Wednesday 10 March 2010

Der Humpink, A Broken Xbox and A Big Brown Beaver

Special thanks to Chris Quinn for this visual feast:



Also, if you haven't seen this already, you're a hero if you make it through to the end. Don't laugh at it, and you're as soulless as someone who hates Pixar movies...



Oscar winner Christoph Waltz proceeds to take the piss out of it on Jimmy Kimmel Live:



So yeah, my Xbox is broken. I'm trading in EVERYTHING to bring down the cost of a PS3, since I desperately want a cheap Blu-Ray player, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Bad Company 2, since I was just getting into the multiplayer when the Box went kaput. Not chuffed.

I also gave BBC 6Music a listen today, to see what all the fuss was about, and I am VERY impressed. Pavement, Hendrix, Editors, The Cult, LCD Soundsystem and Vampire Weekend were all on within an hour. No radio station has ever came close to appealing to all of my music tastes until I tuned into 6Music this morning. Don't just join the Facebook groups, email the BBC or something. A matter of great importance instead. (Get rid of 1Xtra - it's pash)

Also, Corey Haim died today, watch The Lost Boys in rememberance. I would, if Kirstie didn't have my copy...

Darren out, minus a games console, saying I am one of many, many more to come...

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Now playing: Smashing Pumpkins - A Song For A Son
via FoxyTunes

Monday 8 March 2010

"Go Back, To Those Gold Soundz..."

So after reading the Oscar winners on my iPod in my Economics lecture this morning, it appears I may have been right on a few! Best Director, Picture, Supporting Actor and Visual Effects were my correct picks. I'm very disappointed, however, that Fantastic Mr Fox didn't win Best Animated Feature. The Academy should have watched the DVD extras and that would be that, the work that went into making the film, basing Mr Fox's tree on Roald Dahl's house and the great idea of recording the sound outdoors and in a farm gives the film a personal touch that shows Wes Anderson really cared about the source material. At least Up was a worthy winner. I'm seeing Crazy Heart on Saturday, so will eagerly await seeing Jeff Bridges' apparently standing ovation-worthy performance. Mrs Jesse James herself, Sandra Bullock, won best actress, making history by winning a Razzie and an Oscar in the same year. She turned up to the Razzies with DVDs of All About Steve (the offending film) and gave everybody in the crowd a copy. Tres cool.



If, for whatever reason you haven't seen the new trailer for Iron Man 2, I do suggest you do it now. The briefcase suit is epic, Mickey Rourke looks very convincing as the Russian villain (apparently doing half of his dialogue in Russian, which is impressive) and Sam Rockwell, who was fantastic in The Green Mile, and I haven't got round to seeing Moon yet, but I eagerly await it. Also, RDJ is as awesome as always, and I still think Don Cheadle is a better James Rhodes than Terrence Howard, as good as he was in the original. Here's the trailer link, and it's Trailer 2 you want: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/paramount/ironman/

And in other upcoming film news, although I haven't seen the original, Tron: Legacy has a trailer out today, and 2 words should make you want to see this: Jeff Bridges. I'm sold already, the look of the film is just a bonus!

http://www.program-glitch-esc.net/ is the link for the trailer, watch and enjoy...

I'm going to backtrack to last weekend for a minute, because I have a new favourite Beatles album - The Beatles. Listening to it on the way back from North Berwick made the drive that much easier, and Happiness Is A Warm Gun is now one of my favourite tracks! A tip from me, The White Album is perfect for road trips...

Speaking of road trip albums, one I wished had came out earlier is Quarantine The Past, Pavement's Best Of collection. While I have all of their albums already, I wanted the greatest hits for the car. It too is an amazing driving album, that would probably be best for driving in the summer, I felt that way at least. It even made sitting in traffic at Larbert Cross almost bearable!

Well, I'm offski, bought Battlefield: Bad Company 2 yesterday, and it isn't going to play itself!

Darren out, saying "if you can make God bleed, people will cease to believe in him..."

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Now playing: Pavement - Summer Babe (Winter Version)
via FoxyTunes

Sunday 7 March 2010

Hunter's Oscar Predictions

So, the 82nd Academy Awards is almost upon us, however I will not be watching - it's on Sky Movies. Rage. Although, I do have my guesses as to who'll come on top after the statues are handed out. So I should probably crack on. I'll put up all of the nominees, then list my favourite and why they should win. If you feel so inclined, leave a comment with your own favourites! Also, I'm only basing my choices based on the films I've seen, so my apologies if I get a couple wrong.

