2005 Academy Award Winners

I did better than last year by one. I guessed 16 correct winners. I should have gone with Millon Dollar Baby for best picture, but Scorcese's lack of winning four previous times blinded my judgement. The better film won which makes me happy.
I missed some of my complete guesses like Short Film - Live Action and Documentary Short Subject, however I got their counterparts right. I also missed both music categories, which is bollocks. Any song that gets more radio play should be the clear winner. Passion of the Christ had a much more haunting and memorable score than any of the other nominees.
Passion of the Christ was the political scapegoat this year. It should have won in two categories, but missed taking an award for all of its options. The score was one of those obtainable categories and the other was makeup. The job makeup artists did to Jesus in that film was amazing. I am upset at the academy for not recognizing Passion of the Christ as the clear winner in either of those two categories. I will admit that the movie isn't a best picture, but it has a powerful story that is going to be extremely effective for the Christian Coalition in the future.
I was quite pleased with Chris Rock as host. He didn't cross any lines. He made fun of every type of celebrity, whether it be black, white, fat or thin. My two favorite jokes he made was about Michael Moore wanting to do the movie Supersize Me and the one about the check-cashing place. I hope to see Rock back as host in the future. Of the hosts I've seen, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, and Chris Rock are some of the best. However, I've only been watching for the past few years. Whoopi and Letterman sucked as hosts.
Do view all the winners of the 2005 Academy Awards you can go to http://www.oscar.com.

2005 Oscar Predictions

I have been back and forth for a few weeks now as to who and what I'm going to vote for. Do I go for sympathy votes due to recent deaths or numerous nominations but lack of wins or do I support epic films done in the old Hollywood style? Tonight will decide the best of 2004. The following are my predictions for the night. I am teetering on best picture, so it will be updated hourly.

Picture: The Aviator

Director: Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby

Actor: Jamie Foxx for Ray

Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman for Million Dollar Baby

Actress: Hilary Swank for Million Dollar Baby

Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett for The Aviator

Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Sideways

Writing (Original Screenplay): Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Animated Feature: The Incredibles

Film Editing: The Aviator

Cinematography: The Aviator

Music (Score): The Passion of the Christ

Music (Song): "Accidentally in Love" from Shrek 2

Art Direction: The Aviator

Costume Design: The Aviator

Makeup: The Passion of the Christ

Sound Editing: Spiderman 2

Sound Mixing: Spiderman 2

Visual Effects: Spiderman 2

Foreign Film: The Sea Inside

Documentary Feature: Born into Brothels

Documentary Short Subject: Hardwood

Short Film (Animated): Ryan

Short Film (Live Action): Little Terrorist

I Agree With You Greggo

Greg "The Hammer" Williams believes strongly in the following creedo: celebrities don't go to jail. I completely agree with that statement. Rappers are about the only ones who truly get busted and even a high percentage of those make it free of charge.
The following link, http://movies.yahoo.com/news/ap/20050224/110931426000.html, is a story about the actor Tom Sizemore. He has done such films as Saving Private Ryan and Heat. The man is on probation and failed seven drug tests this month alone, and we are even in a short month. Yet, the judge refuses to put the man in jail until his hearing.
If this guy was Joe Blow Drug Addict off the street he would be thrown in a cell without a doubt in the world the right thing was being done. However, because Sizemore is a celebrity he gets five-star treatment.
Is this what's wrong with America? Is a problem we face that we put too much emphasis on stars and athletes than we do on the common man? Or do these celebrities deserve special justice? I think not, but there is nothing we can do. As long as People magazine is being bought and Entertainment Tonight is rated so high we will always have this problem.

