Oscar Afterthoughts

Four picks out of Nine. Not horrible - And, the bright side is, a few of the ones I was wrong about, were ones that I didn't want to win. It was great to see Charlie Kaufman get Best Original Screenplay, and The Incredibles was a pleasant surprise. The one thing that really surprised me about myself was my complete apathy about the show itself. I tuned out more than I tuned in, choosing to watch a rerun of Law & Order and talk to a good friend of mine on the phone while the show was on. Maybe it's because I didn't see any of the major films nominated. Or maybe it's because I'm starting to really feel uncomfortable with the level of celebrity worship that's prevalent on these awards shows. It's probably a good mixture of both. filed under: Oscars

The Obligatory Oscar Post

You asked, so here's my picks: (in the top categories) Best Supporting Actress Nominees Cate Blanchett - THE AVIATOR Laura Linney - KINSEY Virginia Madsen - SIDEWAYS Sophie Okonedo - HOTEL RWANDA Natalie Portman - CLOSER I'd love to see Natalie Portman land this one, because she's just so cute and she's in Star Wars, but I think this one will go to sentimental favorite Virginia Madsen. Jeremy's Pick: Virginia Madsen Best Supporting Actor Nominees Alan Alda - THE AVIATOR Thomas Haden Church - SIDEWAYS Jamie Foxx - COLLATERAL Morgan Freeman - MILLION DOLLAR BABY Clive Owen - CLOSER This is a tough one to call. Morgan Freeman is in the powerhouse movie with a lot of buzz, Alan Alda is adored among the traditionally far left Hollywood crowd because of his leftist leaning scripts for M*A*S*H, and Sidewaysis the underdog of the year, that a good number of folks are rooting for. I'd love to see Thomas Hayden Church win this one, but I'm feeling like leaning towards Alan Alda. Morgan Freeman already has his Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy, so I'm thinking that Alda will finally get something from the Academy. Jeremy's Pick: Alan Alda Best Adapted Screenplay Nominees BEFORE SUNSET FINDING NEVERLAND MILLION DOLLAR BABY THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES SIDEWAYS Million Dollar Baby is the heavyweight here, but the other nominees are not completely outclassed. As much Clint Eastwood's latest is getting mentioned, you'd think it will sweep every category it's in. However, I'd put my money on the Underdog again. Jeremy's Pick: Sideways Best Original Screenplay Nominees THE AVIATOR ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND HOTEL RWANDA THE INCREDIBLES VERA DRAKE I'd love to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind run away with this one, but I doubt that will happen. The Incredibles, while one of my favorite movies of last year won't get this one since it's an animated film. I'd love to pick Hotel Rwanda looks like an amazing movie, but I don't think anybody saw it or vera Drake. That leaves only one - The Aviator. Jeremy's Pick: The Aviator Best Actress Nominees Annette Bening - BEING JULIA Catalina Sandino Moreno - MARIA FULL OF GRACE Imelda Staunton - VERA DRAKE Hilary Swank - MILLION DOLLAR BABY Kate Winslet - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND I loved Kate Winselt in ESotSM, but given the fact that that film came out in theaters last spring, I don't see her winning (the Academy has a bad case of long term memory loss). I think they'll end up giving Hillary Swank her second Academy Award in five years. Jeremy's Pick: Hillary Swank Best Actor Nominees Don Cheadle - HOTEL RWANDA Johnny Depp - FINDING NEVERLAND Leonardo DiCaprio - THE AVIATOR Clint Eastwood - MILLION DOLLAR BABY Jamie Foxx - RAY Johnny Depp deserves this one, I'm sure. So does Clint Eastwood. Don Cheadle is amazing, a win by him won't be a disappointment. DiCaprio will have plenty of roles come his way that could get him this one in the future, but he'd deserve it this year too. However, the least deserving, Jamie Foxx, will win, simply because he is a good impressionist. And, he probably won't ever get nominated again. Jeremy's (Unfortunate) Pick: Jamie Foxx Best Director Nominees THE AVIATOR MILLION DOLLAR BABY RAY SIDEWAYS VERA DRAKE This really boils down to two people, Scorcese (The Aviator) and Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby). Eastwood met an ill fate last year when he faced the Middle Earth onslaught from Return of the King. Since Pete Jacksons saga is complete, expect Clint to walk away with it this time. Jeremy's Pick: Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby Best Animated Feature Nominees THE INCREDIBLES SHARK TALE SHREK 2 The Incredibles didn't get their due at the Peoples Choice Awards. I doubt that Shark Tale will win. Shrek 2 was huge, but will that transfer to a win? As much as I would hate to admit, it probably will. Jeremy's (Bummer) Pick: Shrek 2 Best Picture Nominees THE AVIATOR FINDING NEVERLAND MILLION DOLLAR BABY RAY SIDEWAYS This is one of the first years I haven't seen any of the nominated films for Best Picture. I can only go by what I've heard, and this is my deduction: The Aviator has the strength of 11 nominations behind it. Finding Neverland has Johnny Depp in the lead role, and a sappy story that a lot of Academy Members are suckers for. Million Dollar Baby is the little movie that could. Ray has the sentimental value of the recent death of Ray Charles, and Sideways could be this years Shakespeare in Love. All the talk is that Eastwood and Company will take this one home, and I'm leaning towards that being the case. But the Academy has been known to surprise us, so I'm going to go with the Underdog again. Jeremy's Pick: Sideways So, remember to keep score at home! filed under: Oscars

