mimblr.com

If this year’s Ellie category of General Excellence Online were analogous to Best Picture nominees from this year’s Oscars, then “we’re the No Country For Old Men of the group,” according to Chow.com editor-in-chief Jane Goldman. Why, exactly?
“We’re lean, mean, and we have an independent spirit,” she told us by phone an hour after her Web site was announced as one of the nominees for a 2008 Ellie Award. “What do people say at the Academy Awards when they get nominated: ‘What amazing company,’” Goldman said.
NewYorker.com, RunnersWorld.com, Slate.com, and Babble.com will be duking it out with San Francisco-based, CNET-owned Chow.com on May 1 at the National Magazine Awards here in Manhattan. Given that, per ASME’s own description, the General Excellence Online category “recognizes outstanding magazine Web sites, as well as online-only magazines that feature original content,” and nominated sites must “create a unique magazine environment on the Web,” we asked Goldman whether she thought her once-print, now online-only outlet had any advantage over competitors with a magazine-mirroring online presence [we’re looking at you, New Yorker.] “Truthfully, I don’t know if [entirely] original online content carries more weight with the judges,” she said. “Our online product is quite different than what the print mag was.”

mediabistro.com

LOS ANGELES - Blogs were buzzing Monday with discussion of why Brad Renfro was left out of the Academy Awards tribute to Hollywood figures who died in the past year.
The troubled 25-year-old actor died Jan. 15 of a heroin and morphine overdose. Heath Ledger, killed by an overdose of prescription drugs one week later, appeared in a scene from “Brokeback Mountain” at the conclusion of the three-minute video tribute at Sunday night’s Oscar ceremony.
“Unfortunately we cannot include everyone,” said Leslie Unger, spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. “Our goal is to honour individuals who worked in the many professions and trades of the motion picture industry, not just actors.”
Hilary Swank introduced the Oscar segment, which featured 43 people including makeup artists, a stuntman and several Hollywood agents. Unger said it was not required that those honoured be members of the Academy or past Oscar nominees.
USA Today blogger Whitney Matheson headlined a post Monday, “Why was Brad snubbed last night?” and Perez Hilton posted a mug shot of Renfro with the words “Oscar Snub.”
TMZ speculated Renfro was not “feel-good enough” for Oscar, but public comments left on the site also pointed out that in contrast to Ledger, “Renfro wasn’t a big enough star.”
Unger shook off the suggestion that Renfro wasn’t included because of his history with drugs. “I can’t speak to what other people are going to think,” Unger said. “We can’t include everybody.”
Renfro was most well-known for his title role in 1993’s “The Client,” and had his last major roles more than a decade ago. He had appeared in smaller parts in recent years.
Oscar-nominated “Jaws” star Roy Scheider also was not included. His death on Feb. 10 fell outside the time frame of the tribute video, which covered Feb. 1, 2007 to Jan. 31, 2008.

canadianpress.google.com

Annual Academy Awards are over, and the Oscar parties underway. Denzel Washington presented tonight’s top award for Best Picture, which went to “No Country for Old Men.” Academy Award host Jon Stewart started the show’s opening monologue with comments on the writer’s strike, stating that, “Tonight, the fight is over!” This will be Stewart’s second consecutive year as the award show’s host.
The highlight of the show was Diablo Cody winning Best Original Screenplay for “Juno.” Diablo’s emotional acceptance speech marked an impressive victory for a woman who worked as a stripper just about five years ago. “Juno” star Ellen Page was nominated for best actress in a leading role, but she did not win in her category-the best actress award went instead to newcomer Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose.”
George Clooney presented a montage of the memorable moments that have taken place at the Academy Award shows of the past. Tonight’s show marks the 80
anniversary for the academy awards. Clooney joked that one thing has remained the same-it’s always been long! He transgressed, saying that the common denominator was really that this show always promised to be unpredictable.
Another movie montage sequence was shown later in the show, this one presented by the legendary Jack Nicholson. Nicholson’s montage featured the 79 films that have won best film Oscars past. Hillary Swank paid tribute to departed actors and actresses who have left a legacy in Hollywood with another montage, with concluded in memoriam to actor Heath Ledger.
Another feature of this year’s show: the Academy has “Gone Green.” According to Oscar.com, the official website of the 80

associatedcontent.com

Bollywood’s biggest vied for her attention, and for once, the star wives and girlfriends didn’t seem to complain about their better halves coming home with the black lady!
All roads led to Yashraj Studio on Saturday night as Filmfare announced its winners at a grand function where Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan dominated the show by taking constant digs at their colleagues and themselves with their irreverent repartees.
But nobody complained for the duo succeeded in keeping the audience in splits. The two gave away the ‘na-real’ award to Vidya Balan for her bad dressing sense in the film Heyy Babby . Ramesh Sippy was the other recepient of the ‘na-real award’ for enduring Ram Gopal Varma Ki Sholay , the remake of his classic, Sholay. When asked what he’s going to do with the coconut-shaped award, Sippy quipped, “I am going to kill Ram Gopal Varma!”
It was sweet to see SRK perpetually teasing Saif on stage about “Kareena bhabi” (yes, Saif did go red in the face!). Meanwhile, Kareena’s sister Karisma Kapoor sat prettily with husband Sanjay Kapur, proudly cheering when her sister won the Best Actress award.
The gorgeous Rekha came with Farzana and her nephew Navin, and said it was a pleasure to hand over the award to one of her favourite actors, Shah Rukh Khan. Tabu left everyone guessing who she walked in with, we found out it was South Indian actor Raja. The excitement continued at the after-party once the award ceremony was over.
Filmfare would like to specially thank Jagdish Saxena, Chairman and MD, and Dr Anuj Saxena, Director, Marketing, Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Kuldeep Goyal, Chairman and MD, and SD Saxena, Director (Finance), BSNL, and their other sponsors — Title Sponsor: Fair One (Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd), Associate Sponsor: BSNL, Telecast Partner: Sony Entertainment Television, English News Channel Partner: Times Now, Media Partner: Radio Mirchi, Outdoor Partner: Bright Advertising Agency, Gift Partner: Ray Ban, Food Partner: Blue Foods, Spirits Partner: United Spirits Limited, Show Direction: Cineyug, Event Management: 360º Experience, Travel Partner: Harshan Travels and Venue Courtesy: YRF Studios.
Watch the 53rd Fair One Filmfare Awards 2007 on March 2 at 8 pm exclusively on Sony Entertainment Television.
Copyright © 2008 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
This site is best viewed with Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher; Firefox 2.0 or higher at a minimum screen resolution of 1024×768

timesofindia.indiatimes.com