And the winner is..."American Beauty"?!

(Thanks to Wikipedia)

Tonight’s the 85^th Academy Awards ceremony, so put on your formals and get ready to wonder who will take home the awards? Will Denzel Washington win for “Flight?” Will “Lincoln” beat out “Amour” for Best Picture? Will “The Avengers” add to the comic-book adaptation’s brag sheet with a Visual Effects nomination? Stay tuned and find out!

But for now, let’s look back at the 72^nd ceremony. Who hosted? Who won? Who had an unfortunate wardrobe malfunction? Get ready to find out, ‘cause we’re taking the DeLorean back to 2000!

83…84…85…86…87…88 MILES PER HOUR!!!!!!!

IN THE YEAR 2000…Billy Crystal hosted his ninth ceremony with great aplomb. 

 

“American Beauty” took home five awards:

·         Best Picture

·         Best Director (Sam Mendes)

·         Best Actor (Kevin Spacey)

·         Best Original Screenplay (Alan Ball)

·         Best Cinematography (Conrad L. Hall)

“American Beauty” did not win Best Actress (Annette Bening) or Best Original Score (Thomas Newman). Those awards, respectively, went to Hilary Swank for “Boys Don’t Cry” and “The Red Violin” (John Corigliano).

“The Matrix,” that other great surprise of 1999, won four:

•          Best Sound Editing (Dane Davis)
•          Best Sound Mixing (John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, David E. Campbell and David Lee)
•          Best Film Editing (Zach Staenberg), beating out “American Beauty”
•          Best Visual Effects (John Gaeta, Janek Sirrs, Jon Thum and Steve Courtley)

Phil Collins’ “You’ll Be in my Heart,” from Disney’s adaptation of “Tarzan,” beat out Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s “Blame Canada” from “South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut,” which Robin Williams memorably and hilariously performed.

Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow” won for Best Art Direction. Its award was a joint win for Rick Heinrich’s art direction (you may recognize his name from “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” for which he served as a visual consultant) and Peter Young’s set decoration.

“Topsy-Turvy,” a movie about the production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado,” won for Best Makeup (Christine Blundell and Trefor Proud) and Best Costume Design (the ironically-named Lindy Hemming—you know, like hemming-in clothing. Hello? Can I get some laughs? No? Ah, please yourselves, then.).

Michael Caine and Angelina Jolie took home Best Supporting Actor and Actress (“The Cider House Rules” and “Girl, Interrupted,” respectively).

There were many, many more awards handed out that night. Please go to http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/72nd.html for more information!

February 24, 1999: Amazon.com launches Drugstore.com, an online prescription marketplace. The site is still going strong, and it has branched out into a makeup site, Beauty.com. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/285837.stm

Also, Madeleine Albright warns Yugoslavian forces against renewing hostilities with Kosovo. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/285731.stm

February 24, 2000: Pope John Paul II arrives in Egypt for a New Millennium pilgrimage, charting historic locations listed in the Bible. It marked the first visit to Egypt by any Roman Catholic pope.

http://articles.cnn.com/2000-02-24/world/pope.egypt_1_visit-holy-sites-papal-visit-pontiffs?_s=PM:WORLD

 

Presenting...the "Doctor Who" Millennium Calendar!



This photographic calendar was published by World of Discovery, and was a part of the BBC’s Millennium Collection range of merchandise. Disappointingly, the calendar features photographic stills instead of artwork by Who artists such as Andrew Skilleter, Colin Howard, Alister Pearson, and Chris Achilleos. It departs from the usual two-page spread (upper half = artwork; lower half = calendar), but it’s fairly well-designed. Still, publicity shots aren't enough to warrant posting every single page of it to the blog...maybe one day, I shall come back and do just that. Yes, I shall come back. But, until then, there must be no tears; no anxieties. Just go forward and read the entries, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in writing them. 

