BadtotheboneBob's Oscar Poll
Voting
The '1st Ever BadtotheboneBob Oscar Award Contest' Edition...
With a Prize! That's right, Poll-fans! A Prize! You like prizes, dontcha? I know I do!
I emptied my little change jar and I came up with $27.54 that I will gladly, gladly I say, donate to yer favorite charity. If that's you, OK, that's cool. If it's Marty and the page, so much the better, eh? All ya gotta do is correctly pick the winners of these Oscar categories... The closest one wins The Prize!... Ready? Set... Go !!!
Best Picture
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Directing
List of nominees
Well then, Poll-fans, here are the contestants... I was hopin' fer more, but, as I always say, "some days ya gets the elevator, the other days, it's the shaft"... My Thanks to the responders...
Margaret from MN selected...
My Picks (which will probably be the same as everyone else's!) :
Picture: Hurt Locker
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Actor: Jeff Bridges
Actress: Sandra Bullock
Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz
Supporting Actress: Mo ' Nique
Adam in NoHo from last week wrote...
Oh, after lunch I would Executive Order an end the 'War on Drugs' and make sure that every terrorism suspect got a very public civilian trial (pantswetters be damned).
Then made these picks and comments...
Now, on to the Oscars-
Best Actor in a Leading Role- Jeff Bridges
Best Actress in a Leading Role- Sandra Bullock
Best Actor in a Supporting Role- Christopher Plummer
All of these are because neither have an Oscar yet despite years and years of otherwise unrecognized work.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role- Monique, 'cause she overdid it in her big scene, and Oscar loves over the top. Look for Maggie Gyllynhall to receive a career spanning-type Oscar eventually.
Directing- Katherine Bigelow and she bloody well deserves it.
Best Picture- Avatar will not win (Star Wars lost and it actually WAS a game changer), I think The Hurt Locker will take this.
I guarantee no better than 75% accuracy. (I bet ya do better than that, Adam)
DC Madman chose...
Best Picture Inglorius - Basterds
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Jeremy Renner
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Christoph Waltz
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Meryl Streep
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Anna Kendrick
Directing - Kathryn Bigelow
I'm planning on being big time wrong. (Think positive, I'm sayin'!)
Joe (by- the- Lake) sent...
Ok, BTTBB, here are my predictions. I want you to know I haven't seen any of the films, hell I don't even know who some of those people are, Manistee doesn't even have a movie theater. My predictions are pure guesses so when I win give my money to Marty. (I love Manistee-by-the-Lake, Joe, just as it is. It doesn't need a theater...)
Best Picture - Avatar
Best Actor in a Leading Role - Jeff Bridges
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Christoph Waltz
Best Actress in a Leading Role - Sandra Bullock
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Mo'Nique
Directing - Kathryn Bigelow
Roy in Tyler didn't play, but sent instead...
I'd like to nominate "The Men Who Stare at Goats" and the entire cast for all categories. Oh wait, that film isn't even on the list. What a travesty!
To be honest though, I have boycotted the Oscars since 1996, when the Academy completely overlooked that tremendous, star-studded, cinematic bombshell, "Mars Attacks"! That film and its all-star cast should have taken home the statue in all categories, including best score for the playing of "When I'm Calling Yoooo-oooo-ooo-oooo." I'll be popping that DVD into my DVD player Sunday evening March 7 instead of watching the Oscars.
To which I replied as the Prize Nazi, "Hey Roy... Cool answer, but no Prize for you, haha!"
He retorted...
I really wasn't going for the prize. I just wanted to vent... as I do every year at Oscar time... about the travesty that occurred back in '96. I mean, c'mon... Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Glen Close, SJP, Michael Fox, D. J. Quarls, et al! How could "Mars Attack" not have been best picture ??? (It was a hoot!)
That Madcat, JD, chimed in with:
BEST PICTURE: AVATAR BECAUSE IT MADE THE MOST MONEY.
