Bill Cosby dead? No. Bill Cosby is alive and performing

Bill Cosby dead? Like Johnny Depp, Kayne West, and a host of other celebrities, Bill Cosby is the newest victim of an Internet hoax. Bill Cosby dead? No.

Bill Cosby's last tweet on Twitter was February 2nd. He tweeted:

Did you know I have an iTunes play list? Well I do! - http://bit.ly/d3fS0d
2:08 PM Feb 2nd from Power Twitter
Retweeted by you and 42 others

From all accounts, Bill Cosby is alive and scheduled to perform at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Stamford, CT March 13th. The announcement reads:

Few entertainers have achieved the legendary status of BILL COSBY and on March 13, he’s coming to Hartford. From his groundbreaking NBC sitcom, The Cosby Show, to his sidesplitting stand-up routines, Mr. Cosby has more than proven to be one of the most influential stars of our time. Bill Cosby is sponsored by Aetna and produced by Ed Atamian Presents.

Tickets for BILL COSBY are on sale now and can be purchased by visiting The Bushnell Box Office at 166 Capitol Avenue in Hartford or by calling (860) 987-5900. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.bushnell.org. Tickets prices start at $49.50. Ticket prices do not include all applicable fees.

Bill Cosby's then visiting Casper, Wyoming for more performances on April 18th.

Anne Hathaway sexy photos channel Heidi Baron in Penthouse

Anne Hathaway, who last week was the toast of Harvard, is now hot again because of her sexy photos that heat up the Internet. It's a goof thing because her nerdy side was starting to hamper her pop-culture image. Anne Hathaway is a nerd. Who else would have this take on kissing:

"You have to leave your mouth open a little bit. Open up. More, more, ever so lightly…Otherwise you're going to be getting smoothy. Now, slow it down...just a little bit."

Whatever happened to just doing it?

Just as Bill Cosby is not dead, Anne Hathaway can steam up the internet. Hathaway's frankly had a bit of a nerdy, goody-two-shoes image that was in need of a makeover to give it some bite. GQ to the rescue in this March 2010 sexy photo shoot that isn't quite Heidi Baron level in exposure but does the trick.

In this way Anne Hathaway's channeling her inner Heidi Baron.

Stay tuned.

Urban Dictionary Week on Facebook users changing their images

Urban Dictionary Week on Facebook. Urban Dictionary is taking the Internet World by storm. Already the breakout buzz word on Yahoo Buzz, Urban Dictionary is the website where you can find out the "street" meaning of words and names. It has over 4 million words.

But apparently it's also used to give to terms and meaning to words, or make up new ones like "Street Creep":

1. A new perjorative term for Wall Street executives who raked in huge bonuses while plunging the world into economic chaos.

2. A financial advisor who sells Wall Street products on commission.

Or "The time":

Giving the time to someone means having sexual intercourse with that person.
Salinger uses this phrase quite often in his novel, The Catcher in the Rye.

"I don't think he gave that girl the time that night-but damn near."

Check out Urban Dictionary.

Super Bowl in Miami means parties and the art of party-crashing

Miami, South Beach - The 44th Super Bowl is just two days away, but Miami is buzzing with parties. Some parties have had the name of someone like P Diddy on it. So people come to the event expecting to see him and he doesn't show up.

Frankly, I've attended about 24 Super Bowl parties in my time, so I know the formula: free drinks, free food, celebrities, all in a large space with dancing optional but preferred.

There are an estimated 150 Super Bowl parties held during Super Bowl week, but the "go to" events are on Friday and Saturday Night.

The list (this is not a list, just a discussion) is paced by the NFL Commissioner's Party, or what is called the NFL Friday Night Party. It's at the Greater Fort Lauderdale Broward County Convention Center, and is underway as I write this.

The NFL Commissioner's Party is a huge affair with several tons of food, celebrities, and generally "human art events". The main reason to go - if you can and I've been to one of these - is to see the people and sample the monstrous selection of food. If you have a ticket to that, cool, but leave early and head to the ESPN Party.

The ESPN Super Bowl Party is at The Fountainbleau Resort on Miami Beach. The ESPN Party layout brings celebrity athletes with patrons and a lot of cocktails in an interactive setting. An ESPN Party is nothing without video games, and they're all over the place. It starts at 9, but really gets going at 10 PM. I don't have a ticket, but the last time I did and still crashed the party.

How?

The guy never looked at my ticket! He just let me in. That's the art of party-crashing: acting like you belong there and walking in. It also helps to know someone or be willing to drop cash. Not saying I've ever done it, but I've seen it happen.

I had this wry idea of making a video of how to crash or not crash a Super Bowl Party. I still may do it just for grins. If so, you saw the idea first, here.

Of course, it's raining now. Hmm...

Stay tuned

Taylor Swift Grammy Controversy: Kelly Clarkson v. Scott Borchetta

The "Taylor Swift Grammy Controversy" is one for the books, but given Taylor Swift's wild success, she was bound to be attacked for something small. In this case, the small something is her off-key singing performance with Stevie Knicks at the Grammy Awards Sunday night as well as why Stevie Knicks would "stoop so low" as to work with Taylor Swift.

It kicked off a reader-sparked comment controversy on MTV.com, and took off from there.

The controversy has gotten so deep, Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta, who's label features Taylor Swift, jumped in, saying "This is not 'American Idol.' ... This is about a true artist and writer and communicator. It's not about that technically perfect performance."

Well, that got American Idol Star Kelly Clarkson really pissed off. On her blog, Clarkson writes:

Wow .....Dear Scott Borchetta,

I understand defending your artist obviously because I have done the same in the past for artists I like, including Taylor, so you might see why it's upsetting to read you attacking American Idol for producing simply vocalists that hit 'the high notes'. Thank you for that 'Captain Obvious' sense of humor because you know what, we not only hit the high notes, you forgot to mention we generally hit the 'right' notes as well. Every artist has a bad performance or two and that is understandable, but throwing blame will not make the situation at hand any better. I have been criticized left and right for having shaky performances before (and they were shaky) and what my manager or label executives say to me and the public is "I'll kick butt next time" or "every performance isn't going to be perfect" ......I bring this up because you should take a lesson from these people and instead of lashing out at other artists (that in your 'humble' opinion lack true artistry), you should simply take a breath and realize that sometimes things won't go according to plan or work out and that's okay.

Sincerely,
One of those contestants from American Idol who only made it because of her high notes ;)

Here's the performance that's caused so much chatter:



But what's really off are the priorities of those who complain about Taylor Swift's singing. Where were they when she did this:



Well? Well?

Geez.

Taylor Swift's a great talent who had an off night. Give her a break.

Super Bowl XLIV update: On Michael Irvin and Miami's South Beach

South Beach, Miami, FLA - Super Bowl XLIV in Miami is really the story of what's happening on South Beach. Right now, it's not yet this blogger who's totally exhausted. Still, the sound of music and people call, and the desire to be among them is strong. Which will happen later - a trip to the beach and the NFL Network area where Michael Irvin hangs - after this Super Bowl XLIVL update is done.

This blogger arrived at the Miami airport and was met by my good friend Steven Schnitzer, who with his brother Ray owns the nationally-known 11th Street Diner on 11th and Washington in South Beach (1065 Washington Avenue Miami Beach, FL), where Rosie O'Donnell is one of his favorite customers.



