WORTHYVol. 20 Issue 1 - WSBU #1 Station in the Nation

THE

OSCARS

ISSUE

The Buzzworthy | wsbufm.net2

Letter from the Station Manager

Table of Contents

- Jess Rehac Station Manager

The BuzzworthyStation Manager

Jess Rehac Editor-in-Chief

Karly Gombert

Contributing Staff

Jess Rehac, Emily Steves, Bryan Clark, Kevin Smith,

Makeda Loney

February, 22, 2012

3 Oscar rules and introduction, Biggest snubs

4 WSBU’s Oscar picks + and predictions 5

6 The Help, Harry Potter

7 Grammy’s recap

Ah, the Oscars. What can I say about the Oscars? Apparently, not that much, since I’m sitting in the station, struggling to find enough words to please the editor-in-chief of this fine magazine.

I’m going to be completely honest with you; I have never been the type of person who is glued to the television during big award shows. Whether they are the Emmys, the Tonys, the ESPYs, the Grammys… chances are I’m going to watch very little of them.

In fact, if you asked me how many Grammy performances I watched this year, I’d say “a sum total of three”. If you asked me how many people I watched receive awards at the Grammys, I’d have to say “less than that”.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not the type of person who thinks it’s pointless to give awards to celebrities. On the contrary, I believe that we should recognize those whose talent, imagination, and hard work bring us the wide range of entertainment that has become such a major part of our society and culture.

As a general rule we crave the stories and emotions that film allows us to experience; with the right equipment and the right people with enough drive to see their ideas come to life, a movie can transport you to a different time and place that would really just not be possible in real life.

Awarding the individuals responsible for giving us the chance to view life from a different point of view is something I can definitely stand behind. I just don’t typically have the attention span to sit through a whole ceremony.

But, for all the reasons mentioned above, I am planning on watching the Oscars this year. I have the movies in my head that I’ll be rooting for, and I’ll have a copy of this fine magazine next to me to see how WSBU’s very own Oscar committee did with their predictions.

By the look on the faces of the committee members during voting they are all very confident in their picks (and truth be told, so am I), but when it comes to the Oscars, well, you just never know.

“A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods

and feelings. The theme, what’s behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.”

- Stanley Kubrick

The Buzzworthy | wsbufm.net 3February, 22, 2012

On Sunday, Feb. 26, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will honor 2011’s best movies at the 84thOscars ceremony. Of the 61 films nominated this year, nine will compete for the most coveted award of all, Best Picture.

After two years of expanding the Best Picture nomination field to ten films, the Academy decided last summer that they would set the number of Best Picture nominated films at a minimum of five and a maximum of ten. This year’s Best Picture nominated films cover a wide range of subjects including the age of silent film, parenthood, life after 9/11, civil rights in the 1960s, a coming-of-age adventure, a romantic comedy, running a baseball team on a tight budget, the mysteries of life and friendship in the midst of World War I.

Hugo leads all films with 11 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director

for Martin Scorsese. The Artist earned 10 nominations, including Best Picture, Michael Hazanavicius for Best Director, Jean Dujardin for Best Actor and Berenice Bejo for Best Supporting Actress. Meryl Streep’s Best Actress nomination for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady is the 17th acting nomination of her career, the most all time for any actor or actress.

Comedian Billy Crystal returns to host the Oscars for the first time since 2004. Originally, the Academy selected Eddie Murphy to oversee the ceremony, but after show producer Brett Ratner resigned after using an offensive slur to describe show rehearsals, Murphy decided to forgo hosting the Oscar broadcast.

Crystal will host the Oscars for the ninth time, second only to Bob Hope, who emceed 19 Academy Award ceremonies.

This year, the Academy will award actor James Earl Jones with an Academy Honorary Award. Famous for his distinct, low voice used for iconic characters such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and Mufasa from The Lion King as well as roles in films including Field of Dreams and The Sandlot, Jones earned a Best Actor nomination for his performance in the 1971 film The Great White Hope.

No matter what film takes home most of the awards, how well dressed the celebrities are or if the show drags on for four hours, the Academy Awards are one of the highlights of the entertainment calendar and shouldn’t be missed.

Enjoy this special Oscars edition of The Buzzworthy and make sure you tune into the Oscars this Sunday at 8:30 p.m. on ABC!

Diverse and acclaimed films compete at this year’s Oscars By Brian Clark

The Academy Awards try as hard as possible to nominate the best of the best from the past years of best film, actor and actress.

Of course, every year the Oscars miss a slew worthy nominatons and replace them with head-scratchers. This is who I believe are the biggest snubs from this year’s academy awards.

For Best Picture, the ones who should have been nominated right off the bat were Bridesmaids and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

Bridesmaids, a comedy starring Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, and Melissa McCarthy (nominated for “Best Supporting Actress”), brought a new take on how comical films are made. It’s obvious the Oscars committee tries to stay away from comedic films when picking best picture nominations but this should have been an obvious choice.

As for Harry Potter, the last film should have gotten some love because it tackled everything the final chapter should show. Every actor and actress in this film put on quite a show and the directing was phenomenal.

One actor was blocked out of multiple awards was Ryan Gosling. His performances in Ides of March and Drive were unlike any other movie, where he plays a romantic heartthrob. Gosling should have been nominated for Best Actor in “Drive” or Best Supporting Actor in “Ides of March.”

The Best Director is missing two people as well: Tate Taylor for “The Help” and David Fincher for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

Both put on captivating directorial performances for films that were highly anticipated and both based on best-selling books.

One film that should have gotten some kind of award didn’t get one lick of a nomination. Rise of the Planet of Apes, which was a surprise hit this past summer, should of at least received nomination for best visual effects or even best cinematography.

