Keeping track of my correct choices with a *
(I ended up with 18/24, if you don’t feel like counting)

* Best Picture
The Hurt Locker

* Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges

* Actor in a Supporting Role
Christoph Waltz

* Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock

* Actress in a Supporting Role
Mo’Nique

* Animated Feature Film
Up

* Art Direction
Avatar

* Cinematography
Avatar

* Costume Design
The Young Victoria (these period pieces always win)

* Directing
Kathryn Bigelow

* Documentary Feature
The Cove

Documentary Short
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province

* Film Editing
Hurt Locker

Foreign Language Film
The White Ribbon

* Makeup
Star Trek (too good to get no Oscars!)

* Music (Score)
Up

* Music (Song)
The Weary Kind – Crazy Heart

Short Film (Animated)
A Matter of Loaf and Death

Short Film (Live Action)
Kavi

* Sound Editing
Hurt Locker

* Sound Mixing
Hurt Locker

* Visual Effects
Avatar

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Up In The Air

Writing (Original Screenplay)
Inglorious Basterds

                  

Avatar
I really didn’t know what to expect with this because of all of the hype, but Avatar absolutely lived up to everything I heard about it. I agree with most that the story is nothing new. It is pretty typical SciFi. It’s the effects that completely blew me away. It took me a while to really become absorbed in the world of Pandora, but once I did I couldn’t look away. I don’t see any way that this film doesn’t win Art Direction, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. Its the other categories that I am not sure about. I really don’t want it to win best picture, Director, and Cinematography, but I could see some of them happening.
Final thought: Spectacularly beautiful film! Everyone should see this in 3D. Don’t wait for dvd!

Julie & Julia
This was a very cute film. It really made me want to eat and cook delicious French foods! Meryl Streep was really great as Julia Child. Very convincing. I hope she wins Best Actress. She was much better than Sandra Bullock.
Final thought: Great film to watch at home with your family.

The Blind Side
This film was very heart warming and inspirational. Sandra Bullock did a great job in her role as a wealthy suburban mother who takes in a homeless teenager and helps him go to college on a football scholarship. As a Best Picture nominee, I’m just not convinced. There were other films this year that could have been nominated over this.
Final thought: Great inspirational family film, not really worth the Oscar buzz, though.

Precious
I can’t even tell you how heartbreaking this film is. Gabourey Sidibe plays Precious, a teen mom in the ghetto trying to make it through the worst possible situation. Monique, who plays Precious’ mother will win Best Supporting Actress, no doubt about that. You will hate her character, but her power is undeniable in the role. This could contend for Adapted Screeplay, but Best Picture and Director are a long-shot.
Final thought: Not a film for anyone who is not interested in very rough and horribly sad realism, but a must see otherwise.

                  

In absolutely no particular order

1. Gangs of New York
2. Wet Hot American Summer
3. In the Bedroom
4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
5. No Country for Old Men
6. There Will Be Blood
7. Brick
8. The Departed
9. The Royal Tenenbaums
10. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
11. Juno
12. The Fellowship of the Ring
13. Inglourious Basterds
14. Pan’s Labyrinth
15. Donnie Darko
16. Up
17. District 9
18. Mulholland Dr.
19. 28 Days Later
20. The Pianist
21. Wall-E
22. Memento
23. Moulin Rouge
24. High Fidelity
25. Dark Knight
26. Punch Drunk Love
27. Almost Famous
28. Spirited Away
29. Kill Bill Vol. 1
30. Superbad
31. 3:10 to Yuma
32. Hotel Rawanda
33. Little Miss Sunshine
34. Avatar
35. O Brother Where Art Thou
36. Dogville
37. Amelie
38. Big Fish
39. The Squid and the Whale
40. Brokeback Mountain
41. Lost in Translation
42. The Hurt Locker
43. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
44. Babel
45. Letters from Iwo Jima
46. Milk
47. One Hour Photo
48. Requiem for a Dream
49. Amores Perros
50. Adaptation

Maybe I’ll do best albums of the decade in a few months. I know, I’m so timely with these things.

