Video technology was first developed for cathode ray tube (CRT) television systems, but several new technologies for video display devices have since been invented. Charles Ginsburg led the research team at Ampex Corporation in developing the first practical video tape Atlanta bankruptcy attorney a recorder (VTR). In 1951 the first video tape recorder captured live images from television cameras by converting the information into affiliate marketing electrical impulses and saving the information onto magnetic video tape. This tape was sold for around $50,000 in 1956. Sony Started to sell the first videocassette recorder (VCR) tapes to the public in 1971. Since then computer technology has advanced a huge amount and HGH Energizer can now be used to capture, store, edit and transmit film clips. Since the invention of the DVD in 1997 and Blu-ray Disc in 2006 video sales have plummeted and are often regarded as old fashioned and obsolete.

Description of video

The term video (video meaning I see, from the Latin verb videre) commonly refers to several storage formats for moving pictures: digital video formats, including Blu-ray Disc, DVD, QuickTime (QT), and MPEG-4; and analog videotapes, including VHS and Betamax. Video can be recorded and transmitted in various physical media: in magnetic tape when recorded as PAL or NTSC electric signals by video cameras, or in MPEG-4 or DV digital media when recorded by digital cameras. Quality of video essentially depends on the capturing method and storage used. Digital television (DTV) is a relatively recent format with higher quality right to bare legs than earlier television formats and has become a standard for television video. (See List of digital television deployments by country.) 3D-video, digital video in three dimensions, premiered at the end of 20th century. Six or eight cameras with realtime depth measurement are typically used to capture 3D-video streams. The format of 3D-video is fixed in MPEG-4 Part 16 Animation Framework eXtension (AFX). In the United Kingdom, Estonia, Australia, Netherlands, Finland, Hungary and New Zealand, the term video is often used informally to refer to both Videocassette recorders and video cassettes; the meaning is normally clear from the context.

Characteristics of video streams

Number of frames per second

Frame rate, the number of still pictures per unit of time of video, ranges from six or eight frames per second (frame/s) for old mechanical cameras to 120 or more frames per second for new professional cameras. PAL (Europe, Asia, Australia, etc.) and SECAM (France, Russia, parts of Africa etc.) standards specify 25 frame/s, while NTSC (USA, Canada, Japan, etc.) specifies 29.97 frame/s. Film is shot at the www.ryanutopia.net slower frame rate of 24photograms/s, which complicates slightly the process of transferring a cinematic motion picture to video. The minimum frame rate to achieve the illusion of a moving image is about fifteen frames per second.

Interlacing

Video can be interlaced or progressive. Interlacing was invented as a way to achieve good visual quality within the limitations of a narrow bandwidth. The horizontal scan lines of each interlaced frame are numbered consecutively and partitioned into two fields: the odd field (upper field) consisting of the odd-numbered lines and the even field (lower field) consisting of the even-numbered lines. NTSC, PAL and SECAM are interlaced formats. Abbreviated video resolution specifications often include an i to indicate interlacing. For example, PAL video format is often specified as 576i50, where 576 indicates the vertical line resolution, i indicates interlacing, and 50 indicates 50 fields (half-frames) per second.

In progressive scan systems, each refresh period updates all of the scan lines. The result is a higher spatial resolution and a lack of various artifacts that can make parts of a stationary picture appear to be moving or flashing.

A procedure known as deinterlacing can be used for converting an interlaced stream, such as analog, DVD, or satellite, to be processed by progressive scan devices, plaque attack such as Liquid crystal display television TFT LCD Television sets, projectors, and plasma panels. Deinterlacing cannot, however, produce a video quality that is equivalent to true progressive scan source material.