BEST ACTOR: JEFF BRIDGES BECAUSE HE'S THE DUDE.
BEST ACTRESS: MERYL STREEP FOR HER STREEP-NESS.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: CHRISTOPH WALTZ FOR THE BEST PERFORMANCE DEPICTING A REPUBLICAN.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: MO'NIQUE FOR KICKING ASS IN A KICK ASS FILM.
BEST DIRECTOR: KATHRYN BIGELOW FOR MAKING THE BEST FILM OF THE YEAR.
ENJOY THE OSCARS EVERYBODY!
And finally, in her first Poll appearance, let's have a round of applause for...
Marty! (and 'bout time, too, dagnabbit...)
1. Best Picture: "The Hurt Locker"
2. Actor: Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"
(It's his 'turn')
3. Actress: : Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"
(It's her 'turn')
4. Supporting Actor Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"
5. Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
6. Directing: Lee Daniels, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
I don't think the academy is ready to select a woman as best director, especially one who was married to James Cameron - so they cancel each other out. Jason Reitman is too young, so it's between Tarantino & Daniels. I'd prefer Tarantino, but figure they feel they need to give a big prize to 'Precious'.
After all, Hollywood is just high school, but with prettier people
Good Luck to all you brave predictors!
BadToTheBoneBob
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
President Obama: Replace Rahm with Me ...an open letter from Michael Moore (michaelmoore.com)
Dear President Obama, I understand you may be looking to replace Rahm Emanuel as your chief of staff. I would like to humbly offer myself, yours truly, as his replacement. I will come to D.C. and clean up the mess that's been created around you. I will work for $1 a year. I will help the Dems on Capitol Hill find their spines and I will teach them how to nonviolently beat the Republicans to a pulp.
Cenk Uygur: "Interview with Michael Moore: There's Going to Be a Second Economic Crash (and Glenn Beck Can 'F--k off')"
Michael Moore lets loose on Beck, the Democrats, and the state of our economy as he unrolls his DVD release of capitalism.
Christopher Hitchens: The New Commandments (vanityfair.com)
The Ten Commandments were set in stone, but it may be time for a re-chisel. With all due humility, the author takes on the job, pruning the ethically dubious, challenging the impossible, and rectifying some serious omissions.
Leo Hickman: The lawyer who defends animals (guardian.co.uk)
Are fish sentient beings? Can invertebrates suffer pain? These are the questions that regularly exercise the world's top animal lawyer, Antoine Goetschel.
CHARLES MUDEDE: What to Do About Aggressive Panhandlers (thestranger.com)
Officer Oscar Gardea reports: "I was dispatched to investigate an assault that occurred two days ago at the Safeway parking lot.
Anonymous: Thanks for Ruining a Good Man (thestranger.com)
You had the good fortune to marry one of the few genuinely amazing people in this world.
Sarah Boseley: Simon Singh and the silencing of the scientists (guardian.co.uk)
The science writer Simon Singh is fighting to defend his right to freedom of speech. And he's far from alone as companies from around the world are increasingly trying to use England's libel laws to quash academic critics .
Eye on the Bailout (propublica.org)
Altogether, accounting for both bailouts, $500.7 billion has gone out the door-invested, loaned, or paid out-while $173.2 billion has been returned. The Treasury has been earning a return on most of the money invested or loaned. So far, it has earned $21.5 billion. When those revenues are taken into account, $306 billion is the net still outstanding as of Feb 11, 2010.
Jeffrey Sachs: Climate sceptics are recycled critics of controls on tobacco and acid rain (guardian.co.uk)
We must not be distracted from science's urgent message: we are fuelling dangerous changes in Earth's climate
Nathan Heller: Late-Period Steve Martin (slate.com)
How to understand the actor, novelist, essayist, playwright, banjo player, crotch-centric variety show performer, and Oscar co-host.
