It's been fun, Posterous, but I've gone back to my first true love: Wordpress.
Keep following me at eurotransient.com.
All this happened, more or less.
It's been fun, Posterous, but I've gone back to my first true love: Wordpress.
Keep following me at eurotransient.com.
One of my favorite bars has a couple of sit down arcade machines in lieu of tables. After letting Ms. Pac-Man milk me of all my quarters, I drank my beer and watched the demo screens for awhile before realizing they were rotating through a large variety hacked versions of the original.
My two favorites were Ms. Pac-Man After Dark, which turns the ghosts into neon outlines while making the maze entirely invisible, and Piranha, which pretty much eliminates all evidence of anything resembling the loveable yellow blob.
It's Oscar time! I'd hoped to get my picks posted up earlier, but I've only just finished catching up with all the major nominees this afternoon, so you'll have to settle for some hastily written commentary along with my picks for who will win the award for each category, along with where my vote would have gone if I'd had one.
Best picture will likely come down to 'The Social Network' and 'The King's Speech'. If the Oscars had taken place a few months ago, then 'The Social Network' would have probably won this category. Nowadays it seems as if the world has taken to revolving around all things related to 'The King's Speech', so I'd pick it without question.
Will: 'The King's Speech'
Should: 'The Fighter'
A lot of first time nominees in the director category this year. Since Picture/Director splits are very rare in Oscar history, the safe bet is probably with Tom Hooper. But as a new name to these proceedings, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Director award go to David Fincher. He's clearly deserving for the consistently great films he's put out and it's without question that his work on 'The Social Network' was remarkable.
Will: David Fincher
Should: David Fincher
The only nominee on this list that leaves me a little cold is Natalie Portman. That said, she's clearly a favorite to win it after taking home a plethora of early season awards. I certainly can't deny the incredible amounts of preparation Ms. Portman put into her role as a ballet dancer, but her on screen work left me largely unimpressed. The next most likely winner is Annette Bening; the remaining nominees either came from films too small and unseen (Kidman and Williams), and Jennifer Lawrence is just far too young -- in fact, the second youngest Best Actress nominee in the history of the awards.
Will: Natalie Portman
Should: Michelle Williams
An absolute murderer's row of performances. In Bardem's case, I absolutely hated the film, so it's tough for me to be objective about the quality of his performance. I'd have happily seen any number of actors slotted into this category instead: Aaron Eckhart in 'Rabbit Hole' and Ryan Gosling in 'Blue Valentine' both come immediately to mind. Either way, it won't matter because there's no surer winner this year than Colin Firth.
Will: Colin Firth
Should: Colin Firth
Another excellent category. All five performances are absolutely stellar. The early favorite has been Melissa Leo, but she also took out her own promotional "for your consideration" ads, an action that Alice Ward would have admired, but which is largely frowned upon by the Academy voters. Amy Adams was also terrific in the same film, which could lead to vote splitting, leaving the award to be swept up by one of the other very deserving nominees. There are simply no sure things in this category -- definitely the toughest to pick tonight!
Will: Melissa Leo
Should: Jacki Weaver
A very strong batch of contenders that will come down to Christian Bale and Geoffrey Rush. I suspect the sheer domination that Colin Firth held over 'The King's Speec' will ultimately edge voters away from Mr. Rush.
Will: Christian Bale
Should: Christian Bale
If you're not voting for 'Toy Story 3' then you're crazy.
Will: 'Toy Story 3'
Should: 'Toy Story 3'
I've only seen 'Biutiful' and 'Dogtooth'. The former was a terrible, bleak opus of suffering; a despicable film. 'Dogtooth,' on the other hand, was very quirky, small and fascinating. I'm going to have to go with what the critics are saying here and pick the Danish film, 'In a Better World'.
Will: 'In a Better World'
Should: 'Dogtooth'
The story of how David Seidler came to write 'The King's Speech' is touching enough to be worthy of its own film ('The Screenwriter's Speech'?). Great nominees all around, but you know how this plays out...
Will: 'The King's Speech'
Should: 'The Fighter'
Isn't it about time Aaron Sorkin won an Oscar? He wasn't even nominated for 'A Few Good Men'!
Will: 'The Social Network'
Should: 'The Social Network'
I've only seen 'Exit Through the Gift Shop' and 'Restrepo'. Both films were excellent, though 'Exit' was one of my absolute films of the year. The critics seem to think 'Inside Job''s take on the recent financial crisis will win it all. I can't really disagree at this point, but I still think Banksy's opus to street art and commercialism will prevail. You should probably feel free to disagree with me.
