Today's Oscar nominees announcement
By Paulette Tobin
Today, the Oscar nominations were announced. I'm still not feeling this 10-nominees-for-Best-Picture award thing, are you? Anyway, here they are. Any big surprises? Any big snubs? Any disappointments? Talk amongst yourselves and feel free to comment.
Best motion picture of the year: "Avatar,” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers; “The Blind Side,” Nominees to be determined; “District 9,” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers; "An Education,” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers; “The Hurt Locker,” Nominees to be determined; “Inglourious Basterds,” Lawrence Bender, Producer; "Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers; “A Serious Man,” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers; "Up,” Jonas Rivera, Producer; "Up in the Air,” Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers.
Performance by an actor in a leading role: Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart”; George Clooney in "Up in the Air"; Colin Firth in "A Single Man"; Morgan Freeman in "Invictus"; Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker"
Performance by an actor in a supporting role: Matt Damon in "Invictus"; Woody Harrelson in "The Messenger"; Christopher Plummer in "The Last Station"; Stanley Tucci in "The Lovely Bones"; Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds"
Performance by an actress in a leading role: Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side"; Helen Mirren in "The Last Station"; Carey Mulligan in "An Education"; Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire"; Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia"
Performance by an actress in a supporting role: Penélope Cruz in "Nine"; Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air"; Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Crazy Heart"; Anna Kendrick in "Up in the Air"; Mo’Nique in "Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Best animated feature film of the year: "Coraline,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” "The Princess and the Frog,” “The Secret of Kells,” “Up”
Achievement in art direction: "Avatar,” “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” “Nine,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “The Young Victoria”
Achievement in cinematography: "Avatar,” “HarryHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Inglourious Basterds,” The White Ribbon"
Achievement in costume design: “Bright Star,” “Coco before Chanel,” “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” “Nine,” “The Young Victoria”
Achievement in directing: "Avatar,” James Cameron; “The Hurt Locker,” Kathryn Bigelow, “Inglourious Basterds,” Quentin Tarantino; “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” Lee Daniels; “Up in the Air,” Jason Reitman
Best documentary feature: "Burma VJ,” “The Cove,” “Food, Inc,” “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers,” “Which Way Home"
Best documentary short subject: "China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province,” “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner,” “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant,” “Music by Prudence,” “Rabbit à la Berlin"
Achievement in film editing: "Avatar,” “District 9,” “The Hurt Locker, “Inglourious Basterds,” “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Best foreign language film of the year: “Ajami,” “El Secreto de Sus Ojos,” “The Milk of Sorrow,” “Un Prophète,” "The White Ribbon"
Achievement in makeup: "Il Divo,” “Star Trek,” “The Young Victoria”
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score): “Avatar,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “Up”
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song): "Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog,” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman; "Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog,” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman; “Loin de Paname” from "Paris 36,” Lyric by Frank Thomas; “Take It All" from "Nine,” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston: "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart,” Music and Lyrics by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Best animated short film: “French Roast,” “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty,” “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte),” “Logorama,” “A Matter of Loaf and Death,” “The Door,” “Instead of Abracadabra,” Kavi,” “Miracle Fish,” The New Tenants”
Achievement in sound editing: "Avatar,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “Star Trek,” “Up”
Achievement in sound mixing: "Avatar,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “Star Trek,” “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
Achievement in visual effects: “Avatar,” “District 9,” “Star Trek”
Adapted screenplay: “District 9,”Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell; “An Education,” Nick Hornby: “In the Loop,” Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche; “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” Geoffrey Fletcher; “Up in the Air,” Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Original screenplay: "The Hurt Locker,” Mark Boal; “Inglourious Basterds,” Quentin Tarantino; “The Messenger,” Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman; “A Serious Man,” Joel Coen & Ethan Coen; “Up,” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy
For more on the Oscars, check out the official Web site at oscar.go.com/. The Oscars will be presented Sunday, March 7, and broadcast live on ABC (Channel 8 on Grand Forks cable).
Tobin is arts & entertainment reporter for the Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks N.D.
Posted by: tobin on 2/02/2010 at 3:12 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
iPad? Not for me.
By Paulette Tobin
Apple's big announcement about its new iPad, a tablet-sized electronic device that apparently is the next big thing and will "revolutionize" our lives, has left me ... sighing. I won't deny that its potential is enormous. I'll never say never to using one. But I will confess to having a really bad case of technology fatique.
