Diversity Among Winners at the Oscars

A lot of attention was paid to the lack of diversity among Oscar nominations in 2015.  This video by Bard Edlund shows how many black, Hispanic, and Asian winners there have been throughout history (including this year), across four main categories -- best actor/actress, supporting actor/actress, writing (original and adapted screenplays), and directing.  You can see why a lot of eyebrows continue to be raised.

Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects Oscar Winners

Back In 1977, a specific award category for visual effects was reintroduced with the current name, Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards.  Here are those Oscar winning movies. Which will win this year? No idea, but looking back thanks to this montage (by Nelson Carvajal) it will have to be great to compare to these amazing movies. I can’t believe some of them are as old as they are – it’s making me feel downright ancient!

Cirque de Soleil Perform at the 2012 Academy Awards

It isn’t often that you can upstage a theater full of movie stars but that is pretty much what Canadian troupe Cirque de Soleil did at the 2012 Academy Award ceremony. They provided the assembled great and good of Hollywood with a movie-themed dance and acrobatic performance which left the audience slack-jawed and standing in appreciation.

I didn’t watch the Oscars this year (I was asleep on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean) and so was really pleased to come across this.  It is sheer genius (and whether or not you usually like this sort of thing you have to hand it to them for their sheer bravado and joie de vivre).