"Knowing Jack, it might be some pretend place"

Intelligent Life effortless performances. Oscar don't like 'em
TV Line Looking gets a second season. The great supporting cast (save Scott Bakula. Hmmm) promoted to "series regular" - this is terrific news. The show isn't necessarily great but it's good and a lot of great shows only finally harness their true potential in Season 2. 
Cinema Blend Netflix & Marvel's Daredevil series is starting production this summer. I've always felt that superheroes belong more on the small screen (it's more episodic like comic books) so I'm totally excited for this. And also because the movie was so dreadful. The only way is up.

In Contention Martin Scorsese and shifts in Oscar for the past decades
krupyeahstephensondheim this hilariously titled tumblr has a surely bootlegged snippet of Meryl Streep singing in Into the Woods
Playbill first look at Disney's Aladdin on Broadway
Hollywood Reporter Sandra Bullock's pay day for Gravity now over $70 million... probably heading towards $100 when all is said and done. Wow.
Yahoo Movies Anna Kendrick says musicals "are f***king hard" and needs a break from them. She's got three of them coming out in the next 12 months or so (a career pivot we've discussed before). 

me me me
Deadline Ava Duvernay of the great Middle of Nowhere will be directing the new Martin Luther King bio Selma starring David Oyelowo. This is all kinds of great news for two talents TFE has been rooting for for the past couple of years. (You may remember I talked to David Oyelow briefly at the Critics Choice Awards and he loves that movie. As well he should)
Multimedia Composition This is one of the nicest compliments I've ever been paid. College students are learning to be better critical thinkers about the movies with my Hit Me With Your Best Shot series as inspiration. Please to note. Details on Season 5 of "Hit Me" are coming this weekend! Any suggestions?
VF Hollywood & Awards Daily Oscar bloggers talk about predicting the big race. Wish I'd been invited but it sounds like they had an interesting conversation even without my genius

finally...
if you haven't yet read about this conversation Anne Hathaway had about Brokeback Mountain you must. She credits that telephone call scene with her entire career. Yes!  That movie is so perfect. Across the board perfect. 

Final Oscar Balloting + Spring Preview

It's the final countdown! From now until February 25th, AMPAS members will be filling out their Oscar ballots determining who joins the history books as 2013's "most" "BEST".

Important Remaining Dates

• 2/14 Oscar Voting Begins
• 2/15 Sci-Tech Awards
• 2/16 BAFTAs
• 2/14-2/25 Everything We've Been Procrastinating! (aka all remaining Oscar Interviews, Top Ten List and Film Bitch Awards)
• 2/25 Voting ends 5 PM
• 2/27 Film Bitch Awards Medal Ceremony
• 2/28 Nathaniel's Final Oscar Predictions
• 3/1 Spirit Awards
• 3/2 HOLLYWOOD'S HIGH HOLY NIGHT - THE 86TH OSCARS ARRIVE
• 3/3-3/10  Oscar Night Recaps. Red Carpet Lineup. Acceptance Speeches. Season Takeaways. And the Podcast Season Finale!

SPRING PREVIEW
But you shouldn't go anywhere after the Oscars because new hit series like Seasons of Bette and A Year with Kate and Beauty vs Beast continue along with other spring surprises, the Tribeca Film Festival, the return of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and the return of Mad Men at the Movies as the show enters its final bifurcated season. Plus special anniversary parties for Heathers (25th), Mean Girls (10th) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (10th) and Wuthering Heights (75th), and as well as our APRIL FOOLISH 2014 PREDICTIONS... and possibly the return of "Actress Psychic" as we start all over again. So like us on Facebook, follow Nathaniel on Twitter and don't miss anything.

But back to this Oscar season. Your final Oscar Voting pleas in the comments. If you could sway just one category in a new direction, it'd be... 

Blargh. Perfect Timing

So, it's Oscar season (only 791 hours to go until the big show) and my desktop computer, which houses all the software I use on a daily basis and all my in progress pieces, abruptly quit this morning. Just blacked out with no warning and no dramatic underscoring. My desk is weirdly empty without the silver beast on it and so is my soul. Three days at least without it. *weeps*

I am fighting off waves of self-pity (can't I catch a break once in a while?) but will attempt to keep up the blogging to the point where you won't notice ...save for the conspicuous lack of photoshopping and film bitch awards... okay, okay, you will probably notice. Blogging from the laptop, ipad, or phone is like making dinner with one hand tied behind my back (at least the way I do it). 

Join my pity party by mouthing off on something that's really bugging you right now. Let it all out! Vent. 

Hollywood: Oscar Nom Morning & CCMA Evening

As you read this I am in my hotel room pressing my cuffs (that sounds filthy!) and preparing for the CCMAs. For the first time in the whole of my life that I can remember I hit snooze on my alarm on Oscar nomination morning. What has become of me? Oh yes, it's as simple as this, 5:15 AM is a lot earlier than 8:15 AM and for the first time I was in something like the vicinity of the live announcement from my hotel room in Koreatown. This gave me extra time to sleep but it was rather like that time when I lived two doors away from my Junior High and I was late every day. I only got the live feed up just in time for the countdown to air.

Since I could say the mythic Hollywood sign from my window, perhaps I should have attempted to be in the Hollywood-centric room when Thor & Cheryl intoned the hallowed names this morning? But baby steps. Despite all the years blogging I'm new at parts of it, especially parts West of Manhattan. A lot of parts. 

I'm not sure what one does at awards shows from the audience (lots of drinking?) but if you follow me on twitter. You might find out. I won't be able to live blog obviously but there could be tweeting. Oscar pages will continue to be updated through the weekend but for now the Nomination Index, is updated (laugh at my terrible rate of prediction in Best Live Action Short and marvel at my perfection in Best Picture and Supporting Actor. There are also polls up at Picture, Actor and Actress with more to come. Click away. As one does. 

The 2nd Annual Team Experience Award Goes To...

Amir here, to bring you the results of the 2nd annual Team Experience Awards, a poll of the year’s best in film by the international group of writers who contribute regularly to this website. In our inaugural edition, Leos Carax’s off-kilter French fantasy, Holy Motors, won the top prize. This year, our 14 voters are more in synch with the American awards season tune. I think it’s fair to say we all like 12 Years a Slave. Like, really, really like 12 Years a Slave. If Steve McQueen’s film were Sally Field, we’d be the Academy circa 1985.

BEST PICTURE
12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)
Runner-up: Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach) 

BEST DIRECTOR
Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)
Runner-up: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) 

However, the consensus and the number of categories topped by Slave don’t quite reflect the intense competition behind the scenes. In fact, only two categories were landslides: Best Picture and Best Visual Effects. Elsewhere, the competition was intense and never really took shape until the last ballot was in. In the best supporting actress category, for example, five women were within an inch of each other, and Emma Watson (The Bling Ring) and Kristin Scott Thomas (Only God Forgives) missed out on the runner-up spot by a hair. The nitty-gritty of our votes further down but now the winners of the 2nd Team Experience Awards...

Click to read more ...