From the airport, we wound up going to the Home Depot, where I met a couple of women who talked about producing Saturday's Celebrity Beach Volleyball event at South Beach, then going to get stone crab, and finally home to freshen up.



On the matter of Michael Irvin, that's awful news that he's the focus of a civil lawsuit claiming a rape of a woman that allegedly happened in 2007; but now it's 2010. Moreover, the Broward State Attorney's office has reportedly been investigating a case that's without physical evidence: no photos, bruises, or video. Not surprisingly, no charges have been filed.

While it's too early to tell if Michael Irvin's situation is indeed a false rape claim, they are unfortunately quite common and take years for the person accused to overcome. But the question is, did Michael Irvin even know the woman? According to the LA Times, the answer isn't "no" but that nothing ever happened between them, "there was no encounter".

Famous and wealthy people have to be careful who they come into contact with; Super Bowl week is a great example. Miami's South Beach is known for its parties, but all of the lovely women here aren't just in town for the scenery and the game. Some are here just to meet a guy with money, or who they think have cash.

The untold Super Bowl story is of women who come to Super Bowls as the guests of married, or to meet married men, who often live in different parts of the country. The reason I know this, is I met one such woman at a party at the Super Bowl in Arizona. She's what I would call a "player's groupie" who goes to training camps with friends - one of them being her married boyfriend.

Now, before you get the wrong idea, this woman's a professional executive who makes a decent living for herself. She's not involved in the sex business.

But she seeks out players or former players to get to know, and they're just as willing. If this reads like a "Tiger Woods situation" you're getting the picture. It's not the best activity to take on, but some people just don't think about that when they're doing it. Then, when it all heads South, it can end in terrible ways, like robbery, extortion, or rape.

Now, how I know that detail is because she told me. Straight out, full and clear coughed up the story over dinner on the Monday after the Giants v. Patriots Super Bowl game in Glendale, AZ. Did she think I was a football player? No, and I gave her no reason to think so. Did we have relations? No. Friends? Yes. But some women see you at events like this, and figure you're into something interesting, else you wouldn't be at an exclusive Super Bowl party.

If you're a single guy, this is a great place to be, but even it's more fun to bring your girlfriend. At least you know what you're getting into. What's great about this is networking with business people and celebrities. If you can keep the Super Bowl experience at that level, you'll love it. If you've got to get laid, make sure it's someone you know and your friends know, too.

Why do gun-rights advocates trust the GOP?

That was one of the big deals during the campaign, and it continues to echo through the Teabaggers sites, and on the signs at Tea Party rallies. You'd think the Democrats had "abolish the 2nd amendment" as a platform to hear the NRA and their lobbyists talk.

It's true, the President has some concerns he's been up-front with relating to assault weapons - the sort of rifle that has no place in the sport of hunting.

But when was the last time the government actually took away people's weapons in any sort of mass sweep of the citizenry, such as Obama's opponents seem to fear he'll do?

Oh, right, it was back in 2005. September of 2005, according to ABC news; it was under a Republican administration, of course, so it didn't provoke the outcry it might have.

"Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job!"
After all, former President George Bush is nominally a Texan, and if a Texan says you should give up your guns, that's different - right?

I mean, after all, Bush's Vice President was even a hunter - right?

It makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, journalist, and political analyst who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community.

Super Bowl XLIVL: Zennie in Miami for Leigh Steinberg Party

Miami is hot. Miami is also the city host of Super Bowl XLIVL. That means parties, people, food, and fun, and my second time here. I'm here for The Leigh Steinberg Party Super Bowl Party more than for the Saints and Colts battle. My game plan, if you will, is to fly to Atlanta Sunday to watch the Super Bowl with my Mother. Miami's stadium is, OK, but this is my seventh Super Bowl and I'm not a fan of that facility. Plus, this trip is virtually free for me.

Super Bowls should be played in dome stadiums, under the lights; not outdoors. The last time I was here in 2007, the stadium was hard to get to, it rained like you've never seen before, and I got waterlogged and saw the game from a stadium TV.

But that written, everyone should experience the Super Bowl at least once.  The giant pulse of human energy that's emitted at kickoff is a drug worth the price of admission, and doesn't come through on television.  But I've felt it six times.

As this is being blogged, I'm siting at Miami International Airport's "J" Terminal, totally exhausted having traveled all night long to get here. My flight was crawling with Colts fans. Two flights, three cities - San Francisco, Washington, and Miami - and not enough sleep. I'm wiped.

The Super Bowl is an almost annual pilgrimage for me that started with my work to bring the 2005 Super Bowl to Oakland between 1999 and 2001. Seeing - and this is an unfortunate truth - how terrible the City of Oakland treated me as I was working to form the bid, NFL execs I will not name said "If there's anything we can do to help you build your business, we will." That's how the Super Bowl trips and the annual NFL Draft press pool came about.

Ok, an aside: What did Oakland do? Well, everything from then-Mayor Jerry Brown and City Manager Robert Bobb calling the NFL (or having others do so) with questions I'd already given them answers to; or refusing to cooperate with me in preparation for our Super Bowl Bid presentation to the NFL Owners; having meetings behind my back with Oakland business representatives who should have been on our sports commission; Oakland economic development heads who were so angry that I was working on the Super Bowl that they 1) would not cooperate, and 2) worked to deliberately harm my work in some way, either by inaction, lies, or character assassination.

This was the case from Brown, to Oakland Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente, and a number of people I could name. When I left Oakland, I silently vowed I'd succeed in a way they'd never forget. I've done that.

The NFL was, and has been, a better friend to me than the City of Oakland. Regardless of what's said and whatever idiot chimes in with some lie, the bottom line is Oakland will stumble all over itself to prevent anyone from succeeding at something large scale that calls for the City's involvement. Why this is, I don't know, but I see it all the time. Oakland can't seem to work together to achieve much.

That's why, even with three sports teams, there's no one major sports event that Oakland has consistently hosted or formed a bid for more than once. That's the culture of Oakland. In Jerry Brown's case, some observers in the media would say "Well, he's an intellectual, so he's not interested in sports", which is about the dumbest comment I've ever heard of. First, he's the Mayor, or was. Second, a Mayor's job is to serve the people, not his own tastes. Third, sports is an export industry that generates job in Oakland.

I pray the Oakland Marathon is the start of the end of that problem of Oakland's working against itself. I think it may be.

But all that's in the past. Now, I'm in Miami and looking forward to seeing my friends and attending Leigh Steinberg's great party. Leigh has been a friend since 1998, when he came to help me with Oakland Athletics issues while I was Elihu Harris' economic advisor.

This is my seventh Leigh Steinberg Super Bowl Party. I've met all kinds of people, from Jacksonville Jaguar Head Coach Jack Del Rio, to Steven Baldwin, Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones, Bay Area Sports Writer Art Spander, former Oakland Raiders Exec (now Washington Redskins GM) Bruce Allen, then-Tampa Bay Bucs Head Coach Jon Gruden and his wife Cindy, ;and a group of people that are still my friends to this day - some of them who helped me on the Super Bowl: Oakland work, and all from the private sector.

For me the Super Bowl is a celebration of people who like to make things happen.  That's why I'm here.  For me, it's more than the game, but that written, Go Colts!

Stay tuned.

Brittany Murphy's death called an accident

The case of Brittany Murphy's death is now officially closed for now, after the L.A. County Coroner called it an accident. According to TMZ.com Brittany Murphy's death was caused by "community acquired pneumonia," iron deficiency anemia, and multiple drug intoxication.