Here is a summary of each page:

1. October/November 1999 features the William Hartnell (First Doctor) era (November 1963-October 1966). Accompanying stills: Doctor/Steven/Vicki from “Galaxy 4;” Ian/Susan/Barbara with Doctor at TARDIS console from “100,000 BC;” and a color publicity shot of Hartnell at the TARDIS door. November 1999: Doctor and Susan from “The Daleks;” a Monoid from “The Ark;” and the Drahvins, with a Chumbley, from “Galaxy 4.”
2. December 1999/January 2000 features the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) era (November 1966-June 1969). Accompanying stills: Doctor/Jamie McCrimmon/Zoe Herriot from what appears to be “The Wheel in Space” or “The Seeds of Death;” the Second Doctor from “The Five Doctors;” and Doctor/Ben/Polly, story unknown. January 2000: Victoria and an Ice Warrior from “The Ice Warriors;” Fish People from “The Underwater Menace;” and the Cybermen from “The Moonbase.”
3. February/March 2000 features the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) era (1970-1974). Accompanying stills: Doctor in Bessie (his roadster) from “The Five Doctors;” the Brigadier, Jo Grant from what appears to be “Terror of the Autons;” the Brigadier, story unknown; and the Doctor and Jo, story unknown. March 2000: Doctor and Draconians, “Frontier in Space;” Axon, “The Claws of Axos;” and a Sea Devil, “The Sea Devils.”
4. April/May 2000 features the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) era (1974-1981). Accompanying stills: Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane, story unknown; Romana II (Lalla Ward) from what I think is “Warriors’ Gate;” Leela from what might be “The Sun Makers;” and K9 from what looks like “The Invisible Enemy.” May 2000: A Sontaran from, oddly, “The Time Warrior” (a Third Doctor story!); Doctor/Sarah Jane with a Krynoid, “Seeds of Doom;” and Leela prepared to fight a knife-wielding Mr. Sin from “Talons of Weng-Chiang.”
5. June/July 2000 features the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) era (1981-1984). Accompanying stills: Tegan from what looks like “Resurrection of the Daleks;” group shot of 1, 2, 3, and 5 from “The Five Doctors;” and the Fifth Doctor outside the TARDIS—looks like “The Five Doctors.” July 2000: A Cyberman from “Earthshock;” a Melkur from “The Keeper of Traken” (a Fourth Doctor story!) and Davros from “Revelation of the Daleks (a Sixth Doctor story!).
6. August/September 2000 features the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) era (1985-1986). Accompanying stills: Peri, “The Twin Dilemma;” Sixth Doctor, story unknown; and Sixth Doctor in Fifth Doctor’s costume; “The Twin Dilemma” (but notice that the green stain is missing from the right sleeve). September 2000: The Borad, “Timelash;” Peri with Cyberman, “Attack of the Cybermen;” Peri with Sil, “Vengeance on Varos.”
7. October/November 2000 feature the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) era (1987-1989). Accompanying stills: Doctor with Mel, “Time and the Rani;” Doctor, Ace, Brigadier Winifred Bambera, Bessie, and an unknown girl, “Battlefield;” Doctor and Ace, “Survival.” November 2000: The Rani, “Time and the Rani;” Kandyman, “The Happiness Patrol;” the Cheetah People, “Survival.”
8. December 2000 features the TV Movie, with Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor (1996). Accompanying stills: Doctor in distress, wearing an eye-opening contraption; the Master (Eric Roberts) and Chang Lee (Yee Jee Tso) sharing what must be the lamest punchline in the world; and the Doctor and Grace at the TARDIS console.
9. January 2001 is an epilogue: “Whether the Doctor has a future is yet to be decided, but as the Doctor is a Timelord [sic] he can be regenerated twelve times; so far there have only been eight.” Accompanying stills: Third Doctor, story unknown; TARDIS, possibly “The Leisure Hive;” the Fourth Doctor’s face from the 1974-1979 title sequence.
   
   Overall, I'm not entirely happy with the calendar. There are quite a few misspellings, and several pieces of inaccurate information. But, despite all that, it is a Millennium Artifact, and a worthy one at that.
    

February 17, 1999: US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright meets with Mahmoud Abbas, Yasser Arafat's chief deputy, to discuss the Wye peace agreement between Israel and Palestine. Albright, Arafat, and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously signed this agreement in October 1998. (www.bbcnews.com)

February 17, 2000: The AFL-CIO calls for amnesty for undocumented workers in the USA.

"What on Earth?" Fall 1999 Catalog and Grammy Awards 2000 recap

·         I’m not sure when What on Earth? started coming to our door, but this two-page spread on 88 and 89 comes from the Fall 1999 issue. I found it in a drawer in my room just last night.

