Didn’t watch the Oscars because I’d predicted who would win. I am pleased to find out that I was generally right. If only my stock market picks were this good. http://wsash.net/blog/2010/03/01/my-oscar-picks/.
On March 8, 2010, In For Fun, By Bill
On March 2, 2010, In Real Life, By Bill
In early February, I commented on the toll that cancer had taken on noted film critic and columnist, Roger Ebert. It left him without the ability to speak or eat, but it could not stop his marvelous way with words as he chronicled his story. The piece I wrote is here.
Now comes word, that Ebert is able to speak using a text to speech software that in fact uses his own voice. It’s a wonderful story with a reasonable happy ending. It’s just the type tale that Ebert would give a “thumbs up.”
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/03/02/roger.ebert.oprah/index.html?hpt=Sbin
With the Academy Awards to be broadcast this weekend, I’m about to go out on a limb and make some Oscar predictions.
First of all, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a giant, but select club with 6,000 members. While it is great to think that the awards are presented to the artist who is judged to have done the best work in that year, sometimes the award is given to correct the award not being given to an artist for previous work.
Confused? Let me explain. Denzel Washington wins a 2001 Oscar award for the horrible film, Training Day, because (in my opinion) he did not win one for his 1997 film Hurricane or his 1992 Malcolm X. Want another example? How about Whoopi Goldberg winning for Ghost (1990) because she lost in The Color Purple (1985). This rationale on the part of the Academy will be the reason that Christopher Plummer wins this year and Penelope Cruz will lose (because she won last year in the same category).
Best Picture
- Should win: Up.
- Will win: The Hurt Locker. Up is nominated in a separate Animated Feature category and should win there. The Hurt Locker is directed by Kathryn Bigelow who will win Best Director because she is not Penny Marshall and she is not James Cameron.
Best Leading Actor
- Should win: Jeff Bridges.
- Will win: Jeff Bridges. Bridges didn’t win in 1984 for Starman or for a great performance in 1971’s The Last Picture Show. The Academy will reward him for his body of work with this award.
Best Leading Actress
- Should win: Sandra Bullock.
- Will win: Sandra Bullock. Bullock’s performance was the best of her career. Period. Meryl Streep again demonstrated her versatility in Julie &Julia, but she already has two awards. The Academy will give Bullock her first.
Best Supporting Actress
- Should win: Mo’Nique.
- Will win: Maggie Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal is the reason that Bridges will win the best actor award. Mo’Nique probably gave the best performance of her life in Precious, but she will be derailed by the movie, Crazy Heart.
Best Supporting Actor
- Should win: Christoph Waltz.
- Will win: Christopher Plummer. The Academy owes Plummer for his long unrecognized body of work and will reward him accordingly. Waltz’ performance was the best in an otherwise, unimpressive field.
Best Director
- Should win: Lee Daniels.
- Will win: Kathryn Bigelow. Daniels did a fantastic job getting Oscar nominated performances out of two new talented, but unknown actresses (one who was in her first film). He deserves the win for Precious. However, the Academy will give the award to Bigelow as a way to put a stick in the eye of her former husband, James Cameron who is nominated for Avatar. Cameron is unpopular in Hollywood. On Oscar night, he will find out just how unpopular he is.
Anyway, that’s my picks and I’m stuck with them until next Monday morning.
Honestly? I was surprised at how much I liked this just recently released addition to the DCAU. Crisis on Two Earths, written by Dwayne McDuffie, tells the tale of a Justice League on Another World (pun intended) led by Lex Luthor. Yes, Luthor is the good guy who enlist the aid of our world’s good guy Justice League to help him set things right on his world. 
The writing was solid and Luthor was a credible hero even to point on one occasion declining Superman’s help because as McDuffie wrote in The Once and Future Thing, Part 1, a man needs to balance his own accounts. Luthor did, in deed, balance his accounts.
One more point on the writing. There were many shout outs in this tale, especially to Star Wars. And if you look hard, you’ll find a nod to Alan Moore’s Twilight of the Superheroes, the most famous never written comic. The dialog was smart and well paced. The problem with this film is not the writing. It is the voice acting.
Mark Harmon as Superman was not really objectionable. William Baldwin as Batman was. To be blunt, Baldwin talked his lines while on the other hand, James Woods as Owlman, acted his. The difference was day and night and makes you wonder how great the confrontation between Owlman and Batman could have been if it had been Kevin Conroy instead of Baldwin as Batman. We’ll never know, but every time Batman spoke I cringed and that was not good.
By the way, if you’re looking for the evil Hawkgirl in this film, look quick because she has very limited screen time. I’ve included a shot of her so if your a fan like I am, you can get your fix. There is a story behind this Thanagarian and Martian that begs to be told and maybe someday, some fanboy (or fangirl) will take a crack at telling it – but it won’t be me.
I’ll leave it up to you whether you buy the DVD or view (and record) it from an On-Demand pay–per-view channel. The bottom line is that this is very good addition to any DCAU Justice League collection and you’ll enjoy it as long as Batman isn’t speaking.
On February 21, 2010, In Real Life, By Bill
As they have done for the last five years, the International House of Pancakes (IHOP) will offer a free short stack (3) of pancakes to anyone walking in the door between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. on February 23rd. All they ask is that you consider making a donation to the Children Miracle Network or other other charities before you leave the store.
