Five lessons from the Oscars 2011 marketing blitz

As international television events go, it doesn't get much bigger than Hollywood's night of nights, the Academy Awards. In the US, the Oscars will be watched by an estimated 41 million views, making it the second most-watched television event of the year, behind the Super Bowl.
And like the Super Bowl, which in the last decade has become an annual marketing event on the level of Christmas, the Oscars are morphing into a major event on the advertising calendar.
According to the Los Angeles Times, broadcaster ABC will sell about $80 million worth of ads during the coverage, up from about $70 million last year.
Big advertisers set to use the ceremony as a platform to launch marketing drives include Hyundai, Best Buy and Living Social, the biggest competitor to group buying pioneer Groupon.
But it's not just big advertisers trying to cash in – some US SMEs are also using the Oscars to try and grab a bit of the hype.

Here are five lessons from the Oscars marketing madness:

1. Leak your campaign

One noticeable trend in the US is the way advertisers are using big events turn their 30-second ads into week-long marketing drives. This Living Social is marking it work. First, you develop the ad. Second, you so some media stories talking about the ad, and the investment you've made. Third, you leak a few sneak previews of your ads (or even the whole thing) on YouTube. Fourth, you show the ad. Lastly, you have some sort of social media element to the ad itself that allows you to talk online for a few days after the big event.

2. Get star struck

At most award ceremonies, the red carpet portion of the evening is almost as important as the prize-giving part, which is why clothing labels, jewellery firms, make-up artists and hair-care companies all want a slice of the action. Australian cosmetics entrepreneur Napoleon Perdis is brilliant as this. He always manages to get publicity for his self-named cosmetics firm by being involved in Oscars' coverage, either as make-up-artists-to-the-stars or a talking head. Even if you can get directly involved in an event, providing some sort of expertise around it is a great way to get noticed.

3. Give it away

Many big advertisers pay millions for a celebrity endorsement, but smaller companies need to take a different approach. A great example is a Winnipeg children's shoe store called Toto n Dot, which paid to be a stallholder at something called the Academy Awards Red Carpet Style Lounge in Los Angeles. The store then gave a pair of imported girls shoe to nominees and former nominees visiting the lounge in the hope that they might end up in magazines around the world on the feet of a celebrity's child. A long shot perhaps, but the payoff would be spectacular.

4. Build an app

Big events are fast-becoming big business for app developers and this year is no different. There are a range of paid apps available for Oscar viewers, including red carpet apps, news apps and an app that allows users to see inside an exclusive after party called the Governor's Ball. It's getting harder to turn a quick buck out of the crowded app market these days, but big events like the Oscars do give developers a chance – provided they have the right content.

5. Win

There is no better marketing than taking home an actual Oscar. An award helps sell movie tickets, it helps actors get better rolls, it helps producers get more investors. This fact has been underlined by a controversial marketing campaign from actor Melissa Leo, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Fighter. In recent week, Leo has taken out self-funded advertisements in Hollywood trade publications to try to attract votes. The campaign has been heavily criticised, but if it works Leo could well have the last laugh.
Source: smartcompany.com.au

The Oscars, On Twitter: Over 1.2 Million Tweets, 388K Users Tweeting


Twitter has changed the way we watch television. Say what you will about the 83rd Annual Oscars (and thus far the consensus is “meh”), you’ve probably already said it on Twitter.  Mass Relevance and TweetReach, a Twitter analytics service with commercial access to the Twitter API, have teamed up to make a data map of yesterday’s mass conversation.

Over 20 Oscar-related terms like “Oscars,” “#Oscars,” “Academy” (but no specific names of celebrities or movies) were tracked between the hours of 5:30 and 8:45 PST during the show’s live airing. Total damage? 1,269,970 tweets, 1,663,458,778 potential impressions, and 388,717 users tweeting.
The Onion@TheOnion
The Onion

How rude — not a single character from Toy Story 3 bothered to show up. #oscars
about 22 hours ago via HootSuiteRetweetReply
The honor of most retweeted tweet of the night went to The Onion with the above zinger (sorry @parislemon). And the highest tweet peak was shortly after the internet friendly Auto-Tune montage at 7:20 pm PST, clocking in 11,780.
And while that 1.6 billion impressions number may seem high, TweetReach CEO Jenn Davis tells me that the volume was actually lower than she expected, “We were prepared for big spikes, and we just didn’t see those.” Davis told me that the event paled in comparison to the Super Bowl and The Grammy, where TweetReach saw 17,000 tweets in a single minute. In contrast, the spikes topped out at 12,000 at the Oscars.
Davis guesses that this is because the movie industry has not yet found its Twitter groove, “All of the celebrities that generate a lot of the converasation on Twitter are musicians like Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, so I don’t know if [The Oscars] appeals to a Twitter audience in the same way The Grammys or The Superbowl does. “
Update: Here are the top ten retweets, in order of frequency (#s below each tweet).
The Onion@TheOnion
The Onion

