So without further ado, let’s get this show on the road!

Best Actor:

• Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
• Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
• Sean Penn - Milk
• Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Straight away, Brad Pitt’s nomination sticks out to me as a ‘fake nose’ nomination, a la Nicole Kidman in the Hours (and she won!). Benjamin Button is a great film and Brad Pitt is integral to its success, but as his physical form changes his is the only character that seems emotionally the same throughout.

More a feat for ‘computer technicals’ rather than acting gravitas, Pitt is simply outclassed up against the abrasive performance of Langella as Nixon, or Sean Penn’s deep and nuanced Harvey Milk.

The winner? Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler, hands down. Defying the cries of stunt-casting as he plays a washed up star with one last chance to shine, he brings such an emotionally rousing and believable performance to this tale of a man who just cannot live without the cheer of the crowd. The film itself may be cliched and predictable, but is only Rourke’s brilliant work that allows it to be mentioned in the same breath as the four above.

That is why he deserves to win.

Best Supporting Actor:

• Josh Brolin - Milk
• Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
• Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
• Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
• Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

First surprise, this is the only acting nod for Revolutionary Road! It’s got Jack and Rose back together, Mr. American Beauty directing, and the only nod is for Michael Shannon. Who? Oh, it’s because he’s “playing a mental”, leaving Kate’s Oscar tirade in Extras ringing in my ears…

For me, this is only between Ledger and Downey Jr. due to Doubt’s sensitive subject matter, and the fact they stole the show in their respective movies. Also, they were both utterly transformed. The Oscar clarion call has been ringing loud and clear for Heath’s performance as the Joker since release, and justifiably so.

The ability to take a single phrase like “Why so serious?” and cement it into cinematic history, as well as his untimely demise is testament to the depths he went to bring out such a memorable performance. He was an actor that exorcised the demons of his rom-com past, and had so much potential as a ‘real’ actor ahead of him.

Robert Downey Jr. in blackface for an Oscar? I was entirely ready to hate this performance for obvious reasons, but he is hilarious. Does the fact that his character Kirk Lazarus symbolises the crazy lengths method actors go to (see above?), and that he was the funniest thing this year make it justifiable? Not sure… Okay, I’ll give it to Ledger, but Rob deserves an honourable mention for sharing Kate’s opinion on how to bag an Oscar…

Best Actress:

• Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
• Angelina Jolie - Changeling
• Melissa Leo - Frozen River
• Meryl Streep - Doubt
• Kate Winset - The Reader

Hathaway? Hasn’t paid her dues, still a Disney actress in many people’s eyes. People have never forgiven Mira Sorvino or Marisa Tomei for winning Oscars, and they were for Best Supporting Actress. Heads will roll if she takes it from under the noses of names like Jolie and Winslet.

As for Winslet, the irony if she wins for being in a film set during the Holocaust will not be lost on many (see above ‘Extras’ link)! I also felt her portrayal as a wife steadily broken down in Revolutionary Road was stronger than tram conductor Hanna Schmitz. But come on, six nominations and no wins? It’s about time…

However, I think Melissa Leo could clinch it with Frozen River. The relatively unknown film topped a bevy of end of year lists, and rightly so. Leo plays a hard up woman who tries to eke out a living by trafficking illegal immigrants from Canada to the US. The human aspect of this role, her turmoil between doing the right thing by her family and her fellow man against the right thing in the law’s eyes is truly moving.

As for Jolie in Clint Eastwood’s Changeling? I don’t know, it just felt like an Oscar vehicle /acting showcase rather than a truly great movie, something Million Dollar Baby didn’t have at all…hence the 7 nominations and 4 wins for that against Changeling’s 3 nods.

Best Supporting Actress:

• Amy Adams - Doubt
• Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Viola Davis - Doubt
• Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button
• Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler

I loved Penelope Cruz in VCB! In the midst of a love triangle, Cruz grabs the role of Juan Antonio’s artistically gifted yet tragically flawed wife Maria Elena in both hands, and proceeds to take over the whole movie. The narrative structure of VCB allows for the character to be steadily built up in our minds long before she appears, the constant references to her gifted nature as an artist and fiery temperament only serves to set the stage for her to chew up the scenery upon arrival. And boy, does she.