But Brittany Murphy's death could have been prevented if she were taken to the hospital in time. Murphy was found in the bathroom of her home by her Mother. She had "multiple drugs" in her system, not illegal, and all either doctor-assigned or over-the-counter. Still, it was the pneumonia and iron deficiency anemia that worked to engineer Brittany Murphy's death, December 20th, 2009.

Artie Lange doing better says Rosie O'Donnell

Artie Lange, the famous sidekick on The Howard Stern Show doing better says Rosie O'Donnell. A guest on Late Night with Craig Ferguson, last week, Rosie O'Donnell said "He's doing better. He's got a lot of trouble with addiction and depression in his life, and his dad when he was young and he tried to take his own life, and it really really was so painful to everyone who loved him including Howard (Stern)."



Artie Lange tried to commit suicide in January, although the news of his attempt wasn't immediately reported until the New York Times Page 6 article surfaced. Artie Lange's friends and co-workers have expressed love and support for Lange and he's welcome back on The Howard Stern Show.

Toyota Prius recall has Toyota in big legal trouble

The Toyota Prius recall has Toyota in big legal trouble. It was announced today that the U.S. Department of Transportation is now looking into the braking problems surrounding the Toyota Prius recall issue as the problem of "uneven breaking" is now reported Worldwide.

Now, reports of Prius problems are surfacing in Australia. The Toyota brand, once associated with safety, quality, and reliability, has taken a massive beating.



Before the Prius braking problem, Toyota was already the focus of a massive recall effort. Toyota recalled the RAV4, Corolla and Matrix 2009-2010, Sequoia 2008-2010, Tundra 2007-2010, Avalon 2005-2010, and 2010 Highlander, and stopped sales of those cars.

Toyota has issued the following statement:

"Helping ensure the safety of our customers and restoring confidence in Toyota are very important to our company. This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized. We’re making every effort to address this situation for our customers as quickly as possible."

Now the Prius, its new flagship, is being recalled. Before that, over 2 million Toyota cars were impacted. Now the number is much higher.

Stay tuned.

Scott Brown can wait his turn; Scott Brown supports can wait too

Massachusetts Senator-Elect Scott Brown is scheduled to be officially sworn in February 11th and after a long process that includes overseas vote counting and Governor and Secretary of State Certification, that date is set for February 11th.

Even with this, there's the irresponsible idea that all of the official procedures should be skipped over and Scott Brown should be seated today. The Scott Brown backers are still a bit too drunk with the cocktail of special-election victory over Democratic challenger, Mass Attorney General Martha Coackley and need a major dose of reality: Brown is a U.S. Senator that is now bound by traditional legal procedure; Brown didn't just win a city council seat. It's bigger than that.

That then is the problem. The emergence of "activism creep" and Couch Potato Conservatism has battled against intelligent thinking and statesperson discourse. With organizations like Fox News and at times CNN helping, and add to that Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin, that dangerous and rouge fringe point of view has a voice much louder than it should be.

Still, such intellectually vapid voices are dampened by procedure. Scott Brown's title is Senator-Elect, and it's clear he and his office understand their new role in Washington. It's just too bad his supporters can't do the same.

Stay tuned.

Hayward and Calpine will get first plant with Greenhouse Gas limit

Hayward, California and Calpine will have the first the plant with a Greenhouse Gas limit, ending years of talks, battles, and controversy. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District approved a "Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit" which is the final federal regulatory approval needed for the Calpine energy plant to be built.

"Once again California is demonstrating leadership on greenhouse gas related issues. We applaud the BAAQMD and Calpine for going beyond existing federal law and being the first in the nation to require an enforceable greenhouse gas limit," said Linda Adams, California State Secretary for Environmental Protection. "This action furthers efforts at a statewide level to balance our economic needs while meeting our environmental challenges. Aggressive and early action like this is needed to fight global warming and is critical to our economic recovery."

Hayward, California will get a new energy plant that will result in 650 union construction jobs, a number of part-time and permanent jobs, and an estimated $30 million in one-time tax revenue and $5 million annually in property tax revenue.

This is a project I've long advocated for because we have never seen a plant that was created from the start with a Federal Greenhouse Gas Limit. The Calpine Russell City Energy Center will be a supplier of energy and jobs to the San Francisco Bay Area.

The approval ends a process that saw the California Energy Commission grant a license for the plant in September 2007, California Public Utilities Commission approval of a 10-year power purchase agreement in April 2009 under which PG&E will purchase the electricity generated by the plant, and a major public hearing on the plan on September 2, 2009:



But what's more, the natural gas powered plant will reportedly use 100 percent reclaimed water from the City of Hayward’s Water Pollution Control Facility for cooling and boiler makeup. The process conserves water and prevents nearly four million gallons of wastewater per day from being dumped into San Francisco Bay.

It's also a process that was first used on a major scale at Walt Disney World in Florida, when its power plant systems were built.

Calpine reports that Russell City Energy Center also will donate $10 million to help build a new library for Hayward.

Stay tuned.

Draeger Construction Set to Help Haiti

Draeger Construction is going on a big push to let everyone know it's involved in Haiti.  The earthquake damaged country has a problem in that many of its buildings were far less than quake safe.  

Now, faced with what could be the largest private construction project in the World, Haiti needs to remake its country.  That's where Draeger Construction comes in.  

Draeger Construction is a San Francisco Bay Area builder.  The SF Bay Area is one of the World's most active quake zones.   What Draeger Construction will do, with the introduction of something called "The Freedom Builders Initiative" is announce their interest in rebuilding Haiti where they've already been involved for years.

More on Draeger Construction's new Haiti "FBI" effort soon.

Posted by Cat of SomeRedCat.tumblr.com

ESPN robs Cal Football on National Signing Day with sloppy work

According to Rivals.com, The University of California had the 11th best recruiting class in America on National Signing Day, but to read ESPN, you'd think Cal did totally nothing.

There's no mention of the switch Keenan Allen, the nation's best defensive back, made from Alabama to Cal. But what's weird about ESPN's post rankinga by Tom Luginbill is that he states "One way to climb in the ranking is to surprisingly land an impact player."

Keenan Allen is just that, which makes ESPN's work on National Signing Day questionable at best. Or maybe Rivals.com just does a better job of giving justifiable data on players signed by colleges.

And they don't make mistakes. Keenan Allen's ranked as the best DB in the USA but ESPN reports Cal did not sign a five-star player. Keenan Allen is just that.

This is an outrage. Rankings on signing day are the way America knows how well college football programs are doing. They help command alumni donor dollars and sell season tickets. What ESPN did was borderline criminal. I wonder if ESPN's Tom Luginbill is punishing Allen and Cal because Allen snubbed Alabama? And if that's the case, why does Luginbill care?

Keenan Allen is a five-star player. Scout.com and Rivals.com say so; ESPN has no reason to go against them and others and should explain its answers. ESPN has the bigger broadcasting reach so it should handle National Signing Day more responsibly.

This must be explained.

Stay tuned.

Demar Dorsey, snubs Florida State for Michigan on signing day

Star high school players Demar Dorsey and Christian Green go to Michigan and to Florida State on National Signing Day, pushing Florida State to the rank of best recruiting class in the country while being snubbed at the same time.