How rude — not a single character from Toy Story 3 bothered to show up. #oscars
about 22 hours ago via HootSuiteRetweetReply
2963
Conan O'Brien@ConanOBrien
Conan O'Brien

Watching the Oscars. Not crazy about the womb Natalie Portman's baby chose to wear.
about 21 hours ago via webRetweetReply
1637
Bill Maher@billmaher
Bill Maher

Oscars just announced, Kirk Douglas hosting show next year.
about 22 hours ago via OpenBeakRetweetReply
1314
Justin Bieber@justinbieber
Justin Bieber

good luck to my friend Hailee Steinfeld tonight on the #oscars . young people going for theirs! also want Christian Bale to win. #TheFighter
about 23 hours ago via webRetweetReply
1133
The Onion@TheOnion
The Onion

Stay tuned for the official Republican rebuttal to the #Oscars shortly after the show
about 19 hours ago via HootSuiteRetweetReply
1091
Keith Olbermann@KeithOlbermann
Keith Olbermann

Just remember: every star you see, every film you applaud, everything you honor at the #Oscars, is a proud part of a # UNION #Wisconsin
about 22 hours ago via webRetweetReply
993
Joseph Gordon-Levitt@hitRECordJoe
Joseph Gordon-Levitt

"Three years after a financial crisis caused by massive fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail." #Oscars
about 20 hours ago via Twitter for iPhoneRetweetReply
965
Tom Keiser@keisertroll
Tom Keiser

I WANT TO THANK YOU LIKE AN ANIMAL #reznor #oscars
about 21 hours ago via webRetweetReply
910

Ryan Seacrest@RyanSeacrest
Ryan Seacrest

So when presenters are reading the winners at the #oscars, this is what the card inside the envelope looks like: http://yfrog.com/h86e36j
February 27, 2011 12:39 pm via webRetweetReply
891
Harry Potter Film@HarryPotterFilm
Harry Potter Film

"Tiny Ball of Light." Hahaha. Who knew Ron and Hermione could sing? Brilliant. #Oscars
about 20 hours ago via TweetDeckRetweetReply
882


Thanks: TweetReach

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Source: techsynd.com

The Awards For Best Oscar-Related Tweets Go To…

If we learned one thing from the Oscar telecast Sunday night it might be that a bad, boring awards show can make for some entertaining Twitter content (and that an emerging medium can thrive on the rotting carcass of a dying one). If you checked your Twitter feed at any point during the broadcast (and for some time after), you were likely inundated with reports, many of them more insightful or humorous than the show itself.

The reviews for the Oscar telecast were predictable, with the show being called bloated, indulgent, old-fashioned and awkward. The consensus though also seems to be that many people wouldn’t have it any other way. Should you have wished, you could have followed all the action on Twitter alone, but of course you’d miss out on all the Gay Super Bowl fun (see Best Hashtag).

If you were only concerned with a real-time list of winners you could have followed @TheAcademy (or parsed that all those “Natalie, can you be any more boring?” tweets meant that Portman had just nabbed the Best Actress statuette for Black Swan). However lousy the show itself was, Twitter users found ways to amuse themselves. As writer and comedian Gennefer Snowfield pointed out, “At least a bad awards show makes for some hilarious tweets.”
Without any further ado (or any bad song and dance numbers, uncomfortable sketches or wooden dialogue) here are some of the top tweets of the evening:
Best Hashtag
Any variation of #Oscars was completely irrelevant since most folks in the western world’s feeds were most likely dominated by Oscar tweets any way. The one hashtag that really summed up the true relevance and irrelevance of the Award’s show coverage had to be #gaysuperbowl.
Best Summing Up
Author and NYU professor Adam Penenberg nailed a new locution inspired by the host: “Franco (v.): 1.) To smoke up before a big event to take the edge off only to take the edge off your performance. 2.) Bleary-eyed MC-ing.”
Best Best-Actress Tweet
Vice magazine with characteristic gentleness offered its take on Sandra Bullock handing off the Best Actress baton: “Sucks that now Natalie Portman’s husband has to cheat on her with a white supremacist, but rules are rules.”
Best Best-Picture Tweet
And the Award for the Best Best-Picture Tweet goes to television writer Shawn Ryan: “AMBER ALERT reported in LA. Little boy named Oscar taken from rightful owner David Fincher. Culprit believed to be foreigner.”
Best Fake Retweets From Vanity Fair’s Post-Show Party
Esquire online features editor Foster Kamer had a little fun with VF’s official account, mock retweeting things such as, “RT @vanityfairmag: Graydon just “pimp-slapped” Franco. “I deserve better,” he screamed. Then he told me to Tweet it. #vfoscars” and “RT @vanityfairmag: Dickie Ward keeps taking shots with Kirk Douglas, wants to get him more “wasted.” Graydon can’t stop laughing. #vfoscars.”


