So this year's Oscar nominations are out, and every year it's the same old thing: AtAT gets snubbed. Yes, once again, the Academy has refused to bestow our little production with even one single nomination. Not a one. Not even for a technical award, for crying out Pete's sake. And no matter how many times they drag out that tired, old excuse about how AtAT is "not actually a motion picture, blah blah blah," we know what's really going down; it all comes down to politics in the end. (After all, how else can you explain the otherwise inexplicable absence of the feel-good movie of the year, Dude, Where's My Car?)

But even as the Academy continues its appalling yet long-standing practice of blacklisting both Apple-themed soap operas and movies featuring moronic vehicularly-deprived stoners foiling alien invaders, at least the Mac community has something to like about this year's nominations. As faithful viewer Jonathan Fletcher kindly pointed out, Ridley Scott came out quite well. Unless you're a hardcore film buff, you probably only know the man for his best-known work-- Apple's legendary "1984" commercial that heralded the advent of the Macintosh. But as it turns out, Mr. Scott has also directed some feature films in his day. We doubt that you would have seen any of them, but they include titles like Alien, Blade Runner, and something called Thelma & Louise, which we figure was probably a big-screen adaptation of "The Jeffersons" that focuses on the relationship between Weezy and Florence's younger sister.

Anyway, Ridley eventually went on to direct some art-house flick called Gladiator that apparently came out last year, and the Academy seems to think it was good enough to justify a whopping twelve nominations. Good for him! We're always happy to see talent rewarded, and if Gladiator shows even a tenth of the genius that Ridley managed to cram into "1984," then it's clearly deserving of the honor. Incidentally, we hear that the man has a new movie out now called Hannibal, which is probably a documentary about elephants or something. If you want to see the latest work by the "1984" guy, hunt around and maybe you'll find a theater that's showing it.