Now THAT's what I call an opening act!

Heath Ledger wins an Oscar

Heath Ledger posthumously gets a most deserved Academy Award for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight:

Happy New Year!!! (bis)

As I wrote a year ago: "It is customary to say 'Happy New Year' to everyone on 1st January, so now it's done (it was quick!), I can go on with my usual silly things I found.

Let's have a look at what will happen this year:"

2009 has been designated as the:

• International Year of Astronomy.
• International Year of Natural Fibres. [SL: I'm not surprised after the International Year of the Potato.]
• International Year of Reconciliation. [SL: I'm not sure it'll be successful.]

Predicted events:

• January 1 - Slovakia adopts the euro and becomes the 16th member of the Eurozone.
• January 20 - Inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States.
• January 26 - Annular solar eclipse.
• February 12 - Darwin Day, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. Events are already being planned at the London Natural History Museum. [SL: I doubt Americans will celebrate this…]
• February 13 - The Unix time number reaches 1234567890 seconds at 23:31:30 UTC. [SL: funny.]
• February 22 - The 81st Academy Awards will be held at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. [SL. For the first time since 2003 BeTV will broadcast the ceremony so I won't miss it this time!]
• June 4-7 - The European Parliament election 2009 will take place, the exact date varies depending on country. [SL: really nice of 'our' European representative to organise this election while millions of students are taking exams… I also predict that we'll have to go to the polls for the Belgian federal election.]
• July 1 - Sweden takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from the Czech Republic.
• July 22 - Total solar eclipse. The longest lasting total solar eclipse of the 21st century.
• September - The Burj Dubai in Dubai, UAE will be completed. It is already the tallest man-made structure ever built. [SL. It's currently more than 800 metres high!]

And, sadly, as I wrote a year ago:

"Furthermore, the Iraq war will continue, as well as the War in Afghanistan, the Conflict in Darfur, and also the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons

This film, directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, might earn Pitt an Academy Award in 2009… we'll keep an eye on it.

The Dark Knight

Today I went to the cinema to see The Dark Knight. This is truly the best film I've seen in years, not only for the brilliant script, dramatic scenes, perfect photography, but also for Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker. It wasn't Ledger on the screen, but just the Joker. Jack Nicholson's performance in Batman was already fantastic, but here Ledger gives the character a new dimension, namely that of a psychotic villain killing just to satisfy himself, and enjoying creating chaos in Gotham City. It wouldn't be much of a surprise if Ledger is awarded a posthumous Academy Award in March 2009, and if the film is nominated for Best Picture as well: Christopher Nolan did a marvellous job — just like in Batman Begins, being the mastermind behind both the script and the camera. I'm definitely going to see this movie a couple of extra times! I highly recommend it to you, even if you don't give a shit about the Batman franchise; go and watch it for the sake of it. Maybe this scene featuring Ledger will further convince you:



"This town deserves a better class of criminals. And I'm gonna give it to 'em. Tell all your men they work for me now."
"They won't work for a freak!"
"Frrrreak?"

And here's just another excellent trailer:



"Dent! Jesus! I thought you was dead…"
"Half." --> Brilliant. Harvey Dent / Two-Face's make up was terrific!

As a bonus, I even found the complete opening scene of the movie, a clever bank robbery by the Joker. If you never watch the videos I feature, please watch at least this one!!!

"The Cat Concerto"

The Cat Concerto is perhaps one of the most popular short cartoons ever created. In 1947 it received the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. It "stars" Tom (the cat) as a piano virtuoso giving a recital on the instrument Jerry (the mouse) lives in.



I LOVE Tom's face at 03:43 and the way the piano lid is slammed onto his fingers…

The theme that you hear, Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2 by Franz Liszt, has been spoofed in Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the piano fight scene featuring Daffy Duck and Donald Duck.



From Wikipedia:

Controversy

The same year MGM produced The Cat Concerto, Warner Bros. released a very similar cartoon entitled Rhapsody Rabbit. Directed by Friz Freleng, Rhapsody Rabbit featured Bugs Bunny opposite an unnamed mouse. Both shorts had very similar plots, and even use the same piece by Liszt.

