :( among other greats. But that one is so fresh and still sting because of such unexpected tragedy. I'm glad Celine is singing SMILE. I misheard that she was singing SHINE. oops. And i thought why does that non nominee get sung but not Cher's song? I love the song " STORMY WEATHER" so much.  And Lena Horne is awesome yes.

It's not the load that breaks you down. It's the way you carry it.
-Lena Horne.

Great quote.

11:03 sigh. DIRECTOR = TOM HOOPER. Where is Cate Blanchett to say "that's gross" Heh. Sorry. Tom Hooper has great hair.  "The triangle of man love" er... i think that was Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law plus TFE reader (see previous poll).

11:08. I've been neglecting the comments.

11:10 I was just telling an angry tweeter -- Fincher's loss will go down as a blight on Oscar -- that many great directors never won: Altman, Kubrick, Hitchock. The ones who don't make warm movies basically. It's like Directors are Actresses!

poll by twiigs.com

11:15 BEST ACTRESS. They're choosing good clips. Natalie's best scene in BLACK SWAN "he picked me mommy" Hearing Jeff Bridges say "michelle" freaked me out a little. You know why. and it's NATALIE PORTMAN who we knew it would be.

I feel bad for Annette Bening. I guess she's the new Deborah Kerr / Glenn Close / Julianne Moore. Great company to be in. And even though Natalie Portman wasn't my personal choice (I think Kidman was best this year) can we all agree that it's nice when people win for their best performance. So there's that. Congratulations, Nat!

11:21 Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges presenting these awards makes me happy for some reason. Maybe because they're both so damn likeable. BEST ACTOR COLIN FIRTH. Again people: why does everyone say that Oscar don't like to be told who to vote for. They so rarely vote against something that's won everything. All the acting winners have been the same all season.

11:28 I like Colin Firth a lot but he was just named Best Celebrity Neighbor as well. The King's Speech's hard sell is just SO irritating. And now it's going to win. The least ambitious of the five films.

11:35 BEYOND TACKY. Using The King's Speech speech as the voicevoer for the montage of ALL the nominees? So so tacky. And in Spielberg's preamble in which he mentioned "and the other nine will join the ranks of Raging Bull, Citizen Kane, etcetera"  he basically exccused them from voting for all the new classics each time. TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY TACKY. Best Picture = The King's Speech

11: 38 James Franco "Anne and I have had an amazing time tonight."

11:43 Credits rolling and such. My takeaway. I don't even care that great stuff lost so much as that they chose SPIELBERG to do Best Picture again. Christ on a cracker how is it that THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY has no imagination about this? They work in the imagination department. Would it kill them to let a legendary actress do it once in awhile and not just the rotation of Spielberg/Hanks/Streisand/Nicholson. This almost makes me angrier than lame wins on account of it's such an easy fix. Less fixable is the taste level of the Academy voters.

11:46 One thing I forgot to mention. If only Anne Hathaway's penultimate dress had been a little less dark blue and a little more light turqouise it woulda totally been a tribute to Madonna's Ray of Light cover.

11:47 Okay. Another Year. The 83rd Oscars are now part of history.

11:49 To all the "losers"... It's not the load. It's the way you carry it. Remember your awesomeness.

BACK TO BEGINNING 

COME BACK TOMORROW FOR MORE REACTIONS. We'll try to get going by Noon.