Music
Well the Grammy awards were announced this afternoon. Here they are…
Nominees announced Thursday in top categories for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards:
Record of the Year: “Irreplaceable,” Beyonce; “The Pretender,” Foo Fighters; “Umbrella,” Rihanna featuring Jay-Z; “What Goes Around … Comes Around,” Justin Timberlake; “Rehab,” Amy Winehouse.
Album of the Year: “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace,” Foo Fighters; “These Days,” Vince Gill; “River: The Joni Letters,” Herbie Hancock; “Graduation,” Kanye West; “Back to Black,” Amy Winehouse.
Song of the Year: “Before He Cheats,” Josh Kear & Chris Tompkins (Carrie Underwood); “Hey There Delilah,” Tom Higgenson (Plain White T’s); “Like a Star,” Corinne Bailey Rae (Corinne Bailey Rae); “Rehab,” Amy Winehouse (Amy Winehouse); “Umbrella,” Shawn Carter, Kuk Harrell, Terius “Dream” Nash & Christopher Stewart (Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z).
New Artist: Feist; Ledisi; Paramore; Taylor Swift; Amy Winehouse.
Pop Vocal Album: “Lost Highway,” Bon Jovi; “The Reminder,” Feist; “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long,” Maroon 5; “Memory Almost Full,” Paul McCartney; “Back to Black,” Amy Winehouse.
Rock Album: “Daughtry,” Daughtry; “Revival,” John Fogerty; “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace,” Foo Fighters; “Magic,” Bruce Springsteen; “Sky Blue Sky,” Wilco.
R&B Album: “Funk This,” Chaka Khan; “Lost & Found,” Ledisi; “Luvanmusiq,” Musiq Soulchild; “The Real Thing,” Jill Scott; “Sex, Love & Pain,” Tank.
Rap Album: “Finding Forever,” Common; “Kingdom Come,” Jay-Z, “Hip Hop Is Dead,” Nas; “T.I. vs T.I.P.,” T.I.; “Graduation,” Kanye West.
Country Album: “Long Trip Alone,” Dierks Bentley; “These Days,” Vince Gill; “Let It Go,” Tim McGraw; “5th Gear,” Brad Paisley; “It Just Comes Natural,” George Strait.
Latin Pop Album: “Papito,” Miguel Bose & Varios Artistas; “12 Segundos De Oscuridad,” Jorge Drexler; “Navidades Luis Miguel,” Luis Miguel; “Dicen Que El Tiempo,” Jennifer Pena; “El Tren De Los Momentos,” Alejandro Sanz.
Contemporary Jazz Album: “Party Hats,” Will Bernard; “Downright Upright,” Brian Bromberg; “Re-imagination,” Eldar; “River: The Joni Letters,” Herbie Hancock; “He Had a Hat,” Jeff Lorber.
Classical Album: “Cherubini: Missa Solemnis in E,” Riccardo Muti, conductor, Wilhelm Meister, producer (Ildar Abdrazakov, Herbert Lippert, Marianna Pizzolato & Ruth Ziesak (Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks); “Grechaninov: Passion Week,” Charles Bruffy, conductor, Blanton Alspaugh, producer (Kansas City Chorale & Phoenix Bach Choir); “Homage: The Age of the Diva,” Renee Fleming, David Frost, producer (Valery Gergiev, Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre); “Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Sings Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs,” Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Dirk Sobotka, producer (James Levine; Boston Symphony Orchestra); “Tower: Made in America,” Leonard Slatkin, conductor, Tim Handley, producer (Nashville Symphony).
I don’t think I’ll ever understand how the Grammy’s work. If I spent all of yesterday trying to figure out which artists and albums would be nominated, I wouldn’t have even came close to guessing these nominees. What’s the criteria? What do they look for? The only thing that I can see to connect all of these nominations together is the fact that they’re all very popular. I mean seriously, why else would “Hey There Delilah” be nominated for Best Song; or why else would Paramore be nominated for Best New Artist? It’s just the cold hard truth that they’re extremely popular with intense radio and video play. Right?