Will Harris: A Chat with the Cast of "Southland" (bullz-eye.com)
When "ER" production mainstays John Wells and Christopher Chulack announced that their next project for NBC would be a police drama called "Southland," the critics were instantly intrigued. Unfortunately, ...
Roger Ebert: Review of "LOVE ACTUALLY" (R ; 3 1/2 stars)
"Love Actually" is a belly-flop into the sea of romantic comedy. It contains about a dozen couples who are in love; that's an approximate figure because some of them fall out of love and others double up or change partners. There's also one hopeful soloist who believes that if he flies to Milwaukee and walks into a bar he'll find a friendly Wisconsin girl who thinks his British accent is so cute she'll want to sleep with him. This turns out to be true.
replied:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Links from RJ
Two-fer
Hi there
Here are two possibilities for you.... hope you enjoy! Thanks for taking a look!
Reader Suggestion
mr personality award
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Rainy day and more to come.
Complete List of Razzies Winners - 2010
Here's the Oscars - 2010 page.
Sweeps Indie Spirit Film Awards
"Precious"
"Precious," the harrowing tale of an incest survivor's struggle for self-acceptance, swept the Spirit Awards on Friday, taking home five prizes at the independent film world's version of the Oscars.
The film's haul included best feature, director and first screenplay. Its actors, newcomer Gabourey Sidibe and comedienne Mo'Nique, took home the honors for female lead and supporting female, respectively.
The film, whose full name is "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," also won the screenplay award for Geoffrey Fletcher. Lee Daniels, accepting his award for best director, indicated it might be his last time at the podium during awards season.
"Crazy Heart" also won for best first feature.
"Precious"
Commander of Arts and Letters
Stevie Wonder
US singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder was Saturday awarded one of France's top cultural honours, which he dedicated to his deceased mother 30 years after he was tapped to receive it.
"I receive this honour in memory of my mother and in memory of all of those that have made it possible for me to stand here today," said an emotional Wonder, clad in marine blue striped suit, as he received the Commander of Arts and Letters award from French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand.
"As I was... listening to what you were saying, I had a flash in my memory, the memory of 1964, when I came to Paris, France for the first time. I came with my mother," 59-year-old Wonder told Mitterrand. His mother died in 2006.
Standing next to Mitterrand was former culture minister Jack Lang, who first named Wonder for the medal that has been bestowed over the years to personalities ranging from South African writer Nadine Gordimer, British actor Roger Moore and Lebanese diva Fairuz.
Stevie Wonder
Shun Hugo Boss
Danny Glover
Actor and activist Danny Glover is calling on Academy Awards nominees and others in the film industry to not wear Hugo Boss suits at Sunday's awards ceremony.
The "Lethal Weapon" star makes the request in a letter on behalf of 375 Cleveland factory workers who'll lose their jobs if the German company closes the plant next month as planned.
The Feb. 26 letter asks Hollywood to "take a small stand for American workers." It asks Oscars attendees to wear on their lapels a pin reading, "Keep the Hugo Boss Plant Open."
Glover is collaborating with the labor union Workers United. The union says the plant is profitable and the company is shutting it because it can make clothing more cheaply in Europe.
Danny Glover
Rondy Time In Anchorage
Kathy Griffin
Comedian Kathy Griffin has brought her "Life on the D-List" show to Sarah Palin's home state, skewering the former Alaska governor at a raucous show in Anchorage.
Griffin was escorted on stage on Friday by Playgirl model Levi Johnston, who fathered a child with Palin's oldest daughter and is involved in a child support battle with Bristol Palin.
Griffin said she spent a day ice fishing with Johnston in Wasilla, and was surprised when 19-year-old Levi's friend brought along a camera - but only to photograph the fish they caught.
Griffin welcomed news that Palin is trying to shop a reality show or docudrama about Alaska. She called that a "gift from God."
Kathy Griffin
Comes To DVD
"T.A.M.I. Show"
Director Quentin Tarantino ranks it in the "top three of all rock movies." "Little Steven" Van Zandt proclaims it "the greatest rock movie you've never seen."
