Oscars Betting Odds

Easyodds.com provides a table of odds being offered by 20 British bookmakers on all of the major Academy Awards categories. I don't want to give anything away but A Serious Man has its work cut out for itself.


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Screening Today @ AU: PBS Frontline "Flying Cheap" followed by panel discussion

The screening will begin at 7 o'clock in Wechsler Theater located on the 3rd floor of the Mary Graydon Center. "Flying Cheap" was co-produced by the School of Communication Investigative Reporting Workshop and FRONTLINE.

Following the screening, there will be a panel discussion, including David Fanning, the executive producer of FRONTLINE.

A full description of the program is available on investigativereportingworkshop.org.

Movieclips.com has now opened its service to users worldwide!!

MOVIECLIPS.com, host of the largest collection of officially licensed, high quality movies on the web, today opened up its service to users worldwide.

Launched in December 2009, MOVIECLIPS.com is a premium online video destination offering audiences the largest and most diverse collection of movie scenes. MOVIECLIPS.com allows fans to find, watch, and share more than 12,000 movie clips from libraries of major Hollywood studios. Visit http://movieclips.com/ for more information or check out their blog here.

Selected New Home Use Titles

Eugenia Grandet - HU DVD 6764
Point Break - HU DVD 6765
The Brother From Another Planet - HU DVD 6766
Sweet Mud - HU DVD 6767
Laila's Birthday - HU DVD 6768
Streamers - HU DVD 6769
The Girlfriend Experience - HU DVD 6770
The Girl Can't Help It - HU DVD 6771
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? - HU DVD 6772
The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw - HU DVD 6773
Qué Tan Lejos - HU DVD 6774
American Violet - HU DVD 6775
Cleopatra Jones - HU DVD 6776
The New York Films - HU DVD 6831
Je, Tu, Il, Elle - HU DVD 6832
Les Rendez-vous d'Anna - HU DVD 6833
Guys and Dolls - HU DVD 6834
Happy Endings - HU DVD 6835
Fremde Haut Unveiled - HU DVD 6836
The 40-Year-Old Virgin - HU DVD 6837
The Brown Bunny - HU DVD 6838
Long Weekend - HU DVD 6839
Tempest - HU DVD 6840
Weeds (Season 1) - HU DVD 6841-6842
Agnes of God - HU DVD 6843
Bleak Moments - HU DVD 6844
Paraiso Travel - HU DVD 6845
La Notte - HU DVD 6846
Saraband - HU DVD 6847
Dub Echoes - HU DVD 6848
In the Name of the Father - HU DVD 6849
The Cranes Are Flying - HU DVD 6850
Mission to Moscow - HU DVD 6887
Happy-Go-Lucky - HU DVD 6888
Baby It's You - HU DVD 6889
Medellin Sumas y Restas - HU DVD 6890
Twilight - HU DVD 6891
That Hamilton Woman - HU DVD 6892
A Chorus Line - HU DVD 6893
Every Little Step - HU DVD 6894
Seven Beauties - HU DVD 6895
Punto y Raya - HU DVD 6896
Honeydripper - HU DVD 6897
The Ogre - HU DVD 6898
Lianna - HU DVD 6899
Limbo - HU DVD 6900
Casa de los Babys - HU DVD 6901
The Commitments - HU DVD 6902
O Lucky Man! - HU DVD 6903
The Last of the Mohicans - HU DVD 6905
Johnny Carson: The Ultimate Collection - HU DVD 6911-6913
Timeless Moments from the Tonight Show - HU DVD 6914-6919
Stand-up Comedians - HU DVD 6920-6921
Carson Country - HU DVD 6922
Johnny Carson Celebrates Christmas - HU DVD 6923
The Sopranos (Seasons 1-6) - HU DVD 6801-6830

TONIGHT! KPU Presents: Robert Kenner (Director of Food Inc) - 8:15pm Ward 1

KPU Presents: Robert Kenner
8:15 p.m., Ward 1
Come see the Oscar-nominated director of the documentary Food Inc.
Sponsor: Eco-Sense, ATV, New Media Center, Wellness Center
Come to AU Library Media Services to see this film at one of our viewing stations!
Food Inc DVD 6527

Today in the AU Library: Lawrence Lessig Webcast

6 pm – 7:30 pm, Training and Events Room (library 1st floor)

Open Video Community Day Webcast: Open Access advocate Lawrence Lessig
lectures on copyright in the digital age and “fair use" which allows
limited use of copyrighted material for commentary, criticism,
teaching and scholarship.