Display resolution

The size of a video image is measured in pixels for digital video, or horizontal scan lines and vertical lines of resolution for analog video. In the digital domain (e.g. DVD) standard-definition television (SDTV) is specified as 720/704/640×480i60 for NTSC and 768/720×576i50 for PAL or SECAM resolution. However in the analog domain, the number of visible scanlines remains constant (486 NTSC/576 PAL) while the horizontal measurement varies with the quality of the signal: approximately 320 pixels per scanline for VCR quality, 400 pixels for TV broadcasts, and 720 pixels for DVD sources. Aspect ratio is preserved because of non-square pixels.

New high-definition televisions (HDTV) are capable of resolutions up to 1920×1080p60, i.e. 1920 pixels per scan line by 1080 scan lines, progressive, at 60 frames per second.

Video resolution for 3D-video is measured in slim ts voxels (volume picture element, representing a value in three dimensional space). For example 512×512×512 voxels resolution, now used for simple 3D-video, can be displayed even on some PDAs.

Aspect ratio

Aspect ratio describes the dimensions of video screens and video picture elements. All popular video formats are rectilinear, and so can be described by a ratio between width and height. The screen aspect ratio of a traditional television screen is 4:3, or about 1.33:1. High definition televisions use an aspect ratio of 16:9, or about 1.78:1. The aspect ratio of a full 35 mm film frame with soundtrack (also known as the Academy ratio) is 1.375:1.

Ratios where the height is taller than the width are uncommon in general everyday use, but do have application in computer systems where the screen may be better suited for a vertical layout. The most common tall aspect ratio of 3:4 is referred to as portrait mode and is created by physically rotating the display device 90 degrees from the normal position. Other tall aspect ratios such as 9:16 are technically possible but rarely used. (For a more detailed discussion of this topic please refer to the page orientation article.)

Pixels on computer monitors are usually square, but pixels used in digital video often have non-square aspect ratios, such as those used in the PAL and NTSC variants of the CCIR 601 digital video standard, and the corresponding anamorphic widescreen formats. Therefore, an NTSC DV image which is 720 pixels by 480 pixels is displayed with the aspect ratio of 4:3 (which is the traditional television standard) if the pixels are thin and displayed with the aspect ratio of 16:9 (which is the anamorphic widescreen format) if the pixels are fat.

Color space and bits per pixel

Color model name describes the video color representation. YIQ was used in NTSC television. It corresponds closely to the YUV scheme used in NTSC and PAL television and the YDbDr scheme used by SECAM television.

The number of distinct colors that can be represented by a pixel depends on the number of bits per pixel (bpp). A common way to reduce the number of bits per pixel in digital video is by chroma subsampling (e.g. 4:4:4, 4:2:2, 4:2:0/4:1:1).

Video quality

Video quality can be measured with formal metrics like PSNR or with subjective video quality using expert observation.

The subjective video quality of a video processing Magic Mesh system may be evaluated as follows:

Choose the video sequences (the SRC) to use for testing.
Choose the settings of the system to evaluate (the HRC).
Choose a test method for how to present video sequences to experts and to collect their ratings.
Invite a sufficient number of experts, preferably not fewer than 15.
Carry out testing.
Calculate the average marks for each HRC based on the experts ratings.

Many subjective video quality methods are described in the ITU-T recommendation BT.500. One of the standardized method is the Double Stimulus Impairment Scale (DSIS). In DSIS, each expert views an unimpaired reference video followed by an impaired version of the same video. The expert then rates the impaired video using a scale ranging from impairments are imperceptible to impairments are very annoying.

Video compression method (digital only)

Main article: Video compression

A wide variety of methods are used to compress video streams. Video data contains spatial and temporal redundancy, making uncompressed video streams extremely inefficient. Broadly speaking, spatial redundancy is reduced by registering differences between parts of a single frame; this task is known as intraframe compression and is closely related to image compression. Likewise, temporal redundancy can be reduced by registering differences between frames; this task is known as interframe compression, including motion compensation and other techniques. The Max Burn most common modern standards are MPEG-2, used for DVD, Blu-ray and satellite television, and MPEG-4, used for AVCHD, Mobile phones (3GP) and Internet.