Coming off a season which saw the loss of legendary Head Coach Bobby Bowden to retirement, Florida State came back strong with Demar Dorsey and Christian Green, but then Dorsey switched today. Demar Dorsey is a Miami Boyd Anderson star defensive back who decided he was more comfortable away from home. But I think there's something more to this unprecedented wave of big school snubs that I will explore later.

Christian Green was penciled in at Georgia, but then dropped the Dawgs for Florida State. And Georgia feels like it's being picked clean: Da'Rick Rogers dumped them for Tennessee and DB Nickell Robey was reportedly headed to USC.

More on this crazy National Signing Day. Stay tuned.

Cal's Tosh Lupoi credited with getting Keenan Allen to Cal from Alabama

Ask how the University of California managed to get the nation's best defensive back Keenan Allen to commit to Cal, when as recently as at the Shrine Game Allen was all set to go to Alabama, and ESPN will point to Tosh Lupoi.

Tosh Lupoi (BearInsider photo)

Lupoi's Cal's second year defensive coach and 2005 Cal graduate, is considered an ace recruiter and has the numbers to prove it. Lupoi's landed six commitments, two of them, including Allen, are five-star players. (The other was defensive end Chris Martin in 2009 who put down Notre Dame for Cal.).

In addition to Allen, Lupoi basically mined the state of North Carolina. Cal landed QB Zach Maynard, Keenan Allen , and Linebacker Chris McCain. All from Greensboro, NC.

As I write this, Coach Tedford's holding his press conference, which you can view live here:

National Signing Day: Cal Football gets Keenan Allen, best defensive back in USA.

Not to be outdone by its San Francisco Bay Area NCAA college football rivals The Stanford Cardinal, the University of California has formed what Rivals.com calls the 11th best recruiting class in America and got the best defensive back in the country.

The star of the class is Keenan Allen, a 6-3 195 lbs defensive back from Greensboro, NC. He' considered the best defensive back in America by Rivals.com and is the fifth best player in the country. Allen runs a 4.56 40 and is described as a tall, rangy athlete with the moves of a jungle cat.

Keenan Allen dropped the Alabama Crimson Tide to sign with Cal. Here' a video on Allen:



More soon on Allen's jump from Alabama to Cal.

National Signing Day 2010: Stanford lands 4th best QB in Nottingham

National Signing Day 2010: the Stanford Cardinal lands the 4th best high school QB in America in Brett Nottingham. In doing so, The Cardinal is in the same conversation as BYU, Alabama, and Texas, all of which secured the top three quarterbacks in the U.S.A according to Rivals.com.

Brett Nottingham

Fresh off a 2009 season that saw the Cardinal go to its first bowl game since 2001 and present a Heisman Trophy runner-up in Running Back Toby Gerhart, Stanford is poised to have its best recruiting class in years.

Brett Nottingham is 6-4, 210 lbs and is a local-to-Stanford San Francisco Bay Area product from Monte Vista High School in Danville, CA. Barry Every of Rivals.com compares him to Tim Tebow in size and build. (Let's hope he doesn't cry after big bowl losses!)

Here's a video view of Stanford's newest QB:



Stay tuned.

Will Comcast fire NBC's Jeff Zucker? Ad execs hope so

The word on the street, according to Nikke Finke, is that Comcast will fire NBC NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker "within minutes" of Federal approval of the Comcast takeover of NBC.

That news could not come sooner for advertising executives, who are still really in a snit over Zucker's decision to green-light the failed Jay Leno Show, and the awful way Zucker handled Leno and Conan O'Brien.

On AdAge, the ad industry news publication, negative articles about Zucker are common, the most recent one calling for President Barack Obama to fire Jeff Zucker. And this article has bite:

...the man who engineered this fiasco and the general demise of NBC, Jeff Zucker (president and CEO of NBC Universal), still, bizarrely, has his job. In fact, he doesn't even really seem to fully grasp that he's at fault. When the New York Times, in a page-one, above-the-fold story, declared that "the network is in shambles" and that its "overall finances are crumbling" (from $1 billion in profit less than a decade ago, to a projected $100 million loss this year), Zucker offered the paper this defense: "We live in a society today that loves a soap opera. Three months ago it was David Letterman. Six weeks ago it was Tiger Wood's problems. Today it's NBC's problems."
Um, sure, Jeff. Tell yourself that. All of us who think you're blindingly incompetent, and have been for years, are just serial bitches and bullies who pick our targets for sport. It's merely NBC's turn, is all; this, too, will pass. Suuuure.

Ad execs blame Jeff Zucker for what they refer to as the "destruction of NBC" and most important what they see as the terrible Jay Leno Show. When it was announced that NBC would move Leno back to his old place, AdAge reported that anyone would be better than Jay Leno at 10 PM.

Ouch.

And MediaLife doesn't pull any punishes either. In a blog post that is a view of NBC from an ad buyer's perspective, Louisa Ada Seltzer writes:

The pain NBC has suffered through its mismanagement of the entire mess will remain a scar on the brand, and in the end it's really accomplished nothing in the way of fixing its primetime problem by moving Leno from the 10 p.m. timeslot, where his weeknight strip had done so poorly.

The post is followed by an unflattering survey and quotes of media buyers telling Zucker to resign or calling him an idiot, and all for his bungling of the Jay Leno Show.

But in fairness, all of this is happening in the storm of a terrible, and just recovering, economy which has been weak for two years. Zucker's actions would have been judged critically in a good economy, but in a bad one, they look like career suicide.

Stay tuned.

Oscar Nominations: Hitler's pissed off about Star Trek

Oscar Nominations: Hitler's pissed off about Star Trek.

Star Trek, Director J.J. Abrams widely acclaimed "reboot" of the popular television and movie science fiction series, was widely expected to be one of ten Oscar "Best Picture" nominees. Instead it was snubbed for the competition, causing a loud, Worldwide outcry from Star Trek fans. The movie was marketed as "Best Picture Material."

Still, it didn't win. Avatar, Hurt Locker, District 9, and the surprise entry, The Blind Side, were named to compete for Oscar, Best Picture.

What happened and why Star Trek didn't get a nominations is anyone's best guess. But one thing is clear: Hitler's not happy. Just as he was unhappy about a number of life's happenings, lets just say he was more than a little worked up about Star Trek's miscue:



Stay tuned.

2010 Academy Award Nominations - Oscars Social Networking Grade = D

In evaluating the 2010 Academy Award Nominations announcements from a New Media perspective, Oscar gets a social networking grade of "D". The criteria is based on reach, Twitter top tag entries, and search trend impact.

Considering the collective movie audience and television and marketing exposure, the 2010 Academy Award Nominations Announcement Event should be the top news of the day, dominating Google Trends, Twitter top hashtags, live stream views, and with all of that, total reach. Instead, Oscar's outdone by "Punxsutawney Phil 2010" or "Groundhogs Day".

That today, February 2nd 2010, is "Groundhogs Day" is no excuse for Oscar to be punked by a couple of groundhogs, but that's what's happening.

The seeds of this problem are various, starting with the fact the Oscar telecast is on one station, ABC early in the morning. If you missed ABC's telecast, or weren't forced to look at the Oscar Nominations by it being on, say, ABC, NBC, and CBS, you didn't know what happened until an hour or so after the event was done.

If three networks had the Oscar telecast, the resulting search activity, and thus the trend metric, would have been greater. But even with that, Oscar's New Media platform was too small to carry the search trend, and still is. Why?

