I Deny You The Nidus!

CD 2.0 1.0

2011-09-23T16:51:00.000-04:00

Some lucky person will be receiving this song from the brand new (and cooler) CD Exchange group.

Um...Yum?

2011-09-14T21:55:00.002-04:00

So...this

2011-08-12T11:45:00.000-04:00

So...I just bought this on DVD. Waste of money? Instant classic?

Student From Hell

2011-07-03T00:08:00.000-04:00

Since the beginning of January and right up until the end of the school year, I had to tutor an 8th grader who had been suspended for fighting. At first, everything went along swimmingly. Around March, it all went south. I initially wrote a very strong letter to the school district expressing my displeasure at how the student's grades were determined and the lack of assistance I received. After discussing it with my job, it was decided that sending the letter was not necessary as my paperwork would suffice to show how poor a performance this student turned in. I altered the letter into a memo, taking out most references to how the district is run by idiots and morons. I thought I'd share the resulting memo with you. I have [redacted] the student's name as well as locations.
____________________________________________________
This note is about [redacted] and the grades that were attributed to her for the second half of the 2010-2011 school year.

I was first assigned to teach [redacted]back on January 10th. We had 12 sessions for the month of January, of which she attended 10. The first two weeks of tutoring were spent on busy work as I did not receive curriculum materials until later in the month, so tutoring truly started on January 24th. At the close of that week, I filled out the paperwork, assigning grades for January based on the five days of work with curriculum materials. I subsequently found out that this grade, based solely on that final week, had been assigned as [redacted] entire second marking period grade. To wit, a single two-hour tutoring session per subject was used to give her a grade for two-and-a-half months of schooling. Despite the fact that she was in school during the second marking period for the months of November and December, none of the work she completed there was used in the computation of her grade.

The same issue around grading arose in the third marking period. We had 10 tutoring sessions in the month of February, of which [redacted] attended 8. At the beginning of March, [redacted] and her family moved into [redacted]. (She was previously living in [redacted], and was being bused to the [redacted] Library.) Once this move took place, [redacted] was no longer bused to the library. This started a pattern of only a 50% attendance rate. There were 18 tutoring sessions in March, of which [redacted] only attended 9. However, I discovered that [redacted] third marking period grades were taken solely from the grades on February’s sheets, discounting all of March and a small part of April. This means that her third marking period grade was determined by only four hours of tutoring per subject. Given that [redacted] had a 40% absentee rate for the third marking period, my official grades for the third marking period would have been much lower, if not failing.

Overall, this means that [redacted] grades for the second and third marking period, a total of five months of school, have been based on only six hours of work per subject.

This pattern of only attending 50% of the sessions continued into the fourth marking period. Of the 13 tutoring sessions in April, [redacted] attended 7. Of the 15 tutoring sessions in May, [redacted] attended 7. In June, [redacted] attended 2 of 8 sessions. Most times, I would receive a text message either moments before or after the session began stating that she would not be coming for tutoring. Other times, I would hear nothing.

At one point in May, [redacted] started to ask that I come to the house to tutor her. I agreed a few times. Then it quickly reached the point where she told me that she wanted to call me every day to inform me whether we would meet at the library or at her house and what time we would meet at. At that point, I had the district office call the parent, as this uncertainty of where and when tutoring was to take place on a daily basis was now a situation I could no longer work with. I was told that the result of the phone call was that [reacted] would meet me at the library from now on. Subsequent to this phone call, which was made on May 17th, [redacted] only came to 4 of the final 14 sessions.

In addition to her absences, [redacted] also would only be present for 1 of the 2 hours of tutoring. As an example of this, if our session was scheduled for 1:30pm, instead of taking the 12:17pm bus from her apartment to be at the library on time, [redacted] would take the 1:17pm bus, arriving at the library around 2:00pm. Then, instead of taking a bus home after the session ended at 3:30pm, she would take the 3:15pm bus home, leaving the library at 3:00pm to make the bus. Therefore, she would arrive a ½ hour late to each session and leave a ½ hour early. This pattern commenced in March and continued to the conclusion of tutoring. In short, since March 1st, [redacted] has only received a little over 20 hours of instruction, roughly 2 ½ weeks of tutoring. She has missed 33 days of instruction, or 8 weeks of tutoring.

To conclude, based on her attendance and work completed, [redacted]did not pass any of her subjects for the second half of the school year 2010-2011.

[redacted] Absentee Dates: 1/13; 1/24; 2/4; 2/11; 3/2; 3/4; 3/5; 3/10; 3/15; 3/18; 3/23; 3/24; 3/31; 4/7; 4/13; 4/14; 4/15; 4/28; 4/29; 5/6; 5/10; 5/13; 5/19; 5/20; 5/24; 5/25; 5/31; 6/1; 6/2; 6/3; 6/8; 6/10; 6/13

April/May Movies

2011-05-28T23:24:00.000-04:00

Oof. Two jobs have been kicking me around. 7 days a week of 10-14 hour days totally depleted me. Still, time was found to watch some films the past two months......

Man Without a Cell Phone (C): A Palestinian slacker gets his political voice as he joins his father in fighting against the local cell tower. A cute, but extremely slight comedy.

The Density of Lesser Animals (B-): A Ghanaian action film? Guess so. The action was passable, but far too many slow stretches extolling the beauties of Ghana and why it's far preferable to stay there then go the U.S. Hey, I'm all for visiting Ghana, I just don't need 10 minutes commercials in the middle of my movie.

Paul (A-): Simon Pegg and Nick Frosts' third film parodying film genres loses a little bite from their first two, due to the less manic direction of Greg Mottola, but it still kept me laughing for nearly the entire time. Seth Rogen hasn't gotten tired for me yet, so his antics as the alien suited me just fine.

Born to Be Wild 3D (B-): Baby monkeys, baby elephants and Morgan Freeman. Pretty much what you expect.

The Human Resources Manager (B): The titular man is forced to go to Romania to bury a co-worker to help his company save face. Minor amusement ensues. Enjoyable enough, but forgettable later.

Before the Fall (B): A young boy is sent to one of Hitler's elite schools to train as a boxer, until he discovers that maybe he's being trained for something else. Cliched, but I like Max Riemelt.

Scream 4 (C+): Good killer reveal, horrible 90 minutes before it took place. Sorry sequel.

Hanna (B+): This one I liked. Good story, nice turns by the stars, didn't feel the need to explain everything. Plus, the world needs more killer children.

I Heart Huckabees (D): Billed as an existential comedy, the question I had was : Why am I watching this crap?

Citizen Ruth (A-): The funniest abortion comedy I've ever seen. Alexander Payne has not disappointed me yet. Looking very forward to "The Descendants" later this year.

Hey Boo! Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird (B-): A perfectly serviceable documentary about a book I've not read, nor a movie I've seen.

How to Live Forever (B-): A perfectly serviceable documentary about people discussing why some of us might live to be seriously old, which I'm not near yet.

Fast and Furious (C): A reasonably serviceable 105 minute set up for the 5th film. What happened in this film? Were there cars?

The First Grader (C): A man in his 80's wants to go to school in Nigeria to learn how to read and write. I was all set to love this film, but the sheer animosity shown him by nearly all the other characters in the film really threw me off. He can't have been hated that badly.

Buck (B-): A documentary about the man who served as an consultant on "The Horse Whisperer". I guess he's good with horses. Me. I live in Southern NY, not a lot of horses.

Midnight in Paris (B+): Finally, Woody Allen directs an enjoyable film after a string of misses. A writer in Paris ditches his fiancee to visit the giants of yesteryear. Good storyline, good jokes. That's all I need from a Woody Allen film. And it keeps me up to date with seeing all he's directed.

The Wonderful World of Tupperware (B): A rather boring documentary about how Tupperware is created suddenly transforms halfway thorough into a filmed record of an annual Tupperware bacchanalia, replete with Anita Bryant and white robed Tupperware officials conducting a ritual. I'm throwing out all my remaining bowls before I'm told to commit suicide by the company.

(There might be typos in this. I'm working 10 hour days every day of the week. I was up at 4am today. I don't have a day off until mid June. Forgive me.)

Another Year Closer.....to DEATH!

2011-04-30T16:46:00.002-04:00

March Movies

2011-04-06T23:53:00.000-04:00

Time for some more personal thoughts. This time, all the films I saw in March!

A Visitor From the Living (A) and The Karski Report (A): Two documentaries from Claude Lanzmann that are offshoots from his Holocaust documentary Shoah. Living concerns Maurice Rossel's visit to the Theresienstadt camp while Karski deals with Jan Karski's story of reporting the atrocities to the U.S. Government. Both stories are absolutely riveting.

3 Backyards (B-): Three separate slice of life dramas set in Long Island one summer afternoon. Only Edie Falco's story really works, and since the stories never intersect, that means you have a nice 30 minute story in a 90 minute film.

Potiche (C+): Francois Ozon's new film never finds the story it wants to tell. It's a comedy, it's a drama, it's a feminist parable, the left, the right. There's a good film to be found in the story of a trophy wife taking over the family business, but the tone veers so wildly throughout, the film never settles down.

White Irish Drinkers (B+): A perfectly acceptable coming-of-age film set in NY in the 1970's. Every character and situation comes straight from cliche central, but new to me Nick Thurston and the other actors bring their A game, so the film passes by pleasantly.

Limitless (B): A little pill opens up the sections of your mind that you don't normally use. Too bad the screenwriter didn't take one; the ending would have been better. Bradly Cooper has charm and Robert DeNiro is having a good time, which makes the film go down easily; but as stated, the ending just doesn't feel right to me after what came before.

Rango (B+): It looks like other companies are finally catching up to Pixar. A fun and enjoyable romp, with quirky characters and enough humor for adults to keep the proceedings enjoyable. Johnny Depp has great line readings, and while the plot may be a little stale, you'll still walk out smiling.

Source Code (B): A soldier has the last 8 minutes of someone else's like to find the bomber of a train. How does it work? No clue, even the movie admits it's preposterous. The type of film you watch, enjoy, then forget about the next day.

Illegal (B): A social justice film about the plight of illegal immigrants in Belgium. The lead actress does a good job, which helps, but there are still a lot of questions left at the end. Still, I believe the film is looking more to expose injustice then tell a coherent story.

The Panels of São Vicente de Fora: A Poetic Vision (C-): Manoel De Oliveira's short about a character from a painting explaining the painting. Exactly. Still, it has Ricardo Trepa in it.

Sergeant Slaughter, My Big Brother (D): I have absolutely no idea what this short was about. Two brothers fight, then one goes somewhere and the other gets chased for some reason. I'm glad it was only 10 minutes.

Kubrick

Barry Lyndon (B): Great first half, middling second half. I'm not sure the film is the masterpiece others say it is, but it didn't deserve to be the failure it was. The trouble is the two halves of the film are so distinct from each other, they don't quite mesh into one.

Spartacus (B+): A grand, old-fashioned Roman epic. Loads of fun to watch, especially Peter Ustinov. I was a little surprised that Spartacus himself barely figures into the final hour of the film, that took me away from it a bit.

Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (B): Best for the numerous pictures of Kubrick at work and some interesting facts. Otherwise, it's a basic "He was so fantastic and everyone loved him" type of documentary.

Color Me Kubrick (D): God, this was bad. Apparently Kubrick had someone who pretended to be him and swindled some people in 1990's Britain. This is not a good version of the story. The film is just boring, more concerned with fitting in as many callbacks to Kubrick films as possible than in telling a story.

New Directors/New Films

One (D): Continuing the theme of crappy shorts, this one is about a young Afghan girl who walks around and collects items in a metal box she carries on her back. If there was anything more to the film, I missed it.

Winter Vacation (C+): A Chinese film about some youths and adults in a rural Chinese town whiling the time away before winter vacation ends. The humor is meant to be deadpan, and some of it does work; but 90 minutes of the same style over and over just did not work for me here.

Tyrannosaur (B-): A horrible, violent man meets a woman abused by her husband. There is hope in the story, but the consistent downbeat tone before that comes leaves the film feeling like a slog to get through.

Catherine Breillat

Sleeping Beauty (B): Breillat's take on the classic fairy tale starts off intriguingly then flies off the rails at the end. A young girl is put to sleep for 100 years, but does she spend this time living with a family in the woods? What is real, what isn't? All good questions to ponder, until she wakes up? and the film morphs into a feminist parable for the last 15 minutes that makes no sense.

Anatomy of Hell (F): This might be the most horrifying film I've ever sat through. If I had any last shreds of heterosexuality in me, this film grabbed them by the roots and tore them out of me. The nominal plot involves a woman who pays a gay man to watch her for 4 days doing "stuff". The "stuff" is forever seared into my brain and makes me cry on occasion.

