We’ve got no Star Wars releases this week, but there is this: What may be the most newbie-friendly Game of Thrones trailer yet. (Maybe.)
Oscar, briefly: Inception takes VFX, Portman Best Actress
There were few surprises at tonight’s Oscars: Lone genre Best Picture nom Inception was awarded mostly in technical categories (including Visual Effects… Sorry, ILM.) And Natalie Portman did indeed win Best Actress for Black Swan.
For the rest, The King’s Speech cleaned up with 4 awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Colin Firth. Batman Jesus Christian Bale took home Best Supporting Actor for The Fighter. But perhaps most mind-blowing to this former teen of the 90’s: Trent Reznor now has an Oscar (for The Social Network score.)
As for the ceremony itself… It was pretty standard; All the real fun was (of course) partaking in all the snark on Twitter. I did greatly enjoy the auto-tune, though.
And yes, Irvin Kershner did make the In Memoriam reel, as did modelmaker Grant McCune.
Razzies crown Shyamalan’s Airbender worst film of 2010
The Oscars are upon us tonight! But in the meantime, we have the Razzies, which last night awarded M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Eye-Gouging Misuse of 3-D and even Worst Supporting Actor in Jackson Rathbone, who was dual-nominated for Twilight: Eclipse.
Surprisingly, that’s the only ‘award’ for any of the Twilight crew – and all the other genre offerings. Sex and the City 2 was the runner-up with three Razzies, including Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel and Worst Actress for Sarah Jessica Parker. The remaining acting awards went to Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Alba.
Snarky things on the Wookieepedia: Everything that has ruined Star Wars forever
Buried deep within the bowels of the Wookieepedia: A list of the many things that have ruined Star Wars! To quoth:
Fans realize something LFL does not, that robust 32-year-old billion-dollar franchises, while seemingly healthy, are in actuality as fragile as two bricks tied together with tissue paper. One mistake, one bad mis-step will cause the entire thing to shatter and fall apart; and Star Wars would be ruined forever.
Selections include midi-chlorians, Callista, Boba Fettishism and many, many more.
Catching up with The Clone Wars
There’s no new Clone Wars tonight, but there are several tidbits of news.
First off, there’s another Chewbacca video and some finale rumor dispelling (Spoilers? Sort of?) going around.
On Twitter, an actress you might recognize reveals that she’ll be voicing a character… But given the lead time on these things, I’m guessing we probably won’t hear much more until next season.
More imminent is Free Comic Book Day on May 7 and StarWars.com has a preview of Dark Horse’s Savage Opress offering. (Psst, Avatar: The Last Airbender fans… That preview is over here.)
Other worlds: Ladies lead Nebula nominations
Awards. The Nebula nominations are out, and up for best novel is one of my favorite reads of 2010, N.K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Also up are M.K. Hobson’s The Native Star, Mary Robinette Kowal’s Shades of Milk and Honey, Jack McDevitt’s Echo, Nnedi Okorafor’s Who Fears Death and Connie Willis’ two-in one punch of Blackout and All Clear.
The Hunger Games. A pair of LJers consider the geography of Panem – quite impressively. (Because who hasn’t wondered what District their state would end up in?)
Sookie Stackhouse. Author Charlaine Harris told Hero Complex that her next two books will wrap up the popular supernatural mystery series. And she’s writing a video game?
Upcoming. io9 lists the books they’re looking forward to for spring.
Optioned. The screen rights for John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War have been acquired by Paramount. Naturally, Scalzi has a few things to say on the matter.
Excerpt. Preview one of the year’s most anticipated fantasies, Patrick Rothfuss’ The Wise Man’s Fear.
Review. Andrew Liptak on Mike Stackpole’s latest, At The Queen’s Command.
Video: The 100 cheesiest movie quotes of all time
It’s turkey time!
Shadow Games cover, blurb revealed
StarWars.com has first look at the cover and blurb for Michael Reaves and and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff’s Shadow Games. It’s very, um… Mainstream thrillery? Ehh.
Does this make you want to pick it up? Because it seems like the more we hear about this one, the less interested I get…
The Clone Wars review: ‘Ghosts of Mortis’
Two weeks ago, Star Wars: The Clone Wars wrapped up the three part story arc involving the Father, Son and Qui-Gon’s Ghost. Do good things come in threes? We’ve got three episodes, with three Jedi, and three Force wielders (err… two now!). ‘Ghosts of Mortis’ closed up the story of the Chosen One doing what a Chosen One does best, bringing balance by killing things. I guess important deaths do come in threes.
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Discussion: If you could pick one character…
With all the discussion going on recently about the decline of the Expanded Universe (like that’s news,) we’ve all been thinking about what we’d like to see. And I know that for me, it’s always been about the characters. Of all the beefs I have with the New Jedi Order and (increasingly) Fate of the Jedi, the biggest one has to be the ‘everyone and the kitchen sink’ approach to the cast. And while I’m not reading Star Wars novels for ‘new’ characters, there’s clearly plenty of interest.
So here’s what I’m wondering: What Star Wars character would you most like to see headline a Star Wars novel or comic? For the sake of argument (and last week’s most popular post) we’re using an image of a few Jader favorites, but feel free to pick whoever you like.
Are they a movie characters undeserved by the Expanded Universe? An EU character you’d like to see more of? And please keep your answers vague – you never know who might be watching.