Saturday Hot Links
Time for the 169th installment of Saturday Hot Links!
Today: The Yardbirds (Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page) Edition.
Complete list of 2015 Golden Globe winners.
Related: Best and worst moments of the Golden Globes.
Related: 10 reasons Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are Hollywood’s best award show hosts.
Critics Choice Awards: The winners.
DGA nominations: WHY NO AVA DUVERNAY?!?!
Oscar nominations: WHY NOT AVA DUVERNAY?!?!
Related: Selma was robbed and other unforgivable Oscar crimes.
Related: Why Selma didn’t score more Oscar nominations.
Related: What the hell happened to Selma.
Related: Check out the diversity gap at the Academy Awards [inforgraphic].
Related: The Oscars brought the Academy $97.3M in 2014.
Related: These 21 famous actors have never won an Oscar.
Ben Affleck to receive the 2015 WGA Valentine Davies Award.
The future of medicine is in your smartphone.
USC Scripter Award nominations.
The greatest sports figure from each of the 50 U.S. states [map].
Kinda related: Which sports have the whitest/richest/oldest fans.
Why the Oscars have never much cared for Wes Anderson movies… until this year.
The top 100 startups in LA.
Scriptnotes podcast: Episode 179.
Broken Projector podcast: Episode 82.
Chicks Who Script podcast: Episode 23.
Writers Bone podcast: Amy H. Jones.
Bob Saenz latest blog: “Real Time”.
The history of CTRL + ALT + DEL.
Where Hollywood A-listers spent the holidays.
8 facts revealed by genetic analysis of the platypus.
A lot of Christian movies in the immediate future.
Related: Why are there Gideon Bibles in hotel rooms.
22 two-letter words to boost your Scrabble score.
The 25 best time travel movies of all time.
The dark history of 7 places branded by bloodshed.
David Simon says “The Wire” wouldn’t survive on TV today.
The 3 most important trends in psychological research right now.
Women wrote 17% of 2014’s top 250 grossing films.
11 of history’s biggest pranksters.
20 badass quotes from cinema’s tough guys.
Complaining about the accuracy of a historical film is a sure sign you don’t know how to watch movies.
Is blood ever blue.
The horrors and pleasures of January movies.
Explore the world from the inside of a tent.
There’s a good reasons why Goonies 2 hasn’t happened yet.
Maybe the Goonies folk should do like Edgar Wright for source material: Check Facebook.
Death Cab for Cutie has a new album coming out.
Is Liam Neeson now the biggest action movie star?
Man caught at Chinese border trying to smuggle in 94 iPhones strapped to his body.
Watch Matthew McConaughey’s audition tape for Dazed and Confused [video].
Stephan Hawking’s big ideas made simple.
The cyclical nature of cinema [video].
Charlie Hebdo to print record 3 million copies with Prophet Muhammad on the cover.
Related: Watch crowd of over 1 million people in Paris sing John Lennon’s “Imagine” [video].
Kyle MacLachlan to reprise role as Agent Cooper in reboot of “Twin Peaks”.
8 myths about the common cold.
Woody Allen to create his first TV series… only it’s not on TV.
Related: 15 filmmakers at the forefront of the TV revolution.
Kinda related: Producer Jason Blum sets micro-budget TV pact with Universal Cable.
Eclipse is a dog in Seattle who rides the bus to the dog park… unaccompanied [video].
18 things you might not know about “Parks and Recreation”.
John Green = John Hughes for millennials?
L.A. film production rose 9.6% in 2014.
Apple has a patent to produce a camera to compete with GoPro.
Related: GoPro to launch wireless HD transmitter for live TV broadcast.
You can watch the pilot episode of the new HBO series “Togetherness” here [video].
10 things you might not know about Groucho Marx.
Here’s one remake I wouldn’t mind seeing: Escape from New York.
The Bonnaroo 2015 lineup is here.
Most moviegoers would pay $10–20 to watch new releases at home.
10 fun facts about Winnie the Pooh.
The 100 most anticipated films of 2015.
Get out your calendars: Avatar 2 pushed back to 2017.
Not really related: Disney’s Jungle Book pushed back to 2016.
Need a wonderful story to pick you up? Here you go!
The best movie animal performances of 2014.
This one is going into my A Story Idea Each Day for a Month series.
The 50 greatest midnight movies of all time.
Charles Darwin had a fascinating outlook on daily exercise.
Kristen Bell and Fred Armisen to host the 2015 Independent Spirit Awards.
How soccer saved the Seattle Seahawks.
5 episodes of the “Broad City” web series you really should watch [videos].
Why did old phone numbers start with letters.
The Liam Neeson effect: Why some of Hollywood’s best actors are starring in its worst action movies.
They’re tearing down Ray Bradbury’s old Cheviot Hills house.
Birdman’s Time Square scene: How they did it.
Do you remember these 15 discontinued Girl Scout cookies.
2014 Humanitas Prize winners announced.
What’s behind Hollywood’s juice craze.
Pissed off at male-dominated Hollywood, artist switches genders on 100 movie posters.
50 great songs based on literary characters.
Confessions of a Hollywood screenwriter-turned-novelist.
The Grateful Dead are reuniting.
An actual May 2002 announcement about a 12 year movie project called Boyhood.
How to create a game in 48 hours.
Citizen Kane set for first-ever screening at Hearst Castle.
15 early telephone etiquette rules we should bring back.
This dude doesn’t think much of Michael Mann.
What’s it like to write for “The Simpsons”?
YouTube will produce its own Super Bowl halftime show.
50 Shades of Grey is fastest selling R-rated title in Fandango history.
Want to see Steven Soderbergh’s re-cut version of 2001: A Space Odyssey? Go here.
Sundance London canceled for 2015, future under review.
If you like Hollywood dramas, 2015 is going to be a great year.
Check out the new Black List blog.
Actor and stand-up comic Taylor Negron, dead at the age of 57.
Finally iconic Hollywood movie producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr., dead at the age of 88.
Screenwriting Master Class tip of the week: On Monday, I start the 2015 cycle of eight Craft classes. Here is that schedule:
January 19: Craft: Pixar and the Craft of Storytelling
February 2: Craft: Story Summaries
February 16: Craft: Handling Exposition
March 30: Craft: Character Development Keys
April 27: Craft: Create a Compelling Protagonist
May 11: Craft: Write a Worthy Nemesis
May 25: Craft: Scene Description Spotlight
June 22: Craft: The Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling
Each is a 1-week online class featuring 7 lectures written by me, lots of screenwriting insider tips, logline workshops, optional writing exercises, 24/7 message board conversations, teleconferences with course participants and myself to discuss anything related to the craft of scriptwriting.
As we start the cycle — the only time these classes are offered this year — now’s a good time to check out The Craft Package. All 8 classes for nearly 50% off. Plus you get immediate access to all of the Craft course content enabling you to go through it at your own pace as well as automatic enrollment in each of the 1-week classes.
Finally as a special offer to Go Into The Story readers, I’ll offer that same nearly half off deal on any combination of Craft classes. Just two Craft courses interest you? Maybe three or five? Get in touch with me via email (click here) and I’ll see to it you get nearly 50% off each of those classes.
If you enjoy and benefit from the content on my blog, you will really enjoy these Craft classes as I go into way more depth. Plus the sessions are not only informative and inspirational, they can be a lot of fun as well.
So join me in 2015 to upgrade your chops at the craft of screenwriting.
I look forward to the opportunity to work with you!
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