Playing a role with an illness or death really help?

As I read James Rocchi's article, I started realizing that it seems to be true. Playing a role with an illness or death can make the chances of earning a nomination and maybe win higher. James Rocchi states, "Of the last 20 lead actor Oscar races, for example, 40% of wins have gone to actors who played characters who died on screen, an additional 25% of wins went to actors playing ill or mentally ill characters. In the last 20 years of lead actress races, 30% of wins were for playing characters who died or were ill. The numbers are inexplicably far higher among supporting actor wins (55%) and far lower among supporting actresses (15%)." Cate Blanchett, Jared Leto, Matthew McConaughey, Meryl Streep, and Bruce Dern are nominees that play roles with illnesses or they die. They probably did do a fantastic job playing their roles but it does seem like the Academy go for roles with those aspects. It may be wrong but it can be a possibility.This article may not be that important but it does raise questions. For example, is it true? Do roles with illnesses or deaths help with nominations? 

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/moviesnow/la-et-mn-dark-days-20140130,0,4257527.story#axzz2rw72EHO0

Spike Jonze's 'Her' an original take on a future L.A

In "Spike Jonze's 'Her' a refreshingly original take on a future L.A." by Christopher Hawthorne, he talks about how the filmmakers created a futuristic L.A. but it does not look utopian or dystopian. The style looks like our current era. "Jonze and his production designer, K.K. Barrett, digitally plumped up the city's existing skyline," explains Hawthorne. He even states that Jonze was talking with New York architect Elizabeth Diller, whose firm is designing Eli Broad's new contemporary art museum in downtown Los Angeles. Filmmakers also shot some scenes in Shanghai's Pundong district because of the new skyscrapers and so his actors won't worry if the cars looked futuristic.
I haven't seen this film yet but what caught my eye is that the director didn't want to make the futuristic L.A. look utopian or dystopian, it seems like he wanted to make it look like this era. I liked that because technology is always improving but sometimes the architecture  isn't changing that much. 
An impact that can have on film students is teaching them how to create a world of their own for their films. They could use that to experiment and once they have the knowledge of doing that, they can use it for long run. 
My questions: What type of software or thing did they use to create that futuristic (but not utopian or dystopian) L.A? How did they plump the city's existing skyline? http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-et-cm-her-architecture-notebook,0,7810736.story#axzz2rHy5qYhu

Oscars Celebrate Movie Heroes

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on January 14, 2014, that the Oscars will be celebrating movie heroes. It "will honor big-screen real-life heroes, super heroes, popular heroes and animated heroes, both past and present, as well as the bold filmmakers who bring them to life," show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron claimed. Some of these heroes "whose films are potentially in Oscar contention this year are real-life figures such as Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks in "Captain Phillips"), Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey in "Dallas Buyers Club") and Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor in "12 Years a Slave"); fictional characters such as Sandra Bullock's stranded astronaut in "Gravity"and Robert Redford's shipwrecked sailor in "All Is Lost"; pop-culture icons such as Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence in "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire") and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr. in "Iron Man 3"); and anti-heroes such as Christian Bale's con artist in "American Hustle" and Leonard DiCaprio's white-collar crook in "The Wolf of Wall Street," states Oliver Gettell. The Academy will present an exhibition at the Beverly Hills headquarters.The nominations will be held tomorrow morning, January 16, 2014 and the Oscars will be held on March 2.

 Oscars to Celebrate Movie Heroes at this Year's Ceremony