A Real Young Girl (C): Not learning my lesson, I watched Breillat's first film, which essentially involves a 14 year girl inserting various objects into her ahem..."lady parts" in extreme closeup for 90 minutes. Fingers, utensils, even a bottle of suntan lotion gets to join the party. Of course, this all takes place when the film is not showing closeups of her expelling liquid waste or having pieces of an earthworm placed down there. There might have been some mild semblence of a plot, but I was too busy contemplating what SPF she was using.

Rose

2011-03-25T16:37:00.001-04:00

This is a short video about the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. It features an interview with Rose Freedman, the final survivor of the fire. It was conducted when she was 107, shortly before her death in 2001.

2011-03-25T12:40:00.000-04:00

New Who

2011-03-21T18:20:00.001-04:00

Here, for your viewing enjoyment, are the Doctor Who shorts from Britain's Red Nose Day this year.

Part 1: Space

Part 2: Time

Movie Check:

2011-03-18T18:08:00.002-04:00

What famous movie did this song appear in? Try to answer without using a search engine.

My Sister is on TV!

2011-03-18T18:00:00.002-04:00

My sister sent me this link to a video she appeared in. Yes, it's a news story about a horrific crime, but it was still nice to see her. She pops in at the 1:40 mark pushing a stroller.

If the video doesn't work, this is the direct link: http://www.tbd.com/articles/2011/03/-150k-reward-for-info-on-bethesda-jayna-murray-slaying-56674.html

Guess That Grave #3

2011-03-18T17:50:00.003-04:00

One more from the first batch of pictures I took. This person was very famous in her time, but now has somewhat faded into obscurity.

*as always, click to embiggen*

And also as always, your clues.

1. Most of the time, she knew what you did for a living.

2. She spoke for The Great White Way.

3. Oh no! Did she know too much about who killed JFK?

Guess That Grave #2 Redux

2011-03-04T13:59:00.003-05:00

ETA: And Michelle M. gets it correct!

I forgot I still had this picture sitting in my files. I thought I'd try it again as the original posting was three days before Christmas, perhaps not the best time for it.

3 Clues:

1. Frances was his wife.

2. An American flag is usually found by his grave. (Such as is in the picture)

3. He was a dandy.

N.B. The picture can be clicked on to embiggen.

How I Did

2011-02-28T00:36:00.002-05:00

Out of 24 categories, I managed to predict 16 correct for a total of 67%.

If I had gone with my possible spoilers in 7 of the 8 incorrect categories, I would have scored 23/24.

The only category I completely flamed out on was Best Live Action Short. Didn't see God of Love taking it. Happy it did so, but I thought it was too cutesy to actually win.

Oscar Predictions

2011-02-27T15:05:00.003-05:00

Normally my goal is simply to get more predictions correct than not, but I have a bad feeling about this year for some reason. A few hours will tell though. I'll list my pick followed by a possible spoiler.

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Javier Bardem in “Biutiful” (Roadside Attractions)
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit” (Paramount)
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
James Franco in “127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight)

My Pick: Colin Firth. He was supposed to win last year, but didn't for that horrid "A Single Man". Whether or not the award is deserved for this performance is besides the point, the voters will give it to him.

Spoiler: James Franco

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Christian Bale in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone” (Roadside Attractions)
Jeremy Renner in “The Town” (Warner Bros.)
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech” (The Weinstein Company)

My Pick: Christian Bale. Finally, his years of gaining and losing weight for roles will pay off. He was fine in "The Fighter", though personally I'd like to see John Hawkes win.

Spoiler: Geoffrey Rush

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole” (Lionsgate)
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone” (Roadside Attractions)
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight)
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine” (The Weinstein Company)

My Pick: Natalie Portman. I've always liked Natalie Portman. Not just for the fact I have a friend who claims she's his cousin to see how gullible people are. I do feel sorry for Annette Bening, who keeps running up against juggernauts whenever she's nominated. I just don't think her performance has the traction necessary to get the win.

Spoiler: Annette Bening

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Amy Adams in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit” (Paramount)
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom” (Sony Pictures Classics)

My Pick: Melissa Leo. Here's a category that can go one of two ways. Melissa Leo seemed to have the win locked up, then released a campaign that people really took offense to. Now, there's a strong possibility that Hallie Steinfeld will win. I still think Melissa Leo will take it though. she's been nominated before, and I just can't see enough people not voting for her simply because of a fool move.

Spoiler: Hallie Steinfeld

Best animated feature film of the year

“How to Train Your Dragon” (Paramount) Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
“The Illusionist” (Sony Pictures Classics) Sylvain Chomet
“Toy Story 3” (Walt Disney) Lee Unkrich

My Pick: Toy Story 3. It's also up for Best Picture. If it doesn't win, expect Mickey to go on a murderous rampage.

Spoiler: How to Train Your Dragon. It's a well done film, but will only win if certain signs of the apocalypse line up.

Achievement in art direction

“Alice in Wonderland” (Walt Disney)
Robert Stromberg
Karen O'Hara

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part
1” (Warner Bros.)
Stuart Craig
Stephenie McMillan

“Inception” (Warner Bros.)
Guy Hendrix Dyas
Larry Dias and Doug Mowat

“The King's Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
Eve Stewart
Judy Farr

“True Grit” (Paramount)
Jess Gonchor
Nancy Haigh

My Pick: The King's Speech. There's something about royalty that attracts Oscar voters. True Grit was outside too much; who remembers the sets for Inception and HP&TDH1 was mostly set in a tent.

Spoiler: Alice in Wonderland. Tim Burton's visuals can never be counted out.

Achievement in cinematography

“Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight) Matthew Libatique
“Inception” (Warner Bros.) Wally Pfister
“The King's Speech” (The Weinstein Company) Danny Cohen
“The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit” (Paramount) Roger Deakins

My Pick: True Grit. Roger Deakins is the Susan Lucci of this category. This might be his year to finally take it. Something about Westerns....

Spoiler: Inception. It won the guild's award, but that guild might not be big enough of a bloc in the Academy to make a difference.

Achievement in costume design

“Alice in Wonderland” (Walt Disney) Colleen Atwood
“I Am Love” (Magnolia Pictures) Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King's Speech” (The Weinstein Company) Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest” (Miramax) Sandy Powell
“True Grit” (Paramount) Mary Zophres

My Pick: The King's Speech. Royalty wins often in this category. Royalty or over the top. Which means the only other winner might be...

Spoiler: Alice in Wonderland

Achievement in directing

“Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight) Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter” (Paramount) David O. Russell
“The King's Speech” (The Weinstein Company) Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing) David Fincher
“True Grit” (Paramount) Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

My Pick: David Fincher. I don't think many people can even name who directed The King's Speech. The Social Network was a great film, thanks in large part to David Fincher. He's been around for a while and always seems to make decent films, this might be the way to congratulate him since The Social Network won't win Best Picture.

Spoiler: Tom Hooper

Best documentary feature

“Exit through the Gift Shop” (Producers
Distribution Agency)
A Paranoid Pictures Production
Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz

“Gasland”
A Gasland Production
Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic

“Inside Job” (Sony Pictures Classics)
A Representational Pictures Production
Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs

“Restrepo” (National Geographic Entertainment)
An Outpost Films Production
Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger

“Waste Land” (Arthouse Films)
An Almega Projects Production
Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

My Pick: Inside Job. This is a three horse race. Waste Land and Gasland are out. Restrepo is a good film, but it doesn't seem to have the support. Exit Through the Gift Shop I didn't think was all that great, and most of it's support seems to be of the 'let's see what Bansky does if he wins' type. I'm not sure if that's enough for people to actually vote for him. So I believe it will go to Inside Job, about the banking implosion.

Spoiler: Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Best documentary short subject

“Killing in the Name”
A Moxie Firecracker Films Production
Nominees to be determined

“Poster Girl”
A Portrayal Films Production
Nominees to be determined

“Strangers No More”
A Simon & Goodman Picture Company Production
Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon

“Sun Come Up”
A Sun Come Up Production
Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger

“The Warriors of Qiugang”
A Thomas Lennon Films Production
Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

My Pick: Strangers No More. This is another three film race. The topicality of suicide bombers of Killing in the Name? The topicality of the Iraq war of Poster Girl? both possibly, but Strangers No More is about children of all different backgrounds (mostly refugees) attending a school in Tel Aviv and watching them succeed. I think kids will triumph over the slightly more depressing material of the other two.

Spoiler: Poster Girl

Achievement in film editing

“Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight) Andrew Weisblum
“The Fighter” (Paramount) Pamela Martin
“The King's Speech” (The Weinstein Company) Tariq Anwar
“127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight) Jon Harris
“The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

My Pick: The Social Network. The King's Speech can't win everything. The editing in The Social Network was fantastic, as it kept from from getting too lost in the time jumping narrative.

Spoiler: The King's Speech

Best foreign language film of the year

“Biutiful” (Roadside Attractions)
A Menage Atroz, Mod Producciones and Ikiru Films
Production
Mexico

“Dogtooth” (Kino International)
A Boo Production
Greece

“In a Better World” (Sony Pictures Classics)
A Zentropa Production
Denmark

“Incendies” (Sony Pictures Classics)
A Micro-Scope Production
Canada

“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” (Cohen Media Group)
A Tassili Films Production

My Pick: In A Better World. Susanne Bier has been nominated almost every time she directs a film and has also won previously. Biutiful was far too boring to win. Incendies and Outside the Law I've never even heard of. I think Dogtooth might just be a little too strange to win.

Spoiler: Dogtooth.

Achievement in makeup

“Barney's Version” (Sony Pictures Classics) Adrien Morot

“The Way Back” (Newmarket Films in association with
Wrekin Hill Entertainment and Image Entertainment)
Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda
Toussieng

“The Wolfman” (Universal) Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

My Pick: The Wolfman. In this category, the winner is usually the one with the most makeup. Wolfman wins. Wolfman's got nards.

Spoiler: The Way Back

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

“How to Train Your Dragon” (Paramount) John Powell
“Inception” (Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer
“The King's Speech” (The Weinstein Company) Alexandre Desplat
“127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight) A.R. Rahman
“The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

My Pick: The King's Speech. Alexandre Desplat has been doing wonderful work for a while now without an Oscar to show for it. A pleasant traditional score will probably win out over Trent Reznor's more avant-garde score.

Spoiler: The Social Network

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“Coming Home” from “Country Strong”
(Sony Pictures Releasing (Screen Gems))
Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and
Hillary Lindsey

“I See the Light” from “Tangled”
(Walt Disney)
Music by Alan Menken
Lyric by Glenn Slater

“If I Rise” from “127 Hours”
(Fox Searchlight)
Music by A.R. Rahman
Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong

“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3”
(Walt Disney)
Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

My Pick: I See the Light from Tangled. Who knows? This category has gone from nominating reasonably popular songs to songs no one remembers. It's a total crapshoot, especially with three former winners in the category. I'm going with Alan Menken since he was always beloved and this sort of marks his comeback.

Spoiler: We Belong Together.

Best motion picture of the year

“Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight)
A Protozoa and Phoenix Pictures Production
Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin,
Producers

“The Fighter” (Paramount)
A Relativity Media Production
David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark
Wahlberg, Producers

“Inception” (Warner Bros.)
A Warner Bros. UK Services Production
Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers

“The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)
An Antidote Films, Mandalay Vision and Gilbert
Films Production
Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray,
Producers

“The King's Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
A See-Saw Films and Bedlam Production
Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin,
Producers

“127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight)
An Hours Production
Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson,
Producers

“The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
A Columbia Pictures Production
Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and
Ceán Chaffin, Producers

“Toy Story 3” (Walt Disney)
A Pixar Production
Darla K. Anderson, Producer

“True Grit” (Paramount)
A Paramount Pictures Production
Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers

“Winter's Bone” (Roadside Attractions)
A Winter's Bone Production
Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

My Pick: The King's Speech. The Social Network won all the critic's awards, but The King's Speech won all of the guild awards; and they are the one that vote on the Oscars.

Spoiler: The Social Network

Best animated short film

“Day & Night” (Walt Disney)
A Pixar Animation Studios Production
Teddy Newton

“The Gruffalo”
A Magic Light Pictures Production
Jakob Schuh and Max Lang

“Let's Pollute”
A Geefwee Boedoe Production
Geefwee Boedoe

“The Lost Thing” (Nick Batzias for Madman Entertainment)
A Passion Pictures Australia Production
Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann

“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey
Diary)”
A Sacrebleu Production

My Pick: The Gruffalo. It's the longest and has movie stars in it. Sometimes that's all it takes to win this category. Wasn't my favorite, but oh well.

Spoiler: The Lost Thing. (A lot of people are suggesting Madagascar since the animation is beautiful in it. True, but there was no story and it was a boring 11 minutes).

Best live action short film

“The Confession” (National Film and Television School)
A National Film and Television School Production
Tanel Toom

“The Crush” (Network Ireland Television)
A Purdy Pictures Production
Michael Creagh

“God of Love”
A Luke Matheny Production
Luke Matheny

“Na Wewe” (Premium Films)
A CUT! Production
Ivan Goldschmidt

“Wish 143”
A Swing and Shift Films/Union Pictures Production
Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

My Pick: Wish 143. The Confession and The Crush both went way over the top. God of Love was cute but slight. Some people are saying Na Wewe, but usually the one that stands out the most from the others tends to be the winner and that was Wish 143 this time around.