Bit rate (digital only)

Bit rate is a measure of the rate of information content in a video stream. It is quantified using the bit per second (bit/s or bps) unit or Megabits per second (Mbit/s). A higher bit rate allows better video quality. For example VideoCD, with a bit rate of about 1 Mbit/s, is lower quality than DVD, with maximum bit rate of 10.08 Mbit/s for video. HD (High Definition Digital Video and TV) has a still higher quality, with a bit rate of about 20 Mbit/s.

Variable bit rate (VBR) is a strategy to maximize the visual video quality and minimize the bit rate. On fast motion scenes, a variable bit rate uses more bits than it does on slow motion scenes of similar duration yet achieves a consistent visual quality. Shake Weight For real-time and non-buffered video streaming when the available bandwidth is fixed, e.g. in videoconferencing delivered on channels of fixed bandwidth, a constant bit rate (CBR) must be used.

Stereoscopic

Stereoscopic video can be created using several different methods:

two channels — a right channel for the right eye and a left channel for the left eye. Both channels may be viewed simultaneously by using light-polarizing filters 90 degrees off-axis from each other on two video projectors. These separately polarized channels are viewed wearing eyeglasses with matching polarization filters.
one channel with two overlaid color coded layers. This left and right layer technique is occasionally used for network broadcast, or recent anaglyph releases of 3D movies on DVD. Simple Red/Cyan plastic glasses provide the means to view the images discretely to form a stereoscopic view of the content.
One channel with alternating left/right frames for each eye, using LCD shutter glasses which read the frame sync from the VGA Display Data Channel to alternately cover each eye, so the appropriate eye sees the correct frame. This method is most common in computer virtual reality applications such as in a Cave Automatic Virtual Environment, but reduces the effective video framerate to one-half of normal (for example, from 120 Hz to 60 Hz).

Blu-ray Discs greatly improve the sharpness and detail of the two-color 3D effect in color coded stereo programs. See articles Stereoscopy and 3-D film.

Video formats

There are different layers of video transmission and storage, each with its own set of formats to choose from.

For transmission, there is a physical connector and signal protocol (video connection standard below). A given physical link can carry certain display standards which specify a particular refresh rate, display resolution, and color space. There are a number of analog and digital tape formats, www.hscaz.info though digital video clips can also be stored on a computer file system as files which have their own formats. In addition to the physical format used by the data storage device or transmission medium, the stream of ones and zeros that is sent must be in a particular digital video encoding, of which a number are available.

Video connectors, cables, and signal standards

Perhaps MTV News can show the hero in a different light. On February 17, we were invited to join a small group of passionate supporters to spread the mark of Spider-Man all across New York City. Our mission: to travel to predetermined locations throughout Manhattan to tag specific walls with the Amazing Spider-Man’s famous insignia. “That’s kind of odd,” you might be saying to yourself. But there was nothing odd about it to Abigail Flynn, one of the carefully selected Spidey supporters out in full force on behalf of the amazing web-slinger.

“We’re supporting Spider-Man,” Flynn told MTV News of the campaign. “We’re putting up the mark of the Spider-Man around the city to spread awareness and spread his message.”

Fellow web-head Walter Sojda added, “He’s fighting for the little guy. We have to show that in New York, we care about Spider-Man. We’re supporting him here.”

New York isn’t the only place Spider-Man has recently found support. All last week, the superhero’s message was spread throughout five other American cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle and Atlanta. Clearly, the hero’s national awareness is on the rise ? good timing, no doubt, considering he has a movie on the way!

Spreading the mark of Spider-Man isn’t the only thing that has our spider senses tingling here at MTV News. Early last week, MTV Splash Page received a mysterious backpack in the mail, with no explanation as to its origin other than a haphazardly attached piece of duct tape reading “Property of Peter Parker.” Spidey’s supporters were tight-lipped when asked about Parker’s identity, so the connection between the two remains unclear for now.

