geekosystem

Did you see Paperman, the black and white Disney short that preceded Wreck-It Ralph in the theaters and which snagged the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film last night? Yeah, it was great. But in a curious crinkle of papery fate, Paperman producer Kristina Reed was kicked out of the 85th Academy Awards right after her cinematic baby took the award for Best Animated Short Flim. For throwing paper planes, which it turns out is as unacceptable at the Academy Awards as it was during algebra in middle school.

At last night's Oscars ceremony, Life of Pi took home "Best Visual Effects" and rightfully so, Rhythm & Hues, the company that did the visual effects on the film, did beautiful work that really created the world of the movie. The same can be said of Snow White & The Huntsman, another CGI-laden film Rhythm & Hues did the effects for. Together, those films grossed over a billion dollars. Meanwhile, Rhythm & Hues had to file for bankruptcy and close up shop, so the visual effects community came out to protest what they see as an imbalance at the Oscars last night. The ceremony itself only made things worse.

The Oscars are this Sunday, and I for one am woefully unprepared to make my picks in the annual bet I have with my friends. I have seen almost literally none of the films nominated this year, and I only have a few days left to get caught up if I'm going to stand a chance at winning the coveted prize of lunch at the local Chinese buffet. Thankfully, the tiny folks at Copycat Kidz have put together a highlight reel of sorts to cover the major players in this year's Academy Awards.

As most of you probably know, the black and white silent film The Artist won the Academy Award for best picture last night. In case you haven't seen it (I haven't, and have been itching to for weeks), The Artist is a mostly silent, black and white film about silent black and white film. With its win last night, this delightfully anachronistic movie has reset the clock on some remarkable Oscar records.

With the Oscars going down tonight, there is rampant speculation about who is going to walk away with which electroplated gold statue. While the decision making process inside the Academy is notoriously wonky, the folks over at Flowtown have put together an infographic showing the Twitter buzz around some of the top Oscar contenders. Their handsome infographic compares the "winners" on Twitter with other prognosticatory sources, which offers surprising insights into what the Internet is saying about these flicks. We'll have to wait until tonight to see if Twitter becomes the next bellwether for the Oscars.

Begun in 1929, the Academy Awards and its iconic Oscar statues have become a high-water mark in terms of pagentry and the movies they honor. True, the awards are sometimes overshadowed by the films they snub, but the event continues to hold international attention and has given out 2,809 Oscars for 1,853 in the intervening 83 ceremonies. In that time, the event has picked up some pretty interesting stats and facts, which we've chronicled for your pleasure.

This year, the Oscars weren't, to coin a phrase that is due for a revival, all that and a bag of chips. They are, however, way more fun when autotuned. Also, there are some abs on display at the end to make us feel a little inadequate as we eat our unhealthy morning snack.

(via BuzzFeed)

Comedy troupe BriTANicK has put together this head-twistingly meta trailer to end all trailers: a pretty comprehensive rundown of trite but critic-winning film cliches, from the bevy of indie comedy "rich but unfulfilled guy meets manic pixie dream girl and QuirkyLove ensues" to teaming up with natives against the American colonial metaphor. [Movie title] will make you laugh, cry, etc.

After seeming to show so much promise in the nominations, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has not followed through on its promise "to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize."

What this statement meant, when you strip out all the language designed not to offend, is this: to recognize and include genre movies, that is, science fiction, fantasy, action, and animation (yes, I know animation is a medium and not a genre, but Hollywood hasn't figured that out yet).

Much to my should-not-have-been-surprise, when the last award was announced, despite multiple nominations in more than ten categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, and both Screenplay awards, genre movies were snubbed in almost every award except the technical ones. 

Our sister site Mediaite is hosting a liveblog for tonight's Oscars. We'll be watching, piping in, and hoping fervently for a District 9 Best Picture upset. Failing that: Inglourious Basterds.

Stay tuned!

Even if Sacha Baron Cohen's blue-skinned love child takedown of James Cameron somehow gets reinstated for tonight's Oscars, it'll be hard to match the 61st Academy Awards in 1989. What has been called the worst Oscar ceremony ever opened up with sex scandal-ridden actor Rob Lowe teaming up with Snow White -- yes, an actress dressed up as the Disney character -- to perform an übercampy duet of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary." Surreal video after the jump:

Just days after appearing on The Big Bang Theory, Stan "The Man" Lee has broken his Funny or Die silence, uploading his first-ever video to the site.

When you see the name of one of the greatest comic book creators of all time in the "uploader" column, you pay attention. What, pray tell, is Stan Lee campaigning for? The answer: he wants there to be an Oscar for "Best Cameo." Also, he wants to win it. Video after the jump:

Sacha Baron Cohen, the shapeshifting comedic provocateur behind Borat, Ali G, and Brüno, has been totally cut from the Oscar telecast because producers were afraid his skit might bother James Cameron, Vulture reports.

Cohen's skit was to have featured him painted blue, dressed as a female Na'vi, and would conclude with him accusing Cameron of fathering his alien love child. The fear was that Cameron might be so offended, he'd walk out of the Oscars:

In a historic first, the Academy broadcast this year's Oscar nominations live over the Internet. Unsurprisingly, Avatar got a ton of nominations (and deserved many of them) -- nine nominations overall, tied only by Hurt Locker. But a few of our other favorites, including Star Trek, District 9, and Inglourious Basterds, also did pretty well for themselves. List of nominations for the biggest categories after the jump: