Few cities are more practiced in the garish arts of public exposure than Los Angeles and at no time of year is this put to better use than Oscars week.
This year, however, the biggest debates in the runup to today’s annual evening of backslapping and schmoozing have revolved around who could do with a bit more recognition.
After Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to be given the best director award at last year’s Oscars, there was hope that a traditionally male-dominated barrier had been broken at last.
Photo: Bloomberg
This looked all the more plausible because of the number of lauded films directed by women, notably Winter’s Bone, by Deborah Granik, and The Kids are All Right, by Lisa Cholodenko. Yet while both movies have been nominated for best film, and feature actors who have received nominations, their directors have been ignored.
“Kathryn opened doors so I was particularly disappointed that Lisa didn’t get a nomination,” says Celine Rattray, producer of The Kids are All Right.
Notably, the subject matter of Bigelow’s film, The Hurt Locker, was war and there was only one woman in the cast, raising the question of whether a woman might be able to win a film award so long as she makes a very masculine film.
“I think the nominations this year in general were for flashy movies and maybe The Kids are All Right was just a little too heartfelt,” Rattray suggests.
Others have claimed that Bigelow’s triumph was not so much the breaking of a ceiling but a mere blip.
“After Kathryn Bigelow’s supremely satisfying double win for best director and best picture last year, it’s particularly disheartening to see Winter’s Bone and The Kids are All Right, both made by women, relegated to ‘great film-who directed it again?’ status,” Dana Stevens wrote on Slate.com.
Another demographic notably more absent from this year’s nominations are non-Caucasians. Last year Mo’Nique won best supporting actress for Precious. This year there is not one non-Caucasian face in any major category.
It prompted John Farr to pen a tribute to Sidney Poitier on the Huffington Post in protest. He described Poitier as “an authentic groundbreaker” but a lot of old ground remained firmly intact, judging by this year’s nominations.
One person who is both underexposed and overexposed is the British artist Banksy, whose film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, has been nominated for best documentary feature. Banksy has become the object of deep fascination to the Hollywood community, enthralled by what they see as his nigh on perverse dislike of being recognized.
Various celebrities, including Will Arnett from the cult TV show Arrested Development, have spent the week putting up photos on Twitter of street art in LA that appears to be made by Banksy, indicating that he is in town. The question of whether he will turn up to the ceremony has arguably made the best documentary feature the most talked about category.
The only nominee more talked about is the all too visible James Franco. Not content with being both the host of the ceremony and a best actor nominee, he opened an art exhibition entitled Unfinished, as advertised by giant billboards across the city, all emblazoned with Franco’s face.
And just in case that still is not enough he joined Twitter, posting a link to a video of himself as his debut tweet, thereby slaking the thirst of anyone who hadn’t seen his face for more than two seconds.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built