swimming freestyle

Karl Malden

Karl Malden, the Academy Award-winning character actor whose half-century in show business carried him from the theater to films and then to television, where he policed the streets of San Francisco and became indelibly identified with a commercial for traveler’s checks, died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 97.

In many ways, Mr. Malden was the ideal Everyman. He realized early on that he lacked the physical attributes of a leading man; he often joked about his blunt features, particularly his crooked, bulbous nose, which he had broken several times while playing basketball in school. But he was determined “to be No. 1 in the No. 2 parts I was destined to get,” he once said. (Link)

Mr. Malden won an Academy Award for his performance in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and most know him for his starring role on the TV show "Streets of San Francisco".  But it was as the priest in "On The Waterfront" that I thought Karl Malden was the greatest.

Why stop at 10 "Best Picture" nominees?

Count me as a supporter of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences decision to expand the Best Picture nominations to ten films. 

The category has been limited to five movies as far as I can remember, but it turns out ten nominees was the rule several times in the awards history; 1932-33 and in 1944.

It's hard to ignore that Best Picture nominees are usually big budget movies that grossed big bucks, made by big studios that spend alot of big money on promoting their movies.  It also seems true that, despite a bunch of moaning and groaning from film critics, certain movie genres are rarely considered for the Best Picture award, despite their critical acclaim.

Last year, a couple examples were obvious.  Let's face it; science fiction and animated films aren't likely to be nominated for best picture.   "The Dark Knight" and WALL-E were two hugely popular movies, both in terms of critical reception and box office receipts.  No Best Picture nominations though.  The field was full of serious films like "Benjamin Button" and "Milk"; more conventional Hollywood fare. 

And then there's all the "little" films that really impressed and had absolutely zero chance of ever being considered.  The probability of being nominated and honored just doubled with the Academy's decision.  And that's a good thing. 

What would really be fun is including a category that awards that "guilty pleasure" movie.  The movie that you know just stinks but you love regardless.  I've got a long list of those...

Cisma

I have no idea what this film is about, but I sure did enjoy it.

For more information on the video, go here.

Reulf

Brightening Paris.  From Vimeo:

Reulf is student project from University of Paris VIII directed by Quentin Carnicelli, Charles Klipfel & Jean-François Jégo as part of our graduate program in Arts and Technologies de l'Image.  Music composed by Robert le magnifique & Olivier Mellano.

If David Lynch had directed "Return of the Jedi"

Apparently George Lucas asked David Lynch ("Twin Peaks", "Wild at Heart", "Mulholland Drive") to direct "Return of the Jedi", but Lynch decided to direct "Dune" instead. 

Here's a scene from "Jedi" ala David Lynch.

The surprise wedding reception

Improv Everywhere is a New York City group that pulls of improvised stunts to create "chaos and joy".  Here's their latest:

Sofia's People

A short film by Philip Bloom.  From the Vimeo notes:

Shot over a couple of nights, taking the 5dmk2 out on the streets and getting shots of the inhabitants and visitors. No lighting, no grading. This is what came out of the camera image wise. All handheld and helped by using the Z-Finder from Zacuto to give the camera a proper viewfinder and improve stability.

All shot using one lens. A Nikon mount Zeiss ZF 50mm f1.4

Music is by Stacey Kent: You can't take that away from me.

Sofia's People: Canon 5dmk2 25p from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

RunPee.com; necessity is the mother of invention

Who says the big problems in the world aren't being tackled?  Search for movies at RunPee.com and it will tell you when during the movie to go take that break you so desperately need.

I was thinking about seeing Angels and Demons this weekend.  After looking up the movie, I now know that if I can't wait the 2 hours, 18 minutes for the movie to end, I should make a break for it at the 1 hour, 10 minute mark, when

Robert and a guard are in the Vatican archives and the power goes out (This is the perfect time to go RunPee because they don't even talk much.  You won't be missing a thing).

There's even a section you can unscramble and read about what you missed in the 3 minutes it took you to finish your business.  And just in case you take a little longer... the site will outline the next scene. 

Genius.

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus

You know you're talking a classic when Debbie Gibson is the star of the movie.

Eating cereal, Hollywood style

Big time Hollywood director, Michael Bay (Transformers, Armageddon, The Rock, Bad Boys) directs a short film about eating a bowl of cereal.

Epic, huh?