An Interview

Me being interviewed yesterday at PenTV about Oscar noms, or how one looks after wearing a headset. Hosted by Cody Simmons. Directed by Kristen Ohiaeri.

OscarTube

Trying something never done before: if all goes well, there will be a live broadcast of the 84th Academy Award Nominations in the YouTube stream immediately above this sentence! The catch: it's live, so you better be awake at 5:30 a.m. PST to see it!

And, who might this be? It's only the beautiful Jennifer Lawrence, the actress nominated last year for her role in Winter's Bone, who will help deliver the nominations.

Countdown to Noms

So, the countdown begins to the Academy Award nominations on Tuesday. My list has been continually updated over the past few months, with more and more additions. For BP, the first 5 are solid. The next 5 are a competition between who I think deserves it and who the Academy wants to play safe with. My predix for the [up to] Top 10, in numerical order:

1. The Artist
2. Hugo
3. Midnight in Paris
4. The Help
5. The Descendants
6. Drive
7. The Tree of Life
8. The Ides of March
9. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
10. Moneyball

If it were based purely on talent and meaning, not on producer stamina, it might be more like this:

1. The Tree of Life
2. Drive
3. The Artist
4. Midnight in Paris
5. The Help
6. Hugo
7. The Descendants
8. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2
10. Weekend

We'll find out very soon!

Let's Drive

Elated that Drive got some notice from the recent BAFTA noms with 4, including for Director and Picture! There is a reason this won at Cannes for Best Director (Nicolas Winding Refn) over The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick). It sure might be an action film, but good mercy, it is so much more! Hope the Oscars will pay similar attention next week, too, and with Albert Brooks added in!

I will mainly be happy if both of those directors get a nom. Oscars should not be about stamina and the body of work from a person; it's about specific films when it's competitive. Loved the metaphysical, bigger-picture The Tree of Life and the awesomely experiential Drive, and they're neck-and-neck on my favorites list from 2011.

More Yay for The Artist!

So, the Golden Globes were last night... Definitely a Weinstein night, based on how many winners were financed by his company (includes The Artist, My Week With Marilyn, The Iron Lady and W.E.). No problem, since The Artist was the top dog, winning 3 awards, including Best Pic for Comedy or Musical. Above, you can hear a track of the now award-winning score by Ludovic Bource!

Still, the wealth was spread around. Only The Descendents also earned more than a single award, including Best Pic for Drama. Awards also went to The Help and Beginners.

Homage to Lumière Bros.

For 2012, I've created a simple video that, like Scorsese's Hugo, makes historical reference to the beginnings of motion pictures. Soon to air on PenTV:

In Motion

What a year that was, zipping by so quickly. This one's no slower, already more than a week in! Some prospective goals, I achieved; some, I did not. Here's what was a success for directorG.com in 2011:

• Created these movies: NOH8: Is It Real Now?, Flight of the BumblebOWLE, and Green Monster
• Entered Journey of the Mind into Cinequest San Jose Fest and Neuro Film Fest
• Generated new Thomas Productions logo
• New website design created
• Redesigned GPicturama photo displays, implemented FancyBox
• Redesigned Film Ratings link style
  
• Found old footage from Monty Awards

Our YouTube viewership update has continued to grow, with the following projects receiving over 1000:

1. Scenes from Being John Malkovich: 11,835
2. The Dog of Pompeii (Pt. 1): 11,225
3. The Dog of Pompeii (Pt. 2): 3,853
4. The King Who Rained: 2,513
5. Fort Ord: Doughboy Theater Footage: 2,206
6. The Last Kiss: 1,927
7. My Teachers Are Aliens: 1,757
8. Tons of Sugar Cereal Commercial: 1,305
9. NOH8: Is It Real Now?: 1,166
10. Lipstick on a Pig? Actually...: 1,114
11. Man Facing Nervous Breakdowns: 1,082
12. Abrupt: 1,041

For 2012, I intend to do the following:

• Enter Everyone and Their Mother into a festival, and submit to IMDb
• Create at least one short film with my HD Camera, submit to fests
• Create an iPhone movie for submitting into Disposable Film Fest
• Finish reediting Brave New World, post on YouTube
• Finish updating entire website
• Find alternate method for posting movies that get blocked

There may be some hiatuses here and there, because this is such a big year in terms of reinventing the wheel at life, but it's time to get started!

Debut of Finished Site!

Happy New Year, and Happy New Finished Site! Still ironing out the kinks, but the main design for directorG.com is finally all set. Now, the News Blog is what naturally appears in full form when the main page loads up, instead of the temporary widget version that miniaturized and/or eliminated certain features. Under Construction logo: be gone!

More updates and a year-in-review coming soon. In the mean time, please enjoy the trailer for The Artist, undoubtedly one of the best films of last year!