Truth in Advertising

I don't smoke. I think it's a nasty habit, and it's horrible for you. But if I did smoke, I'd never blame any illness or death that should befall me on the smoking. Most death by disease is the result of choices, afterall. But I really hate the TRUTH ads that have been running recently, particularly one where they show old film footage of cigarettes being manufactured juxtaposed with two little girls who lost their mother. It's sad that these girls are without a mom, but why use this as the image to sell their point: I'm sorry, but cigarettes did not kill this woman. Choosing to smoke cigarettes probably played into it, but I doubt it was the only thing. Look at her. She's pushing three hundred pounds. She had the choice to eat right and not smoke but she chose to do the wrong thing. She robbed her children of a mother, not cigarettes. When will people realize that choices factor into a lot of the bad things that happen to them, and that they can choose to do the right thing and avoid some misery and sadness? It's not just smoking, but it's the AIDS epidemic, it's every other STD, it's drinking and driving. Too often we'd rather shoot blame the gun than the person shooting it. And that's wrong. filed under: Smoking

I Hope There's No Money In Heaven

I put it off most of this month, but today I went to visit my accountant to have my taxes done. Ya know how you put off doing something, just to avoid the pain of it all? I hate being self employed. The taxes are so complicated, and I'm way to lazy to keep track. And, yet again, I'm going to get bit in the butt. I'm so glad this job is over. But then again, with the job being over and me not having an income, how am I going to pay this tax bill that's hanging over my head? The vicious cycle continues. filed under: Life, Taxes

My How the One Hit Wonders Have Fallen

Looks like Hootie has fallen hard. I was watching Fox and caught an ad for Burger King, and was almost saddened, but for sure laughed at the site of Darius Whatshisname from Hootie and the Blowfish all dressed up as a cowboy and singing about the Bacon Ranch Burger at BK. What's next? My money's on ads for local car dealerships. Music, Fast Food

Home Alone = Bachelor Padism

So Michelle is on her way home from her parents, with a car full of baby clothes that she and my sister-in-law sorted through today. Josiah, last I knew, was asleep in the backseat. Anyway, so I've been home alone for a little over 24 hours, and I spent last night working on my book and the new logo, and today I've been doing laundry and watching movies. Oh, and the whole bachelor thing can be murder on your diet. In the past 24 hours I've eaten a garbage plate, leftover pizza, leftover salad and half a bag of Tropical Trail Mix. Oh, and an entire 2 Liter Bottle of Dr. Pepper. And I didn't shower until Five P.M. If it was summer, I probably would've grilled a fat steak last night. Maybe would've drank a cold beer. Instead I've played video games and acted like a big, slobby kid. Now I've got about an hour before the party ends, and what shall I do? The dishes. Yep, bachelor life is over. I'm kinda glad. It smells up in here. filed under: Life

Home Alone = Productivity

Michelle and Josiah are at her parents this weekend, leaving me alone at the house to do whatever I desire. So I've been working. I wrote ten pages in what's probably going to be a novella - possibly a novel but I'm not sure. Right now I'm at 6500 words, 31 double-spaced pages. I designed my new logo. You like? I used a freeware photo manipulation tool called The GIMP to do it. (With a little help from Photoshop, but not much) :) Now I think I'll finish watching Wrestling and watch Garden State. filed under: Writing, Freeware

