The Academy posted the list of nominations for the 79th Annual Academy Awards. Alas, Bowie is not listed as a nominee for his supporting role as Nikola Tesla in “The Prestige.” Ah well, that’s just the sort of blinkered, philistine pig-ignorance that we’ve come to expect from that non-creative garbage. But the Academy did nominate “The Prestige” in two categories, so I suppose they’re not too blinkered. The nominations for “The Prestige” are for “Achievement in art direction” and “Achievement in cinematography”. Follow this link for the full list of nominations.
Posted in News | Comments Off on Oscar Nominations Are AnnouncedThe UK Metro newspaper published this half-baked article in yesterday’s edition. In the article they claim that Jermaine Jackson caused trouble with his former wives by maintaining a friendship with Bowie’s ex-wife Iman. Now, I ask you, where has the Metro been for the past twelve years?! There is no excuse for this type of shoddy reporting. For Pete’s sake, Bowie is a British icon. One would think that a British newspaper would get such an important fact about him correct, especially since there have just been a slew of articles published about him since he just turned 60 and a good number of those made reference to Iman. Apparently, fact-checking exceeds the capabilities of the Metro.
Posted in News, Opinions, Rumors, Lies, Stories They Made Up | Comments Off on Metro Newspaper Is Living Under A RockThere have been a slew of articles published about Bowie starting a few days before his 60th birthday, but I wanted to share two of my favorites. Andy Gill did an excellent piece in The Independent and Bowie’s hometown rag the Bromley Times published some fond remembrances from fans. Both are great reads.
Posted in News | Comments Off on More Bowie Birthday JunkI did a bit of research on the aforementioned Fact 42 and thought that the fact was misleading enough to warrant it’s own blog entry. According to reliable sources such as David Buckley and Christopher Sandford, Vince Taylor was one of many influences on not only the song Ziggy Stardust but the entire album as well. The character of Ziggy was an amalgam of famous influences such as Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Vince Taylor, Andy Warhol, and Japanese culture. However, later in the 1980s Bowie argued that Ziggy was based solely on Vince Taylor. Undoubtedly the messianic martyrdom of Ziggy in the song and throughout the album was based on events in Taylor’s life but for Bowie to say that Ziggy Stardust is entirely based on Vince Taylor just doesn’t jive. Any fan who has followed Bowie’s career with moderate interest can clearly pick out the other influences. For instance, Kansai Yamamoto designed a large number of Ziggy’s costumes, both Lou Reed and Iggy Pop pre-dated Bowie in glam rock, and Ziggy was the penultimate manufactured pop star in the style of Warhol’s manufactured art. That statement is typical Bowie though. He has said a lot of things to the press that don’t mean a damn thing. The moral of this post is – when it comes to stating Bowie “facts”, especially concerning a character as multi-layered as Ziggy Stardust, do your research.
Posted in Opinions | Comments Off on About BBC Fact #42BBC News published this rather entertaining article with 60 facts about Bowie that you may or may not know. And thank the Lord, they got the details about his right eye correct. I was surprised to find out that I did not previously know fact number 26. Also, I’ve not heard fact number 42 before – either that or I just forgot it. So until I confirm it with other sources I declare it to be spurious.
Posted in News, Opinions | 1 Comment »The Daily Mail reports that Bowie is on the radar of the Academy of Motion Pictures for a possible Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Nikola Tesla in The Prestige. Nothing will be official until January 23, 2007 when the nominations are announced by the Academy, so for now this is just rumor and speculation. It would however be a great day for Bowie and all of his fans if he were simply nominated for the award. Personally, I think it was his best acting to date (not counting his role as Jareth the Goblin King which was something else entirely) and he performed admirably with a formidable cast. At the very least I think a nomination is in order.
Posted in News, Opinions | Comments Off on Possible Oscar Nomination For BowieToday Bowie turns 60 years old, but is no where close to being “over the hill.” However there will be no wild parties that recreate the bacchanalia of the mid-70s. Bowie told interviewers that he plans on having a quiet night with his family around the dinner table set with a home-cooked meal of shepherd’s pie. The Webmaster and I wish David a prosperous, creative, and happy year with many more to come.
Posted in News | Comments Off on Happy Birthday, David!Sort of. According to the Belfast Telegram, Bowie will be playing to a large outdoor crowd to commemorate his birthday later this year. I assume that the reporter is referring to the High Line Festival, which still has the nebulous dates of May 10-19, 2007. I’m not sure exactly how a gig 5 months after his birthday is considered to be one commemorating his 60th year of awesome-ness, but whatever. I’m game.
Posted in News | Comments Off on The Next Big Birthday BashThe Special Edition of Young Americans will finally be released, according to Bowienet. The re-issue was originally scheduled to be released in March of 2005, putting it one year too late to be titled the 30th Anniversary Edition as the Diamond Dogs and Ziggy re-issues were. The album is allegedly due for release on March 19, 2007. So we’ll see if it happens this year or not.
Posted in More To Own, News | Comments Off on Better Late Than NeverIn an interview with Hello Magazine (relayed via Digital Spy), Iman commented that there is a possibility that she and David will move back to London in a few years. She says that although David loves New York City that he gets homesick for his hometown London. Hopefully a move to London will not mean the end of one-off shows in New York City for fans in the States.
Posted in News, Opinions | Comments Off on London Calling