Oscar Night

Last night, I went to my annual Oscar party with a few co-workers. Or, as Dorene would say, I went to a boring party with a lot of strange people that sit around and talk about movies that nobody in the country has gone to see. I take offense to that, WE saw the movies. Okay, she has a point, the combined grosses of contenders Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Milk, The Wrestler, and Vicky Christina Barcelona are still less than that of Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

The show was quite different than in past years, and at times it was a good thing and at times it wasn't.

• Host: Hugh Jackman started off good with a musical number similar to what Billy Crystal always did. Overall he did pretty good. Although the whole song and dance thing got a little old. Anne Hathaway can sing.
• Excellent bit with Tina Fey and Steve Martin. Also good was the piece with Seth Rogan and James Franco, where they bust up laughing at serious films like The Reader.
• That musical number with Beyonce was pretty lame and just kinda strange at times. Mixed a whole bunch of songs at the same time which just didn't really work.
• Bringing in 5 previous winners to talk about the current nominees? Okay at first, but it got kinda old. Besides, these were just acting awards, they weren't up for a Nobel Prize. Kinda overboard on showering each nominee with praise. I mean, it's not going to change the world that Marisa Tomei and Michael Shannon were nominated for movies no one saw.
• No real surprises with any of the awards.
• Will Smith gave out 4 Oscars. Let someone else help out.
• What was Sophia Loren saying in her tribute to Meryl Streep?
• Where was Jack Nicholson? Tom Hanks? Or last year's Best Actor winner Daniel Day-Lewis? Or last year's Best Actress (bet you can't name her, it took a few of us a while last night to remember).
• Jerry Lewis has been doing the "Jerry's Kids" thing much longer than I realized.
• No memorable acceptance speeches, except maybe when Phillipe Petit balanced the Oscar on his chin.
• Yawn, Sean Penn getting political. Points for making light of his gruff nature though.
• Certainly the moment everyone was waiting for was Heath Ledger winning, and his family coming up to accept on his behalf. That was a good moment.

I did miserably on the Oscar pool. Picked most of the major nominees correctly, but botched everything else. No one correctly guessed that "Smile Pinky" would win Best Live Action Short. I stood alone in picking "Slumdog Millionaire" to win Best Sound Mixing (yes, you should be in awe of me for that).

Did "Slumdog Millionaire" deserve to win Best Picture? Yes, absolutely. Much more deserving than last year's "No Country for Old Men." If you haven't seen Slumdog, I highly recommend it. Certainly one of the best movies I've seen in a while. It's well worth seeking out and needs to be seen on the big screen. Be sure not to hop right out of your chair when the movie ends.

Oscar Movie Review - "Slumdog Millionaire"

This is the third and last of the Best Picture nominees that I've seen. I am not curious at all about "Benjamin Button" and don't even have a 2% interest in seeing "Milk."

But back to "Slumdog." This was a wholly original movie that I highly recommend. To give a synopsis of it doesn't really do it justice, but here goes. A kid from the slums of Mumbai gets on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be Millionaire" and is one question away from winning a bunch of rupees. He's suspected of cheating (no "slumdog" could possibly know all the answers) so he's interrogated/tortured by police to confess. How he knew the answers sets the story in motion as it flashes back to his childhood and works it's way up to the present. Now, all this is put forth in the first few minutes, so I'm not giving anything away here.

The movie is fast-paced and has a kinetic visual style that keeps you interested, and an excellent soundtrack. It is all filmed on location in India and you definitely get a feel for the class warfare that goes on in that country and wonder how anyone could emerge from the widespread poverty there (which exists side by side to some extreme wealth and a fast growing middle class).

The three main characters are the "slumdog" Jamal, his brother Salim, and Latika, an orphan girl that Jamal befriends and spends the rest of the movie trying to get together with. The movie is rated R but it probably could have been a PG-13. There is no sex and no gory violence. There may have been a handful of swear words, but that was it. Much of the violence is directed at children, so that level of brutality probably gave it the rating (overall, the tone is pretty intense).

