Just one more reason to love Diablo Cody

Diablo Cody, screenwriter of Juno, posted this pic to her blog the other day. (Click to reveal.)

That blog, by the way, is over at MySpace.

Don't miss the other photos she's posted recently, particularly the one of her and Ron Jeremy hanging out at a... disco?

I know people who were really disappointed by this particular win, but I say it was just right. And the tearful speech by Cody thanking her family was very sweet. In fact, I'm pretty happy about the way the Oscars went overall this year. It seemed really low-key and without a lot of the BS that makes them usually so intolerable.

Of course, the musical numbers were as un-entertaining as usual, but at least I got to see Amy Adams and Kristen Chenoweth perform. An unusual display of taste in picking the performers, but the performances themselves were uninspired.

But hey! The Coens and Diablo Cody honored in a big way. I'm happy.

Time to Pretend

Blake over at Cinema is Dope sent me a link to this trippy video from an unidentified band. (Unidentified to me, anyway. Feel free to clue me in. Update: if I had been paying attention to the first few frames of the video, I would have learned that the band is called MGMT.) It comes from Court 13, the production company that made Death to the Tinman.

It reminds me a lot of those wacky musical numbers that Raquel Welch did for her self-titled bio-film, Raquel!, but with more video effects and less John Wayne.

Watch Time to Pretend.

garfield minus garfield, marmaduke explained, and lasagna cat

Sometimes you just accumulate little mental notes about things that make you laugh until they come crashing together. Like these three things:

Garfield minus Garfield.

Marmaduke Explained

Lasagna Cat.

I'll let you figure out how they relate.

When does Hilary Clinton = Reese Witherspoon?

Normally I try to steer clear of political talk here on the blog, but this was too good not to share.

Oscar, Oscar OSCAR!

In 2003 Scott and I wrote down the things we'd learned from watching that year's Oscars telecast.

To win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, it really helps to be an old white guy.

If you want to win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, play someone's mother, or a hooker, or, if at all possible, both.

The Academy Awards ceremony has never, ever included a tasteful musical number.

I've taken a break from the Oscars for the last few years, tuning in briefly if at all, but tonight I'm prepared to soak it in. I even set up a real-time chat and Oscars pool over at the B-Movie Message Board. Hell, maybe Scott and I will even write about the lessons we learned this year.

Why the renewed enthusiasm? I'm not sure. Maybe it's the fact that I've seen a few more of the contenders this year than usual, or maybe I'm just psyched that the WGA strike is over. (I really want to see what Jon Stewart and crew come up with under this much pressure.) Last night the Indie Spirit Awards rewarded Juno and Diablo Cody in particular, which warms my heart, but it's too much to hope that the same film will fare as well at the Academy Awards. Wouldn't it be cool to see Cody give an Oscars speech though?

I notice that the Razzies went out yesterday as well, and that the Lindsay Lohan "thriller" I Know Who Killed Me swept the bad-movie awards, setting yet another record for most Razzies won. According to the Razzies, I Know is officially worse than Showgirls or Battlefield Earth. Somehow I doubt it. I haven't delved into the way the Razzies work, but it seems to have evolved into a flavor-of-the-month celebrity schadenfreude contest instead of a real examination of the worst movies made each year. But hey, it's their event -- let 'em run it the way they want.

Me, I'll be watching tasteless musical numbers on the Academy Awards.

Better.

I took the opportunity to fix a few things that were bothering me about the old template, and to update the links section. So now I actually point to Scott's current blog, not his old one. Ditto for Ken. Also, I have added a few new links which you can discover for yourself.

Regular updates to resume in 3... 2... 1...

Whoops.

In a fit of distraction I've managed to munge up my blog template -- please pardon the dust while I circle the wagons and try to put the pieces back together. I thought I had a backup copy of that template somewheres around here . . . .

Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses

Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.

So now the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray format war is "officially" over, since Toshiba was the loudest cheerleader for the HD-DVD format. I must say I'm a bit surprised that the conflict collapsed as quickly and as neatly as it did; the VHS/Betamax war apparently lasted over a decade, and the high-def DVD clash has only been going since 2005. I suppose we can chalk it up to the pressure-cooker of public opinion that is the Internet and some smart lawyering on the parts of the studios. Warner Bros' decision to jump ship and support Blu-Ray exclusively was, undeniably, the crucial piece that brought the HD-DVD consortium's corporate Jenga game crashing down. Impressively, the industry saw the writing on the wall along with the rest of us and the losing format closed shop in under six weeks.

