Oscar update: 81st Annual Academy Awards

2009 is certainly brilliant. With Hugh Jackman playing host, you can’t ask for more. Here’s your perfect host adding a touch of humor, and there’s the little musical that he played out, his opening song is surely going down in history.

The best supporting actress award saw previous winners grace the stage to represent all past winners including Whoopi Goldberg, Goldie Hawn, and Tilda Swinton. Tilda Swinton announced Penelope Cruz, this years winner for her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Her acceptance speech saw an emotional Penelope thanking everyone she could.

Steve Martin and Tina Fey came on stage with with a cohost to announce the next couple of awards. Milk saw screenwriter Dustin Lance Black win the Original Screenplay award. The adapted screenplay award goes to Simon Beaufoy for Best Adapted Screenplay this year for the film Slumdog Millionaire based on a book written by Vikas Swarup.

Jennifer Aniston and Jack Black played host to announcing the next category of awards. the awrd for best animated feature film went to Andrew Stanton for Wall-E. The other nominations were Bolt, and Kungfu Panda. This was his 5th nomination so far. The best animated short film award went to Kunio Kato for La Maison en Petits Cubes.

The next hosts were Daniel Craig and Sarah Jessica Parker to announce the winners for art direction. The award went to Donald Graham Burt (Art Direction) and Victor J. Zolfo (Set Decoration) for the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The next award went to Michael O’Connor for the film The Duchess for achievement in costume design. The award for achievement in makeup went to Greg Cannom the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Robert Pattinson too made it on stage as host.

The next hosts had guests in splits. Natalie and Ben Stiller put up a great show and announced the next awards. The best cinematographer award went to Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog Millionaire.

Jessica Biel came on next in a pretty gown to honor someone for his contribution and I didn’t understand this bit.

Next there was a great video montage of James Franco and Seth Rogen watching a video of scenes from nominated films all put together pretty funnily. They came on next to announce the award for the best live action short film. The award went to Jochen Alexander Freydank for SPIELZEUGLAND (TOYLAND).

What I just saw was pretty entertaining. A musical, to be accurate, High School musical, was performed with great gusto by none other than Beyonce and Hugh Jackman. Of course I hate what Beyonce wore or her performance and loved Jackman. Not only is Hugh Grant funny, he’s really a powerhouse of energy.

The run up to the best supporting actor male was anxious and hopeful for everybody I guess. Not only did we see 5 former supporting actor winners, the award was given to Heath Ledger for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight. His family collected the award and I think everyone genuinely missed Heath, and expressed their respect and love with the customary standing ovation.

The next awards were in the documentary categories with Bill Maher playing host. The best documentary feature went to James Marsh and Simon Chinn for Man on Wire. It’s a great documentary on French performance artist Philippe Petit. I personally love this one because I’ve seen this guy on many shows. Megan Mylan won the short subject documentary for Smile Pinki. I love this too because it’s really nice and tells a simple story about little Pinki dealing with Harelip and Dr. Subodhs contribution.

Will Smith came on next to announce the next few awards. The team of Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron won the visual effects award for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The achievement in sound editing went to Richard King for The Dark Knight. The Sound Mixing title was lapped by Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty for Slumdog Millionaire. Chris Dickens took home another award for the Slumdog camp in the film editing category.

The next standing ovation came for Jerry Lewis, veteran actor, and comedian who received the Jean Hersholt humanitarian award for his support towards those with muscular dystrophy through the muscular dystrophy telethon.

This is a brilliant achievement for A.R.Rehman with 2 awards for Slumdog yet again. He won the awards for best music score and best song as well. The song selected is Jai Ho. A musical medley even saw Rehman perform on stage in between both the award announcements with plenty of Bollywood style dance in the background. Alicia Keys and Zac Ephron played host during these announcements.

Liam Neeson and Frieda Pinto played host to announce the winner of the best foreign language film of the year. The award went to the film Departures from Japan. Director Yojiro Takita was overjoyed at the recognition.

Queen Latifah performed a sort of musical tribute to all people the film fraternity has lost. I didn’t know them all but the song was meaningful.

Reese Witherspoon was on stage to announce the award for best director. Well, you guessed it, Danny Boyle took this one home. Certainly Slumdog was a clean sweep, and the best directing award was certainly awaited.

The pattern to call on 5 former best actress award winners. The award for performance by an actress in a leading role this year goes to Kate Winslet for her role in The Reader. Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie, Anne Hathaway, and Mellissa Leo were the other nominees.

To introduce this years 5 ominations for best actor, Micheal Douglas, Ben Kingsley, Adrian Broody, Anthony Hopkins, and Robert de Niro were called on stage. the award went to Sean Penn for his portrayal of Harvey MIlk in the film Milk. Sean Penn did give a great acceptance speech and supported gay activists. The other nominees were Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins, Mickey Rourke, and Frank Langella were the other nominees.

Steven Spielberg announced the Best picture award and the announcement saw a majority of the Slumdog crew get on center stage. A truly happy moment for Christian Colson with the best motion picture of the year coming their way.

Get to Pushkar

For everyone who didn’t go to Pushkar this year, its okay, go next year. I’ll tell you how to get there from Bombay because that’s usually from where I set foot, after starting out at Pune. For those travelling from Delhi or northern regions, the distance is even more manageable. You don’t want to travel to Pushkar just like that unless it’s for the cattle fair because the holy town of Pushkar wears a pretty deserted look at other times of the year and you’ll simply get roasted in the desert. Since this is for the budget traveller and women who get harassed, please plan your trips in the safest possible manner. This means your train departures and arrivals should be during the day because you don’t want to find yourself being bullied by strangers in the middle of the night. The RTDC hotels are brilliant but even the budget ones like Hotel Pushkar and Sarover become costly during the fair (mela) season so you can make reservations at RTDC Ajmer instead, it’s only 13 kms from Pushkar and you can travel by bus. The hotels to choose from are hotel Khadim, and Hotel Khidmat. I always choose hotel Khadim because it’s less than 3 kms from the station and the bus stop is just 2 blocks away and always populated.