Please Note: This is a webcast. Lawrence Lessig will not be here in person.

Streaming Video: One Degree Matters

I went looking for distributors of films that will be screened in the upcoming Environmental Film Festival and discovered One Degree Matters is available in its entirety on Vimeo.

Here's the Film Festival's blurb on it:

ONE DEGREE MATTERS (Denmark, 2009, 57 min.)

This documentary follows social and business leaders as they travel to Greenland and experience for themselves the dramatic effects of the melting of the ice cap and come to understand the planetary effects of climate change and the impacts these will have on society and the economy. The film brings to the screen the latest science from the Arctic and shows why a further rise in global temperature of one degree matters for the future of humankind. Directed by Eskil Hardt. Produced by the European Environmental Agency.

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Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees

They've upped the list to ten this year. Five aren't yet on video but the other five can be found in the Media Services collection.

Avatar - Not yet on video.
The Blind Side - Not yet on video.
District 9 - DVD 6686
An Education - Not yet on video.
The Hurt Locker - DVD 6762
Inglourious Basterds - DVD 6646
Precious: Based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire - Not yet on video.
A Serious Man - Just received. Check ALADIN for call number.
Up - DVD 6690 (regular and Blu-Ray)
Up in the Air - Not yet on video.

From WikiHow: How to get free movie tickets

Some of these are pretty obvious and some aren't exactly free in that they require work such as writing reviews.

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Movies of the 2000s montage

Mostly stuff that showed in American theaters but entertaining.

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38 Years of Super Bowl commercials

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Selected New Home Use Titles