I’m not asking you to consider making a donation. I’m telling you to do it, because it’s the right thing to do if you eat the pancakes. Besides, your contribution is tax deductible and will make you feel good. So, visit an IHOP on Tuesday, eat the pancakes and make a donation. You won’t be sorry. And don’t forget to tip your server.
http://www.ihoppancakeday.com/pancake-day-details.html
Last weekend, my wife commented about really wanting the DVD set for the show “Ally McBeal,” which ran on Fox from 1997 to 2002. Produced and written by David E. Kelley of “The Practice” and “Boston Legal,” “Ally McBeal” was smart, quick paced and funny (at least for the first two seasons).
The show used pop music as a scene transition device and while very clever, it delayed the release of the series to DVD in the United States because of delays in getting music clearances.
The entire series set was finally released last fall and I surprised my wife with the box set on Tuesday (Thanks Amazon & FedEx). Re-watching the series with my wife has reminded me of how much I enjoyed much of this show in its original run.
Ever wish you could hear Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd) of the Blues Brothers sing “Rubber Biscuits” the way he sang it at the Blues Brothers concert at the Winterland in San Francisco in 1978? Or how about the Jimi Hendrix Experience concert at the Berkeley Community Theater in 1970? Well now you can. The website is www.wolfgangsvault.com where Hendrix, the Grateful Dead and the original Fleetwood Mac and others still perform. You get to hear live concerts recorded raw (without studio cleanup) streamed to your computer free or app-enabled cell phone. The site doesn’t have everyone, but it has enough to satisfy even the most demanding appetite. The complete list of performers can be found here.
If you want to hear jazz the way it is supposed to be played – live and raw, check out Theolonious Monk at the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival. It is love.
On February 14, 2010, In Real Life, By Bill
Stevie Wonder said it first, but I shall say it today and every day that follows:
“As around the sun the earth knows she’s revolving
And the rosebuds know to bloom in early may
Just as hate knows love’s the cure
You can rest your mind assure
That I’ll be loving you always
As now can’t reveal the mystery of tomorrow
But in passing will grow older every day
Just as all that’s born is new
You know what I say is true
That I’ll be loving you always.”
Yesterday, I went to the movies and saw Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. I’ve not read the book that this movie was based on, just like I have not read any of the Harry Potter books. But unlike the Harry Potter books, it is apparent that reading the Percy Jackson books probably helps you to enjoy this film because I didn’t. I felt like I was plopped in the middle of a story and it was hard for me to root for Jackson or care about the characters.
The tale of Percy Jackson is a familiar one (every Harry Potter fan already knows it). A boy who is having difficulty in school and has a sad home life discovers that he is special. And not only is he special, but he is the only one capable of saving the world with the help of his new friends. That said, I thought the film was unremarkable, but it was not the worst way in my life I’ve ever spent 2 hours. I was struck by the fact that this film and plot are very similar to the forthcoming film, Clash of the Titans (which I still do not know why they are remaking), in that the hero goes on a quest demanded by the Greek god, Zeus.
To be blunt, not even Pierce Brosnan who played an horse’s ass (his words), Rosario Dawson or Uma Thurman could make me like this movie. If you’re familiar with the book series, you’ll probably enjoy this film a great deal. It was abundantly clear that this was the first film in a franchise. I’m just not sure that I’m up to seeing the rest of the series.
On February 6, 2010, In Real Life, Technology, By Bill
Unless you’ve hanging around dark unmentionable places, you probably know that I love technology, but more often than not the love returned is not equal to the love I give.
In October, 2008, I brought a HP Mediasmart Server running Windows Home Server. I have been in love with this box since day one. I’ve upgraded the memory and installed additional hard drives to make this, to put it bluntly, a kick butt machine. It has a very small footprint and is exceptionally quiet. The server backs up every computer every night between 2 and 4 AM without fail. If a computer is off (sleep), it will wake up the machine, back it up and let it go back to sleep. All of our pictures, music and favorite movies and videos are store on that box. Built on Windows Server 2003, the device is more than capable of handling our needs as it streams different music and videos to different computers simultaneously without missing a beat or stuttering. It even handles remote access which allows me to log into the server from work and retrieve a file if I need it.
My problem? I’m greedy and I want it to do more. I want to watch a movie that is stored on the server on the TV in the living room or the TV in the bedroom without a computer involved. Yup, I want to stream media (my favorite computer term) from the server to a non computer appliance (appliance – another computer term I love). It turns out that what I was looking for was a – gaming console. So now I am the proud owner of an Xbox 360.
I’ve hooked the Xbox to the media center in the living room, attached and configured a wireless G adapter and I was in heaven. I was able to stream movies and music directly from the server and watch the media in another part of the house. Alas, the Xbox had difficulty streaming some of my AVI files, especially those I created years ago when I was learning how to create them. It had no problem with WMV files, and I started converting all of my AVI files to WMV. It streams those movies with no stuttering or buffering issues.
By the way, I’m not a “gamer” and even through the Xbox came with two games, they’ve never been played and remain unopened. I didn’t buy the console to play games. I bought it to stream movies and let me tell you, the Xbox is a welcome addition to my home computer network. And that is something I thought I’d never say about any gaming console.
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