A giant paper maker, Domtar Corporation, has added four video clips with commercials to a campaign called “Paper because” that emphasize paper’s importance in a digital world, Stuart Elliott writes. The first batch of videos was released in 2010 and featured over-the-top vignettes in an office where a crusade to go paperless becomes extreme. The latest releases expand the theme to other situations, like dealing with tech support at home or an overconfident waiter. The videos are only one part of the “Paper because” campaign, which includes, of course, print advertisements.
Suspicion fell on Denmark’s Muslim community shortly after an unsuccessful assassination attempt of Lars Hedegaard, an anti-Islam polemicist, earlier this month, Andrew Higgins reports. But Muslim groups in Denmark took an unexpected stance after a man posing as a mail carrier shot at, and missed, Mr. Hedegaard: they condemned the attack and supported Mr. Hedegaard’s right to express himself, even though his views are a combination of conspiracies and anti-Muslim rhetoric. Defending a man they detest suggests a change in attitude, or at least strategy, for Muslim groups at the center of a debate on whether they can adapt to the values of their adopted home.
There is a critical filmmaking profession that remains snubbed in the Oscars ceremony: music supervisors, the people who choose existing music to augment films, are not eligible for an Academy Award, Steve Chagollan writes. Supervisors bemoaned this state of affairs at their third-annual awards ceremony a few weeks ago in West Hollywood, especially because outside music played an important role in films like “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Django Unchained.” The Academy might be given pause by the fact that directors often work with music supervisors to find the perfect fit, and that music supervisors do not exactly create anything. Charles Fox, the chairman of the Academy’s music branch, said originality was the Oscar’s foremost concern. “In all of our categories — best song, best score — music has to be created specifically for that motion picture,” he said.
It’s been a parlor game among Hollywood types to figure out why “Lincoln,” despite having all the hallmarks of an Oscar-dominating film, lost best picture to “Argo,” Melena Ryzik reports. Insiders said part of the reason may have been that the team behind “Lincoln” overcampaigned, and made voters feel as if they had been force-fed a history lesson. The same overreach could be seen in Sunday’s broadcast itself, Ms. Ryzik writes, which lost coherence in an attempt to push boundaries and appeal to a critical age demographic. The Oscar does not always go to the best movie and the funniest comedian is not always the best host. The also-rans must content themselves with other Hollywood prizes: record-breaking ticket sales and higher ratings.
A senior White House official yelled at journalist Bob Woodward for nearly half an hour last week after Mr. Woodward told him that he planned to question, in a Washington Post article, President Obama’s account of how the budget cuts known as sequestration came to be, Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei write in Politico. The official later sent an e-mail that offered apologies but also said Mr. Woodward would “regret staking out that claim.” Mr. Woodward saw the phrase as a veiled threat, though the White House later said none was intended. “They become defensive,” Mr. Woodward said. “This could be a huge issue if the economy takes a hit.”