Oscar Blog from J. Keith van Straaten
J. Keith van Straaten was recently seen on Yahoo! as host and blogger for 28 webisodes of Answers on the Street. In 2007, his writing for Yahoo! Movies included an Oscar Blog covering the 79th Academy Awards, as well as the popular Summer and Holiday Movie Guides.
On your television, J. Keith is often seen as a talking head on E! Wildest [Wedding/Dating/Cop] Show Moments and previously on VH1's "Best Week Ever." He hosted Comedy Central's game show "Beat The Geeks," and since 2004 has been producing and hosting "What's My Line? - Live On Stage" in Los Angeles (coming to New York City in 2008). Cross your fingers for J. Keith as he awaits word on the TV game show pilot Beat The Monkey for G4 and the web series Stalkerazzi for Hobnox.
He is a charter member of LA Writers Group and is a moderator for its New York sessions. He's written lyrics for ABC News, sketches for Clear Channel Radio, singles columns for The Jewish Journal, and jokes for a cable TV dominatrix with heart of gold. More at www.jkeith.net
A Plan for Oscar's Next Party
Oscar's 80th was supposed to be a big party. But like a party for anyone that age, it seems most of Oscar's friends are dying off. This was the least-watched Oscars ever....
Gold Men for No Country (Live Blogging #29)
That's the headline I'm sticking with. Please come back and comment if you find that showing up someplace.Congrats to the "No Country" folks. It was a very intelligent yet accessible movie where the people actually behaved like smart...
Fast & Furious (Live Blogging #28)
Best Director... or is it Best Directors?To me, this is a toss-up between the Brothers Coen, P.T. Anderson, and Anyone But Jason Reitman.Personally, I'm a humongous fan of Anderson and I thought he raised his game with "Blood" -- not a wasted sh...
He's an Oil Man (Live Blogging #27)
Best Actor. Daniel Day-Lewis, right? It's gotta be.The others are good -- great, even. Any other year, this would be a competitive category, and if people liked musicals, Johnny Depp could even be a favorite. But Day-Lewis's performance&...
The Home Stretch (Live Blogging #26)
We actually might get this show in on time. In the same way they get flights in on time: they add 15 minutes to the flight schedule, then count it as departed as soon as the plane pulls away from the gate.Still, we were promised a 3½-hour sho...
A-Tone Ment (Live Blogging #25)
The score for "Atonement" is indeed very fine and worthy of its nomination. It may even be the best of the nominees, but with all due respect to the Oscar winner Dario Marianelli (ANOTHER non-U.S. American), the award is moot this year, an...
Cimenatography (Live Blogging #24)
If this goes to anyone but Kaminski ("Diving Bell"), I'll be peeved. If it goes to Deakins for "Jesse James," I'll be outraged (though he did manage to make Winnipeg look like the American West), Deakins for "No Country,&quo...
Just Look What It Did for Three 6 Mafia (Live Blogging #23)
A shocker, I have to say. The Best Song for "Falling Slowly" from "Once." There are probably mathematical reasons, like the three songs from "Enchanted" splitting the vote, or the amount of drugs you had to be on...
Speaking in Tongues (Live Blogging #22)
The Foreign Language award goes to... another foreigner! Man, what is UP this year?Well, at least it wasn't the French this time. "The Counterfeiters" is from Austria and looks fantastic. It just opened in American theatres two...
Le Conspiracy (Live Blogging #21)
Here's some more of the inside scoop of what's happening backstage, courtesy of my special access to the Academy PR feed...CATEGORY: BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILMINTERVIEW WITH: PHILIPPE POLLET-VILLARDFILM: "LE MOZART DES PICKPOCKETS (THE MOZART OF PIC...
Bourne and Raised (Live Blogging #20)
Another deserving Oscar: Best Editing for "The Bourne Ultimatum." This movie had frenetic action sequences but never lost its heart or its pacing. And how did "Into the Wild" even get a nomination? I can think of several sc...
Sometimes I'm An Idiot (Live Blogging #19)
Earlier, when I was blogging on the Best Supporting Actress, I somehow mixed up the nominees for that category with the ones for Best Actress. I could go back and fix it and pretend that I wasn't so dumb, but a) I have too much integrity and I accep...
That's How, You Know? (Live Blogging #18)
A very well-deserved award for Best Adapted Screenplay for "No Country for Old Men." I think it's easy to forget that a screenplay is more than dialogue. What is so brilliant about this film is how much of the story is told by showin...
