Golden Sunday

When did the Oscars become irrelevant?

Friends and colleague just laugh now about the award ceremony that will air this Sunday night. More interested in the movie stars frocks and their telecast reactions after a devastating loss. Does having an oscar mean anything? For best picture it means more money, but when you think of the best directors, best actors/actresses in history, most have never walked home with the golden man.

FAMOUS & EMBARRASSING OMISSIONS

Director

Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Tim Burton, Jean-Luc Godard, Norman Jewison, Akira Kurosawa, Fritz Lang, Spike Lee, Robert Altman, Cecil B. De Mille, James Ivory, Ridley Scott, David Lynch, David Cronenberg, Sydney Lumet etc.. etc..

Actor

Donald Sutherland, Albert Finney, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole, Paul Giamatti, Alan Arkin, Montgomery Clift, Richard Burton...

Actress

Annette Benning (who will likely be passed over AGAIN), Helena Bonham Carter, Glenn Close, Deborah Kerr, Angela Lansbury, Lauren Bacall, Barbara Stanwyck, Thelma Ritter, Rosalind Russell, Kristen Scott Thomas, Julianne Moore, Toni Collete, Molly Parker, Christina Ricci, Sigourney Weaver..

Perhaps quality is indicated in the company you keep. Then I guess it's far better to walk out empty handed...

This is the first year that I've ever seen every single film nominated or over hyped. Tonight is the Oscars, and I will be tuning out. For the past ten years most of the "winners" have left me dumbstruck. Sandra Bullock? Reese Witherspoon? Julia Roberts? Gwyneth Paltrow? REALLY??? I never grew up in an American high school where homecoming queens and kings are crowned victorious, but this seems like a grown up version of prom night. What are you wearing? You look lovely!

Toy Story 3 was great, but it was ... number three. Unfortunately their competition is a disappointing yet visual appealing Illusionist, and the fun but formulaic How to train your dragon. I was horrified that they ignored the sleeper hit Despicable Me, a far more original story with plenty of artistic merit.

Best Actress

My favourite performances of the year? Perhaps Jennifer Lawrence in The Winter's Bone if it can't be Lesley Manville in Another Year.

Best Actor

Colin Firth's portrayal in The King's Speech really has stood above the rest, however, I do wish the academy at least acknowledged Paul Giamatti's stellar role in Barney's Version.

Best Director

Tricky, tricky. If it's a matter of: "we should give the award to someone who has a fantastic body of work," then David Fincher by all means.

Best Picture

It's a moot point. There's nothing that I really really loved this year so what can I say? Er.. the King's Speech? Am I suppose to pity a wealthy, aristocrat who can't speak properly? Social Network... when I've never given a flying horse shit about facebook? It even had Justin Timberlake so it loses a few points there. The Fighter, an okay boxing film, with some really loud loud characters. Inception, which never fully felt like a dream? Black Swan, an over the top soap opera that made me laugh rather than care about Nina? Maybe Winter's Bone, but who actually saw it? Oh and I forgot about True Grit. I guess that's the problem.

In the end, frankly, I just don't give a damn.

Strange and the vivid

Nobody does it better than Japan when it applies to background painting. This exceptional series: Mushishi, created by Artland (spanning 26 episodes) is an animated series based off the manga by Yuki Urushibara. There is also a live-action version directed by Katsuhira Otomo (Akira).

Devoid of violence or nudity, it is still not recommended for children. With eerie and supernatural concepts of reality, the storyline follows Ginko, a Mushi master travelling across the land investigating strange cases involving "mushi"; ghost-like creatures that co-exist in our world. The format is similar to many North American series formats (Sherlock, X-Files, CSI), each episode serves a self-contained dilemma where the protagonist digs beneath the surface, discovering both answers and more questions.

I've recently found a few episodes online:

Episode 1 : The Green Seat

Episode 2: The Light of the Eyelid (this one really can creep out kids)

Episode 3: Tender Horns

New & old

Historical fantasy is often plagued with melodramatic story lines, two dimensional characters, and horrible dialogue... fortunately there are a few exceptions.

Although I look forward to seeing HBO's Game of Thrones, I must admit I wish Guy Gavriel Kay's novels were adapted to the silver screen, perhaps more so. Partially because he doesn't leave you starving for years on end, delivering a juicy tale of intrigue and romance with one healthy serving. Like many authors, usually their sophomore years prove to be the most successful. Quite a few of my friends agree, it wasn't until after Tigana that Kay hit his stride. Looking for something to tide you over while you wait for Game of Thrones? There are plenty of options...

Best of the best:

The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay

Sailing for Sarantium & Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay

Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Drought

When you're ambushed with a chaotic amount of work it's always great to have a way to deflate. My job is filled with closet alcoholics, drug addicts, and.. ehem... many other vices. It's always surprising, since it's a job about youth and nothing sucks the life out of you faster than boozing, smoking, and snorting.

Fortunately I've managed to find a great book or two, and to my utter surprise the only upcoming films I'm interested are on television. I've seen five films recently, that's right FIVE awful pieces of sh*t films in a row. For the next five months I can't truly pick out one film that I'm interested in.

Inside Game Of Thrones - Extended Version (HBO)

Sean Bean is a good start, however the future of Game of Thrones lies heavily on the actors playing the children. This extended version by HBO is a great introduction into the complicated world of George. R.R. Martin's epic drama. I does look a bit "clean" for my taste, however you can't tell until the final transfer.