On Writing

About three years ago, I was totally into my writing gig. I was unemployed, staying at home with an infant, and needing to kill time. So I began to scribble stuff down in a journal, sometimes about the writing process, other times about ideas I had, and other times about life in general. It was a good way to empty my brain out, and it was just prior to my discovery of the world of blogging. Well, I've been writing, off and on for a while now, whether it be a blog entry here or there, a comic script or a grocery list. But I haven't really dug in to work on something big for a while. I tried the Write-a-Novel-In-A-Month contest back in November of last year and failed miserably due to a lack of time, and a lack of desire to really write a story. But now, the past two weeks, not having a real job and stuff has led me back to writing. Now, I'm not keeping a journal, I just don't like writing long hand much, since my brain seems to move faster than a pen or pencil. Blogging is fun when I have a real good idea, but I'm really liking how the story I'm working on has really gotten into my head. I've been thinking about it - when I wake up, when I'm driving. I've even sacrificed putting something in the oven for dinner until I finish a scene I need to get out on the page. Granted, I'm only 20 pages in, and have a long way to go, but I think this one might be a keeper. It's dark. It's funny. It's thought provoking - at least I hope it's thought provoking. We'll see if I actually finish this one. I hope I do. filed under: Life, Writing

Animal Rights Activists Don't Care About Rebuilding Southeast Asia

I saw this article in the local paper yesterday, and I began to wonder, yet again, do these people have too much time on their hands? For those of you to lazy to click the link, the gist of the article is that the Animal Rights Whackos don't seem to have any furs to pour red paint on this week, so they're worried about the welfare of Elephants in South East Asia, who are bravely helping dig through the rubble and help these people rebuild their lives. The Elephants are apparantly suffering minor cuts, and these people are crying abuse. Give me a break. These people are sitting comvfortably in their offices halfway across the world while there are people still trying to figure out where they're going to sleep tonight. Since when did human dignity get replaced by animal conservation? And why can't these people accept cultural diversity when they see it? (They seem to have no problem inflicting their culture on us, mind you.) Once again, PETA proves that they have nothing of merit to do in their own lives, so they'd rather stick their noses where they don't belong. filed under: Tsunami, Animal Rights

How I've Spent the Last Few Days

I've been AWOL, I know. My last post was a flagrant attempt to get help earning a free iPod. for which I joined Blockbuster Online, for at least a month. This doesn't seem too bad, I joined on Thursday and by this afternoon my first three movies (Dodgeball, Anchorman, and Hero) were in my mailbox. I watched Anchorman today during Josiah's nap and wish I had spent that two hours or so doing something much better with my time. The movie wasn't awful, since it had a few bright moments (mainly involving the dumb weather guy), but other than that was a complete waste of film. Will Ferrel was way better in Elf. Thursday and Friday I spent on the ol' job hunt, sending out resumes, reading the Pennysaver and the Sunday classifieds, hoping to land something soon. Yesterday I even applied at a warehouse. The pay is good there, and the hours seem fair. We'll see. Today I finished reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods and I couldn't resist polishing off Marvel 1602, both of which will be added to my Book List after I finish writing this post. Oh, and earlier this week I read Art Spiegelmans In the Shadow of No Towers. The first was excellent, as was the second, but the Spiegelman book was so far left it was hard to even get into. Needless to say, I've been trying to fill my days with important stuff like the job hunt and housework, but it hasn't stopped me from catching up on reading. Oh, and playing a lot of NFL Street. Good times are being had by all, for sure. In response to one comment made, yes, the obligatory rant about the Oscars is coming. I just have to write it. Look for it the Friday before the event (2/25). I don't care enough about the Grammys to bother writing a post about them. And yes, Chuck-E-Cheese should change it's name to Chuck-E-Casino.

Free iPod link!

Here's my referral link, for those interested.... Click Here! iPods

Mind Numbing Work

I spent today at work, my next to last day at this job, and my brain has completely shut down today. The sad thing is, I'd rather have a job that numbs my mind then no job at all, but tomorrow is officially my last day. I've got a few leads I'm working on - we'll see where they go. I have been reading a lot, I'm just about halfway through American Gods, an excellent book by Neil Gaiman - although I could do without the gay sex scene. In the bathroom I've got another Gaiman story Marvel: 1602. So far I'm digging his take on the Marvel Universe in the 17th Century. I wish I could be more interesting. Oh for those interested, the free iPod stuff is just a Google Search away. filed under: Books, iPods

A Post In Which I Wax Philosophical About Why I Can't Post...