That's about to change March 23 when Shout Factory releases "The T.A.M.I. Show: Collector's Edition" for the first time on DVD. Filmed live at the Santa Monica (California) Civic Auditorium in 1964, the first concert movie of the rock era brims with nearly two hours of kinetic performances by 12 acts, seven of whom are now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including the Rolling Stones (with Brian Jones), James Brown, Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys and the Supremes.
Filmed seven months after the Beatles invaded the United States on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and making its "world premiere" November 14, 1964, at 33 Los Angeles-era theaters, "The T.A.M.I. Show" was released nationally in December 1964 and debuted in the United Kingdom in April 1965 as "Teen Age Command Performance." Since then, the pioneering film has become a cult favorite, kept alive through video bootlegs as rights issues were hammered out.
Watching James Brown's dynamic performance, one of many "T.A.M.I." highlights, the viewer unequivocally understands why he was called the hardest-working man in show business. Hosts Jan & Dean introduce a diverse lineup of U.S. and English acts that includes Motown artists Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Lesley Gore, Gerry & the Pacemakers, the Barbarians and Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas. The restored film also boasts the Beach Boys' performance, which was removed after the film's initial theatrical run.
Providing musical backup was the Wrecking Crew. The band, whose members included Glen Campbell and Leon Russell, is best known for playing on all of producer Phil Spector's hits. The Blossoms -- Fanita James, Jean King and Darlene Love -- supplied backing vocals.
"T.A.M.I. Show"
Baby News
Easton Quinn Elfman
Jenna Elfman is a mum again - the actress gave birth to her second son, Easton Quinn, on Tuesday.
Elfman broke the happy news via a Twitter.com post on Friday, cooing, "He's an impressive sleeper (thank god!) & I'm his biggest fan."
Husband Bodhi Elfman is also thrilled with the couple's second child, adding his thoughts on his own Twitter.com page: "Shazaam! Easton Quinn Monroe Elfman. Born March 2 @ 7:53AM. Triple Word Score, Grand Slam, Royal Flush! Digging this guy big time."
The couple has a two-year-old son, called Story Elias.
Easton Quinn Elfman
Texts Dismiss Darwin, Evolution
Home-Schooling
Christian-based materials dominate a growing home-school education market that encompasses more than 1.5 million students in the U.S. And for most home-school parents, a Bible-based version of the Earth's creation is exactly what they want. Federal statistics from 2007 show 83 percent of home-schooling parents want to give their children "religious or moral instruction."
"The majority of home-schoolers self-identify as evangelical Christians," said Ian Slatter, a spokesman for the Home School Legal Defense Association. "Most home-schoolers will definitely have a sort of creationist component to their home-school program."
Those who don't, however, often feel isolated and frustrated from trying to find a textbook that fits their beliefs.
Home-Schooling
Virginia's Head Bigot
Kenneth Cuccinelli
Virginia's attorney general is advising the state's public colleges to rescind policies that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Kenneth Cuccinelli says in a letter to college presidents and other officials that only the General Assembly can determine which classes of people are protected by state government nondiscrimination policies.
Proposals to ban such discrimination against gays have repeatedly failed in the legislature. The Republican attorney general says in the letter, dated Thursday, that state institutions cannot adopt a policy position rejected by the General Assembly.
Kenneth Cuccinelli
Deadline Looms
Cablevision-ABC Feud
Cablevision's 3.1 million customers in New York could lose access to the Academy Awards on Sunday if ABC's parent company follows through on a threat to pull the plug at midnight Saturday in a dispute over payments.
The Walt Disney Co. is seeking an additional $40 million a year in new fees, according to Cablevision Systems Corp. spokesman Charles Schueler. He said the company currently pays more than $200 million a year to Disney.
Disney said Cablevision charges customers $18 per month for basic broadcast signals, but does not pass on any payment for ABC to Disney.
