GoldbergBlog

Special Comment: On Retro-active Immunity for Telecoms

Politico’s Out of This World Debate Questions

I was reading through the most “popular” question to ask the Democratic candidates in tonight’s debate from co-sponsor, Politico.com.  Out of the top twenty-five questions, twenty involve space exploration.  Now, I agree that space exploration is important.  And I’m pretty sure that someone was either gaming Politico’s voting system and/or cares very passionately about outer space.  I’m also confident that tonight’s debate moderators will not be firing off constant questions about space.  That being said, this is a time for serious people and I’m just thankful that a question about post-Katrina New Orleans is at the top of the list, even though there’s not a single question about the War in Iraq.  But really, just a bang-up job in making Internet political sites look serious about the issues.

Getting Back to Getting Off the Island

Tonight, one of my favorite shows on television returns. The third season finale of Lost blew my mind clean off. It silenced the haters and proved once and for all that these guys know what they’re doing. Even if you don’t think they’ll solve every mystery (and chances are, there will always remain a few that remain unanswered*), they clearly know where they want to take this story.

*Like Jack finding his Dad’s coffin in the show’s first season. Even if you assume that the figure of his father was just a hallucination brought on by dehydration and lack of sleep, that’s not what concerns me. What concerns me is that the coffin was empty. Jack opened it clearly expecting his father to be inside. So what happened to the body? Did Australia just plan to play a really cruel joke on the yanks?

Also, congrats to those responsible for this year’s ARG, Find 815. Unlike last year’s ARG, this one was actually, oh what’s the word I’m looking for…oh, that’s right: fun. The story was interesting, it didn’t send you all over the Internet or out to comic book conventions or listening to awful Internet radio shows. It was a simple adventure game that told a good side story. It’s not essential to the plot and you won’t miss anything if you don’t play it, but it provided a welcome fix of quasi-Lost, which became damned necessary after eight months of no new episodes. If you’re looking for a way to kill some time before tonight’s season premiere, I recommend hitting up Find815.com. And before you go to bed tonight, pray that the writers get the fair deal they deserve so that they can go back to work and we can get a full season of Lost as opposed to the half-season that will have us tearing our hair out.

Y: The Last Issue

I used to love comic characters. In third and fourth grade, I was obsessed with the X-Men because I loved the cartoon. Oddly, I never cared much for the comics. I liked the characters but I was more interested in collecting the character cards than the stories about those characters.

Eventually, I outgrew collecting X-Men cards and went on to more sophisticated hobbies. Like Magic: The Gathering.

But in my freshman year of college, one of my roommates (and eventually one of my best friends), re-introduced me to comics by throwing me a couple of copies of issues where he had doubles. One of those books was Y: The Last Man and it’s been a love-hate relationship with the medium ever since.

It was a fortuitous relationship. The small college town of Oberlin doesn’t have much in the way of shops. There’s a small market, a pub, a pizza place, a video store, a second-run movie house, a gas station, a couple banks, sandwich shops and cafes, and the requisite college book store (and in liberal Oberlin, the small, independent bookstore that survives because it’s in a town like Oberlin). So it’s odd and amusing that nestled in between what you’d find in most towns surrounding a small liberal arts college, is a tiny comic shop.

I didn’t much care for my time at Oberlin but I valued every moment hanging out at the counter of Matrix: Comics & Games. With a newfound addiction to comics (thanks, Eric!), I now had a place within walking distance where I could get my fix. And while the two long boxes which house my collection of comics were mostly purchased at Matrix, the most valuable thing I ever got from the store was the relationship I developed with its two owners: Erin Shiba and Josh “Schwa” Perry. While it was clear that the shop’s success was due more to the “Games” of its name rather than the “Comics”, mostly due to a rabid following of Magic: The Gathering users (an addiction on which I did not relapse as I had moved on to more sophisticated hobbies like collecting DVDs and never-getting-laid), I came originally for the comics but then just for the conversation.