Both MGM and Warner Bros. accused each other of plagiarism, after both films were shown during the 1947 Academy Awards ceremony. Technicolor was accused of sending a print of either cartoon to the competing studio, who then allegedly plagarized their rival's work.

Death Notice (3): Charlton Heston

I remember Charlton Heston especially for his roles in Planet of the Apes, but also in Ben Hur (thanks to which he won an Academy Award). Please watch this scene of anthology, namely that of the chariot race:



Michael Moore made a well-known interview of the star about his stances on guns and his position in the NRA:



A fan's song:



He said this once:



--> Now, we can take his gun and destroy it at last! (*Evil laughter*)

79 golden awards

The 80th Academy Awards Ceremony took place a week ago, and now it's time to watch a four-minute summary showing the 79 films that were awarded the Oscar® for the Best Picture before the 80th (No Country for Old Men):



For an exhaustive list, I refer you to the Wikipedia entry.

Leap Day (aka 'bissextile day')

Since today is 29 February, I thought it would be a good opportunity to write a few words about this day that only occurs once every four years (except on century years that aren't divisible by 400, e.g. 1700 and 2100). Here's the explanation found on Wikipedia:

Although the modern calendar counts a year as 365 days, a complete revolution around the sun takes approximately 365 days and 6 hours. Every four years, an extra twenty-four hours have accumulated, so one extra day is added to that calendar to keep the count coordinated with the sun's apparent position. (…) A leap day is more likely to fall on a Monday than on a Sunday. This is because the Gregorian calendar repeats itself every 400 years, which is exactly 20871 weeks including 97 leap days. Over this period February 29 falls thirteen times on a Sunday, Tuesday or Thursday; fourteen times on a Friday or Saturday; and fifteen times on a Monday or Wednesday.

Here's the most notable fact that happened exactly four years ago (from Wikipedia):

76th Academy Awards: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King wins Best Picture and Director awards and nine others for a total of 11 Academy Awards, a tie for the most ever won by a single film, and the largest sweep ever for a single film, having received 11 nominations. Acting honors were as follows: Best Actor: Sean Penn for Mystic River, Best Actress: Charlize Theron for Monster, Best Supporting Actor: Tim Robbins for Mystic River, Best Supporting Actress: Renée Zellweger for Cold Mountain. Sources: (Newsday) (Box Office Mojo) (IMDB)

Fours years have passed! Time flies, as you can see. I can remember this ceremony perfectly, for it was the last one I saw on telly, because after that BeTV refused to broadcast it… (F*ckers.) Anyway, I was very happy for Peter Jackson and his crew, because all of them had done a terrific job with this marvelous The Lord of the Rings trilogy. About one year ago, I posted the introductory spot of the ceremony, which is basically a spoof on all the successful movies of 2003:

I spotted references to (in order of appearance) Last Action Hero, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Terminator, Master and Commander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mystic River, Seabiscuit, Finding Nemo, Cold Mountain, Monster, Something's Gotta Give, Lost in Translation and The Last Samurai. Could you find more?

While looking up for this video, I found one more fine example of Brokeback Mountain-inspired trailer, this time focusing on the "love relationship" bewteen Billy Crystal and the late Jack Palance. Most bits come from City Slickers and City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold.

Notice that the boy you see at 01:03 and at the end is actually the eleven-year-old Jake Gyllenhaal, who starred in Brokeback Mountain with the late Heath Ledger!

And the Oscar® Goes to…

Last night took place in the Kodak Theater of Los Angeles the most important event in the industry of cinema: the Academy Awards Ceremony. Martin Scorsese was—at last!—rewarded for his most recent film, "The Departed", featuring Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio, among others. He was given an Oscar® for being the Best Director and for having made the Best Movie. The statuette was given by a shock trio: Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, maybe the world's best directors ever—and good friends of Scorsese's.

Apart from that, as expected, Forest Whitacker and Helen Mirren were elected Best Actors, and Al Gore (former US Vice-President) was awarded the Oscar for the Best Documentary. The Oscar was given to him by the famous stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld (whom I am a great fan of).

PS. If you click on the title of this message, you'll be redirected on the official Academy Awards website, and you'll get the complete results (nominees and winners).