Music Gifts

Well another year of Oscars was upon us last night, and it went off without a hitch.  Sure things seemed to be pretty pedestrian, but all in all it was a smooth running show.  Listed below is the full list of winners at the 82nd annual Academy Awards:

- Motion Picture: “The Hurt Locker.”

- Actor: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart.”

- Actress: Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side.”

- Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds.”

- Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

- Director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker.”

- Foreign Film: “El Secreto de Sus Ojos,” Argentina.

- Adapted Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

- Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, “The Hurt Locker.”

- Animated Feature Film: “Up.”

- Art Direction: “Avatar.”

- Cinematography: “Avatar.”

- Sound Mixing: “The Hurt Locker.”

- Sound Editing: “The Hurt Locker.”

- Original Score: “Up,” Michael Giacchino.

- Original Song: “The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart,” Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett.

- Costume: “The Young Victoria.”

- Documentary Feature: “The Cove.”

- Documentary (short subject): “Music by Prudence.”

- Film Editing: “The Hurt Locker.”

- Makeup: “Star Trek.”

- Animated Short Film: “Logorama.”

- Live Action Short Film: “The New Tenants.”

- Visual Effects: “Avatar.”

2010 Oscars

So this list for the Academy awards has been released.  I must say I’m not really surprised by anything other than the fact that “The Hangover” isn’t up for best comedy.  All in all, you can basically spot immediate winners/losers on the list.  I myself would like to see some of the lesser known movies win, but as we all know.  In Hollywood.  It’s all about popularity.

BEST PICTURE
- “Avatar”
- “Up in the Air”
- “Inglourious Basterds”
- “The Hurt Locker”
- “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire”
- “The Blind Side”
- “Up”
- “District 9”
- “An Education”
- “The Hangover”

BEST DIRECTOR
- “Avatar,” James Cameron
- “The Hurt Locker,” Kathryn Bigelow
- “Inglourious Basterds,” Quentin Tarantino
- “Up in the Air,” Jason Reitman
- “Precious,” Lee Daniels

BEST ACTOR
- Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
- George Clooney, “Up in the Air”
- Morgan Freeman, “Invictus”
- Colin Firth, “A Single Man”
- Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”

BEST ACTRESS
- Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious”
- Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”
- Meryl Streep, “Julie and Julia”
- Helen Mirren, “The Last Station”
- Carey Mulligan, “An Education”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Matt Damon, “Invictus”
- Woody Harrelson, “The Messenger”
- Christopher Plummer, “The Last Station”
- Stanley Tucci, “The Lovely Bones”
- Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Mo’nique, “Precious”
- Anna Kendrick, “Up in the Air”
- Vera Farmiga, “Up in the Air”
- Penelope Cruz, “Nine”
- Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart”

So the People’s Choice Award winners were named this weekend during their yearly event.  Surely you can’t be too surprised at the outcomes.  About the only thing I was personally surprised at was how The Hangover didn’t win the best comedy selection.  The Proposal did.  Which leads me to believe that the group that voted on this was older, because The Proposal, wasn’t funny at all.

List of winners for the Major awards are:

Favorite MOVIE ACTOR
* Johnny Depp
* Brad Pitt
* Hugh Jackman
* Robert Pattinson
* Ryan Reynolds

Favorite MOVIE ACTRESS
* Sandra Bullock
* Anne Hathaway
* Drew Barrymore
* Jennifer Aniston
* Kristen Stewart

Favorite ACTION STAR
* Hugh Jackman
* Christian Bale
* Gerard Butler
* Shia LaBeouf
* Vin Diesel

Favorite COMEDIC STAR
* Jim Carrey
* Adam Sandler
* Ben Stiller
* Ryan Reynolds
* Vince Vaughn

Favorite BREAKOUT MOVIE ACTRESS
* Miley Cyrus
* Anna Kendrick
* Emily Osment
* Ginnifer Goodwin
* Zoe Saldana

Favorite BREAKOUT MOVIE ACTOR
* Taylor Lautner
* Chris Pine
* Joseph Gordon-Levitt
* Sam Worthington
* Zachary Quinto