Spoiler: Na Wewe

Achievement in sound editing

“Inception” (Warner Bros.) Richard King
“Toy Story 3” (Walt Disney) Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
“Tron: Legacy” (Walt Disney) Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
“True Grit” (Paramount) Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
“Unstoppable” (20th Century Fox) Mark P. Stoeckinger

My Pick: Inception. Finally, it can win something. The sound awards tend to go to the big action films. Inception was the biggest.

Spoiler: Unstoppable.

Achievement in sound mixing

“Inception” (Warner Bros.) Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick

“The King's Speech” (The Weinstein Company) Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley

“Salt” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and
William Sarokin

“The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark
Weingarten

“True Grit” (Paramount) Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and
Peter F. Kurland

My Choice: Incpetion. If people voted for it in the other category, they;ll do sao here.

Spoiler: The King's Speech. Speech is about sound, after all.

Achievement in visual effects

“Alice in Wonderland” (Walt Disney) Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean
Phillips

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” (Warner
Bros.)
Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and
Nicolas Aithadi

“Hereafter” (Warner Bros.) Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and
Joe Farrell

“Inception” (Warner Bros.) Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and
Peter Bebb

“Iron Man 2” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment,
Distributed by Paramount)
Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

My Pick: Inception. Cities don't fold in on themselves alone. Happy Potter will probably win next year as a reward for making it through all 8 films.

Spoiler: Alice in Wonderland

Adapted screenplay

“127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight) Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3” (Walt Disney) Screenplay by Michael Arndt Story
by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee
Unkrich
“True Grit” (Paramount) Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter's Bone” (Roadside Attractions) Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne
Rosellini

My Pick: The Social Network. About as strong a lock as possible. Great screenplay.

Spoiler: Winter's Bone

Original screenplay

“Another Year” (Sony Pictures Classics) Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” (Paramount) Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric
Johnson
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric
Johnson
“Inception” (Warner Bros.) Written by Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features) Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King's Speech” (The Weinstein Company) Screenplay by David Seidler

My Pick: The King's Speech. It can't be easy writing all those stuttering syllables into a screenplay.

Spoiler: The Kids Are All Right

And there we are. I'll update tomorrow with how I did based on my original predictions and on both my predictions and spoilers combined.

Do My Eyes Deceive Me?

2011-02-27T15:03:00.001-05:00

It looks as if my favorite Serbian tennis player has made it into the final round for the third time in his career. I'd hope he can pull out his first win, but I don't want to jinx anything. Fingers crossed, though.

My Ballot

2011-02-25T19:12:00.003-05:00

ETA: Well, the other voters agreed with me on 5 of the categories and disagreed with me on 7 of the categories. Maybe next year I'll have more influence.

Now that the deadline for voting has passed, I can reveal my choices for this year's Independent Spirit Award categories. Last year, it seemed that most of the other voters didn't agree with me, let's hope this year is different. For I only speak the truth!

Best Picture

127 Hours
Black Swan
Greenberg
The Kids Are All Right
Winter's Bone

My choice: I went with Winter's Bone. I found it to be the most well-rounded of the films and the only one that really kept me guessing as to where it was going. Though any of these films are a worthy choice, except Greenberg. Greenberg sucked.

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
Danny Boyle – 127 Hours
Lisa Cholodenko – The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik – Winter's Bone
John Cameron Mitchell – Rabbit Hole

My choice: Debra Granik. To the victor go the spoils. I'm one of those who believe that if you have the best picture, then you also have the best director.

Best Actor (Best Male Lead)

Ronald Bronstein – Daddy Longlegs
Aaron Eckhart – Rabbit Hole
James Franco – 127 Hours
John C. Reilly – Cyrus
Ben Stiller – Greenberg

My choice: James Franco. An incredible performance given the limited mobility of the character. He really made you feel the arrogance and the vulnerability of the character all in 90 minutes.

Best Actress (Best Female Lead)

Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
Greta Gerwig – Greenberg
Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine

My choice: Jennifer Lawrence (seeing a theme?). I found this to be the most well rounded of all the performances. I don't think she'll win this year, but she will soon.

Best Supporting Actor (Best Supporting Male)

John Hawkes – Winter's Bone
Samuel L. Jackson – Mother and Child
Bill Murray – Get Low
John Ortiz – Jack Goes Boating
Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right

My choice: John Hawkes. You never knew if his character was going to help out or pull a gun and shoot. I was afraid watching him. That's good acting.

Best Supporting Actress (Best Supporting Female)

Ashley Bell – The Last Exorcism
Dale Dickey – Winter's Bone
Allison Janney – Life During Wartime
Daphne Rubin-Vega – Jack Goes Boating
Naomi Watts – Mother and Child

My choice: Dale Dickey. She played a mean backwoods mother. The type of person you don't want to cross. I don't want to meet her in a dark alley. Just as scary as John Hawkes.

Best Screenplay

The Kids Are All Right – Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
Life During Wartime – Todd Solondz
Please Give – Nicole Holofcener
Rabbit Hole – David Lindsay-Abaire
Winter's Bone – Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini

My choice: Winter's Bone. What else? It was #5 on my top ten of the year. I liked The Kids Are All Right, but the screenplay was a little too jokey for me.

Best First Screenplay

Jack Goes Boating – Robert Glaudini
Lovely, Still – Nik Fackler
Monogamy – Dana Adam Shapiro and Evan Wiener
Obselidia – Diane Bell
Tiny Furniture – Lena Dunham

My choice: Tiny Furniture. A cute little indie. Nothing too amazing to write home about, but a lot of promise in it.

Best First Feature

Everything Strange and New
Get Low
The Last Exorcism
Night Catches Us
Tiny Furniture

My choice: Get Low. A nice offbeat comedy about an older man who wants to hold his own wake before he dies. Robert Duvall and Bill Murray keep the proceedings enjoyable.

Best Cinematography

Black Swan – Matthew Libatique
Greenberg – Harris Savides
Never Let Me Go – Adam Kimmel
Tiny Furniture – Jody Lee Lipse
Winter's Bone – Michael McDonough

My choice: Michael McDonough. What? You thought I've give up on my Winter's Bone streak now?

Best Foreign Film

The King's Speech – Tom Hooper • UK
Kisses – Lance Daly • Ireland
Mademoiselle Chambon – Stéphane Brizé • France
Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux) – Xavier Beauvois • Morocco/France
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat) – Apichatpong Weerasethakul • Thailand

My choice: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. This will most likely be on my top ten list for 2011. A lyrical and utterly strange movie that just floats on by as you get into its rhythms. Weerasethakul's films are an acquired taste, but if you acquire it then you are rewarded.

What about The King's Speech? While it will probably win the Oscar, I found the film to have a few too many slow patches for my taste. It's good, yes, but it's not amazing.

Best Documentary

Exit Through the Gift Shop – Banksy
Marwencol – Jeff Malmberg
Restrepo – Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
Sweetgrass – Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Thunder Soul – Mark Landsman

My choice: Restrepo. I did not find Gift Shop to be a great film. Too boring. Restrepo, while a little repetitious at times, did what a documentary should do. Show me an aspect of life I'm not to aware of and make me care about it.

And there we go. Let's see how I match up to the actual winners this year.

Top Ten of 2010: #5 - #1

2011-02-25T18:12:00.004-05:00

#5 Winter's Bone

A fantastic peek into an area of the U.S. most people don't think about, Winter's Bone was the most unexpected film of the year for me. A story about a girl on a search for her missing father, the movie introduces you to characters that seem like they'll either help her or hurt her at any given moment. The only film this year I can say I had no idea what to expect next. I'm still scared to meet any of those people. Go see it.

#4 The Strange Case of Angelica

Somehow, at age 101, Manoel De Oliveira managed to deliver one of the best films of his career. A love story between a man and a corpse (well...her ghost), Angelica lets you get lost in the remembrance of how passionate true love can be. Filled with tangents about life and particle physics, you sit with a smile on your face hoping that the two lovers will find a way to be together as you want to hold on closer to your own.

#3 Inside Job

The documentary of the year to get your blood boiling. An explanation of how the economy collapsed and the steps the government and banking industries took that basically made it inevitable. Watch at your own risk if you have high blood pressure. Fascinating from start to finish when you're not yelling at the people on the screen.

#2 The Social Network

Every so often, Hollywood gets it right. A perfect combination of director, screenwriter and actors bring the "story" of the early years of Facebook to life. (How true it is is for others to decide). Everything about this film works. The one liners, the music, all fantastic. Now if only more films like this can be released every year.

Rental of the Year

Word is Out

A documentary from the 1970's featuring 20some gay and lesbian people simply talking about their lives. Some known personages, some not. All with amazing stories to tell. The DVD features an update with almost everyone from the documentary. Rent now.

Film of the Year

#1 Ahead of Time

Ahead of Time is a documentary about a woman almost no one can name today, but who everyone should know. Ruth Gruber was the youngest person in the world to receive a PhD. She worked as a journalist, alerting America to the dangers of Nazism from inside Germany, was the first foreign correspondent allowed to fly through Siberia, and was present at the birth of Israel, a witness to the Exodus incident. During WWII, she worked for the interior department as the liaison between the U.S. and 1000 Jewish refugees brought over from Italy; the only Jewish people the U.S. actively sheltered during the war. She was right at the forefront of most of the important developments of the world from 1930-1950. Her story is outstanding and she's still going strong today at 99. Ahead of Time is a stunning time capsule of those events told firsthand by Ms. Gruber. Watch it as soon as you can.

February Movies

2011-02-25T17:26:00.004-05:00

Once again, a roundup of all the films I saw in a month. Not reviews, per se, just a sentence or two about my general feelings about the films. This time: February!

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood (D+): I watched this movie for all the cameos from old time Hollywood stars it has. Thank God for those cameos, because this was once of the worst films I've seen in a while. Every joke fell flat. A total slog.

True Love (C): A short collection of films about love. Some were crap. Some were mildly enjoyable. All are forgettable.

Restrepo (B+): A interesting documentary following a year in the life of an Army troop at a remote outpost in Afghanistan. Tense and thrilling most of the time. It does suffer from a slight case of "the sames" after a while. "The sames" being that you've seen it and heard it before. Doesn't make it bad, just that it isn't totally fresh.

Film Geek (D+): A movie nerd finds love. Or at least I think he does. The movie conceit kept coming and going throughout the film as the need dictated. Otherwise you were left with a unlikable main character essentially stalking a woman. Fun.

Cold Weather (B+): I'm not the biggest fan of mumblecore, but this movie had just enough jokes going for it to keep me entertained. The grade would be higher, but the director decided to make the ending about one thing when it should have been about another. You'll have to rent it to see what I mean, and it's definitely worth a rental when it's out in a few months.

Biutiful (C-): Javier Bardem does deserve his nomination, but besides that, Biutiful is watching a man die very slowly for 2h20m. And you feel every minute of it. It doesn't help that the film essentially tells two parallel stories that should interact at some point but never do.

Strapped (B-): A hustler tries to find his way out of an apartment building, but keeps running into various residents who prevent him from doing so. At the end, the hustler learns something about himself. The interactions with the residents aren't anything surprising and I'm not exactly sure what the hustler learns; but he was attractive and I'm human, so that's good enough for a B- in my book.

Even The Rain (B): A Spanish film about a film crew trying a film a Columbus movie in Bolivia while the 2000 water riots are going on. A little heavy-handed at times, but filled with good performances and an important message. And who doesn't love Gael Garcia Bernal?

The Wolfman (C): I saw this for its Oscar nomination. It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, but perhaps that was because I saw the extended version which put back in some explanatory scenes. Still, it was all pretty rote. And it took over half the film to get to the first Wolfman transformation.

The 2010 Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films (B-): I'm not going to get into a discussion of each film individually here. Just that this year it was an underwhelming lot.

The 2010 Oscar Nominated Live Action Short Films (B-): Repeat the above.

The 2010 Oscar Nominated Short Documentary Films (A-): This was more like it. Usually, this category is a three hour depression fest, and while the topics this year aren't cheery, each film ended on an uplifting note. This gives the viewer a peek into an aspect of life on Earth they might not know about and not leave them wanting to forget about it, as the more downbeat documentaries have done in the past. A tough category to call this year.

Toast (B+): A fun little BBC telefilm about about the childhood of British chef Nigel Slater. Nothing too Earthshaking here, it was all predictable and pleasant. Helena Bonham Carter was a hoot and the food made me hungry.

The Eagle (C): I saw this solely for Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell. Something about having to go rescue a Eagle standard from evil blue painted people in Scotland. Needed less emoting and more wrestling.

Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick's Boxes (C): I've decided to finish watching all the Stanley Kubrick films I've missed. Started off with this British documentary about what was contained in the 1000 or so boxes Kubrick left on his property after he died. The answer is: nothing special. Photographs and other assorted research that one would associate being done with any film. Only two things of note: 1. Four minutes of behind the scenes footage of Kubrick on the set of Full Metal Jacket. 2. A fan letter that Kubrick labeled as being written by a 'crank' read by that person years later and their current thoughts about it.

Stanley Kubrick Documentaries: No grade here. They were all very basic docs. The type you'd find playing before any movie in the 1950's.

Fear and Desire (C): Everyone has to start somewhere. While there are some flashes of promise in Kubrick's first feature, it really isn't all that great. A war film told mostly in voiceover about how war is bad. Checked off.

Killer's Kiss (B+): Kubrick's second feature is a tight (67 minutes) film noir featuring the good guy, the femme fatale and her brute of a boyfriend. Plays out exactly as you'd expect it to. A good final fight and some fantastic views of 1950's NY make this one to catch.

Full Metal Jacket (B): I didn't find this to be the masterpiece that some others claim it is. The training camp scenes are fun, the Vietnam scenes are done well, but I just didn't see a point to everything. you have a 45 minute film followed by a 65 minute film, neither of which seem to have anything to really say. Still, it's not boring by any means.

And there you go. What have you seen of these? Which ones do you want to rush out and see? How right or wrong am I?

Top Ten of 2010: #10 - #6

2011-02-25T16:52:00.002-05:00

#10. The Ghost Writer

Whatever your personal feelings about Roman Polanski may be, there is no denying that he does know how to direct an excellent film. The Ghost Writer is a taut, entertaining thriller about a young, nobody everyman who gets in way over his head in political dealings. It also features the best ending of any film I saw in 2010.

#9. The Kids Are All Right

A charmer of a film from beginning to end. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore played a believable couple working through a rough patch in their marriage when their children discover their birth father. With Mark Ruffalo as the father, I don't blame what happens next. Featuring a great capper of a monologue by Julianne Moore about the difficulties of marriage.

#8 Another Year

A deceptively simple film, Another Year follows a average English family through the four seasons of a year. Lesley Manning gives the film its emotional heft as the family's slightly off-kilter friend. Mike Leigh's film will keep you laughing throughout, but will leave you with questions at the end as to how far someone should go to help out a friend in need.

#7 Toy Story 3

What else can really be said about this film? It was funny, touching and left almost everyone in tears. I was ready to go out to my local toy store after the film and buy everything I ever played with while growing up all over again. I don't believe the film could want for a better reaction than that.

#6 127 Hours

Yes, the arm cutting scene was slightly difficult to sit through, but Danny Boyle's film kept you interested in watching it while waiting for the inevitable. James Franco did an outstanding job in conveying all the different emotions one can have while faced with a seemingly impossible situation. I'm not sure why the Oscar buzz for this film died out so quickly, it certainly deserves some recognition.

Top Ten of 2010: Honorable Mentions

2011-02-23T22:17:00.004-05:00

Now is the time for all things movies. We'll start off with my top ten films of 2010. Follow that up with how I filled out my ballot for the 2010 Spirit Awards then wrap up with my Oscar predictions.

2010 only had 21 films receive a grade of A- or better from me. 13 got the A- exactly. 6 received an A and only 3 an A+. A few other films I saw at the NYFF also received an A level grade, but as they won't be released into theatres sometime this year, they'll probably show up on my list this time next year. So let's get to it.

Crap of the Year

I've gotten much better in terms of weeding out watching what looks to be utter shite. Ten years ago, I would pretty much go watch everything that came out in a theatre. Nowadays, if it looks awful, I don't go. This leads to a much lower amount of films given a D or F grade from me. However, a few always slip through the cracks.

Tatitude

This was a short film I saw in front of a screening of the American version of Jacques Tati's My Uncle. Tatitude is supposed to be an homage to Tati's first film: M. Hulot's Holiday. What it is, is six minutes of my life that was sucked from me. The short is a random collection of images from Tati's film with other random stuff superimposed on it. That's all. There's no rhyme or reason to it. When you check your watch a couple of times during a six minute movie, you know it's bad.

Samson and Delilah

This Australian film has won or was nominated for a rather large number of awards. I don't know if I'll ever understand how. I found Samson and Delilah to be a slow-moving, turgid and utterly ridiculous experience. The characters were not remotely believable and each new plot twist absurd. Everyone has a couple of films that they hate while it's loved by almost everyone else. This is mine for 2010.

Honorable Mentions

Inception

Inception continues Christopher Nolan's streak of directing films I love. It was original, filled with great visuals and, in my opinion, was not hard to follow. The only reason it didn't make the top ten was the final action sequence. I found the scene set at the snow base to be a little long for my tastes and the action there rather pedestrian. At least it gave Tom Hardy a showcase. Go see him in Bronson.

When You're Strange

I can probably name a couple of songs by The Doors, but I've never been a super fan of the group. That is why I responded so well to Tom DeCillo's documentary about them, and primarily Jim Morrison. Everything in the documentary was new to me and gave me an entirely new appreciation for the group. Concert footage and behind the scenes footage (including some pristine images from movies that Jim Morrison) kept me riveted to the screen. I'm sure (as many reviews pointed out), that for the fan, there is little here that isn't already known, but if you're unfamiliar with the history of the group, this movie will get you ready to run out and by all their CD's.

Dogtooth

In this Greek film, a set of parents keep their children completely secluded from the outside world. Everyday objects are referred to by different names and a co-worker of the father is brought in to help relieve sexual tension. Why? A good question that the film never answers as we are allowed to revel in the weirdness of the situation as it plays out to it's logical and extreme end. I'm not sure the conceit is held up entirely through the running time, but there's enough offbeat humor in the film to keep that concern in the background.

Mini Golf Memories

2011-02-11T10:32:00.002-05:00

I remember playing this mini golf course about 20 years ago on a family trip to Colorado. The only difference here, is that I scored a hole-in-one on this hole.

CD Exchange #8

2011-02-10T20:52:00.001-05:00

Here's one of the songs that a lucky recipient will receive on their upcoming CD. From the happy section, of course.

Awwww....RIP Tura

2011-02-05T17:50:00.000-05:00

January Movies

2011-02-01T20:54:00.003-05:00

I always take January as my time to catch up on all the movies I feel like seeing. TV is pretty much on hiatus until February, and the weather stinks, so it's the perfect time to watch as much as possible. Here's a rundown of what I caught the past 31 days. All films have their respective link to their IMDB page in the sidebar. These aren't reviews so much as brief personal assessments.

The Fighter (B+): My Aunt's niece plays Mark Wahlberg's daughter in this films, which I was all gung-ho to see, until I realized she only had 3 minutes of screentime. The film itself is decent, but very predictable and slow in parts. Oscar for Christian Bale though. And Melissa Leo.

Family Guy: It's A Trap (A-): Great conclusion to their Star Wars trilogy. Jokes that work, references that are funny. Easy way to pass an hour. Might not hold up on repeated viewings, but who watches those more than once?

Boys Life 7 (D+): A collection of some number of gay themed shorts. They all sucked.

The Illusionist (B): A lovely little homage to Jacques Tati, that starts off in a vein of wistful humor then quickly turns depressing. I don't require a happy ending in my films, but when it became obvious where this one was heading, a little levity would have been appreciated.

True Grit (A-): A fine entry into the Coen Brothers oeuvre. The film was paced well, it was funny and suspenseful and the script had some great turns of phrase. Didn't love the coda, but it didn't detract from the rest of the film.

I Love You Phillip Morris (B-): Raunchy and hilarious in parts, slow and boring in others. This would have been a better film if Ewan McGregor had been given a character to play. As written, Phillip Morris has almost nothing to do.

The Take (B): A British crime drama miniseries with Tom Hardy. Pretty average stuff, nothing surprising or truly interesting, it's all been done before and better.

I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale (C): A short documentary celebrating the career of 70's character actor John Cazale. It comes off as a DVD extra, everyone loved him, he never did anything wrong, he was perfect in all his roles, every famous actor he ever worked with learned so much from him. Repetitive.

All Good Things (B-): A dramatization of the Robert Durst case, this film suffers from wallowing in the weird twists of the case instead of its characters. nice to see Kirsten Dunst again, though.

Dream Boy (C): An adaptation of the Jim Grimsley novel. Too slow paced and the lead character is difficult to identify with. Makes for a slog of a film.

The Exterminating Angel (A-): Luis Bunuel's satire on religion (one of many) where Mexican nobility find themselves unable to leave a room. Starts to drag slightly, and waits until the very end to make its point, but still a fantastic film.

Simon of the Desert (B-): Luis Bunuel's satire on religion (one of many) where a man stands on a pillar in sacrifice for God and is tempted by the Devil. Enjoyable, but too short (45 min) to make much of an impact.

Viridiana (B): Luis Bunuel's satire on religion (one of many) and the aristocracy where a nun visits her uncle in the countryside and sets up a shelter for the town's poor. Winner of the Plame D'Or, I thought once the movie made its point, it kept on making its point over and over.

Somewhere (C): Sofia Coppola's study of the ennui of a Hollywood actor. Ennui is the feel one gets watching this plotless and ultimately pointless film.

Blue Valentine (B): A study of a couple and how their marriage disintegrates. I'm not as in love with the film as others are. I found it to drag at points and be almost too downbeat for entertainment. Again, I don't need happy, peppy in a film, but I need something to latch onto. Two hours of depressing material tends to put one out of an enjoyment zone.

Exit Through the Gift Shop (B): An interesting take on the street art phenomenon. Better in the first half as the film follows a number of different artists. boring in the second half when Bansky takes over.

Open House (C): A person is held hostage in their house while two psychopaths take over and start killing. Been there, seen it.

I Am Love (B+): An Italian film about Tilda Swinton's affair with a cook. The film isn't as epic as it thinks it is, but the food in the film made me hungry.

The Way Back (C+): Prisoners escape from a Russian gulag and make their way on foot to India. It feels like we're with them every...single...step of the way.

Making the Boys (B): A nice look at the cultural touchstone that was The Boys in the Band. Loses focus a couple of times, but places the film in perspective.

Lake Tahoe (A-): A young man's car breaks down and he tries to find the replacement part needed for it. On his search, he comes across a number of slightly strange individuals. From the director of Duck Season (another fine film), this is a great, low-key and very funny 80 minutes.

Gasland (C-): One of this years Oscar nominated documentaries, it's all about hydraulic fracturing and how it's bad. Trouble is, the director delivers mushy-mouthed narration that is grating to the ears, an endless litany of the same problems over and over, graphics that are hard to follow since they fly by so quickly and a finale that ignores any idea of a possible solution and instead dumps the issue back to the viewer. It won't win.

Goodbye to 2010

2010-12-31T11:47:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas To All....

2010-12-22T16:04:00.002-05:00

Going away tomorrow morning and coming back on the 27th, so I won't be here to say Merry Christmas on Christmas. Instead, I say it three days early. Merry Christmas!

Guess That Grave #2

2010-12-21T19:24:00.002-05:00

After having my chat with Sal Mineo, I drove around a little bit to visit someone else. Who?

(Click to embiggen the picture.)

Some hints:

1. Frances was the wife.

2. There is usually an American flag by his grave.

3. His career ended with a little Scott Joplin.

CD#7 Song

2010-12-21T19:17:00.001-05:00

With Christmas upon me, the CD itself won't be finished until January. But i know for certain that at least this song will be on it.

Guess That Grave!

2010-12-17T15:27:00.005-05:00

So I stopped off recently to say hi and chat with a former celebrity for a few minutes. The question is.....who?

The picture can be clicked on to make it bigger. The writing on the bottom, somewhat obscured, says: "In God's Care".

Here are three hints to help you along.

1. Michael is the name of the brother.

2. A postscript play

3. The funeral for this person was held less than 2 miles from my house.

ETA: Good Job Paul!

CD #6

2010-11-30T10:45:00.002-05:00

This time around, some lucky recipient will receive this song on their CD. By the by, I love this video; it's a compendium of hair and fashion crimes against humanity. If the reunited Take That come over here for some shows, I will be seriously tempted to go.

Turkeys Away!

2010-11-25T10:16:00.002-05:00

Here's a repeat performance of WKRP In Cincinatti's classic Thanksgiving episode: Turkeys Away! May everyone enjoy their Thanksgiving, or for those in Canada, their November 25th.

CD Exchange #5

2010-10-06T18:19:00.002-04:00

Who will be the lucky person to receive this classic on their CD, along with other assorted awesomeness?

Sim!

2010-09-17T00:53:00.002-04:00

I have no clue what this drink is. Juice? Soda? Carbonated colored water? Who cares. If Ricardo Trepa wants me to drink it....I'll order some from Oporto.

CD 4.0 Song

2010-09-03T17:40:00.003-04:00

I'm still hammering out the rest of the playlist, but I know for certain that some lucky person will be receiving this fantastic song from one of the greatest movies ever directed by a paper towel spokeswoman.