Here’s something that is clear: Despite what the Bugle says, there’s a whole lot of love out there for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man ? and Manhattan has the mark to prove it.

Are you following the mark of Spider-Man? Let us know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter at @roundhoward!

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Amazing Spider-Man.”

For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies ? updated around the clock ? visit SplashPage.MTV.com.

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According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Justin Bieber: Just Getting Started” is scheduled for release in September. The singer’s second official photo book comes on the heels of “First Step 2 Forever: My Story,” which was released in October 2010 and sold more than one million copies in 25 languages.

The new book will include information about the 17-year-old singer’s most recent tour and the making of his record-breaking concert documentary, “Never Say Never,” as well as the sessions for Believe. Among the bold-faced names that have popped in so far to lay down tracks for that album are fellow Canadian Drake,? who has long wanted to work with the pop star.

Kanye West? is also reportedly slated to contribute to the disc, which is scheduled for release later this year. Super-producers Pharrell, will.i.am? and rapper Lil Wayne are among the other names that have been tossed about as possible collaborators. Believe is the follow-up to the Christmas-themed Under the Mistletoe, which was released in late 2011.

Given his advancing age and the influence of a new group of collaborators, the effort is promising to be a step in a new direction for the multiplatinum teen idol. “The only conversation we’ve had about Justin’s album that we’re about to do is it’s really important that it’s the proper transition, because we’ve seen him [with] ‘Baby,’ now we’re watching him grow up,” Bieber’s longtime vocal producer, Kuk Harrell,? told MTV News in November. “And we can’t just throw him into the adult game right away. It has to be the proper transition. There’s a record in between.”

In the meantime, fans will have to settle for watching Bieber help re-launch MTV’s iconic “Punk’d”? hidden-camera show, which relaunches next month with a rotating slate of guest hosts.

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The black-and-white poster, which includes touches of neon purple and turquoise, features an omniscient image of Gaga, decked out in her full “BTW” horned look, looking down from the sky. Underneath, in a castle that looks an awful lot like the one from the tour sketch, Gaga, wearing a piano dress, hangs with a group of suit-wearing dudes. And, for those paying close enough attention, Zombie Boy even makes an appearance, peeking out from one of the castle windows.

In her long-simmering latest “Yoü and I” fashion film, Gaga portrays her male alter ego, Jo Calderone. Jo smolders in the mini-film, smoking his way through it. Clips of Jo stripping (revealing Gaga’s taped-down chest) are intercut with shots of Gaga done up in an S&M-type outfit, dancing and tossing her long blond hair. The same outfit is worn by other dancers also featured in the clip, directed by Inez and Vinoodh.

Along with all these developments Little Monsters have to be excited about, this Sunday, Mother Monster is up for a number of Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for Born This Way and Best Pop Solo Performance for “Yoü and I.”

Are you excited for Lady Gaga’s upcoming tour? Tell us below!

Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don’t miss Sway and James Montgomery live from the Grammys red carpet this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn’t end Sunday: MTV News has you covered until the Grammy hangover wears off!

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I was daydreaming at the office one recent afternoon when I started to notice all the “Star Wars” stuff I?ve got at my desk. Alongside representations of John McClane, Mal Reynolds and Kevin Costner as Robin Hood are: three Yodas (cute plush Yoda, figurine Yoda and Magic 8 Ball-type Yoda), one talking Yoda keychain, three flash drives (my favorite being the Han Solo which sleeps in a little ?carbonite? case), one Ewok action figure (Wicket, I think), two different types of lightsaber, one Darth Vader talking pen that neither talks nor writes anymore and a 2012 mini calendar. At home I have a set of Star Wars linens from Pottery Barn.

