The Oscar-nominated foreign language films of 2011

Every year the Academy invites countries to submit their best film for the Oscar of Best Foreign Language Film.

Each film must have been released in theaters, produced outside the United States, and contain primarily non-English dialogue.

In 2012, sixty three countries submitted a film and nine were shortlisted as contenders. On January 24, the five Oscar nominees were announced.

Oscar Nominated Films

Belgium – “Bullhead”

Canada – “Monsieur Lazhar”

Iran – “A Separation”

Israel – “Footnote”

Poland – “In Darkness”

 

Shortlisted Films

Denmark – “SuperClasico”

Germany – “Pina”

Morocco – “Omar Killed Me”

Taiwan – “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale”

 

While it may be difficult to see these in theaters try to find them as they are among the highest rated movies of the year.

The first big controversy in Christianity? Whether Jesus was God or not

I recently listened to a podcast that brought up several interesting ideas about Christianity. The most important of which was a huge debate between Arius and Athanasius in 325 A.D., concerning the “Divinity of Jesus.”

Arius was against saying Jesus was God, while Athanasius believed Jesus definitely was. This debate had been raging for hundreds of years before these men, indeed all the way back to when Jesus was alive.

The reason why these two men come up? Politics. The Emperor of Rome, Constantine, called together all the Christian leaders of the day and asked them to pick one or the other. He hoped to stem the flood of fights and deaths that were occurring over the topic.

They agreed to banish Arius, condemning him as a heretic for his thinking (Jesus was not a God).

Of course, it didn’t work. The next Emperor brought back his ideas, now called Arianism, and condemned and exiled Athanasius.

Which was then followed by several hundred years of constant civil war over the topic.

Eventually the Arians were all killed or exiled and the dominant position became anti-Arian. Fast forward 1,500 years and today we have largely forgotten this debate. We take it for granted that Jesus was God.

But, a few churches persevere, like the Unitarians who “maintain that Jesus was a great man and a prophet of God, perhaps even a supernatural being, but not God himself.”

And, the debate rages on…

Skateboarding takes the next step to becoming a school sport

Thirty-four years after the National Scholastic Surfing Association was born in Huntington Beach, a National Scholastic Skateboarding League is emerging.

Students attending three San Clemente schools took up competing in 2011 in the OC Skateboarding League, which had been born a year earlier. The three San Clemente teams will open their 2012 OCSL season Friday in a 10-team tournament at Volcom Skatepark in Costa Mesa.

The San Clemente skaters can’t call any of the three teams a school team, as they haven’t gone through the steps necessary to achieve that designation. Last week, 15 San Clemente High skaters took a first step by petitioning for club status.

“They’re going to meet on campus, just like any of the other clubs.”

OCSL is under the umbrella of the new National Scholastic Skateboarding League, which Shannon Banks said has teams in Orange and San Diego counties and hopes to eventually spread along both coasts.

via OC Register

Great documentary to watch: A Murder of Crows

Crows live everywhere in the world except Antarctica and are a part of myths and legends in many cultures. Their reputation in the stories varies from comical to frightening, godlike or wise, bringers of light and bringers of death, though a “murder” of crows refers to a flock of crows, and not to anything murderous, at all.

They may be all these things, but what we are learning is that they are especially smart. New research has shown that they are among the most intelligent animals on the planet. They use tools as only elephants and chimpanzees do, and recognize 250 distinct calls.

They thrive wherever people live and have used their great intelligence to adapt again and again to a constantly changing world. Some memorize garbage truck routes, and follow the feast from day to day. Others drop nuts in the road and wait for passing cars to crack them open.

via Introduction to A Murder of Crows

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The full documentary, which was featured at the 2011 Environmental Film Festival, can be watched online at, A Murder of Crows.

Petition Facebook to put a woman on it's all male Board of Directors

Facebook hasn’t even gone public yet, but the scrutiny that comes with being a publicly traded company has already started rolling in, with the second-largest U.S. pension fund, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, saying the social network’s board of directors is too “homogenous.”

From CalSTRS Director of Corporate Governance Anne Sheehan:

We are disappointed that the Facebook board will not have any women members. This is particularly glaring in view of the fact that Facebook is going public at a time when there is clear evidence that companies with diverse boards perform far better than the companies with more homogenous boards.

We realize that Facebook will be a controlled company in which the public stockholders will have little influence, but when the company’s mission and subscriber base are considered, a diverse board makes good business sense. We strongly encourage you to increase the diversity of your board prior to the IPO.

via All Facebook

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With a majority of women in Facebook this should be an easy movement to get started. I’ve created a page for everyone to like called:

Petition to put a woman on the Board of Directors

They wouldn’t let me put Facebook anywhere in the name, but I think this works.

Let’s see if we can get organized and push Facebook to do the right thing. Join in and like the page!

Petition Facebook to put a woman on it’s all male Board of Directors

Facebook hasn’t even gone public yet, but the scrutiny that comes with being a publicly traded company has already started rolling in, with the second-largest U.S. pension fund, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, saying the social network’s board of directors is too “homogenous.”

From CalSTRS Director of Corporate Governance Anne Sheehan:

We are disappointed that the Facebook board will not have any women members. This is particularly glaring in view of the fact that Facebook is going public at a time when there is clear evidence that companies with diverse boards perform far better than the companies with more homogenous boards.