                  

An Education
I haven’t watched any other films nominated for Leading Actress, and I know Carey Mulligan is a long shot, but her performance is fantastic in An Education. Mulligan plays a very convincing 16 year old who is seduced by an older man. Her performance is very natural and stands out in a phenomenal ensemble cast. As a Best Picture contender, I doubt this film would have made the cut if the category hadn’t been expanded, but certainly hold it’s own among the other nominees. For Adapted Screenplay this is a major contender.
Final thought: Very witty, very clever film that I would recommend.

The Hurt Locker
Certainly the best Iraq War film I’ve seen, the Hurt Locker follows a small team of Bomb Squad Technicians through their tour of duty. The story isn’t really special, so I don’t really see this as getting far in Screenplay Original. Visually it is ultra realistic and makes you feel like you are a journalist covering the action. Certainly a contender for Directing and Cinematography, though it will be hard to beat Avatar for the latter.
Final thought: Great war film worth the watch.

Inglorious Basterds
If I were a member of the Academy, this would get my vote for Best Picture. The competition is stiff this year with 5 extra nominees, but Inglorious Basterds, a rewrite of WWII history where Hitler is assassinated, is easily the best. This is a defining piece of cinema and may be Quentin Tarantino’s best work. Although, these things may be what keep it from winning the honor as movies this good never seem to get the credit they deserve until later. I would love to see this film win best picture (dark horse for sure), directing (very possible), and screenplay original (maybe).
Final thought: Probably the best film of the last 5 years…maybe 10, in my opinion.

A Serious Man
I’ve heard a lot of people say this film is overly pretentious and boring. I found it to be very thoughtful and darkly hilarious. A serious man chronicles the ridiculous trials of Larry Gopnik, a Jewish professor whose life seems to be falling apart before him. This film proves that you don’t have to be nominated for every other category to be considered for Best Picture; it stands on the story alone. That said, the Coen Brothers could grab the Screenplay Original award for this film, but I doubt it has a serious chance at Best Picture.
Final thought: Not for everybody, but very good if you typically like the Coen Brothers.

Up in the Air
This film certainly deserves the nominations it received. The acting is phenomenal and the story is both hilarious and desperately sad.
Up in the Air is about a business man who lives in the air, traveling from city to city to fire people. He doesn’t realize how terribly lonely he is until he meets another frequent flier who catches his heart. Like A Serious Man, this film shows that a great story is enough to be a Best Picture contender. Though it probably wont win, Up in the Air stands a good chance for an upset.
Final thought: For me, this film was more sad than funny, though enjoyably so.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Why don’t people like Terry Gilliam? I seriously love his films, and Dr. Parnassus does not disappoint. It may sound odd, this being a film about the struggle between imagination and the devil, but this film is very imaginative! Visually it is spectacular. The costumes, the scenery, everything about this film looks great. The story may be muddled, but it is fascinating at the same time. Certainly has a chance to win both Costume Design and Art Direction.
Final thought: I love Terry Gilliam, so I recommend this to anyone who also loves him.

Nine
I really love Daniel Day-Lewis, so I hate to say that I didn’t really enjoy Nine. The music and choreography is almost all really great, but the narrative is really awful. The story focuses on film director Guido Contini’s struggle to write his next film. I see no chance for Penelope Cruz going up against Mo’Nique for Supporting Actress (honestly Marion Cotillard had a better performance than Cruz), but could win for Costume Design and Art Direction. I haven’t really heard any of the other original songs, but the music was fantastic in Nine, so it could win there.
Final thought: I wouldn’t really recommend this film. The story really is poorly told.

The Messenger
The Messenger offers a look into the awful job of informing next of kin of the death of a soldier. Woody Harrelson is terrific and will be the only person up for Supporting Actor who might be able to beat Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds). This movie gives a different side of war that isn’t often portrayed in film, at least not as well as it is in this film.
Final thought: Very good film that I highly recommend.

Food, Inc.
This is the only Documentary Feature I have had a chance to see. I liked it, but already knew most of the information that was presented so it became a bit tedious. I would have liked to see some solutions for people who can’t afford to shop at Whole Foods.
Final thought: Not as good as I thought it would be, but worth a look if you’ve ever wondered where your food comes from.