Marisa Tomei gives an equally moving performance in The Wrestler, mirroring Rourke’s character as a stripper just past her prime and looking for some kind of solace in a life she just isn’t happy with. This Supporting Actress nod, she deserves.

Taraji P. Henson gives a performance of a lifetime in Benjamin Button, a far more emotive performance as his surrogate mother Queenie. She is the one that goes through the journey I expected of the protagonist. The protectiveness over someone different, the unconditional love that transcended race, disability and even time, she gave all the love to Benjamin and I felt it just wasn’t reciprocated by Pitt’s character.

Cruz for the win!

Best Animated Feature:

• Bolt
• Kung Fu Panda
• WALL-E

Beauty and the Beast is the only animated film ever to have been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. WALL-E should have been the second.

Best Picture:

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Frost / Nixon
• Milk
• The Reader
• Slumdog Millionaire

The big one. All ensemble pieces, all films with strong performances as much as being brilliant at capturing slices of history. Both Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire deal with the passage of time in clever and interesting ways, telling the story of how chance encounters and circumstance can carve out peoples’ lives so strongly.

Frost / Nixon and Milk deal with pivotal moments in American political history, brilliantly coincidental with new milestones being created today.

The Reader deals with a pivotal moment in world history, events which are epic in scale but given intimacy and immediacy by being viewed through the eyes of individuals.

For the universal scope of the story, the excellent performances, the quality of the almost invisible special effects and the life-affirming ending, I’ll say Slumdog Millionaire The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for the Oscar. Yes, definitely. Yup.

The weather’s getting warmer (slightly), the days and getting longer and we’ve all coming out of our annual January hibernation. What better way to celebrate than getting yourself a little something pink to cheer you up.

Valentines is also approaching. Pink accessories as a present, perhaps?

Argos are the pink superiors. They have almost everything you could imagine in hot pink. They’ve got tool kits, barbeques, hoovers and Hi-Fis.

How about a Stereo Squealer?

Henry the Hoover has had it tough over the years. So it’s nice to have a replacement to let him put his feet, have a cup of tea and chill out for a while.  In his place comes the indestructible Hetty; complete with painted on eyelashes and a cheeky grin.

LG have also released a bright pink LG Cookie phone - perfect for fitting in the handbag on a night out.

How about a Hello Kitty guitar and amp?

Why suppress that inner girliness, let it run free.  Even the most hardened of rock chics can jam it out on a Hello Kitty electric guitar.

The Google Drive or GDrive, is one of the most anticipated products that Google is rumoured to be developing. The GDrive would allow users to access their personal computer from any internet connection.  All your photos, music, word documents, power point presentations, software, emails would be stored  on Google’s servers. This would make the personal computer into a mere conduit for information, removing the need for much of the expensive hardware in today’s computers. There would be no need in buying expensive computers because everything that you want to do can be achieved online through Google’s servers. This would be really bad news for computer manufacturer as well as civil liberties.

The idea of a company having unparalleled access to its users’ information is galling to say the least. Once Google gets hold of the information it will be no time before government agencies, law enforcement  or the secret service are piling on the pressure for Google to release the information.

Google hasn’t confirmed the GDrive but are quoted in Guardian to saying:

‘There’s a clear direction … away from people thinking, ‘This is my PC, this is my hard drive,’ to ‘This is how I interact with information, this is how I interact with the web.’

Guardian

For 2008, Netbooks were big news technology-wise. This was the first year they really came onto the market. What else can 2009 be but the year they came into their own.

Gigabyte are already  leaders in the motherboard market, along with ASUS and MSI, they’ve been quietly getting on with making Netbooks for the past year. But there has been something that we’ve not quite managed that Lenovo or Sony have been able to.

