The Gold Rush

It's kind of hard not to adore Charlie Chaplin!

It's Been One Week..

I haven't posted since before last Sunday's Oscar ceremony. Sorry. Marisa Tomei's gorgeous dress caught my attention, preventing me from accomplishing any tasks for a week. It's true! Well, not really. Anyway what did I think about the show? I liked it, aside from the Slumdog Millionaire sweep. I find sweeps in general boring - a movie cannot be the best in every category. Hugh Jackman was splendid as the host. Hopefully he'll be brought back nexy year. I enjoyed the storyline of the awards, showing the process of filmmaking from script to post-production, and I really liked the acting presentations, bringing out former winners in the category to present the current nominees. Best of the bunch was Shirley MacLaine discussing Anne Hathaway They should bring that part back again, but maybe shorten each of the introductions and include clips of the films. Just an idea.

Predictions for Tonight's Oscars

The Oscars finally come on tonight, and I should be a lot more excited than I am. I guess it's the expectation of the inevitable Slumdog steamroll. There has to be something exciting about it tonight - maybe Hugh Jackman's hosting. He better be singing and dancing up a storm. I know it would never happen, but I think he should also host part of the show shirtless. Ratings boost!
So, anyway, here's how I'm predicting the night might go:

Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Director: Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Actor: Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Actress: Kate Winslet - The Reader
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Supporting Actress: Viola Davis - Doubt
Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire
Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle - Slumdog Millionaire
Film Editing: Chris Dickens - Slumdog Millionaire
Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt & Victor J. Zolfo - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Costume Design: Michael O'Connor - The Duchess
Makeup: Greg Cannom - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Original Score: A.R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire
Original Song: "Down to Earth" - WALL-E
Sound Mixing: Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty - Slumdog Millionaire
Sound Editing: Richard King - The Dark Knight
Visual Effects: Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Foreign Language Film: The Class (France)
Animated Feature: WALL-E
Animated Short: Presto
Documentary Feature: Man on Wire
Documentary Short: Smile Pinki
Live Action Short: Spielzeugland (Toyland)

Sunday Blessings - Colin Farrell

Last night I watched the film In Bruges on DVD, and because of that, today's edition of Sunday Blessings is devoted to Colin Farrell. It's a great film, and I'm happy Farrell won the Golden Globe, as he gives a great performance, definitely his best to date. His speech at the Globes was also made him come off so much more adorable, as he got all choked up. You sort of have to feel bad for the guy and his career. He made a big splash in 2000, with his first film Tigerland, even winning the Boston Film Critics Best Actor prize for it, but followed it up with a series of crappy Hollywood films, although he was always good in them. Farrell was the sole bright spot in the otherwise craptacular Daredevil (shudders). 2004 was to be his big breakthrough as a Hollywood leading man, with Oliver Stone's Alexander. The film turned out to be a big unwieldy mess, it bombed, and somehow Farrell took most of the blame, instead of the guy who actually made the film, Stone. As a result he became something of a joke, more associated with his public antics and hook-ups. Farrell never seemed to get the credit he deserved as an actor, particularly for The New World and Intermission, nor has he recieved the credit he deserved as a sex symbol. His sex appeal was often relegated to the TigerBeat variety, as opposed to the leading man variety, like a Daniel Craig or Jude Law. It's unfortunate, because the man is undeniably hot. Just saying. Anyway, I can't wait to see what he does with The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, in which he replaced the late Heath Ledger, along with Jude Law and Johnny Depp. If anyone could replace Ledger, it's the combination of that trio. Praise Jesus.

Indie Spirit Winners

I did pretty well in my predictions. I was surprised my the Best Director win for The Visitor. Tom McCarthy is actually kind of adorable, so I wish he would just shave off that god-awful beard. It's not doing anything for him! Also, I knew I should have predicted Penelope Cruz for Supporting Actress, but I thought they wouldn't give her the prize, seeing as she has a decent chance at the Oscars, and they would want to award DeWitt, since she seems to have been forgotten all awards season. I was wrong. Poor Rachel Getting Married. Even the Indie Spirit Awards don't want to go near it. What is it, radioactive?