The Oscars are not on Twitter.

That's right. A simple visit to The Oscars website shows what The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences thinks about New Media. It's stuffed down in the lower right corner, where it reads "Connect with the Academy" and has a link to its RSS feed, Facebook page, and YouTube account.

That's it.

Heck, I'm all over the place - Oscar should be too. AMPAS does a massive disservice to its members and sponsors with this awful online production. A well-done Twitter account could gain as much as 1 million followers and cause a total hashtag domination, pushing Phil the Groundhog to second place or no place. But if Oscar's not on Twitter, it's at the mercy of other organizations to push its message and some of those, like Sony, don't have enough Twitter followers themselves.

At just over 7,000 followers as of this writing, Sony has less than this blogger on Twitter. So, it can't really carry its message in such a way as to impact a hashtag list in seconds, and it can't do it for AMPAS' to as wide an audience as is needed to create a lasting buzz that carries for days.

And when Oscar does have a New Media platform to use, it does not have the right strategy. The live stream was such that the chat was on Facebook, so your updates became the chat. Great. Now, my friends are wondering how much coffee I had to produce a pinwheeling set of updates. But beyond that, the live stream had only 15,000 viewers at best.

What Oscar should have done is worked with YouTube on the live event. That would have gained hundreds of thousands of viewers and netted a high search trend impact. Didn't happen.

On YouTube, Oscar's presentation is much better, but again, it has just 29,000 subscribers, when it should have several hundred thousand.  The problem is AMPAS doesn't upload enough videos considering the material it has, and it prevents video from being embed on websites.  Frankly, that's really a bad decision.

There's not a good, metric-based reason for AMPAS decision to basically prevent its own brand from being presented across the web.  None, not one.

Did you see the Steve and Alec video?  Only 908 people did as of this writing.  If it were embedable, that number would be in the thousands.  It would gain more video views that Oscar could then convert into YouTube Partner revenue.

To close what could have been a book, Oscar's dropped the ball on the one event that can and should serve as a catapult to high ratings on Oscar night.  The problem is AMPAS does not take New Media seriously and may very well be the reason why I didn't get the press credential AMPAS sent for me to fill out.

Beyond me, AMPAS needs to fix its New Media problem for 2011.   It's harming Academy members and sponsors and will continue to do so unless it turns this around ASAP.

Stay tuned.

 

2010 Academy Award Nominations List - Avatar, Hurt Locker for Best Picture

The 2010 Academy Award Nominations are out.

AMPAS, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has just released the full Oscar nominations list for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. The list was released just after the Oscar Nominations Awards Ceremony held this morning. This year, the Oscar Nominations include 10 movies in the Best Picture Category.

There are some surprises for Best Picture, where the nominees are: Avatar, The Blind Side, An Education,The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air.

But the Best Picure race is really between Avatar and The Hurt Locker, which have 9 nominations each, and directors, James Cameron and Katheryn Bigelow, who were once husband and wife.

Here's the full list of Oscar Nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards:

Performance by an actor in a leading role


Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight)
George Clooney in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Colin Firth in "A Single Man" (The Weinstein Company)
Morgan Freeman in "Invictus" (Warner Bros.)
Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Matt Damon in "Invictus" (Warner Bros.)
Woody Harrelson in "The Messenger" (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Christopher Plummer in "The Last Station" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Stanley Tucci in "The Lovely Bones" (DreamWorks in association with Film4, Distributed by Paramount)
Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side" (Warner Bros.)
Helen Mirren in "The Last Station" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Carey Mulligan in "An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)
Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia" (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Penélope Cruz in "Nine" (The Weinstein Company)
Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight)
Anna Kendrick in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Mo’Nique in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)


Best animated feature film of the year

"Coraline" (Focus Features), Henry Selick
"Fantastic Mr. Fox" (20th Century Fox), Wes Anderson
"The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney), John Musker and Ron Clements
"The Secret of Kells" (GKIDS), Tomm Moore
"Up" (Walt Disney), Pete Docter


Achievement in art direction

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg, Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (Sony Pictures Classics), Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro, Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
"Nine" (The Weinstein Company), Art Direction: John Myhre, Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
"Sherlock Holmes" (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood, Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
"The Young Victoria" (Apparition), Art Direction: Patrice Vermette, Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Achievement in cinematography

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Mauro Fiore
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (Warner Bros.), Bruno Delbonnel
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Barry Ackroyd
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Robert Richardson
"The White Ribbon" (Sony Pictures Classics), Christian Berger

Achievement in costume design

"Bright Star" (Apparition), Janet Patterson
"Coco before Chanel" (Sony Pictures Classics), Catherine Leterrier
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (Sony Pictures Classics), Monique Prudhomme
"Nine" (The Weinstein Company), Colleen Atwood
"The Young Victoria" (Apparition), Sandy Powell

Achievement in directing

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), James Cameron
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Kathryn Bigelow
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Quentin Tarantino
"Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire" (Lionsgate), Lee Daniels
"Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios), Jason Reitman

Best documentary feature

“Burma VJ” (Oscilloscope Laboratories), A Magic Hour Films Production, Anders østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
“The Cove” (Roadside Attractions), An Oceanic Preservation Society Production, Nominees to be determined
“Food, Inc.” (Magnolia Pictures), A Robert Kenner Films Production, Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”, A Kovno Communications Production, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
“Which Way Home”, A Mr. Mudd Production, Rebecca Cammisa

Best documentary short subject

"China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan, Province", A Downtown Community Television Center Production, Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
"The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner", A Just Media Production, Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
"The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant", A Community Media Production, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
"Music by Prudence", An iThemba Production, Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
"Rabbit à la Berlin" (Deckert Distribution), An MS Films Production, Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Achievement in film editing

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing), Julian Clarke
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Sally Menke
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate), Joe Klotz

Best foreign language film of the year

"Ajami" (Kino International), An Inosan Production, Israel
"El Secreto de Sus Ojos" (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haddock Films Production, Argentina
"The Milk of Sorrow", A Wanda Visión/Oberon Cinematogrà/Vela Production, Peru
"Un Prophète" (Sony Pictures Classics), A Why Not/Page 114/Chic Films Production, France
"The White Ribbon" (Sony Pictures Classics), An X Filme Creative Pool/Wega Film/Les Films du Losange/Lucky Red Production, Germany

Achievement in makeup


"Il Divo" (MPI Media Group through Music Box), Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
"The Young Victoria" (Apparition), Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), James Horner
"Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox), Alexandre Desplat
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
“Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Bros.), Hans Zimmer
"Up" (Walt Disney), Michael Giacchino


Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)


"Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36" (Sony Pictures Classics), Music by Reinhardt Wagner, Lyric by Frank Thomas
"Take It All" from "Nine" (The Weinstein Company), Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best motion picture of the year

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), A Lightstorm Entertainment Production, James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
"The Blind Side" (Warner Bros.), An Alcon Entertainment Production, Nominees to be determined
"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing), A Block/Hanson Production, Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
"An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics), A Finola Dwyer/Wildgaze Films Production, Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), A Voltage Pictures Production, Nominees to be determined
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), A Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures/A Band Apart/Zehnte Babelsberg Production, Lawrence Bender, Producer
"Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire" (Lionsgate), A Lee Daniels Entertainment/Smokewood Entertainment Production, Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
"A Serious Man" (Focus Features), A Working Title Films Production, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
"Up" (Walt Disney), A Pixar Production, Jonas Rivera, Producer
"Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios), A Montecito Picture Company Production, Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Best animated short film