The way I see it, there are three types of people who buy Star Wars stuff nowadays: There?s the obliging parent whose kid drags her through the aisles of Toys R Us so they can pick out a trinket from “The Clone Wars,” the hardcore collector who spends most of his waking hours searching for That One Piece that might cost him much more than a week?s paycheck, and me ? just a regular Star Wars fan who fondly remembers all the cool toys Mom and Dad threw away ages ago.

The first group shows up in force when there?s a new movie release or another cable TV season starts. The second and third groups fill the gap in between. Together we?ve spent $20 billion on “Star Wars” related merchandise since the franchise began, and there are no signs of slowing down.

According to Philip Wise of Rebelscum.com, the “Star Wars” collecting news site is busier than it?s ever been. ?[The collectors] are all talking about what they got last week, what they?re getting today, what?s the value, what should I expect to pay for this,? Wise said. ?And I see these transactions people talk about ? tens of thousands of dollars.?

It all began back in 1977 with the release of the first film. ?People wanted stuff from that movie from the start,? said Daniel Pickett of ActionFigureInsider.com. Pickett related the merchandising origin story that has become a well-known part of Star Wars lore: ?The movie opened, every toy company had passed on it, with the exception of Kenner, which primarily had done a lot of board games and stuff.?

Kenner wasn?t prepared for the overwhelming demand. ?When kids went out looking for the figures, none existed,? Pickett explained. ?They literally sold a box with a certificate in it, saying, ?We?re going to make figures and when we do, we?ll mail them to you.? And so that?s what kids opened on Christmas morning in 1977.?

Thirty-five years later, Lucasfilm is still providing collectors new and exciting items to drool over. ?They keep releasing new stuff,? said Pickett. ?That one cantina band member or someone from Jabba?s palace or Imperial Soldier #13 — and then they keep improving on all the main cast too. So [a collection] just never feels complete.?

Those poor people, always searching, yearning, coveting, never getting a moment?s rest. I?m glad I?m not one of them. I?m happy with my desk ornaments and retro linens and comfy Darth Vader t-shirts and Wookiee cookie cookbooks.

OK, there is just one more thing I want…

In The Comlink, “Star Wars” fan and MTV News producer Tami Katzoff explores the glory days of a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Whether you’re Team Jedi or Team Sith, friend of Wookiees or wanted by bounty hunters, any and all “Star Wars” fans are welcome along for the ride.

Tags star wars, The Comlink

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The quirk factor was high at last year’s Grammys, and it got started long before a single award was handed out. Lady Gaga’s red carpet arrival inside of a pearlescent egg carried by four scantily clad dudes wearing prosthetics on their faces and shoulders should have been reminder enough that the unusual is the norm at the Grammys. But in case it wasn’t, the show itself delivered Muppets and Katy Perry on a swing. We’ve rounded up five big moments from last year’s show to remind you why the Grammys are the craziest awards show of the year.

» Lady Gaga arrives in that freakin’ egg, er, “vessel.”
Never one to just casually stroll the red carpet in a pretty dress, Lady Gaga went to great lengths to make every element of her Grammy appearance part of a larger art piece that culminated in the performance of her then-new single “Born this Way.” It all started on the red carpet, when she arrived already inside her “vessel,” later claiming to Jay Leno that she’d been in a state of artistic incubation inside it for 72 hours. (Did you just roll your eyes? We think you just rolled your eyes!) The pop star emerged to deliver a full-voiced ? if otherwise joyless ? performance of the song, which at the time was drawing heavy criticism for sounding maybe a little too much like Madonna’s 1989 classic “Express Yourself,” and went on to score three Grammys, including Best Pop Vocal Album for The Fame Monster.

» Did Christina Aguilera fall down after that showstopping Aretha Franklin tribute?
Last year’s ceremony kicked off with an Aretha Franklin tribute featuring Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Florence Welch, Martina McBride and Yolanda Adams. The ladies delivered a rousing group performance of “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman” before launching into solos of “Ain’t No Way,” “Until You Come Back to Me,” “Think,” “Respect” and “Spirit in the Dark” and closing with “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves” ? tearing the roof off the Staples Center. Except all anyone wanted to talk about afterward was how Christina maybe slipped a little in her towering heels.