The dispute is similar to a standoff at the end of last year between News Corp. and Time Warner Cable over how much Fox television station signals were worth. That tussle, which threatened the college football bowl season and new episodes of "The Simpsons," was resolved without a signal interruption.
Cablevision-ABC Feud
Disney Front Page Ad
L.A. Times
The Los Angeles Times' critic may have panned the film, but that didn't stop Disney from paying top dollar to turn the newspaper's front page into a special advertisement on Friday for the new movie, "Alice in Wonderland."
The ad, believed to be the first of its kind among America's leading big-city dailies, dismayed some readers and was lamented by media scholars as the latest troubling sign of difficult times at the newspaper and for journalism generally.
The ad features a full-color photo of actor Johnny Depp in gaudy makeup, wig and costume as the film's Mad Hatter character, superimposed across an authentic-looking front page mock-up, topped by the Times' traditional masthead.
A Times spokesman, John Conroy, declined to discuss the cost of the ad, but said, "The Times' front section is our most valuable real estate, so the ad unit was priced accordingly."
Hollywood blogger Sharon Waxman cited one "media buyer insider" as saying the Walt Disney Co, the studio behind the film, paid $700,000 for the space.
L.A. Times
Asteroid To Blame
Dinosaurs
A giant asteroid smashing into Earth is the only plausible explanation for the extinction of the dinosaurs, a global scientific team said on Thursday, hoping to settle a row that has divided experts for decades.
A panel of 41 scientists from across the world reviewed 20 years' worth of research to try to confirm the cause of the so-called Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction, which created a "hellish environment" around 65 million years ago and wiped out more than half of all species on the planet.
Scientific opinion was split over whether the extinction was caused by an asteroid or by volcanic activity in the Deccan Traps in what is now India, where there were a series of super volcanic eruptions that lasted around 1.5 million years.
The new study, conducted by scientists from Europe, the United States, Mexico, Canada and Japan and published in the journal Science, found that a 15-kilometre (9 miles) wide asteroid slamming into Earth at Chicxulub in what is now Mexico was the culprit.
Dinosaurs
In Memory
Lolly Vegas
Lolly Vegas, a co-founder of Redbone who wrote the hit "Come and Get Your Love" for the 1970s band, has died in Los Angeles, a spokesman said on Saturday.
Vegas, 70, who had been battling cancer for several years, died at home Thursday, band spokesman Joe Ortiz said.
Singer/guitarist Vegas, whose real name was Lolly Vasquez, formed Redbone with his brother Patrick in 1969. The band, with members of Latino and native American origin, released its self-titled debut album the following year.
"Come and Get Your Love" peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1974.
Vegas is survived by his brother.
Lolly Vegas
In Memory
Ron Banks
Singer Ron Banks, a founding member of R&B group the Dramatics, died Thursday (March 4) at his Detroit home of a reported heart attack. He was 58.
Banks, whose sweet falsetto helped give the Dramatics its signature sound, was a Detroit native who was born May 10, 1951.
Originally a vocal sextet known as the Dynamics in the early '60s, the group changed its name and became a quintet comprising Banks, William Howard, Larry Demps, Willie Ford and Elbert Wilkins.
The Dramatics scored its first R&B-charting single (No. 43) in 1967 on the Sport label with "All Because of You." But it wasn't until four years later that the group broke into national consciousness with the 1971 Stax/Volt hit "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get," which peaked at No. 3 on the R&B chart and No. 9 on the pop list. It claimed an R&B No. 1 the following year with "In the Rain."
Over the ensuing years, the Dramatics underwent several personnel changes, the most notable occurring in 1973 when L.J. Reynolds and Lenny Mayes replaced Howard and Wilkins.
Banks is survived by his wife, Sandy, and six children.
He's the fourth Dramatics member to pass away, following the deaths of Wilkins (1992), Howard (2000) and James Mack Brown (2008).
Ron Banks
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