I guess the only thing really going on tonight is the Academy Awards, so here is a thread to pick the winners.
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”
fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)
Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.
It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.
Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.
Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?
They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.
Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.
A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.
The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris
I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.
Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.
It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.
“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”
Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.
Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.
75% of people clapping liked the show!
One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.
Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?
They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.
Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.
Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?
The unpunished coup was a training exercise.
Usually wrong but never in doubt
dmsilev
I predict that the Barack Obama biographical film from the convention will win in Best Foreign Film…
-dms, seeking the Grand Unified Theory of wingnuttia
Just Some Fuckhead
Looks like the good part of the race is gonna run concurrently with the Oscars. Fuckers.
Jack Roy
I went with the following in my friendly "you owe me a beer" Oscar pool:
Best Picture Slumdog Millionaire
Best Direction Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor Mickey Rourke
Best Actress Anne Hathaway
Best Supporting Actor Heath Ledger
Best Supporting Actress Penelope Cruz
Art Direction Benjamin Button
Cinematography The Dark Knight
Costumes The Duchess
Foreign Language The Class
Adapted Screenplay Frost/Nixon
Original Screenplay Happy-Go-Lucky
Thoroughly Pizzled
Did anyone else get to see the nominated shorts? My favorites were:
Animated – This Way Up
Live Action – Manon on the Asphalt
But I’m predicting the winners to be:
Animated – La Maison en Petits Cubes
Live Action – Toyland
Just Some Fuckhead
If you think football pregrame shows are stoopid, you really gotta watch a nascar prerace show. My iq is dropping so fast the left side of my face is starting to droop.
valdivia
I saw Rachel Getting Married and was blown away by Anne Hathaway. Didn’t expect that. And it was a hard movie to watch with lots of painful themes being explored. And I loved Vicky Cristina Barcelona so I hope Cruz wins that.
Incertus
@Just Some Fuckhead: I swear, I was going to mention that there was a NASCAR race tonight, and that I’d probably have more of an idea what’s going on in it than with the Oscars, and then you go and steal my (Days of) Thunder. You suck.
valdivia
Oh and Wall E not nominated? Robbed. I am telling you.
Comrade Stuck
Since we the only theater in Podunk, NM is a run down Quonset Hut run by some religious wingnuts with a big screen teevee (The Passion ran for 8 months) I will have to defer to those who have actually seen the movies. I’ll have to make my picks when they come out on Netflix.
Nicole
I’m mad Sweden didn’t put forth "Let the Right One In" for best Foreign Language. It’s seriously the best movie of the year.
JGabriel
Actor: Mickey Rourke
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger
Actress: Kate Winslet
Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz
Animated Feature: Wall-E
Art Direction: Benjamin Button
Cinematography: The Dark Knight
Costume Design: The Duchess
Directing: Danny Boyle / Slumdog Millionaire
Documentary Feature: Encounters at the End of the World (or Man on Wire)
Documentary Short: No idea
Film Editing: Benjamin Button
Foreign Language Feature: Waltz with Bashir
Makeup: Hellboy II
Music Score: Wall-E
Music Song: O Saya (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Animated Short: Oktapodi
Live Short: Auf der Strecke
Sound Editing: Wall-E
Sound Mixing: Wall-E
Visual Effects: The Dark Knight
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Slumdog Millionaire
Writing (Original Screenplay): Milk (Though, frankly, this category is the one in which all nominees deserve it.)
.
Mouse Tolliver
The prognosticators seem to think the Best Actress race is between Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Angeline Jolie pulled off an upset. She’s nominated for a Clint Eastwood movie, and he seems to be a good luck charm. Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Hilary Swank all won Oscars for movies directed by Eastwood. Also, playing a character who gets dragged through the halls of a mental institution kicking and screaming gives her an edge. The Academy loves that shit. One of the night’s highlights will be a montage — Oscar’s tribute to Movies About People Who Get Dragged Through the Halls of a Mental Institution Kicking and Screaming.
And if Marisa Tomei wins again, I hope she asks the cameraman to zoom in on the envelope to prove it wasn’t a mistake.
D-Chance.
The only winners will be those wise enough not to watch that crap.
TheFountainHead
I’m pulling for Anne Hathaway. She’s by far the most interesting (and talented) actress in Hollywood right now. I’m also interested to see how Jackman does as the MC.
JGabriel
Jack Roy:
That’s who I think should win. Rachel Getting Married was great, and my own favorite film of the year. But I’m big Demme fan going back to Melvin and Howard, except for that 1998-2004 period in the wilderness (Beloved, The Truth About Charlie, and The Manchurian Candidate).
Unfortunately, Rachel didn’t even get a Best Director nod, and it looks like everyone’s predicting the Best Actress award is Winslet’s this year.
.
valdivia
sorry I see that Wall E was nominated. My bad.
Walz with Bashir was seriously good as was The Class. I guess Bashir will take it.
Conservatively Liberal
@D-Chance.:
Cool! I win! Thread over. ;)
Punchy
I heard Obama is nommy’d for ScumDog Billionaire
Hawes
This is the most Oscar illiterate I’ve ever been, but I just saw The Wrestler Friday night, and it’s indelible. Not sure why Darren Aronofsky was snubbed, but man what a flying punch to the gut off the turnbuckle.
TheFountainHead
Damn furriners.
Dennis-SGMM
@D-Chance.:
Not only will I not watch the awards, I haven’t seen a single one of the nominated pictures. The last time I watched the awards they were in black-and-white.
NonyNony
@valdivia:
Wall*E was only nominated for "Best Animated Picture" which is a stupid category that only exists because Disney couldn’t get one of their own movies to win the Best Picture award.
That category should go away – Wall*E is clearly a better work than at least the two of the nominees I have any personal knowledge of (Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon) and given what I’ve read it’s probably better than The Reader and Slumdog as well.
Tsulagi
Slumdog FTW!
Really like that movie.
TheFountainHead
As long as Benjamin Button doesn’t win, I’m happy, that movie really was just Forest Gump in reverse.
Mike in NC
Missed that since I don’t pay much attention to those award shows. At least this year they didn’t sign Billy Crystal to host. Hell, I’d rather watch Bill Kristol. A much better comedian.
gbear
I like Pandagon’s take on the best picture award. She want’s ‘Slumdog’…
My prediction for the biggest winners tonight: Pizza Delivery Guys. But that’s only kind of a relative win.
I’ll probably have the pizza but skip the awards.
AhabTRuler
I shan’t disagree with your estimate of Billy Crystal’s talents, although I was of the age to find his SNL stuff hilarious. What I find interesting is that I don’t hear much from him lately. I know that the Academy would love to get him to do the show again, but IIRC, he won’t do it. I just wonder if he is aware that his 15 minutes are up, he made his money, and he is happy to slink off into obscurity? I mean, not everyone is an attention whore, and sometime the lucky shlub has to call it quits when he is ahead.
That Anonymous Guy
Y’know that scene in Slumdog Millionaire where the kid takes a header into the cesspool and emerges slathered in about ten pounds of shit?
That’s kind of a cool analogy for the global economy right now.
gbear
OT from the "never learn" department:
Will
@Mouse Tolliver:
All the critics hated her performance, and no one else even saw the damn movie. And yet, you make a good point about the Eastwood Syndrome. Fuck. If Kate Winslet doesn’t win, I’m becoming a Republican.
OK, I’m NOT going to become a Republican.
In other news, Clint Eastwood is pumping out movies faster than the Jenna Jameson of the 90’s. And he’s almost in his 90’s,too.
valdivia
@NonyNony:
Got it and I agree about Wall E being better than a lot of the best movie nominees.
I think another supporting actress underdog is Amy Adams.
burnspbesq
Winslet may win, but she was nominated for the wrong performance. She was all that in Revolutionary Road.
I’m much more interested in the Duke- Wake Forest game.
Laura W
@Just Some Fuckhead:
I learned today via a phone call from mom that my 94-yr-old grama (in Napa) had a stroke Friday night and lost speech function. The left side of her face droops. No joke, Fuckhead. You’re spooky as shit.
All things considered, I decided some red wine was in order so I lifted a bottle from a friend’s cellar this afternoon. Wowza. I take issue with the bizarro "wine barrel planter pot" this reviewer finds in said wine, but am happy to note I’m drinking it nearly 3 years after his review. It’s ready, y’all. The best red wine I’ve had all year. (And I’d say that even if it weren’t the only red wine I’d had all year.) Tons of berry/cherry fruit, almost liqueur-sweet mid-mouth (but not sickeningly so), a bit light, but 14.6% alkyhall and not at all hot.
I guess it’s quite popular, sells fast, and is a steal at $17. Probably can’t find the 2003 on shelves, but I’d take a chance on the 05 or 06 if I saw them. Wine chat now concluding.
Dennis-SGMM
@gbear:
I’d guess that CBS is already getting its ass kicked by The Irwin Allen Channel. They’ll be asking for a bailout by summer.
Nikita
Watching 60 minutes on oCBS and they’re giving a documentary about lowering the drinking age to 18. Really interesting.
Nicole
@Nikita: I’m watching it, too. It is interesting.