Erin became like the big sister I never had. Josh became the cool boyfriend of the big sister I never had. They were engaged throughout my time at Oberlin and in fact got married soon after I graduated. I still regret that I wasn’t able to attend their wedding. I also regret that almost two years later, I still haven’t given them a wedding gift (I know exactly what I want to get them and I’ve just been that freaking broke for that freaking long). We spent hours talking about various movies and TV shows. I let them borrow stacks of my DVDs and was always happy to do so because I knew they would actually care about talking about the shows or movies when they handed the discs back to me. There’s not much I miss about Oberlin, but I miss Erin and Josh terribly.

Back in Atlanta, we have the robust Oxford Comics and Games. It became less easy for me to continue my comic collection as driving to a store for a few books seems silly. It’s about a thirty minute trip for reading material that will probably be finished in half that time. The store houses some awesome merchandise but it’s all too expensive, especially for someone like me. I just can’t justify to myself spending twenty-five bucks on a Hellboy action figure. Lord knows I want to, but I just can’t. And while Erin and Josh were warm and friendly, the tenured staff of Oxford have always kind of been overwhelming indifferent to me despite my attempts at friendliness (and for someone shy like me, those are herculean attempts). But I made a point of going in today.

Today marks the release of the 60th and final issue of Y: The Last Man. I started collecting at issue #2 back in 2002 and since I was able to find a copy of Issue #1 back at comic shop in New York City in 2005, I now have the series’ entire run. After five years of collecting single issues, I can now say that I’m done with “floppies”. It has nothing to do with Y’s last issue (it’s great), and almost everything to do with economy.

Single issues are over-priced. I paid $3 for the new issue of Astonishing X-Men and I was done with it in about ten minutes. It’s filled with ads and I have no intention of re-selling it because I’ve never been that guy. It’s a good story and well told, but it’s wiser to just wait until the trade-paperback comes out. It has zero ads and instead of stuffing it in a cardboard box, I can display it on a bookshelf.

I’ve moved on from floppies. Y: The Last Man author has now moved on to other titles as well as writing for Lost. Eric has moved on to a small publishing house in New York City. Matrix has now moved on to become Infinite Monkey Comics & Games (although it’s still in Oberlin and still owned and operated by Erin and Josh). I’ve moved on to more sophisticated interests like blogging and bitching about politics (although I’m still known to indulge my hobby of never-getting-laid from time to time). Everything ends and when it does, we look back for a fond retrospective (there really isn’t any other kind because then why bother looking back?) and we move on, thankful for the memories.

Election 2008: The South Carolina Primary

I know the Republican South Carolina primary was last week but I didn’t care. Whoever wins, we lose. It’s really just a matter of degrees, with Ron Paul being “Unfeasible but interesting,” at one end of the spectrum and Guiliani or Huckabee being “Emigrate as fast as you can,”. John McCain ended up winning South Carolina and if I had to place a bet on who will be the Republican nominee, I’d say McCain. That’s still a pretty spooky proposition when you consider that he’s running as a war candidate for an increasingly war-weary nation. How war-weary, how the war in Iraq continues over the next ten months, and how much it matters in relation to our failing economy, will all figure into McCain’s chances for winning the Presidency. But a man who has seen the horrors of war warning that “there will be other wars” when we barely have the troops to fight the ones we have now, is something I would expect a man in a padded room to say, not a serious contender for the highest political office in the country.The primary I do care about was last night’s Democratic Primary. Barack Obama was tipped to win and Hillary Clinton had basically given up on the state and left Bill Clinton to try and chip away at Obama’s margin of victory. That didn’t work because Obama won BIG. Twice as many votes as Hillary big. More votes than McCain and Huckabee, the top two candidates in S.C., big. Of course, the Clinton camp tried to spin it away as Obama being nothing more than a “black candidate” and I’ll let Mr. Glenn Greenwald over at Salon handle the revulsion of those comments.