"French Roast" , A Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films Production, Fabrice O. Joubert
"Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty" (Brown Bag Films), A Brown Bag Films Production, Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
"The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)", A Kandor Graphics and Green Moon Production, Javier Recio Gracia
“Logorama” (Autour de Minuit), An Autour de Minuit Production, Nicolas Schmerkin
“A Matter of Loaf and Death” (Aardman Animations), An Aardman Animations Production, Nick Park

Best live action short film

"The Door" (Network Ireland Television), An Octagon Films Production, Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
"Instead of Abracadabra", (The Swedish Film Institute), A Directörn & Fabrikörn Production, Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
"Kavi", A Gregg Helvey Production, Gregg Helvey
"Miracle Fish", (Premium Films), A Druid Films Production, Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
"The New Tenants", A Park Pictures and M & M Production, Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Achievement in sound editing

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Wylie Stateman
"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
"Up" (Walt Disney), Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Achievement in sound mixing

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro, Distributed by Paramount), Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Achievement in visual effects

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing) , Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Adapted screenplay

"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing), Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
"An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics), Screenplay by Nick Hornby
"In the Loop" (IFC Films), Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate), Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
"Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) , Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Original screenplay

"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Written by Mark Boal
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Written by Quentin Tarantino
"The Messenger" (Oscilloscope Laboratories), Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
"A Serious Man" (Focus Features), Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Up" (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

More Oscar nominations analysis and breakdown coming today.

Oscar Best Picture Nom for District 9 gets Twitter applause

The Oscar Best Picture Nomination for District 9 got an enthusiastic Twitter applause. The science fiction movie about an alien race held captive in a Johannesburg, South Africa ghetto called District 9 was a hit during the Summer Movie Season.

Still, District 9, without a major star or the path-breaking effects of Avatar, did not take awards season by storm. But when talk about the best screenplay and story came up, District 9 was always in the conversation.

That District 9 scored an Oscar Best Picture Nomination is a by-product of a system where 10 Best Picture Nominees were selected. And while some, like Celeb Blogger Perez Hilton, think that 10 is five too many, and others were upset that Star Trek wasn't in the Best Picture group, the Twitter response was favorable and interesting. Here's a sample:

benyerks RT @mygeektime: DISTRICT 9 ...nominated for BEST PICTURE and SCREENPLAY.... WOW.... NICE!
less than 20 seconds ago from TweetDeck

ahlhelm RT @ThatKevinSmith: Ten fucking slots for Best Picture, and not a-one of 'em for JJ's STAR TREK? That list can't have TWO giant sci-fi movie's on it?

knowsurprises The Oscars are a mixed bag, but i'm glad to see some Sci-fi love for District 9 in best picture. I'm not excited about Sandra Bullock at all
half a minute ago from web

Febreze_Fresh Oscar nominations were announced this morning http://bit.ly/cLJeqP . What film do you think will win Best Picture?
half a minute ago from web

Cheyenne_Lexi @eonline avatar hopefully not best picture! Graphics maybe
half a minute ago from Mobile Web

thordiakow The Blind Side and Up on the Best Picture nom. list? No way man
half a minute ago from web

AvinashBidaia RT @ndtv: Oscar nominations: Best Picture - Destrict 9,Inglorious Basterds, Avatar, Up, Up in the Air, Blind Side| seen these and love them
half a minute ago from UberTwitter

WeFlySpitfires @Sypster If Avatar wins best picture, I will... never watch the Oscars every again. There!
half a minute ago from web

Stay tuned for more analysis and news.

2010 Oscar Nominations List: Oscar has 10 Best Picture candidates

AMPAS, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has just released the full Oscar nominations list for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. The list was released just after the Oscar Nominations Awards Ceremony held this morning. This year, the Oscar Nominations include 10 movies in the Best Picture Category.

There are some surprises for Best Picture, where the nominees are: Avatar, The Blind Side, An Education,The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air.


Here's the full list of Oscar Nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards:

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight)
George Clooney in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Colin Firth in “A Single Man” (The Weinstein Company)
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus” (Warner Bros.)
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Matt Damon in “Invictus” (Warner Bros.)
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger” (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones” (DreamWorks in association with Film4, Distributed by Paramount)
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.)
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Carey Mulligan in “An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia” (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Penélope Cruz in “Nine” (The Weinstein Company)
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight)
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)

Best animated feature film of the year

“Coraline” (Focus Features), Henry Selick
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox), Wes Anderson
“The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney), John Musker and Ron Clements
“The Secret of Kells” (GKIDS), Tomm Moore
“Up” (Walt Disney), Pete Docter

Achievement in art direction

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg, Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Sony Pictures Classics), Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro, Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
“Nine” (The Weinstein Company), Art Direction: John Myhre, Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
“Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood, Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Young Victoria” (Apparition), Art Direction: Patrice Vermette, Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Achievement in cinematography

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Mauro Fiore
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (Warner Bros.), Bruno Delbonnel
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Barry Ackroyd
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company), Robert Richardson
“The White Ribbon” (Sony Pictures Classics), Christian Berger

Achievement in costume design

“Bright Star” (Apparition), Janet Patterson
“Coco before Chanel” (Sony Pictures Classics), Catherine Leterrier
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Sony Pictures Classics), Monique Prudhomme
“Nine” (The Weinstein Company), Colleen Atwood
“The Young Victoria” (Apparition), Sandy Powell

Achievement in directing

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), James Cameron
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Kathryn Bigelow
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company), Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate), Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios), Jason Reitman

Best documentary feature

“Burma VJ” (Oscilloscope Laboratories), A Magic Hour Films Production, Anders østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
“The Cove” (Roadside Attractions), An Oceanic Preservation Society Production, Nominees to be determined
“Food, Inc.” (Magnolia Pictures), A Robert Kenner Films Production, Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”, A Kovno Communications Production, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
“Which Way Home”, A Mr. Mudd Production, Rebecca Cammisa

Best documentary short subject

“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan, Province”, A Downtown Community Television Center Production, Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner”, A Just Media Production, Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant”, A Community Media Production, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
“Music by Prudence”, An iThemba Production, Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
“Rabbit à la Berlin” (Deckert Distribution), An MS Films Production, Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Achievement in film editing

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
“District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing), Julian Clarke
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company), Sally Menke
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate), Joe Klotz

Best foreign language film of the year


“Ajami” (Kino International), An Inosan Production, Israel
“El Secreto de Sus Ojos” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haddock Films Production, Argentina
“The Milk of Sorrow”, A Wanda Visión/Oberon Cinematogrà/Vela Production, Peru
“Un Prophète” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Why Not/Page 114/Chic Films Production, France
“The White Ribbon” (Sony Pictures Classics), An X Filme Creative Pool/Wega Film/Les Films du Losange/Lucky Red Production, Germany

Achievement in makeup

“Il Divo” (MPI Media Group through Music Box), Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
“The Young Victoria” (Apparition), Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), James Horner
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox), Alexandre Desplat
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
“Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Bros.), Hans Zimmer
“Up” (Walt Disney), Michael Giacchino

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” (Sony Pictures Classics), Music by Reinhardt Wagner, Lyric by Frank Thomas
“Take It All” from “Nine” (The Weinstein Company), Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best motion picture of the year

