Category: media

“Uproarious disasters and offbeat passion projects are lumped in with the bland and forgettable, with precedence given to nominees who are famous, attractive and/or rich. (In that respect, the Razzies is notably shallower than the ceremonies it supposedly sends up.)”

“How those envelopes end up in those briefcases, how the ballots are counted, how they get transported to the ceremony via not just one clandestine route but two different routes — it’s all part of a security system so impregnable, not even the NSA could hack it.”

Were most Academy voters too afraid to see “12 Years A Slave”? And many, many other (disturbing) questions raised by these “brutally honest” ballots from Academy voters.

“An increasingly eclectic group is also capitalizing on the Oscar-season feeding frenzy, taking advantage of celebrities’ and filmmakers’ willingness to be seen just about anywhere, accepting virtually anything, in a bid to generate heat for the prize that really matters.”

Bob Mondello: “I don’t think they mean anything. And it drives me nuts they’re taken so seriously. Let me give you an example. In 1952, the picture that won best picture was ‘Greatest Show on Earth,’ the circus movie. ‘Singing in the Rain’ was not nominated. What kind of sense does that make?”

It’s far from the only live blog, but here’s one option for “real-time fashion highlights, interviews from the red carpet and backstage, live commentary during the telecast, reviews of the night’s best and worst looks and star turns, video, photos, social media features and more.”

“‘It’s by far the biggest non-sports occasion for us,’ says Kevin Bradley, sports book manager for Bovada, a sports betting site licensed in Canada. Bradley puts his site’s Oscar wagering in the ‘healthy’ six-figure range, adding that a lot of money comes from Hollywood.”

“On a profit-per-employee basis, 21st Century Fox (annual net income: $7.1b) is even richer than Google ($12.9b), according to calculations by BuzzFeed business editor Peter Lauria. That’s pretty astonishing.”

“Context is everything.” (And we perform different selves in different contexts – but the internet collapses them into one.)

“‘I definitely see a Holocaust fatigue,’ [director Malcolm] Clarke said. ‘Initially, I actually didn’t want to make this film. I thought enough had been said on the topic.”