Dead Man's Shoes - HU DVD 6540
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold - HU DVD 6458
Adventureland - HU DVD 6464
Chronicle Of A Disappearance - HU DVD 6465
Beaufort - HU DVD 6466
Drawn From Memory - HU DVD 6467
Yellow Asphalt - HU DVD 6468
Lemon Tree - HU DVD 6469
Fast Times At Ridgemont High - HU DVD 6470
The Garden - HU DVD 6475
Heathers - HU DVD 6486
Kundun - HU DVD 6487
The Mists Of Avalon - HU DVD 6488
Mad Hot Ballroom - HU DVD 6489
The Holy Land - HU DVD 6490
The Secrets - HU DVD 6500
Black Rain - HU DVD 6501
Arab Labor (Season 1) - HU DVD 6502
Sorceress - HU DVD 6503
Two Lane Blacktop - HU DVD 6504
Wild At Heart - HU DVD 6505
True Stories - HU DVD 6506
Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls - HU DVD 6507
They Made Me A Fugitive - HU DVD 6508
Born To Kill - HU DVD 6509
Altered States - HU DVD 6510
Fritz The Cat - HU DVD 6511
Heavy Traffic - HU DVD 6512
The Fearless Vampire Killers Or, Pardon Me But Your Teeth Are In My Neck - HU DVD 6513
American Gangster - HU DVD 6514
Up In Smoke - HU DVD 6515
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure - HU DVD 6516
Dark Star - HU DVD 6517
Big Trouble In Little China - HU DVD 6518
Defending Your Life - HU DVD 6519
The Larry Sanders Show (Season 1) - HU DVD 6531-6533
Wonderland - HU DVD 6534
Pinocchio - HU DVD 6535
Coming Soon - HU DVD 6536
The Cars That Ate Paris - HU DVD 6537
Four Rooms - HU DVD 6538
Ripley's Game - HU DVD 6539
Un Chant D'amour - HU DVD 6540
Animal Farm - HU DVD 6541
The Wicker Man - HU DVD 6542
Drunken Angel - HU DVD 6543
Forty Guns - HU DVD 6544
The Heiress - HU DVD 6545
Rock 'N' Roll High School - HU DVD 6546
Liquid Sky - HU DVD 6547
Vampire's Kiss - HU DVD 6548
Re-Animator - HU DVD 6549
The Brothers McMullen - HU DVD 6550
Closely Watched Trains - HU DVD 6551
The Narrow Margin - HU DVD 6552
Pink Floyd: The Wall - HU DVD 6553
Reprise - HU DVD 6560
The Tudors (Seasons 1-3) - HU DVD 6561-6571
Traffik - HU DVD 6572
Planet B-Boy - HU DVD 6573
Thomas Jefferson - HU DVD 6575
Destry Rides Again - HU DVD 6576
Mad Max - HU DVD 6577
The Road Warrior - HU DVD 6578
Funny People - HU DVD 6580
The Simpsons (Seasons 1-3) - HU DVD 6581-6591
Match Point - HU DVD 6592
Whatever Works - HU DVD 6593
Bruno - HU DVD 6594
Captain Blood - HU DVD 6595
Dodge City - HU DVD 6596
Wagonmaster - HU DVD 6597
Moliere - HU DVD 6599
Tigerland - HU DVD 6600
Battle Star Galactica (Seasons 1-4.5) - HU DVD 6601-6625
The Bellboy - HU DVD 6626
Attack! - HU DVD 6627
Dexter (Seasons 1-3) - HU DVD 6631-6642
The Edge Of Love - HU DVD 6648
Come And See - HU DVD 6649
Seinfeld (Seasons 1-9) - HU DVD 6651-6682
Were The World Mine - HU DVD 6684
Tol'able David - HU DVD 6685
Gomorrah - HU DVD 6687
The Postman Always Rings Twice - HU DVD 6688
The Driller Killer - HU DVD 6689
Up - HU DVD 6690
Unmistaken Child - HU DVD 6695
The Princes' Quest - HU DVD 6696
An Autumn Afternoon - HU DVD 6697
Classe Tous Risques - HU DVD 6698
Live And Become - HU DVD 6699
Diary Of A Chambermaid - HU DVD 6700
I Love Lucy (Seasons 1-9) - HU DVD 6701-6734
Heroes (Seasons 1-3) - HU DVD 6741-6757
The Girl Can't Help It - HU DVD 6761
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? - HU DVD 6762
The Sheriff Of Fractured Jaw - HU DVD 6763

Netflix- window to our souls

The New York Times website has a great interactive map of Netflix data which shows the popularity of various movie rentals across zip codes. They've mapped twelve major urban areas including DC. The maps reveal unexpected patterns. Why does I Love You Man, the Paul Rudd tour de force, stand out in zip code 20057 as the top rented movie here but nowhere else? Is Georgetown University full of Rudd fans?

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Film/Television Studies library guide now online

Joe Bob says: Check it out! Here!

A History of Banned and Censored Films - courtesy of UCal Berkeley Library

This filmography created by media librarian Gary Handman has many titles that are also available in the AU collection. It's fun to browse through as it's loaded with notes on where and why a film was banned.

Sample entry:

The Last Picture Show(1973)
Director, Peter Bagdanovich. Cast: Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Ellen Burstyn, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, Cybill Shepherd. A bittersweet drama of the social and sexual mores in small-town 1950s Texas. In 1951, high school seniors Sonny and Duane play football, go to the movies at the Royal Theater, hang out at the pool hall and lust after rich tease Jacy Farrow. Following two tragic deaths and with Duane gone to Korea and Jacy to college in Dallas, Sonny is left behind but he is determined to carry on, despite a telling sign of incipient communal disintegration: the closing of the Royal Theater. 118 min. DVD 9115; vhs 999:2325
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Banned in Phoenix, Arizona, 1973, because of a scene featuring Cybill Shepherd skinnydipping. A federal court later ruled that the film was not obscene.

