Well, Merry Christmas Scarface! I decided to sub in for you today, so I’ll continue on a point you made last week. I made a comment on his blog saying the Broncos were going to be crushed by the Chargers, and, well, exactly that happened. The Broncos were up by THREE GAMES, and only had to win ONE to make it to the playoffs, but they blew it. The Chargers on the other hand, had to WIN three in a row, and did just that. On a sad note though, the Chiefs did not make it to the playoffs despite my hopes that the other teams in the division would cease to exist. Oh well, always next year!
Month: December 2008
Double Oscar Wammy!
Interesting title eh? Well, since I saw three contender movies this week, I decided to talk about 2 of them so this series doesn’t run too long. Frost/Nixon and Milk are the two topics for today.
Milk
The weakest of the three I saw, it was still a decent movie. The concept was good, but the emotional impact wasn’t what it should have been. I really didn’t feel to close to the characters, and it just didn’t do much for the inspiring factor. The funny thing is though, in my home town, its not being played because the only big movie theater is owned by a company that is against Gay Marriage. But with the moderate filmmaking of the rest, are there any oscars that are looking good? Yes, Sean Penn did a great job acting the character. I wouldn’t be surprised after seeing the movie to learn that he was gay himself. In fact, all the actors did a great job for their parts, and I hope that it does get some of these nominations, but not much more. The directing was good, but not to the level that other movies have been this year, and it shouldn’t get a Best Picture nod since there have also been better movies. But, we never know, the Academy loves to make the wrong choices.
Best Picture- To me a long shot, but a perfect Academy choice
Best Director- Not as long of a shot, but not a good shot
Best Writing- Average shot
Best Actor- Lock
Best Supporting Actor- Any of the other actors could be nominated, but James Franco and Emile Hersch would be my top two choices
And other awards I know less about could have ok shots
Frost/Nixon
It seemed that the movies got better and better throughout the week. If you can find this movie near you, go see it. Its in very few theaters in big cities, so be lucky to be one of those who does see it. While not a great movie, it does seem to be one of the better made movies of the year. It also is tied for the most Golden Globe nominations right now, so I wouldn’t be surprised or displeased if it gets just as many, or maybe more, Academy nominations. It is one of the Best Pictures of the year so far that I’ve seen, and did deserve the Globe nominations. Also, it should be nominated for Frank Langella, who played Nixon flawlessly. Michael Sheen did a good job too as Frost, but it wasn’t quite as good. The script, based off the play, is well done, as is the directing by Ron Howard. While still not as good as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionare, or The Dark Knight, it is a solid, well made film that has a universal appeal.
Best Picture- Good chance, but shouldn’t win
Best Directing- Also a good chance, but shouldn’t win
Best Actor- Good chance, wouldn’t be sad if it won
Best Writing- Good chance, wouldn’t be sad if it won
Best Editing- It was good, but this category is mainly for action movies
Thats mostly it, but could have a small chance at others
This is what my personal Best Picture category would look line now…
Slumdog Millionaire (Won’t change)
The Dark Knight (Won’t change)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Most likely won’t change)
Frost/Nixon (Might Change)
Changeling (Subject to change)
I look at all the lonely people
I know I wasn’t going to post a music blog today, but after an argument with a friend on Facebook (“friendly disagreement”) I was looking up the cover of Eleanor Rigby by Doxology. She seems to think that this version is better than the original. I disagreed on principal, then decided to see for myself.
What I found was
1. It’s not better, I was right, but also
2. Everyone and their brother has done a cover for it
Seeing as this is my favorite Beatles song, I was disturbed and intruiged, and promptly listened to many of them. My thoughts?
Doxology: Has merits, but eh. It’s a more mellow song. Leave it mellow, man.
The Fray: I actually liked this one alright, but it sounded a bit off.
Oasis: The recording I found (I was on YouTube) was a bit quiet. I think they were playing it for a sound check before a show. It was alright, I suppose…
David Cook: I hate to admit it, but his version is what got me back listening to the Beatles. Again, has merit, but it’s not mellow anymore. Meh.
Thrice: A bit too hardcore.
Pain: The singer sounds perpetually stoned. And looks it…. this version makes my head hurt.
Godhead: They even had a music video. This was really weird… I’m going to go cut myself at an emo concert now…
Ray Charles: Meh. Not very good in my opinion. He looked like he was having fun though.
Overall, please stop trying to do sucessful Beatles covers. It will never work.
However, on Pandora, I found this really great cover group who I think does pretty much all covers… New Found Glory. They did a cover for Goo Goo Dolls’ Iris, and it actually wasn’t bad. The original was much better, but still. They also did a cover of King of Wishful Thinking, by a band whose name I can not remember. So… yeah. Music Nerd Bri is going away now.
Hallelujah!!!
Ok, so this is just a quick update on my movie situation. I have recently been complaining to everyone that our little old town is a terrible place to live, and one such reason is that lack of good movies going there. Well, Christmas is the day of miracles. Tomorrow, Benjamin Button, Doubt, and Valkyrie are all coming to that city. So I’m pretty excited, and while I still don’t like the place overall, there is a little light in all that blackness. Granted though, that if I were in Los Angeles or some other big city, I would have had these and many, many more already. So yeah, once I get back home, its MOVIE TIME!
