Sunday, February 29, 2004

Endless Melody

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Best Picture, Lord of the Rings. Eleven wins...and not one for acting.

Well, I hope you enjoyed Live Oscar Blogging of what turned out to be an infomercial for New Zealand. Thanks to all of you who filled my e-mailbox with running comments and questions, and thanks to my wonderful friend Carolyn for putting up with me neglecting her for so much of the evening as I moved my typing fingers faster than Ann Miller tap-dancing on hot coals. And I'd like to thank my agent and thank the Academy and...

Good night, everybody!

• Posted at 9:10 PM · LINK

One More After This One...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  I always wince when people try to "explain" an Oscar with one simple reason. No one knows how the Academy votes. We don't even know if a given winner made it by one vote or if it was unanimous. Somehow though, you hear these pat rationales that presume everyone who voted had the same thing on their mind...and that it wasn't a matter of voting for what they thought was the best work. Going into this ceremony, we heard that Sean Penn would win because he had a body of fine work behind him so it was "his turn." We also heard that Bill Murray would win because Penn's politics or personal style had alienated some voters. Those are wonderful theories and of course, no one can ever prove them right or wrong. But isn't it possible that the guy who won just had more voters who thought he gave the best performance? And it could have been only one more than the second-place finisher.

Best Actor, Sean Penn. Okay, I'll be fifteen out of nineteen. I predicted Murray almost as a whim. And I can't help remember years ago when I heard an NBC exec saying how foolish it was to put the guy on Saturday Night Live because he had such bad skin, and you can't be a TV star (never mind, a movie star) with bad skin.

Penn's line about "no WMDs" seemed a bit gratuitous but he otherwise gave a good speech if only because it didn't sound written and wasn't a list of agents and lawyers.

• Posted at 9:04 PM · LINK

Another Non-Surprise

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  They must be giving up and going to bed all across the Eastern time zone and again, I don't think there was much the producers could have done. It's not their fault that the winners aren't huge shocks and no one's bursting into tears. Those are the moments we remember from the Oscars, like Halle Berry getting hysterical or Roman Polanski defying all odds. We haven't had a one of those.

Best Actress, Charlize Theron. Oh, well. At least no one knows the next one...

• Posted at 8:50 PM · LINK

The Nation Yawns

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Best Adapted Screenplay, Lord of the Rings. I missed this one but I think most did.

Best Original Screenplay, Lost in Translation.

The telecast is feeling very long and I suspect that despite what I think is a fine hosting job, the reviews of this Oscar show are going to be pretty negative. It isn't that there's anything wrong with the broadcast besides its length, and I certainly can't imagine what they might have cut to gain much time. But there's a certain lack of energy this evening...no real emotional moments, no real surprises. I haven't seen one thing Leno can do a joke about tomorrow night apart from the usual ones about "Is it over yet?" and watching the child stars go through puberty.

They're just presenting Best Director. Looks like they decided to hold Best Actor for next-to-last, figuring that was the big suspense.

And Best Director is Peter Jackson. See? No surprises.

• Posted at 8:44 PM · LINK

Nearing the Three-Hour Mark

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Best Foreign Film, The Barbarian Invasions. Funny line: "We're so thankful that Lord of the Rings did not qualify in this category." I'm ten for thirteen.

Best Cinematography, Master and Commander. And having had the wisdom to not predict this one, I'm still ten for thirteen. At this rate, it looks like I also made a good prediction setting the TiVo for an extra hour. We have at least six major awards to go.

• Posted at 8:27 PM · LINK

As Rigor Mortis Sets In...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Nice number from The Triplets of Belleville but it looked like all or some of the track was prerecorded and the folks on stage were just miming.

Before it, the number from A Mighty Wind didn't sound too good. And since the movie wasn't a blockbuster, I wonder how many people knew who the performers really were and/or that it was a spoof.

As several e-mails are noting, the odd framing of the clips is apparently due to someone being more interested in making it look right for the HDTV transmission than for the normal sets being watched by 99% of us.