The Winners:

Feature: The Wrestler
Female Lead: Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Male Lead: Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Supporting Female: Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Supporting Male: James Franco - Milk
Director: Thomas McCarthy - The Visitor
Screenplay: Woody Allen - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
First Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Cinematography: The Wrestler
First Feature: Synecdoche, New York
Foreign Film: The Class
Documentary: Man on Wire

Independent Spirit Award Predictions

The Independent Spirit Awards are being held tonight, so I thought I'd have a go at trying to pick the winners. Usually the Spirits are awarded to the bigger stars/celebrities, and to films and performances that are also nominated for an Oscar. It's as if the voting body decides, "well the Academy probably won't give you the award tomorrow night, but we will!" Anyway here it goes:

Best Feature: The Wrestler
Best Director: Jonathan Demme - Rachel Getting Married
Best Male Lead: Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Best Female Lead: Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Best Supporting Male: James Franco - Milk
Best Supporting Female: Rosemarie Dewitt - Rachel Getting Married
Best Screenplay: Woody Allen - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best First Feature: Synecdoche, New York
Best First Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Best Foreign Film: Gomorra
Best Documentary: Man on Wire
Best Cinematography: Harry Savides - Milk

Everybody Wants to See Bear Grylls' What?.

By far the most popular search that leads people to my blog, is "bear grylls penis." From Texas and India to Germany, Australia and the Phillipines, a lot of people are searching for Bear Grylls' penis. I'm sorry to disappoint people, since I don't have pictures of it. I guess my blog comes up on the google search, as result of a previous Sunday Blessings post, devoted to Bear, where I discussed inconsistency of the Discovery Channel's stance on nudity. They'll blur out Bear's genitals but show those of tribal Indians. Anyway I'm sorry if people are disappointed, but to alleviate the pain, here's a picture of Bear's adorable backside.

It's Been a While...

I haven't posted all week, and in actuality, I haven't posted much in the past two weeks. Come next week, I should be posting regularly again. This post is specifically about last night's television, which has quickly become my favorite night of television. The night is so worthy of me staying home and watching television live rather than recording my programs - Lost, Life on Mars, Damages, and Top Chef are all worth it. It was nice to see Jeff brought back on Top Chef, even if it only turned out to be for one challenge, and I'm happy to see Carla win the challenge and continue onto the finale. Since they kept Stefan over Fabio in the end, it's now obvious he's going to win. I'd be shocked if he didn't, but I'm still rooting for Carla. Life on Mars had a great episode last night, after having had a series of only decent to good episodes since returning. Before canceling it, I really hope the network allows the show to wrap up its storylines. Nothing, however, beat Lost, which opened with Jack waking up on the island, and flashing back to see how he got to there with the rest of the Oceanic Six. The show, thankfully, seemed to slow its pace down, in order to deal with character development. I also enjoy how it appears the show has gone full circle. The series started with the characters stranded on an island after a plane crash, with flashbacks that detailed how each of them came to be on the plane, and now the characters have arrived back on the island after a "plane crash?," and the show will provide flashbacks of how they got onto the second plane. I love it! It was good to see Said Taghmaoui finally appear on the show. I've like Said since seeing him in Three Kings and have been excited ever since learning he was to appear on the Lost. I can't wait to see what happens or happend with his character. Speaking of character actors I enjoy, Lynn Cohen appeared on Damages last night, as the ailing wife of Patty's go-to-guy/uncle. Hopefully it wasn't a one shot deal.

Sunday Blessings - Daniel Dae Kim

Just a quick write up for today's edition of Sunday Blessings. In honor Jin's return on Lost, I decided to give thanks for Daniel Dae Kim. One half of the couple I consider to be the heart of the series. The other being Sun, played by the marvelous Yunjin Kim, who somehow still doesn't have an Emmy nomination. Lost is known for putting beefcake on display, with shirtless scenes of Josh Holloway, Matthew Fox, Henry Ian Cusick, and Naveen Andrews. Over the course of the series, it's also lost a good deal of hotness, with killing off Ian Somerhalder, Rodrigo Santoro, Dominic Monaghan, and Matthew Fox's chest hair (I think that hurt me the most), so I'm glad Daniel remains on the series. The show continues to be addictive, going full steam ahead and wrapping up all its plot strings. If I have one suggestion about this season, it's that I wish the series would take a breather every once and a while. It's currently very plot heavy, and I always thought what made the series great was its ability to stray from the central plotline and deal with emotional relationships and have comic situations that weren't necessarily important to the great plan of the series. I wish it would interject some of that this season. Anyway, I know I got off track. This was meant to be an appreciation of Daniel Dae Kim's beauty, and isn't he beautiful looking? I'm happy he's back on the show, and here's hoping he shows some more skin this season. Praise Jesus!

Can Someone Give Maggie Siff a Series

After great recurring roles on Mad Men and Life on Mars, I think she deserves a starring role a televison series. I wonder if Siff does contemporary as well as she does period.?

Go Carla! Go Carla! Go Carla!

Why Is the Discovery Channel Tempting Me?