Well just from the look of things, seems as though newcomer Amy Winehouse did well… and I wouldn’t be surprised if she wins 4 Grammy’s. And if “Umbrella” wins any awards, then I just have less of a clue than I originally thought.
Movies
There is a lot of movie news to report on. The Golden Compass comes out tomorrow. Whether or not the movie will gross over $40 million is debatable. I say it’s definitely grossing over $40 million… my prediction is $44 m. My friend Sheehan has stressed his skepticism of the film grossing over $40 million because of the controversy of the film dealing with atheism beliefs, which might have parents shielding their children from. But according to the studio, they’ve stripped all atheism connotations from the film, leaving it as a fantasy/adventure packed film with plenty of special effects. Hey, good enough for me. I’m stoked to see it.
Also this weekend, the critical raves for Juno and Atonement keep pouring in. Open to only selected theaters, it’ll be more widely released next weekend, so that’ll be the opportune time for everyone who doesn’t live in NYC or LA to see these films. I have very high expectations for both of these films. Juno is being compared to as “this year’s Little Miss Sunshine” and Atonement is, in my opinion, the last film this year that has a shot on dethroning No Country for Old Men as the best film of the year. So I’m very excited for those releases as well.
The National Board of Review has announced their list of the best films of the year. They also announced their winners for certain categories. Here they are…
Best Film: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Best Director: TIM BURTON, Sweeney Todd
Best Actor: GEORGE CLOONEY, Michael Clayton
Best Actress: JULIE CHRISTIE, Away From Her
Best Supporting Actor: CASEY AFFLECK, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Best Supporting Actress: AMY RYAN, Gone Baby Gone
Best Foreign Film: THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
Best Documentary: BODY OF WAR
Best Animated Feature: RATATOUILLE
Best Ensemble Cast: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: EMILE HIRSCH, Into The Wild
Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: ELLEN PAGE, Juno
Best Directorial Debut: BEN AFFLECK, Gone Baby Gone
Best Original Screenplay (tie):
DIABLO CODY, Juno and NANCY OLIVER, Lars and the Real Girl
Best Adapted Screenplay: JOEL COEN and ETHAN COEN, No Country For Old Men
Top Ten Films:
(In alphabetical order)
THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
ATONEMENT
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
THE BUCKET LIST
INTO THE WILD
JUNO
THE KITE RUNNER
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
MICHAEL CLAYTON
SWEENEY TODD
Top Five Foreign Films:
(In alphabetical order)
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS
THE BAND’S VISIT
THE COUNTERFEITERS
LA VIE EN ROSE
LUST, CAUTION
Top Five Documentary Films
(In alphabetical order)
DARFUR NOW
IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON
NANKING
TAXI TO THE DARKSIDE
TOOTS
Top Independent Films
(In alphabetical order)
AWAY FROM HER
GREAT WORLD OF SOUND
HONEYDRIPPER
IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
A MIGHT HEART
THE NAMESAKE
ONCE
THE SAVAGES
STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING
WAITRESS
Career Achievement – MICHAEL DOUGLAS
William K. Everson Film History Award – ROBERT OSBORNE
Career Achievement in Cinematography – ROGER DEAKINS
The BVLGARI Award for NBR Freedom of Expression – THE GREAT DEBATERS and PERSEPOLIS
Theater
Driving to the DMV yesterday, I heard such a powerful and positive review for a new theater play called, August: Osage County. Here was the exact quote that I heard that just made my mind explode, “It is, flat-out, no asterisks and without qualifications, the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years.” (Charles Isherwood from the New York Times) I mean… wow. That’s all I could say after hearing that. And then I continued to read raving after raving review for this play. So yeah, I’m very interested in checking this out sometime in the near future.
