YDJ News Share: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

What Ousted Groupon CEO's Battletoads Reference Meant

We explain what ousted Groupon CEO Andrew Mason meant when he referenced "Battletoads" in his farewell letter.

You Don't Want Super-High-Speed Internet, Says Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable chief technology officer Irene Esteves says you don't really want the gigabit speeds offered by Google Fiber and other high-speed providers.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Steven Spielberg Reflects on 20th Anniversary of 'Schindler's List'

"I'm finding that in many cases technology is becoming more of a vehicle of voyeurism than a vehicle for change," the director said.

Game of Thrones Director: Online Piracy Doesn't Matter — Wait, It Does

Game of Thrones was 2012's most pirated TV show, something that one of the show's directors seems to have mixed feelings about.

'We Buy White Albums': The Unique Decay of Mass-Produced Items

The Beatles's iconic White Album was released in 1968, nearly 45 years ago. The first pressing's cover was plain white. The band's name and a serial number were embossed in the cardboard. More than 3 million copies marched off an assembly line, each nearly identical to the others. It wouldn't last.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Effects Community Mobilizes at Hollywood Protest

"Human beings are being put out of work to get these effects done at a dirt cheap rate," says one recent Rhythm & Hues casualty.

Variety to Drop Daily Print Edition

The 108-year-old trade, bought last year by Penske Media, will keep a weekly edition and drop its online paywall.

Fails, Falls and Photobombs: The 10 Most Viral Moments From the Oscars

Sunday night's Oscars telecast was nuts, and the best stuff immediately struck fire online. Here are some of the best moments.

Monday, February 25, 2013

The First Kickstarter Film to Win an Oscar Takes Home Crowdsourced Gold

The First Kickstarter Film to Win an Oscar Takes Home Crowdsourced Gold

Kickstarter now has a new feather for its cap: The first crowdfunded film to win an Oscar.

Oscars: Most Tweeted Moments Include 'Argo' Win, Adele's Performance

The 85th Academy Awards on Sunday resulted in 8.9 million Tweets.

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Oscars: Most-watched in Three Years

Oscars: Lucky '13 in TV ratings

Seth MacFarlane hosts most-watched entertainment telecast in three years; 40.3M viewers, 18-49 demo up

VFX artists raise issues at Oscars

VFX artists raise issues at Oscars

Visual effects artists make case that as box office is dominated by films with their work, firms are struggling

Only 1 Person Arrested At 85th Annual Academy Awards

Oscars goers apparently behaved at the 85th Annual Academy Awards Sunday night, with only one reported arrest on file. If you can recall 2012's wild night in film, a total of 10 people were arrested, including actress Sean Young.

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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Oscars 2013: Ang Lee Pulls Off Major Upset, Beating Steven Spielberg for Best Director

Lee's "Life of Pi" scored four Oscars, the most of the evening; the 3D epic has earned nearly $583.4 million worldwide.

Oscars: Complete List of Winners

"Argo" wins best picture; Jennifer Lawrence, Daniel Day-Lewis, Ang Lee, Anne Hathaway and Christoph Waltz also are among the night's big winners.

'Twilight' Wins 7 Razzie Awards Including Worst Picture

The ceremony celebrating the worst of Hollywood also gave dubious honors to Adam Sandler's "That's My Boy."

'Silver Linings': 'Spirit' boost

David O. Russell film claims four awards at event honoring indie films; see full winners' list

Independent Spirit Awards 2013: Winners List

Independent Spirit Awards 2013: Winners List

The awards are held on Santa Monica Beach on Saturday, Feb. 23.

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Oscar Host Seth MacFarlane's Run-Ins With the PTC

Oscars 2013: A Brief History of Host Seth MacFarlane's Run-Ins With the PTC

The comedian and "Family Guy" creator's headlining the broadcast has predictably drawn the ire of the TV watchdogs -- who have called him out almost too many times to recall.

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50 Years Ago, the Academy Awards in Santa Monica

Sophia Loren presents the Best Actor Oscar to Gregory Peck for his performance in "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Guests arrived in chauffered-limousines and beat-up taxi cabs and walked across a "brilliantly lighted plaza" as cold winds whipped across the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for the 1963 Annual Academy Awards, a glamorous fete proclaimed the best in Oscar's 35-year history.

The next day, the Santa Monica Outlook, the then-local paper of record, published in-depth and colorful coverage of the glamorous awards show with stories detailing the fashion, the police security, and the drama.

"Officials for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences proclaimed it the most glamorous and the most perfectly run of all the 35 spectaculars in academy history," the Outlook reported.

It was the third time the Oscars were presented at The Civic in Santa Monica, and would be held there for five more years before moving to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in downtown Los Angeles in 1969.

Frank Sinatra made his debut as the master of ceremonies in place of Bob Hope, who had hosted five times before but who was barred because of a conflict with the toothpaste sponsor of the Oscar show. The Outlook said with Old Blue Eyes emceeing, there was "attention on winners and presenters with a gain in dignity at the expense of fun."

"Lawrence of Arabia" won best picture and 16-year-old Patty Duke was the first performer under the age of 18 to win a competitive Oscar, best supporting actress for her role in "The Miracle Worker." It was reportedly to no ones surprise that Gregory Peck won best actor in "To Kill a Mocking Bird."