The next major contest for the Republicans is the Floriday primary on Tuesday. There Rudy Guiliani will make his last stand, must like Custard’s Last Stand in that he will be fucking destroyed and deservedly so. Then we’ll never have to hear from his 9/11-capitalizing ass again. Then on Super Tuesday, one of two things will happen in the Democratic primaries: Hillary takes most of the states and I contemplate leaving America. That’s the nightmare scenario. The scenario I’m hoping for is that Hillary and Obama keep running neck and neck. Either case, contrary to the claim that he’s “in it for the long haul,” John Edwards will drop out of the race. There’s just not enough money to go further when you keep coming in third. South Carolina was his last gasp and while he’ll continue on to Super Tuesday so he can exit the race with some dignity, we all know that his part in the story of the 2008 Election has come to a close unless he’s needed to play Kingmaker. If that happens, we’ll find out if he really did believe in change or if he just believed in John Edwards.

Rumsfeld Returns; Still The Worst

November 8th, 2006 was, at the time, a great day. The Democrats retook both the House and the Senate and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld resigned. For those of you that have blocked out the Rumsfeld years through heavy therapy, allow me to refresh your memory and undo all that hard work: Donald Rumsfeld is like editor of the Weekly Standard William Kristol. They’re both chicken-hawk cheerleaders of the Iraq War and they’re always wrong. Not just on an ideological level. In that, to quote Matt Taibbi, “I wouldn’t trust them to tell me the fucking time.” The only difference is that while Kristol just gets to be wrong and we can all make fun of him, Rumsfeld was actually in a position of power. If he had a conscience, every single American and Iraqi death in this meaningless war would be on it. As it is, he sleeps pretty well at night.

Well now he’s back and he’s got another great idea: a government-sponsored news agency (insert Fox News joke here). The idea is that the government should use the press to help win the hearts and minds of Muslims in the middle east. At first glance (or prima facie to use a term no one outside of college uses), it seems like a good idea. Of course, this is pure Bush-administration dogma: words speak louder than actions. You don’t have to be right or good or anything. What matters is just that you say you are. If anyone wants to say differently, well, that’s just their opinion, no matter how many facts they have to prove their “opinion”. So, if we accidentally bomb an innocent village and happen to kill innocent Muslims who may turn against us, as long as we say that we’re helping them, they’ll believe it! That’s where the agency comes in! Never mind the logistics of how you disseminate that information beyond dropping pamphlets out of airplanes; that will all work itself out, just like the Iraq War did? It didn’t? Well, that’s just your opinion, and since this is America, you’re welcome to it (you America-hater).

Matt as Future Parent

I’m going to have to post these all around my house when I have kids.

Baby Do’s and Dont’s

Assuming You Could Even Find a Wii

Did you really need another reason to want Super Smash Bros. Brawl? Of course you didn’t.

Hot for Diablo Cody

Being that it’s a slow day, I’m going to post something I could really post on pretty much any day because right now, the greatness of Diablo Cody does not decline. Her movie Juno was not only critically acclaimed, but continues to stomp the box office, and, oh yeah, yesterday it got four Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Jason Reitman), Best Actress (Ellen Page), and of course, Ms. Cody for Best Original Screenplay. I had the pleasure to meet Cody and Page a couple months ago and one day I will chronicle it among my Blown Inteviews. That’s exactly what it sounds like: Interviews with awesome people that I totally blew. I’m really just a fan masquerading as a journalist which is why when it comes time to interview someone like Cody or Edgar Wright, I swallow my own tongue and drool on myself for about twenty minutes until the publicist drags my bloated heap out of the room. You’ll read all about it. It’s just grand. So is this video of Diablo Cody from last night’s Late Show with David Letterman:

The 2008 Oscar Nominations

You’re going to read this and think I care waaaaaay too much about the Academy Awards. And to that I’ll simply respond: “A movie critic, caring about which films are recognized for the highest honor a movie can receive? You’re right! That is ridiculous!” Yes, I know that the Academy mostly gets it wrong and it will continue to get it wrong and that’s just how it plays out. I might as well get mad at the mainstream media for making our political process one of personality rather than policy. But you won’t deny that it’s fun to get angry and you won’t deny that the award does matter because it helps sell the film. Some of these films don’t deserve to be sold. They deserved to be fucked into oblivion. There’s one in particular that deserves to be fucked into oblivion followed by the abyss. I think I make it fairly clear which one that is.

