News

Rasputin #1

Writer: Alex Grecian

Art: Riley Rossmo

Colours: Ivan Plascencia

Letters: Thomas Mauer

Publisher: Image Comics

History is filled with monsters. Grab any history book, close your eyes, and open a page. Chances are that the page is riddled with corpses of people long since passed. Backtrack a bit, and it’s safe to assume that those bodies can be linked to one person, give or take. People often forget that the most terrifying stories are real and have taken place all over the globe. People like Elizabeth Bathory, Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia and Adolf Hitler have lined our pages with a body count that would make Freddy Krueger blush. But a leaving high body count isn’t the only way to become labelled a monster.

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin aka the Mad Monk of Russia, private adviser to the Romanovs, mystic, faith healer, sham. His influence lead to...

Clemenger Bbdo Melbourne was named agency of the year at the Melbourne Advertising & Design Club Awards tonight.

The agency won top honours for the second year running. However, rival Gpy&R Melbourne – which won more lions at Cannes this year than any Australian agency – did not enter for the second consecutive year. Last year, Patts Ecd Ben Coulson cited cost reasons for not supporting the event, which is Melbourne’s top awards show.

The awards list in full:

The Adstream Award for Agency of the Year

Winner

Clemenger Bbdo Melbourne

The Madc Award for Best in Show

Winner

Guilt Trips V/Line Agency McCann

The Madc Award for Lifetime Achievement

Winner

Scott Whybin, Whybin Tbwa

The Blackley Award for Creative Leader of the Year

Winner

Jason Williams, Leo Burnett

The Madc Award for Client of the Year

Winner

Carlton United Brewers

The Exit Films Award for Best Junior

Winners

Jono...

The International Film Festival Rotterdam has announced that, as part of its Hidden Histories program, it'll be screening work by Ai Weiwei, "six long films which he refers himself to as 'social documentaries' and four documentary art videos. There is a remarkable difference between Ai's sometimes highly conceptual art videos and his social documentaries. For the latter, he acts — before and behind the camera — as a committed research journalist, persistent to bring injustice in the open." Ai Weiwei was, of course, arrested in Beijing earlier this year, imprisoned for 81 days and released in June, though he's still not allowed to leave Beijing. Hidden Histories will feature new work by other Chinese documentary filmmakers as well, including He Yuan, Yu Guangyi and Xu Tong. The 41st edition of the Iffr runs from January 25 through February 5.

More events. Craig Baldwin for the San Francisco Cinematheque on this evening's program: "The selection of...

We’ve been asking you all week to vote for your Oscar picks from the year 1999, twelve years on as we retrospectively take a look back at all the Academy Award ceremonies in the 1990′s to see if time has been kind to the winners and losers.

28 of you voted, a little less than the amount who voted last time (which I think is to do with the problems with the form as we had a few complaints, I will try and fix this for next time) including a handful of Owf writers, who have collectively, like Dr. Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap, gone back in time to ‘put things right, that once went wrong’.

The number in brackets is the amount of points that film/actor/director gained (that system is explained here). Let’s take a look at the winners, shall we?

1999 Owf Awards Best Picture – Saving Private Ryan...

Manchester, England - November 3: Wayne Rooney of Manchester United in action during the UEFA Champions League match between Manchester United and Cska Moscow at Old Trafford on November 3 2009, in Manchester, England. (Photo by Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)

London, England - November 07:  A dejected Courtney Lawes of England looks on as his team head towrds defeat during the Investec Challenge Series match between England and Australia at Twickenham on November 7, 2009 in London, England.  (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Oxford, England - November 04:  Olly Lindsay-Hague of England poses for a portrait during the England Sevens photo call on November 4, 2009 in Oxford, England.  (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Nagano, Japan - November 06: Takahiko Kozuka of Japan performs in the Men Short Program on the day one of Isu Grand Prix of Figure Skating Nhk Trophy at Big Hat on November 6, 2009 in Nagano, Japan. (Photo...