Brave New Film

{There are basically 3 topics in this post, so I'll try not to be too verbose.}

It all starts with Brave New World (2002), which I still am unclear as to why it has never been mentioned before in this News Blog. I have always been rather fond of Aldus Huxley's book, and when I first was told to read it back in high school, my class group got to turn it into a movie. We had to be appropriate and all, of course, and we had some portions be live theater, but for the most part, it worked.

But then, as I've mentioned at least once before in these posts, the rolling blackouts of 2003 destroyed my digital masters of anything prior. For Brave New World, though, my only VHS had already been handed off to the teacher, who apparently destroys student work after 6 months. Sad day, for sure.

HOWEVER, in the past two weeks, I have magically come upon a set of old Hi8 mm tapes, at least one of which is labeled as footage for Brave New World! I might review it soon, and give it the go ahead to reedit what I can of the film so that SOMETHING of the project can be posted on YouTube.

I bother to mention this at all because of a news story I read yesterday that just happened to be about an upcoming film of this book! It would star Leonardo DiCaprio, and be directed by Ridley Scott. There may have been prior TV Movie kinda versions before, but never a film. Exciting!

We filmed most of it in San Carlos, which is a stretch for the remaining topic: Kathryn Bigelow. Her latest brave new film, The Hurt Locker, continues to earn critical raves, and I simply had to put her interview from The Colbert Report for all to see.

3rd Site, Part II

So far, with the exception of a single pop-up window that was not a repeat occurrence, this 3rd site experiment is working well. Thus, I've decided to put the "Z site," aka Garett's Moving Ratings [and more], into the new location as well.

This includes the start of my Oscar Predictions for 2009, complete with a new design that works a bit better than last year's did, however creative it was. I've mentioned in a previous News Blog entry some possible nominees for Best Pic, but lately, there's been a LOT of buzz for Kathryn Bigelow, the Director of The Hurt Locker. Not only is she from San Carlos (the town I grew up in), but she also happens to be an ex-wife (prior to Linda Hamilton) of James Cameron (think Titanic).

Anyhow, her film is getting rave reviews, and she herself is getting serious talks about becoming the 4th female to become a Best Director Oscar nominee. Three cheers from a fellow San Carlan!