Monday, February 28, 2005

Recommended Reading

Fred Kaplan on why the DVDs from Warner Home Video look better than those from many other companies.

• Posted at 3:43 PM · LINK

The Afternoon After

Several folks have written me to say that Sandra Dee was not in the Oscarcast "In Memoriam" segment because it was for 2004 deaths and she died in 2005. This is not the case. Yeah, she passed away on 2/20/05 but Ossie Davis died on 2/4/05 and he was in there. The rule, as I understand it, is that the montage is for those who've left us since the last montage was assembled. Most likely, this year's was already finished when Ms. Dee died — which, by the way, was the same day John Raitt died — and I guess the decision was made not to go back in and re-edit to include them. Presumably, they would have done this for someone a lot more prominent.

It has also been pointed out to me that John Vernon didn't make it in. And while Fred Ebb's most important work was for the stage, he did write for movies and had two Oscar nominations, one of them only two years ago. He also co-wrote "New York, New York" which, amazingly, was not nominated for an Academy Award but which may well be the most popular song ever written for a motion picture. (The winner that year was "You Light Up My Life." When was the last time you heard that one?)

Someone else wrote to ask me who I'd like to see host the Oscars. If it were up to me, I'd ask Albert Brooks or Tom Hanks...and perhaps they have. But if Steve Martin were willing to do it again, I'd give him the job for life.

• Posted at 1:59 PM · LINK

Another Correction

And now, I've taken the extra "L" out of Hilary Swank's first name. Thanks to Clifford Weimer Jr. for pointing that one out to me.

• Posted at 1:15 PM · LINK

Correction

Just fixed the spelling of Martin Scorsese's name in several earlier entries. I thought it was "Scorcese" and a Google search shows that a lot of other folks who oughta know better think so, too. But Charlie Eckhaus is a smart guy and he alerted me. Thanks, Charlie.

• Posted at 10:40 AM · LINK

Briefly Noted...

Former California governor (now mayor of Oakland) Jerry Brown has set up his own weblog, and he seems to be actually writing it.

• Posted at 10:32 AM · LINK

The Morning After

Ratings for last night's Oscars seem to be up a bit over the last few years. That oughta make the folks at ABC happy because they probably felt they had an uninteresting batch of nominations this year, and that the average viewer out there really didn't care that much if Clint beat Martin or if Hilary beat Kate. There was no blockbuster, high-grossing film in competition or no backstory that might yield some great emotional moment. The only real suspense was whether Chris Rock would spin wildly out of control, which may have been why that possibility was hyped as much as it was. As I said, I thought Rock did a decent job, though I'm guessing he won't be asked back for quite a while. He may have exhausted his value just by not saying something that outraged America and caused the Kodak Theater to implode.

Reading Internet forums this morn, I sense a bit of disappointment that nothing that memorable occurred — no wildly ridiculous outfits, no over-the-top political moments, no tearful meltdowns from the winners, no gasping surprise when some envelope was opened. Who would have thought Chris Rock would preside over one of the safest Oscar ceremonies in recent memory?

• Posted at 9:32 AM · LINK