Source: mediabistro.com

Tina Brown, 'Morning Joe' Team Roast Oscars (VIDEO)

Add the "Morning Joe" team and Tina Brown to the list of vicious reviews of Sunday night's Oscars. The entire panel on Monday's show had nothing but contempt for the show--Joe Scarborough called it a "disgrace"--but Brown led the pack, ripping into co-host Anne Hathaway with glee.
Brown said the show was the "very worst" she'd ever seen. And she said Hathaway was "just this drip, as far as I can see. I could not take her simpering...her self-confidence was so misplaced."
Later, Brown laid into Hathaway again, calling her "utterly devoid of any real humor."
The crew also attempted to figure out just what was going on with James Franco. Mika Brzezinski, Willie Geist and Brown seemed sure that something untoward was going on with him. Brown speculated that a "backstage bong had completely incapacitated his head."
WATCH:


Source: huffingtonpost.com

Oscars Audience Drops 9.8%

A smaller audience watched the Oscars ceremony on Sunday night, reversing two years of growth for the one of television's biggest events.
About 37.6 million people watched the Academy Awards, according to early Nielsen Co. data provided by broadcaster ABC. There were few surprises through the evening, and favored best-picture nominee— "The King's Speech" —picked up the top honor.
The tally was down 9.8% from the 41.7 million who watched a year ago, and ranks as the fifth-least watched ceremony since at least 1974, according to Nielsen.

A receding Oscars audience could add urgency to deliberations within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over whether to move the Oscars to as early as January to make its outcome more unpredictable.
Most of the big winners on Sunday night had already been showered with awards at a host of other award shows in the past two months, including Natalie Portman as Best Actress for "Black Swan" and Colin Firth as Best Actor for "The King's Speech." Some analysts at media-buying agencies had said before Sunday night's show that the lack of suspense could undercut the show's appeal.
In a silver lining for ABC, the network owned by Walt Disney Co., the declines were shallower among younger viewers. The rating among people ages 18 to 49 slipped about 4.5% compared to a year ago. Among women between 18 and 34 years old, the Oscars lost only 2% of last year's audience, ABC said.
Organizers had specifically set out to woo a more youthful audience for the graying show, in part by bringing in young actors James Franco, 32, and Anne Hathaway, 28, as cohosts. Last year, the median age for an Oscars viewer topped 50 for the first time in recent history.
"You look very appealing to a younger demographic," Ms. Hathaway said to Mr. Franco near the top of the telecast.

Source: WSJ.com

The Oscars 'Twilight' Surprise? AUTO-TUNE!

Even though the "Twilight" and "Harry Potter" movies aren't exactly Oscar bait, and even though the casts thereof were notably not in attendance at tonight's 83rd Annual Academy Awards, fans of the wizard-and-vampire genres still had a good reason to tune in for the broadcast: a highly anticipated, majorly hyped musical moment about halfway through the show. GAH, the excitement! What could it be?!
Well, tune in we did—sticking it out through seven acts of chatter, back-patting and James Franco in a magenta dress to see it. And while Robert Pattinson didn't show up (sorry girls, we know you're disappointed), what did happen was something even more extraordinary.
And by "extraordinary," we mean "T-Pain would have LOVED this."


Yep, you heard us right: In the absence of so many of our favorite celebs, the producers of tonight's awards made up for it by giving us homemade music videos—courtesy of some creatively-clipped dialogue and a LOT of auto-tune—for blockbuster movies including "Eclipse," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," "The Social Network" and "Toy Story 3."

Our favorites? "HP7"'s "Tiny Ball of Light" (featuring the vocal talents of Ron Weasley) and "Doesn't He Own a Shirt," featuring... well, Taylor Lautner with no shirt on, so who even cares about anything else. Drool.

Source:  hollywoodcrush.mtv.com

The 6 weirdest gender moments of the 2011 Oscars

Anne Hathaway and James Franco (Photo: Associated Press)

Last night's 2011 Academy Awards telecast was terrible as ever, a grinding, three-and-a-quarter hour display of awkward film industry promotion. Best Supporting Actress award winner Melissa Leo said it best: "It's about selling motion pictures! And respecting the work!" The annual exercise of polite clapping, at least, offered a few crumbles of gender weirdness with which to fill my blogging quotas. The five weirdest gender moments in the Oscar telecast, below:

