Sunday, January 26, 2020

RIP Kobe Bryant (1978-2020)


This morning, a lazy, crazy bokura Sunday was interrupted with a tragic news report from the sensationalist internet tabloid TMZ that NBA super-duper-ooperstar and Academy Award winner Kobe Bryant had died in a fiery helicopter crash in the Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas. The sports world held their breath, hoping that the report was unsubstantiated and that Kobe wasn't actually on board the aircraft. Alas, more reputable news services came out that yes, Kobe Bryant was on the plane, and even more tragically he was accompanied by his 13-year-old daughter Gianna as well as another youth basketball player and their parent. All of them plus the pilot perished in the crash.

It was a devastating report for the tight-knit sports world, especially since the talented and charismatic Kobe had established himself as one of the few players that transcended the sport to make a distinct imprint on the public consciousness at large. I'm sure all Oscar buffs remember his road to the Academy Award in this very category back in 2017 for his short film Dear Basketball, one that made him the only Olympic medalist and NBA superstar to also win an Academy Award. He leaves behind an impressive albeit somewhat controversial legacy.


Monday, January 20, 2020

Best Animated Short - 2019


Well, it has been a week since the Oscar nominations were announced, and as I had wrote, I saw three of the nominated films just from scouring the internet for the shortlisted films. For the first five days I checked frequently for the last two without much success. However, everything changed over the weekend. First, Daughter got posted onto Vimeo. It was posted by somebody whose name doesn't appear at all in the credits. Given the fact that it's been removed I have a feeling it was an unauthorized leak. And then I stumbled across a Vimeo post of Memorable, one that was posted almost ten months ago by the production company Vivement Lundi. I could have sworn it was not there every time I looked, which suggests that it was set on private for a while, but it had been made available for public view. So yippee, I've now seen every nominee in this category this year, and 368 of the 369 nominees in the category's history. 

*shakes fist at Rippling Romance*

But now that I have seen all the nominees, I must drop all of the plans that I had for tonight to bring you...my review. And then I can go back into hibernation with the exception of posting which of these five films had won the Oscar. 

Monday, January 13, 2020

Best Animated Short 2019 - Nominees



Well, here it is, the long-awaited day where I make another post on this blog. Yes, I confess that I have had some ideas for posts, but have been too lazy to turn them into reality. However, today we are no longer able to ignore or procrastinate, for it is the day the Oscar nominations were announced (at an unpleasantly early hour on top of that.) But the time has now come to welcome five new films into the ranks of Best Animated Short nominees


And here they are:


Dcera (Daughter)
Hair Love
Kitbull
Memorable
Sister (妹妹)