Results of the Oscar Ballots!

Man, I wish I had bet on Sunday's awards. As you know, I created a ballot and posted it on facebook, Google Buzz, as well as e-mailed it to a group of people. I sent it out quite late Saturday night, so I wasn't sure how many responses I'd get. I ended up having 24 people fill it out (I had to twist some arms here and there, but mostly, I think people wanted a shot at the prize). Oh yeah, the prize. I am picking it up in Honduras next week. So....yeah. Good prize for no entry fee, right?
There were some interesting trends I saw in the ballot results. First, EVERYONE knew Avatar would win for Visual Effects. Also, Avatar and Inglourious Basterds tied for everyone's favorite movie of the year.
So, the results. Scores were weighted based on how easy I thought the category was. For example, Visual Effects had only three nominees, and the other two were fighting Avatar: 1 point. Documentary Feature: 5 points. There was a logical method to the scoring, but I won't go into that.
Oh, and I also filled out two ballots. I filled one out according to what I figured the Academy would vote, and then I filled one out based on who I thought should win. Good thing my ballots don't count, because they did pretty well. On my first--the what WOULD win ballot--I scored a 62 (out of 73 possible), which means I guessed the Academy's vote on 21 of the 24 categories! On my second, I scored a 27, or got 9/24 right. Haha, I don't know what that means.
But, onto the winner! First place overall was my sister Shawnee. She got a cool 50% right, for 38 points, so hip-hip for her!
Her are the rest of the results:

1. Shawnee, 38 points
   
2. Aunt Karen, 31
   
3. Brad, 28
   
4. Brady, 26
   
5. Meghan, 25
   
6. Leremy, 24
   
7. Abby, 22 (Tied, even after tiebreaker with Austin F)
   
8. Austin F, 22
   
9. Lance, 22
   
10. Josh and Krissey, 21
    
11. Chad P, 20
    
12. Rufus Sputtlenuck (Matt), 20
    
13. Casey D, 19 (Tied, even after tiebreaker with Andrea)
    
14. Andrea, 19
    
15. Chase, 18 (And, no, Chase, only 5 speeches were cut short, not all of them)
    
16. Max, 17
    
17. Stephanie M, 15
    
18. Michael L, 14
    
19. Lejdja, 14
    
20. Kelby S, 13
    
21. Jeff Dove, 9
    
22. Ken T, 7
    

OK Go Makes Me Happy Once More

60 tries, 40 volunteers, 20 bowling balls, 10 broken tvs, 5 sledgehammers, 4 paint guns , 3 completed shots, 2 days, 1 take and no cuts. Brilliant.

Human Chain - Brian Beletic

Here's an awesome short, featuring the Jazz's very own Deron Williams. Word has it, it took Director Brian Beletic over two years to complete, and his thoroughness and attention to detail surely show through. Awesome!

Nuit Blanche

Absolutely fantastic short film, Nuit Blanche, plus, an awesome howdtheydothat making-of video to go with it!

The Third & The Seventh

If you haven't seen Avatar, you still might be convinced that CG hasn't crossed the Uncanny Valley quite yet, you should do two things. First, go watch Avatar (IMAX 3D will do), and second, watch this CG animated surrealist film about architecture. It's long, so if you don't have time, skip towards the middle. It's all CG.

2009 Lists

Here are my lists of 2009. Best of's are in no particular order...that's just not the way I work.
My Year in Cities (2009)
Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
New York, NY*
Salt Lake City, UT*
Moralillos, Peru
Cuzco, Peru
Frankfurt, Germany
Marsberg, Germany
Albershausen, Germany
Albuquerque, NM
Green River, WY
Des Moines, IA
Chicago, IL
(At least one night was spent in each place. A (*) denotes multiple visits.)

Most Anticipated Movies of 2010
Inception
Alice in Wonderland
Toy Story 3
Shutter Island
The Lovely Bones
Prince of Persia
Iron Man 2
Robin Hood
Green Zone
The Materese Circle
Bonus: The Tree of Life

Best Mainstream 2009 Flicks
Up
Up In The Air
A Serious Man
Avatar
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
Sin Nombre (mainstream? maybe not)
The Hangover
Star Trek
(500) Days of Summer
(and a shout out to Public Enemies and The Informant!)