Will: 'Exit Through the Gift Shop'
Should: 'Exit Through the Gift Shop'
A really boring category this year. I'd play it safe and go with the Randy Newman tune from 'Toy Story 3'.
Will: 'Toy Story 3'
Should: Who cares?
Honestly, a bit of a weak category this year. The only score here that jumps out at me is Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's work on 'The Social Network'. In many ways, that film wouldn't have worked nearly as well without its pulsing, sinewy electronic score. That's pretty high praise for a score, so...
Will: 'The Social Network'
Should: 'The Social Network'
Another excellent group of nominees. 'The Fighter' is my favorite film of the bunch and those boxing matches were cut together beautifully, not to mention navigating between the documentary in the film and the film itself. Still, it's tough to look away from 'The King's Speech' and 'The Social Network' this year. I'd go with the latter.
Will: 'The Social Network'
Should: 'The Fighter'
Inception, Inception, Inception. I mean, they folded Paris up like a taco and made it look real. I'm sold.
Will: 'Inception'
Should: 'Inception'
Roger Deakins, who filmed 'True Grit', is an unquestionably remarkable cinematographer. He's been nominated countless times (okay, I counted; this one is nomination #9) and has yet to win. There's some aspects of his filming of 'True Grit' I take some issue with, but it's still pretty remarkable stuff. Wally Pfister of 'Inception' has four previous nominations (also no wins), but the remaining DP's are debutantes to this party. In the grand scheme of things that may not count for much, but I think it's time for Deakins to take an award home.
Will: 'True Grit'
Should: 'Inception'
This category goes almost exclusively to action movies or music-heavy movies, be it musicals or biopics about musicians. Watch the trend continue.
Will: 'Inception'
Should: 'Inception'
Action reigns supreme here, too. Then again, Pixar took this category home for 'The Incredibles' back in 2004, so if you're looking for an upset, 'Toy Story 3' is probably your best chance. Stick to the safe bet.
Will: 'Inception'
Should: 'Inception'
Period pieces rule the Costume Design category, which pretty much makes 'The King's Speech' a given.
Will: 'The King's Speech'
Should: 'The King's Speech'
This is a tough one to call. The award tends to go with the most visually striking film, so that would rule out 'The King's Speech', which is not something you should ever do with this year's Oscars. There's really no safe bet here, so flip a coin between 'Inception' and 'The King's Speech'. Mine landed on...
Will: 'Inception'
Should: 'Inception'
No stand out choices here; the movies were either critically panned or completely unseen. Not a good year for makeup! Given that this award was largely created to honor Rick Baker's work on 'An American Werewolf in London' in 1981, it's a safe bet that his return to werewolves in 'The Wolfman' will bring home the prize.
Will: 'The Wolfman'
Should: Who cares?
Four of these five films are sitting, unwatched, on my iPad as I write. Can't really give you an opinion, so stick to subject matter guessing. 'Na Wewe' is about the Rwandan genocide. Sounds like a winner to me!
Will: 'Na Wewe'
Should: TBD
I wouldn't even know where to go about finding these films to watch them. Pick your favorite title.
Will: 'Strangers No More'
Should: TBD
With the exception of 'The Gruffalo', I have seen these! None of them really impressed, so I'm not sure to tell you. The critics seem to like 'The Gruffalo''s chances, so you could feel pretty safe putting that one down. One might think the fact that Pixar made 'Day & Night' makes a sure thing, but you'd be surprised how rarely Pixar wins this category. Pixar hasn't won the animated short category since 2001, despite a handful of nominations. Still, it's hard to turn your back on Pixar and of the ones I saw, 'Day & Night' was by far my favorite, so what the hell...
Will: 'Day & Night'
Should: 'Day & Night'
Dropbox is a definite must have for anyone who uses more than one computer. I won't bother extolling the virtues of Dropbox, only to suggest that you should sign up for it and watch as it slowly seeps its way into your digital life.
You normally get 2gb of storage space with a free account, but right now they're running a scavenger hunt called Dropquest, using the magic of shared storage to get little pieces of their puzzle to you.
I spent a few hours earlier today documenting my progress with Dropquest. There's a few tricky puzzles in there that I needed help with, so I can only imagine this walkthrough will come in handy.
With the answers right in front of you, what do you have to lose? Go out and get your extra gig of Dropbox space!
Oh, and if you don't have Dropbox, do me a solid and sign up with my affiliate code: http://db.tt/EYbgxxc