Something Corporate
…Is a good band.
But that’s not the issue I want to talk about today. Because it’s the holiday season, I want to talk about a more festive topic.
Santa.
I am one of the millions of kids around the US that believed in Santa. Heck, I believed up until 6th grade, when my [younger!] brother’s guitar teacher ruined it for me. Granted, I was leaning towards disbelief, having figured out the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny, but Santa was real for the longest time.
Recently, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune was unable to publish an article about the existence of Santa in the newspaper, so the Tribune posted it online instead. This was because many readers expressed that their children read the newspaper and didn’t want their childhoods crushed. Also, acclaimed author of A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray posted a blog on her LiveJournal about breaking the news of Santa’s fictional character to her ten year old son. She talked about how hard that was, for the both of them.
So I ask you, you few readers of BOW, is Santa a good idea? I know that I for one was not particularly crushed when I found out he wasn’t real, and it has not caused me to distrust my parents any more than before (hah. hah. I joke). It did make Christmas Eve a lot less fun and exciting, I suppose. However, I also know that some kids do feel duped to be lied to, and hold that against their parents. Even Bray’s son, although her forgave his mother, said “I don’t like it when you lie to me. It makes me not trust you,” then said “Well, I’ve told you some lies, too. Little ones. I mean, we’re just people. People do that.”
And he’s right. People do lie. So is the Santa lie one that we should be willing to risk? I’m torn on the subject, since it depends on the kid how vehemently they respond to the news, but also since I enjoyed being lied to for those eleven-odd years and don’t really hold it against anyone.
We’ll discuss the holiness of the holiday tomorrow. Today, it’s Santa. Talk! Discuss!
I honestly have some of the best bad luck sometimes…
So it’s my birthday in a few days, and my dad bought some tickets to an NFL game for me and him and my grandpa and my big bro. I get to take a big crew somewhere fun every year as my birthday present, everyone just uses me as an excuse to go fun places and not get me a real b-day present.
Since we spend X-mas in So. Cal. every year, my dad bought tickets to the Broncos vs. Chargers game, which as you probably don’t know is a HEATED rivalry game. Just a few weeks ago it looked as if the game would mean nothing, the Broncos were up 2 games with 3 to go. All that needed to happen was for the Broncos to win one out of two, or the Chargers to lose out of two, and the Broncos would clinch. By a few crazy occurences that make me too angry to write about, the Chargers pulled off two very close games and the Donkos fell twice.
You’re probably lost, or you probably stopped reading this already, so I’m probably just talking to myself; but what this means is that the Broncos are 8-7, and the Chargers are 7-8 with the tie breaker. So the Broncos and the Chargers face off this Sunday, and whoever wins earns a playoff spot and will host a game to Indianapolis. This is what they call a “play-in” game, which means you have to play to get into the playoffs. This is just like a playoff game because the loser has to pack their bags and head home ’til next season.
To show you the importance of the game, the NFL pushed it from its regular time to the night game, which means it will be nationally televised, and I’m gonna be there!!! The adrenaline throughout Qualcom is gonna be absolutely NUTS, and the tickets are worth about 5 times as much as they were when we got them because of the importance of the game. This is one of the biggest games in either team’s recent history, and I hope my team wins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A Day Early… Slumdog Millionare Oscars
I’m sure you are thinking one of two things right now. 1. But godfather, why are you writing this a day early? or 2. You actually think we notice that you’re writing a day early? Either way, I’ll explain to my fans out there why I’m messing with their Sunday schedule of reading my fresh new blog. Well, our esteemed webmistress and I are going on a little drive tomorrow, and I won’t have time to update. So, here is another new movie, Slumdog Millionare that has some Academy Award chances.
I’m sure none of you have heard of it, seeing as it is a smaller film that was made in India. But, it is quite possibly my 1st or 2nd favorite movie of the year. Normally, I don’t like romance movies and I just want them to be over, but this one is the exception. It develops so well that even a real man like myself can be rooting for the guy to kiss the girl of his dreams. Read any review, and they’ll agree that it is one of the best movies of the year. So, which Oscars is it looking towards then? Best Picture is almost a lock for it, seeing as it’s nominated for 4 Golden Globes including Best Drama and Best Director. Well, the same awards in the Academy could easily given to this one. Slumdog could also be nominated for Best Cinematography, seeing as it easily beats out any other movie I’ve seen this year in this category. Acting awards could be potentials, but aren’t a lock since there have been other, better performances and the academy likes to go with familiar faces. That should be about it, so I’ll make a little list for those of you who were too lazy to read this whole thing.
Best Picture- Almost Positive
Best Director- Almost Positive
Best Cinematography- Good Chance
Best Screenplay- Almost Positive
Best Actor- Long shot
Best Supporting Actress- Long shot
Best Editing- Mediocre chance
Best Score- Good Chance
and other awards I know less about also all have chances
Here are the other movies that I still want/have to see to have a well balanced view of this year’s awards. They’re ranked by how much I want to see them.