It wasn’t always like that though. This time last year they released their Gigabyte Cafe. Interesting name for a Netbooks that managed to make  waves in the handheld PC market when it was first released with a compact design made for portability. The revolutionary touch screen display could be rotated 180 degrees to transform the device into a tablet PC, offering a completely different user experience. Gigabyte’s Netbooks, as a rule, have higher specifications than those of their competitors hence prices are usually $150 more than other leading brands.  At $800 Gigabyte’s Cafe Netbook didn’t come cheap.

The  will feature new Good OS Cloud operating systems. The browser looks like Google Chrome but can be installed with Windows or any other operating system.

The two other Gigabyte 10″ models will be fighting in the same market as the bigger name Netbooks out there. All three will have a more reasonable starting price of US $400 and according to Digitimes one model is set to retail at below US $300 to compete within the competitive emerging Netbook market.

]]> http://blog.invisiblehand.co.uk/gigabyte-release-bargain-basement-netbooks/feed/ http://blog.invisiblehand.co.uk/jolicloud-new-netbook-os-first-screen-shots/ http://blog.invisiblehand.co.uk/jolicloud-new-netbook-os-first-screen-shots/#comments Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:39:23 +0000 Peter Ross http://blog.invisiblehand.co.uk/?p=1046

What makes netbooks so attractive, namely their price is one of their biggest weaknesses. Netbooks are much cheaper than traditional PCs but this involves sacrificing performance. As Michael Arrington in TechCrunch points out tetbooks have less RAM, less powerful CPUs and less memory -  typically 1GB. Using Windows XP on a netbook can be a slow and frustrating experience especially if multople applications are in use.

Jolicloud, a brand new Linux-based operating system designed especially for netbooks. Jolicloud has icon based navigation with large colourful icons, making reminiscent of an iPhone. It is indeed joli, meaning attractive in French It has been developed to make low end netbooks perform better and run faster.

Jolicloud is utilising an aggressive strategy. It will be available for download, once it has been installed it will completely replace the original operating system. Good OS and Cloud OS, other operating systems designed especially for netbooks are designed to work alongside the netbook’s original operating system.

Jolicloud has a much higher profile than the other two operating system as Netvibes founder Tariq Kim is behind the project. Crunchbase outlines his impressive career, highlights include:

‘He also became the first french (man) to receive the TR35 (Top 35 Young Innovators Under 35 by the MIT Technology Review) for a contribution related to the Internet.

‘In 2008, Tariq Krim was nominated a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.’

The beta version will be available for download in the coming months according to the Jolicloud.com. It is already working and has been demoed on an Asus Eee netbook. 

It’s a good time to invest, not in the pound but in companies that produce Obama memorabilia. The world’s favourite president has inspired a range of novelty items that are being snapped. If I were you I’d sell my stock in George W. Bush related merchandise, their value has dropped to an all time low.

Catalogue conglomerates Argos have been forced to re-evaluate their marketing strategy as prices drop and consumer confidence nosedives. Are they simply the latest in a host of retailers having to up their game or is this a case of another one bites the dust?

The chain, owned by the Home Retail Group, are now earmarking their wow deals for preferential treatment,bulking up their value range and adopted the new company strap line “Helping you live for less” in an all out attempt to increase consumer spending.

Instead of their usual reduction notifications on re included product lines, a huge number of new items are to be reclassified as wow deals in their latest catalogue, out this weekend.

Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) state that retail spending in London alone  has dropped by 0.7% on this time last year.

An Argos spokeswomen said, “As always, our catalogue prices will be competitive. Our aim would be to hold initial prices where relevant and to adjust other prices to the market where necessary during the life of the catalogue.”

Argos have seen their sales dip over the Christmas period. Like for like sales fell by 7.5 per cent during the third quarter. Although consumer electronics has seen a positive growth, other categories such as toys, jewellery, furniture and home wares had  much worse.

The company pride themselves on competitive pricing and value for money; their typical reductions have ranged from between 2 and 4 per cent during the past year. At the same time, the number of their Wow deals has increased from 179 - 300 in the past year. The number of Argos value items (their bargain basement range) has also increased from 150 - 230.

