Camera Obscura: Oscar Snark-Fest; HBO's 'Mildred Pierce'; Peace, Love and Bieber

Live-streaming from backstage at Sunday's Oscar awards, red carpet cams, and endless online access are all set via the Academy's main Oscars page here. With two young hosts, Anne Hathaway and James Franco pumping the show with snarky oh-so-hip-n-funny ad campaigns, this year's show certainly is opening up to younger viewers and all manner of online social networks, which will allow trolls and hecklers around the world to slop snark bait in real time in virtual arenas.

As a movie-holic, I almost always watch the show, which is sometimes worth watching and sometimes not. While this year's online acts seem interesting, it will be tough to top Ricky Gervais' savage satire on Hollywood at the recent Golden Globes.

One aspect of this year's nominees worth noting - there's plenty of class and economic warfare in the featured films. Odds are favoring "The King's Speech" but I find it nearly impossible to relate to the troubles and triumphs of monarchs. This weekend I'm really hoping that Greta Gerwig lands the Best Actress award at Saturday's Spirit Awards for her work in "Greenberg". Her performance was the best of the year.

On a more technical side - a recent short film exploring the low-tech but vital work of the Foley artist featuring Gary Hecker is a must see. As high-tech as movies have become, the art of creating the sounds that fill every scene and every movement is fascinating. Hecker's work in over 234 films - and in video games too - is profiled in the following video.

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The film noir classic "Mildred Pierce" by novelist James M. Cain lands on HBO in late March as a 5-episode series starring Kate Winslet and Evan Rachel Wood as her daughter Veda. Directed by Todd Haynes, the new preview looks like 1930s technicolor and still keeps the grim and graphic tone of Cain's book. Cain, who also wrote "Double Indemnity" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice", expertly captured a visceral time in America, as social and personal roles were radically changing.

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America's pop culture machine went into high gear this week reporting that singer Justin Beiber got a haircut. Teen pop stars have been making news for decades in America, but they seem to keep replaying the same things - for example, as noted at the always fascinating blog Cinebeats, at one time it was singer Bobby Sherman who was all the rage, and they include a hilarious peek at one of Bobby's comic book series, well worth a look.

Their post includes the following video of Sherman's first hit single, "Little Woman", and looking at it, I realized Bieber had the same haircut ... before his new adult look anyway. And dig those love beads. Groovy.

Camera Obscura: Kingsport Mayor Hates Horror Movies; Cannes Cam

The mayor of Kingsport banned a commercial promoting a new locally hosted horror/sci-fi show called Saturday Night Grindhouse, a promo you can see here on this MySpace page. Why the mayor saw something offensive is beyond me. The ETSU newspaper says:

"Kingsport city officials have demanded the first commercial for Saturday Night Grindhouse be taken off the air. The show is a horror movie showcase which began airing on MyTown Channel 16 in Kingsport on May 3, and is the creation of ETSU graduate Justin Simpson and Shannon "the Cinema Warrior" Wallen.

Simpson, 24, Kingsport, graduated in December 2007 as a digital media major.
During his last semester, he began interning at Elixir Media Group in Kingsport.
Elixir Media is contracted to provide programming for Kingsport's public television channel.

Although the city is a client, they provide the channel for the stations use.
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There is still some speculation as to why that decision was made.
"All we were told was 'they didn't like the big guy yelling at the screen,'" Simpson said.

I just wish I could get this broadcast here in Morristown - I love these kind of shows. I remember the most recent show from Greeneville hosted by Dungeon Doug and Momar Cadaver. It was great fun and they showed some fine old movies.

Another favorite was the old WSMV show hosted by Sir Cecil Creape, aka the Phantom of the Opry. (Be sure and go to the end of the post to here more from Sir Cecil.) According to Nashville horror host Dr. Gangrene, Pat Sajak used to write the comedy scenes for Sir Cecil.

Maybe the Mayor is just scared easily? You be the judge:

Saturday Night Grindhouse Week 1 Promo


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The Cannes Film Festival is underway, and your 'round-the-clock red carpet cam is here.

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Sir Cecil Creape's intro to Creature Feature:

"Each of us carries upon his shoulders this bony sarcophagus, the grinning face of death. Within it resides the human brain, encompassing within its pulsating grey mass the totality of the cosmic consciousness. What a delicate instrument; capable of thoughts of inexpressible beauty, but often enslaved in mindless terrors by monstrous horrors that the mind cannot fathom, and indeed, horrors that may not exist except within the bony confines of the human brain box. This is Creature Feature... exploring the realms of the unknown. And now, from deep within the catacombs beneath our studios, here is your master of terrormonies, Sir Cecil Creape."