Personalize Your Guest Room DVD Collection

Hi kids. It's Nathaniel typing at you from a surprisingly cool Chicago, a welcome break from the stifling NYC heat. I'm visiting Nick for a few days and arrived to find the guest room (which doubles as the DVD Containment Room) super-personalized for my stay. Nick has arranged his movies in chronological order which instantaneously revealed to me why I've always been disappointment by my own DVD shelves which are alphabetical. The alphabet is about as exciting as the Dewey Decimal system. Chronology is king. 

Nick already tweeted one photo of his shelves for giggles but I thought I'd share my two favorite library notes with you. Our favorite shared movie genre, as previously noted here on the blog, is Women Who Lie To Themselves™. That note was strategically placed right under a certain Oscar-nominated 1996 picture which is a very literal interpretation of the genre. Guess which movie!

This genre is immortal and always revisited by the best filmmakers and actresses so I especially love the apotheotic "Women Who Lie to Themselves SILENTLY at the OPERA™", don't you?

Two more shelves after the jump...

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"I'd like to thank the Academy..."

...for uploading this video of the 1994 costume Academy Award presentation when I asked them to. Here's how it began...

I had found myself in one of those YouTube wormholes of watching Oscar clips at 3am. I am sure we've all been there. I've watched them all so many times that I honestly don't know why I keep going back - especially since rights issues force The Academy's YouTube channel to delete the acting nominee clips (boo! hiss!) Alas, like a masochist I just keep going back. Don't we all?

Nevertheless, I am always frustrated at the selection of videos that The Academy choose to upload. I always want to watch costume designers, art directors, special effects artists, and so on. I like hearing the applause for left-of-centre selections. I think it's fun to see how the writers and presenters represented these categories and people. So, in a joking fashion I tweeted The Academy stating that, gosh, I really just want to see the 1994 costume design category.

AND THEY UPLOADED IT. FOR ME!

"Ask and you shall receive", so they say. And quickly, too. Well, who can say no to The Academy uploading a video just because you ask? This is inarguably one of my favourite Oscar moments and I was so sad when the original video got taken down years ago, but now it's here again for us to watch and marvel whenever we feel like. Watching it now and I still grin from ear to ear when Sharon Stone (a rare Oscar presenter who surely doesn't feel like the telecast's dodgy writing is beneath her) announces a low-budget Australian movie about drag queens as the winner of an Academy Award. When winner Lizzy Gardiner gets on the stage in a dress made of American Express credit cards. When lovably weird Lizzy shoves her co-winner aside: "Shut up, it's my turn!" When they joke about going to "cry with some dignity" and "get a drink." Who can deny it was an amazing moment and now it's there to watch again and again.

"And the Oscar... goes to... And the Oscar goes to Lizzy Gardiner and Tim Chappel for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." - Sharon Stone.

The video has already been viewed some 1300 times in just a matter of days, so there are clearly plenty of people out there that want this stuff. Are they all Film Experience readers?If you could ask The Academy to upload one category from what year, which would it be? Maybe they'll read this and upload it for you! And don't forget to watch the Priscilla video over and over again. Maybe then we'll get more like it.

I Link You and Link You and Link You

You Should Be in Sweden attends the Stanley Kubrick exhibit at LACMA. It ends in June so go see it!
JazzT here's another enticing image from the exhibit. Oh Nicole. Any mask you'd like me to wear is fine
Pitchfork Another new David Bowie video starring an Oscar winning actress. Marion Cotillard instead of Tilda this time 
Mother Jones a 17 year old coder invents a program to block spoilers on Twitter
NY Post Producer Scott Rudin lashes back at NYT critic. These stories always embarrass me for the showbiz people - (remember when James Cameron wanted someone fired for the thumbs down on Titanic?). Being criticized is just part of show business. You always look silly when you freak out about it. It's an honor to be so well employed / watched that you are even susceptible to bad reviews, don'cha think? 