6. JAMES FRANCO AS MARILYN MONROE. Following Anne Hathaway's tux-clad solo musical number, co-host James Franco emerged in a Marilyn Monroe-esque satin get-up, explaining: "You got to wear a tuxedo, so I wore this."  But why was Anne Hathaway wearing a tuxedo, forcing this conspicuous cross-dressing moment? Oh, no reason.
5. THE TRIANGLE OF MAN LOVE.
The cast of the King's Speech at the 2011 Oscars
When King's Speech director Tom Hooper took the stage, he devoted his statuette to actors Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, calling the three of them "a triangle of man love," and adding, "I'm only here because of you guys." Hooper then recognized Helena Bonham-Carter, saying, "I hope that reference doesn't make you too jealous." Way to take that introduction by Kathryn Bigelow, the only woman to ever win the thing, and devote your speech exclusively to your boy's club. (And later, your mom. Aww).
4. NATALIE PORTMAN'S "GREATEST ROLE."
Natalie Portman Speech at the 2011 Oscars
While accepting the Best Actress Oscar for her punishing role in Black Swan, Natalie Portman thanked Benjamin Millepied, saying that her ballet dancing fiancee "has now given me the most important role of my life." By impregnating her. What, not Garden State? (Kidding!) Portman is obviously proud of her and Millepied's forthcoming human production, but she's also at the very height of her career as an actor. It feels a little icky to use that moment to reinforce the primacy of a woman's gender role.
3. ANNE HATHAWAY ANNOUNCING "LEEESSSSBIANNNS!" Repeatedly, in the show's opening monologue.
2. EVERYTHING KIRK DOUGLAS SAID.
Kirk Douglas supporting
Particularly: "Where was [Anne Hathaway] when I was making movies?"; "Hugh Jackman is laughing . . . Colin Firth is not laughing"; and "I love women and I really love beautiful women, and now I'm gonna give you five of them—the nominees for Best Supporting Actress." Who thought it was a good idea to roll this 94-year-old out on stage to leer at a group of women, at excruciating length, before reluctantly handing over the prize? One of these women was born in 1996! Welcome Hollywood, Hailee!
 1. KIRK DOUGLAS CREEPILY PINCHING MELISSA LEO'S ARM.
Kirk Douglas pinches Melissa Leo at the 2011 Oscars
The oddly lascivious pinching of Melissa Leo was the most awkward gender moment of this year's telecast. Honorable mention to the gleeful laugh accompanying the pinching

Source: www.tbd.com

Oscars 2011: 10 ways to improve the ceremony

Anne Hathaway presenter of the 83rd Oscars
 
"Woop": Oscars presenter Anne Hathaway Photograph: Chris Carlson/AP
The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things, of tears and faked smiles and dead Hollywood montages, and actresses who think they can sing.
Listen up, Academy awards: I have been watching you for a long time. Longer than best supporting actress nominee Hailee Steinfeld has been alive, so I know whereof I speak when I say this year's event was not just bad – it was boring. And that's worse.
But I really do love you, Oscars, and I want to ensure your survival. So here, in the style of a presenter who is not Anne Hathaway, I would like to present the 10 Commandments of what must and must not be allowed to happen next year.