I am 54 years old. Not that old, I like to think, at least not compared with the 111-year-old Canadian lady on the front page of the Herald today. When I was attending South Dakota State University journalism school (1973-1977), the college print lab was still full of "hot type" Linotype machines, which worked much the same way as the first printing press invented in the mid 1400s by Johann Gutenberg.
I remember when the IBM Selectric typewriter was a big deal and the first time I saw a "cold type" Compugraphic typesetter at my first newspaper job in 1977 in Fessenden, N.D. The first time I used a computer was as a reporter for The Associated Press in Sioux Falls, S.D., in about 1981. It had no "windows," just a couple of screens you could flip back and forth, and lines of code you had to memorize if you wanted to send your stories out on the wire.
By the time I got to the Omaha AP four years later, the Teletype machines that had endlessly hammered out the incoming AP wire stories on rolls of rough paper in the back of every newsroom were obselete. Our primitive computer terminals were hooked up to a room full of huge, boxy, blinking hardware that looked like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. We had no way of receiving stories electronically, so we took dictation over the phone or retyped stories from the newspaper so we could put them on the wire.
I've lived through the advent of fax machines, voice mail, cell phones, digital cameras, the Internet, iPods, Web sites, e-mail, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, texting and Pen Drives. When someone hands me a Pen Drive, I still have to fumble around and think for a minute: OK, what do I do with this again? But a lot of it is wonderful. What did we ever do before Google? I use it at least 20 times a day to look up things, like when Gutenberg invented the printing press and how to spell Gutenberg.
And now the iPad. I am already way behind on my technology savvy skills. For instance, I can't buy a new TV because I can't figure out how to hook it up. What ever happened to the days when you plugged a TV into the wall, adjusted the antenna, and Voila! you could watch "Bonanza"? Sure, it was black and white and we only got two channels, maybe three on a good day. But today I get more than 70 channels and most nights there's STILL nothing worth watching. And if I hook up premium cable, the DVD player no longer works.
My son-in-law has a universal remote on their big-sceen HD or whatever-the-heck it is that does everything including turn the lights on and off. I have yet to figure out how to use it to turn the TV on and off. My daughter says -- "Don't worry, Mom, I don't know how everything on it works either." Somehow, this is not comforting. I'm not stupid. I just can't keep up anymore and I'm falling further and further behind. That's not a good feeling for me. I don't like feeling awkward and clumsy and out of it -- it's like being back in the seventh grade again.
So until someone figures out how this can all make sense to people like me who love the media but really aren't interested in figuring out "apps" or following Beyonce on Twitter, for information and entertainment, I'll still be relying heavily on the paper I read with my morning coffee.
Tobin is arts & entertainment reporter at the Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks, N.D.
Posted by: tobin on 1/28/2010 at 11:26 AM | Comments (4) | Permalink
Golden Globes Winners List
By Paulette Tobin
If you fell asleep during the Golden Globes last night, or if (like me) you were watching "Return to Cranford" on PBS, here's a list of the big winners from last night's Golden Globes awards.
Feel free to weigh in on how you feel about who won, why they won and who got robbed.
Best Motion Picture, Drama: “Avatar.”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama: Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side.”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart.”
Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical: “The Hangover.”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, comedy or musical: Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia.”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical: Robert Downey Jr., “Sherlock Holmes.
Best Animated Feature Film: “Up.”
Best Foreign Language Film: “The White Ribbon” (Germany).
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Mo’nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds.”
Best Director, Motion Picture: James Cameron, “Avatar.”
Best Screenplay, Motion Picture: Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner, “Up In the Air.”
Best Original Score: Michael Giacchino, “Up.”
Best Original Song, Motion Picture: “The Weary Kind” (Theme from “Crazy Heart”) Music and Lyrics by Ryan Bingham and T. Bone Burnett.
Best Television Series, Drama: “Mad Men” (AMC)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama: Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife.”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama: Michael C. Hall, “Dexter.”
Best Televsion Series, Comedy or Musical: “Glee” (FOX)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical: Toni Collette, “United States of Tara.”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical: Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock.”
Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: “Grey Gardens” (HBO).
Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Drew Barrymore, “Grey Gardens.”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Kevin Bacon, “Taking Chance.”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Chloe Sevigny, “Big Love.”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: John Lithgow, “Dexter.”
Tobin is arts & entertainment reporter for the Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks N.D.
Posted by: tobin on 1/18/2010 at 3:08 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
See "The Disappeared" before it -- well -- disappears
By Paulette Tobin
If you haven't seen "The Disappeared" at North Dakota Museum of Art, time is running out. Its last day is Sunday. The closing of the exhibit, curated by NDMOA executive director Laurel Reuter, will be marked (beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday) with a program that will begin with a tour of the exhibit and feature several speakers and a reception.
