Blackwolf the Dragonmaster's Diary of Magecraft

Being a Chronicle of the Inner Secrets of, and Spells of Magick as Wielded by, the Philosopher of the Internet and Unofficial Sorcerer-in-Residence of the City of New York

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Location: New York, New York, United States

As New York's Unofficial Wizard, my mission is to encourage the Mortals of Manhattan to imagine responsibly!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Blackwolf @ the Oscars 2010: Prelude

Yes, Mortals, 'tis that time once more! With precisely one month to go before we once again surrender to the unstoppable force that IS Hollywood's biggest night, your humble Dragonmaster will, as I often do around this part of the year, share with the world (that would be you) my own, more painstakingly-detailed list of the nominations for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards!

For those of you who are newcomers to this Diary of Magecraft, be it known that I do this each year primarily because I'm not satisfied with the printed version of that list, as presented by the major newspapers here in New York City. For the last few years, happily, I have enjoyed the luxury of relying upon the databases of Variety.com, HollywoodReporter.com, the Internet Movie Database and other sources; from these, I have crafted an Oscar Nominations list that sets the pace for those who both desire and demand all the gory details!

Now, Oscar-winning actress Anne Hathaway will join Academy President Tom Sherak in revealing the nominations on Tuesday, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills; I'm particularly pissed off because I shall, for the most part, be forced to delay the posting for a certain period --- a problem that I shall hopefully solve during the nighttime. And since I shall not have access to a working TV on Oscar Night itself, I fear I shall have to find a bar with similar interest, or else I shall be forced to seek out an Oscar Night party that I might yet crash (hopefully, dearest Captain Zorikh may host such a party; I'll have to call him tonight to find out!).

In case you folks are not aware, this year, you're dealing with 10 Best Picture nominees --- it's the first time since 1943 that that particular situation has manifested itself. You're dealing with two hosts, Steve Martin, who has done this before; and Alec Baldwin, who makes his award hosting debut. The last few weeks have found your humble Dragonmaster fantasizing about their joint monologue. Even now, there are still some insiders who are ranting feverishly about the idea that the 10 Best Picture nominees ploy is an excuse to boost the telecast's alarmingly low ratings. I've told you Mortals before: the Oscars will never please the New York or Los Angeles TV critics, no matter what you do, so I would advise ye to cease thy foul kvetching!

Alas, Tom and Anne will only have time on Tuesday to tell you about 10 of the 24 categories involved in the Oscar thing: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Original Screenplay, Screenplay Adaptation, Animated Feature, Foreign Language Film and Best Picture. But count on the ol' Diary of Magecraft to torture you with those, and the other 14 Oscar categories: Cinematography, Film Editing, Art Direction/Set Decoration, Costume Design, Original Score, Original Song, Production Sound/Re-recording, Sound Effects Editing, Makeup, Visual Effects, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Live-Action Short and Animated Short.

Since apparently we're going to deliberately miss the tribute segments on the telecast, let me remind you of the major receipients of special and/or honorary Oscar awards:

* IRVING G. THALBERG AWARD
To producer and studio executive John Calley, for outstanding services to filmdom's behind-the-scenes community.

* HONORARY OSCAR FOR CAREER ACHIEVEMENT
To perhaps the classiest female star currently alive, Miss Lauren Bacall.

* HONORARY OSCAR FOR CAREER ACHIEVEMENT
To producer Roger Corman, who, as founder of the original New World Pictures, changed the face of low-budget cinema; while subsequently mentoring such future film legends as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, James Cameron, and Ron Howard.

* HONORARY OSCAR FOR CAREER ACHIEVEMENT
To cinematographer Gordon Willis, A.S.C., who, after shining a bright light on Coppola's Godfather Chronicles, did the same with the ultimate New York moviemaker, Woody Allen.

And have no fear, we will certainly have loads of time, as we always do, to reveal the Scientific & Technical Academy Award winners --- the ones the telecast never has time for! So, now that you know what you'll be dealing with on Groundhog Day in Beverly Hills, I can only invite you goodly gentles to stay tuned --- for I shall have everything together before you can bloomin' blink!

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