The performance came just one week after Xtina botched “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XLV (luckily, Kelly Clarkson’s rendition this year went smoothly), and it seemed like the “Beautiful” singer and “Voice” judge had fully redeemed herself after the debacle, delivering a fantastic vocal performance … until she stumbled onstage, sending gossips into a tizzy that the singer may have been, we’ll say, out of sorts during the performance despite much evidence to the contrary. Or maybe people just like a good near-fall? People get very excited when an entertainer loses her footing ? don’t they, Madonna?

Anyway, while everyone tried to make Xtina’s mini-tumble a bigger story than it was, the ladies earned a richly deserved standing ovation for their tribute to Franklin, who was rather ill at the time but has since recovered, lost a bunch of weight, gotten engaged and ended that engagement. (A year in Hollywood time is like five years in normal person time … maybe that’s why everyone is so afraid of getting older!)

» Bieber performs big, loses Best New Artist to unknown jazz bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding.
Justin Bieber’s medley performance began with an acoustic strum through “Baby” but quickly segued into a raucous take on “Never Say Never,” complete with breakdancing ninja acrobats, fire breathers and a cameo rap by “Karate Kid” star Jaden Smith. Biebs’ mentor Usher even joined in on the fun for a pop-and-lock-heavy dance-off to his hit “OMG.”

But the real story with Bieber at last year’s Grammys was that he lost. To Esperanza Spalding. A critically acclaimed but otherwise unknown jazz performer. Bieber didn’t take the loss so well but his fans went even crazier, expressing the profound sadness they felt and bearing witness to their idol’s defeat by hacking Spalding’s Wikipedia page and changing her middle name to both “Justin” and “Quesadilla.” One fan wrote, “Justin Bieber deserved it go die in a hole. Who the heck are you anyway?” while another scribbled, “So the Esperanza Spalding has only 8 thousand followers on twitter and how many does Justin Bieber has?”

It seems someone forgot to tell the Belieber army that the Grammys are not a popularity contest (well, they’re not supposed to be, anyway) and that one’s amount of Twitter followers is not taken into account when deciding the winners. Duly noted!

» Katy Perry performed the ballad “Not Like the Movies” while on a swing, playing video from her wedding to Russell Brand.
If you needed further proof that a lot can change in just a single year, look no further than Katy Perry’s performance at last year’s ceremony. Much like she did on her California Dreams Tour, Perry performed her ballad “Not Like the Movies” while sitting on a swing as video from her elaborate October 2010 wedding to Russell Brand was projected behind her.

Though one would think a sweet performance like Katy’s would shut the gossip mill down for at least a little while, the couple was already back to defending their strange union less than two months later when Brand co-hosted “Live!” with Kelly Ripa. By year’s end, Perry and Brand’s marriage was officially no more, and it made re-watching her performance from last year for the purposes of this article, um, kind of awkward.

» Cee Lo performed “Forget You” with a bunch of Muppets (and Gwyneth Paltrow).
No, no one at your Grammy party spiked your drink. Cee Lo Green, wearing a crazy red bear suit and a rainbow fan of feathers (think peacock), really did perform his Grammy-nominated smash “Forget You” backed by a bunch of singing and dancing Muppets while Oscar-winning home health guru Gwyneth Paltrow writhed atop his piano. Oddly, the whole thing worked like gangbusters and was a big old ball of fun. (And when was the last time anyone associated the word “fun” with Gwyneth Paltrow? Such is the funky power of Cee Lo.)

This year’s show has the potential to outdo last year’s in the water-cooler department with Rihanna and Chris Brown both set to perform under the same roof for the first time since, well, you know … in addition to plenty of interesting collabos, including a special electronic dance music performance set to feature the Foo Fighters (right?), and whatever Lady Gaga decides to get into.