This is the front-runner for Best Picture and I hope it wins because it definitely deserves to. In a lot of ways, the underlying story is fairly traditional (rags to riches, boy gets girl), but the way it's told makes it seem totally original. It's probably a cliche to say you haven't seen a movie like this before, but the fact of the matter is, you haven't.

Final Justice, 20 Years Later

The Indiana Supreme Court just ruled today that the murder convictions of Jeff Pelley have been upheld. This brings final closure to a case that began in April of 1989 and that my family was very much intertwined with, since dad took over the church shortly after Jeff killed his minister father, stepmother and two stepsisters.

There had been an issue as to whether or not Jeff's right to a speedy trial was violated. Turns out, it was not, so he'll be spending the rest of his life in prison. I don't imagine he's much of a threat in prison and he'll now have a lot of time to think through how his life would have been different had he accepted his dad's punishment and not gone to the prom that night.

Anna @ 10

Yesterday was Anna's 10th birthday. Dorene and I took her out to celebrate minus Cameron and Allie. Anna got to choose where to eat and she chose Olive Garden (fine by us, we love it there).

For her birthday present, we didn't give her an actual present to unwrap. For Anna, the best gift you can give her is time, and that's what we gave her. Her present from Dorene will be a day trip to Chicago to meet up with her sister and go to a museum. Her present from me is a night out going to a movie. Anna said she much preferred getting that as opposed to a present (and she means it, she's very hard to shop for at Christmas time).

However, we still took her to Toys 'R Us and let her pick out a "Littlest Pet Shop" figurine that she collects and gave her a birthday card, which she loved, even though it wasn't like the kind she gets from grandma that has money in it.

We had a wonderful evening and my (first) little girl is quickly growing up on us. She is a true delight, quirky in many ways, and it's been 10 wonderful years with her (well, except maybe you need to talk to Dorene about when she turned 3).

Oscar Movie Review - "The Reader"

Hmm, not sure how to review this movie, the second of the Best Picture nominees I've seen. Parts of it are really good and parts of it are, well, kinda not so good (I'll get to that later).

The movie is primarily set in the late 50's and 60's in Germany, where a young man has an affair with an older woman, who has a secret past which he finds out about later in the movie. It's this later part that is really well done and the most compelling part of the movie. It deals a lot with how Germans have come to terms with their past and asks the question who was and who wasn't guilty during the Nazi regime. Very good stuff here.

However, the affair part during the first part of the movie is a little unsettling. You see, the "young man" is only 15. So, well, there you have it. There's quite a bit of nudity in this section (note to Pam, Kate Winslet is the new Susan Sarandon) and it is just a bit uncomfortable seeing a bedroom scene between characters that are supposed to be 15 and 30. I coulda done without that.

So, I can recommend the final 2/3 of the movie, but the first 1/3, not so much.

Ready for that Stimulus Check

Here's a viewpoint from a year ago that is now relevant to the stimulus checks we may soon be getting:

"You're getting $600 - what can you do with that? Not to be ungrateful or anything, but maybe it pays down a bill, but it doesn't pay down every bill every month." The short-term, quick fix kinda stuff sounds good, and it may even feel good that first month when you get that check, and then you go out and you buy a pair of earrings."

Michelle Obama (7/11/2008)

Super Bowl: Final Notes

• Had the day off on Monday because baby Allie was sick. Spent a lot of time reading Super Bowl recaps. I always like reading columnists from the cities of the teams that played. Most of the articles in the Arizona papers were of the "Destiny Denied" variety while those in the Pittsburgh area were a little more upbeat.


• The consensus was that it was possibly the greatest Super Bowl of all time. I could care less, my team still lost! Yes, I will whine about it for a while.


• James Harrison, who made that play before the half, had barely made the team. As recently as 4 years ago, he had applied to be a bus driver. The Steelers gave him one last chance. I'd be just as happy had he been off driving a bus on Sunday. Still don't know how the Cardinals couldn't at least push him out of bounds on that play.


