I returned on Monday from five days in sunny (which is to say disgustingly hot) Tucson, Arizona, where I was attending the annual AAN convention, and learning all sorts of things about emerging (and existing) technology, and hashing out the future of alt.weeklies. I also ran for the board of AAN and won (of course, I was unopposed) and now serve as that board’s editorial chair (which means I can help shape, hopefully, some of its programming and services in the coming year).
But perhaps the best part of the trip was SFR’s showing at the annual awards ceremony. We won four first place awards, the most first places of any paper in our size category (and we tied with LA Weekly, which had the most first place awards in the large paper category).
Firsts were won by Angela Moore for cover design, Richard Borge in illustration, Dave Maass, Ursula Coyote and random Zombie fans for our Halloween Zombie issue (I’ll include myself in that, since I did contribute a video) and Dave Maass and staff for our former blog, Swing State of Mind. We also won a third place award for A Qasimi’s food writing and an honorable mention for our Devour, Locavore’s Guide to Santa Fe issue.

SwingStateofMind.com, SFR’s 2008 election blog, has been named a finalist in the blog category for the 2009 Association of Alternative Newsweeklies awards.

This means, in the smaller division for alternative newspapers, SFR is leading in number of finalists.

I was really proud of this blog. We had polls and a Twitter feed and little scrolling widgets and the Web o Power. During the Democratic National Convention, we live blogged (with live streaming and chat) and captured some priceless footage of the protests. We laid into Jerome Block Jr. and covered even the most fringe candidates. We even interviewed the guy who put the phrase “cunts for eyes” in Hillary Clinton’s mouth.

It was a good year at SSOM, though I predict we’ll take second.

Cross-posted at Maassive.com.

The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies announced the finalists in its annual journalism contest today, and SFR appears to have done well yet again.

Or to quote the story:

In the large-circulation division, The Village Voice leads the pack with nine awards. In the small-circulation division, The Santa Fe Reporter is set to go home with at least five prizes.

Yes! The “at-least” part is that there are still a few outstanding categories in which judging has yet to be completed.

In addition to nominations for cover design (Angela Moore), illustration, food writing and special issues (the 2008 Devour, edited by Gwyneth Doland), Dave Maass et. al was nominated for his Zombie cover story, Things to Do in Santa Fe When You’re Undead, in the Format-Busting category (now would be a good time for you to watch my Zombie movie that accompanied that story, on the off chance that I haven’t already made you watch it 20 times).

Yay Dave! Yay Gwyneth! Yay Angela! Go SFR!

We’ll find out placement (1st, 2nd or 3rd) in June during AAN’s annual convention.

OK, here’s the deal, I’ve been busy. Really busy. So I haven’t made it to the theater to see the flicks that have been nominated for this year’s Oscars. Well, except for Slumdog Millionaire, I have a thing for India. With the awards coming up on Sunday, lets face it, I ain’t gonna make it. So, instead of some lengthy critical diatribe about how this movie got overlooked and whatnot, I (just for you) cracked a beer, kicked back and watched some trailers. The best movies should have the best trailers right? (By the way, if you want to watch the Academy Awards with a whole bunch of people, which definitely makes it more fun, there are two fundraising events in town on Sunday night that will be just the place for you! The Screen and The Catamount both host Oscar watching parties. Check out the bottom of the post for more details.)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Whew. Yeah. Now that’s what I call a power-nap. Brad Pitt might be younger by the end of that trailer but boy howdy, the rest of us aged a good 10 years or so eh? What was that, like 45 minutes long? But what really counts for Academy Award winners is drama, acting, romance and all together epicness, right? Well here we go:

Drama: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button trailer has drama for sure. Maybe a little over-dramatic though.

Acting: Um, er. Well, you’ve got to ask: What are those accents? Kinda Southern, kind of just stunted.

Romance: Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett? Yes. There’s a couple we want to see get steamy for sure.