I've written about "The Disappeared" several times since it opened in Grand Forks in 2005 in conjunction with the UND Writer's Conference. It's a graphic and moving exhibit of works by Latin American artists who remember the harsh political climate of countries such as Argentina, Chile, Venzuela and Columbia during the mid-20th century. That's when military dictatorships, often with the support of the U.S. government, often kidnapped citizens of the resistance, tortured and murdered them.
It's hard to imagine a fate more horrible, both for the victim and their families, who didn't even know what had happened to their loved ones.
One of the most chilling parts of the story was the babies. Sometimes pregnant women were abducted. They were kept alive until their children were born, then killed, and their infants were adopted and raised by the people who killed them. Because of this exhibit, several of those babies (now grown) have reconnected with their families of origin.
About 10 years ago I arrived at the stage in my life where I began to wonder if it's possible for humans to ever learn anything from the lessons that history tries to teach us, over and over again.
"Those who cannot remember history are doomed to repeat it," they say. And yet it seems to me that most times knowledge doesn't make much difference. People just keep doing the same stupid stuff, over and over again.
Still, "The Disappeared" is worth seeing. Since it opened at NDMOA in 2005, it's traveled to New York City, Washington D.C. and other locations in the U.S. and South America. After Sunday it will come down and its works will be dispersed. Whatever you take away from "The Disappeared," you won't leave empty.
For more info, go to www.ndmoa.com/.
Tobin is arts & entertainment reporter for the Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks N.D.
Posted by: tobin on 1/16/2010 at 4:02 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Why Grand Forks needs a new bookstore now
By Paulette Tobin
I think Grand Forks is a great little city especially in the area of the arts. We have a first-rate museum and symphony, an impressive community theater, some excellent entertainment venues for big and small shows, places to dance and sing karaoke, an active city band, and hundreds of talented artists, singers, actors and musicians.
So -- to paraphrase the swabbies in "South Pacific" -- what ain't we got? A big, expansive, full-service bookstore, that's what.
The last time Grand Forks had the bookstore discussion was a couple of months ago when it looked as though Columbia Mall was about to lose its B Dalton. (Waldenbooks had already announced it was closing.) Although most of the B Dalton stores nationwide apparently have closed, ours remains open, at least for now. There's still a sign up behind the register that says the store is going to close.
I went to B Dalton Wednesday for the new Robert Crais book, "The First Rule." (I love Robert Crais, his detective Elvis Cole and Elvis' strong and silent sidekick Joe Pike. If you've never read any Crais, I strongly recommend you start at the beginning with "The Monkey's Raincoat.") They didn't have it, even though "The First Rule" had been released Tuesday. Something about different ordering policies they were still trying to get straight since most of their stores had closed.
This is not good, as B Dalton and the UND Bookstore are the last two bookstores left in town. And, please, do not write to me and tell me you don't care because you can buy all your books at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is NOT -- I repeat NOT -- a bookstore. It is a mega-stuff store that happens to sell a few books.
Oh, for a bookstore in Grand Forks that stays open until midnight.
That has hundreds of books and magazines in all genres and for young and old alike.
That has a music and DVD store.
That hosts book groups for adults and teens and story time for kids.
That has a coffee house and/or cafe, and tables and chairs where you can sit and peruse what you have purchased or are thinking about purchasing.
That hosts entertainment, like the local high school musical kids performing some songs from their upcoming show, or a talented local guitarist, or the local polkameister playing his accordion.
Where authors come to sign books and read their stuff and talk about writing.
Because, face it, if a bookstore doesn't have the new releases when they are new, or if it's barely open nights and weekends (and half of what it sells is textbooks and Fighting Sioux sweatshirts), it's really not meeting my book-seeking needs. Rather than go there and be disappointed, it's cheaper and more convenient for me to order books from Amazon.com, where I know they will have what I want and ship it right to my door.
But -- people like me, who love books, really look forward to the bookstore experience. I hardly ever go to Fargo without stopping at Barnes & Noble. And when I get there, it's not unusual for me to spend $100. Would I rather spend my time and money in Grand Forks? Yes. And as much as possible, I do. I just talked to B Dalton, "Rule" is in now, and I'm going to pick up my copy.
Still, a book-obsessed girl can dream, right?
Tobin is arts & entertainment reporter at the Grand Forks Herald, Grand Forks N.D.
Posted by: tobin on 1/15/2010 at 6:29 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink
