One Word

I have just one word for you. IMDb. OK, here are some more words now.

Has this ever happened to you? You are watching a movie that you rented, or on HBO, or a DVD that you borrowed from a friend because they thought is was really good, but it really sucked and one of the following things happened: A - You see an actor and you can’t remember his or her name . B - You see an actor that you remember from another movie, who co-starred with an actor that you can’t remember, or 3 - You see an actor from a movie, who was in another movie that you can’t remember either the name of the other movie or the name of one of the costars of the other movie, or Z – one of the infinite number of more complicated scenarios where, because you are getting old, you can’t remember something, pertaining to the movie that you are thinking about.

One word, IMDb.

I know what you are thinking. Tom, you are an idiot, IMDb is not a word, no four-letter word I’ve ever muttered starts with only 3 capital letters. If that is what you were thinking then you would technically be correct. It hasn’t actually made it into the Oxford English Dictionary, but where I come from; it is already an official word.

Let me give you an example. We are at a family gathering during Thanksgiving, Christmas or Fourth of July watching a movie . After 15 – 20 minutes of debating that the Spaniard, Inigo Montoya, from The Princess Bride (1987), was in a TV series as either a doctor, lawyer, or FBI special agent, someone eventually solves the brain-racking dilemma, not by figuring out the correct answer, but by simply saying one word. IMDb.

Someone then proceeds to click on the Internet Explorer Favorite bookmark at the nearest PC or laptop and in a few quick clicks the answer is found. Type in Princess Bride in search and look for the cast, oh yeah, Mandy Patinkin was his name, click on that. He was the doctor in Chicago Hope, and he was an FBI special agent in 47 episodes of Criminal Minds, and he may have been a lawyer in one episode of Boston Legal and/or Law and Order, and a commercial for Viagra or blood pressure medication. A couple hours pass by as we learn that Mandy Patinkin also played Detective Sam Francisco in Alien Nation with James Caan who starred in Elf with Will Ferrell etc., etc., etc., ... followed by a review of the entire script of Princess Bride quotes such as:

Fezzik: Why do you wear a mask? Were you burned by acid, or something like that?
Man in Black: Oh no, it's just that they're terribly comfortable. I think everyone will be wearing them in the future.

And…

Vizzini: HE DIDN'T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Now it is one thirty in the morning. INCONCEIVABLE!

CAUTION: IMDb, like U-tube or Facebook, can be addictive. Use in moderation.

The point is, IMDb is used as a word in our family, just like a real word that you would find in a good dictionary, like Google or Biodiesel. New words make their way into the dictionary all the time, even an abbreviation like dis, to disrespect, is in the dictionary now. IMDb is technically an abbreviation, for Internet Movie Database, and imho, it is one of the top ten sites in the World Wide Web.

It takes a while for a word to become “official.” The word Google has been around since at least 1999, when some people claimed it was the word of the year. I think the runner up was Y2K. It took seven more years until it was officially recognized as a verb.

Dateline - June 29, 2006

Google Now A Verb In The Oxford English Dictionary

Gary Price reports that "Google" is now officially a verb in the Oxford English Dictionary. Google already is a verb in some other dictionaries, but the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is considered the most authoritative dictionary of the English language.

Google as a verb is defined in the dictionary as; To use the Google search engine to find information on the Internet. To search for information about (a person or thing) using the Google search engine.

So there you have it. IMDb is not a word yet, but It is terribly convenient. I think that everyone will be saying it in the future.

Here is a list of the 81st Annual Academy Award Nominees for all 24 categories, brought to you by the good folks at IMDb, Visited by over 57 million movie and TV lovers each month!

Best Motion Picture of the Year

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Richard Jenkins for The Visitor
Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn for Milk
Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie for Changeling
Melissa Leo for Frozen River
Meryl Streep for Doubt
Kate Winslet for The Reader

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Josh Brolin for Milk
Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams for Doubt
Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis for Doubt
Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler

Best Achievement in Directing

Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry for The Reader
David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant for Milk

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Frozen River: Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky: Mike Leigh
In Bruges: Martin McDonagh
Milk: Dustin Lance Black
WALL·E: Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
Doubt: John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon: Peter Morgan
The Reader: David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire: Simon Beaufoy

Best Achievement in Cinematography

Changeling: Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight: Wally Pfister
The Reader: Roger Deakins, Chris Menges
Slumdog Millionaire: Anthony Dod Mantle

Best Achievement in Editing

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button : Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter
The Dark Knight : Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon : Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill
Milk (2008/I): Elliot Graham
Slumdog Millionaire : Chris Dickens

Best Achievement in Art Direction

Changeling: James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
The Dark Knight : Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando
The Duchess : Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway
Revolutionary Road : Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt

Best Achievement in Costume Design

Australia : Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button : Jacqueline West
The Duchess : Michael O'Connor
Milk (2008/I): Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road : Albert Wolsky

Best Achievement in Makeup

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button : Greg Cannom
The Dark Knight : John Caglione Jr., Conor O'Sullivan
Hellboy II: The Golden Army : Mike Elizalde, Thomas Floutz

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button : Alexandre Desplat
Defiance : James Newton Howard
Milk (2008/I): Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire : A.R. Rahman
WALL·E : Thomas Newman

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

Slumdog Millionaire : A.R. Rahman, ("Jai Ho")
Slumdog Millionaire : A.R. Rahman, ("O Saya")
WALL·E : Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman("Down to Earth")

Best Achievement in Sound

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button : David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten
The Dark Knight : Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo
Slumdog Millionaire : Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty
WALL·E : Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt
Wanted : Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt


Best Achievement in Sound Editing

The Dark Knight : Richard King
Iron Man : Frank E. Eulner, Christopher Boyes
Slumdog Millionaire : Tom Sayers
WALL·E : Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood
Wanted : Wylie Stateman

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button : Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron
The Dark Knight : Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, Paul J. Franklin
Iron Man : John Nelson, Ben Snow, Daniel Sudick, Shane Mahan


Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

Bolt : Chris Williams, Byron Howard
Kung Fu Panda : John Stevenson, Mark Osborne
WALL·E : Andrew Stanton

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (Germany)
Entre les murs (France)
Revanche (Austria)
Okuribito (Japan)
Vals Im Bashir (Israel)

Best Documentary, Features

The Betrayal - Nerakhoon : Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath
Encounters at the End of the World : Werner Herzog, Henry Kaiser
The Garden (2008/I): Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Man on Wire : James Marsh, Simon Chinn
Trouble the Water : Tia Lessin, Carl Deal

Best Documentary, Short Subjects

The Conscience of Nhem En : Steven Okazaki
The Final Inch (2009): Irene Taylor Brodsky, Tom Grant
Smile Pinki : Megan Mylan
The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306 : Adam Pertofsky, Margaret Hyde

Best Short Film, Animated

Maison en petits cubes, La : Kunio Katô
Ubornaya istoriya - lyubovnaya istoriya : Konstantin Bronzit
Oktapodi : Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand
Presto : Doug Sweetland
This Way Up : Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes

Best Short Film, Live Action

Auf der Strecke : Reto Caffi
Manon sur le bitume : Elizabeth Marre, Olivier Pont
New Boy : Steph Green, Tamara Anghie
Grisen : Tivi Magnusson, Dorthe Warnø Høgh
Spielzeugland : Jochen Alexander Freydank