Invictus
Clint Eastwood is a very good director. He got a bit of a snubbing by not being included in either Directing or Best Picture, but I don’t blame the academy. This film wouldn’t have won either and the other nominees are probably better than Invicus, the story of Nelson Mandela using the South African rugby team to unite a very divided country. This movie is quite good and Morgan Freeman has a very good chance of winning for Leading Actor.
Final thought: Very enjoyable film that I would recommend to anyone.

                  

1. The Chronicle’s of Narnia – C.S. Lewis (Try to read these every few years)
2. Dragon Tears – Dean Koontz
3. Hitchhicker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams (8th time. I love this series. I always cry when Marvin dies.)
4. Animal Farm – George Orwell (2nd time)
5. Lord of the Rings “Trilogy” – JRR Tolkien (I read this every year. This would be my 9th time)
6. The Hobitt – JRR Tolkien (I try to read this every year, but usually a few years in between)
7. The Silmarillion – JRR Tolkien (I try to read this every year, but usually a few years in between)
8. Twilight Series – Stephanie Meyer
9. Harry Potter Series – (3rd time through he series)
10. Dreams from my Father – Barack Obama
11. The Cather in the Rye – J.D. Salinger (4th reading, after he died RIP)
12. Legacy of the Drow (The Legacy, Starless Night, Siege of Darkness, Passage to Dawn) – R.A. Salvatore
13. Paths of Darkness (The Silent Blade, The Spine of the World, Servant of the Shard, Sea of Swords) – R.A. Salvatore
14. Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk

Total for this year: 40 books! Less than last year, but still very cool! I’ve already read 5 books for 2010, so I’m off to a great start!

As usual, please recommend anything I should look at. I’m always looking for a new author or book to read.

                  

Basically, koans are a series of failing tests that you have to fix in order to move forward. As you fix each test in a file, you run the file in a terminal window to see the results. If you fixed the test correctly, it will move on to the next error. The point is not to move through the test as quickly as you can, but to stop and understand each test as you go. First, why is it broken, second, fix it, third, improve it (Red, Green, Refactor). Every time you solve a test, go back to make sure you understand what you actually fixed and why it works. The koans each build upon each other and upon your knowledge of Ruby as you gain it.

If you have ever been interested in learning Ruby, koans are definitely a great way to get acquainted with the language!

                  

Wikipedia has a fairly concise summary of the show:

Historical warriors are put against each other to see who can outlast the other. Each episode showcases two warriors in a hypothetical battle to the death. Each warrior is given weapons from the particular group they are associated with. Modern fighters and experts on said weapons present the strengths, and weaknesses of each arsenal, including real tests of the weapons. The data collected is then fed into a computer simulation based on an unreleased commercial game engine developed by Slitherine Strategies to determine the average winner of one thousand battles. After the winner is determined, a mock battle takes place to showcase how each weapon is used in a real battle situation, and to determine which combatant is the “deadliest warrior”.

The show is hosted by Geoff Desmoulin, a biomedical scientist and martial arts expert who collects the data created when testing the weapons, Max Geiger, a video game designer who runs the data through the simulation engine, and Dr. Armand Dorian, an ER doctor who serves as the show’s medical consultant.

There is no real formula to determine who fights against whom. The only rule is that the warriors cannot have met in actual combat. In Season 1, the matchups fell into 3 categories: one-on-one combat between warriors from specific cultures (ex. Spartan vs. Ninja), group-on-group combat (ex. Green Beret vs Spetsnaz), and one-on-one combat between specific historical figures (ex. William Wallace vs Shaka Zulu).

Deadliest Warrior is an exciting, action-packed, and extremely gruesome show. No announcements have been made for a second season, but my fingers are more than crossed!

