Sunday, February 22, 2009

LIVE 81st Academy Awards Rant

The Oscars is in desperate need of the straight-male perspective, so I'll take one for the team.

Barbara Walters Special

Yes, the Jonas Brothers performed with Stevie Wonder at The Grammys, but they forgot the words to “Superstitious.” (To be fair, I don't know the words either, and it’s one of my favorites.) At least they write music and play instruments.

Babs asks about the purity rings; I wonder if she is thinking, “I hope they didn't read about my affair with Sen. Edward Brooke.” Wait, one of these guys is 21? And he is wearing a purity ring? I'm officially questioning his purity.

By the way, Anne Hathaway was excellent on Saturday Night Live.

Anne is my age and single. Hmmm. Honestly, I’ve seen her look much hotter. Tragic.

Notice Anne says “hard drugs” would complicate things; I’m guessing she dabbles with reefer. (Aren't I great at putting words in people's mouths?)

Nice of Mickey Rourke to put his hand inside his waistband to start the interview.

Riveting interview with Rourke. He was by far the most interesting subject.

Red Carpet

Somehow, I doubt “Who designed your shoes?” would have been my first question for Kate Winslet.

Josh Brolin is married to Diane Lane? Nicely done. Brolin is on quite a roll with No Country for Old Men, W, and Milk. He was also a top-notch SNL host this season. I'm a fan.

Amy Adams…or Isla Fisher? Honestly, I thought they were the same person until last week. They look so much alike, it's a little eerie. A gay man approves of Amy's dress; bullet dodged.

Taraji Henson is looking mighty fine. Saw her on Conan, and she’s likable too.

Moment of the night so far: The interviewer asks Brad and Angie nothing, merely stopping them for a quick ass-kissing. You gotta love show business.

Valentino: World-famous designer or Brazilian soccer star?

Whoa, let’s get Freida Pinto closer to the camera, please. I don’t need a Danny Boyle close-up in HD.

It would be easy to make fun of Rourke’s love for his dogs, but if he was really that lonely, I feel sympathy.

High School Musical kids? Who cares?

We need Robin Roberts back on ESPN.

Angelina is Miley Cyrus’ “favorite person ever.” Billy Ray just had an anxiety attack.

Heidi Klum is looking scrumptious as always in that Diet Coke ad. Of course, designer Wolfgang Joop said she's too heavy to walk the runway. If I were president, he'd be deported to American Samoa.

Meryl Streep’s daughter and I need to meet.

It must be off-putting for the women to have all these people commenting on what they look like, whether positive or negative. The more analysis, the more creepy.

“I have NEVER seen such gorgeous pleating.” My thoughts exactly.

Seth Rogen has dropped some pounds. I hope he hasn’t given up the green.

The Oscars

Please let this thing actually end at 10:30; I’ve got bonds to trade at 7:20 a.m.

Where’s Regis? Come on, he was the Millionaire pioneer.

Creative opening number from Jackman. I liked the cheap sets and props, which I'm guessing were an homage to the poor economy.

Are these five ladies announcing the nominees for Best Supporting Actress, or is this the latest reboot of The View?

This is my first Viola Davis experience, but there’s something about her I like.

Man, if they have a presenter give every nominee for every category a mini-speech, this show will end sometime around Arbor Day.

Penelope Cruz wins. “I want to share this with my fellow nominees.” Psyche! It's mine, bitches! Cruz said she would go way over 45 seconds, but she kept it relatively short and sweet. That’s always a classy move, in my opinion.

Milk's screenwriter wins, and he just wants to live his life, fall in love, and get married. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find the woman of your dreams some day.

The analytical nerd in me loves how they present the screenplay nominees. It’s cool to see the words come alive on film.

Uh oh, Aniston and Jolie are too close. Jen, I’ll let you have my babies, I promise. I bet Brad wouldn’t mind another crack at that. And they cut to a laughing Jolie. Well, I guess she has nothing to be mad about…or she truly is a great actress. WALL-E was the lock of the night along with Heath Ledger.

Already on my fourth Heineken, and we’ve had one major award. This could be a long night.

Here’s my fashion analysis of the night: I hate dresses that push boobs up in an unrealistic way (e.g. Sarah Jessica Parker).