What is more of a surprise is that John Lithgow, who played an ailing old man with Alzheimer’s, or Andy Serkis, who played the rebellious chimpanzee Caesar, deserved nominations for Best Supporting Actor.

As for Best Animated Features, two films caught my eye and made me put my hands up asking why? The Adventures of Tin Tin and Cars 2 are two animated films not to ignore. These films could’ve replaced nominated film Rango.

Two categories the Oscar committee seemed to have not missed are Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Both were on key with their nominations.

By Kevin Smith

The Academy’s Biggest Snubs

The Buzzworthy | wsbufm.net4 February, 22, 2012

WSBU’s Oscars Picks and Predicitons Best Picture

Buzz Pick & Prediction: The Help

Best Adapted Screenplay

Buzz Pick: Moneyball

BestSupporting Actor

Lead Actor

Prediction: Jean Dujardin Buzz Pick: Gary Oldman

Lead Actress

Buzz Pick & Prediction: Max von Sydow

Prediction: Hugo

The Buzzworthy | wsbufm.net 5February, 22, 2012

WSBU’s Oscars Picks and Predicitons

Prediction: Jean Dujardin Buzz Pick: Gary Oldman

Best Original Screenplay

Buzz Pick & Prediction: The Artist

Best Supporting Actress

Best Director

Buzz Pick: Martin Scorsese

Lead Actress

Buzz Pick & Prediction: Rooney Mara

Buzz Pick: Melissa McCarthy

Prediction: Octavia Spencer

Prediciton: Michel Hazanavicius

The Buzzworthy | wsbufm.net6 February, 22, 2012

Either you’re disappointed or in love with the movie based off of a book you’ve read. Bookworms can be tough critics to impress, but any reader of “The Help” cannot deny the movie of the same name is nearly spot on.

Kathryn Stockett’s writing made the characters in “The Help” effortlessly leap off the page. Reading the parts voiced by Aibileen or Minny is impossible to do without voicing them in your head in a southern accent.

Skeeter is a character Stockett makes worth rooting for; her mother, someone you feel sorry for; and Hilly, someone you learn to greatly dislike.

Tate Taylor, the director and screenwriter for the film, stayed true to the ink Stockett put on the pages. The movie may be over two hours long, but nearly the entire 522-page novel is crammed into those two hours.

The cast list is almost flawless.

Emma Stone, whose character describes herself in the novel as “just not pretty” and “painfully tall” nailed the role of Skeeter Phelan. Her unruly, curly hair is perfect for her nickname as “Skeeter” (her brother claimed she looked like a “skeeter” when she was born). If Stone had not sported crazy curls in the movie, it would have been just as disappointing as Daniel Radcliffe’s blue eyes.

Octavia Spencer provided just the right sass for her role as Minny, and Viola Davis, though younger-looking than I pictured Aibileen, sounded just like Stockett’s written monologues. Jessica Chastain was over the top with her role as Celia; this can only mean she did a perfect job. Each actor fit his or her respective

roles perfectly (though Constantine was a little older than I would have thought).

From the novel to the screenplay, not much was changed or left out. Parts may have been shortened for the sake of time, but no major event was left behind.

Minny does the “terrible awful” (and doesn’t tell you what it is until the very end), Hilly’s front yard still gets decorated with toilets; Skeeter has a hard time getting any maid to agree to an interview at first and Celia is a lovable riot.

Not a character disappoints; they’re all as lovable (or detestable) in the movie as they are (or aren’t) in the novel.

The movie portrayal of “The Help” stuck right to the book. Consume both and notice the lack of disappointment.

By Emily Steves

“The Help” pleases the bookworm

J.K. Rowling has inspired our generation from childhood to work against our fears and overcome what would seem to be even the most extreme obstacles.

Directors Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cauron, Mike Newell and David Yates all have decided to take on the challenge and have won the first six of eight movies 56 awards including Teen Choice Awards and National Movie awards. The last two movies, The Deathly Hallows, parts one & two, have made box office history, yet part two hasn’t been nominated for any Oscars.

Actors in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One have been nominated for Oscars in the categories of Best Achievement in Art Design and Best Achievement in Visual Effects, but none have won. This past year, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two hasn’t been nominated for anything at all, even though it had blown out the box office during its

opening weekend. Besides the fact that

the movie itself wasn’t nominated for best picture of the year, the actors still did an amazing job wrapping up the story of Harry Potter and his crew, leading Hogwarts through an unforgettable adventure that our generation will never forget.

Alan Rickman, the actor who played Severus Snape, deserved to be nominated for best supporting actor. He portrayed intense emotion as his character’s story line developed throughout the movie. Snape is normally a character that is normally stiff and angry all the time,

but through Rickman’s acting you can see him change into a softer man.

If he was nominated, he would have been up against other great actors such as Jonah Hill, Nick Nolte, and Chris Plummer. Nothing against the other great men that were nominated because I’m sure they did great in their performances, but with a performance as great as Rickman’s, he should be listed among them.

The cast of Harry Potter did a remarkable job, and I am glad I got to witness such greatness on screen and in print.

By Makeda Loney Harry Potter fails to be recognized

The Buzzworthy | wsbufm.net 7February, 22, 2012

Adele dominates at 2012 Grammy’s

Record of the YearRolling in the Deep

Album of the Year21

Song of the YearRolling in the Deep

Best Pop Solo Performance Someone Like You

Best Pop Vocal Album 21

Best Short Form Music VideoRolling in the Deep

Best New Artist Bon Iver

Best Dance/Electronica Album Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites

Best Rock AlbumWasting Light

Best Alternative Music AlbumBon Iver

Best R&B AlbumF.A.M.E.

Best Rap AlbumMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Best Country AlbumOwn the Night

...other winners included:

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