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), A Lightstorm Entertainment Production, James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
“The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.), An Alcon Entertainment Production, Nominees to be determined
“District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing), A Block/Hanson Production, Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
“An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Finola Dwyer/Wildgaze Films Production, Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), A Voltage Pictures Production, Nominees to be determined
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company), A Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures/A Band Apart/Zehnte Babelsberg Production, Lawrence Bender, Producer
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate), A Lee Daniels Entertainment/Smokewood Entertainment Production, Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
“A Serious Man” (Focus Features), A Working Title Films Production, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
“Up” (Walt Disney), A Pixar Production, Jonas Rivera, Producer
“Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios), A Montecito Picture Company Production, Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Best animated short film

“French Roast” , A Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films Production, Fabrice O. Joubert
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” (Brown Bag Films), A Brown Bag Films Production, Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
“The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)”, A Kandor Graphics and Green Moon Production, Javier Recio Gracia
“Logorama” (Autour de Minuit), An Autour de Minuit Production, Nicolas Schmerkin
“A Matter of Loaf and Death” (Aardman Animations), An Aardman Animations Production, Nick Park

Best live action short film

“The Door” (Network Ireland Television), An Octagon Films Production, Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
“Instead of Abracadabra”, (The Swedish Film Institute), A Directörn & Fabrikörn Production, Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
“Kavi”, A Gregg Helvey Production, Gregg Helvey
“Miracle Fish”, (Premium Films), A Druid Films Production, Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
“The New Tenants”, A Park Pictures and M & M Production, Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Achievement in sound editing

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company), Wylie Stateman
“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
“Up” (Walt Disney), Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Achievement in sound mixing

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company), Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro, Distributed by Paramount), Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Achievement in visual effects

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
“District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing) , Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Adapted screenplay

“District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing), Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
“An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics), Screenplay by Nick Hornby
“In the Loop” (IFC Films), Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate), Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
“Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) , Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Original screenplay

“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Written by Mark Boal
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company), Written by Quentin Tarantino
“The Messenger” (Oscilloscope Laboratories), Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
“A Serious Man” (Focus Features), Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Up” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

More analysis and breakdown coming today.

Oscar Best Picture Noms to Avatar, Hurt Locker, not Star Trek

The Oscar Nominations just concluded and not without some surprises. The final list will be out shortly, but for Best Picture the nominees are: Avatar, The Blind Side, An Education,The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air.

That a nomination did not go to Star Trek was a shock to many on the Facebook Livestream, which indicates how the public's going to respond to the news of the list. But with that, Emeryville-based Pixar scored a Best Picture nomination for its animated movie, Up. And in general, I can't remember a Best Picture list that included so many science fiction and animated movies: Avatar, District 9, and Up.

Congratulations to the compelling movie Precious, where Director Lee Daniels, Gaborney Sidibe, Mo'Nique, and the movie itself were honored with nominations in the Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Film Editing, Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture categories.

Other Best Picture surprises were for The Blind Side, the excellent story about Baltimore Ravens Offensive Tackle Michael Oher and the family who adopted him. While the story is largely around Sandra Bullocks great performance, some forget that without Michael Oher there would be no The Blind Side.

More updates, soon.

Oscar Nominations Livestream Live blog

Oscar Nominations Livestream Live blog. After months of movie watching, opinion sharing, and speculation tracking the day that the nominations for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards is here. Oscar Nomination Ballots were due January 23rd at 5 PM; they've been collected by Price WaterHouse for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Special screenings to determine the nominees have been done and the Academy members have spoken. Now, the event featuring Anne Hathaway and AMPAS President Tom Sherak, is coming in the morning and you can see it live here:

academyawards on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

It starts at 5:38 AM - Refresh for updates.

Starts with the great announcement music.

Best Actors, Actress, Director, Supporting Actor, and Actress true to form with Golden Globes.

Wow. Star Trek not on Best Picture list?

Congrats to Emeryville's Pixar for Best Picture nom for UP.

District 9 gets Best Picture nom.

Best Picture: Avatar, The Blind Side, An Education,The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air.

Oscar Nominations Livestream here at 5 AM PST / 8 AM EST

After months of movie watching, opinion sharing, and speculation tracking the day that the nominations for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards is here. Oscar Nomination Ballots were due January 23rd at 5 PM; they've been collected by Price WaterHouse for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Special screenings to determine the nominees have been done and the Academy members have spoken. Now, the event featuring Anne Hathaway and AMPAS President Tom Sherak, is coming in the morning and you can see it live here:

Watch live streaming video from academyawards at livestream.com

It starts at 5 AM PST / 8 AM PST. This blogger has never tried to predict which movie was going to be nominated, and will not take up the practice in 2010. Stay tuned.

New Zennie62 Widget by Widgetbox has 10 rotating feeds

Widgetbox.com has created a new version of the Zennie62 Widget. This one's unlike any you've seen before. It has tabs representing this blogger's Zennie62.com blog, as well as the Oakland Focus, New York Focus, and San Francisco Focus blogs.

And as the Super Bowl is coming, there's a tab for two more Zennie Abraham blogs: the Super Bowl Blog, and the NFL Business Blog. The Zennie62 Widget also has tabs for the CNN iReport, YouTube, and Blip.tv video channels and the Zennie62 Twitter account.

That's 10 feeds all in one widget. But that's not the only feature: the widget rotates feeds every five seconds, so you can see one feed at a time and its latest contents.

The new widget is the creation of San Francisco-based Widgetbox.com and under my specifications. Now, I have all of my online broadcasts in one place. Most widgets have one feed; this one goes far beyond that.

The widget can be placed on a blog or website, Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter pages.

Thanks to Steve Kloft of Widgetbox for creating the new widget. Below and to the right are version of the Zennie62 Widget. Get one!:

Oscar Nominations Livestream here at 5 AM PST / 8 AM EST

After months of movie watching, opinion sharing, and speculation tracking the day that the nominations for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards is here. Oscar Nomination Ballots were due January 23rd at 5 PM; they've been collected by Price WaterHouse for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Special screenings to determine the nominees have been done and the Academy members have spoken. Now, the event featuring Anne Hathaway and AMPAS President Tom Sherak, is coming in the morning and you can see it live here:

Watch live streaming video from academyawards at livestream.com

It starts at 5 AM PST / 8 AM PST. This blogger has never tried to predict which movie was going to be nominated, and will not take up the practice in 2010. Stay tuned.

Grammy Awards Time

With the 2010 Grammy Awards now officially over, speculation as to how they can draw the same ratings have begun. There was a huge 35% increase in numbers from 2009. The fashion was extravagant as usual, (Ciara wore over $250,000 in Cartier jewelry). Pink awed the crowds, she was incredible and soulful. And Beyonce proved herself as the Queen of the 2010 Grammy Awards by taking home six, a record breaking feat. I was pleasantly surprised that they allowed performers such long set times although this meant that Beyonce (unfortunately) had enough time to do her best impression of Alanis Morisette. Yes, I am confused about that one too... But all in all the show proved to be a success. Most importantly, by celebrating Michael Jackson with a stunning tribute sung by Usher, Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, and a glowing Jennifer Hudson.

Now onto some other exciting news! If you are regular readers of this blog then you might have noticed videos and posts by yours truly recently. I thought a little bit of an introduction might be beneficial. I have been blogging for a long time and keep it appealing and fresh over at SomeRedCat.tumblr.com. And I am now extremely happy to be contributing something new to Zennie62.com.

