The Screen Life

Another week, another bagful of random stuff. Time to open this week’s GrabBag…

• The folks over at HitFix have built an excellent printable Oscar ballot. (I may try to make my own before the big day.)

• Here’s a fun comparison of some famous movie locations in real life versus on onscreen.

• Don’t think you know enough about this year’s Oscars to hold a conversation? Well hopefully The Screen Life will fix that, but just in case you still feel the need to cram for a party, Vulture offers this cheat sheet to “fake your way through.” I’m not sure I agree with everything they say (there’s no way Amy Adams has a chance at stealing best actress from Cate Blanchett), but at least it can make you look like you know what you’re talking about to others who don’t know what they’re talking about.

• Phillip Glass talks about Visitors, his new collaboration with cinematographer Godfrey Reggio. Their previous work together, The Qatsi Trilogy, is a breathtaking masterpiece.

• A documentarian close to Woody Allen counters the criminal allegations against him. It’s a complex issue. We will probably never know the whole truth. But his private life aside, Allen remains one of the greatest directors of all time.

• Funny videos! There appears to be a wealth of YouTube parodies re-imagining Her as Him. Though never quite as good as you want them to be, they’re still pretty fun. But none of them hold a candle to comedian Peter Handelman’s spot-on impression of Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club.

Fair warning: the Seth Rogan impersonator in this one starts out as impressive, but quickly gets annoying…

If you’ve seen Dallas Buyers Club, this will be hilarious. Not sure how well it plays if you haven’t, but either way it’s a fantastic impersonation…

Alright, another week’s bag is emptied. If you have any suggestions for future editions of GrabBag, please email me or post them in the comments. And once again, here’s my plea for any designer willing to donate their skills to help create an original GrabBag logo. It doesn’t need to be all that professional or anything. Just something simple. Anybody?