FILM: FILM AWARDS

Old hobbits die hard

For the first time in my couple of years as a member, the Online Film Critics Society has chosen a non-hobbit-based movie as its Best Picture.

Personally, I voted for "Garden State" but "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" was my second choice, so I can't be too disappointed. It's a great film. In fact, most of the things I voted for got recognized somewhere on the list, which is a nice change.

Here's what we wound up choosing:

Best Picture:		Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Best Director:		Michel Gondry, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Best Actor:		Paul Giamatti, Sideways
Best Actress:		Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Best Supporting Actor:		Thomas Haden Church, Sideways
Best Supporting Actress:		Cate Blanchett, The Aviator
Best Original Screenplay:		Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, Story by Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth
Best Adapted Screenplay:		Sideways, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, based on the novel by Rex Pickett
Best Cinematography:		Hero, Christopher Doyle
Best Editing:		Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Valdís Óskarsdóttir
Best Score:		The Incredibles, Michael Giacchino
Best Documentary:		Fahrenheit 9/11
Best Foreign-Language Film:		Hero (China)
Best Animated Feature:		The Incredibles
Breakthrough Filmmaker:		Zach Braff, Garden State
Breakthrough Performance:		Catalina Sandino Moreno, Maria Full of Grace

Related links:

January 11, 2005 | 5:53 p.m. | New York, New York
Permanent link: http://www.offoffoff.com/opinion/offofftopic/20050109.php#e89

NEWS: IRAQ WAR

It's hard work

An even worse job than American soldier in Iraq is Iraqi cop in Iraq. From the Christian Science Monitor — just confirming the impression you'd get from reading the news every day:

Since October, four Iraqi police and national guardsmen have died for every American soldier killed, based on a Monitor tabulation. As more and more police and guards hit the streets, that ratio appears to be going up. In the first 10 days of January, at least 108 Iraqi guardsmen and police have been killed compared with 23 US casualties.

Related links:

January 11, 2005 | 12:03 a.m. | New York, New York
Permanent link: http://www.offoffoff.com/opinion/offofftopic/20050109.php#e88

EVENTS OF THE DAY: OFFOFFOFF READER COMMENTS

Wait, uh, dude, I totally take that back

Whenever I approve the comments that people post to this web site (I try to approve almost all of them), the sender gets an automatic e-mail thanking them for their participation. This morning I got the following response from a guy who had commented on one of our music articles. (The names have been deleted to protect all involved.)

Dear Joshua, Thank you for posting my comments. I was very stoned when I wrote them. I am not sincere. I actually am a fan of [the band]. I was pissed at [the previous poster] for being a jerk last night. I was really high probably getting on his nerves. Please take my comments off the web site. I don't mean them. Please accept my apology. Thank you.

I sent it along to one of our writers for his amusement, and he said, "I always assumed all of our readers were on drugs."

January 9, 2005 | 8:03 p.m. | New York, New York
Permanent link: http://www.offoffoff.com/opinion/offofftopic/20050109.php#e87