Happy 7th B~day, Youtube

We've been using YouTube for the Thomas Productions website for years, and even longer for our movies. Take Photagrizzly Man, for which an account had to be created in the Spring 2006 semester of college. If YouTube was May 2005, I've been with an account 6/7 of the time!

300th Blog

Holy Moses! To celebrate this
300th
entry, you will be treated by several videos that have absolutely no direct relation to Thomas Productions, but are completely awesome nonetheless!

One of the auteur's own sets is turned into a fisheye frame and displayed day and night from compiled shots. Spectacular.

Everybody likes The Hunger Games, so here's a good mini spoof of how it "should have" ended.

The greatest news clip this week wasn't from the news at all, but a late night show. Still involved the President, though!

Pics were taken of this for GPicturama at this Pedestrian Bike Bridge last November. Here's a video crossover to accompany it!

We all know my history with the Ord...

6 Months • 1631 Views

Wow, has it already been six months? NOH8: Is It Real Now? was posted on YouTube on September 17, 2011. What is most fascinating about this is that it is already inaccurate, if you were to still consider it in the present tense, as two more states have legalized same-sex marriage since then! With 1,631 views and counting, this is already one of the most successful videos Thomas Productions has ever created.

Full-Blown Playlist

A test of sorts, here is the first time I've ever posted a full-blown playlist from YouTube. If this works, you can literally see every movie I've ever posted online in sequence in the player above! Many vids are not necessarily Thomas Productions, as there are related clips and random things I've put there over the years. But, if this technique works, playlists could be utilized with better refinement!

84th Oscars

For the total tally of tonight's Oscar winners, The Artist won 5 including Best Pic, Hugo also won 5, and The Iron Lady won 2. Any other winners had 1 apiece. My correct predictions (15/24) are colored:

• BEST PICTURE: The Artist
• BEST DIRECTOR: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
• BEST ACTOR: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
• BEST ACTRESS: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Octavia Spencer, The Help
• BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Midnight in Paris
• BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Descendants
• BEST FOREIGN FILM: A Separation (Iran)
• BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Undefeated
• BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Saving Face
• BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Rango
• BEST ANIMATED SHORT: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
• BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT: The Shore
• BEST ART DIRECTION: Hugo
• BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Hugo
• BEST COSTUME DESIGN: The Artist
• BEST FILM EDITING: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
• BEST MAKEUP: The Iron Lady
• BEST MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE: The Artist
• BEST MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG: The Muppets
• BEST SOUND MIXING: Hugo
• BEST SOUND EDITING: Hugo
• BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Hugo

I was primarily glad to see that Hugo would only take the tech categories. Its story, as of viewing the film last night, seemed too "goody-two-shoes" to win top prize, with unreal dialogue that shattered my suspension of disbelief. Alexander Payne and Woody Allen know exactly what I'm talking about. If I'd not voted for Drive and Apes, it could have been my highest correct prediction yet. Glad Christopher Plummer is finally a winner at age 82, even older than Jessica Tandy was.

Chico, Rita & Hugo

I'll start with the better film here: Chico & Rita. What an excellent film it is! Visually spectacular because it both revels in traditional animation and incorporates 3D in a way that still resembles being painted. Great incorporation of Cuban jazz and a story that doesn't shy away from a sensual relationship are proof that it's not a Disney film, and it's all the better for it. Not all movies have to be made for kids. Rango will probably win, but I still would be rejoicing for this nom if it won instead.

Hugo, on the other hand, left me extremely disappointed. Yes, I know this is Martin Scorsese's first "non-R" picture in decades, specifically a so-called family film. Still, it felt too goody two-shoes for what it was striving for. It's certainly going to win some tech awards tomorrow, especially for art direction, but the lingering, Narnia-like screenplay itself ceased a suspension of disbelief for me. Note that while it has earned just over $100M, its budget was more like $170M, so it hasn't even broken even yet. That's all the more reason to give it to an indie like The Artist for Best Pic tomorrow!