• Why was 50+ year-old Bruce Springsteen acting like he was in his 20's? Some of his moves looked kinda silly for his age. He started off kind of weak but came on strong towards the end with "Glory Days."


• Many years ago I worked for the State Bar of Arizona (which certifies applicants to practice law). One day a young man fresh out of law school stopped by to get some information on taking the bar exam. His name? Michael Bidwell, who is now President of the Cardinals and a prime reason the team has turned it around.


• The commercials were hit and miss. One of my favorites was one that you would have missed (literally) had you blinked. Miller beer did a 1-second commercial which consisted of their delivery guy saying, "Miller High Life" and that was it. That was clever. The Go-Daddy commercials were very risque for what is a large family viewing audience.


• The Steelers are now officially my arch-villain. They beat my Cowboys in two Super Bowls years ago, handed the Colts two very heartbreaking playoff losses, and now taken out the Cardinals.

Cardinals: Oh, the Agony
Oh my, what a heartbreaking loss this was, after what looked like a thrilling comeback. When Larry Fitzgerald broke through on that touchdown late in the 4th quarter, the room erupted (I was at our pastor's house, and everyone was rooting for the Cardinals). Although all of us were a little leary of giving the Steelers so much time left to score, which of course they did. I think had the Cardinals got blown away, it would have been much easier as it would have been simple to say they were outmatched. But doggone it, they could have won this thing. For Cinderella teams like this, you gotta close it out.

A bunch of "what ifs" on this one. What if the Steelers didn't score before halftime? That was huge. What if the Cardinals defense would have sacked Roethlesberger more? It seemed like he was always getting away when it looked like they had him cornered. Then that last drive. Where was the defense? They just got picked apart. However, that final touchdown pass was perfectly thrown and Holmes made an amazing catch, with 3 defenders around him.

I guess there's always next year and maybe this will finally bring the Cardinals into the fold as one of the league's top teams after being so down and out for so many years. We'll see if Warner comes back or not, I figured he may have retired had the Cards won. But boy oh boy this was a frustrating loss and Cardinals fans will have a hard time forgetting the image of Harrison rumbling and stumbling for that touchdown before halftime.

Oscar Movie Review - "Nixon/Frost"
This is the first of the 5 Best Picture nominees that I've seen. I imagine the title of this movie either intrigues people or they just keep on walking. The title says it all, this is indeed about the 1977 interviews between David Frost and President Nixon.

Your enjoyment of this movie would heavily depend on your interest in the subject matter. Although it begins with a short recap of what led to Nixon's resignation, it still assumes a lot of knowledge on the part of the audience. Since I've always been fascinated by anything and everything Nixon, I loved the movie, although I understand it probably has very limited widespread appeal.

Frank Langella, nominated for Best Actor, does a very good job embodying Nixon, even if he doesn't really look like him. But you never doubt for a minute that is Nixon. The actor playing Frost does a great job also. Very well done, and if you are interested in this place in time that took place over 30 years ago, I highly recommend it.

Obama v. Limbaugh

It's his choice, but I'm not sure why he is going up against this guy. I'm talking about Obama. Does he really think that blasting Rush publicly is going to make him go away? Think about it. The most powerful man in the world, who has a host of major problems to deal with in running this country, is instead talking about Rush Limbaugh. Perhaps there are other issues on Obama's plate he should be more concerned with?

How do you think this makes Rush feel? He is absolutely loving it. Clinton did the exact same thing and it only empowered Rush. I don't listen to Rush much anymore, although I do get daily email summaries of his show. It always amuses me when people spend so much time talking about how much they hate listening to him. But if you hate listening to him, WHY DO YOU KEEP LISTENING?!?

Reminds me of a story about Howard Stern's early days. His manager despised him and asked the marketing folks how long the average Stern fan listened. It was something like 2 hours. He then asked how long the average Stern hater listened. It was about 3 hours.

This is why Limbaugh is absolutely loving all this. Whether you love him or hate him, a ratings point is all the same if you are tuning in.