1. Don't let Anne Hathaway present ever again
Let's begin, Inception style, with a list within a list: what were the worst Hathaway moments of the night? The way she cried "woop" every time someone came on stage, suggesting she had been filling her hours by watching Girls Gone Wild? When she announced that the best thing about hosting the Oscars was "getting to breathe the same air as [Oprah]"? When she bowed to Billy Crystal? Blew kisses at Kirk Douglas? Used the word "hip" with an apparent lack of irony? Her – or, to be more precise, her stylist Rachel Zoe's – desire to placate every fashion designer in the world by changing into a new dress every (by my reckoning) two seconds, thereby distracting the audience from the event by making them imagine all the ugly long gowns piling up backstage in Hathaway's wake? And the winner is . . . the shouts of "woop!" Well done, woop, you put in a sterling effort, and you couldn't have done it without Hathaway's vocal chords, her utter lack of self-awareness and the stupidity of the person who decided to hire her. Woop!
2. Instead, hire James Franco's grandmother
Easily, the best on-stage interaction involving the bloodless Franco and Hathaway was at the beginning when there was some audience interaction with Franco's granny. She expressed lustful feelings for "Marky Mark", and while I personally preferred the Funky Bunch, and Betty White might have cornered the "old lady who talks dirty" market, Granny Franco did well and probably got the best laugh of the night.
3. But if you're going to insist on having bad presenters, don't remind people of the good ones
It's bad enough that every presenter AC (After Crystal) has insisted on doing the "comedy movie montage" in which they insert themselves into the nominated films, a trick Crystal coined and mastered in his glory days as presenter. But whoever thought it would be a good idea to bring Crystal himself out on stage this year for a guest presenting slot is someone who hates Hathaway and Franco a lot.
4. If we must have songs, have singers sing them
Gwyneth Paltrow performs Coming Home from the motion picture Country Strong at the Oscars Gwyneth Paltrow gets the ultimate karaoke gig. Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images If the prospect of an event that involved Hathaway doing Les Mis in a tux, Gwyneth Paltrow pretending to be from Nashville and singing in a faux southern accent and Kevin Spacey breaking into song for no obvious reason doesn't have you attempting to scrape out your own eardrums, you are a stronger Oscars viewer than me. And by the way, Gwyneth, maybe you should ask Chris Martin for singing lessons. Wow, never thought I'd say that.
5. Reinstate the tactless cutaway shots
Perhaps as part of the Academy's campaign this year to be more cool or, in Hathaway's words, "hip", there were fewer of the gauche cutaway shots for which the Oscars are so rightly renowned. You know the ones: the close-ups on the losers during the winner's speech, the quick cut to Morgan Freeman when someone makes a faintly racial joke ("He's laughing! So it's not racist!"). We did get some good ones: Annette Bening on the verge of tears of disappointment when Natalie Portman went up on stage; Helena Bonham Carter saying (correctly, as it turned out) to her seat neighbour, "I won't win" during the best supporting actress announcements; Harvey Weinstein glowering menacingly every time any movie other than The King's Bloody Speech was mentioned; Justin Timberlake only starting to laugh at Randy Newman's speech when he noticed the camera was on him – but it was not enough. Part of the problem was that the hosts were so boring so there was little to react to.
6. But some of those unfortunate pauses were excellent!
Colin Firth accepts the Oscar for best actor for his role in The King's Speech Colin Firth should have learnt from The King's Speech that pauses are often unfortunate. Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Reuters Maybe the Unfortunate Pause is the new Awkward Cutaway Shot? There were some great moments when stage fright or, more likely, wonky teleprompters led to some potential misunderstandings. Firth telling the world in his acceptance speech that he was "experiencing stirrings" was intriguing, until he added after a just-too-long pause that they were in "somewhere in the upper abdominal region". Better, though, was the adorable duo from The Social Network, Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter, who won for best editing. They hugged one another on stage and then thanked their "wives who allow us to have incredibly passionate love affairs with . . . " Each other? "Our families and our work." So close!
7. Can we please have a word about Kirk Douglas?
If you found yourself asking at some point, "Holy Jehosophat, why on earth is Kirk Douglas presenting the best supporting actress award?", I shall explain: it's because last year's supporting actors winners, Mo'Nique and Christoph Platz, were, respectively, being difficult and away working. But if there's one thing worse than getting less work as one ages in Hollywood, it is surely being blinded by the condescension dripping from the smiles of the likes of Jude Law when you are brought up on stage in a manner that can only be described as "token and patronising". Now, Douglas is a legend, true, but I'm not convinced that having him get up on stage and be smiled at benevolently by the whole of Hollywood as if he were an adorable Chia Pet while he leches over Hathaway is the best way to honour his work. Perhaps it is preferable to having one's passing honoured by a Celine Dion performance (who appeared to be struggling to move her forehead, which must be a problem for a known emoter like Dion), as poor Tony Curtis and his fellow RIPs had to endure. But only just.
8. Don't reveal the winner before the envelope is actually open
Academy, we know you love the royals. But at least pretend it's not a given before the award is announced and by that I mean, maybe, in retrospect, it wasn't the smartest move to play the recording of Colin's famous kingly speech over the clips of all the other best film nominees before the actual announcement.
9. That orchestra needs a raise
God bless the Academy awards orchestra. Instead of a giant cane appearing from the wings and pulling off miscreant performers, we have the orchestra, striking up random bits of music from whatever film just won, forcing the winners to get the hell off the stage. Heretofore, the orchestra merely annoyed me, mainly because it is so blatantly snobby: while best actors and best actresses get about three hours in which to thank everyone they've ever known (tip o' the tiara, Natalie Portman), the poor sound technicians etc get about five seconds. But I have to say, after hearing that orchestra bravely play on despite having been given the death stare by Aaron Sorkin – possessor of officially the scariest glare in Hollywood – I am filled with awe.
10. Encourage more male hair eccentricities
Show host James Franco at the 2011 Oscars  
James Franco proves it was a good year for male hair. Photograph: Mark J. Terrill/AP While I appreciate that the general consensus was that it was – as the parlance has it – "The King's Speech's night", or maybe even, as Franco said, "a good year for lesbians", the truth is, this year's Academy awards were all about amazing male hair. Now that the women have been so tyrannised by weekly magazine fashion critics that they almost universally hide themselves in boring beige sheathes, it's up to the men to provide the interesting aesthetics and some of the guys this year seized the hair mantle eagerly. The dominating image of the night will be Christian Bale, working the long hair/long beard look (note to Christian: when you're trying to improve your public image after some unfortunate footage on the internet, maybe don't take personal style tips from Charles Manson). And the dominating questions will be, why is Christian's beard a different colour from his hair? And most of all, is it really true that this beard isn't for a part but he actually chooses to have it on his face for fun? But the best hair winner by a mile was Luke Matheny, who won for best short film, sporting the most glorious mane ever. An Oscar? That kid needs a shampoo contract.

