Oscar Noms

Bloggin' from work today. Oh yeah.

After King Kong was pretty much shut out of the pre-Oscar awards, I knew it wasn't really going to be a player, but I'm still disappointed it didn't even get any major nominations. It did suffer from what I think is a pretty strong field (and I haven't seen Brokeback or Capote yet, who seem to be the two biggest winners in terms of noms), particularily in films of the type that tend to win awards. But I still would have liked to at least see it get a nod, especially for PJ as best director.

Also, did anyone else notice that none of the best picture nominees have a corresponding best actress nomination?

If I have a crappy network, and you have a crappy network...

Then together we can have one, big crappy network! That seems to be the reasoning behind the merger of UPN and the WB networks that was announced today. They're going to combine and become one network called "CW". I predict this name will last as long as it takes for everyone on the planet to tell whoever is running this damn thing that the name sucks ass.

I'm being uncharitable, of course. No, not about the name, but about the networks. It's true in the larger extent, but each network has its bright spots: the WB has Smallville, and UPN has the rights to a new Star Trek series. Put those two together, and you've got a winner, right?

If this happened last season, I'd be worried about Smallville being cancelled. But it's kicking so much ass this season that I highly doubt "CW" will pull it. In fact, it might be the most popular show either network has, and if it's not, it's in the top three. So I'm guessing Smallville is in no danger.

I am serious about the rights to Star Trek, though. If I'm putting a new network on the air, I think an announcement about a new Trek series might generate some interest. It may not happen in its first year (fall 2006), but I can't imagine that even the blind lemurs they get to run these networks will keep something with Trek's track record in the drawer for too long. I guess we'll find out.

Working at 6:30 in the morning...

...sucks ass. Hello, ass! Joe needs a nap.

Ms. Howard, avoid bridges at all costs

Anyone who knows me will find it easy to believe that Unbreakable is one of my favorite movies from the past five (I guess six now, damn freaking new year) years. I was amazed that a Hollywood studio exec would let anyone make such an excellently paced superhero movie that had almost no superheroics in it at all. I've been a fan of M. Night Shyamalan since then. I had been semi-impressed with The Sixth Sense (I saw it after it had been hyped to the ceiling, which might explain my more subdued response), and I really liked what he did with Signs. I also enjoyed his most recent movie, The Village, quite a bit. I felt it was not as strong as Unbreakable or Signs, mostly because the plot twist was more transperant. However, the story is compelling and well told, and the visuals are extremely good as well. With a cast that included powerhouses Adrian Brody, Walking Phoenix, William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver, one of the most notable performances was from Opie's daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard. The performance was good enough to earn her the role Nicole Kidman gave up in Lars Von Trier's sequel to Dogville, Manderlay.

But AICN has just announced that BDH has been cast in her greatest role to date, as Gwen Stacey in Spider-Man 3. In the comics, Gwen Stacey is the sweet and beautiful Girl Next Door that Peter Parker wanted all his life but had significant trouble getting. In other words, the character that Mary Jane became in the movie. In the comics, Mary Jane Watson shows up later when Peter's Aunt May tries to set him up with her friend's niece. MJ is movie-star gorgeous, with a wild party personality. She flirts with Pete who still wants Gwen, but then the Green Goblin throws her off the George Washington Bridge. When Spider-Man catches her by her ankle with his webbing, her head snaps back and breaks her neck and she dies (sound like a tragic version of the ending of the first movie?). Pete of course ends up with MJ, but Gwen's death is an influence on him that's eclipsed only by the memory of his Uncle Ben. It'll be very interesting to see what they do in the movie. I'm very excited to find out.

It's also ironic that they cast Kirsten Dunst, a blond, as the redheaded MJ, and BDH, a redhead, as the blond Gwen Stacey.

Who wants to kick Zeke's Ass?

I think I speak for everyone who saw Lost tonight when I say that I really wanted to see Jack, Locke or Sawyer shoot the bastard (I do love the fact that he will forever be refered to by Sawyer's nickname for him). It wouldn't have been the best idea, and probably would have ended very badly. But I would have loved to see the look on his face. On a side note, he very neatly sidestepped the Ethan question.

Also, in regards to the final line of the episode, why would Jack be talking to Ana-Lucia about this? Why not go talk to Sayid, who was actually in the army?

A question for anyone who may know: did we know before this episode that Jack was divorced vs. being a widower?

