Congratulations to the Disney and Pixar Oscar Winners:
- Toy Story 3 for Best Animated Feature. Lee Unkrich
- Toy Story 3 for Best Original Song. “We Belong Together” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
- Alice in Wonderland for Best Art Direction. Robert Stromberg (Production Design); Karen O’Hara (Set Decoration)
- Alice in Wonderland for Best Costume Design. Colleen Atwood
Congratulations to Disney and Pixar for their well deserved Academy Awards. When a film like Alice in Wonderland, which was quasi-animated, wins for Best Art Direction, you can imagine a time in the future when enough members of the academy appreciate the skill and talent it takes into making an animated feature that one might actually win. Alas that day is not today.
There was no way Toy Story 3 was going to win for Best Picture. The King’s Speech, which was the big wi! nner of the night, took that honor. But you can chalk up Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. That the academy didn’t penalize Disney for having two songs in that category is nice, also nice is that they gave the oft-nominated but infrequently honored Randy Newman a second gold statuette. Now he has bookends.
I only watched the last hour and a half of the Oscars, which proved that ABC certainly knows how to program commercials. Unfortunately, the team behind the awards ceremony itself still hasn’t figured out the formula for an entertaining evening. I’ve enjoyed longer prior ceremonies that, while longer on the clock, where much funnier and moving. The way they’ve murdered the best songs segment is criminal and I’m a firm believer that except for the opening segment and a few quips here and there, there host and/or hostess is doing their job best when they are unseen. And sadly, with ill-thought out segments (Bob Hope anyone?) Th! e show this year risked become a farce of itself at times.
!Did y ou watch? And if so, did you enjoy the Oscars?
Congratulations Disney and Pixar Oscar Winners The Disney Blog - Disney News and Information -- by fans, for fans
Family Films
A while back, a Facebook friend of mine posted, "Everyone should have this many tutus in their laundry," along with a picture of a stack of pretty, colorful tutus. Having three girls myself, I thought, "I couldn't agree more." However, I am also "one of those moms" who won't let her kids watch X or wear Y or read Z. I feel like I am forever grappling with little decisions about what I should and shouldn't expose my girls to, all the while trying not to ever let any of it become a big deal. Because everyone knows that fastest way to get your kid to want to do something is to make a big deal about it, right? It's tough to be a mom sometimes, which is why when Peggy Orenstein's book Cinderella Ate My Daughter came out, I was so interested to read it;Â not only for what she had to say about my favorite subject -- kids' TV and movies -- but also for ! personal reasons, to see what she had to say about society's messages to girls in general.
Haven Moore has always known she's different: there are the talents that can't be explained; the knowledge of places she's never been; and then there are the visions that overwhelm her - terrifying visions of a life that ended tragically two decades earlier and more than a thousand miles away in New York City. The citizens of Haven's rural, highly religious community, believe that she's been possessed by a demon. But this is no demon: it's reincarnation.Haven journeys all the way to Manhattan in search of clues about her past life and a decades-old murder. One wrong move could lead her into the clutches of the sinister villain at the center of a conspiracy much larger than she could have ever imagined. But if she makes the right choices, Haven will find the answers she's been seeking her entire life.Title: The Eternal Ones! Author: Kirsten MillerPublisher: Puffin, $19.95 RRPPublication Date: August 2010Format: PaperbackISBN: 9780141331997Type: NovelThis book is available online
Sixteen-year-old Dee is a cloverhand-someone who can see faeries. So when she finds herself irresistibly drawn to beautiful, mysterious Luke, Dee knows that he wants something more dangerous than a summer romance. But Dee doesn't realise that Luke is an assassin from the faerie world. And she is his next target.Title: LamentAuthor: Maggie StiefvaterPublisher: Scholastic, $19.99 RRPPublication Date: February 2011Format: PaperbackISBN: 9781407120317Type: NovelThis book is available online
As long as we ar! e still alive, we can have everything later, we can start from scratch. My Nguyen, Kinglake. I hope to feel safe in every part of Afghanistan, not just in my room. Sabrina Omar, Kabul. Kinglake had one day of disaster with far-reaching effects; Kabul has endured thirty years of war. From Kinglake to Kabul is a collaborative anthology created by students from two schools connected by tragedy. In this collection of young people's writing, students from two vastly different countries share their stories of resilience, courage and hope. In doing so they illustrate the remarkable healing quality of words and illuminate what connects us as humans. This is not a book of remembrance or a book that desires to shock, it is a book about what is best about human nature.Title: From Kinglake to KabulEdited by: Neil Grant and David WilliamsPublisher: Allen and Unwin, $18.99 RRPPublication Date: February 2011Format: PaperbackISBN: 9781742375304Type:&! nbsp;Non-fictionThis book is available online
It is 1854 and Ballarat is teeming with miners, dreamers and rebels. On the eve of the Eureka Stockade battle, Fintan Donovan is fighting private battles of his own. Torn between his Irish upbringing and his friendship with an English boy called Matthew Ward, Fintan must make a stand. Will he be dominated by the hatreds of the old world or will he find a new way to live in the new country?Title: The Valley of Blood and GoldAuthor: Tony PalmerPublisher: Penguin, $17.95 RRPPublication Date: 28 February 2011Format: PaperbackISBN: 9780143008972Type: NovelThis book is available online
Sam leads a pretty normal life. He may not have the most exci! ting job in the world, but he's doing all right - until a fast food prank brings him to the attention of Douglas, a creepy guy with an intense violent streak. Turns out Douglas is a necromancer who raises the dead for cash and sees potential in Sam. Then Sam discovers he's a necromancer too, but with strangely latent powers. And his worst nightmare wants to join forces . . . or else. With only a week to figure things out, Sam needs all the help he can get. Luckily he lives in Seattle, which has nearly as many paranormal types as it does coffee places. But can a bratty harbinger named Ashley save his skin?Title: Hold Me Closer, NecromancerAuthor: Lisa McBridePublisher: Penguin, $19.95 RRPPublication Date: November 2010Format: PaperbackISBN: 9780143204961Type: NovelThis book is available online
At the start of the summer holidays, the unthinkable happens when Jess's beloved pony Diamond has a terrible accident. Why won't Shara, Jess's closest friend, tell her what happened down on the river flats that day? Jess suspects the worst, and feels as though she's lost not just one best friend, but two.But new friends and new horses come into Jess's life, along with the chance to compete in the Longwood campdraft. And there's one little filly who needs her help... Can Walkabout heal Jess's broken heart in return?Title: Diamond SpiritEdited by: Karen WoodPublisher: Allen and Unwin, $9.99 RRPPublication Date: January 2011Format: PaperbackISBN: 9781742373157Type: NovelThis book is available online