Up and Coming Actors to Watch in 2010 (mostly turned into a keep-an-eye-on list)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Been around for a while, but he's finally making a stand as a GREAT entertainer...just follow that link!)
Zooey Deschanel
Ellen Page (I suppose her Academy nomination should also preclude her from this list)
Sam Worthington
Zoe Saldana
Saoirse Ronan
James McAvoy
Sharlto Copley

Alright, well, I had a few more lists, but I'm already 5 days late with this as written, so we'll just leave it here. Let me know if you agree or disagree!

Dubai Skyline

You all know how I love cityscapes and skyscrapers, so this should have been obvious. Of course, hit HD and enjoy! (There's even a 1080p version available, but it appears you have to watch it on YouTube's site...)

UPular

Is it that obvious I've been out of school for the past week? Haha.
Check out an awesome mix-mash of UP, Pixar's great movie this year. It's fun.

UPDATE: Apparently, Disney Pixar is actually supporting Pogo's remix! Yay!

Skhizein - Amazing French Animated Short

A well animated short with a very intriguing plot. This was in the International Short Film competition for Sundance 2009. Bien fait, Jérémy Clapin.

The Fight Against Movie Talkers

Completely agree. I have become a pretty good shot with popcorn and concession packaging.

6-Inch Voices, Or Group Humiliation
I know I'm coming off rude already. The occasional quiet comment to the person beside you, that's totally fine by me. But If I can hear you from over two seats away, chances are, you need to shut the **** up (throughout life, possibly, but definitely in the theater).

It's Time for Us to Fight Back Against Movie Theater Talkers

rRan

And Finals Were Done

Yes. I have finally finished the semester from Hell. 19 credit hours compressed into 3 days a week. Major ugh. But I'm done, and I screamed and yelled at the top of my lungs the whole car ride home from my last final.
I got home, and I was shaking because I was so relieved, so, naturally, I came to find a most fantastic video. It's so interesting and makes me feel insignificant and yet at the same time, a wielder of fantastic power. Take a look. (Turn on HD and fullscreen this baby!)

The Future Is Coming!!

I remember, I think, seeing this at Tomorrowland in 1998 on our family vacation to Disneyland. I thought it was funny then, and I think it's hilarious now. But it also reminds me that there was a time when peoples' imagination for the future was running rampant, and the sciences that were known then (I love the "push-button interface"), while being simplistic, opened their eyes for so much more. Do we still have that love for innovation? If not, what's getting in our way?

Babies

All right, so I'm really excited to become an uncle (any day now!!) But even so, I think this documentary would have been appealing to me anyways. It looks very well done, and the subject matter is, well, not so infantile.

OK Go - WTF?

You gotta love playing with the strobe effect. We do this sometimes with our live video switcher when we're setting up campus video events and have 6 screens going. It's quite fun. Lovely and colorful video again (even one shot again perhaps?) continues to show that OK Go has figured the music video thing out.

Reading is fun!

Beautiful!

The Magic of H20

Makes complete sense, but it's still quite neat. This is probably the best (on most non-cliche) use of high-speed photography I've ever seen.

Improv Anywhere: Lunch, the musical

I love Improv Anywhere. I also really respect what they do. This time they've gone above and beyond, and they even got some awesome NBC equipment to help them. Check it out:


[via Gizmodo]

Sigur Rós - Glósóli

Just came across this. It is beautiful. Absolutely up there with my favorite music videos.

Help the Tower!

Just got this e-mail from a professor of mine:

Our friends at the Tower Theatre are in a bit of trouble. They are taking donations as small as $5.

Help the Tower!
Ever wanted to be more involved in your film community? Now is your chance to really make a difference.
Upon starting the 4:30 digital screening of the film Afghan Star last Friday, the Tower's digital projector shorted out and is now beyond repair. The machine was purchased in 2000 when the lumens, or strength of light power, were based on one chip and not extremely bright. Since then, technology in this field has made a vast improvement and current available projectors have potential to give us festival quality projection. We are so close! Still, we need your help to make it possible! So join in by making a contribution today and be directly invested into providing film access at the Tower Theatre for many years to come.

We're raising money through Facebook Causes, if you're not a member of Facebook it only takes a few seconds to sign up and start helping!

Click here to visit the cause page and DONATE!

We're trying to reach the goal of $8,500 in only four days, so please help now! All donations are tax deductible and every little bit helps!

For those of you who don't know, the Tower is one of the oldest operating theatres in Utah. It is entirely funded by the Salt Lake Film Society, is one of the favorite local theaters, maintains a library of the most beautiful and obscure films in Salt Lake, and is a site for the Sundance Film Festival. If you can, do donate!