Small Breath

2010-08-31T21:27:00.003-04:00

With the US Open starting yesterday, it was time for my quarterlyish prayer that everyone's favorite Serbian tennis player, Janko Tipsarevic, makes a good run of it this year. I didn't want to say anything before the tournament started as he hasn't delivered the goods much at the Slams this year. However, he did make it through Round 1 in the singles. Lost in Round 1 in the doubles, but I can live with that. I'm all about the Bryan Brothers in Doubles. Next up in Round 2 is Andy Roddick, who he has beaten in the past. I'll be watching tomorrow night with fingers crossed. If he makes it to and plays next Monday night, which session I have tickets to, I will be a very happy man.

Need reminders why he's my fav?

2010 NYFF

2010-08-31T21:19:00.002-04:00

I've finalized my schedule for this year's New York Film Festival. Only missing out on about 2-3 films due to work commitments. Anyone in New York near Lincoln Center on these dates and times is welcome to say HI!

Friday 9/24-- 6:00pm The Social Network

Sunday 9/26-- 1:00pm Apichatpong Weerasethakul in Conversation

3:00pm Le Quattro Volte
9:00pm Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Tuesday 9/28-- 6:15pm Nuremberg [The Schulberg/Waletzky Restoration]

Wednesday 9/29-- 6:00pm Film Socialisme

Friday 10/1-- 6:00pm Inside Job

Saturday 10/2-- 10:00pm The Tempest

Sunday 10/3-- 9:00pm The Strange Case of Angelica

Tuesday 10/5-- 6:00pm Another Year

Thursday 10/7-- 9:45pm We Are What We Are

Saturday 10/9-- 6:00pm Joe Dante's The Hole 3D

9:30pm Dracula (1930's Spanish Version)

Sunday 10/10-- 12:00pm Mysteries of Lisbon

10:00pm Hereafter

Away Again

2010-08-05T23:11:00.002-04:00

Now that I've managed to completely remove all viruses that attacked my computer, it's time for my annual jaunt to Ocean City, NJ. Oh well. I have nearly all the remaining game show posts plotted out, so as soon I return, it will be a race to the finish! Enjoy the week, I'll be thinking of everyone as I'm overrun by thousands of screaming children.

Oh Dear God, They're Back...

2010-07-17T17:01:00.002-04:00

Um...sure....

Toss Up Question

2010-07-12T20:55:00.005-04:00

The above video (used also in the introductory post) is the opening theme song to The Wizard of Odds. Your question is in two parts:

1. Whose American game show hosting debut was this, and who is the singer of the theme song?

Avoid Wikipedia, cheaters.
Real contestants don't have the ability to research questions before giving answers. Let's see how much you know. Post your guess in the comments.

Come on Down........

2010-07-12T20:42:00.005-04:00

Survey says....you are the Weakest Link...Goodbye!

Yes.....it's time for a summer of fabulous prizes and famous celebrities as I Deny You the Nidus! counts down the Top Ten Game Shows of All Time (that I've seen).

I have taken my years (and years) of watching TV Game Shows and have put those shows through an exhausting scientific formula to arrive at the Top Ten Game Shows of all Time (that I've seen). Said formula consists of:

1. Me watching actual episodes of a game show.
2. Deciding if the game show is worthy of being in the Top Ten of all time.
3. Ordering the resulting shows in a Top Ten list.

"But FDot," you say, "how do I know your list is definitive?" Well....back off hater! My finger has been on the pulse of the zeitgeist for a long time. And after a Lysol wipe it was more than ready to order some game shows in a definitive list. You don't agree with me? Comment away. I'll prove you wrong.

Not only will we be looking at the Top Ten shows, we'll take a look at some Honorable Mentions, some that just missed the Top Ten (ie. #11-), some that never came close and a little bit of trivia here and there.

And it's quite possible that the contestant who answers the most trivia questions correctly will win some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies! (contingent on me finding time to bake them).

Let's get started......

CD #3

2010-07-12T15:14:00.002-04:00

As the Great CD Exchange continues, I have managed to complete the Happy CD (#3). I can't post the cover art this time around, as it would be a dead giveway as to who I have, but I can post a taste of what will be on the CD. Unfortunately, the images that should accompany this song aren't anywhere to be found online, so instead, here's the song with someone's homemade video to go with it.

I'm feeling it.

2010-07-07T13:29:00.001-04:00

Given that today is breaking the 100 degree mark, I might as well be here:

I think I could stand roping some horses with Ted McGriff.

CD #2 finished

2010-06-27T23:26:00.004-04:00

I have finally compiled CD #2 for the Big Puntabulouuuouous exchange. As a special taste and preview.....some lucky person will be receiving this rather cringe-inducing picture as their cover art:

and this song on the cd:

Who can be so outstandingly lucky (or cursed)?

Score

2010-06-22T20:25:00.000-04:00

Ahhh....and so begins the summer entertainment.

FREEDOM!

2010-06-22T20:18:00.002-04:00

Finally, the past month is over. Right after I was all set to blog on a more regular basis, I get a call from work: Can I take on a few students? Of course I could.$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Well, those few students happened to be all Monday-Friday students, so my week ended up looking like this.

wake up 7am
leave 8:15
tutor 4th grader 8:30-9:45
drive 45 minutes
tutor 6th grader 10:30-12:30
drive 45 minutes
tutor 8th grader 1:15-3:15
drive 30 minutes
tutor 3:45-6:45
home
dinner
prepare worksheets and lessons for following day
repeat

Couple that with my 2:30pm-2:00am Saturday and 11:30am-3:00am schedule on Sunday, and that left zero time to do much else.

The students for the most part were decent. The 8th grader was a little eh at times, but overall it's been easy to cover them....just time consuming.

But that is all over now. All but one have finished, he wraps up on Friday, so I'm all set to enjoy summer. Time for movies and TV and salty snacks.

What has everyone else been up to?

No LOST for me

2010-05-22T10:30:00.003-04:00

Crap! I have to work all day Sunday (noon-3:00am) so I can't watch the series finale. Plus, with my new tutoring schedule during the week, it's going to be difficult to watch it much before Tuesday or later. Argh! So many days to avoid spoilers.

Anyway, my guess for the final scene, which I'm probably wrong about, is Jack and Locke sitting on the beach in a recreation of the opening scene from the Season 5 finale "The Incident".

Solved!

2010-05-10T17:02:00.002-04:00

Phew! That was a hard one to find. It turns out that "Skeleton Key" was the name of the song that the scrambled lyrics belong to. The album cover is a 1990 release called Eroica by Wendy and Lisa, both of whom worked for Prince back in the 80's.

Help needed

2010-05-04T00:47:00.003-04:00

Ok need some help here. Does anyone recognize this picture? It's either a music artist or possibly an album cover. The scrambled words translate (I believe) to: "the face a eyes that mirror hears [share?] wears [swear?] pretty place a better" Those should rearrange into a song lyric. The only clue I have so far is "Skeleton Key". I don't know if that's a song title or a band name or something else. We're looking at the 70's and 80's as the time period.

Inching

2010-04-30T00:34:00.000-04:00

I guess it does have to happen once a year.

Absence Explained

2010-04-29T16:43:00.002-04:00

While I'm sure the squirrels have been indeed plotting my downfall, the reason I was away for a little over a month is because I was out hunting down the truth about this country. Have you ever read the truth?

Word

2010-04-22T20:50:00.002-04:00

Cute....but evil!

2010-04-21T20:51:00.002-04:00

I was going to comment on the adorable cuteness of this seal pup, but after spending a few moments carefully considering the picture, I have realized that its eyes are simply dark pits of evil. This seal pup wants nothing more than to consume your essence.

Peep

2010-04-21T20:49:00.001-04:00

I believe the miasma of my soul has lifted preparing me to once again litter the world with my intermittent thoughts.

Logorama

2010-03-09T14:00:00.001-05:00

This should just about cover it for me for the Oscars this year. Here is the Best Animated Short film -- Logorama.

The Results Are In

2010-03-08T00:12:00.003-05:00

Well, I guess it was inevitable that after last year's 21/24 success rate, I would drop off a bit this year.

Final Tally: 15 correct 9 wrong for a 63% success rate.

Where did I go wrong?

Original and Adapted Screenplay: I just didn't think The Hurt Locker or Precious had the momentum to carry them to wins.

Foreign Language Film: I'd heard that El Secreto de Sus Ojos was the safe choice for the subset of the academy that votes for this category. Next time I'll listen.

Cinematography, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing: Who knew? If I voted for Avatar, The Hurt Locker won; if I voted for The Hurt Locker, Avatar won.

Documentary Short: I have no clue who this Prudence person is.

Animated Short: Truthfully, the best film won here. Logorama really is something to behold, I just didn't think it could beat Nick Park.

Live Action Short: Ugh, The New Tenants really was not a very good short. I think it won because it has some minor star power in it: Vincent D'Onofrio and Kevin Corrigan

The Correct Categories:

Picture
Director
Actor
Actress
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actress
Animated Picture
Original Score
Original Song
Art Direction
Costume Design
Makeup
Editing
Documentary Picture
Visual Effects

Now go see Logorama!

Oscar Time

2010-03-07T11:31:00.003-05:00

Or at least I think it is, as Cablevision no longer carries ABC as of midnight this morning. Activate contingency plan A! Until then however, here are my predictions for who will take home to golden statue tonight. I'm going to go in the order that the Oscar website lists the categories.

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges

His momentum hasn't stopped, and while some people decry this as a lifetime achievement award, those people haven't seen the movie. He is that good.

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz

The man's been racking up the awards all season, and it is the best performance of the five.

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock

I think this award is due to two reasons. While Meryl Streep was wonderful, some people see it as half a performance since Amy Adams handled the other half of Julie and Julia. Add in Sandra Bullock playing Erin Brockovich, and the award goes to her.

Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique

She was announced as the Oscar winner last March, I see no reason to bet against her this March.

Best Animated Feature: Up

While I personally prefer Mr. Fox, the fact that Up is nominated for Best Picture but won't win there practically guarantees its win here.

Best Art Direction: Avatar

Even though Avatar's art direction is mostly computer realized, voters will look past that since Pandora is such an amazing creation and award the Oscar

Best Cinematography: The Hurt Locker

I think Avatar's CGI will hurt it here, plus The Hurt Locker has picked up most of the pre-Oscar awards. So I'll go with The Hurt Locker. If I'm wrong, Avatar.

Best Costumes: The Young Victoria

Past history has told me to go with the film that features royalty (Elizabeth: The Golden Age). The Young Victoria is the sole movie about royalty here, so it wins.

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Since James Cameron has already won this award, and Hollywood is itching to bestow the honor to a woman, I see Ms. Bigelow taking the honor. Truthfully, I think she deserves it more than Cameron, I found The Hurt Locker to be the better movie than Avatar.

Best Documentary: The Cove

It's about the senseless slaughter of dolphins. Sentimentality points alone should give it the award. The spoiler here would be Food, Inc.

Best Documentary Short: China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province

In addition to being the better of the two films I saw from this category, the short deals with an earthquake, fresh in everybody's mind from Haiti. Not only that, but the focus point is the loss of children in that earthquake. It sounds callous, but that will do the trick.

Best Film Editing: The Hurt Locker

The bomb defusing scenes were some of the best editing I saw all year. Avatar had great battle scenes, but I think people expect that from James Cameron and won't necessarily vote the award to Avatar for that.

Best Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon

This one's a real tossup, as you have to be part of a special group who's watched all 5 nominees. Therefore, you have to guess what a small subset of the academy is thinking. Given that The White Ribbon was a great film, didn't contain too much over-the-top violence and that Michael Haneke is a well known name, I think that should do it.

Best Makeup: Star Trek

Aliens!

Best Score: Up

No one remembers the music from the other four, but the wordless sequence toward the beginning of Up was carried by the music, so I think that will translate into an award here.

Best Song: The Weary Kind

The Weary Kind of the only song of the five whose melody still floats through my mind. Plus, T Bone Burnett is well regarded in Hollywood, so I believe people will take the opportunity to reward him here.

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker

Given the new voting system for Best Picture this year, any of the ten films could probably take it. It all comes down to whether people want to award James Cameron again for another box office behemoth. I think most will say he already has one, so they'll vote The Hurt Locker.

Best Animated Short: Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death

Nick Park has never lost when nominated and while this is not the best Wallace and Gromit short, history should repeat itself. If the votes want to give the finger to the academy, they'll vote Logorama.

Best Live Action Short: Instead of Abracadabra

Past ceremonies have shown that the award here tends to go to the most entertaining of the five shorts, meaning the funniest. As Instead of Abracadabra is the only comedy of the bunch, that should do it.

Best Sound Editing: Avatar

Most people still don't really know what this award is about, so they'll give it to the even bigger action film this year.

Best Sound Mixing: Avatar

Most people still don't really know what this award is about, so they'll give ti to the even bigger action film this year.