Should we worry that another British retail institution is heading for the scrappers yard?  Similar things have and are happening across the whole of the retail sector. Woolworths couldn’t handle it, Zavvi bit the dust, never mind Adams, and the Officers Club, all of whom went to that big high street in the sky.

It may have been a great time to bag a bargain but the January sales have given us all a skewed version of how much we can get for our cash and with Argos having to resort to tactile pricing in such an aggressive manner, we can bet promotions like their wow deals will mushroom over the whole of the retail sector, as we’re persuaded to reach into our pockets and pay up.

It’s pretty simple economics, there is only so far a company can drop their prices and still cover their costs. Let’s hope our beloved Argos doesn’t join its less successful retail peers who couldn’t quite keep up.

So what does this mean? Nothing really, we’re just now allowed to use the term recession in the sense it was intended. The same economic climate prevails now we just have a nice little semantic bow with which to tie it up. What is worrying though is that the UK economy contracted by a worse-than expected margin - 1.5%. This is despite the reduction of VAT, bank bailouts and the financial stimulus package.

Other nice little statistics to make you grab for the razor blades is that GDP has had the largest drop since the dark days of 1980. In 1980, Britain was still recovering from the winter of discontent when there were mass-strikes and PM James Callaghan almost bankrupted the country. The parallels between then and now are indeed worrying to say the least.

As they say misery loves company and the UK can join the US, Japan and Germany who are also in recession. This is unlikely to be an exclusive group and membership is sure to swell in the coming year.

As well as recession, fall in GDP, there is another little issue: the pound hit a new low of $1.35. For anyone who has been abroad in the last month, the pound’s weakness in comparison to other countries will be of no surprise.

But don’t get too down, this novelty humping dog should cheer you up.

The rumours have been bouncing around for a while. Larger screen? How big? Oh the netbook possibilities! What wondrous things will it bring.

Finally, we’ve got some hard evidence that the new 10 inch Acer Aspire is being put up for general release and with this new model, more is definitely more.

The newer, slightly, larger 10.1 inch screen, replaces the 8.9 inch Acer Aspire netbook screens of old. A great improvement, it would seem. The slight size increase makes it easier to use and navigate, it can still fit in your bag and it  makes the 8.9 look puny in comparison. An extra 1.2 inches makes all the difference.

The new model also packs in a 1.6 Ghz Intel Atom CPU along with 1GB of RAM, optical 3G SDHC card slot and 3 USB ports. The new bigger screen still packs in the same pixel power, 1024  x 600 display, as existing Acer Aspire netbooks. Nothing too ground breaking there.

This one is more of an evolution of older models rather than a brand spanking new edition to the line. The overall design of the new model isn’t much of a departure for Acer either. The keyboard has a slight brushed metal finish and the touch pad has more of a seamless quality than before.

1)     The Dark Knight -  no surprise here with this one. With untimely deaths and post-humous Oscar buzz the Blu Ray and DVD sales were expected to be high. Eerily dark with hypnotising performances from the main characters The Dark Knight is very much deserved of its success.

2)     Band of Brothers - the critically acclaimed war drama has made a welcome return to high definition.  It’s received  countless plaudits since it first appeared almost ten years ago.

3)     Iron Man -  Billionaire industrialist and inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is kidnapped. After being forced to use his intelligence for noble means he builds a tech suit of armour to escape and fight for the good of man kind as Iron Man. A surprising hit but we loved it.

4)     Wall-E, Three Disc special edition. After hundreds of lonely years on a desolate, rubbish-strewn earth, Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) finds a new purpose in life, besides picking up rubbish when he meets sleek fem bot EVE. Eve discovers Wall-E has the key to the future of the Earth in the shape of the last living plant.

5)     Planet Earth - The complete BBC series. It’s the titanic of television documentaries. With a budget of millions and a total run time of 530 minutes, Planet Earth was an undertaking so epic in scope that it could easily have been compared to the grandest of Hollywood blockbusters. It’s been a couple of years since it was showcased on our TV screens but the high definition colour and picture quality incumbent with Blu Ray is its perfect medium.