Lost In Translation (Live Blogging #17)
As a pseudo-press member, I'm on the Academy e-mail PR list. For weeks I've been getting a steady stream of e-mails promoting miscellaneous events and product tie-ins. Tonight though, I get some cool stuff... transcripts of acceptance spe...
It Just Can't Bee (Live Blogging #16)
"Bee Movie" was horrible. Not just not funny, but actually UN-funny. It was a groaner. If I were Jerry Seinfeld (an opportunity which, admittedly, rarely presents itself), I would want to distance myself from it now as passiona...
A Closer Look (Live Blogging #15)
Jon Stewart introduces "Oscar's salute to binoculars and telescopes." There's that irony currency. I laughed. But as a movie smartypants, I have to say..."Silence of the Lambs" doesn't count -- those were night vision...
Live Support (Live Blogging #14)
Here's the first acting award... Best Supporting Actor. Jennifer Hudson, the reigining Best Supporting Actress (not that you could tell from her TelePrompTer-reading ability) is here to give the award. All the money is on Javier (or as Re...
Bye, Hopes (Live Blogging #13)
Well, "Norbit" didn't win for makeup ("La Vie En Rose," which actually deserved it, did). Couple that with the loss of my precious "Persepolis" and my list of hopes (see Live Blogging #8) coming true is dwindling.But my sprii...
Aw, Rats! (Live Blogging #12)
Animated Feature, the one I care about most, goes to..."Ratatouille"Man... I really wanted "Persepolis." Look, "Ratatouille" wasn't a bad movie, but it was not a great animated feature and it wasn't the best of 2007.&nb...
Four Score (Live Blogging #11)
George Clooney introduces an "80 Years of Oscar" clip package.How curious that the Academy, once embarrassed by displays of spontaneity and protest, now celebrates them as its greatest moments. And how efforts industrywide now are focused on mak...
Iron Jon (Live Blogging #10)
I think Jon Stewart is doing a great job. Not every joke is hitting solidly, but he is doing a real monologue, staying true to his style, and genuinely making me laugh. As important, he's radiating a confidence without being smarmy. I th...
You're Invited to What's Wrong With Hollywood (Live Blogging #9)
It started with a computer-animated sequence that took our favorite movie stars out of context and digitally placed them in a contemporary setting that many of them never would have agreed to (or perhaps you think Alfred Hitchcock wanted Cary Grant t...
Hi, Hopes! (Live Blogging #8)
All right, folks. We're down to the last few minutes before the telecast begins. The big kids are making their arrivals and it's looking like a party.I'm not in the predictions busines (I'm not the Yahoo! expert whose picks you can challenge here), but I...
Two Genuinely Kind-of Interesting Things (Live Blogging #7)
At the very same moment, E! presented two interesting Oscar facts, courtesy of a red carpet interview and a text crawl at the bottom of the screen.1. Nominee Tilda Swinton has never even seen an Oscar telecast.2. Sound Mixer Kevin O'Connell's nomina...
Keri Russell says: Stay In School (Live Blogging #6)
In an ill-conceived Ryan Seacrest bit (is there any other kind?), Keri Russell is forced to answer a video question from a 7-year-old boy: does he really need to know math?While acknowledging that she isn't the best at math (back when she was doing "...
Botoxymoron (Live Blogging #5)
The Barbara Walters Special is airing in the east now. It's Oscar night, and it's about 30 minutes before ABC's big telecast, so to stay relevant, of course Ms. Walters is interviewing that big movie star... Vanessa Williams? Hmm, I guess...
Among The Many Reasons George Clooney Is Really Cool (Live Blogging #4)
When you have to answer the same dumb questions over and over and you keep your cool, that's cool. When you have to answer new dumb questions from Lisa Rinna and keep your cool, that's really cool.She opened with, "What's up?"Not in a &quo...
TV Mis-Guided (Live Blogging #3)
"Kind of looks like what's-his-name from 'Spider-Man'," says Joey Fatone of James McAvoy, star of "Atonement." Fatone continues, "I have not seen that movie; how is that movie? Is that a dark one?""It is. It's abou...
Fawning with the Stars (Live Blogging #2.5)
Hoping to break the spell, I've switched over to TV Guide Channel. Immediately I see the difference. They have taken drooling over stars to an entirely new level. Correspondents Joey Fatone and Lisa Rinna, best known for losing...
The Hollywood Distraction (Live Blogging #2)
The deep scarlet of the long rug. The flashing lights. The scroll of "news" across the screen. The entire air of importance. E! has sucked me in. I completely forgot I haven't eaten since this morning and I left a l...
Print and check off who you think will win the Oscar in each category.