Source: guardian.co.uk

The 5 Most Talked About Earrings at the Oscars

The 83rd Academy Awards were held last night and we couldn’t be more excited to tune in to see all the glamorous fashion and jewelry. One piece of jewelry that we think shined the most were earrings. The Ice.com team discussed our favorite earrings this morning and some that we wish the starlets would have reconsidered.
Emeralds: Reese Witherspoon and Annette Bening both wore dark gowns with vibrant green emerald earrings. Reese’s Neil Lane emeralds were highlighted nicely with her high ponytail. Both Reese and Annette’s drop earrings closely resembled Angelina Jolie’s famous emeralds she wore to the Oscars in 2009.
Colorful Gems: Gwyneth Paltrow was a favorite amongst many in her Calvin Klein silver sleek dress and colorful Louis Vuitton multi-gemstone earrings and brooch. We’re unsure of what the exact design is but the colors are gorgeous with her skin tone.
Dangle Earrings: The newly slimmed down Jennifer Hudson looked ravishing in her tangerine Versace gown. She paired it with long diamond dangle earrings that looked lightweight and comfortable. She was definitely a fan favorite of the night.
Tassles: The biggest jewelry surprise was probably Oscar award winning actress Natalie Portman’s maroon Tiffany & Co. tassel earrings. The consensus at the office is that they were a miss for us but a few of our Twitter followers disagreed that they were a hit. What do you think?
Disappointment of the night: Marisa Tomei is a favorite actress to many, including Lady Gaga who recently said she would want Marisa to play her in a movie of her life. We are not only disappointed in her choice of gown but I wonder, what was she thinking putting those earrings on? Would you wear these flower themed gemstone earrings?
Other honorable mentions were Mila Kunis’ diamond and platinum Neil Lane ribbon earrings, Jennifer Hudson’s long drop earrings and Oprah Winfrey’s fabulous diamond earrings.
What were your favorite jewelry looks on the Oscars red carpet?

Source:  blog.ice.com

The Works Bids You All A Joyous Oscar-Laden Farewell

This is the final Works. For this special occasion, Tom Ziller has returned to the fold, however briefly. Also, fun with Oscars.

First, Eric Freeman...

David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin: The Works has always been a partnership between two strong personalities. For the past few months, Shoals and I have worked in something approaching harmony -- we both approach the NBA in the same borderline-intellectual way (in part because I ripped him off). The first incarnation of the column, though, matched seeming opposites in Shoals and Tom Ziller. If Shoals is the hip professor, then Ziller is the savant who knows so much about the sport that he's above a position in the academy. David Fincher occupies a similar role -- he's a technical master with a sneaky emotional pull -- but he initially seemed to be an odd fit for the talkative style of Aaron Sorkin. No matter: while "The Social Network" didn't come away with the top prize at the Oscars, the two teamed up for a fine film that become the most talked-about movie of the year. Ziller and Shoals had worked together before and will work together again, but this partnership was perhaps their most effective ever.
Natalie Portman:
I've seen "Black Swan" and still can't tell if Portman acted well or Darren Aronofsky just put her in so many harrowing situations that the audience (and awards voters) just felt bad for her. Whatever the case, she played the most put-upon character in the most whackadoodle movie nominated this year, and that's at least worthy of notice. In my first Works, Shoals and I debated the white swan/black swan dichotomy as it applies to Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook, so I associate this movie heavily with this column. Sadly, though, we have spent most of our time here firmly in the "black swan" camp, writing progressively weirder things about the NBA and our favorite cultural touchstones, so I don't know if it's a particularly accurate association. If only we were more technically precise. Grammar's a bitch, dudes.

Melissa Leo: I absolutely hated Leo in "The Fighter," viewing her as someone who thinks that acting really loudly constitutes acting well. She did herself no favors during last night's ceremony, either, apparently taking her cues from the Taylor Swift School of Acting Surprised at Awards Shows Even When You Were Obviously the Favorite. But while I talk smack about Leo, I must also admit that the Works has also occasionally taken the easy way out over doing the hard work of legitimate basketball analysis. That's particularly been the case over the last month or so. I bet you can't guess why!

Next, Ziller's return. These are so much like meta-Oscar speeches, aren't they?