Empire Dominic Cooper joins the cast of the new Dracula starring MNPP's favorite punching bag lust object Noted Homosexual Luke Evans. I'd be excited for this since I like looking at both of them but I'm so worn out on vampires. Which I never thought I'd say but here we are post the Aughts when vampires are more ubiquitous than they've ever been as if they're still trying to wrestle back the Ubiquity Crown from the hordes of brain-dead zombies who don't even know that they won some pop culture battle.
Electric has an infographic comparing The Great Gatsby to the wealth of the stars of the movie
Pajiba on Netflix's current strengths and weaknesses as it attempts to become both a distribution platform and a content creator 
Observations on Film Art Kristin wonders whether or not studios understand the power of fanbases and direct access to filmmakers they can get via Twitter and set visits and the like
In Contention Ben Affleck's follow up to Argo doesn't betray any steroided auteurly confidence. It's just another Denis Lehane adaptation of the novel "Live By Night". It's almost like something he woulda signed on for before Argo.
MNPP Today's mood via Barbara Stanwyck and Clark Gable 

Oh and Also... James McAvoy on the set of X-Men Days of Future Past via Bryan Singer's active picture-snapping Twitter account. He tweeted this one with a Pacino-style "Serpico!" descriptor. When last we left the X-Men they were in the swinging sixties and Professor X had just been paralyzed and hate yet to go bald. Here we are in the seventies I suppose though it's probably not worth getting hung up on time periods since Days of Future Past (one of the great X-men arcs) is all about messing with them.

poll by twiigs.com

P.S.
And if you still can't get enough of our "Greatest Best Actress Losers" poll, check it out: Tim, Michael and Glenn shared their individual ballots on their fine blogs Antagony & Ecstasy, Serious Film and Stale Popcorn.

Linky Brown

Vulture "How to Hug a Puppy" by Tom Hardy
Cinema Blend one man Disney Princess meets real world musical... after the ever after part
Pajiba best performances from SXSW films 

CHUD Veronica Mars and the invention of "pay to pay for play" 
i09 producers "notes" on Blade Runner... which they hated 
NPR on real life Ginger & Rosas in the 60s  
Empire on the latest big project director shuffle - Ang Lee considering a Spielberg drop and Tom Hooper looking at the Sacha Baron Cohen Freddie Mercury biopic
Coming Soon star portraits from the final day of The Wolverine production. Hugh Jackman and the ladies
Guardian the writer of the fake Haneke twitter account on Michael Haneke

Finally, if you're in Gotham, you should know that PAM GRIER, Jackie Brown and Foxy Brown herself, is getting the weekend festival treatment at the Walter Reade right now. She'll be appearing tonight for an interview before the screening of Jackie Brown (coming up on "Hit Me") and also making a midnight appearance at Scream Blacula, Scream. On Sunday she gets a full hour interview with film clips. Tickets are still available for some of the shows. And if you haven't seen any of her 70s blacksploitation movies, you owe it to yourself to see at least one.

And the Best Oscar Tweets Go To...

Previously: Fun Arrivals Moments, Full Winner's List , Seth's Hosting Job , Red Carpet Convo - Best Actress,

I tried to stay off the internet as much as possible last night since I feel like I have missed so many Oscar ceremonies in the past few years from multi-tasking while watching. But I'm playing catch up today and I favorited a dozen plus tweets last night so I wouldn't lose them.

I know not all of you have twitter -- nor am I recommending it wholeheartedly. The weeks of my life lost! The damage to my attention span and ability to spell "you're" and "your" since "ur" works best...

But I didn't want you to miss out on these gems which made me lol during the past 24 hours. Please to enjoy after the jump and comment if you'd like to tweet right back at any of them.

People spent so much pre-Oscars time practicing pronouncing "Quvenzhane" and "Haneke," they totally forgot about "Misérables."

— Scott Renshaw (@scottrenshaw) February 25, 2013

I know Ben Affleck is smart & talented & kind & a loyal husband & father but it's very hard to not think of how good he probably is at sex

— Melanie Lynskey (@melanielynskey) February 25, 2013

lots more after the jump... including my favorite from Jennifer Lawrence's stumble

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