Oscar Nominees 2011

I’m sure everyone will be talking about “The King’s Speech” and it’s very-well-deserved 12 Academy Award nominations today, but, the biggest surprise for me this morning was all the Oscar love for  “Winter’s Bone”! The fact that a gritty, totally-authentic independent film like that could score a whopping four Oscar nominations (including Best Picture) wow, that is just plain rad!

I mean, we expected a nod in the Best Actress category for the the film’s lead, the luminous Jennifer Lawrence, but the fact that her co-star, the always-amazing, John Hawkes snuck in there with a Best Supporting Actor nomination is like, over-the-top awesome! Yee-haw!

And speaking of Best Supporting Actor, holy crap…how do you chose between those five guys? There is literally no fat in that category this year, man. I’m pretty sure Christian Bale will take the golden guy home for his exceptional work in ‘The Fighter”, but, is it wrong to hope for a five way tie?

Also, very excited to see “Inception” score so many nods today as well. And even though Christopher Nolan got bumped from the Best Director category this morning, he was bumped by the Coen Brothers for their badasss remake of “True Grit”, so, that makes it a little easier to take. Plus, Nolan scored a producer and writer nod for “Inception”, so, wherever he is, I’m sure he’s smiling…

Was kind of surprised to see “Black Swan’s” Mila Kunis get bumped from the Supporting Actress category, but, that little upstart Hailee Steinfeld gave one of my favorite performances of the year in “True Grit”, so, sorry, Mila.

Also, was totally stoked to see “Toy Story 3” clean-up in so many categories and become only the third animated movie to score a Best Picture nomination. I have watched this movie with Greta literally dozens of times since it came out, and, trust me, it holds up beautifully. So, rock on, Woody and Buzz!

I was also thrilled to see Oscar co-host James Franco score his first Academy Award nomination for “127 Hours”. I don’t think he’s gonna win with Colin Firth in the mix, but, how cool would it be if he did? I mean, what does he do with his award, just stuff it in his pocket and keep on hosting? Crazy!

And finally, how cool is it that Mr. NIN himself, Trent Reznor, can now and forevermore call himself “Oscar nominee Trent Reznor”? So cool…

To see a full printable list of this year’s nominees, click here. Oh, and if you’re coming to our Oscar party, you best start hunting squirrels now, because our “Winter’s Bone” hillbilly stew recipe calls for lot’s of vermin!

Fake Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear commerical

OK, so, I’m sitting at my laptop nerding out on Facebook before bed tonight and I happen to see this very strange, totally retro commercial for something called a Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear. The first time the ad aired, I was like, weird, why are they playing that grainy ass-commercial on NBC? Then, fifteen minutes later, it played again and fifteen minutes after that, it played again!

At that point, I got kinda spooked (did I mention it was late at night?) and decided to Google this crazy toy I had never heard of…and guess what? The reason I have never heard of this cuddly little ’80’s icon is because he is actually a fictional toy/character in the upcoming Pixar release “Toy Story 3”! That’s right, amigos, Disney/Pixar has gone viral. Coolness!

And what a viral ad it is! The grainy VCR-era static, the costumes, hell, even the actors, I was convinced that this was some long-forgotton toy that I had never heard of. Seriously, the toy-collecting geek in me was all outraged that I never owned something as awesome as a freaking Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear, with strawberry scent no less! Crazy, I know, but it looked that real.

So, kudos to the rocking team at Pixar for crafting such a hilariously-real ad campaign for a fake toy from the ’80’s, and if you like the American commercial, check out the equally-realistic Japanese one below. So cool! I can’t wait to see what role the little ball of cuteness plays in the new movie…even he does turn out to be the villain!