On other websites...

Oscar Nominations have been announced! There's still time to catch up on any of the nominees you may have missed before the awards are handed out March 7. I just saw An Education last weekend and plan to see The Blind Side, as well. You can print out your official ballot here. Surely I'm not the only one who likes to consult her completed ballot during the ceremony? I'll be making my picks (and choosing who I think will really win) as the ceremony gets closer.


And for an alternative look at the Academy Awards, the 20/20 Awards should be announcing their nominees any day now (their website has not been updated, though nominations were to be announced yesterday). "Correcting the Academy with 20 years of hindsight," the Felix awards for films released in 1989 will be handed out March 14.

Turner Classic Movies will be holding their first Classic Film Festival this April in Los Angeles. Alas, the high ticket prices prevent me from attending this year; however, I hope the first festival is a success so that they keep producing it and perhaps one year I can attend. The festival schedule includes many restored or new prints of classic films, ranging from the dark satire The King of Comedy to the cheerful musical Sunnyside Up. The opening night event is the world premiere of a restored version of A Star is Born, starring Judy Garland. However, I think another highly anticipated showing will be a newly discovered print of Metropolis, this will be its North American debut.

Finally, if you tend to roll your eyes at Oscar-bait roles in which a glamorous actress attempts to look plain and downtrodden, then you may laugh at this essay and slideshow from Slate. I like to imagine what criteria is used by the costume designer tasked with finding the ugliest, frumpiest sweater ever knitted for the leading lady's profanity-filled breakdown scene. "It must be oversized, faded, droopy, and preferably the color of dishwater..."