Best Visual Effects: Avatar

If Avatar doesn't win, something has gone seriously wrong.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air

While I would much prefer to see the award go to In The Loop (my #1 film of last year), Up in the Air has captured a moment in time, and Hollywood always wants to look as if it cares, so here is their chance.

Best Original Screenplay: Inglourious Basterds

I believe that the audacious reworking of WWII history and Tarantino's ear for great dialogue will help propel Basterds to the award over The Hurt Locker.

And there you have it, I'll mark later tonight or tomorrow how well I did. If any of you are in an Oscar pool, Good Luck!

Independent Spirit Awards Ballot

2010-03-05T17:42:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago, I sat down to cast my votes for this year's Independent Spirit Awards. Now that the votes have been tallied and the awards are to be distributed tonight, I'll reveal who I voted for in the individual categories. Hopefully, some of my choices will even win. Tomorrow or Sunday, I'll post my educated Oscar picks.

Best Actor (Best Male Lead)

Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – (500) Days of Summer
Souleymane Sy Savane – Goodbye Solo
Adam Scott – The Vicious Kind

Easy choice here, Jeff Bridges. Just a solid performance from beginning to end. When a performance in a film comes off as effortless, you know it's a good one.

Best Supporting Actor (Best Supporting Male)

Jemaine Clement – Gentlemen Broncos
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christian McKay – Me and Orson Welles
Ray McKinnon – That Evening Sun
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station

A close call between Woody Harrelson and Christopher Plummer. I went with Plummer as his performance had more of a twinkle in the eye, whereas Harrelson's left me more depressed.

Best Actress (Best Female Lead)

Maria Bello – Downloading Nancy
Nisreen Faour – Amreeka
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Gwyneth Paltrow – Two Lovers
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious

With the specters of Josh and Enrico hanging over my head, I had no choice but to vote for Gabourey Sidibe. Otherwise they would have hunted me down and maimed me, and quite possibly not even in that order.

Best Supporting Actress (Best Supporting Female)

Dina Korzun – Cold Souls
Mo'Nique – Precious
Samantha Morton – The Messenger
Natalie Press – Fifty Dead Men Walking
Mia Wasikowska – That Evening Sun

Mo'Nique, not even a question. No one else came close to her in any other film during 2009.

Best Cinematography

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans – Peter Zeitlinger
Cold Souls – Andrij Parekh
A Serious Man – Roger Deakins
Treeless Mountain – Anne Misawa
Without Name (Sin nombre) – Adriano Goldman

A difficult category to vote for, I went with Anne Misawa here. Treeless Mountain was a wonderful discovery this past year, and the cinematography really got you into the children's point of view. Worth checking out.

Best First Screenplay
Sophie Barthes - Cold Souls
Scott Cooper - Crazy Heart
Cherien Dabis - Amreeka
Geoffrey Fletcher - Precious
Tom Ford and David Scearce - A Single Man

Continuing with the Joshrico fear factor, Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious. Of course, Precious deserves it simply for being one of the most powerful and moving films last year.

Best Screenplay

(500) Days of Summer – Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
Adventureland – Greg Mottola
The Last Station – Michael Hoffman
The Messenger – Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman
The Vicious Kind – Lee Toland Krieger

There are many supporters of (500) Days of Summer and while I enjoyed the film, I thought it was a bit boring at points. My vote here is for Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman's The Messenger, a film that looks at the soldiers who have to notify families of their loved one's death during wartime. Strong stuff, and it shows there's no easy way to do the job.

Best Foreign Film

A Prophet (Un prophète) – Jacques Audiard • France
An Education – Lone Scherfig • France/UK
Everlasting Moments (Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick) – Jan Troell • Sweden
Mother (Madeo) – Bong Joon-ho • South Korea
The Maid (La nana) – Sebastián Silva • Chile

Hands down, A Prophet. Strong, strong film. A Scarface set in prison. Keeps you riveted for it's 150 minute running time.

Best Documentary

WHICH WAY HOME
OCTOBER COUNTRY
MORE THAN A GAME
FOOD, INC.
ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL

The best documentaries enlighten me about a topic I was unaware of and care about. Food, Inc. taught me that while I might still stuff my face with whatever, I really should think twice sometimes.

John Cassavetes Award (Best film made for under $500,000)

ZERO BRIDGE
TREELESS MOUNTAIN
THE NEW YEAR PARADE
HUMPDAY
BIG FAN

As stated before, Treeless Mountain was my favorite unheard of discovery of the past year.

Best First Film

A Single Man
Crazy Heart
Easier With Practice
Paranormal Activity
The Messenger

It won't win, but I voted for Paranormal Activity. I really got into it's kicky little grove and thought I'd toss a vote it's way.

Best Director

Ethan and Joel Coen – A Serious Man
Lee Daniels – Precious
Cary Joji Fukunaga – Without Name (Sin nombre)
James Gray – Two Lovers
Michael Hoffman – The Last Station

Again with the fear of Josh and Enrico. Really though, Lee Daniels deserves this award. Precious directed by anybody else, would have been a completely different film, most likely one with an absolutely upbeat ending.

Best Film (Best Feature)

(500) Days of Summer
Amreeka
Precious
The Last Station
Without Name (Sin nombre)

Must it be said? Precious. And now Josh and Enrico can go out and celebrate.

Oscar Shorts

2010-03-04T16:06:00.006-05:00

Collected for your enjoyment, here are some of the short films up for the Oscars this year.

First, from the Live Action category:

Miracle Fish (17:44): A young boy hides out after being bullied at school, only upon waking to discover that everyone has disappeared. A decent film, with a twist that is relatively foreseeable. Doubtful it's going to win.

Three of the other Live Action films (The Door, The New Tenants, Instead of Abracadabra) are available on iTunes for $1.99 each. The fifth (Kavi), appears to be unavailable on the web.

As to the Animated films...

First: French Roast (8:18)-- A Frenchman has misplaced his wallet, leading to him ordering more and more coffee until he can find a way out. Cute and silly, but too slight to win the Oscar.

Second: Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (6:01): An elderly woman frightens the bejeezus out of her grandchild as she tells her version of Sleeping Beauty. Funny, but also too one-note to win.

Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty from Darragh O'Connell on Vimeo.

Also, Granny reacts to her nomination:

Third: The Lady and the Reaper (8:21): An elderly woman is caught in a tug of war between Death and a Doctor. Another funny one and rather inventive, this could pull out a win, but I'm doubting it has enough pull to do so.

The remaining two films (Logorama and Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death) are available on iTunes for $1.99 each. Wallace and Gromit will almost certainly take the prize, but I would highly suggest spending the $1.99 to watch Logorama. It' a 17 minute short, populated entirely by corporate logos. Ronald McDonald has committed a crime, and it's up to the Michelen Men to stop him. Violent and profane, the little short goes balls out in critiquing today's corporate culture.

R.I.P. Grandpa

2010-03-02T21:34:00.001-05:00

97 and 1/2 years though. That's not too shabby.

Olympic Tragedy

2010-02-12T18:19:00.002-05:00

Sadly, an Olympic athlete has met an untimely end shortly before the opening ceremony. Nodar Kumaritashvili, a Georgian Luger, crashed into a metal pole during a practice run and passed away. So sad to see someone so young (21) lose his life so senselessly. I guess this shows the impermanence of life. You just never know. At least Mr. Kumaritashvili was doing what he loved best.

NBCOlympics story.

Winter Olympics, Activate!

2010-02-12T18:00:00.003-05:00

Finally, four years have passed and I can once again enjoy more winter sports in a concentrated period of time. There's just something about the Olympic Games that I love. My goal this year = 100 hours of viewing. Up tonight, the opening ceremonies. Won't be as good as the Beijing opening, but since the Winter Games are only about 1/5 as large as the Summer, the ceremony should be appropriately smaller.

Unexpected Enjoyment

2010-02-09T09:04:00.006-05:00

As I've entered my late adolescence at 36, I find myself moving further and further away from enjoying most of the pop music released these days. Imagine my surprise when I came across and actually enjoyed this song. Maybe because it's a mash-up of two hits from growing up? Maybe because it's such a train wreck to watch, your eyes can't be brought to look away? Who knows, but it's stuck in my head.

Good Company

2010-02-08T18:16:00.006-05:00

As I was watching Up in the Air about 2 weeks ago, I kept thinking that I had seen Anna Kendrick somewhere before.

Good intentions though do not mean instant actions, so the thought faded away for a while. As I was perusing the Oscar Nominations the other day, compiling my list of nominated films still to see (which by the by is 4: A Serious Man, Il Divo, Bright Star and Coco Before Chanel), seeing Anna's name reminded me that I wanted to see if I had caught her in anything else. So a quick trip to IMDB gave me the answer. Did I? It was only one of my favorite nights I've ever spent at the cinema...

She was Fritzi in Camp! And pretty much stole that movie, too. I saw Camp at a New Directors festival in NY. Nearly the entire cast was in attendance, and everyone cheered, laughed and applauded each high moment and performance on screen. Great night. So in honor of my discovery, I present to you Fritzi's shining moment in the film....

As an added bonus, here is my favorite performance from the film...

Not seen Camp? Shame! Go watch it ASAP.

Ad-Winner

2010-02-07T23:07:00.002-05:00

The following gets my vote as best Advertisement of this year's Super Bowl

I've got Spirit...

2010-02-05T21:02:00.003-05:00

The Independent Spirit Awards are being given out this year on March 5. As a voter, I have until February 22nd to cast my ballot for the winners. However, I haven't seen all of the films yet up for nomination. Has anyone reading this watched all of the films listed below (or at least the ones for Best Feature) and offer some insight? Does anyone have a favorite they'd like to champion? My vote cannot be bought, but a good argument can always sway one's mind.

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
500 Days of Summer, Producers Jessica Tuchinsky, Mark Waters, Mason Novick, Steven J. Wolfe
Amreeka, Producers Christina Piovesan, Paul Barkin
Precious, Producers Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness
Sin Nombre, Producer Amy Kaufman
The Last Station, Producers Chris Curling, Jens Meurer, Boonie Arnold

BEST DIRECTOR
The Coen Brothers for A Serious Man
Lee Daniels for Precious
Cary Fukunaga for Sin Nombre
James Grey for Two Lovers
Michael Hoffman for The Last Station

BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
A Single Man
Crazy Heart
Easier With Practice
The Messenger
Paranormal Activity

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
Big Fan
Humpday
The New Year Parade
Treeless Mountain
Zero Bridge

BEST SCREENPLAY
Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman for The Messenger
Michael Hoffman for The Last Station
Lee Toland Krieger for The Vicious Kind
Greg Mottola for Adventureland
Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber for 500 Days of Summer

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Sophie Barthes for Cold Souls
Scott Cooper for Crazy Heart
Cherien Dabis for Amreeka
Geoffrey Fletcher for Precious
Tom Ford, David Scearce for A Single Man

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Maria Bello for Downloading Nancy
Helen Mirren for The Last Station
Gwentyth Paltrow for Two Lovers
Gabby Sidibe for Precious
Nisreen Faour for Amreeka

BEST MALE LEAD
Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart
Colin Firth for A Single Man
Joseph Gordon Levitt for 500 Days Of Summer
Souleymane Sy Savane for Goodbye Solo
Adam Scott for The Vicious Kind

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Dina Korzun for Cold Souls
Mo'Nique for Precious
Samantha Morton for The Messenger
Natalie Press for Fifty Dead Men Walking
Mia Wasikowska for That Evening Sun

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Jemaine Clements for Gentleman Broncos
Woody Harrelson for The Messenger
Cristian McKay for Me And Orson Welles
Ramon McKinnon for That Evening Sun
Christopher Plummer for The Last Station

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins for A Serious Man
Adriano Goldman for Sin Nombre
Anne Misawa for Treeless Mountain
Andrij Parekh for Cold Souls
Peter Zeitlinger for Bad Lieutenant

BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)
Anvil!
Food Inc
More Than a Game
October Country
Which Way Home

BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)
A Prophet
An Education
Everlasting Moments
Mother
The Maid

Top Ten of 2009

2010-01-26T22:22:00.003-05:00

Now that I've finally managed to catch up with the last of the major releases from 2009, I'm finally ready to state my own unasked for preferences for the top ten movies of the past year.

#10. Treeless Mountain (Dir. So Yong Kim)

A heartbreaking story of two young girls forced to grow up on their own after their mother leaves to go search for their absent father. The two girls are so natural you find yourself weeping for them at every loss and cheering for every gain. An unheralded gem that hopefully will find an audience on DVD.

#9. Star Trek (Dir. J.J. Abrams)

This is what big, Hollywood movie making is all about. With the proper amount of respect given to its predecessors, J.J. Abrams turned out the summer's best event film. Great for fans and newbies alike, I'm ready for the sequel right now.