Casino Royale Is Really Going To Come To Theaters

This news will probably bore most of you, but I enjoy this subject and it makes me happy. Martin Campbell, the director of the upcoming James Bond movie Casino Royale, has confirmed a basic plot with not too much visual effects and explosions like previous films.
Campbell said, "There are things that will have to be changed from the original novel. The Cold War elements will have to be reconfigured, for example, but Casino Royale will be a grittier, tougher and more realistic Bond movie. We'll be getting away from the huge visual effects kind of films."
He went on to add, "In the new film, Bond is essentially starting out in his career, and has just recently become part of the double-0 section. The idea is to put a bit of the dash back in Bond. By the end of the movie, the character will have been forged into the wiser, harder Bond we know."
This means a couple of things. First, M will have to be reverted back into a man. The timeline is going to be smudged a bit, so we will have to go back to Bond's boss being male. I'm not against female authority, it just makes more sense.
Second, if we have a Q, which rumors have been saying their won't be a place for him and I believe it now after hearing the plot from Campbell, it would be confusing for audience members to see John Cleese as the gadget-giving character. I predict there will either be no Q or it will be played by someone else, even though I really liked John Cleese in the role.
Thirdly, there has to be a lot of smoking and drinking from Bond. His character in Ian Fleming's novels was cold, hard and had many vices, women included in those. Campbell has said, "I'm looking forward to humanizing Bond a bit. In the novel, Bond smokes 70 cigarettes a day - unbelievable. And he gets a little drunk."
I think Campbell will enjoy making this film and his enjoyment will show on the screen. I am completely confident in his ability as a director because of his work with the Bond series before. He has directed works like Beyond Borders and The Mask of Zorro. He has the range to do both drama and humor. I am getting more and more excited everyday for this movie. It could make or break the future of the Bond series in Sony's hands.

I Suck!

It came down to me and Chad. I had a 2-1 chip lead over him and I couldn't close the deal. Why? Because I suck. This puts Chad even further ahead in the scores and gives him another win to use in case of a tie between the two of us. The following are the scores.
Chad - 1 point
Matt - 2 points
James - 3 points
Danny - 4 points
Clint H. - 5 points
Brent - 6 points (didn't show)
Hector - 7 points (didn't show)

Overall:
Chad - 22 points
Matt - 24 points
James - 28 points (used his bye)
Clint M. - 29 points (used his bye)
Danny - 29 points (used his bye)
Brent - 37 points (used his bye)
Clint H. - 39 points (used his bye)
Hector - 41 points (used his bye)

Had A Blast In The Shreve

This president's holiday weekend I spent time reflecting on my country's leaders by celebrating in the land of the Louisiana Purchase. When Thomas Jefferson purchased the territory for $15 million he doubled the land of the United States. He also inadvertently created a gambling haven for Texans.
The trip was going to be Joanna, Clint, Kristyn, Chad, Randy, Danny, Brandy, James and me. However, a few couldn't make it and the number dropped. When Saturday rolled around, it was Kristyn, Clint, Chad and me in the car with Joanna already in Shreveport because of a death in the family. We drove to Nacogdoches, where we ate at Peking and played frisbee golf while Kristyn drove around Nac remembering the good times.
We arrived in Shreveport at about 5:00 in the afternoon and were anticipating a long wait on the $4-8 Texas Hold'em table. We called when we left Arlington, seven hours earlier, and put our names on the list, but we called after leaving Nac and they told us call-ins are only on the list for three hours. We arrived with three names ahead of ours. They hadn't taken our previous names off the list. We waited for a table for about 20 minutes.
Saturday night, we quit playing poker about 11:00. We ate at the diner in the hotel lobby and then went upstairs and ordered a movie. The movie was Flight of the Phoenix. Don't ever watch it. It stinks. Chad and I made fun of it the rest of the weekend, mainly because we were the only two who stayed awake for the entire thing. It was predictable and boring.
Sunday brought a new poker day. I went downstairs at 9:15 a.m. and sat right down for poker. Played about 7 1/2 hours with a lunch break in the middle of that. The girls did their spa thing. Joanna got beaten up during her massage. The lady internally bruised Joanna from her rubbing.
We all went to a seafood place for dinner that Clint and Kristyn found on a walk of Shreveport. They proceeded to tell us about it and then asked us not to come up to the room for 20 minutes. A little pregnant sex for the two of them. They got 22 minutes and barely finished. Some 66 second man he is.
The seafood joint wasn't great. It wasn't even good. They charged for refills after the first refill. They charged more for a loaded baked potato and you couldn't substitute your fries for a potato. And the food wasn't that great.
One great thing about staying in the hotel is you can put your name on the list for poker and then go up to your room to wait. They will call when they have a seat for you. We put our names down, went and ate dinner, came back to the room and watched Desperate Housewives before we were called again.
We woke up Monday morning and decided not to play in the poker tournament. We dined at the buffet for lunch and then drove home. We had lots of laughs and everyone enjoyed the trip. We even got a cheaper room rate because we played poker. It was great.