Without Further Ado...

Best Picture
* Avatar
* The Blind Side
* District 9
* An Education
* The Hurt Locker
* Inglourious Basterds
* Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
* A Serious Man
* Up
* Up in the Air

My Pick: The Hurt Locker

Why: Because Avatar made truckloads of money, but it's a feast for the eyes, not the mind. Plus what The Hurt Locker did with $15m is amazing, and it hasn't even made that back yet, so it at least deserves a statue.

Best Director:
* James Cameron – Avatar
* Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
* Lee Daniels – Precious
* Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
* Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds

My Pick - Kathryn Bigelow

Why: She made the film so nerve-wracking to watch, you feel for the lives of the characters and it made me sit on the edge of my seat.

Best Actor:
* Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart as Bad Blake
* George Clooney – Up in the Air as Ryan Bingham
* Colin Firth – A Single Man as George Falconer
* Morgan Freeman – Invictus as Nelson Mandela
* Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker as Sgt. William James

My Pick - George Clooney

Why: It's George Clooney. (And I haven't seen Crazy Heart.)

Best Actress:
* Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side as Leigh Anne Tuohy
* Helen Mirren – The Last Station as Sofya Tolstoy
* Carey Mulligan – An Education as Jenny Miller
* Gabourey Sidibe – Precious as Claireece "Precious" Jones
* Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia as Julia Child

My Pick - N/A

Why: I haven't seen any of these, although if Sandra Bullock wins, she'd be the first person to win an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year. For that, she should win.

Best Supporting Actor:
* Matt Damon РInvictus as Fran̤ois Pienaar
* Woody Harrelson – The Messenger as Capt. Tony Stone
* Christopher Plummer – The Last Station as Leo Tolstoy
* Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones as George Harvey
* Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds as Col. Hans Landa

My Pick - Christoph Waltz

Why: Hans Landa makes the film. "That's a bingo!"

Best Supporting Actress:
* Pen̩lope Cruz РNine as Carla Albanese
* Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air as Alex Goran
* Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart as Jean Craddock
* Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air as Natalie Keener
* Mo'Nique – Precious as Mary Lee Johnston

My Pick - Anna Kendrick

Why: She's as equally amazing in this as Vera Farmiga, but the scene where she bursts into tears is comedy gold.

Best Original Screenplay:
* The Hurt Locker – Mark Boal
* Inglourious Basterds – Quentin Tarantino
* The Messenger – Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman
* A Serious Man – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
* Up – Tom McCarthy, Bob Peterson and Pete Docter

My Pick: Inglourious Basterds

Why: Come on. It's Tarantino. The La Louisiane scene alone deserves that statue!

Best Adapted Screenplay:
* District 9 – Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell from Alive in Joburg by Blomkamp
* An Education – Nick Hornby from An Education by Lynn Barber
* In the Loop – Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche from The Thick of It by Iannucci
* Precious – Geoffrey Fletcher from Push by Sapphire
* Up in the Air – Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner from Up in the Air by Walter Kirn

My Pick - Up In The Air

Why: Because the fact it's so relevant to the mass job losses of today, even though the script was written several years ago, means that it has an added poignance to an already fantastic script.

Best Animated Feature:
* Coraline – Henry Selick
* Fantastic Mr. Fox – Wes Anderson
* The Princess and the Frog – Ron Clements and John Musker
* The Secret of Kells – Tomm Moore
* Up – Pete Docter

My Pick - Fantastic Mr Fox

Why: The first 10 minutes of Up might have all people with souls in tears, but Fantastic Mr Fox is just an hour and a half of great storytelling, a fantastic (PUN!) cast, and a great musical interlude from none other than Jarvis Cocker. Wes Anderson needs an Oscar tonight!

Also, forget about the Visual Effects Oscars, Avatar has them wrapped up.

So, you might not agree with my choices, but that's what the comment box is for. Tomorrow, I'll be ready to gloat/eat humble pie (delete as applicable).

Darren out, saying "that's just poor songwriting. You wrote a bad song, Petey!"