Favorite ON-SCREEN TEAM
* The Twilight Saga
* Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
* The Proposal
* Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
* X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Favorite INDEPENDENT MOVIE
* Inglourious Basterds
* (500) Days of Summer
* District 9
* Paranormal Activity
* Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail

Favorite COMEDY MOVIE
* The Proposal
* 17 Again
* Bride Wars
* The Hangover
* He’s Just Not That Into You

Favorite MOVIE
* Twilight
* The Hangover
* Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
* The Proposal
* Star Trek Favorite TV DRAMA
* House
* CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
* Grey’s Anatomy
* Lost
* NCIS

Favorite TV COMEDY
* The Big Bang Theory
* Desperate Housewives
* How I Met Your Mother
* The Office
* Two and a Half Men

Favorite TV DRAMA ACTOR
* Hugh Laurie
* Kiefer Sutherland
* Mark Harmon
* Matthew Fox
* Patrick Dempsey

Favorite TV DRAMA ACTRESS
* Katherine Heigl
* Anna Paquin
* Blake Lively
* Jennifer Love Hewitt
* Mariska Hargitay

Favorite TV COMEDY ACTOR
* Steve Carell
* Alec Baldwin
* Charlie Sheen
* Jim Parsons
* Neil Patrick Harris

Favorite TV COMEDY ACTRESS
* Alyson Hannigan
* America Ferrera
* Amy Poehler
* Eva Longoria Parker
* Tina Fey

Favorite TV OBSESSION
* True Blood
* Dexter
* Gossip Girl
* The Hills
* The Secret Life of the American Teenager

Favorite COMPETITION SHOW
* American Idol
* Dancing with the Stars
* Project Runway
* So You Think You Can Dance
* Survivor: Samoa

Another celebrity death has come in 2009.  It’s literally a terrible year for Hollywood stars as another passes.  While Brittany Murphy wasn’t a huge star, she was in movies such as “clueless,” “8 Mile,” and various other b rated movies.  She was found collapsed in her shower by her mother and pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

A news report via TMZ.com was released yesterday as the news became official of her passing:

According to TMZ, Brittany told her family members that she was feeling very sick. It is also reported that she was hooked on prescription drugs like Vicodin which is a narcotic analgesic product used to relieve moderate to severe pain. Brittany’s friends said that series of plastic surgery operations made her dependent on painkillers. This was consider as one of the causes of her sudden death.

According to one of her neighbors, Brittany seems dead while she was on a stretcher. Firefighters brought her to the fire truck and tried to resuscitate her. Her husband wandered around and didn’t know what to do as the firefighters put tubes down his wife’s throat. Brittany was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and was pronounced dead on arrival at 10:04 a.m. by Sally Stewart, hospital spokeswoman.

LAPD spokeswoman Norma Eisenman said that they were investigating the cause of her death. Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said that there’s no foul play and it appears that she died of natural causes. Monjack refused to allow an autopsy for unknown reason but the L.A. County Coroner’s office will still conduct an autopsy.

It’s certainly another tragedy among young stars, as another one passes away way to soon.

Brittany Murphy

Steven Tyler has fallen, but in the end, got back up.  While preforming for fans in South Dakota, Steven Tyler took a fall of the stage while the sounds crew was fixing a fuse. While he actually turned out to be ok, he did suffer head neck and shoulder injuries, causing the show to be cut short without notice of a refund or rescheduled event.

A concertgoer said Tyler’s head was bleeding and he was holding his shoulder after the fall, but it wasn’t immediately clear how seriously he was hurt. The frontman was airlifted to Rapid City Regional Hospital, Sanborn said, the only major hospital in western South Dakota.

While it’s unclear just exaclty how hurt he was, it is known that the injuries aren’t led to be serious.  Mike Sanborn(Spokesmen for Buffalo Chip Campground, hosted event) described the incident like this:

“He does a lot of dancing on the stage and he does a lot of stuff with his mike stand. He put his stand down and twirled around and stepped backwards off the stage,”

As well as another concertgoer as stated as saying:

“We thought maybe he stage-dived into the crowd, but he didn’t get back up,” Kokesh said. “I thought he was falling back to crowd surf.”