Oscar Update

The presentation is only ten days away. I am getting more excited as each day passes. I have seen a few of the films nominated and think The Aviator will win a couple of its 11 nominations, but how many is hard to say. Million Dollar Baby will beat out Martin Scorcese in Best Director though.
There have been rumors about Chris Rock offending some members of the academy with his jokes and remarks lately. Gil Cates, producer of the show, said no one has complained and Rock will do a great job.
Cates said, "Anyone who has ever seen Chris Rock's work knows that he is a very funny man. They also know that he is not afraid of making observations that may offend someone somewhere. And that is exactly why we chose him to host the 77th Annual Academy Awards."

Theater Geeks And Freaks

Today I am subbing a theater class. I am surrounded by goth, gay and Goethe. I am sure something of interest will happen by the end of the day. I'll keep you updated.

Funniest Thing I've Heard All Week

Tuesday night during our poker game Hector said the quote of the week. He raised a hand, which wasn't anything new for Hector, and Clint M. said, "I call." Hector immediately turned to Clint and with utter shock in his voice said, "You do." Then he turned back around to Chad and mumbled, "Ah, Clint give Hector no respect."
This is probably one of those "you had to be there" moments, but for the ones who were there it was funny. I salute you Hector and this blog is for you.
A close second for funniest statement was by Danny last night. I asked if he would miss hockey and he said, "Actually, I liked it more when they were playing because I heard about it less." It's close, but Hector has it.

TOC Night 7

Not a lot of interesting play occured last night. Hector was a crazy, ballsy man. He went all in with 6-7 offsuit, and it wasn't for a small amount. Brent arrived late again because of work, but the time spent away didn't help much. With my poor finish, I now lose first place since the second week. The scores are as follows:
Clint M. - 1 point
Chad - 2 points
Danny - 3 points
Hector - 4 points
Matt - 5 points
Brent - 6 points
Clint H. - 7 points

Overall Standings:
Chad - 21 points
Matt - 22 points
James - 25 points (used his bye)
Danny - 25 points (used his bye)
Clint M. - 29 points
Brent - 31 points (used his bye)
Clint H. - 34 points (used his bye)
Hector - 34 points (used his bye)

Top 10 Things I'm Out On

My cousin Clint started a blog which included the top 10 things he was out on. He would update it every week. It lasted two issues. I have decided to list my top 10 outs. They are in no particular order.
1. The Grammy Awards
2. The Simpson sisters
3. Michael Eisner
4. Starbucks
5. Spanish (Espanol)
6. The idea of naming your kid Nation
7. George Lucas
8. Reality television
9. Pantego/Dalworthington Gardens law enforcement
10. Hilary Clinton

