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Pretty cool to see Nick Cave and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis on the list.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead made the guest list, been rooting for her to break out in a big way for a long time.

Interesting tidbit as I catch up on all of Jimmy Kimmel’s multi-day stint on The Howard Stern Show last week: Not only does the Oscar host job only pay $15,000; but he estimates that with all costs considered (including paying writers for their time, clothing, etc etc) it cost him about $25,000 to host the show last year and likely will this year, too.

Interesting. I assumed he'd at least get clothing comped from designers in exchange for name-dropping on the red carpet like most other stars in attendance

I’m sure he did now that you mention it - that was actually just some idle chatter/speculation during the conversation, nothing he went out of his way to confirm. Just stuck out in my head.

Stern enjoyed ribbing him about the fact that he also hosts ABC’s network upfronts every year - another job that pays nothing

It is still a markedly low amount, but I'm guessing it's one of those things they've voted on the budget for and the assumption is whoever hosts is doing so to increase their profile

Which is funny to me, because I can’t imagine any of the people who host the Oscars needing to increase their profile, otherwise they’d never be candidates to host the Oscars to begin with.

Ha, that's true. I'm sure Steve Martin wasn't waiting at home for the phone to ring

mfunk9786 wrote:Interesting tidbit as I catch up on all of Jimmy Kimmel’s multi-day stint on The Howard Stern Show last week: Not only does the Oscar host job only pay $15,000; but he estimates that with all costs considered (including paying writers for their time, clothing, etc etc) it cost him about $25,000 to host the show last year and likely will this year, too.

So the host has to pay for the writers himself? Doesn't that come from the show's budget?

It's funny that Oscar hosts would make that little though. I recall reading somewhere that Fey and Poehler were paid six figures for each time they hosted the Globes.

The writers on staff with the show do, but not writers that the host wants to enlist

Finland submits Tom of Finland !!!

Will Paul Auster won the Nobel? Other American after controversial Dylan last year is not a good idea.

edit: Tom of Finland is a biopic about the author, not about the character. I've seen the trailer. Oops.

Charles Burnett, Owen Roizman, Donald Sutherland, and Agnes Varda are all getting honorary Oscars this year. It's really too bad these aren't part of the telecast anymore, it's always the best lineup.

Werewolf by Night wrote:Charles Burnett, Owen Roizman, Donald Sutherland, and Agnes Varda are all getting honorary Oscars this year. It's really too bad these aren't part of the telecast anymore, it's always the best lineup.

That's absolutely phenomenal. What a joy to finally see Burnett get recognized by an industry that neglected him and never gave him high-profile directing opportunities beyond Eddie Murphy comedies in the early 90's.

Werewolf by Night wrote:Charles Burnett, Owen Roizman, Donald Sutherland, and Agnes Varda are all getting honorary Oscars this year. It's really too bad these aren't part of the telecast anymore, it's always the best lineup.

The Oscars don't do what they claim to do (i.e. celebrate the best in cinema) well at all, but they still have a huge symbolic heft, and acknowledging the work of filmmakers like Burnett and Varda is their best use of that peculiar power.

It might also give Criterion the impetus to finally put To Sleep with Anger on their release schedule in February or March!

Kazuo Ishiguro has won the Nobel. I haven't read any of his books yet.

By contrast, I’ve read most of them, which is a very unusual position for me to be in with regard to the Nobel.

I read Remains of the Day in college and remember really liking it. I love that he also wrote the screenplay for The Saddest Music in the World.

I'm a big fan - The Unconsoled is one of my favourite novels. Possibly interesting bit of trivia, given the controversy over last year's winner: Ishiguro's real ambition was to be a Dylan-esque songwriter, and writing novels was his Plan B. He wrote some of the songs for Stacey Kent's album, Breakfast on the Morning Tram.

This really doesn't fit here per se and I'm not sure if it deserves its own thread but after the reports of him lawyering up severly yesterday the New York Times has published its exhaustive investigation into many years of harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Thankfully, whether because of the reaction yesterday or otherwise, Weinstein seems to actually be taking time away from the business.

Awesome

Netflix has picked up On Body and Soul for the Americas, giving it a release two weeks before the Oscars whilst all of television is on hiatus for the Olympics. I don't think it's been mulled as a serious contender in the Foreign Language race (which, as I understood it, was mostly revolving around BPM, Loveless, In the Fade, or Netflix's own First They Killed My Father) but it'll be interesting to see how this pans out.