 

Pune to Bombay

This post is for travellers who wish to embark on a journey from Pune to Bombay and is in reference to getting to Pushkar, an ideal travel destination. Getting to Bombay from Pune is very easy so don’t worry. You don’t necessarily need prior reservations especially if you are travelling on a weekday.

The traffic volume is high on weekends so you may not get a confirmed train reservation but you’ll find a bus or cool cab very easily. If you’re a group of friends, getting a cool cab is a good option. It seats 4 passengers and will cost you less than rs.2000 at anytime, at least this year (2008). If you go to an agent to get tickets or reservation, they charge a lot more, especially if you’re a foreigner that’s because only foreigners ask for reservations through agents most times. Make your own reservations.

Use private cabs at your own risk and preferably when you’re a big travelling group or very desperate.

You can get a bus ticket with Volvo from next to the Pune railway station. This can be done at the Amir Petrol pump. Many times, the bus isn’t parked there so you’ll have to travel about a kilometre to the Maldhakka Chowk or next to the railway station to get on. The ticket will cost you Rs. 150 on weekdays and Rs.250 on weekends and will take you to Dadar. From Dadar take a taxi and get to the Bandra terminus. The taxi will charge you Rs 80. If they bully a little its okay, pay them Rs. 100 because the traffic there is congested, its killing.

If you take a train, a regular reservation costs below Rs. 100 and an air conditioned compartment seat costs below Rs 200. Don’t leave train reservations, especially A/c seats till the last minute. You can make your reservations sitting at home through the IRCTC website but I don’t know if foreigners can use it because they have certain banks enlisted, it’s a direct debit system and saves on a lot of time. You just need to get a printout and carry an Id.

You can obviously fly, even charter a flight but I’m not getting into that.

Just travel

Here’s something for the budget traveller in India. Trust me it’s cheap and real. The write-ups on this niche will be specifically targeted for women travellers in India but can be used as guidance by everyone if you’re not a sucker for fancy five star amenities. All my experiences are a result of trial and error that may not always work right so you may want to make adjustments.

These are methods I’ve been trying over the years so it’s not a bad deal. The idea behind all the content uploaded is to make travelling an easy option rather than run behind travel agents that charge commissions.

There are travel options that you can take care of and handle on your own even if you don’t understand the language at most places. That could pose a problem but it’s not a deterrent. We are not going to discuss expensive air travel deals either, so it’s all going to be about budget travelling and seeing the best there is to see.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Good news for film buffs: You love Johny Depp and Jack Sparrow is your favorite pirate. Here’s good news. Pirates of the Caribbean will be back. The 4^th sequel is underway, so all that Hollywood gossip is finally paying off. Pirates of the Caribbean, their fourth film will see the light of day soon as it’s decided that 2009 is when Walt Disney plans to begin shooting. Not all major characters may return, as there are no confirmed reports regarding the return of Kiera Knightley and Orlando Bloom, but not everyone is complaining, especially Jack Sparrow fans. It is alleged, that Depp will take home an unbelievable 32 million pounds, which breaks all payout records till date.

Keep watching this space for more piracy updates.

Samurai headed sword set – the true beauty of craft

The product has the beauty of the artistry of a Samurai and is mainly used for decorative purposes. So, the main reason why you would be using this Samurai headed sword set is primarily for decoration. The main attraction that makes it an ornamental item will be the metallic head which is wonderfully crafted. 

The craft head adds to the beauty of the butt of the handle of the sword. The sword handle is carefully designed of stainless steel and has an ornate finish. The sword has a wooden stand of around 16″*3″*13″ height. The largest sword will have a length of around 40 ½” in length.  

The authentic beauty of the sword makes it a true decorative item and is hardly described as an object for battle.  

The sword has a classic beauty that makes them truly fitting for adornment. This sword is not fit for a battle and is never used for that purpose. The careful craft works of the sword head makes them look elegant.  

The detailed sword will of course be a wonderful item in your collection of fantasies. But you should not go for it, if you are looking for a powerful tool of defense. If you want a beautiful sword for beautification purposes, you will never find anything better than this Samurai headed sword set.

Buy any art form from online auctions

An interesting piece of art will surely add beauty to your home or office. Art forms from different parts of the world have different specialities. Each art form is unique and distinct in itself. Similarly, art has various categories including paintings, drawings, sculpture etc.

If you are an appreciator of art forms, the best place to look for one is internet. You will get auctions where art forms are sold at attractive prices, quite affordable to you. They will be your source for the best fine art auctions on the web. You will get the option to choose the medium that you are looking for.

Collect art and discover the adventure

Art collecting is an interesting episode of anyone’s life. Acquisition of various forms of art and getting and giving lovely comments about those art forms are a part of life in itself. Art collecting can be in any form including original paintings, prints, water colors etc. according to the interest of people. This means that art collecting is for everyone.

Art collecting is a discovery with full of adventure, from where you will learn more that will take you to a different world. The talent and skill of artists means a lot, when you try to look at it and live with it. You can look for auctions and stores from where you can purchase such masterpieces at affordable prices.