Ask and ye shall receive. Katey, Joe, Nick and Nathaniel (c'est moi) got together again for a Post SAG discussion after your many subtle hints of 'when y'all doing that again?'. We ask too many questions and we love a good tangent. Topics include but are not limited to...- Did SAG wins change anything?
- Ageism and Oscar
- Slumdog mania and backlash
- Braveheart and Titanic...
- 'Sean does what Sean needs to do!'
- The Curious Case of Fast Fading Button
- The Lord of the Oscars: The Return of The Weinstein
- Why doesn't Streep ever work with real auteurs?
- James Franco and the mysteries of the "uncredited" performance
- Penélope Cruz vs. Viola Davis vs. Marisa Tomei vs. Amy Adams vs. Taraji P Henson... but maybe not in that order? Is this actually a five-way race again?
- The Prime of Miss Emma Thompson
- Our very first Oscar broadcasts and what they did to our young psyches
The best option is the iTunes version i.e. the enhanced podcast but you can listen to the simplified mp3 if you don't have an enhanced player.Enjoy, discuss and please do share tales of your first Oscar broadcast. How did the Academy warp your fragile little mind?
*
Posts
41 comments:
Yup! That's what I now think of Benjamin Button. Fast fading, definitely. Appears beautiful at first, but there's not much underneath.
Yay!
My first live Oscar broadcast was in 1995 for awards year 1994. I think that was the first year that UK terrestrial TV screened the broadcast live (now one has to splash out for a cable channel).
I remember lots of people winning awards for movies I'd not seen, and consequently getting irritated as all hell when the movies I had seen didn't win. I chiefly recall a widespread irritation that Pulp Fiction didn't win every award for which it was nominated (save Best Actor, where I was championing Nigel Hawthorne).
Since then I've gone out of my way to have as full an opinion as possible on every category, despite the erratic UK release dates for many Oscar contenders.
I remember 1993's ceremony (for 1992's movies). I was 12 and hadn't seen hardly any of the movies, but I was fascinated by the clips, the stars, and the competitions. The next year, I checked out Unforgiven and Howards End and loved them both. By the next year's ceremony, I was up on many of the contenders. I was the nerdy kid who begged his parents to let him see the R-rated Schindler's List (they let me....)
What about Meryl and Mike Nichols? Not exactly an auteur but certainly a director with a cinematic voice and works well with actors
In terms of Kate's nod . . . it may just be as simple as The Reader is first alphabetically on the ballot. If you're goal is to get Kate an Oscar, maybe what film you're voting for doesn't matter that much to you.
Aye.
My first Oscar broadcast was 1997. I lived with some film students. I saw about 4 movies a year. I remember being pissed off that Titanic lost Make-Up and this couldn't crack Ben Hurr's record.
It's a strange experience staying up until 5.00 in the morning (UK Time). Even though I don't have SKY TV (who stole the Oscars a few years back), someone usually tapes it for me.
I'm too excited to sleep to be honest - live blogging is great when there is no TV and news channels. I even found a site showing it via the web last year. Marvellous.
Ok - this brings back many happy memories.
As a kid, I got that sappy "Greatest Oscar Moments" vhs as a present and watched it over and over again...to a point where to this day I can sing you the medley of all the best song winners that starts with Barbra Streisand's "Evergreen", in the exact order it appeared on the tape. Pathetic, you say? Hmmm.
Anyway, so you can tell I was an Oscar geek from an early age. Living in Israel, one had to stay up all night in order to watch it (or go to bed and wake up at 3 am all groggy - tried that, too) - so being that dedicated cost me. I remember one year when I was in high school and had a big test the next day - I couldn't believe how insensitive my teacher was being!
I remember Emma Thompson's win for "Howard's End" very vividly, and also her wonderuful speech when she won best adapted screenplay fo S&S a few years later - which cemented my eternal status as Emma Thompson fanatic.
Great pdcast,y'all! :-)
lovely podcast, once again.
I'm a little bit of a youngster here, I see. I think I've been watching the Oscar telecast for as long as I can remember, but the first one I paid close attention to was the '02 ceremony. That was the year of Adrien Brody molesting Halle Berry, among other whimsical things. That memory scarred my young brain for life; however, the rest propelled my interest in cinema, especially since 2002 was such a great year for film.
@M: I knew I was forgetting somebody, and yep, it's Nichols: hardly a master, but a solid director when he's "on," and responsible for two of my very favorite Meryl performances. But you'd think in a career like Meryl's that we'd see a few more Artists on her résumé.
Meryl Streep was in Woody Allen's "Manhattan." True, it was early in their illustrious careers, but it's something. And how about Altman and "A Prairie Home Companion"?