Heaven, I'm In Heaven

While many have heard me complain about the terrible conditions we live in, mainly how poor pop culture is, last night took me to a time when life was simple and movies weren't yet classics.
For Valentine's Day I took Joanna to dinner and a show. I had two choices. One was a meal and Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and the other was dessert and a showing of the 1954 Audrey Hepburn film Sabrina. I opted for Sabrina. I usually have to be in the right mood for Shakespeare whereas I'm always ready for Hepburn or Humphrey Bogart.
We had a quick, but satisfying, steak at Tony Roma's and then were off to the theater. When we entered downtown Grapevine I could feel a change taking place. I had a hunch this night would be different than most. The city was transforming as we traveled north on Main Street. It was morphing from a modern metroplex, made up of criss-crossing interstates and bustling commerce, to an old-fashioned Mayberry. The buildings were erected to resemble the nostalgic 50s.
Then I saw what I was looking for. With a neon red marquee suspended from the entrance, the Palace Arts Center was looking glamorous and glitzy. Joanna and I entered the theater and waited in line to grab some drinks and dessert. A wine bar was open and I was tempted to order a glass. Generally I detest wine, but since seeing Sideways a few weeks ago I have been tempted to taste something that is not a merlot. We settled for a coke and bottled water.
We were then ushered to the dessert line. While waiting for the dressy men and women in front of us to dip their assorted fruits in the fountain of chocolate, a friendly man in his mid-40s approached us and described the two cheesecakes available. Joanna selected the turtle cheesecake, a caramel-covered chocolate dessert, and I settled for the other. Why should we both get the same one? I was brought a New York cheesecake with raspberry glaze and three raspberries on the side. It went great with my chocolate-covered strawberries.
When the doors were opened, giving us the signal to be seated for the evening feature, I whisked Joanna upstairs. I wanted to experience the viewing from the balcony. An elderly gentleman, with microphone in hand, strolled down the aisle to the main stage. He told us some history behind the movie, the players and the house.
Immediately after the lights went down and the black-and-white cinema came up, I felt a sensation of excitement and child-like joy rise up in me. I was watching a beautiful woman in a classy film from the balcony. All that was missing was the news reels shown about the war before the picture.
Nothing could have gone wrong for those two hours. Afterwards, I couldn't stop from smiling as I drove home. Hepburn was irresistible, as usual. Bogie was hard, but likeable. William Holden was still desirable, despite his character's flaws. And I was hypnotized by it all. I was in a state of admiration and grace.

Polanski Seeks Justice

One of the great directors of the 70s was Roman Polanski. He filmed suspenseful, captivating movies like Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby and the recent Academy Award winner for best director The Pianist. Polanski has been living in France since 1978 due to fleeing child-sex charges in the United States. He pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, a 13-year-old girl, but fled Los Angeles soon after thinking the judge would not uphold the deal he made with the prosecution. He cannot be extradited under French law.
Why do I tell you all of this? Let me explain. Polanski is asking for restitution in a libel case with Vanity Fair. Polanski is seeking to sue Vanity Fair publisher Conde Nast over an article stating Polanski made advances on a woman in a New York restaurant while on his way to his wife's funeral. His pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, died in 1969. She was murdered by Charles Manson's followers in Los Angeles.
The British House of Lords has ruled in a 3-2 decision the director should not be denied access to justice because of his unwillingness to come to Britain for fear of being arrested and extradited to America. He has been allowed to video link himself to the court and give evidence and his testimony.
"Despite his fugitive status, a fugitive from justice is entitled to invoke the assistance of the court and its procedures in protection of his civil rights," said Lord Nicholls, who voted with the majority.
I have a few problems with this entire thing, so let me hit each point one by one. First of all, Polanski is a sick bastard. He's a great director, but he should be in jail. He had sex with a 13-year-old. Does he have no moral fiber in his body?
Secondly, any normal, morally-straight person would consider this a punishable act. Since France doesn't consider sex with a minor a crime, this makes me say, "Nazis, you can have them back." It disgusts me to think France will allow such scum in its borders.
Thirdly, would any court allow Joe Blow, a no-name sex offender, the courtesy of sending his testimony in a libel suit via satellite? No they wouldn't. This just upholds my theory that celebrities don't go to jail.
Finally, I feel fugitives of justice shouldn't be allowed their civil rights. At least not certain rights. Polanski has not accepted the consequences for his actions, so why should another person be punished by him if he will not be allowed to be punished? I'm not saying two wrongs make a right, but what I am saying is Polanski doesn't deserve justice. Nast should be held responsible for his actions, but Polanski better not get anything from it. Not a dime. Not even an apology. Not until he has come to grips with what he has done.