Funny bit by Jack Black and Will Ferrell, singing the unknown lyrics to the song they play when a winner has gone on too long.

Best Song, "Into the West" from The Lord of the Rings. Several of you have e-mailed to ask if this movie has lost one of the awards for which it's been nominated. I don't think so. If Peter Jackson doesn't win for Best Director, it can only mean that Katherine Harris is working for Price-Waterhouse. We're nine for twelve here.

• Posted at 8:19 PM · LINK

Two and a Half Hours...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Best Editing, Lord of the Rings. I didn't predict in this category. Actually, I was originally just going to put Lord of the Rings down for all the ones I wound up not predicting. If I had, I'd now have called twelve out of fifteen.

Crystal says, "Do you know that people are now moving to New Zealand just to be thanked?" He's doing a good job keeping it moving. I like him better than any other host since Johnny Carson.

• Posted at 8:05 PM · LINK

Music Time

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Harold Wheeler is the conductor? Then what was that shot of Marc Shaiman earlier? Oh, I get it: He was Billy Crystal's conductor. Okay, they didn't make that clear.

Best Score, Lord of the Rings. Evanier is nine for eleven. I'll probably lose another one on Best Song but I took a hopeful guess because I know and like Michael McKean.

• Posted at 7:59 PM · LINK

Clip Joint

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Rick Scheckman, who knows his stuff in this department, has been e-mailing me to note that the clips being shown are often misframed such that the actors and/or film titles are off the screen. He's right. That last shot of Donald O'Connor in the "In Memoriam" package gave as much attention to Francis the Talking Mule as to Donald. He also notes that the Bringing Up Baby clip in the Hepburn spot was mostly her stunt double.

• Posted at 7:56 PM · LINK

On and On...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Documentary Short, The Chernobyl Heart. Great, memorable speech. I'm seven for nine.

Best Documentary Feature, The Fog of War. Great line: "I'd like to thank the Academy for finally recognizing my films." That's the kind of thing people think but it's nice to hear someone with the guts to say it aloud. But then he has to thank Robert McNamara..."if he hadn't done it, there wouldn't have been a film." Yeah, and if he hadn't done some other things, a lot of people wouldn't have died in Vietnam.

The tribute to Katharine Hepburn a few minutes ago was nice. This one to Gregory Peck was nice. But is anyone else a little uncomfy with the Academy deciding that certain actors get singled out and others get lumped into a quick montage? And of course, someone also decides that certain folks are omitted altogether because there isn't time. I guess it has to be this way but we don't have to pretend it's all copacetic.

• Posted at 7:52 PM · LINK

Just What I Was Waiting For!

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Another clip from a nominated picture. Great time to go to the bathroom.

• Posted at 7:39 PM · LINK

In the E-Mailbox...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  As I write this, my mailbox is crammed with comments. Here are three picked almost at random. Chuck Sigars writes...

Every one of these seems special at the moment...but I swear Blake Edwards' acceptance speech was the best I've ever heard. 81 years old and 90 seconds, and at the beginning I would have sworn it was going to be 8 minutes of embarrassment.

Chad Riden writes...

Boy, I wish somebody would thank the Academy. They're always the unsung heroes of the Oscars.

Go to your room, Chad. And someone named Rick writes about the Bob Hope montage...

I thought it was eerie to have a clip of him in the audience and standing and waving. It makes it look as if he is still alive and thanking them now.

Hadn't thought of that but you're right. I guess I was just pleased they didn't do the obvious, which was a montage of silent clips scored with "Thanks for the Memories."

• Posted at 7:36 PM · LINK

Coming Up on Two Hours...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Best Make-Up, Lord of the Rings. Best Sound Mixing, Lord of the Rings. Best Sound Editing, Master and Commander. I didn't predict in these categories so I'm still six for eight.