What are you most looking forward to at this year’s Grammys? Let us know in the comments below.

Chaos! Profanity! Wardrobe malfunctions! Don’t miss our Grammy red-carpet live stream this Sunday, February 12, for a full three hours of mayhem, starting at 5 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And the fun doesn’t end Sunday: MTV News has you covered for all the Grammy red-carpet fashion, Grammy winners and Grammy news until the hangover wears off!

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Though it was not received with the warmest reviews, “The Ides of March” deserved the tenth Best Picture nomination for the way it attempts to encapsulate the ins and outs modern political campaigns.

The common thread that runs through most of this year’s Best Picture nominees is nostalgia. Most of the films deal with the topic directly in subject matter or through the techniques by which the movie was made. With the focus of the year’s Best Picture race looking so predominantly to the past, a movie that deals specifically with the challenges and problems of contemporary society could have livened up a rather stale category.

The film’s trailers and ads colored “The Ides of March” as a political thriller, but near the end, you begin to realize just how much of a character study it is, a surprising fact considering the star-studded cast. Ryan Gosling owns the spotlight as Stephen Meyers, a young and idealistic assistant campaign manager.

And as with all idealistic characters in modern dramas, Stephen’s arch may feel a little predictable (a common criticism from reviews) but the way he descends from his principled starting point makes a powerful statement about “acceptable” political compromises.

Aside from Gosling’s performance, the nominated screenplay is the standout here. The smart writing never condescends and takes an honest and cynical position on the work the main characters do. You don’t have to be politically savvy to understand what’s happening and when, but you’ll feel smarter every step of the way.

Instead of the easy accessible and occasionally trite nominees filling the category this year, “The Ides of March” doesn’t delineate its characters or their actions into good and evil. There is no Bryce Dallas Howard character, who’s just so easy to hate and do so uncompromisingly.

Here, everyone has flaws and inches closer to the corrupt bastard they’re trying to fight as the movie goes on. It’s an easy movie to follow and understand, but just a small amount of ambiguity separates it that much from the other nominees and helps it stand out as deserving of a nomination.

The MTV Movies team has the 2012 Oscars covered! Stick with us for everything you need to know leading up to the awards show, and on Sunday, February 25, tune into MTV.com at 5:30 p.m. ET for our three-hour red-carpet live stream and updates on the night’s big winners.

Tags Oscars, Oscars 10 Spot, Oscars 2012

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The singer and former talk-show host will be joined by Mother Monster’s own mother, Cynthia Germanotta, at the Harvard University event to kick off the foundation, which aims to inspire young people. The affair will be captured for a future episode of “Oprah’s Next Chapter” on her OWN network.

“My mother and I have initiated a passion project. We call it the Born This Way Foundation,” Gaga said in a statement last November about the foundation, which takes its name from her hit single and album. “Together we hope to establish a standard of Bravery and Kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment.”

The foundation will work with a number of partners, including the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the California Endowment and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. According to the statement, the foundation will focus on “youth empowerment and equality by addressing issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development and will utilize digital mobilization as one of the means to create positive change.”

“My daughter’s foundation was born out of her passion to create a better world where people are kinder and nicer to one another and are accepted for who they are, regardless of how different they may be,” Mama Germanotta said. “She has experienced many of the struggles that our youth encounter today, and identifies with the lasting effects they can have without proper support. Together, we look forward to creating a new movement that will engage and empower youth and accept them as valuable members of our society.”

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“Yeah, big deal!” Aniston said, insisting that most of the talk around the scene was just sensational. “Isn’t that a good, fun headline? That’s what happens.”