So ends what could posibly the last of the major format wars. Since it's likely that movies will be delivered by online means in the near future, I wonder if another physical format will ever gain traction. Will we carry our favorite movies around on thumb drives?

Read StreetInsider.com - Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses.

Why White People Like Recycling

From my new favorite blog, Stuff White People Like:

Recycling is a part of a larger theme of stuff white people like: saving the earth without having to do that much.

Recycling is fantastic! You can still buy all the stuff you like (bottled water, beer, wine, organic iced tea, and cans of all varieties) and then when you’re done you just put it in a DIFFERENT bin than where you would throw your other garbage. And boom! Environment saved! Everyone feels great, it’s so easy!

Read more of #66: Recycling.

OK, I think we can call it over. Blu-Ray wins.

Netflix, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart have all announced that they will cease to support HD-DVD as a viable format in the near future.

I myself bought a Playstation 3 about two weeks ago after learning that it supports certain streaming media protocols that I happen to use. Between the Blu-Ray movies, the support for streaming video, photos, and music, and the PS3 games, it is such a great all-around entertainment box that I'm a little stunned that it was made by Sony. Too bad it isn't backwards compatible with the PS2 games . . . .

Also, too bad that the format we're stuck with has such a dumb name. Better than "Betamax," I suppose, but still not great.

Facebook continues to amuse

WGA Strike Report - Day 95 Recap

TV Fodder sums up the news from a variety of news sources, highlighting the likely fates of some high profile TV shows.

-Good news: Shows like "Ugly Betty," “Grey’s Anatomy" and “Lost" could start filming within two to four weeks after the end of the strike and produce a month’s worth of episodes to finish out the season. Also, “Two and a Half Men," “How I Met Your Mother," “Back to You" and “Samantha Who?" could all complete more episodes, between seven and nine.

-Bad News: Shows like “Heroes" and “24" probably won’t be back for a long time. Both shows deal with long story arcs and wouldn’t have a chance to complete them in such a limited time. While “Heroes" could just come back in the fall, EW speculates that “24" might not be back until 2009!

Read TV Fodder's WGA Strike Report: Day 95 Recap.

Showing of The Wizard at Alamo Drafthouse Ritz

super mario brothers and their princess
Originally uploaded by sarah pants

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is but one of the reasons that the Alamo Drafthouse kicks ass. A showing of "The Wizard" with cast and crew present. Staff members in costume. And the presentation of a golden Nintendo Power Glove to the lucky crew. If only I'd been there!

How we know who's really won the format war: The Blu-ray makeup line | The Social - CNET News.com

HD DVD, just in case you didn't get the word, you're toast. The cosmetics industry says so, and would like to blow you a high-definition kiss goodbye. Mwah.

Well, sort of. Cargo Cosmetics has launched a new line called Blu_ray, designed for makeup artists who need to adapt to high-definition cameras.

Read "How we know who's really won the format war" on news.com.

It's Official: 'Cloverfield 2'

From Cinematical:

According to Variety, Matt Reeves is "in early talks with Paramount" to direct a sequel to this month's smash Cloverfield. This should come as a surprise to exactly no one, as Cloverfield was made on the super cheap ($25 million) and scored a whopping $46 million in its opening weekend alone. From the way the announcement is worded, it looks like they want Cloverfield II underway ASAP, as soon as Paramount can complete discussions with Reeves, producer J.J. Abrams and writer Drew Goddard, who penned Cloverfield as well as episodes of Lost, Alias, and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Reeves has also signed to direct The Invisible Woman, "a Hitchcock-style thriller" he wrote that "probes the mind of a former beauty queen who turns to a life of crime to protect her family."

Read It's Official: 'Cloverfield 2' is Coming! - Cinematical.

Apple Adds New iPhone & iPod touch Models

The iPhone now comes in two flavors: 16 gigabytes for $499, 8GB for $399, and the iPod Touch now has a 16GB model for $399 and 8GB for $299.

(Via Daring Fireball.)

Facebook status updates.

Sometimes they're funnier than they're intended to be.

Just one of the many reasons I love Sarah Silverman

You know, if YouTube doesn't remove the clip. Again.