We realize that Facebook will be a controlled company in which the public stockholders will have little influence, but when the company’s mission and subscriber base are considered, a diverse board makes good business sense. We strongly encourage you to increase the diversity of your board prior to the IPO.

via All Facebook

—

With a majority of women in Facebook this should be an easy movement to get started. I’ve created a page for everyone to like called:

Petition to put a woman on the Board of Directors

They wouldn’t let me put Facebook anywhere in the name, but I think this works.

Let’s see if we can get organized and push Facebook to do the right thing. Join in and like the page!

Data shows smart phones will soon flood the world with pictures, video, and text messaging.

In the last data update, I revealed that social network usage is rising, especially in Russia and Egypt. A good sign for the citizens of those disrupted countries.

Now, we have data on cell phone use and it clearly shows the rise of smart phones in both developed and undeveloped countries.

Japan has the highest smart phone adoption of any country, but it is the near universal adoption of text messaging in Indonesia (96%) that blew me away.

Sending Text Messages

Only 2/3 of Americans use their cell phones to send text messages.

Globally, there are 15 countries with a higher percentage who send text messages on their cell phones

  • 90% or more – Indonesia
  • 80% or more – Kenya, Lebanon, Poland, Mexico, Japan, & China.
  • 70% or more – Britain, Lithuania, France, Russia, Israel, Egypt, Ukraine, & Spain.

 

Taking Pictures or Video

When it comes to using our cell phones for pictures or video, at least the U.S. is in the top 5.

  • Japan – 72%
  • Mexico – 61%
  • Spain – 59%
  • Egypt – 58%
  • United States, Israel – 57%

 

The mobile internet

In no country do a majority of people use cell phones to regularly access the internet.

  • Israel – 47%
  • Japan – 47%
  • United States – 43%
  • Britain – 38%
  • China 37%

 

*Data is from a Pew Global Poll completed by surveying 1,000 people in each country via the telephone or face-to-face from March-April, 2011.

One of the greatest producers of all time is a woman, Kathleen Kennedy, and wants to see more women in film

Kathleen Kennedy is an American film producer. In 1981 she co-founded Amblin Entertainment with her husband, Frank Marshall, and Steven Spielberg. She is known for producing the Jurassic Park films, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Kennedy is the second-most successful film producer of all time (after Steven Spielberg) in terms of domestic box office receipts with totals at just over $5 billion.

via Wikipedia

She is ahead of George Lucas, Brian Grazer, and Michael Bay to name a few.

After her, there are 32 men until the next women appears, which is Laura Ziskin. She is known for Pretty Woman, the Spider-Man movies, and as the first female producer of the Academy Awards.

A personal quote of Kathleen Kennedy:

Believe and set your sights on the fact that you can do it. It’s certainly a goal any woman can have, just like any man.

But what I always find interesting is when you take the areas of writing, producing and directing. I don’t think there’s a great deal of discrimination — although I’m completely perplexed and confused as to why there aren’t more women. For instance, if we’re looking for new, young directors, which is something we do all the time, we certainly never go look at films because they’re directed by a man or a woman. We look at films because they are winning awards, they’re good, and it has nothing to do with gender. And women certainly have equal opportunity to get into a university like UCLA or USC, to get into the film department, to take the same courses to allow them to make films, to deal with a whole gamut of subject matter, and yet I don’t know what happens. There’s something that happens in the process of getting there that seems to turn many women away.

What to watch this month – the 17 movies and their Oscars nominations

Now that the Super Bowl is over our next big entertainment event is the 84th Academy Awards on February 26th.

Which means we have 17 movies to catch up on. Below are the movies and their nominations.

 

If you’re really a movie buff you can also check out the other awards shows leading up to the Oscars (BAFTA, WGA, Spirit, Razzie).

 

Hugo

  • 11 nominations
  • Best picture, director, adapted screenplay, original score, cinematography, costume, art, editing, FX, sound editing, and sound mixing.

 

The Artist

  • 10 nominations
  • Best picture, director, actor, supporting actress, original screenplay, original score, cinematography, costume, art, and editing.

 

Moneyball

  • 6 nominations
  • Best picture, actor, supporting actor, adapted screenplay, editing, and sound mixing.

 

War Horse

  • 6 nominations
  • Best picture, original score, cinematography, art, sound editing, and sound mixing.

 

The Descendants

  • 5 nominations
  • Best picture, director, actor, adapted screenplay, and editing.

 

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

  • 5 nominations
  • Actress, cinematography, editing, sound editing, and sound mixing.

 

Midnight in Paris

  • 4 nominations
  • Best picture, director, original screenplay, and art.

 

The Help

  • 4 nominations
  • Best picture, actress, and two supporting actress.

 

Albert Nobbs

  • 3 nominations
  • Actress, supporting actress, and makeup.

 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

  • 3 nominations
  • Art, FX, and makeup.

 

The Tree of Life

  • 3 nominations
  • Best picture, director, and cinematography.

 

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

  • 3 nominations
  • Actor, adapted screenplay, and original score.

 

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

  • 3 nominations
  • FX, sound editing, and sound mixing.

 

Bridesmaids

  • 2 nominations
  • Supporting actress, and original screenplay.

 

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

  • 2 nominations
  • Best picture and actor.

 

My Week with Marilyn

  • 2 nominations
  • Actress and supporting actor.

 

The Iron Lady

  • 2 nominations
  • Actress and makeup.

 

Info provided by BruSimm, Big Screen Cinema Guide