“Wanderlust” ? fans can preview an exclusive clip when we launch our “First” special Wednesday at 7:56 p.m. ET on MTV and MTV.com ? takes place at a commune, where two down-on-their-luck New Yorkers, played by Aniston and Rudd, seek refuge. And when you consider that “Wet, Hot American Summer” helmer David Wain was behind the camera, nudity may seem tame. For Aniston, the scene was just another part of the job.

“At that point, we had been shooting the movie for two months, two-and-a-half months, and the amount of things that we were asked to do that we were just like ‘All right,’” Aniston said. “At that point, that was like putting on my shoes.”

The duo share the experience of onscreen skin, a fact Aniston felt compelled to share. “You’ve shown your butt,” she said to Rudd.

“Many times,” he replied.

“And onscreen as well,” Aniston joked. “In the makeup chair, he always never had clothes on.”

“I had to get dressed for the shots,” Rudd replied. “But when we weren’t shooting, I was hanging brain, as it were.”

For Aniston, nudity has to matter for where the character is heading in the story, and a crazy, purposeless nude scene would never work. “I think it depends on what the movie is. It felt like it would be gratuitous to do that in a movie like this and it would be more distracting from the movie and what was happening to the character,” she explained. “It would all be about, ‘Oh, you’re naked, so it’s boobs onscreen,’ so it would totally lose the fun and the empowering moment [my character], Linda, was having in that scene.”

One of Aniston’s co-stars, however, does show a fair amount of skin, even if he’s wearing a prosthetic penis.

“Joe Lo Truglio, the first night he came out with his prosthetic penis, within five minutes we were all touching it,” Aniston revealed. “We were touching it, and we were examining it. It was just so interesting. It was just right there, underneath it. I think first night of shooting, I could resist, there was the beginning of many, many butt slaps.”

Catch Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston tomorrow on MTV at 7:56 p.m. ET, when they’ll debut an exclusive, never-before-seen clip from “Wanderlust.” Then head over to MTV.com for our 30-minute chat with Rudd and Aniston.

Check out everything we’ve got on “Wanderlust.”

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more ? updated around the clock ? visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Di Bonaventura explained that when making the first “G.I. Joe” film, one of the most common questions was about Joe, the original action figure. “It’s interesting,” he said. “The most asked question I think I got during the first movie’s process was, ‘Who’s Joe?’”

The producer said that Joe’s importance to fans depended on the version of “G.I. Joe” they knew growing up. “If you didn’t grow up with the cartoons and you didn’t grow up with the comic books, you don’t understand them as Joes. My generation seems them as that figure, right?” he said.

To make sure the fans got what they wanted, it came time to choose a man to play the legendary action hero. “We needed to pick a Joe,” di Bonaventura said. “Who better than Bruce [Willis]? He’s iconic in his world, and Joe’s an iconic figure. Putting the two together was kind of great.”

Fans of the more recent version of “G.I. Joe” grew up with Cobra Commander as the main villain and lots of ninja fights. “Rise of Cobra” took a (let’s say) unorthodox approach to the head of Cobra, but for “Retaliation,” we’ll see the familiar mirror mask and a lot more of the ninjas that became fan favorites. “You’re going to see quite a bit of Cobra,” di Bonaventura said. “He’s certainly the mastermind that’s pulling the strings. But you’re going to see a lot of Snake [Eyes] and Storm [Shadow]. That storyline is a very dominant storyline throughout the whole movie.”

But not only are fans getting more of the two main ninjas in the “G.I. Joe” universe, but director Jon Chu added many other elements from that aspect of the franchise. “We got red ninjas. We got Jinx. We have so much martial arts in this movie, it’s really great,” di Bonaventura said.

The producer confirmed that about half of the film’s fight scenes would involve martial arts, but some would also feature a hybrid. “It’s called Gung-fu, which is really, really fun,” he said. “It’s sort of a combination of great fight and great kung-fu things but it’s with guns. It’s pretty exciting.”

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Tags bruce willis, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, lorenzo di bonaventura, ninjas

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