Colin Firth: My first dip into writing for FreeDarko, the spiritual and obvious forebear of The Works, was a status update on Bonzi Wells after Jeff Van Gundy had banished him from the Rockets. In introducing the piece, Shoals said that it was "profoundly trivial/trivially profound." That's what I'd always hoped The Works to be: a meeting place for the trivial and the profound. Some of the criticism lobbed at the column has been that it never had anything to do with "last night," that it was so far removed from the game itself as to be irrelevant or, more politely, "beside the point." But every bit of effort poured into The Works has touched the games and the games in some way. Would you say the Futurists weren't artists because they wanted to destroy all museums? Of course not! There's earnestness behind every single point driven home in this column, and we -- Shoals, Eric and myself -- always sought to get past the first layer of the game to find revelation, even if we have to ride a clown car down the path. No matter what type of role Firth plays -- George VI or the straight man in those Bridget Jones films -- he's always completely and utterly earnest about what he does. There's value in that, even if it's hidden behind a sweater with the Christmas tree knitted into it.

Oh, and some other guy.

Bethlehem Shoals is a terrible, angry person: I really liked this conceit, and I've tried several times now to come up with good jokes about Inception, or reflect on how, like Kirk Douglas, The Works will never die. But I'm really not in the mood, unless you want to hear me complain about "The King's Speech" being judged as Oscar bait, when really it's just the kind of stuff British people make, very well, all the time.

I'm glad we got to do this column. I'm glad I got a steady paycheck for writing whatever I wanted with two of my best online buddies. At the end of the day, though, this isn't the end of our careers, and if anything, it's just a sad story about a wasted opportunity. Life goes on, for everything but The Works -- and indeed, for FanHouse itself, and maybe AOL as we know it. See, we're kind of like that secret "King's Speech" pedigree, or that pesky accent that Christian Bale has. Lowly blogger Tom Ziller was taken from us too soon when SB Nation, the company everybody wants to be, tapped him to be their prime NBA writer. I have plenty of irons in the fire, as does Eric. This company had made it clear what we were worth to it, so I decided to get on with my life and pursue other writing.

I could say that the marvel of The Works is that it happened at all; what I would really mean, though, is that it happened the way it did. We have a voice, and come from a land where trying to be smart, inventive, and funny is at a premium in writing -- online and otherwise. We'll be fine. Props to Randy Kim, Matt Watson, and Rob Peterson for believing in the cause, But as for whether this has any future at Sporting News, or Huffington Post, or whatever, well, it comes down to The Works being seen as just some bloggers' bloggin'. I always thought it was a daily column, didn't you?

But that's old business. The earth is scorched, and this column is collateral damage twice over now. It's been fun, and I'm glad the opportunity, but pardon me for just not feeling all that wistful or funny right now. In the immortal words of someone angry, headed out the door: Eff AOL. Whatever that even means anymore.



Source: nba.fanhouse.com

Consider: The 9 Best Faces Melissa Leo Made in Her Oscar Speech

Whether you felt the Kirk Douglas-Melissa Leo tango of wobbles was excusable or excruciating, it’s clear that Ms. Leo experienced a great many emotions during her time at the podium. Some of them were silly. Join us for a gallery of the foulmouthed honoree’s facial gymnastics.

Click here to launch the slideshow.

Source: movieline.com

Best Oscar makeup: Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett never disappoints on the makeup front and for the biggest awards do of the year she upped the ante.
The recently single actress bravely opted for an experimental look and the red carpet risk was worth taking. Orange makeup isn’t a path you’d automatically go down when you know all eyes will be on you but after seeing this perhaps next time you will.
SEE MORE OSCARS HAIR AND BEAUTY
The ambassador for Dolce&Gabbana The Make Up showcased burnt orange eyeshadow, which was applied deep into the socket of her eye, along her lower lashes and up towards the brow bone. Along the upper lash line was a subtle sweep of black eyeliner and jet-black mascara finished off the funky look.

To complement the bold eyes her complexion was kept simple, with the key feature being the dewy finish of her foundation and illuminated cheekbones.
Though she’s proved many a time she can more than pull off a loud mouth, Scarlett cleverly chose a nude lippy with a hint of berry tint that reflected the hue of her one-of-a-kind Dolce&Gabbana dress.
The effortless-looking tousled bob ensured the overall effect was achingly cool. What a girl.
SEE THE BEST DRESSED AT THE OSCARS

Source: cosmopolitan.co.uk 

Winners and Nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards

Actor in a Leading Role

  • Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
  • Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
  • Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
  • Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
  • James Franco in “127 Hours”

Actor in a Supporting Role

  • Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
  • John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
  • Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
  • Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
  • Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

Actress in a Leading Role

  • Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
  • Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
  • Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
  • Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
  • Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Actress in a Supporting Role

  • Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
  • Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
  • Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
  • Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
  • Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Animated Feature Film

  • “How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
  • “The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
  • “Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

Art Direction

  • “Alice in Wonderland”
    Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
  • “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
    Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
  • “Inception”
    Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
  • “The King's Speech”
    Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
  • “True Grit”
    Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Cinematography

  • “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
  • “Inception” Wally Pfister
  • “The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
  • “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
  • “True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design

  • “Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
  • “I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
  • “The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
  • “The Tempest” Sandy Powell
  • “True Grit” Mary Zophres

Directing

  • “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
  • “The Fighter” David O. Russell
  • “The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
  • “The Social Network” David Fincher
  • “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Documentary (Feature)

  • “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
  • “Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
  • “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
  • “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
  • “Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)

  • “Killing in the Name” Jed Rothstein
  • “Poster Girl” Sara Nesson and Mitchell W. Block
  • “Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
  • “Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
  • “The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing

  • “Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
  • “The Fighter” Pamela Martin
  • “The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
  • “127 Hours” Jon Harris
  • “The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Foreign Language Film

  • “Biutiful” Mexico
  • “Dogtooth” Greece
  • “In a Better World” Denmark
  • “Incendies” Canada
  • “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup

  • “Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
  • “The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
  • “The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)

  • “How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
  • “Inception” Hans Zimmer
  • “The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
  • “127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
  • “The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)

  • “Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
  • “I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
  • “If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
  • “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Picture

  • “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
  • “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
  • “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
  • “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
  • “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
  • “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
  • “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
  • “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
  • “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
  • “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

  • “Day & Night” Teddy Newton
  • “The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
  • “Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
  • “The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
  • “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action)

  • “The Confession” Tanel Toom
  • “The Crush” Michael Creagh
  • “God of Love” Luke Matheny
  • “Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
  • “Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing

  • “Inception” Richard King
  • “Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
  • “Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
  • “True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
  • “Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing

  • “Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
  • “The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
  • “Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
  • “The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
  • “True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects

  • “Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
  • “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
  • “Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell
  • “Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
  • “Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

  • “127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
  • “The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
  • “Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
  • “True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
  • “Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)

  • “Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
  • “The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
    Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
  • “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
  • “The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
  • “The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler 
Source: http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/83/nominees.html

Politics at the Oscars -- Union Support

ABC News' Chris Marderosian reports:

At the Academy Awards tonight, best cinematography winner Wally Pfister made a point during his acceptance speech of thanking his union crew on “Inception.”

Backstage he went further, expressing shock at Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal, which would limit union’s collective bargaining powers. Opponents of the plan have been protesting at the state capitol for 21 days.

“I think that what is going on in Wisconsin is kind of madness right now,” Pfister says. “I have been a union member for 30 years and what the union has given to me is security for my family. They have given me health care in a country that doesn’t provide health care and I think unions are a very important part of the middle class in America all we are trying to do is get a decent wage and have medical care.”


Source: blogs.abcnews.com

'Social Network' disappoints at Oscars

(Credit: Columbia Pictures)
Its fortunes didn't fare quite so well as the company it was based on: "The Social Network," a controversial recounting of the origins of Facebook, did not win the Oscar for Best Picture at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards tonight. As many had been expecting, the award went instead to historical drama "The King's Speech."

"The Social Network" also failed to win Best Director (that also went to "The King's Speech"), Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Actor, where Jesse Eisenberg's portrayal of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg fell in favor of "King's Speech" lead actor Colin Firth. In the Best Actor category, Eisenberg had not been expected to win (in addition to Firth, he was up against the likes of Jeff Bridges and Javier Bardem), but director David Fincher had had a good shot at Best Director and the film was widely considered the front-runner for Best Picture until buzz about "The King's Speech" started to escalate.

The Fincher-directed film did, however, win Best Film Editing, Best Original Score for the music written by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and Best Screenplay Adaptation for Aaron Sorkin's acclaimed script.
The hype surrounding "The Social Network" had hit a fever pitch in the weeks before its release, and some critics say that it reached a point of overhype that ultimately made it a less palatable choice for the voters in the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Some pundits also said that alleged factual inaccuracies--Facebook has decried its portrayal of Zuckerberg as a mean-spirited, near-pathological manipulator of human social connections--may have hurt its chances with the Academy.
That said, "The King's Speech" was also hit by some claims of twisted history.
Facebook initially fought against the unauthorized "The Social Network" (and the book it was based on, Ben Mezrich's "The Accidental Billionaires"). But as its release date grew closer, the company changed its tune and said that while Facebook still considered the film "fiction," that it was an entertaining piece of cinema--Zuckerberg himself has said that he hoped it would inspire young people to pursue careers in computer science, and as a surprise prank appeared alongside Eisenberg in an episode of "Saturday Night Live."

Source: news.cnet.com