When the 2,600 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences guests arrived, the Outlook said they stepped onto a red carpet that blanketed The Civic's grassy lawn. "Enormous lights made the whole pathway brilliant as a TV camera on a special boom hovered over the arriving throng like a giant bug looking for a place to light," the newspaper reported.

The squealing spectator crowd reportedly blocked a group of black picketers along Ocean Avenue, "protesting what they charged was the industry's failure to properly present members of their race in pictures."

One of the most amusing stories in the April 9, 1963 Oscar edition of the Outlook, "Best-Dressed Missed Oscar Show," was about the woman in e...

Friday, February 22, 2013

Cesar Awards: 'Amour' Wins Best Picture, 'Argo' Best Foreign Language Film

Michael Haneke takes best director, Emmanuelle Riva best actress at the French ceremony.

When Box-Office Hits Get Nominated, Do Oscar Ratings Go Up?

When Box-Office Hits Get Nominated, Do Oscar Ratings Go Up?

After The Dark Knight was conspicuously absent from the Best Picture race at the 2009 Oscars, the academy decided to increase the number of possible nominees—which had been capped at five since 1945—to 10. A subsequent revision allowed for anywhere between five and 10 nominees, depending how many votes movies received. This move opened up the exclusive category to films that might not have gotten in before—including big box office hits. The theory seemed to be that if commercially and critically adored films like The Dark Knight were in the running for Best Picture, the TV rating for the ceremony would get a boost from their popularity. But does this theory actually hold up?

When Oscars' Best Director Doesn't Win Best Picture

There have been 22 instances in which the film by the year's top helmer didn't take home best picture, including the three times it happened to John Ford.

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8 Oscars, 24 Nominations: The Coppola Family Tree

The core family has eight Oscars and 24 nominations, while its extended members encompass even more awards and an extraordinary influence in the arts.

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How to Sound Smart During the Oscars: A Cheat Sheet

How to Sound Smart During the Oscars: A Cheat Sheet

With the Academy Awards coming up this Sunday, here are a few talking points to help you win friends and influence people at the Oscars party of your choice.

Political Polling Guru Nate Silver Offers Oscar Predictions

The New York Times' statistical wunderkind, who blew away all pundits in election forecasts, uses pure math to pick Sunday's winners.

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Early Roles: Oscar Nominees Before They Were Famous

Philip Seymour Hoffman and other hopefuls have come a long way from their humble beginnings.

The Myth of the Movie Musical Renaissance

By most accounts, the movie version of Les Miserablés has been a success. Reviews were mixed, but it has earned eight Academy Award nominations, plus $140 million in domestic box office—and almost twice that overseas. While the stage version was hugely popular, the film's success was hardly guaranteed. The recent adaptation of Phantom of the Opera—also a huge Broadway hit—was a critical and commercial failure. (It made just more than $50 million domestically, which was less than its reported budget.) So the movie musical is totally coming back, right?

Nielsen TV Ratings Will Soon Include Viewers Who Watch Online

Nielsen is making moves to allow online video watching to be counted in its television ratings. Stream on.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Oscars Time Capsule: The Infamous 1989 Academy Awards

In 1989, Alan Light, a tourist from Iowa, gained access to the Academy Awards thanks to a friend who worked behind the scenes. He watched the rehearsals -- including those for the disastrous opening starring Rob Lowe and Snow White (Eileen Bowman, who tells her story to THR for the first time) -- and spent the night capturing the stars with his 35mm camera.

Oscarnomics: What It Costs to Create the Academy Awards Extravaganza

From $34,800 for white truffles at the Governors Ball to $90 million in Disney/ABC fees, THR dissects the Academy Awards ledger.

Visualize This: The Concept Art Behind ParaNorman's 3-D Printed World

Going into the making of ParaNorman, the film's production designer Nelson Lowry had a goal: Nothing should be perfect and the final product should looks as much like the "beautiful, expressive napkin sketch" that it came from as possible. He got his wish.

Sony’s PlayStation 4 “unveiling” is an evening of cognitive dissonance

Sony's PlayStation 4 "unveiling" is an evening of cognitive dissonance

At Tuesday night's "unveiling" of the PlayStation 4 in New York, Sony did not show us the PlayStation 4, which makes this the most postmodern unveiling I've ever attended. However, the various Sony honchos who took the stage at the Manhattan Center auditorium did describe the heart of the machine. It's "the gamer," or maybe it's the "consumer"—same thing, apparently. The word "social" was used as a noun at many points, as it, too, lies at the core of the PlayStation 4. And then there's the "supercharged PC architecture." You want gigabytes? Brother, you can have all the gigabytes you need.

And apparently the world's game developers need them. One after another, self-respecting game creators took the stage to shake their heads and lament the severe "limitations" they have been forced to endure prior to the advent of the PlayStation 4. If it ...

'I Was Rob Lowe's Snow White': The Untold Story of Oscar's Nightmare Opening

Actress Eileen Bowman breaks her silence on the surreal tale of how she became part of Oscars infamy.

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'Hobbit' Leads Saturn Awards With Nine Nominations

"Life of Pi" and "Skyfall" followed with eight and seven noms, respectively.

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Editors Walk Out on History's 'Swamp People'

The Motion Picture Editors Guild has instructed members and potential members not to work for the show, which is produced by a subsidiary of Endemol.

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Thursday, February 28, 2013

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Monday, February 25, 2013

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Friday, February 22, 2013

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Sunday, February 17, 2013