Sleepless in North Minneapolis

This is a little late, but big congratulations are in order for my friend Dustin and his wife, Angelique, who gave birth last Monday (the 9th) to their daughter Kara. She was born at 10:41am and weighed 8 lbs. 3oz., which, I was informed, is more than I weighed when I was born. There were no major complications, and both mother and daughter are fine. I went to visit the family in the hospital the next day, and was glad to find that Kara is indeed as cute and Dustin told me she was. It was a long couple of days for the new parents, as I found out when Dustin called to tell me the news at 6pm on Monday. I wondered why he sounded happy but not energized. I found out that neither of them had been asleep when Angelique went into labor at midnight, and he had subsequently been awake since Sunday morning. They actually got some sleep Monday night, so when I saw them on Tuesday they were both looking pretty good.

Dustin has already thrown himself into his new role of doting father. When I arrived at the hospital, Dustin was out with Kara while she was weighed, and Angelique informed me that earlier in the day Dustin had taken somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 pictures of Kara in the same position. He claimed that the lighting conditions and facial expressions were changing by the second, thus necessitating the large number of pictures. I don't think he had maxed out the memory card on his digital camera yet, but I'm sure that by now he's done so several times over.

So a big welcome to Kara Grace Allebach, who is now on her 9th day in the world. And congrats again to Dustin and Angelique, who seem to be coping with their new parenthood very well, albeit with perhaps less sleep than they're used to.

No rest for the weary

Some of you may remember a post I made recently where I mentioned I had been up far too late playing X-men Legends 2. Well, since that time I can say that I have remembered why I stopped playing computer games sometime between my junior and senior years of college. It's because I tend to let them take over my life a little too much. I think I'm up to 26 hours or so on XML2 now, and it's caused me to get much less sleep than normal over the last week and a half. This is not good. Hopefully I'll beat the damn game soon so I can get some sleep.

Lost in Lost

So tonight was Lost's first new episode since November. And for those of you who don't watch this show, I say to you now that you are fools. Fortunately for you, you can buy the first season on dvd and download all the 2nd season episodes so far off itunes, as my esteemed colleague Mr. Hanberg did. I'm already putting this episode in my top three for the season so far, and the trailer for next week was massively teasing. But for the love of god, don't try to jump into the middle. This is a show that builds on itself as you watch, and its so fricking good that you actually won't mind spending something like $60-$70 to catch up.

Also, there was a "review" episode on before the new episode, so people who haven't watched the show can get a general sense of what's going on. I saw some of it, and it featured worst example of a deep voice-over I have ever heard. It wasn't that the voice was bad, it's just that aside from being totally unnecessary, the writing was horrific. Whoever came up with that idea and wrote the dialogue should be fired so they can move to Wisconsin to work in the dairy industry, because they obviously feel there isn't enough cheese in the world.

Anyway, and excellent episode of a great show. I can't wait for next week.

Joe, why is there a huge gap between the title and the text?

And the answer is, I don't know. I'm trying to figure it out, but I haven't had a lot of time recently. Hopefully, the problem will simply go away on its own, because if I have to start really trying to fix it, I may accidentally destroy the internet.

It's not quite like Flubber, but it's close

So tonight was my first night playing broomball with actual broomball shoes. I've played with a Carleton alumni team here in the cities over the past couple years, but I didn't feel like the cost (usually $60-$80, mine were $60) was worth it, even though most other people on the ice had them. I also felt like I wasn't as good in relation to other people as I was a Carleton, but I figured that was more of an experience factor than an equipment factor. But then I put on these shoes.

Man, I was impressed. I wondered before if it would take me awhile to adjust to them, and it didn't. Aside from my ankle that I sprained last fall feeling a little weird (it was essentially sitting on top of a layer of cushiony rubber/foam, so there was a lot of side-to-side play that it hadn't experienced in a long time), I was off and running. It was great. My speed relative to the other people on the ice went way up, as did my response time. I'm looking forward to playing a whole season with these things (not to mention a real game, since our opponents didn't show and we just scrimmaged). Kreuser's back, baby.

The Future is Funky

Hey everyone. I'm on my way to bed, but before I go I thought I'd link this. I found this a long time ago, and have been meaning to post it, so here it is. Possibly the most ridiculous trailer in terms of what it's trying to market I've ever seen. But as I've watched it many times over a long period, I've decided that I really, really like it. If you've ever seen the original Star Trek, or have a sense of what the episodes were like, this will have you roaring. My favorite part is at the end, with the "friendly locals."

30th Century Fox Resumes?

No posts for awhile because of that crazy friend of mine Erik Hanberg has been in town, but I thought I'd throw this up quick. It's just a rumor, but ever since Family Guy came back on the air, I've been hoping this would happen.