Checking the Balance

R.I.P. David Carradine

David Carradine, the star of "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues," is dead.

Actor David Carradine, star of the 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" who also had a wide-ranging career in the movies, has been found dead in the Thai capital, Bangkok. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Michael Turner, confirmed the death of the 72-year-old actor. He says Carradine died either late Wednesday or early Thursday, but he could not provide further details out of consideration for his family.

The Web site of the Thai newspaper The Nation cited unidentified police sources as saying Carradine was found Thursday hanged in his luxury hotel room and is believed to have committed suicide. A police officer at Bangkok's Lumpini precinct station would not confirm the identity of the dead man, but said the Swissotel Nai Lert Park hotel had reported that a male guest killed himself there.

I enjoyed a lot of Carradine's work, but absolutely loved his role as Bill in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill part 1 and 2. One of my favorite parts...

The Curious Case of Oscar

I just don't understand how the Academy Awards work.  In theory, these awards are supposed to award the top films of every year, yet they fail miserably every time.  My main problem with the Oscars is they greatly overvalue recently released films, instead of looking at the entire year objectively.

The nominees for the 81st Academy Awards were revealed today and as expected they failed to represent the entire year.  (For a complete list of the nominees)

The Oscar year runs from early January 2008 to early January 2009.  There are 24 categories and over 100 nominations handed out. 

Looking at the nominees of 20 categories (excluding the two short film and two documentary categories) it's clear, if your movie came out within the last three months you have a better shot at an Oscar.

Nominations by time (out of 87)
For films released before Oct. 12, 2008:  30
For films released after Oct. 12, 2008 but before Jan.12, 2009: 57

The difference is even more evident when focusing on the six "Big" categories (Best Male Actor, Best Female Actor, Best Male Supporting-actor, Best Female Supporting-actor, Best Director, Best Picture)

Nominations by time (out of 30)
For films released before Oct. 12, 2008:  6
For films released after Oct. 12, 2008 but before Jan. 12, 2009:  24

To me, this analysis tells us that the Oscars are merely a marketing tool to promote films that are currently in theaters.  I can't wait for the upcoming month of Curious Case of Benjamin Button commercials with the voice-over guy telling us to "go see the winner of 13 Oscar nominations." 

What a crock...