#8. The Young Victoria (Dir. Jean-Marc Vallée)

I admit I'm a sucker for British royalty pictures, but this one managed a nice balance between regal scenes and personal ones. Emily Blunt does a fine job showing Victoria's sometimes less than royal behavior since she's...well...young. Rupert Friend is now on my actors to watch list. A nice, slice of a history lesson that goes down easy.

#7. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Dir. Terry Gilliam)

Without studio interference, Gilliam is capable of producing moments of brilliance. Parnassus has many such moments. A beautiful, visual phantasmagoria of a film, one can just sit back and be entertained by all the wild ideas thrown at the screen. Tom Waits is a hoot to watch and while there is sadness at watching Heath Ledger in his final film, he finishes in style.

#6. Drag Me To Hell (Dir. Sam Raimi)

Thankfully, Sam Raimi decided to cleanse his palate and do what he does best--horror comedy. A gooey-oozy punch of a film that provides plenty of jumps and chuckles right up to its fantastic finish. If only all PG-13 "horror" films could be like this. I knew the film was good when I didn't hate Justin Long in it, but now I'm scared of gypsies.

#5 Fantastic Mr. Fox (Dir. Wes Anderson)

Wes Anderson is a director who runs hot and cold for me; luckily, this time he ran hot. Beautiful to look at and run through with a bizarre sense of humor, Mr. Fox was the best animated film this year. (UP was good, until the villain tried to shoot Ed Asner [which does take spunk].) Here's hoping for a Roald Dahl revival.

#4. The White Ribbon (Dir. Michael Haneke)

Exploring the roots of Fascism by examining the life in a small village pre-WWI, Haneke shows how resentment over a strict upbringing can boil over. By turns creepy and harrowing, the rot that can exist underneath a seemingly peaceful, bucolic existence is laid bare.

#3. Antichrist (Dir. Lars von Trier)

Ignore the people that say this is a boring psychodrama, all are wrong. Antichrist, after admittedly a slightly dull first hour, turns into a rollicking comedy. There is simply no other explanation for the set of events that comprise the final 45 minutes. It is so ridiculous, the only response is continued laughter.

#2. The Hurt Locker (Dir. Kathryn Bigelow)

Pow! A lean and taut action thriller set in Iraq, but more concerned with the human response to war in general and fear in particular. Every set piece works, Jeremy Renner delivers a powerful performance and pieces of it linger in the mind long afterwards. Quite possibly the Best Picture winner come Oscar time (unless people go for the nature hooey of Avatar).

#1 In the Loop (Dir. Armando Iannucci)

A treat for the ears, In the Loop is the best laughs-per-minute movie I've seen in a long time. Nominally about trying to prevent the start of a war, the movie really exists as an exercise in verbal linguistics as each actor delivers the sharpest and funniest dialogue of the year. The true heart of the film lies in all the various insults the characters throw at each other; it's hard to choose a best from among them all, but "Nazi Julie Andrews" stays with me.

And there you have it, my top ten of 2009. Now, how close did I come to you? Which ones do you agree with? Which ones did I miss out on? Which ones will you call me an idiot for for not putting in the list? Fire away.....

Recorded Live

2010-01-20T12:54:00.000-05:00

Enjoy!

Birthday Shout Out

2010-01-19T23:32:00.002-05:00

Silly me, I almost let the day get away from me without wishing a big Happy Birthday to Pulcheria, Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire, who would be a sprightly 1611 years old today! Rock on, lady.

Quick Question

2010-01-19T23:26:00.002-05:00

Continuing on yesterday's post of impossible to find movies....is anyone familiar with HBO Short Takes? They were 5-15 minute short films shown between features during the 70's & 80's. I've been trying to locate the name of one for years, but have had no luck. If anyone remembers these, e-mail me and maybe you can be the lucky one to help me find this missing piece of my childhood.

Anyone?

2010-01-16T00:55:00.002-05:00

Does anyone by any chance happen to own this on VHS and can rip a copy to DVD for me? This one's an instant classic.

Dispatch From the Front

2010-01-07T18:08:00.003-05:00

Crap, now they're mutating. The first wave of attack squirrels will be harder to repel than I originally believed.

If it weren't for ITV

2010-01-07T01:25:00.003-05:00

How did I watch this show throughout most of grammar school and not end up having nightmares?

You say Goodbye, I say Hello....

2009-12-31T18:45:00.001-05:00

Merry Repost

2009-12-25T12:32:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas Y'all. Enjoy all the presents, food and guilt that comes with the holiday. I'm spending the day with the family and some friends, so if you're bored and have 16 minutes to spare, here's a repost of a short film I mentioned a while ago.

Treevenge
Uploaded by Shua_. - Classic TV and last night's shows, online.

Almost time

2009-12-24T11:42:00.003-05:00

Yay! Tomorrow's Christmas. Don't forget why we celebrate it or God will pop a cap in you. That's how he rolls.

Returned!

2009-12-23T10:28:00.003-05:00

I have returned from the sunny climes of California. All went about as reasonably well as could be expected. The memorial service was well done, including the ukulele player. A fitting tribute to Faye. My grandfather was very depressed for the first few days, but on our last day there, he perked up considerably. I guess the finality of the service allowed him to take the next step forward.

Now that I'm home, my sister is arriving with her brood in about 2 hours. Then it's Christmas, New Years and back to work. Nothing like having the next few weeks all planned out.

I flew out of sight.....

2009-12-15T13:14:00.003-05:00

Time to pack up to leave for California for the memorial service tomorrow. It will be a sad weekend, though I won't mind the 73 degree temperature that is forecast for most of my stay. I'll be back home on the 21st, just in time to receive all the cards and presents everybody sent me, or not.

Dispatch from the Front

2009-12-14T18:34:00.003-05:00

My God, they're getting brazen. Conducting training exercises out in the open in a public park. I fear they may be getting ready to mobilize before Christmas. The holidays this year may be colored gray and vicious.

Their plot begins

2009-12-10T22:34:00.003-05:00

Surreptitiously photographed, here is proof of what I've been suspecting for years. National Underground Troops of Squirrels have finally gathered enough materials to begin their assault on the human race. I will try to keep abreast of further developments.

Review- The Lovely Bones

2009-12-10T00:25:00.003-05:00

Continuing my attempts at bettering my review writing, here is the next one. Sadly, it's another misfire.

A plethora of seamless CGI effects and period details cannot save Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones from being a complete bore to sit through. Narrated by young, murdered Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan) from the “in-between”, the film charts the after-effects of her murder while Susie…well, just kind of waits around for….something to happen.

The trouble here is the fetishistic attention to detail. Set in 1973, the film gets all the period trappings correct. The “in-between” that Susie inhabits is filled with constantly shifting landscapes and amazing visuals. All this detail attention leaves less time to tell a gripping story. The movie flips back and forth between Susie observing the grieving of her family, her murderer’s (a decently creepy Stanley Tucci) follow-up moves and her own adventures in this “in-between”, which, given the visuals, is a cross between What Dreams May Come and Disney’s Afterlifeland; yet none of it registers emotionally enough to capture an audience. Susie just walks around doing not much of anything. Given the fact that the audience is told who the killer is early on, it takes an inordinate amount of time for the family to catch up. This leaves a second act that just sits on the screen so people can check their watches. Even a decent chase through the killer’s house, as Stanley Tucci goes after Susie’s younger sister who was looking for clues, leads nowhere. The film just slowly peters out.

Saoirse Ronan does manage to pull out a good performance, investing her character with the proper amount of wonder and angst given her situation. After Atonement and this film, she is one to watch for the future. Mark Wahlberg, as Susie’s father, grieves well enough as first, but then turns into the crusader and interest drops. Susan Sarandon, as Susie’s grandmother, blows in looking like Jacqueline Susann, performs a comedy routine, then is given nothing else to do.

The book of The Lovely Bones is supposed to be a searing and emotional read (I have not read it). As pretty as the film’s visuals are to look at, poring over pages with your imagination would be a much better expenditure of time than sitting through these 122 minutes.

American Idiocy--I Triple Doggy Dare You! Edition

2009-12-09T10:31:00.002-05:00

No doubt a future leader of our country.

Cold Metal and Tongue--Not a Good Match

I Want! I Want! I Want!

2009-12-09T09:27:00.001-05:00

Seriously, somebody needs to buy this for me for Christmas.

http://foolishgadgets.com/200912/2010-bubble-calendar/

We're Not Successful

2009-12-07T20:40:00.001-05:00

This is one of the more unsuccessful PSA's in my opinion. Those ragamuffins are so adorable, if I ever saw an open bottle with bluish pills peeking out, I'd gobble them up and wait for them to sing in my tummy.

Invictus Review

2009-12-04T00:21:00.002-05:00

As my first real attempt at movie reviewing outside of my class, here is my dissection of Clint Eastwood's new film Invictus.

Well-meaning but ultimately too heavy-handed, Clint Eastwood’s Invictus gets lost in the scrum. Nelson Mandela and the South African Springbok’s 1995 Rugby World Cup victory may be an inspiring story, but the constant need to show how inspiring it all was makes the film dramatically inert.

It all starts to falter when the movie presents Mandela’s (Morgan Freeman) vision of uniting white and black through the victory of the World Cup as the ultimate answer to South Africa’s woes. The thought that a sporting victory would somehow heal the wounds of the past few decades is laughable. Invictus though, treats Mandela and the idea with utmost seriousness. A bodyguard says of him: “He’s not a saint, he’s a man;” though that concept is certainly not conveyed as any hint that Mandela or his ideas might be less than perfect is not to be seen. Senses are gradually deadened as every scene turns into another opportunity for a speech about inspiration or the need to adapt to change. Mandela recruits Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), the captain of the Springbok’s, as the person to inspire the team to victory. Since the team starts off the movie as a joke, a little explanation as to how the Springboks turned it around should be warranted, but none is offered. I guess when you have star power like Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon on your side, great things just happen.

In an attempt to create tension, a sizable amount of screen time is devoted to Mandela’s security detail and their worries over a possible assassination attempt. After returning to these worries over and over, the final payoff involving a jumbo jet is so ludicrous, it plays as a parody of Black Sunday.

The true hero of the film turns out to be Eastwood’s D.P., Tom Stern, who manages to make the Rugby matches exciting to watch, especially since no attempt is made at explaining how Rugby works. Nor is there ever any dramatic obstacle to overcome; the movie’s theme runs roughshod over the Springbok’s opponents, so the outcome of every match is never in doubt.

Invictus is a Latin word that translates as “unconquerable”. The film, however, makes one want to wave the white flag, as two hours of being fed unbridled piety and inspiration feels like being beaned in the head by a rugby ball.

I've Done Stuff! The Class

2009-12-02T00:17:00.004-05:00

Since a teaching job has not been forthcoming (the past three years), I've decided to attempt something different involving my other love, movies! To that end, I enrolled in a class offered by NYU's Continuing Education School. It's called "Becoming a Film Critic" and is taught by a critic from Time Out New York Magazine, Joshua Rothkopf.

It has been a really kicking experience. I've always fancied myself a decent writer to begin with (ever since I won a short play writing contest in 5th grade), and the class has helped me focus on how to write a more publishable review than I usually do. The teacher is very entertaining to listen to (and thankfully is also quite attractive), and gets right to the heart of how to go about trying to make a go of this as a career; so I feel as if I've come away with valuable information. It's not easy breaking into media, but the course and the feedback I've received gives me the confidence that I have a decent shot at doing so, even though it still might take quite a few attempts. Confidence has always been my issue, so it's pleasant to finish a class feeling it. I've still got 1 more session to go and have a final paper to write for it, but I'm not too worried. This might be the most enjoyable final paper I've had to write, definitely more fun than a 24 page English final.

After it's over and the holidays wrap up, it will be time to see if I can put what I've learned into practice. Maybe an article on filling out my ballot for the Independent Spirit Awards or something.....

Best of all, I hope to take another class taught by Josh over the summer in horror film (if it's offered, have to wait for the catalog). Spending summer watching my favorite genre? What's not to love?

So the past few posts hopefully explain my absence over the last month. It's been hectic, and December will remain hectic, but I have a bit more free time coming my way than in November, so I probably won't disappear again.

I've Done Stuff! The Deaths

2009-12-02T00:04:00.002-05:00

Oof, I got hit with a double whammy just before Thanksgiving. I got home from driving the taxi early Monday morning to discover that something was eating all the available hard drive space on my...um...hard drive. I was up until 4AM trying to fix it but no luck. So off to bed.

8:30AM the phone rings. It's California. My grandfather's wife passed away a few hours earlier. This would be my Grammy Faye. Not technically my grandmother, but my grandfather was married to her for 24 years, so de facto, she was. This throws everyone for a loop. My grandfather has been essentially wheelchair bound with 24 hour care for the past few years. Grammy Faye saw to every aspect of the household, including his care. Everybody thought he would go before her. Unfortunately, she developed congestive heart failure over the summer, and while she had been doing ok, it appears that that shortly after November started, everything went downhill fast. Still though, she had 93 great years on the planet, and I am very happy I've had the time to get to know her. My twice yearly visits to Pasadena to spend time with her and my grandfather were always highlights.