I’m also betting that there will be an Oscar ceremony this year. I think Hollywood vanity surpasses all and with the recent successful negotiation with the DGA, I think the writers are going to get their deal in the next few weeks and we’ll all see Jon Stewart hosting the awards and nobody laughing because he’s holding up a mirror to the ridiculousness of the pageant.

One final note: I’ve also included how many I got right from the major categories and you can double-check me from the article I wrote back on the 12^th of this month.

Performance by an actor in a leading role
George Clooney in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Tommy Lee Jones in “In the Valley of Elah” (Warner Independent)
Viggo Mortensen in “Eastern Promises” (Focus Features)

Look, I’m happy with the Vig getting any nomination for anything. He’s a tremendous actor who deserves every bit of acclaim he receives. I really wish the same could be said for Johnny Depp. I love the guy but Sweeney Todd is not his film. It’s Helena Bonham Carter’s and quite frankly, I would have liked to see a more surprising actor in the role. As for Tommy Lee Jones, his massive ear lobes deserve the nomination and in a world where he would actually win this award, they should give the acceptance speech. I’m sure Emile Hirsch is very happy with the “Fuck You” from the Academy. Then again, I’m sure everyone from Into the Wild is happy this morning.

But it’s all a moot point. Day-Lewis is gonna win and so I can sleep easy on this one.

I called 3 out of 5

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.)
Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Charlie Wilson’s War” (Universal)
Hal Holbrook in “Into the Wild” (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)
Tom Wilkinson in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
You would think that this was between Affleck and Bardem, but you’d be wrong. This award is Hal Holbrook’s because this category always goes to Hollywood veterans. It’s just an unwritten rule. Look at the winners from the past ten years and you’ll see I’m right.

I called 4 out of 5

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (Universal)
Julie Christie in “Away from Her” (Lionsgate)
Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse)
Laura Linney in “The Savages” (Fox Searchlight)
Ellen Page in “Juno” (Fox Searchlight)

Cate Blanchett is a wonderful woman and a tremendous actress and no one should award Elizabeth: The Golden Age for anything other than costumes and art direction. She’s replaying her character and it’s not her fault. If they gave Elizabeth a new conflict rather than just repeating the one she had in the first film, then this nomination would be warranted. As it stands, they just insulted Amy Adams (Enchanted) and Helena Bonham Carter (Sweeney Todd).

Again, it’s a moot point because it’s between Christie and Cotillard with the edge to Christie because she’s the Hollywood vet and she played someone with Alzheimer’s! The bravery!

I called 3 out of 5

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in “I’m Not There” (The Weinstein Company)
Ruby Dee in “American Gangster” (Universal)
Saoirse Ronan in “Atonement” (Focus Features)
Amy Ryan in “Gone Baby Gone” (Miramax)
Tilda Swinton in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

In my burning hatred for Atonement, I forgot about Saoirse Ronan. After the cinematography of the Dunkirk scene, she is the best part of Atonement. But she’s the dark horse and I think Blanchett’s going to get her second Best Supporting Actress win for her work in I’m Not There. That’s fine by me.

I called 3 out of 5

Adapted screenplay
“Atonement” (Focus Features), Screenplay by Christopher Hampton
“Away from Her” (Lionsgate), Written by Sarah Polley
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

Please, for the love of Christ, don’t let Atonement win this. It’s so awful. The film fails because it’s a shitty adaptation. Thankfully, I think the Coens are going to win this category. Maybe even Diving Bell. But who am I kidding: if the past few months have taught us anything, it’s that Hollywood hates writers. Give it to Atonement.

Original screenplay
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight), Written by Diablo Cody
“Lars and the Real Girl” (MGM), Written by Nancy Oliver
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.), Written by Tony Gilroy
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
“The Savages” (Fox Searchlight), Written by Tamara Jenkins

Sadly, this will probably go to Tony Gilroy. It’s not that Michael Clayton is a bad script, but Juno’s the one that should get it. And I would love to see Diablo Cody do a couple kung-fu kicks up on that stage.