I don't care if the Oscar party I'm going to isn't a costume party--I'm dressing as Cleve Jones anyway. I guess I'll have to put on my dancing shoes and blow someone n the back room after Sean Penn wins Best Actor.
Well Streep has worked with Altman, Eastwood, and Jonze in addition to Nichols.
First Oscar Telecast :
I was 11 years old and I watched as Maureen Stapleton won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for REDS. It was a huge deal for me because I lived a few blocks away from Stapleton's childhood home in Troy, NY. It was thrilling when she thanked our hometown in her speech.
Years later, I had the chance to spend an evening with Miss Stapleton at her home and actually held the Oscar. Wild.
BTW - We saw Frost/Nixon over the weekend and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I thought it was hell of a lot better than The Dark Knight. TDK lost me during the last half hour ; I just wanted it to be over.
well, the first one i watched was way back in the 1960's when julie andrews won for mary poppins. my parents let me stay up real real late. also enjoyd hearing someone sing "more" - a great song.
First off, I could listen to you guys everyday, but please promise there’ll at least be a post-Oscars podcast with all you four.
I mean, THIS is what I love. You got the zingy comments (although what could beat Joe’s Aniston commentary in the 08 podcast), the awards prognostication, the “Slumdog”/’Frost” bashing, the smart, dang- I-never-really-thought-of-that moments (for instance the Meryl Streep bit), loved the overall verbal interplay (as always)… just, truly splendid.
To quote Meryl’s speech “mmm, love, love you” guys. Thank you!
P.S. I think Streep starring in a Jane Campion piece might be my new obsession. ☺
Since I'm taking a gentle but deserved drubbing for forgetting about Manhattan and Prairie Home (and, before someone thinks of it, working with Demme isn't so bad, either), I will seize the opportunity to license Team Abacus as my comment!
Thanks, everyone for listening and for responding so enthusiastically.
Since you mentioned Sally Potter, Judi Dench is in her new film, Rage. But it seems to me as a very small film so I don't know if it will be released in Greece. I hope so.
You just can't let me have my misattributed glory, can you, Nick?
i think between the two of you... there's plenty of quips worth claiming ;) don't get greedy!
robUK -- i loved Hawthorne that year too though i don't think i was actually rooting for him. I think was a Travolta man by a slim margin (that feels SO weird to say now) but they were my top two.
Leehee -- i loved Emma's 95 speech too but i couldn't but them both in the podcast. overkill for the non-emma lovers. Do such people exist?
"I think was a Travolta man by a slim margin (that feels SO weird to say now)"
Which part? "Travolta man" or "slim"?
ba dum dum.
@Joe: It's just my best possible hope at a merchandising windfall, and in these wintry economic climes....
@All: Where are the Newman voters from '94? Nobody's Fool, y'all. Dyne-o-mite.
I thought what you guys were saying about "Braveheart" was interesting. Is it so unfair to say that "Slumdog" is going to join the ranks of best picture winners like "Braveheart" and "Gladiator" that (even at the time) seemed destined to be remembered as knee-jerk/reactionary best picture winners?
I think the supporting actress race isn't sewn up yet. I realize that P.Cruz and V.Davis have the lion's share of critical support/awards but as S.Hawkins' snub has shown, that can't always be counted on. The academy seems to reward movies that they like/ respect, but are not going win the major categories, in this race I.e. "Michael Clayton", "Dreamgirls", " The Constant Gardener", "The Aviator", "LA Confidential", so a win for either T.Henson ("Button" - nomination leader, isn't going to stop "slumdog") or M.Tomei ("wrestler" being touted as a future classic) wouldn't be shocking. The Academy could go another route and put their stamp on movie star/actress A.Adams (whose name seems to keeping up in convos as the one to watch). This is definitely the race that I am most anxious to see this year.
My "first" Oscar telecast I remember watching was when A Beautiful Mind won BP. I put "first" in quotes because I feel asleep after watching the Red Carpet interviews, and I remember my aunt saying that Halle Berry was amazing and going to win. I then woke up just as A Beautiful Mind won Best Picture.
The following year, my family and I were driving back from Vegas on that Sunday and I got the stomach flu. I went home and watched the Oscars and I was a Kidman fan even back then. I remember her winning, walking up toward the stage and then, throwing up. For reals. The whole time while she was saying her speech, I was so happy because of her win but I was puking my guts out becuase of the stomach flu lol. That was the first time I watched the telecast in full and have been doing it every since.