It certainly is a strange thing to witness the crowd’s reaction once something happens that could potentially ruin the show.  However once he stood up noticeably hurt and bleeding, he acknowledged the crowds cheers and then was rushed off.

In this situation however, it does looks like Steven will still be able to walk, dance, sing, after he heals form the injuries of the fall.  The above article had experts from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090806/ap_on_en_mu/us_people_steven_tyler_42

Farrah Fawcett has passed away from anal cancer, she was 62 years old.  She was given her last rites early this morning and was pronounced dead at 9:28AM with members of family and long time boy-friend Ryan O’Neal by her side.

In September of 2006 Fawcett was diagnosed with Anal Cancer, and had undergone treament and was declared cancer free in 2007 after months of Chemo-therapy and Radiation.  However, the cancer had returned, and Fawcett, worried about the cancer treatments in the U.S., traveled to Germany, to see alternative forms of treatment.

It was in Germany that she had finally refused treatment and went to a hospital to spend her last days.  However, a documentary had been shot for NBC called Farrah’s Story, in it she said, “I’m holding on to the hope that there is some reason I got cancer and that there is something, that may not be very clear to me right now, that I will do.”

As always, we here at AlbertsGifts.com send condolences to the family of Farrah Fawcett as it is always a struggle during these times.  R.I.P. Farrah Fawcett

So this is the time of the year when the big award shows are happening.  This Sunday February 22nd, 2009, the 81st Oscars will be taking place, and as usual, I’ll be providing the list to the nominations and then then after the show, the list of the winners.  Hopefully this year turns out to get higher ratings than last year.  Also, I hope to see a much deserved award go to Heath Ledger for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight.  The list below shows the nominees for the major categories.  I’ll have the full list after the show. Enjoy!

Performance by an actor in a leading role

* Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films)
* Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
* Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features)
* Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

* Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features)
* Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.)
* Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

* Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal)
* Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

* Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company)
* Viola Davis in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)

Ok, so last night’s Grammy Awards were certainly produced a lot better than years past.  Here is the total list of winners below.  Enjoy!

• Best Female Country Vocal Performance
• Carrie Underwood – Winner

• Best Rap Album
• Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III – Winner

• Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
• John Mayer – Winner

• Best New Artist Nominations
• Adele – Winner

• Album of the Year Nominations
• Robert Plant with Alison Krauss for Raising Sand – Winner

• Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals
• Robert Plant with Alison Krauss for “Rich Woman” – Winner

• Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
• Sugarland for “Stay” – Winner

• Record of the Year
• Robert Plant with Alison Krauss for “Please Read the Letter” – Winner

• Song of the Year
• “Viva La Vida” written and performed by Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Chris Martin of Coldplay- Winner

Well its that time of year again.  The Nominees for the Grammys have been announced and will be presented here.  AlbertsGifts.com will show you the major categories for this years show.  This is the Super Bowl of music the music industry!

Record of the Year

• Chasing Pavements – Adele
• Viva la Vida – Coldplay
• Bleeding Love – Leona Lewis
• “Paper Planes” – M.I.A.
• “Please Read the Letter” – Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Album of the Year

• Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends – Coldplay
• Tha Carter III – Lil Wayne
• Year of the Gentleman – Ne-Yo
• Raising Sand – Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
• In Rainbows – Radiohead

Song of the Year

• “American Boy“
• “Chasing Pavements“
• “I’m Yours“
• “Love Song“
• “Viva la Vida”

Today is the day that Van Halen front man David Lee Roth turns 52.  Van Halen provided musical billboard hits such as “Jump,” and “Hot For Teacher.”  Van Halen was popular during the 80’s and continues to inspire musicians worldwide with their “always partying no matter what time of day attitude.”

Upon checking the rest of the music news today(and for this week actually) nothing is happening or has happened.  There will be an interview with Britney Spears on Meet the Press, and she will discuss her problems during the past two years.

Billboard Hit for this week was:  T.I. – Paper Trail

Billboard Hit for last week was:  Metallica – Death Magnetic

Aside from that, it’s been certainly quiet on the news front in the music business!  Heres to a better week for controversay and notable mentions next week!