Epic: Benjamin reaches out to our heart strings and yanks them right now. It’s a little too forced in its own epic qualities. Then again, Gladiator won and the trailer for that was ridiculous.

Frost/Nixon

Not even 30 seconds in and we get a little Kevin Bacon and some David Bowie? That’s what I’m talking about! This movie looks fun. Plus, it nails Richard Nixon to a wall, which, even thought I wasn’t alive yet, is nostalgic and amazing. Two thumbs up for this one for sure. But, we’ve got to be scientific about this:

Drama: Done and done. Tricky Dick’s bag of BS falls open but you just know there’s so much more in the movie.

Acting: Um, hello. Did we not already see Kevin Bacon? The man rocked Footloose for heaven sakes. The other guys look good too.

Romance: Not even a good bromance here, though Frost’s lady is wicked hot.

Epic: Nixon nailed? Built in epicness for sure!

Milk

I’m not sure that’s an Academy Award-winning trailer but it’s a good ad that makes me feel like I know what the movie is about, what’s going to happen and makes me want to see it anyway, despite a long-standing disdain for the original Mr. Madonna.

Drama: Well, not really. The trailer gives everything away but the music is pretty dramatic.

Acting: Sean Penn doesn’t look a whole lot different from normal but he moves and talks really strangely and damn, Josh Brolin looks scary. If he’s not that scary in real life I say, “Well done sir!”

Romance: Gotta love a bunch of really cute straight boys (well, and Penn) flirting with each on screen. Big ups for movie romance that doesn’t include a single female stereotype.

Epic: What’s up with all the ’70s throwbacks this year? So long as I don’t have to perm my hair like that I guess it’s alright. But I digress, yeah, it’s a story that changed politics and the trailer is well done, so we’ll give it a yea on that one.

The Reader

Could you be a dear and pass me that bottle of Prozac please? Seriously, it’s either that or I’m going to the tub, no not to fantasize about bathing with Kate Winslet but to make it all end that much sooner.

Drama: Can you say token Nazi movie? Really, must there be one every year?

Acting: Oooh. Did you see all those dramatic pauses? Now that’s acting, or zoning out while you’re supposed to be working, I’m not sure.

Romance: Creepy young boy/adult woman romance. Boylita perhaps? No thanks.

Epic: String quartets and minor chord piano makes everything epic! Boo, this trailer sucks.

Slumdog Millionaire

Oh hell, why bother watching this trailer? Can’t you see from the first few seconds that everyone loves this movie? Why are you still at home? Oh, right. Because thinking for ourselves is fun. Yay free will. But all the running in this trailer is kind of inspirational, in that “run your ass to the theater” kind of way.

Drama: Game show=built in drama. Nuf said.

Acting: Loves the way that host says “millionaire.” Bonus points for that definitely. Otherwise, well, they’re good at running.

Romance: Dude, she’s his destiny, of course there’s romance for the nerdy kid. Holla for that too, the slightly nerdy kid never gets the girl, he’s always a bespeckled über-geek, this guy, not so much.

Epic: All those big eyed girls and trains mean this story spans a lifetime, a surefire way to ensure epicness.

Acceptance Speech Time:

So, who wins? Frost/Nixon by a landslide! It’s the Blow trailer all over again, except this time it’s political (and the movie doesn’t suck).

Now that you’re armed with two mintue tidbits of nominated greatness, where you gonna watch the Oscars?

How about keeping non-Hollywood flicks flowing into Santa Fe with one of two big benefit parties (you don’t even have to don evening attire, but leave the sweats at home would ya?).

2009 Academy Awards Benefit Event
Helps keep The Screen alive! Whoo hoo!
6 pm Sunday, Feb. 22. $25-$30. The Screen, 1600 St. Michael’s Drive, 473-6494

Santa Fe Film Festival’s Oscar Awards Night Party
That big film festival that happens every December? Yeah, that guy costs money so help out would ya?
5:30 pm Sunday, Feb. 22. $25. The Catamount, 125 E. Water St., 988-7222