82nd Annual Oscars: Ballot (for 2009)

Picture: The Hurt Locker
Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Actor: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Actress: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious
Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds (Winner: Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker)
Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air (Winner: Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious)
Animated Feature: Up
Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon (Winner: El secreto de sus ojos)
Documentary Feature: The Cove
Documentary Short: The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant (Winner: Music by Prudence)
Live Action Short: Miracle Fish (Winner: The New Tenants)
Animated Short: A Matter of Loaf and Death (Winner: Logorama)
Original Score: Michael Giacchino, Up
Original Song: "The Weary Kind", Crazy Heart
Sound Editing: Avatar (Winner: The Hurt Locker)
Sound Mixing: The Hurt Locker
Art Direction: Avatar
Cinematography: The White Ribbon (Winner: Avatar)
Makeup: Star Trek
Costume Design: The Young Victoria
Film Editing: The Hurt Locker
Visual Effects: Avatar

Update: I went 16 for 24. Not great.

Review: Colin Firth Lives As 'A Single Man'

"Sometimes awful things have their own kind of beauty."

A Single Man is definitely one of the most beautiful films of the year. It is simply gorgeous. Every shot and frame is artfully composed and photographed. The film is the directorial debut of famed fashion designer and former Gucci creative director, Tom Ford, from a script by Vancouver lawyer, David Scearce, adapted from the 1964 Christopher Isherwood novel, which Ford rewrote.

Top 10 Films of the 2000s

1) In the Mood for Love (dir. Wong Kar-wai, 2000)

2) Mulholland Drive (dir. David Lynch, 2001)

3) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (dir. Michel Gondry, 2004)

4) Ghost World (dir. Terry Zwigoff, 2001)

5) Zodiac (dir. David Fincher, 2007)

6) Y Tu Mamá También (dir. Alfonso Cuarón, 2001)

7) Almost Famous (dir. Cameron Crowe, 2000)

8) Inglourious Basterds (dir. Quentin Tarantino, 2009)

9) Oldboy (dir. Park Chan-wook, 2003)

10) The Dreamers (dir. Bernardo Bertolucci, 2003)

Top 10 Films of 2009

Click on each title for my review of that film.

1) Inglourious Basterds (dir. Quentin Tarantino)

2) A Serious Man (dirs. Joel & Ethan Coen)

3) Up in the Air (dir. Jason Reitman)

4) Humpday (dir. Lynn Shelton)

5) Adventureland (dir. Greg Mottola)

6) Up (dir. Pete Docter)

7) Two Lovers (dir. James Gray)

8) Fantastic Mr. Fox (dir. Wes Anderson)

9) A Single Man (dir. Tom Ford)

10) Where the Wild Things Are (dir. Spike Jonze)

Review: 'An Education' of Miseducation

"Action is character. If we never did anything, we wouldn't be anybody."

Lone Scherfig's An Education seems like a film lost in time. The film feels so old fashion but its themes are very universal and as current as ever. Carey Mulligan absolutely shines as the innocent, naïve 17-year-old bookworm, Jenny in 1961 England. She is seduced by the much older man, David played by Peter Sarsgaard, who shows her the world and the high life. The film rests on the shoulder's of Mulligan's refreshingly honest portrayal of Jenny.

Review: Dances with Na'vi – 'Avatar' Feels Blue in 3D

"I think it's a fascination with the art of the possible." — James Cameron

What excited me most about James Cameron's Avatar, his first feature film in twelve years since Titanic, besides the talk of its state-of-the-art special effects and 3D technology was, like District 9 with which it shares many themes, was it's an original story not based on another property.

Review: Sweet 'Coraline' – A Stop-Motion Thriller

I was never really into stop-motion animation all that much. After being thoroughly charmed by Wes Anderson's take on Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox, I decided to check out the other acclaimed stop-motion animated hit film of the year, Coraline on Blu-ray.

Review: A Suitcase of Memories – 'Up in the Air'

"By the time you find someone right for you, it won't be settling."

Jason Reitman's third feature, Up in the Air, is by far his most personal film and a logical evolution from the themes addressed in Juno and Thank You for Smoking. The film is a fun, thoughtful supposition on the nature of relationships and their value in one's life. Reitman explores the measures of success in life and themes of feminism and family in an remarkably unique way with a backdrop of air travel and economic crisis.

Review: Smart Like 'Fantastic Mr. Fox'

Fantastic Mr. Fox is probably the ultimate Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) film in many ways. The application of Anderson's trademark quirk and style to the stop-motion animated film based on the children's book by Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) is seamless and wildly enjoyable.

The Amazing Race: Journalism Challenge

Chinese Varsity Club: Archibald Scamburger Raps

J-School

It has been two short months since I started journalism school and it has been quite an experience. The BCIT Broadcast Journalism program has already put me to good work learning about photography, video editing, shooting, radio production, news reporting, and journalistic ethics. It is a stark change from my experiences in academia at UBC. The practical training and preparation has been refreshing and a lot of fun, although I do miss the discussion and thoughtful analysis of university.

Review: Accept the Mystery – 'A Serious Man'

"When the truth is found to be lies and all the joy within you dies, don't you want somebody to love?"

The Coen brothers (No Country for Old Men, The Big Lebowski), Joel and Ethan, have crafted an original tale inspired by their Jewish upbringing in late 1960s Minnesota with A Serious Man. Again, they have created a completely off-putting, strange, unconventional, stark work that is dryly hilarious and simultaneously deeply "serious".

Concert: With or Without U2 x 360° Tour x BC Place

U2 live in concert on the 360° Tour at BC Place Stadium on October 29, 2009.

Concert: Boom Boom Pow! x Black Eyed Peas x BC Place

Black Eyed Peas live in concert opening for U2 on the 360° Tour at BC Place Stadium on October 29, 2009.

Hide and Seek

Morning Zoo Radio Show

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HSBC and UBC Team Up for Downtown Eastside

HSBC Bank Canada is donating over $2 million to the University of British Columbia to continue their community initiatives in the Downtown Eastside. [source]

Review: 'Where the Wild Things Are' and the Childhood Is

"Please don't go. We'll eat you up. We love you so."

After many years of production, delays, and feverish anticipation, director Spike Jonze and his vision of Maurice Sendak's classic children's tale Where the Wild Things Are finally come to theatres. The film is a very clear, precise, and deliberate interpretation of a very specific experience in childhood.

Slideshow: Life in Pairs