In my hope for season 2, I decided to put together a list of warriors and warrior cultures that I would like to see if the show returns. I tried not to list any warrior cultures with similarities to those already featured on the show. In no particular order:

Huns under Attila:

In warfare they utilized the bow and javelin. The arrowheads and javelin tips were made from bone. They also fought using iron swords and lassos in close combat. The Hun sword was a long, straight, double-edged sword of early Sassanian style. These swords were hung from a belt using the scabbard-slide method, which kept the weapon vertical. The Huns also employed a smaller short sword or large dagger which was hung horizontally across the belly

Rajput:

The Rajput ethos is martial, in spirit, and fiercely proud and independent, and emphasizes lineage and tradition. Rajput patriotism is legendary, an ideal they embodied with a sometimes fanatical zeal, often choosing death before dishonour. Rajput warriors were often known to fight until the last man.

The Rajput warrior clans venetrated the khanda as a weapon of great prestige…The khanda is a double-edged straight sword. The blade is usually broad and quite heavy, and broadens from the hilt to the tip…The hilt has a small metal spike coming out in the opposite direction which is typical of khanda. Many other straight swords around the world were primarily used for thrusting and stabbing with the tip, whereas the khanda was mainly used to hack or cleave with the edge of the blade.

Mongols under Genghis Khan:

The warrior carried a protective shield of light yet effective leather armor, which was impregnated with a lacquer-like substance in order to make it more impervious to penetration by arrows, swords and knives, and also to protect it against humid weather…Each warrior carried a battle axe, a curved sword known as scimitar; a lance, and two versions of their most famous weapon: The Mongol recurved bow.

Assyrians

The Assyrians took their warfare seriously; in fact they studied war techniques like a science. The Assyrian army was feared for many reasons one including the use of iron in their weapons. Their bowmen were also among the worlds finest. Other weapons used by the infantry wear the spear, the javelin, slings, and swords.

Amazons

I know they are probably mythological, but it would still be cool!

A nation of all-female warriors in Classical and Greek mythology. Hippocrates describes them as: “They have no right breasts…for while they are yet babies their mothers make red-hot a bronze instrument constructed for this very purpose and apply it to the right breast and cauterize it, so that its growth is arrested, and all its strength and bulk are diverted to the right shoulder and right arm.” Herodotus reported that the Sarmatians were descendants of Amazons and Scythians, and that their females observed their ancient maternal customs, “frequently hunting on horseback with their husbands; in war taking the field; and wearing the very same dress as the men”. Moreover, said Herodotus, “No girl shall wed till she has killed a man in battle.”

Now, Spike just needs to tell us they are bringing the show back! If you love Deadliest Warrior as much as I do, contact spike-feedback@spike.com

Anyone else have suggestions?

                  

Newt Gingrich

The person who drafted the outrageous homeland security memo smearing veterans and conservatives should be fired.”

Michelle Malkin

The piece of crap report issued on April 7 is a sweeping indictment of conservatives. And the intent is clear. As the two spokespeople I talked with on the phone today made clear: They both pinpointed the recent “economic downturn” and the “general state of the economy” for stoking “rightwing extremism.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann

Click here to view the embedded video.

James Dobson

There are no Timothy McVeighs out there right now. They’re making a big deal out of something that hasn’t happened and may not happen.”

Moe Lane from RedState.com

There’s the usual stuff about guns, illegal immigration, and disgruntled war veterans, plus the new wrinkle of our having elected an African-American President. The report concludes, unsurprisingly, that we have to worry more about “lone wolves and small terrorist cells” than anything else.”

The report compares the current climate to the 1990s, “when right-wing extremism experienced a resurgence fueled largely by an economic recession, criticism about the outsourcing of jobs, and the perceived threat to U.S. power and sovereignty by other foreign powers.” It specifically cites concerns about disgruntled war veterans, anti-government activists, anti-abortion activists, anti-Semites, and anti-immigration activists who work alone of in small groups.

The right-wing insists that there is no threat.

Saturday, April 4, 2009:
Richard Poplawski shoots and kills 3 police officers in Pittsburgh, PA during a 4 hour stand-off with SWAT officers. Poplawski was (via Salon.com)

A devotee of the white supremacist Web site Stormfront, Poplawski believed that the United States was controlled by a secret Jewish cabal that had a master plan to abrogate freedom of speech and use the U.S. military to police Americans… As his friend, Edward Perkovic, told the Associated Press, Poplawski feared “the Obama gun ban that’s on the way” and “didn’t like our rights being infringed upon.”

