Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The Oscars

The Oscars have come and gone this year, and every year there is something that surprises or at the very least pleases me. This year, while I wasn't particularly shocked with any of the awards, I was pleasantly surprised with a couple. In the Short Feature category, I was pleasantly surprised to see "West Bank Story" win. For those that haven't seen this short, I implore you to go check it out on iTunes. If you have ever seen "West Side Story", you will enjoy this short. And the director's message of peace is not only applicable to the situation in the middle east, but to the world in general.

I was also pleasantly surprised with the tribute and lifetime achievement award for Ennio Morricone. This composer got his start composing music for the old Italian westerns, also known as "spaghetti westerns", like "A Fist Full of Dollars". In fact, this famous score was Ennio's first. In all, the composer has created over 400 film scores, but has never won an Academy Award. I was glad that he was allowed to express himself in his native Italian during his acceptance speech, and it was nice to see Clint Eastwood translating. I am not a big fan of Celine Dion, but I really was impressed with her performance of the new song that Ennio had composed. Very well done.

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