the pod bay door

:: The Los Angeles Film Critics Association announced its 2003 LA Film Critic Awards. Best Picture went to American Splendor, Director to Peter Jackson, Actor to Bill Murray, and Actress to Naomi Watts. The Triplets of Belleville picked up two awards, for Best Animation and Best Music Score. Leonard Klady offers these observations on the awards and their impact, if any. Further award details here.

:: Movie City News maintains a 2003 Awards Scoreboard, where you can see statistics by individal film in categories of Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Screenplay. In addition, this nifty online publication, edited by David Poland, gathers together critics’ top ten lists. There are at least 275 Top Ten Lists provided. You can also see the films of 2003 assembled in a Big Chart based on top ten lists, or view by Point Total or Title. Not to be missed: The Big Scoreboard of Bad, and yes, Gigli was the winner. Some of the Top Ten Worst Films of 2003 lists are also provided.

:: Wired offers 101 Ways To Save The Internet. Among my favorites:

1 Unleash vigilante justice on spammers: One activist has proposed filters that launch distributed denial-of-service attacks back at spammers. Great. Just make sure we have the right addresses first.
2 Slash song prices charge 29 cents per download. You”ll make it up in volume.
3 Quit already, Jack Valenti
9 Hands off Internet phone calls: Just because the creaky old phone system was regulated to death doesn’t mean VoIP should suffer the same fate.
10 Free the handsets: We should be able to buy any cell phone and match it with any service plan.
24 Release Episode III on the Net: It’s going straight to video anyway.
30 Scramble archived addresses: Online archives of mailing lists are a treasure trove for spammers. Give members the option to have their addresses scrambled in posts.

Read more »

:: As a frequent movie goer, I tend to sit through a film until all the credits have appeared. All too often, there will be extra stuff like outtakes, or an extra scene when the credits have finished. There was an interesting article in the Sunday NYTimes (ID and PW: podbay) on how film credits are taking increasingly longer times to scroll because of the many categories and job titles listed. The article notes that in the credits for Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World, 16 alone were assigned to people working for Russell Crowe only: costumer, two hairstylists, makeup artist, two special makeup artists, stunt double, stand-in, dialect coach, trainer, swordsmater, three violin coaches, two assistants, as well as a company that provided his personal security. Credits for Star Wars in 1977 listed 143 people. By contrast, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, listed 559 names, Finding Nemo had 642, and The Matrix: Revolutions, listed 701. The article doesn’t list the number for the final LOTR movie, but notes that the credits take 9 minutes and 33 seconds to scroll. Be sure to check out the graphic that shows the difference in the length of credits between LOTR: TROTK and earlier films, such as Star Wars.

:: I’m still under the weather, fighting a cold and sore throat.

:: I reported earlier this week that my right eye was causing me some discomfort. I visited University Health Services on campus on Thursday morning, and the physician prescribed eye drops and eye cream. He noticed an abrasion on my iris, which I am aware of from visits to an optometrist in Edmonton some time ago. So I’m not sure if that’s the problem. It feels like there is a tiny pebble under my eyelid. Anyway, by yesterday morning, it began to feel better, and I had a good day. But at home last night, it started hurting again, and I had major difficulty trying to fall asleep last night. Of course, it’s the weekend, meaning seeing a specialist isn’t going to happen. So I’m going to debate what to do. I may go to Emergency at the U of Alberta Hospital, but that could mean sitting there for the rest of the day.

That’s not all. I started feeling tired and weak through the day yesterday, with a touch of a sore throat, stuffy nose. All the symptoms of an impending cold. Timing couldn’t be worse, next week is our heaviest teaching load of the year. So this boy is going to try to take care of himself this weekend, and eat lotsa good, healthy food, and double up on the Cold-FX.

:: Dave Pollard, of How To Save The World, offers his list of the ten most important blogging ideas of 2003. He also has a page that links to his various entries on blogs & blogging, many of which provide advice, tips, surveys, and other items of interest. Examples include Good Weblog Design and Layout, and Secrets of Breakout Blogs. Also, check his list of favorite Canadian blogs (no, I’m not on it.) Also worth checking, his list of 14 time-savers for bloggers. My favorite is #13: “Learn to type properly.”

:: In addition, the New York Times Magazine featured its annual Year In Ideas issue on Dec 14, 2003, and considers these 67 movements to be the most important of the year. (Free registration required.) Do you agree? Billboards That Know You is cause for concern, the Pod Car is kinda cool, but Tribute Bands in Denial?

:: The Directors Guild of America has announced its nominations for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2003. One notable absentee is Anthony Minghella, for Cold Mountain. Overall, it hasn’t been the best year for film. Sales of tickets in the USA dropped for the first time since 1991.

:: With the Spirit Rover firmly in place on Mars, the US will now move its search for WMD to the red planet itself. Meanwhile, The Beagle isn’t doing too well.

:: The Writers’ Union of Canada is “aghast” over cuts to Regina’s public library system.

:: I’m a bit cranky tonight. Last night while falling asleep, my right eye began bothering me. This morning I woke to a burning feeling in said right eye, and it has yet to subside. I know, I should have it examined.