Sunday, May 30, 2009:
Scott Roeder shoots and kills Dr. George Tiller in his church in Wichita, KS. From McClatchy:

Those who know Roeder said he believed that killing abortion doctors was an act of justifiable homicide. “I know that he believed in justifiable homicide,” said Regina Dinwiddie, a Kansas City anti-abortion activist who made headlines in 1995 when she was ordered by a federal judge to stop using a bullhorn within 500 feet of any abortion clinic. “I know he very strongly believed that abortion was murder and that you ought to defend the little ones, both born and unborn.”

Wednesday, June 10, 2009:
James von Brunn, an 88-year-old gunman shoots and kills a security guard inside the crowded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum before being shot by other officers on duty. From Think Progress:

Brunn has been approvingly cited on Stormfront, a national white supremacist website. He is apparently the author of a tract called, “Kill the Best Gentiles,” which his website describes as “a new, hard-hitting exposé of the JEW CONSPIRACY to destroy the White gene-pool.” Brunn, a WWII veteran, also wrote a screed on President Obama’s citizenship that was re-posted to popular right-wing blog Free Republic.

Disgruntled war veterans? Check (x2) Anti-government activists? Check. Anti-abortion activists? Check. Anti-Semites? Check (x2). The only box unchecked is anti-immigration activist. How long until we get one of those? Maybe someone from The Minuteman Project will make their fantasies a reality and kill some immigrants crossing the border?

Oddly, Shepard Smith from Fox News sums it up nicely:

Discussing the shooting, Fox News’ Shepard Smith reminded the audience that when the Department of Homeland Security released a report warning of violent, right-wing extremists earlier this year, “the right went absolutely bonkers!” He called the report a “warning to us all,” and said DHS was “warning us for a reason.”

And yet many other right-wingers out there are doubling down on their position and are insisting that the DHS report is a disgrace and simply picking on conservatives and that Shep and the left-wing are fools for suggesting otherwise. (via Think Progress)

Click here to view the embedded video.

You right-wingers are all crazy! I hope you enjoy the political wilderness, because I don’t see you coming out for a while.

                  

This story has been churning in my stomach for the last few days and really makes me sick. For anyone living in a cave (from the NY Times):

WICHITA, Kan. — George Tiller, one of only a few doctors in the nation who performed abortions late in pregnancy, was shot to death here Sunday in the foyer of his longtime church as he handed out the church bulletin. The authorities said they took a man into custody later in the day after pulling him over about 170 miles away on Interstate 35 near Kansas City. They said they expected to charge him with murder on Monday.

Not surprisingly, the suspect, Scott Roeder was heavily involved in the “pro-life” movement. He obviously isn’t your typical pro-lifer, among whom are many of my close friends, but rather a subscriber to the extreme positions of the “pro-life” movement.

From McClatchy:

Those who know Roeder said he believed that killing abortion doctors was an act of justifiable homicide.

I know that he believed in justifiable homicide,” said Regina Dinwiddie, a Kansas City anti-abortion activist who made headlines in 1995 when she was ordered by a federal judge to stop using a bullhorn within 500 feet of any abortion clinic. “I know he very strongly believed that abortion was murder and that you ought to defend the little ones, both born and unborn.”

Dinwiddie said she met Roeder while picketing outside the Kansas City Planned Parenthood clinic in 1996. Roeder walked into the clinic and asked to see the doctor, Robert Crist, she said.

Robert Crist came out and he stared at him for approximately 45 seconds,” she said. “Then [Roeder] said, ‘I’ve seen you now.’ Then he turned his back and walked away, and they were scared to death. On the way out, he gave me a great big hug and he said, ‘I’ve seen you in the newspaper. I just love what you’re doing.’”

Roeder also was a subscriber to Prayer and Action News, a magazine that advocated the justifiable homicide position, said publisher Dave Leach, an anti-abortion activist from Des Moines, Iowa.