It's also got a section on landmark films that received X or NC-17 ratings upon their initial release and citations of landmark film censorship cases.

NOTE: The list isn't comprehensive but covers film/videos that are held in the U Cal - Berkeley Library's Media Resources Center. It is still very extensive and should serve as a useful researchers guide for general users.

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Will Ferrell is Number One – Forbes’ Most Overpaid Actor List

Forbes looked at 100 top actors based on their widely released films over the past five years. It factored in the production costs of those movies against how much boxoffice, DVD and other revenue they generated in order to come up with an operating income for each film, which it then compared with the salaries the stars earned.

In Ferrell's case, the actor's films earned just $3.29 for every dollar he was paid. That's a pretty poor contrast to the $160 that Shia LaBeouf's movies returned to the studios for every buck he earned.

That figure, by the way, put LaBeouf -- who starred in "Transformers" in 2007 and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" in 2008 -- at the top of Forbes list of Best Actors for the Buck. Also included on that list were Robert Downey Jr., Christian Bale and Dennis Quaid. See what the Hollywood Reporter had to say.

Forbes 10 Most Overpaid Stars were;
1. Will Ferrell ($3.29)
2. Ewan McGregor ($3.75)
3. Billy Bob Thornton ($4)
4. Eddie Murphy ($4.43)
5. Ice Cube ($4.77)
6. Tom Cruise ($7.18)
7. Drew Barrymore ($7.43)
8. Leonardo DiCaprio ($7.52)
9. Samuel Jackson ($8.59)
10. Jim Carrey ($8.62)

Will Ferrell's movies aren't all bad.
Stranger Than Fiction DVD 3173 is available for Home Use in Media Services.

Finally, enjoy this video showcasing Shia LeBeouf in several of his money-making roles.

In case you were wondering: How Clean are the Netflix DVDs and Mailers?

Turns out, they are fairly clear of bacteria and disease...

Full article here:

http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2009/11/how-clean-are-the-netflix-dvds-and-mailers.html

So you want to research a film or filmmaker: A user’s guide to Film Studies research databases at American University

This database user's guide has been updated with Atom Egoyan used as a sample search. Each entry briefly describes a given database's value for film studies research.

Here's an example:

Academic Search Premier – 237 hits; a majority as full-text
This is a major cross-disciplinary database with a large portion of full-text content. A great resource database that would allow you in most cases the option to view the results as an HTML, text or PDF file. Articles ranged from critical analysis to film reviews. Editors choice.

Art Abstracts – 68 hits; About half as full-text
The articles cited were primarily about individual films. Most are in English but there are also entries from the French journal Cahiers du Cinema. Editors choice.

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Media Services has Sound Effects Available for Checkout!

Media Services has thousands of sound effects and hundreds of musical effects available for enhancing student projects, films, and presentations. Up to six CDs at a time can be checked out of the library for three hours for AU student production work. Students can also use them here in the Digital Media Studio.
Browse our online guides and listen to samples sounds from the Hollywood Edge Premiere Edition, the Hollywood Edge Cartoon Trax, the BBC Sound Effects Library and the Canary Collection here.

Bicycle Film Fest Comes to DC

Cycle-punk, cyclocross, fixee - the gradations of the bicycle subculture are varied. The BFF comes to town December 5 and takes a look at guys, gals and bikes around the world.
Saturday December 5
Screenings at United States Navy Memorial Theater - 701 Pennsylvania Ave NW
5:00 PM | Program 1 - ROAD TO ROUBAIX
7:00 PM | Program 2 - WHERE ARE YOU GO
9:00 PM | Program 3 - Urban Bike Shorts
10:00 PM | After Party

For more information, trailers and a full film list go to Bicycle Film Festival