While phone calls were being traded between the coasts, I was talking to a computer expert who finally got my computer up and running. Just an incompatible program with Windows 7 that had to be uninstalled and reinstalled. Once the computer was up, I checked email to discover that the wife of my father's best friend (who I've known all my life), passed away early Sunday morning. This was more expected, as we had received word that she had been given only weeks to live. Again, you couldn't ask to know a nicer person.

So after word of 2 deaths in 5 hours, I'm sort of glad no other bad news has come down the pipeline. I'll be heading to California from the 16th-21st of this month for Grammy Faye's memorial service and to spend some time with my grandfather. I've put a moratorium on further deaths until after the holidays.

I've Done Stuff! The Job

2009-12-01T23:36:00.004-05:00

Tutoring has been slow this year. Only 2 students that have lasted beyond a week. One showed up only periodically, and now is finished. The other cancelled the last few weeks due to being in a late term pregnancy and just had the child, so I doubt I'll see her for the next few weeks.

That leaves just one new student. A less than beloved school district I know decided that a student under its care needed a special education tutor since the teacher he's had for the past 5 years isn't certified. The child is profoundly mentally retarded. This is not the type of population I usually work with or really want to work with. I declined the job but was asked to attend an update meeting at the district since his regular teacher couldn't make it. This I agreed to. At the meeting, the district pulled a bait and switch. The meeting wasn't about any update, it was a meeting about conducting the NYS Alternate Assessment Test for the child. Since I was there on behalf of the student, I'm now the one who has to conduct this test. (The test assesses a student's ability to process information on their grade level when they are too cognitively deficient to take the regular NYS Assessment Tests.) My issue with this is that I was told the student must pass the test. I'm not allowed to hand in anything that implies that student cannot pass. However, the student does not have an eye-gaze (not blind, but he can't focus on anything), he does not have the ability to speak or understand written or oral language, nor does he have voluntary control of his movements, so no ability to write or point or gesture. His mental development is that of a one-month old baby. How do I assess this? Essentially, I was told that when he performes one of his involuntary twitches, I'm to say that he moved in response to my questioning and he understood me. How is that ethical? I'm still hoping I'm able to pass this off to someone else. I just feel very wary about putting my name to something like this.

Ok, long ranty paragraph over. I'll update this later this week after I make some calls.

I've Done Stuff! The Cold

2009-12-01T23:32:00.003-05:00

So the past few weeks have been both busy and frustrating for me. It started with a cold I caught about a month ago that turned into a cough I'm still trying to get rid of. It's that type of cold where you just kind of sit and stare straight ahead with no ambition to do anything. Many a night I sat before a blank page for a new post and just had no thoughts running through my mind. Then I'd realize I was looking at the computer screen for 20 minutes and go eat some cookies. Copious amounts of Dayquil, Tylenol and doctor recommended xithmyergkfovklin also added to the empty feeling. Hopefully the cough is gone in another day or two, then I'll be back good to rights.

White Diamonds

2009-12-01T23:27:00.004-05:00

So I caught the annual airing of this commercial today. How old is this thing? I feel like I've been seeing this ad since I was 3. And the lighting? My goodness, I know its been a few years since National Velvet, but Ms. Taylor couldn't have looked that bad when it was shot. I'm going to hedge a bet that this will still be airing 60 years from now. Anyone take me up on it?

C'est Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T10:01:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving all. I'll update on the past month I've had that has kept me abnormally busy, but in the meantime, enjoy this WKRP Thanksgiving classic.

최고 호쾌한 미친 회의 밤

2009-10-22T22:23:00.014-04:00

Once Upon a Time, Craig, Josh, Enrico, Chris D. , Dave S. , Kari, Dave, Jere, Polt and myself......

A day was set for a Puntabulous meetup. Polt and Dave S. had been contacted secretly to appear as surprise guests. What wonders (and horrors) would await in the night?

The walk across town was uneventful, save for Polt yelling out "Signal!" every few minutes. At first, I thought he was in awe of traffic lights as his hometown sadly has not yet gained electricity; however, it was his message that a guy he found to be attractive was passing by. Given the number of times he spun around to point out various signals, it's clear that Polt has a future in Ballet.

The karaoke place was reached. Eventually all filtered in. The surprise was sprung and surprise was attained. The night began.

At first, things started off slow as David was confused by the microphone:

Hmmm....Polt thought to himself. Time to take advantage of the situation.....:

First, a photo with Enrico was taken. The two then disappeared outside and were gone for 7m33s:

Upon their return, a photo with Josh. The two then disappeared outside and were gone for 12m53s:

Upon their return, a photo with Jere. The two then disappeared outside and were gone for 7m21s:

Upon their return, a photo with Craig. The two then disappeared outside for infinity. Shortly, a woman ran past screaming: "My eyes! My eyes!" Connected?:

Upon their return, a photo with me. However, as you can tell by the photo, I had recently watched a blank VHS tape and received a call telling me "Seven Days...", so Polt was hesitant to go outside. No matter, the singing began!

Dave took the microphone first and wowed us with his rendition of the instrumental theme to "Peanuts":

Kari was up next with his take on a Bubbi Morthens classic: Kannski Varð Bylting Vorið:

Next up was Josh singing some forgettable pop song released in the last 5 minutes. At least his voice is mellifluous:

Craig took his turn with his take on the theme song to "Small Wonder":

Poor Enrico just realized that Mariah Carey will not be nominated for "Precious". Polt comforts him while Dave S. mocks from afar:

The "Lady Marmalade" number!. Everyone did a fine job until Jere took the microphone, channeled his inner Young Jeezy and busted forth with a rap that had the power to reignite the West Coast/East Coast feud. If in danger, he can always move to Kalamazoo to live with Tupac and Biggie (also Elvis and James Dean.):

Sadly, my awesome spoken-word poetry version of "9 to 5" was not to be. Time had run out. We moved outside for a group shot:

Then it was off to dinner. (Well, at least for Jere.):

After dinner at the restaurant, we headed downtown to go to....another restaurant. On the subway down, I had the opportunity to listen in to Enrico and Josh's conversation. Paraphrase follows:

"So I'm totez going to buy a churchez, and gutz it and make it a house. Then I can adoptez 3 kids."
"3? Like Britney's 3? It's number 1!"
"Defferz, so I can adoptez a little white girl, a little black gurl and a little asain gyrl."
"OMG, it's a rainbow of colors!"
"Totez! It's like I'm adopting a bag of skittlez."
"What would happen if Pink chokez on skittlez?"
"Noez! I would so cry, then die then get dragged to hell."
"Totez dragged to hell."

And who would drag them to hell? Kari!:

Proving what that crazy guy on the street told me. "Icelandiandians are evil."

Back to Enrico and Josh, I can only imagine them as friends during my growing up era of the 80's:

"So I'm totally going to buy a church, then gut it apart and make the most gnarly house out of it. Then I'm going to adopt 99 kids."
"99? Like Nena's 99? That's number 1!"
"Awesome! So I'm going to adopt from every country I can think of."
"Tubular! It's like you're adopting a pack of Dynamints."
"What would happen if Martika choked on a Dynamint?"
"Barf me out! I would totally cry, then die, then go Back to the Future."
"Totally Back to the Future"

We reached the second restaurant of the evening: Room Service. Their attempt at different came in the idea that 1 chair at every table should have an entire actual door acting as the back of the chair. I was the lucky one to sit at the special seat, and it was extremely comfortable for a monk. Meanwhile, once we got to the restaurant, Polt took a picture of himself. He then disappeared by himself outside for 2m12s:

A few last rounds of drinks were consumed. Craig was engrossed by a discussion on the semantics of---HOLY CRAP! His hand is huge! That thing could swat a mouse to death:

Josh took advantage of a break in conversation to practice his version of "Blue Steel":

Sadly, Jere is oblivious to the creeping hand from the mirror dimension in the background headed to snatch his soul:

Eventually though, all good things must come to an end. Hugs were shared, as were taxis, apartment floors and hotel beds. The evening concluded and we all made our way home while telling the person next to us what we really thought about the others who were now out of earshot.

What did I take from the evening?

Well....

Irish people dress funny (and look homicidal):

Kari was birthed from a 1980's European perfume commercial:

Polt's smile never stops, mostly from all the (CENSORED CENSORED CENSORED) he engages in.

Josh and Enrico have developed their own language to be studied by future anthropologists:

Chris D. and Dave S. can wear anything and make it look good:

Dave will punch those who are not B-52's fans:

Jere will never get a break from law school work:

This night could only have happened in NYC!:

Thank You Ellen

2009-10-06T18:37:00.002-04:00

Question

2009-09-25T22:21:00.003-04:00

What is it about the Canadian Penny? I understand that Canada is right next to the U.S. and is on relatively good terms with us, however, their penny is technically foreign currency. Still, nearly every store I go to is more than willing to either take a Canadian Penny from me or give one back in change, as if it's interchangeable with our Lincoln Penny. I've never found any other currency that will work this way. Our neighbor to the South, Mexico, doesn't have coinage that works it's way into the cash registers. I don't see Euro cents or other European coinage ever appear in cash registers, but I come across more Canadian Pennies that I can keep track of. What bizarre hold does this foreign coin have on the retail workers of America that is can be used so easily? Color me confused (which I believe is a shade of fuchsia).

NYFF Schedule

2009-09-16T22:25:00.004-04:00

So I've set up my schedule for the NYFF this year. Between my weekend job and an impending visit by a cousin from out west, I've had to curtail the number of films I see from roughly 20 down to 7 this year. Oh well. If anyone (by some magic chance) happens to be at the films or in the vicinity of Lincoln Center, say hi!

Friday, September 25: Wild Grass 6pm

Saturday, September 26: The Wizard of Oz 11am

Saturday, September 26: Eccentricities of a Blond Haired Girl 5:30pm

Saturday, September 26: Vincere 8:30pm

Monday, September 28: Police, Adjective 9:15pm

Thursday, October 1: Lebanon 9:30pm

Friday, October 2: Antichrist 9:00pm

Farewell, Mary

2009-09-16T22:24:00.004-04:00

Jeez, this song still can bring a tear to my eye.

Well, that blew.

2009-09-09T14:08:00.004-04:00

So my trip down to the city for the Kathy Griffin signing turned into an unmitigated disaster. After checking the Barnes and Noble website to make sure the event was on, I made my way down to Manhattan.

First stop was Lincoln Center to pick up my tickets for the New York Film Festival. I paid last Monday (8/31) and was told the tickets would be at the box office waiting for me. They weren't. Nobody had brought any of the tickets down for pickup. In the only nice thing that was to happen that evening, Rob, the point man for the tickets, personally came down with just my set to hand them to me and chat for a few seconds. That was incredibly nice of him, I was half expecting to be told just to come back another day.

I then hopped on the subway and made the 30 minute trek down to Warren Street and the B&N. Upon arriving, we were told the following. 1. We HAD to purchase a copy of the book prior to attending the event. 2. If we wanted a book signed, we had to have a colored wristband in order to stand in line. Well, neither of those stipulations were mentioned on the website. It turned out that people had been buying books and lining up since 6:00AM. There were nearly 1000 people in line, and the chances of a signature were almost nil. Undaunted, I hopped on line to get the book. With only 4 people left in front of me, the store announced that they had run out of copies of the book, but I could buy an audio copy if I wished. No thanks, I'll wait until I'm blind for audio books.

Ok, I figured I'd still stand by the crowd and watch the event, just not be able to get anything signed. Sigh. The line for the event snaked in and out of nearly every aisle of the store. Then it turned out that the event was being held in a small corner, one that was unviewable unless you were directly in front of it, which the people aced out of books could not get to. So I stood there and listened to Kathy talk for only 6 minutes before sitting down to sign.

Dejected, I made my way back uptown and went to the Barnes and Noble on 67th Street and bought a copy of the book there. I got home and went to look through it only to discover that a printing error covered a number of the pages in large ink blotches, rendering the book worthless. I'll need to exchange it.

So basically, I blew $50 on a trip to the city to listen to Kathy Griffin speak for 6 minutes without being able to see her. Not a pleasant evening.

I'm There!

2009-09-04T15:12:00.004-04:00

Finally! I hear about an event before it actually happens. I've lost count of the number of concerts or book signings from people/groups I like because I didn't find out about it until after it took place.

So Kathy Griffin will be signing her new autobiography at the Barnes & Noble on Warren Street somewhere in NYC (must be in lower Manhattan, I've never heard of it)next Tuesday the 8th. This I can make. Who wants to come?

Oh man

2009-09-01T21:55:00.004-04:00

WTF? The tennis has barely started and Tipsy's already out? I need to find better players to follow. Jeez, Wawrinka's out too. Hopefully Safin or Roddick can make a serious go at it this year. I'm attending Thursday night, fingers crossed for somebody good to watch.