Achievement in directing
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Julian Schnabel
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight), Jason Reitman
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.), Tony Gilroy
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Paul Thomas Anderson

This…this isn’t that bad. Sure, I don’t think Reitman should get the nomination and I don’t think Gilroy’s direction was anything amazing. I also wasn’t expecting the complete shunning of Into the Wild (it must not have saved the excess oil from a can of tuna). But thankfully, this award will go to either Schnabel or the Coens. And perhaps if those two cancel each other out, then Anderson gets it, which is equally great.

I called 3 out of 5

Best motion picture of the year
“Atonement” (Focus Features) A Working Title Production: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight) A Dancing Elk Pictures, LLC Production: Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.) A Clayton Productions, LLC Production: Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production: JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

Everyone laughed when I said if I would flip out when Atonement got nominated for Best Picture. “Oh, it doesn’t have a chance! Nevermind the Golden Globe win and the BAFTA nominations and the absolutely misguided critical acclaim! That’s a slot that will be filled by a good film like Into the Wild! Now get off the edge of that tall building!” Whose laughing now, bitches? Oh, wait: NO ONE.

I predicted 5 OUT OF 5. EAT IT.

Best documentary feature
“No End in Sight” (Magnolia Pictures) A Representational Pictures Production: Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience” (The Documentary Group) A Documentary Group Production: Richard E. Robbins
“Sicko” (Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company) A Dog Eat Dog Films Production: Michael Moore and Meghan O’Hara
“Taxi to the Dark Side” (THINKFilm) An X-Ray Production: Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
“War/Dance” (THINKFilm) A Shine Global and Fine Films Production: Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine

Michael Moore won’t get it because he’s Michael Moore and fuck the fact that his film is a non-partisan examination of one of the most important issues facing our country today. Maybe No End in Sight will get it. I just don’t know. My gut tells me War/Dance, but my gut is also very hungry.

Best animated feature film of the year
“Persepolis” (Sony Pictures Classics): Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney): Brad Bird
“Surf’s Up” (Sony Pictures Releasing): Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

Thank God, Shrek the Third wasn’t nominated. If more people had actually seen Persepolis, it would have a better-shot. As it stands, Brad Bird gets his second Oscar win for Ratatouille. He is legend.

Achievement in art direction
“American Gangster” (Universal): Art Direction: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
“Atonement” (Focus Features): Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Golden Compass” (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners): Art Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount): Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Every time I see a nomination for Atonement, I die a little inside. I may well be a corpse by the end of this. They’ll find me and wonder how I died so let me tell them now: ATONEMENT KILLED ME. Give this to The Golden Compass. Shitty film, but imaginative design. Couldn’t possibly nominate I’m Not There. Noooo. Didn’t you hear? The only great thing about that film is Cate Blanchett. No one told Todd Haynes that biopics have to be boring, predictable shit.

Achievement in cinematography
“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.): Roger Deakins
“Atonement” (Focus Features): Seamus McGarvey
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn): Janusz Kaminski
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Roger Deakins
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Robert Elswit

Please give this to The Assassination of Jesse James. Please give this to The Assassination of Jesse James. Or No Country for Old Men. Or any nominee that’s not Atonement. And that’s just not the Atonement-hatred speaking. Every other nominee is beautifully shot. Atonement has Dunkirk and that’s it. Oh, the award is going to Atonement you say? Beautiful. Excuse me while I put this gun in my mouth.

Achievement in costume design
“Across the Universe” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Albert Wolsky
“Atonement” (Focus Features) Jacqueline Durran
“Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (Universal) Alexandra Byrne
“La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse) Marit Allen
“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount) Colleen Atwood

I know that Atonement’s going to get it. It has period costumes and pretty dresses. Of the nominees, I would like to see Sweeney Todd get the win because I think it has a better variety of costumes and they’re clearly designed with Burton’s photography in mind. Again, I think it’s all a slap in the face to I’m Not There.