The broadcast seems to have scaled back on the fancy computer graphics as winners walk to the stage, but I think I'd still rather see winners walk to the stage. I believe the thinking was that there weren't enough recognizable stars in the audience and that even a lot of them were out in the lobby shmoozing for much of the telecast. So if the director kept showing the house, you'd wind up seeing a lot of seat fillers and wondering where Clint Eastwood had gone. Okay, fine. But a six second clip from the movie just takes us away from the sense of the ceremony and usually isn't on-screen long enough to register.

Oh, well. At least we didn't have an animated presenter this year. I'm sure it always seems like a good idea but it never works that well.

• Posted at 7:29 PM · LINK

We Get Letters...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Chuck Kallenbach just e-mailed me to ask, "Okay, who is the man in the wheelchair? Is this some guy who had his leg broken by Jim Carrey?" No, that was just that awkward, meaningless shot I just mentioned. It confused me, too.

• Posted at 7:15 PM · LINK

The Show Goes On...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Special Award to Blake Edwards. Oh, right: That explains what Julie Andrews is doing there. Odd that they didn't bring in Steve Martin to present, seeing as how he's about to take over the role of Clouseau.

Funny sight gag with Edwards in the wheelchair. And it explains why we had that awkward, meaningless shot of him earlier in the chair.

Is it my imagination or does the audience sound cool, like they're not laughing enough? It may not sound that way at the Kodak but it sounds that way on my set...like the place is not properly miked. Then again, Jim Carrey had a few seconds there of that "I'm bombing" look so maybe it's just not as funny as it all ought to be.

• Posted at 7:12 PM · LINK

An Hour and a Half In...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Visual Effects, Lord of the Rings. Mark is six for eight. The real surprise is that we're 90 minutes into this thing and they've only presented eight Oscars.

• Posted at 7:01 PM · LINK

This Just In...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Rick Scheckman writes, "So, I guess that Bob Hope's whole legacy was just about hosting the Academy Awards. Where were the clips from his films???" Now that I think about it, he's right. If you didn't already know Hope made some great movies, you might have missed that fact.

Right now, we're listening to nominated songs. Can't recall the last time I heard one of these and said, "Hey, what a great song." They may work in the context of their films but they rarely shine at these ceremonies.

Just checked my e-mail again and got this from Amazon...

We've noticed that customers who have purchased "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" also enjoy "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" on DVD. For this reason, you might like to know that "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" will be released on March 16, 2004 on DVD. You can pre-order yours at a savings of 30% by following the link below.

I was almost expecting an ad for the DVD release of Mystic River saying, "Catch the Academy Award winning performance of Tim Robbins."

• Posted at 6:49 PM · LINK

An Hour In...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Owen Wilson was right: It is a little tacky to come out and plug your current movie. As he and Ben Stiller just proved.

Best Live-Action Short, Two Soldiers. And I'm five for six in predictions.

That was the first acceptance speech hustled off by music. Note that the man wielding the baton this year in the pit is Marc Shaiman. When he won a Tony last year for the Broadway Hairspray, he made a tacky remark, warning the orchestra not to cut off his acceptance speech. He doesn't decide when the music here starts — the producer and director do — but there's still some sort of irony in there.

Best Animated Short, Harvie Krumpet. There's a surprise. Everyone was expecting Destino so that Roy Disney could get up there and be applauded not so much for it as his efforts to oust Michael Eisner. Okay, I'm five for seven.

• Posted at 6:39 PM · LINK

Keep Hope Alive

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Good Bob Hope tribute. Did you catch the audience shot of Mickey Rooney when Tom Hanks was doing the intro? And of Julie Andrews? They were probably as close as the director could come to someone in Hope's generation who was present and recognizable. It's kinda sad there are so few "great older film comedians" alive.

• Posted at 6:30 PM · LINK

And I Finally Miss One...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Best Supporting Actress, Renée Zellweger. Popular choice.

They'd talked of not cutting off acceptance speeches so rapidly this year. So far, no one seems crowded, and it's a distinct improvement.

• Posted at 6:24 PM · LINK

You Are What You Wear

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Best Costume Design, Lord of the Rings. I'm four for four in predictions so far, but they've all been pretty easy ones.