They keep bringing in attractive guys to host shows. First there was Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs, then came Bear Grylls on Man vs. Wild and now they have Jeff Lieberman on Time Warp and escape artist Jonathan Goodwin on One Way Out, and somehow, they've all wound up shirtless on their series. Why Discovery Channel? Why are you tempting me with cute guys to watch your programs? Very sneaky!

BAFTA Winners

The Baftas were also held yesterday, and I completely forgot to watch the ceremony. I knew there was a big awards show this weekend, but I kept thinking it was just the Grammys. Not the case - dang it! Here are the winners:

Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Director: Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Actor: Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Actress: Kate Winslet - The Reader
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Adapted Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire
Original Screenplay: In Bruges
Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Editing: Slumdog Millionaire
Production Design: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Costume Design: The Duchess
Make Up and Hair: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Score: Slumdog Millionaire
Sound: Slumdog Millionaire
Visual Effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Foreign Film: I've Loved You So Long
Animated Film: WALL-E
British Film: Man on Wire

I thought Slumdog Millionaire's momentum would have started to slow down. Guess not! At this rate, come Oscar time, it will probably sweep with at least eight trophys. That ceremony is going to be boring. Please Hugh Jackman salvage that show for us!

Grammys - The Morning After

Wow, that show was kind of pointless. They aren't even trying to be relevant or at least appear to be interested in current music. I mean bringing out Paul McCartney, Neil Diamond, and Smokey Robinson to sing there old classics, was kind of ridiculous. The Grammys were essentially saying, "Here, see this is the music we like, never mind about today's crap." Oy! It's okay if you want to celebrate the artists, but at least have them sing their current stuff. Neil Diamond's last album was his first to reach #1 on the Billboard album charts, and it received good to great reviews. Why not have him sing something from that? Anyway, I'm going to try to focus on the positive from last night's broadcasts. My five favorite performances from last:

1. Jay-Z, Kanye West, TI, Lil Wayne & (a very preggers) M.I.A - "Paper Planes" & "Swagga Like Us"
2. Radiohead - "15 Step"
3. Estelle & Kanye West - "American Boy"
4. Jennifer Hudson - "You Pulled Me Through"
5. Sugarland & Adele - "Stay" & "Chasing Pavement"

Grammy Awards Tonight...Eh

The Grammy Awards are tonight, and while the awards themselves usually suck, I'll still watch the ceremony to see the performances. M.I.A. better be performing, damn it! Here's a run though of a few categories - who I think will win, and who I think should win.

Record of the Year:
"Bleeding Love" - Leona Lewis
"Chasing Pavements" - Adele
"Paper Planes" - M.I.A.
"Please Read the Letter" - Alison Krauss and Robert Plant
"Viva la Vida" - Coldplay

Should Win: "Paper Planes" - which will never happen in a million years! Also, where the hell is Estelle's "American Boys?" It should have been here!
Will Win: "Viva la Vida" - Coldplay's big win for the night

Album of the Year:
In Rainbows - Radiohead
Raising Sand - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
Tha Carter III - Lil Wayne
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends - Coldplay
Year of the Gentleman - Ne-Yo

Should Win: Umm? Actually I haven't heard any of these, but I'll say Radiohead, because, well...it's Radiohead
Will Win: Raising Sand - it's the Steely Dan Rule. If an older artist, who has never previously won Album of the Year, gets a nod, they automatically win.

Song of the Year:
"American Boy" - Estelle and Kanye West
"Chasing Pavements" - Adele
"I'm Yours" - Jason Mraz
"Love Song" - Sara Bareilles
"Viva la Vida" - Coldplay

Should Win: "America Boy" - duh
Will Win: "Viva la Vida" - throw another one to Coldplay

Best New Artist:
Adele
Duffy
Jonas Brothers
Lady Antebellum
Jazmine Sullivan

Should Win: Adele - she seems like she'll thrive longer than Duffy
Will Win: Yeesh tough call. Adele seems like the obvious choice, but this is the Grammys, so I'll go out on a limb and guess Lady Antebellum

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance:
"Bleeding Love" - Leona Lewis
"Chasing Pavements" - Adele
"I Kissed a Girl" - Katy Perry
"Love Song" - Sara Bareilles
"Mercy" - Duffy
"So What" - Pink

Should Win: Adele, Duffy, and Pink are all worthy, but based soley on vocal performance, I'll go with "Chasing Pavements," though it's not the best song
Will Win: "Bleeding Love" - the worst on the list