1. The Wrestler (Love this director’s earlier work, and looks like one of the best sports movies ever)
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fincher made my favorite movie, and the writer wrote Forrest Gump, whats not to like?)
3. Gran Torino (My favorite director, and another great role for Clint)
4. Milk (An interesting story, and looks like it could be pretty powerful)
5. Frost/Nixon (Looks like it’s going for too much, but could be good)
6. The Reader (Could be good, but some reviews say otherwise)
7. Revolutionary Road (I’ll only see it if it gets nominated for some of the bigger awards, and the director made something similar about 9 years ago)
Let’s take what hurts and write it all down
I am really sorry I haven’t been updating lately. But I have good reasons! I’ve been super busy…
Ok, so the last time I posted was December 7. 13 days ago. Almost two weeks. I IS SORRY!!!
Since then…
I have been very unproductive, writing-wise. I wrote a poem for a Write A Book In A Year club project, but that’s really it. I want to write, though!
We got a new admin! Haley, AKA Flamingo!! Show her some lovin’!
I have found myself in a much better state of mind.
We had a Speech and Debate trip that ran long…. because we got snowed in!! We ended up staying in Red Cross cots in the high school gym (I can’t tell you where we wre, but it was about three hours from home). On the plus side…. BART AND I GOT FIRST PLACE!! WE ARE THE BEST FREAKING NOVICES EVAR!!
Then I stayed up until midnight on Sunday doing APUSH homework. Then the next day I went home at lunch, only to come back after school for speech and debate.
Tuesday I started my Spanish final and took the essay portion of my AP English test. I also read the last book in the Inkheart trilogy. IT WAS GOOD WOO. I also had a party in APUSH.
Wednesday I took the second half of the Spanish final, and the first vocab part of the AP English final. More review in APUSH. I also helped the school newspaper start a website, which I will be designing over break.
Thursday I wrote two essays in APUSH for the final, and the school newspaper December issue came in! I took the multiple choice part of the AP English final and the speaking part for the Spanish final. Then, since I vouched out of the Trig final, I retook a chapter test I missed Monday instead and chilled.
Friday I did a dance, got an awesome score on the multiple choice part of my APUSH final, got hugs from lots of people, watched a movie in newspaper, gave Bart a gangsta hat for Christmas, which he wore with a suit and aviators to “intimidate the finals”, game Tommy Pants random stuff, took a vocab test in Ap English, went to the lirary to chill during Spanish, and watched NUMB3RS in Trig. Then I went to the movies with my family to see Slumdog Millionaire (EXCELLENT MOVIE) and then came home to watch WALL-E with them (cute movie).
Today I woke up at nine and I have a giant zit that is driving me car-azy.
I’ll be posting a new YouTube video soon. Bye byes
What up?
One of the stupidest thing I can think of in sports is the way college football has their postseason… wow it’s bad.
So after the season ends, experts decide who are the best teams and who deserves to have the chance to play in the featured games. It is stupid as heck. With only an 11 or so game season, it is IMPOSSIBLE to tell which teams are the very best. So a team that could be the best team in the country, just by voting, not even get a chance to play for the national championship, it just makes no sense. The teams don’t even have even schedules, a 2 loss team in a very tough division could be much much much better than an undefeated team from a weak division. Doesn’t a normal tournament sound like the perfect way to settle all these problems? Then wouldn’t everyone get the chance to play into the championship game?
Let me just give you the low down on this year’s championship game BS. So 4 teams from the roughest divisions across the US all have 1 loss. Coincidentally, two of them played each other, and the other two also played each other. So here’s what happened.
Florida (one loss) played Alabama(no losses). Florida won, and automatically overtook them. Florida will be in the championship game, seemingly because Florida won the head to head match up.
Oklahoma played Texas. Texas beat Oklahoma, so each have one loss. However, Oklahoma will be in the championship game instead of Texas…
So Florida is better than Alabama because they beat Alabama; but Oklahoma is better than Texas even though they were beaten by Texas. What the heck?
This is Scarface signing off.
Intro
Because I am new here, our esteemed webmistriss suggests I post a little intro describing myself.
I’m a cynical realist and a hopeless romantic. Qualities I appreciate in some I loathe in others. I seek originality but am charmed by cliches. I simultaneously want people to notice and ignore me. I don’t believe in perfection but constantly find myself wanting it. The more I get to know people the more I tend to dislike them. I ask numerous questions about other people but hate having them fired at me. I don’t believe in love or happily ever afters but find myself dreaming of my own.
Politics: Libertarian
Religion: Hakuna Matata
Colours: black, green, blue
Favourite new song: We’re Not Gonna Take It ~ twisted sister
Favourite group: Bowling for Soup
Favourite Book: Prisoner of Azkaban
Favourite slash pairing: Crowley/Aziraphale
Favourite brand of peanut butter: Peter Pan
Favourite movie: Silence of the Lambs
and, of course, my namesake:
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u236/Jonnieette/6-witches-flamingos-350.jpg