TheFountainHead
That’d be one way to stimulate the economy. Another would be the legalization and tax of Marijuana.
El Cid
I pick Newt Gingrich for Best Performance in Pretending to Be a Right Wing Intellectual.
I think Glenn Beck’s a shoe-in for Best Overall F*@%ing Wack Job Winger of National Prominence.
TheHatOnMyCat
Good lord.
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
Re: Anne Hathaway. Woof!
Nikita
@Nicole:
I’m particularly interested because I lived in England (drinking age was 18) my teenage years, started going to pubs/drinking as a teen and then came to college here and got slammed with the 21 drinking age. Like total prohibition. I was not amused.
I also never got into the whole college drinking party life my peers did b/c drinking for me was not a big deal precisely because I’d been "drinking" for so long.
I think whether the legal age is 18 or 21, that parents should be able to share glass of wine with their teenage kids w/o getting in trouble. So that by the time they get to college, alcohol will cease to be a big deal and they can resist the binge drinking culture etc.
I know I’m rambling. Can’t help it.
Xel
Winner: Everyone person not watching?
No offense to those committed or capable of enthusiasm, but to me the Oscars are basically the grammies with even more Vh1, StarTV and fashion stuff. Donotwantcat.jpg
Nikita
@TheFountainHead:
Hmm… Also legalize and tax prostitution. Seriously – why not?
Wilson Heath
I’m not sure which is more of a non-happening, the Oscars or Shelby and Keyes reviving the Obama’s-not-a-citizenship idiocy. I don’t feel I missed anything doing my gardening today.
AhabTRuler
@Gordon, The Big Express Engine: Are you running low on soul coal? Dream steam?
amorphous
@Gordon, The Big Express Engine: Hwat? No way. Not at all.
Brachiator
We all win. From Wall-E to Slumdog to Milk to The Dark Knight, this was a pretty good year for movies. From James Franco to Kate Winslet to Anne Hathaway to Heath Ledger to Sean Penn, among many others (Ralph Finnes in the otherwise neglected The Duchess), this was a good year for exciting acting performances.
On the other hand, it is sad that Roger Ebert can no longer host some of the pre-Oscar festivities. I miss his attempts to mention good movies and good performances, bringing some intelligent perspective to the proceedings (actors would beam when Ebert demonstrated some knowledge of the arc of their careers). Instead, we now have endless mindless gushing over wardrobe and insipid fanwonkery ("Aren’t you excited to be here?!" "Who do you want to see win?").
Nicole
@Nikita: I think if you’re old enough to go to war you’re old enough to drink legally. And yeah, I think there needs to be some shift in how alcohol is presented to kids- most of them are going to drink at some point in their lives, and while we have them in public schooling, there’s an opportunity to have them as a captive audience for more than "drinking and drugs bad! Bad bad bad!" But then I’d also mandate comprehensive sex education and personal finance education, too.
valdivia
@Brachiator:
Have had a crush on this man since I saw him on Hamlet on Broadway many moons ago. I think he is a brilliant actor too.
Zzyzx
Speaking of legalizing vices to stimulate the economy, can someone explain to me why NV (or at least Vegas) hasn’t allowed same sex marriage yet? This would seem to be a no brainer. The city got famous for their easy marriage/divorce policies and gambling. Now that everywhere has those, they need to push the envelope some more.
mgordon
I want to have Ann Hathaway’s babies
JK
Mickey Rourke, Heath Ledger, Kate Winslet, and Marissa Tomei delivered four of the most shamelessly overrated acting performances of the last 30 years.
It will be a tragedy if any of them wins because none of them even deserved to be nominated.
The Wrestler, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button are 4 of the most overrated movies of the last 50 years.
2008 was one of the worst years for movies in modern memory.
SGN
Quick Oscar facts:
21000 slumdogs could be fed 1 year with the profits from tonights ceremony.
65,700 slumdogs could be fed 1 year with the advertising dollars spent on tonights ceremony.
44285 slumdogs could be fed 1 year with the production costs of tonights ceremony.
5 slumdogs could be fed one day on the cost of a fat american fuck to buy a vat of popcorn, a 96 oz soda, and a mars candy while watching the slumdog crawl his way out of desperate poverty.
And the kicker: http://tinyurl.com/bmobss A sharp rise in food costs puts 100 million more Indians at risk of starvation over last year.
God I fucking hate people sometimes.
Mike in NC
Yes it was. But only two Adam Sandler movies, I think. Change we can believe in.
The GOP is now hiring even if nobody else is.
OriGuy
@Zzyzx: 27% Catholic, 11% Mormon. Although Vegas is hurting right now, so that might tip the scales.