Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
The Independent Spirit Awards: too dirty for primetime
()
Yep, that's Felicity Huffman, and yes, she wins Best Actress at the Independent Spirit Awards. Think she's got a shot at the Oscar?
Sarah Silverman continues to knock it out of the park. And the attendees like her. "Finally there's an award show host that you'd wanna fuck," Kevin Smith says. He had a long dirty story to tell before announcing the best director winner.
Best Foregin Film goes to Paradise Now, the only of the foreign nominees we've heard of. It reinforces an unfortunate pattern: while 75 percent of the nominess for Independent Spirit Awards haven't been nominated for Oscars, they're not winning. The Oscar nominees are.
Support for LAist comes from
Like these, all of which are up for Oscars tomorrow: Best Documentary is awarded to Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Best First Feature: Crash, directed by Paul Haggis. Best Female Lead to Felicity Huffman for Transamerica. Best Cinematography: Robert Elswit, Good Night and Good Luck. Best Director to Ang Lee for a little picture called Brokeback Mountain. Best actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote. And best pic goes to Brokeback Mountain.
Maybe the only award that didn't go to an Oscar nominee was the John Cassavetes Award, which was given to Conventioneers.
These unduly grumpy thoughts are interrupted by the sung intro to Capote, by Macy Gray and a trio dressed up in Capote-drag. Not as funny as Peter Gallagher, but the stage tableau is pretty good. One of the guys from Junebug (but not the O.C. guy, we don't think) and Zoe Deschanel and sing the Grease duet rewritten to intro The Squid and the Whale. Their awkwardness comes through, and it seems more awful than fun. Richard Kind hilariously sings the Good Night and Good Luck intro: it's the Beverly Hillbillies theme. Dwight Yoakam does a great job with his for The 3 burials of Melquiados Estrado.
A grant is given to a new pair of documentary filmmakers, but just one man takes the stage. His partner, Garrett Scott, died of a heart attack two days ago at the age of 36. Ian Olds memorializes him with a tremendous amount of grace. Immediately afterward two fiction filmmakers, Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana, get their own grant and manage to be serious enough to follow him and funny enough to get the show back on its slightly giddy track.
When she gets her award, Felicity Huffman does all the icky agent-thanking and then tells an involved, terrific story about working on Transamerica and it ends like this: the key grip was working under crummy conditions, and said, "This fucking movie better win some fucking awards because it's a fucking pain in the ass." There you go, key grip Bob Izzo.
Philiip Seymour Hoffman is just perfect, again. "I've been given enough," he says, "I really want to share this." Then he thanks his co-nominees. Will he do so again tomorrow? We're not sure, but we'll be watching.
The award for most insane presenter pairing of all: Henry Rollins and Rosie Perez. We think she could kick his ass.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
The L.A. City Council approved the venue change Wednesday, which organizers say will save $12 million in infrastructure costs. -
Taxes on the sale of some newer apartment buildings would be lowered under a plan by Sacramento lawmakers to partially rein in city Measure ULA.
-
The union representing the restaurant's workers announced Tuesday that The Pantry will welcome back patrons Thursday after suddenly shutting down six months ago.
-
If approved, the more than 62-acre project would include 50 housing lots and a marina less than a mile from Jackie and Shadow's famous nest overlooking the lake.
-
The U.S. Supreme Court lifted limits on immigration sweeps in Southern California, overturning a lower court ruling that prohibited agents from stopping people based on their appearance.
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars.
Best of LAist