Professional Poker Tour

I was reading one of Daniel Negreanu's entries on his blog and discovered a new poker show will be broadcast. It is the Professional Poker Tour (PPT). It will go along with the World Poker Tour, however, the difference will be anyone can enter a World Poker Tour event whereas only a person who has established themselves in the poker community will be invited to join the PPT. The following is some of the requirements to be invited by the Professional Poker Tour committee:

To be eligible, players must have proven themselves by: winning or making a final table at a WPT event or a WPT Championship, scoring as a top 10 point leader in WPT Player-of-the-Year rankings, winning or placing highly in the $10K buy-in event at the World Series of Poker, securing a spot on either CardPlayer Magazine's Card Player of the Year Top 10 list or Poker Europa's Top 10, or being a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.

This is very cool. Viewers will now get to see only the top players play against each other. The random, lucky player won't be at a final table. Aspiring card players will now be able to see how the best play certain hands. I am extremely interested in this and can't wait to see when it is aired.

Addison Already Causing Conflict

The baby was born at 8 pounds, 11 ounces and was 20 inches long. I got the 20 inches right. It was delivered at 5:36 p.m. and family began going back by 6:04 p.m. However, others were seeing this kid at 5:45 p.m.
What kind of a world do we live in where a woman who has no blood relation to the child is allowed to view the baby and stay in the room the entire evening before the grandfather, aunt or second cousin? Okay, I'll admit the second cousin is stretching it, but we're a really close family.The first people to see Addison Courtney Mangrem, outside of Mommy and Daddy, were the grandmothers. Alright, that's legit. Then we move down the list to... let's see who's next. Aunt, yeah, and woman of no relation who is a friend of the parents and rubbed the mother's feet during the pregnancy. What? How did she make the cut?
Shouldn't Pop go back next? What about Tia? She was the first one at the hospital that morning. Okay, fine. We'll let one of the aunts, not Kristyn though, and a no name have the room for a few minutes. A couple minutes pass and Kristyn, my mom and I are still complaining about how we got bumped. A few more minutes pass. Finally we tell Larry, a.k.a. Pop, to go back there. He's wearing a button that says grandparent for goodness sake. He then comes and gets my mom, who is Tia.
After that things starting descending at a normal rate. However, one person is still in the room, the foot rubber. When they only allow a certain number of people in the room at a time, shouldn't certain people have the common decency to leave after they have been in there long enough?
It didn't bother me that I was last on the family list to see this new kid, but I should be before non-family members. I at least deserve that, don't I? It's the principle of the thing.

TOC Night Six

It finally was broken. The curse of the frog has not inflicted someone with a worse than half finish. James was the closest to breaking the curse, but Chad has finally shown the curse had no hold of him. After winning last week, everyone expected a poor finish because of the frog. However, he finished in third last night. He is unhappy with his three points, but it is probably because I was supposed to finish in fifth. Here is how it broke down last night.
Matt - 1 point
Brent - 2 points
Chad - 3 points
Clint H. - 4 points
Clint M. - 5 points
James - 6 points
Hector - 7 points (no show)

I pulled out a miracle runner-runner to double up and get back in the game. This is probably where Chad's frustration stems from.
Overall scores are:
Matt - 17 points
Chad - 19 points
Danny - 22 points (used his bye)
James - 25 points
Brent - 25 points (used his bye)
Clint H. - 27 points (used his bye)
Clint M. - 28 points
Hector - 30 points (used his bye)

TOC Week Update

With the race still pretty tight for all positions, we will be having an interesting night. Hector, thanks to my lovely girlfriend for pointing out Friday night, is tied for last and must take a personal day and will not be playing. He used his bye last week, due to the weather, and must take a last place finish.
Brent is also taking quite a risk. He has a catering job tonight and must come late. His blinds will be forfeited, however he will still be able to play when he gets there. He may lose half his stack, but it will be enough to work with. He may also move up a spot from players who are knocked out before he ever arrives.
Clint M. rose above the mire last week and beat the slump he was in. His third place finish helped him slow down his increasing score and gave him the confidence he needed to end his last weeks in winning spots to catch up to the leaders.
Danny is taking his bye this week. This will help his score due to him being only one point lower than the four way tie for last place. This gives Chad, James and myself a chance to pass Danny or stay ahead and keep the pressure on.
With two players gone, the curse of the frog on Chad and so much at stake, tonight could very well catapult someone ahead of the pack and decide the rest of the Tournament of Champions.