The Bush Legacy

Wow, does it seem like the Bush/Cheney years never happened? In just his first three days, Obama has pretty much done all he can to erase any memory of Bush being in office. Every executive order and other directives he has issued to this point have been aimed at making people forget Bush was even in office.

It has been said that history will not be kind to Bush and that he will quickly disappear as he left office with a dismal approval rating. But it's too early to write the history on Bush yet. I'm not convinced, even with all that went wrong, that he will be judged as harshly down the road.

As for his remaining years, Americans have a tendency to like their leaders, popular or not when they leave office. Carter was a disaster as a president, whose own party turned on him and paved the way for Reagan. But as an ex-President he's been considered one of the best. Look at Nixon. After resigning from office, in his later years he still commanded lots of respect for his foreign policy expertise. George H.W. Bush, unpopular in 1992, has remained quite popular in the years since leaving office. Bill Clinton's legacy was slightly tainted during Hillary's campaign but still can wow an audience.

As for W, I think the same will happen to him, even though right now you won't hear anyone giving any kind of favorable review of his adminstration. But time has a way of making people forget and rethink things. Although it may be hard to see it now, I think Bush will someday return in a favorable light as he now joins the popular club of our ex-Presidents.

Oscar Nominations

Okay, out of the 25 nominations for Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress, I've seen one (Heath Ledger). As for the Best Picture of the Year, I have a hard time believing that a movie like "The Reader" or "Milk," even though I haven't seen it, can be considered a better movie than "The Dark Knight" and will stand the test of time.

For my annual Oscar party, I will go in only knowing all the animated features. I also got a jump on next year's nominations by seeing "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" last weekend.

Inaugural Notes

Watched the ceremony here at IU South Bend in a packed room with lots of faculty, staff and students. As recommended by my brother Steve, I also checked out the live blog on Swampland, which is often very funny. Some random observations:

• Barbara Bush looked the same now as she did back in 1988. Bush, Sr. was really looking old this time around (maybe it was the way he was walking).


• Image of the day? Cheney in a wheelchair! What a farewell shot of this guy. He has been called the worst vice-president of all time, the one who really ran the country and ran roughshod over the constitution and was despised by many. But here he was, confined to a wheelchair. Kinda reminds me of Mark Felt (aka Deep Throat). A guy that brought down Nixon we only remember as this 90 year-old with a walker.


• A little long on the prayer Mr. Warren, you could've cut it a bit short. One of the Swampland bloggers asked, "Why did Rick Warren say "Malia and Sasha" like he was introducing Siegfried & Roy?" Kudos for Obama for not replacing Warren after the criticism he received.


• Nice job by Aretha Franklin. She can still belt it out. But what was up with that hat?


• The music by Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, and those other two? Kinda strange and surprisingly downbeat for such an occasion. Don't think the younger generation really connected to that. Not that he needed Springsteen or Bono to come out and sing, but, well, maybe he should have.


• Lots of people in the room I was watching laughed when they saw the size of that Bible. The thing is huge!


• Another Swampland nugget: "Dorky constitutional question: after Biden takes the oath of office, is he, for however many minutes, technically George W. Bush's vice president?"


• Did Obama flub the oath or did Roberts? Will David Letterman add this to his "Great Moments in Presidential History?" A swampland blogger said, "I am registering www.obamaflubbedtheoathandthereforeisnotofficiallypresident.com".


• Obama's speech? Very anti-climactic. He's been trying to dial down expectations ever since election night and he seemed to be trying extra hard to do so with this speech. I was kinda lost at times at exactly what he was saying. I figured we'd see the Obama from the campaign trail, as this was the time to really inspire the audience. But much of it fell flat to me, but I imagine the analysis will say it was great. I also expected him to be interrupted multiple times with applause (like in a State of the Union speech), but that never really happened. Maybe it was just the hype, but overall a curiously downbeat speech. Lots of zingers thrown in at the Bush administration, though, as Bush sat right there beside him. Overall, the speech just seemed to be missing something.
  