Page 88 starts with a gorgeous woven throw and decorative linen calendar. Both of them share a Henry David Thoreau quotation: “The heavens are as deep as our aspirations are high.”

Next is a game called Millenniumopoly, published by USAopoly, which has a license to publish themed Monopoly games without using Parker Brothers’ Monopoly trademarks. They also published a do-it-yourself version called Make Your Own-opoly when home desktop publishing first took off in a big way. Parker Brothers did publish a Millennium-themed Monopoly game, with special board, houses, hotels, tokens, and money. A deluxe version featured special, oddly-shaped dice.

The Millennium Bear sports a coat of sparkly, black fur of plush; paws of light purple plush; and a holographic “2000” patch on its chest. When you shake its paw, it says, “Make my millennium,” and gives a snippet of futuristic music.

Next are two T-shirts. The first reads: “Are you prepared? Millennium 2000,” and the second reads: “Y2K…tick, tick, tick.”

Page 89 kicks off with a sleep-shirt and pajama bag bearing the likeness of that naughty little scamp, Milo the Millennium Bug. To Milo’s left is the “Merlin 2000” Fireworks Kaleidoscope, a portable light and sound show powered by three AA batteries.

Below, there’s a sweatshirt reading, “Global Unity—Year 2000,” with a Keith Haring-inspired image of our planet. There are also two more T-shirts. The first, white T reads, “Queen of the Millennium;” the second, black T bears a simple silver rectangle with “01-01-00” printed inside. Finally, there’s a purple pullover dress printed with stars and galaxies.

  Grammy Awards 2000 Recap:

On February 23, 2000, the world watched the first Grammy Awards festival of the new millennium. Held at Los Angeles, California's Staples Center, the awards show saw guitarist Carlos Santana walk away with eight awards; his album, Supernatural, earned nine. A then 19-year-old Christina Aguilera became the youngest Grammy winner, and Jennifer Lopez, ahem, captivated the world (in more ways than one) with her green, Versace-designed dress, which closed in the middle and left practically nothing to the imagination. And, in a heartwarming moment, Elton John won the MusiCares Person of the Year award. David Crosby won the first of these back in 1991; alumni include Tony Bennett, Phil Collins, and U2's Bono. 

The list of awards given out is far too long to reproduce here, so I shall simply redirect you to Grammy.com's Past Winners database.

Experimenting with a new feature...stay tuned.

I'm toying with an idea for a new feature in my head.

Basically, whenever I start a new post, I'm going to have, along with the usual collection item, an "On This Day in 1999/2000" thing with a couple of major events in those two years.

Ready? Let's try it!

On this day in 1999...Hugo Chavez is elected President of Venezuela.

On this day in 2000...Former President Bill Clinton announced new gun control measures.

Remembering Super Bowl XXXIV

Super Bowl XXXIV (34, if you're not into reading Roman numerals) was the first major sporting event of the New Millennium. Held in Atlanta, Georgia, it saw the St. Louis Rams win their first-ever Super Bowl title with 23 points, against the Tennessee Titans with 16 points. The Rams' Kurt Warner was named MVP of the season. The Halftime Show featured such luminaries as Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, and Enrique Iglesias, with Edward James Olmos as host.

I was in 7th grade at the time, and Mom and I were in Florida, paying a visit to our condo in Naples. It was just about the worst trip we had: I was in school (it was after Christmas Break), and, since I hated it so much, I didn't do any of the homework that I was supposed to do. On top of that, it was very cold, even for Florida, and the trip was so impromptu that we both forgot to pack several things.

Our condo in Florida--No. 201.  I'm not sure when we took this picture, but it's just here to give you an idea.

The trip home is my overriding memory. To save money, we took a flight home with a stopover in Atlanta, and the smallish plane was literally packed with guys coming home from the Super Bowl. You could practically smell the beer! And then, AirTran lost our luggage, and the check-in desk was absolutely no help at all. Foolishly, we had packed our coats in our luggage, and we had to ask Dad to bring coats for us.

The story ended happily, as the airline brought our suitcases the very next day. [Not so happily from the angle of the unfinished homework, though...Eh, to hell with it.]