Best documentary short subject
“Freeheld” A Lieutenant Films Production: Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth
“La Corona (The Crown)” A Runaway Films and Vega Films Production: Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
“Salim Baba” A Ropa Vieja Films and Paradox Smoke Production: Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
“Sari’s Mother” (Cinema Guild) A Daylight Factory Production: James Longley

Let’s say, Sari’s Mother. She’s good people.

Achievement in film editing
“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal): Christopher Rouse
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn): Juliette Welfling
“Into the Wild” (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment): Jay Cassidy
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Roderick Jaynes
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Dylan Tichenor

All good. I’d like Diving Bell to win it since the editing is such an important part of telling its story.

Best foreign language film of the year
“Beaufort” Israel
“The Counterfeiters” Austria
“Katyn” Poland
“Mongol” Kazakhstan
“12” Russia

Did you know that the foreign language nominees are completely fucked and that they’re now having to change the rules? That explains this category.

Achievement in makeup
“La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse) Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald
“Norbit” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount): Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (Walt Disney): Ve Neill and Martin Samuel

Please, please, please let Norbit win. I want to refer to it as the Oscar-winning Norbit. Please, God. Please let it win.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“Atonement” (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli
“The Kite Runner” (DreamWorks, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Participant Productions, Distributed by Paramount Classics): Alberto Iglesias
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.) James Newton Howard
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino
“3:10 to Yuma” (Lionsgate) Marco Beltrami

So not Nick Cave & Warren Ellis for The Assassination of Jesse James.
So not Johnny Greenwood for There Will Be Blood.

Hey Academy: go unfuck your ears.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Falling Slowly” from “Once” (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and: Marketa Irglova
“Happy Working Song” from “Enchanted” (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
“Raise It Up” from “August Rush” (Warner Bros.): Nominees to be determined
“So Close” from “Enchanted” (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
“That’s How You Know” from “Enchanted” (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

Do the same people who nominate the scores nominate the songs? Because they did a good job with the songs.

Best animated short film
“I Met the Walrus” A Kids & Explosions Production: Josh Raskin
“Madame Tutli-Putli” (National Film Board of Canada) A National Film Board of Canada Production Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski

“Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)” (Premium Films) A BUF Compagnie Production Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse
“Moya Lyubov (My Love)” (Channel One Russia) A Dago-Film Studio, Channel One Russia and Dentsu Tec Production Alexander Petrov
“Peter & the Wolf” (BreakThru Films) A BreakThru Films/Se-ma-for Studios Production Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman

I Met a Walrus. If I have to explain why, then you just don’t get it.

Best live action short film
“At Night” A Zentropa Entertainments 10 Production: Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth
“Il Supplente (The Substitute)” (Sky Cinema Italia) A Frame by Frame Italia Production: Andrea Jublin
“Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)” (Premium Films) A Karé Production: Philippe Pollet-Villard
“Tanghi Argentini” (Premium Films) An Another Dimension of an Idea Production: Guido Thys and Anja Daelemans
“The Tonto Woman” A Knucklehead, Little Mo and Rose Hackney Barber Production: Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown

Tanghi Argentini. It’s the upset everyone will be talking about the next morning.

Achievement in sound editing
“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal): Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Skip Lievsay
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney): Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Matthew Wood
“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

Okay, per my limited understanding, this category is basically who had the most original or most aesthetically pleasing sound effects. In that case, I would give it to Transformers because you have to admit they did some incredible and important work with robots in disguise. But these are all great films. I would give the edge to Ratatouille if only for Remy’s run through the walls of Paris.

Achievement in sound mixing
“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal) Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney): Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane
“3:10 to Yuma” (Lionsgate): Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe
“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin

Now this category is for how you make all the sound come together: music, sound effects, audio, everything. Again, I like Transformers but it will probably go to Ratatouille. I’m not really emotionally invested in either of these categories. Sorry, audiophiles.

Achievement in visual effects
“The Golden Compass” (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners): Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (Walt Disney): John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier
“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier

It’s gonna be Transformers. Pirates already has its Oscars and The Golden Compass is shit.