Button wins for Art Direction; possibly a bad sign for Slumdog. I’m telling ya, Oscar loves the Button-type movie. I’m not predicting a Button win, but I’m not ruling it out either. Button gets another for Makeup; this is starting to feel like the year Shakespeare in Love won.

The lowering of the giant screen is always dramatic.

Good thing The Oscars are on; the three NBA games on TV weren't competitive.

Jessica Biel is one of those women who actually looks better in a tank top and jeans.

James Franco and Rogen giggling at the dramatic movies was amusing. Actually, the best part was when Rogen cracked up live while Franco struggled to pronounce the winner’s German name.

More singing and dancing for Jackman, which isn’t exactly extinguishing the flames of those gay rumors. BEYONCE! My night is complete. I suppose she’s not skinny enough for the runway either. Idiots. Oh, so that is why the High School Musical kids are here.

Hey, Cuba Gooding made my point about Downey being brave for me! Let the record show, I said it first in my previous post. Ledger’s entire family is apparently here; as if they’d invite them all if he weren’t winning. And indeed, the Oscar is posthumously Heath’s. I thought the Ledgers did a wonderful job humbly accepting the award on Heath’s behalf. It’s impossible not to feel for them, and it was cool to see them focus on the joy of his win.

Man on Wire was a good bet to take Best Documentary too. That had to be the best magic trick in Oscar history.

Yet another Button win for Visual Effects.

Hey, The Dark Knight finally wins one for Sound Editing. Will Smith flubs the intro, but he’s so damned charismatic, he makes fun of himself and still manages to look cool doing it.

Was that John Mayer with Aniston? I thought they were Splitsville.

My favorite part of The Oscars is the historical montages, including the tribute to Jerry Lewis. Also looking forward to the “In Memoria” montage, as morbid as that sounds.

Damn. I’ve never seen Alicia Keyes look better.

Remember when Queen Latifah was just a rapper? What a transformation she’s had in her career. Man, I completely forgot that Paul Newman died.

THANK GOD! A MAJOR AWARD! Best Director is up; I was out of beer hours ago. Danny Boyle (Slumdog) wins. Looks like they’re about to wrap this baby up with a lightning round of majors.

Halle Berry is 42? Holy crap. I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for eating crackers. Meryl Streep doesn’t look too shabby for being nearly 60 either. Winslet gets the nod. Mom has called all the winners so far. (She picked Downey but said Ledger would win.) I like that Winslet didn’t play coy and admitted she wanted to win. Good for her; she’s incredibly deserving.

By the way, where is Jack? This is the first Oscars I can remember where he wasn’t prominently seated close to the stage. The Lakers aren’t even in town.

Although I lamented the potential wasted time of every major nominee getting verbal fellatio from a presenter, I eventually warmed up to it. The nominees deserve some love, regardless if they win or not.

Sean Penn wins Best Actor, and frankly, I’m a little upset. Penn winning wasn't a shock, but I really wanted Rourke to get it. It’s not that Penn isn’t deserving, I was just a huge fan of The Wrestler, and Rourke single-handedly made a good movie great.

Slumdog wins Best Picture. I have no complaints even though it wasn’t my pick. There wasn't a single surprise all night. I want the last five hours of my life back.

Stefhon Hannah & Vaidotas Volkus: Reunited at last

The two former Missouri Tigers play for BC Siauliai, whose 9-4 record is good for 3rd in Lietuvos Krepšinio Lyga, Lithuania's premiere basketball league.

Hannah is sixth on the team in minutes, averaging 8.5 points, 4 assists, and 1.5 steals. So far, Lithuanian club-hoppers have allowed his jaw to remain intact. Volkus averages 4 points and a rebound in 11 minutes.

My Mom's Super Bowl


On second thought, The Oscars are probably a bigger deal to my mom than the Super Bowl is to me. I tried to avoid the Super Bowl pregame shows at all costs, but Mom will be locked into the Barbara Walters Special and the red-carpet show like Troy Polamalu on a receiver coming over the middle.