I think the way that original song voting goes is that the scale is from 6 to 10, and the threshold score is 8.25. To do that, 2 rounds of voting happens. One round is voting for the actual quality of the song. The second round is how the song is incorporated into the film itself. (The way this was explained to me is fuzzy, so this might just be one round of voting where both of those "guidelines" are given to voters). That's what I think tripped up Bruce Springsteen. His song started playing over a black screen to the end credits, and that becomes an inherent bias. That couldn't compete with the Bollywood dance number one, the chase sequence in the slums with the kids at the beginning of the film (That's where "O Saya" comes from -- how could you guys not know that? It's straight up "City of God"), or the trippy visual effects for "Down to Earth" (though that's still technically an end credits song too). I wouldn't be surprised if some shenanigans were going on to vote against Springsteen in a "get the main competition out of the way so someone else has a chance to win" mentality. His omission makes the category so ridiculous and inert, but at the same time, I'm really excited about A.R. Rahman finally getting his due with a radical departure for Academy voters there, or my longtime favorite Peter Gabriel holding his first Oscar in his hands. It's all so bittersweet, b/c even though a win's a win, when your strongest competition is snubbed for whatever reasons, it just makes your win that less significant. But whatever. He fucking rocked the halftime show tonight, and his new album is awesome. He'll manage.
I have a vivid memory of my first Oscar broadcast. My big brother came out of the closet as Mira Sorvino won her Oscar. Those two events combined was more bubbly preciousness than a five year old me could take.
I've given Sorvino a pass in pretty much everything since then. How great as she in that one episode of Will and Grace?
so Brooke -- did Mira make your brother gay? Cuz you know when someone is gay we have to blame someone!!!! ;)
It occurred to me later that, if I can get my hands on some pinestraw, I am going as Simple Jack. And I'll wonder why there aren't any awards going to my head movies.
The first Oscar ceremony (totally showing my age here) that I followed religiously was the year of "American Beauty." Being 13 and very easily impressed, I thought that Beauty was the best thing since sliced bread. My older sister and I watched, sure as ever that Annette Bening would win best actress, and being disappointed when she lost to Swank.
In retrospect, I do think that in Bening vs. Swank round 1, Swank was better. I just remember my sister saying:
"Ew. Isn't she that chick who was on 90210 for like two seconds?"
If only her executive summary could have remained as simple as that sentence. Around this time this next year, we'll be calling her three-time Academy award winning actress Hilary Swank.
the know nothing -- please no. bite your tongue!
I'm pretty sure it was Jessica Lange's win the previous year that turned my brother. There's so much wrong with that win for that actress. Think Renee Zellweger but to a much lesser extent.
My first distinct memory of the Oscars was seeing Roberto Benigni win Best Actor. At the time, I didn't understand the implications of the decision, but it was nonetheless a beautiful moment seeing him bound over all of the chairs. My interest in the Oscar telecast was renewed as a byproduct of my LOTR obsession, but the first ceremony I followed as an obsessive Oscar watcher was 2005. Great introduction, huh?
My favorite moment, however, is undoubtedly Woody Allen introducing Nora Ephron's New York film post-9/11. As a New Yorker, and firm devotee of all things Allen, it was a tremendously moving experience. Actually makes me somewhat emotional.
Brooke... don't even get me started on 1994!!!!
My first oscar memories are of the Shakespeare in Love v. Saving Private Ryan throwdown of 1998 (or '99 if you're going by the year of the actual broadcast). I'd heard the previous year about all the oscars Titanic won, but I didn't actually witness it, and didn't particularly care either. I was only drawn in by the drama of the following year.
Having seen neither move (yet), I remember rooting hard for Shakespeare, because it was pretty, and not about war, and the underdog. But I was also rooting for Cate Blanchett over Paltrow (again, not having yet seen either film). Also for Ian McKellen (cause duh, I was a closeted gay), though I wasn't horrendously angry at Benigni when he won (now I am).
I was 15.
So, I'm a pretty young viewer and I remember my first Oscar broadcast in 2000 when I was 8.
I remember 4 moments...
* Being truly angry when some old guy beat Haley Joel Osment for the Supporting Actor Oscar (I still think he deserved it). However, now I actually know who the old guy was and how immensely talented Michael Caine is.
* Wondering why The Sixth Sense didn't win anything (one of the few films I'd actually seen) and American Beauty, which my mum was rooting for, was winning everything.
* Once again, wondering why The Matrix, which I disliked, was winning so much.
* I fell in love with the girl dressed like Morticia... and that has continued since. However, I do remember that the stupid Mexican narrator said that Angie's win was shocking, as Toni Collette was the favourite... something I now know was bullshit.
My first ceremony was Titanic, but I remember having the exact same thoughts as Adam in regards to the following ceremony. I too wanted McKellen to win and Cate Blanchett and Shakespeare.
I was ten, watching the 99 Oscars, I think it was. Maybe I was 11? I'm not sure. young. Anyways, I developed a bit of a crush on good ol' Haley Joel Osment (hey, it was age appropriate!), and in the past decade the crush has disappeared but my love for the Oscars hasn't/
Post a Comment