I love everything pop culture. But what does that really mean you ask...? Well, it means that I am equally excited about who’s a hot mess on the red carpet as I am in what the next exhibit at SF MOMA is… I want to know what the international gross of Avatar is thus far as well as where the hell Brandy went (where are you girl?)… You know, I’m talking REALLY important stuff here.

But honestly, Life is meant to be fun! And this is Hollwood gossip, not brain surgery. I'm sticking with what I know, and I plan on delivering it to you with a smile and some sass.

A little more about me.. Likes- dance parties (even if they’re solo), Bette Midler, traveling, exploring San Francisco with my camera, Martin Short, Kant & Boas, spending Saturday with Jack Daniels and my friends, then Sunday with the New York Times, Dislikes- Ignorant people who don't like to have fun, when they tuck the sheet under the mattress at hotels, bananas, kiwis, indoor voices.

Have any questions or misplaced internet aggression?? Email me at SomeRedCat at gmail dot com & stalk me at SomeRedCat.tumblr.com

xoCat

Super Bowl XLIVL: Saints Coach Sean Payton takes Bill Walsh approach

In 1982, when the San Francisco 49ers traveled to Detroit to play the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI, Head Coach Bill Walsh dressed as a hotel bellman helping his team with their bags. The idea was to loosen up the Niners as it was their first Super Bowl.

Today, in 2010, we have the New Orleans Saints in their first Super Bowl against the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIVL. And its apparent that Saints Head Coach Sean Payton saw the NFL Films movies of the late, great Coach Walsh. According to the NFL Network today, Coach Payton dressed as a hotel doorman along with several members of the Saints organization as the team was coming off their bus.

All to keep the Saints relaxed.

It worked for Bill Walsh and the San Francisco 49ers in 1982; the Niners won Super Bowl XVI 26 to 21. But 2010's a generation away and Coach Walsh wasn't up against the Colts Offense in Super Bowl XLIVL.

Stay tuned.

Herb Caen lives through the SF Chronicle and New Media

Carl Nolte's take on Herb Caen is a worthy read, but for San Franciscans who've never heard of him - and the numnber's growing year-by-year - it's going to reach a small audience and then be quickly forgotten. That's sad, because Herb Caen is very much alive.

Herb Caen is alive in those of us who wanted to be like him, and still do. Who wanted to share how they saw San Francisco with the World. In the past, media wasn't fragmented; today it is. But because of that, he's everywhere.

Had he lived, Herb Caen would have still been a columnist, but a grouchy one, because his minders would not have had any idea how to get him plugged into New Media, and he most certainly would have resisted for a time. But his young fans would save him.

Herb Caen is alive. He lives in the people who use camcorders and cell phones to capture moments in San Francisco. Remember the Muni Driver who was getting a massage? The person who recorded him had Herb's sprit. Even the Oscar Grant Murder had Herb Caen's involvement in the form of the people who held up cell phones and camcorders to capture it as it was happening. And Herb Caen is very much in me. I had him in mind when I created this Golden Globe Awards video:



And this video on New Media, which was a tour of San Francisco, featuring talks with San Franciscans, including Mayor Newsom:



But if you're thinking I'm trying to say I'm Herb Caen - no, not exactly. We're all Herb Caen. I'm trying to show that we are him, today. We just need the proper vessel to show it and Herb Caen's sprit.

Herb Caen is alive. The problem is the San Francisco Chronicle hasn't figured out how to reassemble him today. Here's how.

Using YouTube's "direct" feature and a special web page, SFGate can have a new section called "I am Herb Caen: Herb Caen's San Francisco." The idea is to go to places that Herb would have either gone to or may have if they're new and make videos about them and what the person sees and upload them to the page. The result over time will be a powerful platform of San Francisco from his point of view as San Franciscans and visitors see it, expressed in videos.

In fact, here's an idea: each video should start with the title "I am Herb Caen."

Stay tuned.

Ecuador President Correa takes doctors to Haiti, no donation, blasts donors

On Friday, January 29th, Ecuador President Rafael Correa went to visit earthquake damaged Haiti, with 12 doctors, and while making no monetary donation, blasted donor nations.

"There is a lot of imperialism among the donors. They donate first, but most of it goes back to them," Correct said at a joint press conference with Haiti's President Rene Preval.

That's the kind of politics Rafael Correa's known for. To mask the fact that Ecuador's not giving money to Haiti, Correa blasts those countries who have done so, which includes the United States.

To hide the fact that Rafael Correa wants to nationalize oil production in Ecuador, he asks for money to avoid oil extraction and production in what is considered an Ecuadorian biological preserve, then when he doesn't get the money, makes plans to do so with Ecuador's state-run oil company.

If Ecuador wanted to help Haiti, they would have spent money. With an economy projected to grow in 2010 and a budget in the billions, Ecuador could afford at least a few million for Haiti. And if Ecuador really wanted to protect the Amazon, it would not work to produce oil in it, itself.

Stay tuned.

Oakland's iGrow weed Superstore in video

CNN's Dan Simon pays a visit to the new Oakland iGrow Superstore. The weed house is 15,000 square feet and just next to the Oakland Airport on 70 Hegenberger Drive. iGrow is developed for medicinal marijuana cultivation and they have a doctor in the building.

At iGrow, you can learn how to grow marijuana, get a cannabis card, and by all the equipment you need to have a growing crop of marijuana.

With this, and the blessings of the City of Oakland, America has taken one more step toward the eventual full legalization of marijuana.




Stay tuned.

Green Day wins Grammy Award for Best Rock Album

Green Day, who's American Idiot musical is set to debut on Broadway, won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. At the Grammys, Billie Joe Armstrong and the Berkeley-born Green Day band did "21 Guns," from their album 21st Century Breakdown, which won the Best Rock Album Grammy.

Here, CNN captures the band practicing for their performance at The Grammys.



Green Day took the 2004 hit American Idiot and turned it into a popular play here on the West Coast. According to Wikipedia, American Idiot is about..

The album's protagonist, Jesus of Suburbia, emerged out of Armstrong asking himself what sort of person the title of "American Idiot" referred to. Armstrong described the character as essentially an anti-hero, a powerless "everyman" desensitized by a "steady diet of soda pop and Ritalin". Jesus of Suburbia hates his town and those close to him, so he leaves for the city.

As the album progresses the characters St. Jimmy and Whatsername are introduced. St. Jimmy is a punk rock freedom fighter. Whatsername, inspired by the Bikini Kill song "Rebel Girl", is a "Mother Revolution" figure that Armstrong described as "kind of St. Jimmy's nemesis in a lot of ways".

Both characters illustrate the "rage vs. love" theme of the album, in that "you can go with the blind rebellion of self-destruction, where Saint Jimmy is. But there's a more love-driven side to that, which is following your beliefs and ethics. And that's where Jesus of Suburbia really wants to go", according to Armstrong.

Near the end of the story, St. Jimmy apparently commits suicide. While the singer did not want to give away the details of the story's resolution, he said the intention is for the listener to ultimately realize that Jesus of Suburbia is really St. Jimmy, and Jimmy is "part of the main character that pretty much dies". In the album's final song, "Whatsername", Jesus of Suburbia loses his connection with Whatsername as well.

Stay tuned