A friend of mine once said that he was most interested in the "non-star" Oscars because you're seeing people who ordinarily don't get applauded, and you're seeing them at what is probably the absolute high point of their lives. Tom Hanks may have many thrills and honors that will mean more to him but how often does an Art Director have the whole world watching him?

• Posted at 6:17 PM · LINK

Feature Animation

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Robin Williams delivers the second gay marriage joke of the evening and the second jab at Michael Eisner. There will be more of both.

Best Animated Feature, another non-surprise: Finding Nemo. My guess is that if you'd locked all the voters in a theater and made them watch all the nominated films and vote their consciences, The Triplets of Belleville would have won.

I don't care for these "instant replays" going into commercial, like showing us Tim Robbins' win again. To me, if you're going to do a live show, keep everything in real time.

• Posted at 6:10 PM · LINK

A Half-Hour In

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Paul Dini just e-mailed that he found Crystal's monologue more excruciating than sitting through Mel Gibson's new movie. And "DneColt" thinks the best joke so far was Michael Moore getting squashed by the elephant, which I agree was pretty funny.

Art Direction Oscar to Lord of the Rings. I'm two for two on predictions. These winners are all wearing bowties...first ones of the evening. Was there a memo they missed or something?

• Posted at 6:03 PM · LINK

Let the Games Begin!

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Good opening by Mr. Crystal. Great lyrics. The cameraguys missed a lot of audience shots but it probably wasn't their fault. That Kodak Theater looks like a monster for this purpose, which is surprising since this event is one of the main reasons it was built. (The year Letterman hosted, one of the backstage points of friction was that Dave was inserting monologue jokes at the last minute and expecting the director to get certain audience shots that couldn't be arranged on such short notice.)

Best Supporting Actor, Tim Robbins. No surprise. Good speech. Good audience shot of Susan Sarandon. And you could hear the exhales that he said nothing controversial. That is, unless you're in favor of violent abuse.

• Posted at 5:53 PM · LINK

Best Joke So Far

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  "This morning, Peter Jackson woke up with Seabiscuit's head in his bed."

• Posted at 5:43 PM · LINK

Reaction Shot

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  That's right: When someone on stage mentions the war in Iraq, cut to Tim Robbins in the audience.

• Posted at 5:39 PM · LINK

A New World's Record

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Three minutes in: First Gigli joke.

• Posted at 5:33 PM · LINK

Just Getting Started...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  An early trend: Neckties instead of bowties.

And you get the idea that a lot of those stars really don't like that guy prowling around the audience interviewing them? It's like you can see them thinking, "Hey, I was willing to put up with this on the way in. Does he have to be inside?"

Aw, they didn't get Neil Ross back as announcer. He did such a great job last year.

• Posted at 5:30 PM · LINK

Arrivals

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  You know what I miss during these Oscar arrivals? I miss Edy Williams. There was a span of maybe five years there where she used to show up each year in something outrageous and revealing. One year, I think she was in a leopard-skin bikini with a live leopard on a leash. I don't know that she ever got inside or even tried to, but the reporters would flock to cover her entrance, stampeding over Jimmy Stewart and Debbie Reynolds to get to Edy. It was almost all she was known for but it was, in a way, enough. One year, the night after the Oscars, Johnny Carson made a comment on the air, something like: "Poor Edy...she still doesn't know it's over." Not necessarily because of that, I don't think we ever saw Edy walk down the red carpet again. Or wear it.

• Posted at 5:24 PM · LINK

Getting Comfy

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  I had to flee my post during the pre-game activities. Hearing just a little too much about what Naomi Watts is wearing. But we're back and ready to hear the snide references to Gigli. Bill Murray is discussing his suit and being interviewed by the kind of host he used to parody on SNL.

• Posted at 5:16 PM · LINK

Setting the TiVo

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Just set the TiVo to record tonight's Oscarcast. On first generation TiVos, this was a problem because if the schedule said a show was three hours, that's how long TiVo would record. Now, you can pad, and I padded this recording by an hour. I don't expect it to run that long but in years past, I padded 20 or 30 minutes and it sometimes wasn't enough.

As I recall, the last few Oscar shows have come in relatively close to the announced three hours. It seems like we've moved past the day when the producers would say it would last that long, knowing full well it would be more like four. A theory used to exist in the teevee business that it was preferable to lie about the length of shows that ran late at night. One local Los Angeles station used to run a late movie that started at 11:00 PM and they always claimed "90 minutes" in the TV listing even though the movie, after commercial insertions, was always going to be an hour longer than that. (And the station knew it. If you looked closely, the start time of the next program was always around 1:30 AM.) The idea here was that you'd be less inclined to tune in the broadcast if you knew in advance you wouldn't be getting to bed 'til 1:30.

The Oscars have this problem that they have to be live. This means programming for the West Coast and East Coast. When they were Monday night, the network and producers didn't want to start the show any earlier than 6 PM in the West because people would be coming home from work. This meant 9 PM in the East. Which meant that for folks on the right coast, it would mean staying up well past Midnight...some years close to 1 AM. So they'd lie and say it would be three hours when they knew it would be four. They figured that though Eastern viewers might get annoyed at not being able to go beddy-bye by 12, they weren't about to tune out then and miss the big awards. A few years back, the ceremony was moved to Sunday. Since fewer people work on Sunday, it seemed possible to start the show at 5:30 Pacific Time, giving them an 8:30 start in the East.

One thing to remember is that the Oscar broadcast really doesn't run long in the sense that its producers thought it was going to be a lot shorter. Most of it is rehearsed and timed...everything except the acceptance speeches, which are usually limited in time. Even if everyone rambled an extra minute, that wouldn't add an hour to the show. If they say it's going to run three and it's 45 minutes longer than that, it's because they decided to let it run long.

• Posted at 2:24 PM · LINK

This Just In...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Joan and Melissa are now counting down the ten worst fashion statements at Oscars past. Sally Kirkland looks like she's wearing Scarlett O'Hara's drapes. Courtney Love is a slut. Dennis Rodman looks like the doorman at a gay Bed and Breakfast. (Hey, Joan: How do you know what the doormen look like at a gay Bed and Breakfast?) Pam Anderson and Elizabeth Hurley are "trailer trash all the way," apparently because their breasts are exposed. And Number Uno is Bjork's famous 2001 swan dress but at least Joan recognizes that it was intended as a joke. Joan knows about jokes because, rumor has it, she used to do comedy.

• Posted at 1:16 PM · LINK

It Starts Now...

LIVE OSCAR BLOGGING!  Just tuned in the E! Network and heard someone say something about predictions for tonight. Turns out, various fashion designers are predicting what the stars will be wearing tonight. For the men, that's easy. I always thought it was odd that regarding formal attire, the biggest sin a man could commit was to have his tux stand out, whereas for women the biggest sin was to dress like anyone else.

Alison Krauss is going to singing the nominated songs from Cold Mountain wearing a pair of shoes valued at two million dollars. The gent who designed them is calling this an "anti-Hollywood statement." Yeah, I can see that.

Joan and Melissa Rivers are counting down the "Top Ten" fashion statements from the years they've spent working the Red Carpet outside the Oscars. Their number one pick is Halle Berry in 2001 mostly because (Joan says) of how she tastefully displayed her breasts that year. Yeah, but were her shoes worth two million dollars?

It always amazes me how to some people, the Oscars are all about what the ladies are wearing. One year, I watched the ceremony at a Hollywood-type party where the consensus was that it was all a colossal disappointment. I agreed but not for the same reason as half the people there: The outfits weren't great, and the director had failed to give us a good look at them. This is why the transparent podium was invented.

• Posted at 1:11 PM · LINK

Yet Another Birthday

Don Markstein, curator of Toonopedia, notes that February 29 is also the birthday of Little Orphan Annie.

Superman...Captain Marvel...and Little Orphan Annie. What do these three folks have in common besides a tendency to never change their outfits?

Come to think of it, February 29 was almost my birthday. I was born in a leap year and due on that date. Two days later, when I hadn't shown up on schedule, the doctors went in and dragged me out.

This may explain why to this day, I never like being late for anything. Deep down, I'm afraid they're going to do that again.

• Posted at 12:31 PM · LINK

Market Report

The Los Angeles supermarket strike seems to be ending with a vote and a whimper this weekend. The whole thing looks like a lose/lose situation for the three supermarket chains involved (Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons) because they lost hundreds of millions of dollars, and for the union because they lost months of wages and only wound up turning a terrible offer into a slightly less-terrible offer. Much of the public lost too, because the markets will try to make back that lost money somehow, and also because if you went into a Ralphs during the strike, you probably got lousy service and maybe even spoiled food.

So if all those parties lost, who won? Non-striking markets like Trader Joe's and Gelson's seem to have profited. Last night, we stopped in a Gelson's and there was a sign out front that said something like, "We appreciate that the strike at other markets prompted you to shop here. We hope that our superior service and food will keep you coming back." Based on my experience, that's not even hot air. Gelson's has long been a much better market than Ralphs, Vons or Albertsons. It will be interesting to see how much of their business they lose back to those other chains.

What I find sad is that the union seems to have caved to the old two-tier negotiating strategy. This is unfortunately common in labor relations. Management offers a devastating package of rollbacks and reduced benefits. The union panics and braces for a fight to the death. Then Management comes back and offers, in effect, "We'll let you keep most (not all) of what you have...but there will be no increases and you'll have to agree to a two-tier wage structure, meaning that new hires in the future will get stuck with the lower salaries and less health insurance." And the union, to save its current skin, accepts. I understand why after months of lockout and picketing, the union would take such terms but I think it's a shame. Given this country's "jobless recovery," this is not a good time for that class of labor, and I suspect it will get worse.

• Posted at 12:25 PM · LINK

Another Birthday Boy in a Cape

Jim Hanley, who runs the fine comic book emporiums known collectively as Jim Hanley's Universe reminds me that before February 29 was designated as Superman's birthday, it was said to be the birthday of Billy "Captain Marvel" Batson. Separated at birth?

• Posted at 11:26 AM · LINK

Origins of Live Oscar Blogging

My pal Andy Ihnatko seems to think I stole the notion of Live Oscar Blogging from him. Can he be so utterly unaware that Live Oscar Blogging goes back to the days of Edison? That it was all the rage back in the days of D.W. Griffith, back before the Internet had sound or color? Admittedly, before the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929, Live Oscar Blogging mostly consisted of people posting, "I hope someone starts giving out an award called an Oscar some day," but the idea was there, at least.

Yeah, I guess I did steal the idea from Andy. So in return, I'll plug his page of Oscar predictions. They are all brilliantly picked and wisely deduced, except where they disagree with me since I'm right and he's wrong. Matter of fact, if the Academy presents the awards tonight except as I indicated, they're wrong, too.

• Posted at 9:41 AM · LINK

The Last Time I'm Going To Tell You...

• Posted at 1:52 AM · LINK

Happy Birthday, Superman! (maybe)

I don't know if it's still the case but once upon a time, the folks at DC Comics in charge of Superman said that his birthday was February 29. I'm not sure how they arrived at that date. I mean, I assume the editors there picked it because it was unique but I'm not sure how they figured Superman knew that. His home planet blew up, taking all birth records with it...and of course, there was no February on Krypton, nor did it probably rotate at a speed that required the insertion of an extra day after four years.

So maybe that was the date on Earth the day he was born on Krypton...except how would anyone know this? Superman could conceivably have figured out just when Krypton went kablooey but how could he have known how many days or weeks before that date he was born? So I'm guessing that he adopted as his birthdate, the day his rocketship landed on Earth. And I'm not sure DC Comics still holds to that date but just in case they do, many happy returns, Man of Steel. Use that super-breath to blow out the candles.

• Posted at 12:37 AM · LINK