I suppose you're hoping that I would write something of some sort of intellectual depth. Unfortunately my intellectual depth has been clouded by my obsessively reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods and the fact that it's 11:50 on a work night. Oh well, I shall try to come up with something deeper tomorrow, I'm sure.

Monday Night TV

Monday really is my favorite night for television, now that 24 is back and running non-stop (I lost track last season due to sporadic scheduling - now it's nice to be able to come every week at the same time and not worry about it being pre-empted.). No show has mastered the art of the cliffhanger like this show, and it's well worth the hour a week invested. I just have a shaky feeling that the big baddie will end up being the American government this year. Now I'm watching CSI: Miami, and laughing at the cheesy dialogue that they give David Caruso going into every commercial break. It's so over the top it's awesome. filed under: Television

Trying to find a relevant topic....

Once again, my relatively boring life has resulted in a lull here at SDW - I apologize. Lately I've been reading, a lot. I'm still busting through Eragon on CD, and I've started American Gods by Neil Gaiman this week, too. I also picked up Marvel: 1602 from the library this week as well. Oh, and I saw a brilliant movie this week, Donnie Darko - I won't go into details, since it's hard to explain, but it's now on my must own DVD list, along with Spider-Man 2,Big Fish, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and The Iron Giant. Contrary to what might appear as a lazy week, I've also spent time cleaning the house, cooking dinner, planning a Super-Bowl party and looking for a job. Not necessarily in that order. I've got a few job leads in the works, and a few more were in the Pennysaver today. The hunt continues. On the bright side, we've nailed down our plans for our trip to Florida this spring. It will be our first honest-to-goodness vacation in over two years. And, it will be our first time in Florida since our long drive with Michelle's family to tie up loose ends there when her grandfather suddenly passed away six years ago. It'll be nice. Oh, and a few in-house SDW Notes - - I'm thinking of doing one of those "Free iPod" things. Basically you have to get ten of your friends, plus yourself to participate in a trial offer (some are credit card applications, others are memberships in Blockbuster's online rental thing for three months, etc.) in order to receive your free iPod. Would anyone here be into helping me out? Comment here (in the Blogger comments, please) or e-mail me privately. If I get ten folks into it, I'll do it. - Click on the above banner ad to check out Relevant Magazine. It's a great read, full of a lot of great content. I'm a street team member, and I don't get any money for this. It's just something I'd love to recommend. - Given my current lack of topics to write about, feel free to give me ideas. I'm open to anything - just nothing involving cats. I hate cats. filed under: Life

Let's Talk about (Gay) Sex

New Disease Striking Gay Men Well, if the beginning of the AIDs Epidemic in the early '80's wasn't enough, it looks like another disease is specializing in gay and bisexual men, Lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV. Not as deadly as AIDs, but as that disease showed, it's the result of reckless behavior and a lack of self control. From the Article:"Most people infected report having multiple sex partners and engaging in unprotected anal intercourse and other high-risk practices, officials said.> Is it any surprise that the people who have this are getting sick? Now, don't get me wrong, I have compassion for those with AIDs that don't have it as the result of bad behavior, (Ryan White, for instance, or the millions in Africa who contracted it through the violent behavior of others), but those with LGV don't have that from me. They were stupid, and they're paying the consequences. And no, to stop the spread of this isn't to just "use a condom". It's to not do the behavior that causes it. People who avoid the choice of abstinence are reaping what they sow when they show no self control. filed under: Gays

Stop Focusing on the Jeers, Focus on the Tears...

Last nights State of the Union Address was awesome. Watching it, I literally stood up and applauded in my living room. And, when Safia Taleb al-Suhail of Iraq, turned around and hugged the parents of fallen Marine Byron Norwood, my eyes welled up with tears. This was the moment the speech should be remembered for. Photo Courtesy AFP - Worldwide News Agency Instead, what are the spin doctors all talking about? The jeering. The booing. The irreverance of the left when it comes to the plans that the President wants to set into action regarding Social Security and Judges. Yet they forget to mention or remember the most memorable moment of any speech in recent years. Sad, but expected. I knew that was going to happen. On a side note, mad props to the speechwriters who helped throw everything that's being held back into the laps of the Democrats, making it their choice to allow up or down votes on Court Appointments, and the ultimate decision regarding Social Security. If nothing gets done, we'll know it's not the fault of the President or the Republicans. They're trying to get stuff done, but the sourpusses on the Left are stonewalling it. But we all know what happened to Tom Daschle, don't we? filed under: Politics, George W. Bush, State of the Union