A New Addition

Tomorrow, Mark and Julie will have a baby girl. Her name will be Addison. Pretty normal for our family. So far, we have named two boys Major and Cade. Addison seems like Mary to those two names. Having a baby in the family is always exciting, but it will be odd having a girl. The only girl we had growing up was my cousin Kristyn, but it was her against three guys.
When the family would get together, the kids would tag team wrestle (me and Bart against Mark and Kristyn) on our grandparents extra-king size bed. Actually, it was probably a queen, but to us it was huge. We would look at the same bed 15 years later and wonder how all four of us fit on the thing. Kristyn did add a woman's touch to the group however. One time while driving on a trip from Weathorford, Bart took his shoes off and his feet stunk. Kristyn decided to fix the problem by putting her perfume on his toes. It intensified the unbearable odor by a hundred times. We all rolled down the windows and started gagging.
I don't see little Addison wrestling with Major and Cade. Major would probably push her off the bed if she looks at him wrong and Cade will chunk a ball into her eye if she gets too close. I feel bad for the girl. She is going to have it rough if another girl doesn't come along soon. Either Kristyn and Clint need to have a girl or I need to get on the stick with this baby thing. Yet, I don't see the latter happening for quite some time.

Big News

I have to share this with you. I know most of you don't care about the subject matter, but oh well. I'm excited.
EON productions, the company who makes James Bond movies, has officially announced today the next Bond film, called Bond 21 until now, will be titled Casino Royale and be directed by Martin Campbell. Campbell directed the 1995 Bond film Goldeneye. It is considered by many fans the best of the Pierce Brosnan era. I would agree with this.
The news is wonderful for many reasons. 1. Campbell did a great job with the last Bond picture he did. 2. The title is the only one of Ian Fleming's that hasn't been used. 3. If the rumors of going back to the roots of Bond and doing a small scale film, instead of an action piece, are true then Casino Royale is the perfect book to follow.
The only down side of this news is the producers, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, didn't confirm who the new James Bond would be or if John Cleese would appear as Q. Speculation is saying Q will not be featured in the new film. That would be a huge mistake on the producers and writers part.
This news has made me so happy, which is good because I was having a downer of a day. This is so great.

TOC Night Five

Well, each week I want to take my bye, but I keep finishing pretty well. Last week was a second place finish and I repeated that this week. The scores are below:
Chad - 1 point
Matt - 2 points
Clint M. - 3 points
James - 4 points
Brent - 5 points
Danny - 6 points
Clint H. - 7 points

Overall score:
Matt - 16 points
Chad - 16 points
James - 19 points
Danny - 22 points
Clint M. - 23 points
Clint H. - 23 points (used his bye)
Brent - 23 points (used his bye)
Hector - 23 points (used his bye)

The Good Old Days of Today

In 30 years, when some of us have passed on from either cancer, old age or drug use, the remainders will pine for the good old days. What makes the past so wonderful? Is it the nostalgia of our youth, the good memories we hold onto, while disregarding the horrible and derogating ones, or is it just simply things were less complicated and more enjoyable before the latest of this came along or the crime rate of that went up?
What fascinations and fixations of today will we miss later in life? It's not going to be Starbucks. Starbucks will become the Taco Bell of Demolition Man. Do you remember that movie? Taco Bell becomes the only restaurant in the entire city. Starbucks will not be missed by anyone.
Will it be bicycles and touch-tone phones we long for again? Instead we will have jet-propelled hover bikes and voice activated phones. Will we miss the rudimentary things in life like petite coffee shops and the newspaper? When I think about iconic pop culture of the 1950s I think of Mom and Pop diners and paperboys yelling the headlines from street corners. Where are those bits of history today?
When we are old and gray and wish for the days of old, what will come to mind for us? We criticize so many things, yet, in a short time it will be missed because it will have been replaced by something fancier, faster and less sentimental.