spasticrobot

All the News That Was Fit to Print

The New York Times Machine is amazing.

TimesMachine can take you back to any issue from Volume 1,     Number 1 of The New-York Daily Times, on September 18, 1851, through     The New York Times of December 30, 1922. Choose a date in history and     flip electronically through the pages, displayed with their original     look and feel.

My Oscar Picks

Here are my picks of who should win for tonight's Academy Awards:

x Best motion picture of the year
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production
JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

✓ Performance by an actor in a leading role
Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)

✓ Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)

✓ Performance by an actress in a leading role
Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse)

x Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in “I’m Not There” (The Weinstein Company)

✓ Best animated feature film of the year
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney) Brad Bird

x Achievement in art direction
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Art Direction: Jack Fisk
Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

✓ Achievement in cinematography
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Robert Elswit

x Achievement in costume design
“Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount) Colleen Atwood

x Achievement in directing
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Paul Thomas Anderson

x Best documentary feature
“No End in Sight” (Magnolia Pictures)
A Representational Pictures Production
Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs

✓ Achievement in film editing
“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal) Christopher Rouse

✓ Achievement in makeup
“La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse) Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald

✓ Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“Atonement” (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli

x Achievement in sound editing
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Skip Lievsay

x Achievement in sound mixing
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland

✓ Achievement in visual effects
“The Golden Compass” (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners)
Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood

✓Adapted screenplay
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

x Original screenplay
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
Written by Tony Gilro

From Twitter

Latest from twitter.com/jlangenbeck :

Sunday can be the best work day of all. Good coffee, no bothersome phone/email interruptions, and a laid back workflow are the keys to this.

I Can't Give You Anything But Love

This Valentine's day video from Clint Maedgen and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band sure is sweet!

Free Screenings of Faubourg Treme

Faubourg Treme; The Untold Story of Black New Orleans - a feature length documentary
Co-Written by Lolis Eric Elie (writer for the Times Picayune)
Co-Written and Directed by Dawn Logsdon (Editor of the Academy Award nominated documentary and The Weather Underground)
Produced by Wynton Marsalis

02/16/08 Saturday @ 7PM @ 1325 Gov. Nicholls (HFT Baptist)
Followed by free Gumbo and a Q&A with the filmmakers and a free performance by Glen David Andrews

02/22/08 Friday @ 7PM @ Ashe Cultural Arts Center
Followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers

02/28/08 Thursday @ 6PM @ the Cabildo (701 Chartres)

I'm really interested to see this documentary about one of my favorite and certainly one of the most significant neighborhoods in New Orleans.

Lessig 4 Obama

This video is a very detailed and intelligent analysis of the differences between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, not in their policies but in their character and their fundamental ideas about change.

For those of you unfamiliar with Lessig he is a professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of its Center for Internet and Society. He is founder and CEO of the Creative Commons and a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and of the Software Freedom Law Center. He is best known as a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark and radio frequency spectrum, particularly in technology applications. He is also one of the brightest minds in our country.

This is the most excellent explanation of why it is IMPERATIVE that we support the candidacy of Obama that I have seen so far.

Watch it when you have some time and pass it along.

I'm Voting Obama!

I can think of no greater reason to vote for Obama than this rousing speech he gave today at Tulane University. This man needs to be our next President. Louisianians, get out there and vote this Saturday and try to remember the last time Hillary was even here.

Barack Obama represents real change. When was the last time you voted in a Presidential campaign without a Bush or a Clinton on the ticket?

Oh Didn't He Ramble?

Thanks to everyone who came to the St. Anthony Ramble yesterday. It was, as usual, an extraordinary event.