Why did Crash land so many nominations?
There are a few obvious reasons why “Crash” connected with the Academy. First, Los Angeles, where most of Academy members live, is a profoundly segregated city, so any movie that makes it seem like its white, black, Asian and Latino inhabitants are constantly tripping over one another has appeal. If nothing else it makes Los Angeles seem as cosmopolitan as, well, New York or at least the Upper West Side. Second, no matter how many times the camera picks out Oprah Winfrey on Oscar night, the Academy is super white. Third, the Academy is, at least in general terms, socially liberal. You see where I’m going, right? What could better soothe the troubled brow of the Academy’s collective white conscious than a movie that says sometimes black men really are muggers (so don’t worry if you engage in racial profiling); your Latina maid really, really loves you (so don’t worry about paying her less than minimum wage); even white racists (even white racist cops) can love their black brothers or at least their hot black sisters; and all answers are basically simple, so don’t even think about politics, policy, the lingering effects of Proposition 13 and Governor Arnold. This is a consummate Hollywood fantasy, no matter how nominally independent the financing and release. I also think it helped the film’s cause that its distributor sent out more than 130,000 DVD's to the industry, ensuring easy viewing.
- Manohla Dargis, NYT
Olympics 2014: Kazakhstan
Turin Olympics begins this weekend, and Vancouver is gearing up for the 2010 Olympics. So where will the next Winter Olympics be held?
The
nominees are:
Almaty, Kazakhstan - Near the Tian Shan mountain, the speed skating competition will be held outdoors.
Jaca, Spain - Who skis in Spain?
Pyeongchang, Korea - Not to be confused with the communist capital to the north.
Salzburg, Austria - Curling and Mozart. How exciting.
Sochi, Russia - Reknown for heli-skiing and toxic waste dump.
Sofia, Bulgaria - Joining the EU in 2007. Great, another European city for the Olympics.
Borjomi, Georgia - No idea where that is.
The End of the Internet
The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online.
The Nation
MediaWatch
Arts Central's experimental tv series,
9 Lives, premieres tonight. Combining 2 half-hour segments - the first is the dramatic serial, the second "a making of", its success will lies in how viewers will take to it in the next few episodes.
MediaWatch
Students cry foul over sexuality workshop that pushed these messages
The Straits TimesBy Jeremy Au Yong
Jan 29, 2006
A SEXUALITY workshop at Anderson Junior College a week ago sparked an uproar after some participants complained about it online and to the school.
The four-hour workshop run by church-based group Family Life Society irked some of its participants when it put down contraceptive sex and rejected abortion and embryonic stem-cell research. The entire second year cohort of the college attended the talk.
A handful of students posted complaints on their blogs, another started a thread in an online forum and one even wrote directly to the organisation. The forum attracted some 120 comments in six days while a posting on blog bulletin Tomorrow.sg was read by nearly 700 people.
One student griped that the workbook they were given seemed to promote the organisation's beliefs rather than present facts.
The student, who declined to be named and goes simply by his online moniker Cygig, started the active thread on the online forum at www.spug.net He said in one posting: 'It seemed like I was being brainwashed.'
His schoolmate, Tay Wei Kiat, said: 'They did not clearly state the source of their opinions and instead attempted to spread their beliefs to everyone attending the workshop by asking everyone, regardless of their individual beliefs or religion, to write down things like 'I must condemn masturbation and in-vitro fertilisation'.'
They admitted that large parts of the programme - which focused on goal-setting and abstinence - were fine. Their beef was with isolated statements.
For example, the programme workbook had this to say about contraception: 'The sterilised sexual act is not much different in its meaning from an act of mutual masturbation whereby the couple seeks to use each other (their bodies) to derive sexual pleasure.'
Another section listed 'adult instead of embryonic stem-cell research' alongside 'absolute respect for life' and 'life is a gift' as things to 'promote, protect and cherish'.
Under Ministry of Education guidelines, schools are expected to provide eight hours of sexuality education to upper secondary students and four hours to tertiary students. However, many schools are going above and beyond the time requirements - often engaging external vendors to do so.
MediaWatch
# Aibo is
no more. After selling 150 000 units, Sony has decided to scrap its production as part of a major restructuring.
#
Syriana premieres next week on 9 Feb in Singapore theatres.
More CCTVs to keep us safe
Today's Lianhe Zaobao reported that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) intends to
increase the number of CCTVs in MRT stations, bus interchanges and buses. Singaporeans are becoming a highly photogenic group.
First there were cameras along the even numbered streets of Geylang, then came the hidden cameras in MRT stations. And now the move to put them on buses, though previously mentioned but not carried out. EZ Link fraudsters beware!
Perhaps the sheer logistical nightmare of the proposal to have CCTVs on buses has been putting it on the backburner. Just think about it. There are thousands of buses, and who is to decide which ones would carry the CCTVs. And ultimately, with the increase reels of video clips of ordinary Singaporeans swipping their EZ Link cards, who is going to watch all the extra footage?
Mosaic Music Festival
The Esplanade
Mosaic Music Festival is back again. Trumpeting jazz, blues, hip hop, alternative sounds and local music, this 10-day long fest is jam-packed with big names, free lunchtime performances and music workshops. Headliners include Kings of Convenience, Jason Mraz and Afro-Cuban All Stars. JT needs a date for the festival.
MediaWatch
# The average cost of this year's Super Bowl commercials is at a
record $2.5 million per 30 second.
Here is NYT's look at the rising cost of commercials.
# US politicians and rights groups have
condemned technology giants Google, Microsoft, Cisco, and Yahoo for collaborating with China to censor the Internet.
78th Academy Awards nominations are out!
Nominations for the Academy Awards, or as it is more popularly known, the Oscars are out! Televised at a beary-eyed 5.30am in Los Angeles, so as to catch the morning primetime belt of 8.30am on the East Coast, the announcement was done matter-of-factly in a quiet enclosed room so unlike the glitz that Hollywood is famous for, and almost over in less than 10 mins.
TV viewers in Singapore could catch the nomination announcements via BBC News and CNN International cable stations on SCV. Interestingly, both stations created "Special" half hour programs just for the announcements. Breaking away from dull news anchors reporting on the Afghanistan summit and the latest Iran nuclear stasis were beaming guest commentators giving their two cents on whether gay cowboys would hold more sway over Hollywood than the multi-racial tableau of a cinematic Los Angeles.
On BBC, which had the more elaborate "special" segment with their entertainment anchor and guest film critic seating in a brightly lit studio specially arranged for the announcement. The critic added much credibility to his take by declaring that the critically lauded but box office flop - A History of Violence, in addition to Crash, is one of his favorite films of 2005. Nevertheless, the commentary revolves pretty much around British nominees such as Rachel Weisz and the Bristol duo behind the Wallace and Gromit feature.
Over at CNN, the break away into the entertainment news was more subdued with the same news anchor discussing the nominees right after giving the latest dirt on what Condi had said to Annan. (This only affirms my suspicion of CNN International trying too hard to stray away from its American-centric roots and being more globally-oriented and newsy). Unfortunately, the calibre of the invited studio guest, a mumbling editor from trashy Us Weekly made the "special" boring and uninsightful.
