Oscar's Crowded Cartoon Category

Oscar's Crowded Cartoon Category

A record 21 animated features have been submitted for consideration, pitting CG box office heavyweights against stop-motion features and indie hand-drawn contenders.

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Before the iPad, There Was the Honeywell Kitchen Computer

Before the iPad, There Was the Honeywell Kitchen Computer

In the winter of 1969, the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog offered to computerize your kitchen.

Cooking up a gourmet holiday meal will be a snap, the department store promised. Push a few buttons, and -- presto! -- a shiny orange-red, white, and black machine will compute the perfect five-course meal. No more silly culinary errors. The ...

An F Student

An F Student

Measuring the Complexity of the Dates of Holidays

Measuring the Complexity of the Dates of Holidays

Some national holidays -- like Fourth of July -- happen on the same day each year. Others, like Thanksgiving, which takes place the fourth Thursday in November, change from year to year. Our math blogger Samuel Arbesman looks into the different size algorithms needed to describe the dates of various national holidays.

Geekiest Place Names in the Solar System

Mount Doom, Einstein Crater, and Arrakis Plains: Geekiest Place Names in the Solar System

The solar system is full of stuffy, old mythology naming its planets and moons. But scientists have also had the chance to add a little spice here and there, deriving their place names from really geeky sources, including Tolkien. In this gallery, we take a look at some of the nerdiest places in the solar system.

Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne Coming Back for 'Insidious' Sequel

Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne Coming Back for 'Insidious' Sequel

UPDATED: Actors Lin Shaye and Ty Simpkins will also reteam with director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell for the follow-up.

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Why Do British Singers Sound American?

Why Do British Singers Sound American?

For the newest James Bond movie, Skyfall, English singer Adele recorded a song with the same name. Though Adele speaks with a strong London accent, her singing voice sounds more American than British. Why do British vocalists often sound American when they sing?

Why Long Movies Hit the Box Office This Season

Holiday Stuffing: Why Long Movies Hit the Box Office This Season

From two hours and 15 minutes for "This Is 40" to the three-hour tour of "The Hobbit," the reason audiences are spending more time in

20 impromptu TV Thanksgivings

TV: Inventory: "Boy, now I know how the pilgrims felt": 20 impromptu TV Thanksgivings

1. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
"This is not unlike another famous Thanksgiving episode," Linus Van Pelt says near the end of 1973's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. The blanket-toting philosopher of the Peanuts set is trying to draw parallels between a disastrous holiday meal—which Peppermint Patty noisily interrupts with objections to her plate full of toast, pretzel sticks, popcorn, and jelly beans—and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Courtship Of Miles Standish, but there's some sly television commentary in that statement as well. Every year, TV families gather around their tables in the spirit of giving thanks, but just as often, the festivities are interrupted by turkeys refusing to thaw, guest lists altered at the last minute, or, in the case of Peppermint Patty's tirade, an 8-year-old's inability to assemble a traditional Thanksgiving spread on practically no notice. Not that Patty has any right to complain ...

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How Rich Moore Assembled Wreck-It Ralph's All-Star Cast of Game Characters

Storyboard: How Rich Moore Assembled <em>Wreck-It Ralph'</em>s All-Star Cast of Game Characters

The director knew he needed recognizable faces, so he set out to convince megastudios like Sega and Namco to let their most beloved characters -- including Frogger, Pac-Man and Sonic -- appear in the film.

Ang Lee: Of water and Pi

People: Ang Lee: Of water and Pi

"This is the best use of 3-D I've ever seen," I say to Ang Lee. And I mean it. His "Life of Pi," based on Yann Martel's novel about a shipwrecked boy, is an astonishment, not least because it never uses 3-D for its effect, but instead as a framing device for the story as a whole. There are, for example, shots where the point of view is below the sea's surface, looking up at the boat and into the sky beyond. The surface of the sea seems to be an invisible membrane between the water and the air. I've never seen anything like it.