• But the crowd! All this for a presidential inauguration? It was a sight to see. There's no way Obama will be able to keep up this fervor, but on this day, it was impressive to see everyone excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. Yes, Obama does make you feel good about America.
  
• Uh, why exactly did we need a poet there at the end?
  
• Was that a prayer or a speech by Lowery? I don't know, but it was good.
  
• Neat seeing the Obama's walk along the route back to the White House. They seemed most relaxed at this point. Is this the most photogenic first family or what?
  

Okay Obama, you got the Congress, Senate, and White House all to yourself. Your move.

Game Over, Ready to Exhale

Cardinals in the Super Bowl? You gotta be kidding. But it's happening. What a game. First half was great, 2nd half was nerve-wracking, and I was fairly convinced the Eagles would prevail. But Warner pulled them through.

I don't care who they play in the Super Bowl. Getting there's a great accomplishment. But you never know what can happen. Remember last year when the Patriots were a sure thing to go undefeated? Not so fast.

An Amazing Happy Ending

Not too long ago, I watched an episode of "When Weather Changed History" on the Weather Channel. The story was about the Air Florida jet in 1982 that crashed into the Potomac River in Washington, DC, killing just about everyone on board save a few passengers lucky enough to get out.

When I first got a "breaking news alert" on my computer about a jet going down in the Hudson River, I assumed the worst. When I watched the coverage I was astounded that everyone got out alive. This pilot, "Sully" is definitely a hero in the truest sense as his soft landing in the water without breaking the plane apart allowed everyone to get out as the plane never sunk. Also, there seemed to be very little panic inside the plane as everyone exited pretty calmly, which is incredible when you think about what had to be going through their minds knowing they crashed into water.

What a great story!

. . . .And Doggone it, People Like Him

Yikes, it looks like Al Franken is the next Senator from Minnesota, although this is going to be challenged in the courts for a while. Certainly shows how every vote counts. I'm just not a big fan of this guy. He was funny at one time, but most of his attempts at humor now just aren't even original.

Now someone like Michael Moore, who is extremely liberal like Franken, I'll go see his documentaries even though I disagree with a lot of what he says. But he can sure say it in an entertaining fashion. Franken titles his book, "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot." Okay, and I'll write a book and call it"Keith Olberman is a Dork." I don' t mind insults, but make 'em at least partially unique.

So what kind of Senator will he be? Minnesota put up with Governor Jesse Ventura not long ago, so they are used to elected officials who kinda surprise themselves by getting in office. Franken is extremely critical and mean-spirited towards Christians, so I imagine it won't take him long to say something stupid. I would venture to guess that even Obama isn't all that impressed with him.

Good Answer

We've been having a lot of problems with Cameron (age 6) not asking permission to do something when he should be. In particular, when candy or other treats are involved. He'll sneak a piece of candy then have to hide his tracks, and, of course, get in trouble for doing so.

The other night, he brought Dorene a piece of candy and asked if he could have it. Dorene said, "Why should I say yes?" Cameron replied, "Because I actually asked."

He got the candy.

Cardinals 33, Panthers 13

OH YEAH, BABY!!!

Wow, can't believe how Arizona stuck it to this team. Warner was awesome, their receivers were incredible, and Jake Delhomme totally stunk it up for Carolina. That first half was so fun to watch.

Arizona going to the NFC Championship? Hard to believe. I'll be rooting for the Eagles tomorrow, because if they win, Arizona gets to host the game rather than travel to New York.

Twenty years after moving from St. Louis to Arizona, the Cardinals are one step away from the Super Bowl. Who would've thunk it?

Boring BCS Game

Not a very exciting game last night, although it's always good to see Oklahoma lose. Their vaunted offense that averaged 60 points a game during the season kinda got shut down.

I noticed that Florida QB Tebow had "John 3:16" imprinted on the eye glare he was wearing. He made a good impression when he proceeded to get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the closing minute when the game was already decided.

Baby Allie at 3 months

Yep, Anna and Cameron like their new baby sister!