I met him once, and he wrote to me a few times,” Leach said. “I remember that he was sympathetic to our cause, but I don’t remember any details.”

Leach said he met Roeder in Topeka when he went there to visit Shelley Shannon, who was in prison for the 1993 shooting of Tiller.

He told me about a lot of conspiracy stuff and showed me how to take the magnetic strip out of a five-dollar bill,” Leach said. “He said it was to keep the government from tracking your money.

In the last few days many anti-choice activists and groups have come out with statements condemning the killing, however, some of these statements seem only to try to distance themselves from the killing without actually condemning the act.

Randall Terry, founder of anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, a group that Roeder had associations with and whose Senior Policy Advisor’s phone number was taped to his car dashboard (via C&L)

George Tiller was a mass-murderer. He had blood all over his hands. Now we grieve for him that he was shot in this deplorable manner and he did not have a chance to get things right with his maker perhaps. Every man deserves to have a trial of a jury of his peers and then a proper execution, not to have somebody become judge, jury and executioner on their own.

Randall Terry again (via The Plum Line)

We must not fear, we must not flinch, we must not retreat a single inch. George Tiller was a mass murderer, and we must continue to say so in his death just as we did in his life.

Others just come out and say it with joy (from the website of anti-abortion group Army of God *very graphic link, so don’t scroll down*):

The lives of innocent babies scheduled to be murdered by George Tiller are spared by the action of American hero Scott Roeder. George Tiller the Babykiller reaped what he sowed and is now in eternal hell.

Admittedly, the second group isn’t one of the well anti-abortion groups, like National Right to Life and  is as far from mainstream as it gets, but in this case, it is groups like these that lead to the idea of justifiable homicide. If you don’t like the extremist groups and think it is unfair to lump the pro-life movement in with this kind of hate speech, how about someone a little more prominent? How about a TV and Radio host whose shows reach an audience of millions?

Lets take a look at some of Bill O’Reilly’s comments during his 5 year war against Dr. Tiller. Since 2005, O’Reilly has ranted at least 29 times about Tiller on his Fox News show The O’Reilly Factor:

Records show he’ll do it for vague medical reasons, that is, he’ll kill the fetus, viable outside the womb if the mother wants it dead.

I don’t care what you think, we have incontrovertable evidence, incontrovertable evidence, alright, that this man is executing babies about to be born, in late term, because the woman is depressed.

Tiller himself, when he injected the fetus with the killing agent, then when he took the afterbirth, he never said anything to you at all?

Tiller the Baby Killer, as the Factor has been reporting, this man will terminate fetuses at any time for $5000.

I wanted George Tiller, Tiller the Baby Killer going YEAH! I can make more money killing babies now!

And here is the best video compilation of Bill-O’s hate speech from Daily Kos TV:

Now, I would never say that Bill O’Reilly or any of the other people mentioned in this post were complicit in this murder. Scott Roeder did this. He made a choice to murder someone whose views differed from his own. What I will absolutely say is that people like Bill O’Reilly should be held accountable for the words they use. It is clear that his words were meant to dehumanize Dr. Tiller, to make him into a monster rather than a man. For a person like Scott Roeder, these kinds of words work. There must be some accountability for public figures who use language to demonize a person to the point that people no longer view them as a human being.

Anyone who brands a man as “Baby Killer” is a part of the reason why someone would feel it was justifiable to kill that person. Bill O’Reilly obviously sees it differently (via AP):

O’Reilly said that he had never incited people to do anything, and that he wished he heard more compassion expressed by some of these critics for the aborted fetuses.

I’m coming at it from a factual point of view,” O’Reilly said. “The man aborted 60,000 fetuses, potential human beings, all right? Human beings to some, not human beings to others but to everyone 60,000 potential human beings were aborted by the man who made millions doing it. To me, that’s unconscionable. As an American, I have a right to say that.”

Rather than condemn the murder, O’Reilly joins the “It’s bad to kill someone, but he got what was coming to him” crowd. As if anyone would expect him to do differently.