So, since she has seen more Oscar flicks than me, I'll temporarily get off the stage:

Best Picture: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. SLUMDOG offered the most unique and uplifting film experience of the year for me. It's a modern-day fairy tale with plenty of edge and excitement, and a good payoff that's a big relief of the non-stop tension built throughout the film. However, I enjoyed GRAN TORINO almost as much, but it wasn't nominated.

Best Actor: MICKEY ROURKE. This is a very tough pick. I'm thoroughly impressed by Frank Langella's FROST/NIXON, but equally moved by Sean Penn in MILK. However, the more I think about what Rourke put into playing the Ram, I think I've gotta give him the nod, and this isn't based on any of the "comeback" hype he's been getting. He's simply amazing in this role. At the same time, Langella and Penn did wonderful work in once-in-a-lifetime roles and are equally deserving, but didn't face the incredible demands that Rourke conquered in becoming a totally convincing pro wrestler. [NOTE: Clint Eastwood deserved a nomination for GRAN TORINO, another wonderful and touching performance.]

Best Actress: KATE WINSLET. Full disclosure -- the only other performance I saw was Anne Hathaway in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, and she was quite good. Although Winslet is a good bet, I am not qualified to make a good comparison of these actresses. Streep & Jolie are always good, and I've seen plenty of good work by Melissa Leo.

Best Supporting Actor: ROBERT DOWNEY JR. Of course, Heath Ledger will win and everyone will be happy, but Downey's work in TROPIC THUNDER was much more demanding. He perfected three very different characters, while Ledger gave us one very scary villain. Oscar's very sentimental, so Downey's got no chance.

Best Suppporting Actress: PENELOPE CRUZ. I confess I haven't even seen her performance, but have read a lot about it and am convinced she's deserving. Marisa Tomei was good, but not great in THE WRESTLER, and I'm not a fan of nominations for women based on "brave" (read "degrading") work. Yes, she shows guts and almost every bit of her body, but that's not enough and some of the camerawork seems gratuitous.

Best Director: DANNY BOYLE. For me, SLUMDOG was fresh, exciting, and riveting. On the other hand, I was close to nodding off during THE READER. Ron Howard did great work with FROST/NIXON, but the other directors pale in comparison to SLUMDOG.

Best Song: I really liked Bruce Springsteen's song at the end of THE WRESTLER, but it wasn't nominated. Therefore, I'm going to go with the song at the end of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (two song were nominated from this film, but I don't know which is which).

My one disagreement: Best Picture. I liked Slumdog but not as much as The Wrestler or Gran Torino, neither of which was nominated. However, I'll go with Slumdog if forced to pick from the nominees. Slumdog seems like a sure-thing, but watch out for Benjamin Button; The Academy loves innovative movies that span a character's lifetime. Brad Pitt's nomination already shows Oscar likes the movie more than the general public considering many felt it was too long, and more importantly, Button wasn't engaging enough to carry the film.

Finally, one more thing about Downey: We've seen actresses like Tomei and Halle Berry called "brave" for essentially getting naked on film. Wasn't Downey brave for playing a black guy? In our politically correct world, if there wasn't at least a moment when he thought, "Ya know, essentially running around a Ben Stiller comedy in black face might end badly for me," then he's a much braver man than me. However, to the audience's credit, I haven't heard anyone take offense to Downey's brilliantly hilarious performance.

Monday, February 9, 2009

An old-fashioned brawl to whet your Mizzou-KU appetite

The Indiana Pacers-Detroit Pistons skirmish from a few years ago has nothing on this brouhaha. See, Captain Jack, this is how you assault a spectator. Considering this happened in 1961, I'm guessing a black Jayhawk throwing the first punch didn't do much for race relations. Yikes. If that happened in 2004, we'd still be seeing the video looped on ESPN.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Norm Stewart and Greg Church rap

Once upon a time, on a glorious day in 1987, the Missouri basketball Tigers made a rap video. And if you're a huge Mizzou fan and haven't seen this, then you've never lived.

The first rapper is Lynn Hardy, my former coach at Norm Stewart Camp. If you think the first few "performers" are bad, brace yourself for the white guys. Occasionally, I miss the 1980s. Church's mustache was something to behold.

(Apologies in advance for the poor audio quality.)