newspaper fun

today's sunday edition of the new york times churned out loads of fun reading, featuring a special oscars section with a remarkable amount of worthy articles. one of my favorites was an article on the production designer jack fisk, whose name was on my mind this week as i discussed the similarities between p.t. anderson's there will be blood (more on that later!) and terrence malick's days of heaven (one of my favorites, just released by criterion. fisk was the production designer on both of these films, which share a remarkable scenic landscape and are dominated by symbolic imagery. the article discusses fisk's designing style, comparing it to daniel day-lewis's method style of acting and also discusses his early work in the business, specifically mentioning his relationship with david lynch--my current obsession. read it!


jack fisk's sketch for a house designed for there will be blood

there was also this interesting article on sound design in no country for old men and a nice piece on into the wild, which i forgot about since i saw it so long ago and my memory is clouded with my recent completion of krakauer's into thin air.

there was also a faux oscar prediction (of nominees, not winners) laid out by the times' three film critics: a.o. scott, manohla dargis, and stephen holden. i wasn't too pleased with all of the choices, especially noticing that they were the critic's ideal nominees, not their reality based predictions. i mean, casey affleck's amazing role in the assassination of jesse james, which was one of the most memorable performances i've seen all year, was hardly recognized. nor was my already proclaimed favorite, the diving bell and the butterfly. just to give you a glimpse into the critics' nominee lists, here is what they came up with for the nominees for best picture:

a.o. scott:
sweeney todd: the demon barber of fleet street
4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days
i'm not there
ratatouille
into the wild

manohla dargis
there will be blood
the bourne ultimatum
4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days
i'm not there
zodiac

stephen holden
there will be blood
the diving bell and the butterfly
starting out in the evening
no country for old men
across the universe

in my world, the best picture nominees would be the following:
there will be blood (the hands down winner)
the diving bell and the butterfly
i'm not there
no country for old men
zodiac or into the wild

check out the rest of their nominees here.

and finally, one last article worth mentioning was the piece on ethan coen's one act plays which begin previews at the atlantic's second stage theater next week (i think). neil pepe, the artistic director of the company, directs, with some of our former teachers are performing in the show.

that's all folks.