Sunday Blessings - Clive Owen

So today's edition of Sunday Blessings focuses on Clive Owen, mainly because of the constant barage of commercials for his upcoming film The International. What I find most interesting about the film is the complete lack of desire I have for seeing it. That's actually a big deal. I love Clive Owen, I really like Naomi Watts, and I like director Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run!), yet I have no desire to see the film. Should I blame the commercials for my lack of desire. Ummm? Sure. They're boring! Anyway, I'll probably still wind up seeing the film, most likely on DVD or cable, because I love Clive Owen. Look at those eyes! It's as if he's staring right through you. I think Mr. Owen's main appeal, at least for me, is the combination of smooth and rough. He has that suave demeanor, which could charm almost anyone, but also looks a bit beat up, which makes him appear a tad dangerous and scary. It's a combination also found in Daniel Craig. Hmmm... Now I'm thinking about them both together. Sigh. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts! For the best example of Clive Owen's appeal, watch Closer, where his character is kind of an a**hole, but you still want to jump his bones. How I wanted to be Natalie Portman in that movie - juggling Clive and Jude Law. It's ever girl's dream! Praise Jesus!

I Just Want to Give Her a Hug

If you're watching VH1's Sober House, don't you just want to give Amber Smith a big hug. I know I do.

Lady GaGa Says "Just Dance"... So I Do

It's probably been played to death already, but I'm currently in love with Lady GaGa's "Just Dance." When I first heard it played on the radio, I didn't think much of it, but overtime I got into it, and now I listen to it everyday as a pick-me-up. It's Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" all over again. I think the video of "Just Dance" with its combo of trashy location and sexy/glamourous players helped get me appreciate the song. It reminds me of any number of parties I attended in college, where I'd be in some trashy apartment surround by a bunch of girls in designer labels. Ahhhh, that was the life!

Wednesday Night Television

Based on the programs which air that night, Wednesday night should be called OH MY GOD WEDNESDAY. Almost all my favorite TV shows air that night, and at the end of each of them, I'm usually saying, "Oh my God! Oh my God!" Last night was no different. First was Lost, where Jin washed ashore alive, but back in time with a young, pregnant Rousseau and her team. Then, came Life on Mars, where we finally discovered why he had to go into the basement. Although I think the whole episode was botched as a result of them moving around the epsiodes. Whatever. I just hope the network doesn't cancel the show until they can wrap up the storyline. Damages and Top Chef air at the same time as Life on Mars, but luckily they replay later in the evening. I continue to be riveted by Damages. What is going on with that show? Who does she shoot? Top Chef kind of annoyed me again last night, with the elimination of Jamie ovcr Leah and Hosea. Jamie actually knew how to make the dish and what her mistakes were. Hosea and Leah didn't know what they were doing, especially Leah who didn't seem to have a clue. Yet she's still here. Leah should have been bounced a while ago, but I'm guessing the producers want to keep her around with Hosea, hoping something romantic happens between the two. Also, I just want to add, I hope the show gets rid of new judge Toby Young. He doesn't bring any constructive criticism, only thinking of creative ways to insult the food and the chefs. What I liked about the Bravo competition shows was they didn't serve to humiliate their contestants, unlike other reality shows.... cough, American Idol, cough. Now they bring in this guy, and its as if they're trying to emulate the meanness of those programs. Don't go that way, Top Chef! You're better than that.

DGA Award... Well, Duh

Over the weekend the Directors Guild of America gave their award to Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire. Another trophy for the Slumdog. God, this awards season is boring!

Sunday Blessings - Super Bowl Edition

Apparently there's this huge football game going on today. It's called the...um... the Super Bowl. WHO KNEW? Yeah, in all honesty I don't care about the Super Bowl. I've watched it maybe two or three times in my entire life. Football doesn't interest me in the least, and I'm not one of those people who don't follow the sport all season long but suddenly get invested when its the big game. I don't understand that phenomenon. Some of my friends are like that. They never watch football, don't like the sport, but they HAVE to watch the Super Bowl. Whatever. Anyway, in honor of the Big Game, I decided to devote today's edition of Sunday Blessings to one of the QBs playing today. In a choice between Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger, Warner is by far the hotter guy, so he gets my pick. Now this is based entirely on physical appearance, pure shallowness. I'm not going into Warner's politics and social views, which are, well...eww. If I had to pick a team to win today, it would be Warner's Cardinals. Now I lived in Pittsburgh for a number of years, so I should be routing for the Steelers, but I'm going with the Cardinals because I like routing for the underdog team. Also, Roethlisberger is a total douchebag and tool, so the Steelers have that going against them too. I'm still not going to watch the game. Atlhough, maybe it would be worth checking out Kurt Warner's ass. Hmmm? Praise Jesus!