T-116 minutes until the 2009 Primetime Emmys.

Yes, I am expecting good things from this Awards Ceremony. And, my picks are below... Note: These are just the main categories. I'll probably get to the slightly less main categories within the live-blog itself. And, this seems to be a particularly strong year in that there were few categories where there were clear-cut winners. And, in several categories, I basically had to flip a coin. Though I will say that sometimes I went with my heart and not my head (see: Jim Parsons for Big Bang Theory over Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock).

I am not at all sure what happened to the formatting, but I refuse to delve into html hell while I'm recovering from a migraine. It's still readable, so that's good enough for me.

Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics

A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift Of All • Song Title: Much Worse Things •

2. Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series

How I Met Your Mother • Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson

3. Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series

Saturday Night Live • Kristen Wiig as Various Characters

I really wanted to choose Kristen Chenoweth for Pushing Daisies, but it was on so

infrequently through the latter portion of the season, that I just don't think the

votes are there. But, get Ms. Chenoweth on tv or back on the Broadway stage

post-haste.

4. Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series

Yeah, this was another flipping the coin thing. Michael Emerson was fabulous as

Ben in Lost, but John Slattery steals every scene he's in. So, expecting Mad Men

to come home with several trophies, I'm giving it to Mr. Slattery.

Mad Men • John Slattery as Roger Sterling

5. Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series

Another go with the heart or head thing. I Cherry Jones in everything she does. Seriously,

the lady is an amazing actress. Also, I dig how she used to ride her bicycle to the theater

when she was in The Heiress. But, since that really has nothing to do with her performance

on 24 (though, she had the chops), I'll go with my head and choose Chandra Wilson on Grey's

because Emmy likes her and let's face it, she was one of the only things worth watching

on the ABC drama this season.

Grey's Anatomy • Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey

6. Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series

I really, really want Jim Parsons to win. Talk about a breakout character. He's fabulous. But, he's a first-time nominee against the powerhouse that is Alec Baldwin. So, while Mr. Baldwin will probably win, I'm still choosing Jim Parsons, because The Big Bang Theory should win something, dagnabit!

The Big Bang Theory • Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper

7. Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series

Mad Men • Jon Hamm as Don Draper

8. Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series

30 Rock • Tina Fey as Liz Lemon

9. Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series

Damages • Glenn Close as Patty Hewes

10. Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality-Competition Program

The Amazing Race • Phil Keoghan, Host

11. Outstanding Reality – Competition Program

The Amazing Race • CBS

12. Outstanding Made For Television Movie

Grey Gardens • HBO

13. Outstanding Comedy Series

How I Met Your Mother • CBS

30 Rock • NBC

14. Outstanding Drama Series

Mad Men • AMC

15. Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series

This is like choosing between two children (or which one of my nieces and nephews is my favorite). I just can't. So, instead, I say that the 11P-12A hour on Comedy Central will win. Thank you.

The Colbert Report • Comedy Central

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart • Comedy Central

Please note: the photo is from http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/primetimeawards.php

From the Ausiello Files at ew.com...

Emmy host Neil Patrick Harris will "headline a Dr. Horrible-themed production number about midway through Sunday’s ceremony."

If you haven't seen Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along blog, starring Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion and written/directed by Joss Whedon during last year's writer's strike, you have missed a pop culture touchstone. Also, if you missed NPH hosting this year's Tony Awards, you also missed something grand. Basically, if Mr. Harris is going to be singing a little ditty, you owe it to yourself to watch. His song recapping the Emmys (written by the talented team who gave us Hairspray - Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman) made up for a rather lackluster telecast (not NPH's fault - he just wasn't on screen enough).

While I don't think the Primetime Emmys are in danger of being relegated to the interwebs, like their Daytime counterparts, and it's not like it has to be that spectacular a show to improve upon last year's travesty (hosted by reality tv hosts), I do have high hopes that we're going to see something special tonight.

Almost time for the 2009 Primetime Emmys!

Can you feel the excitement in the air? Not just because we get to see what hilarity Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will come up with, but because Neil Patrick Harris is following up his amazing Tony hosting gig with hosting the Primetime Emmy Awards. Let's face it, the man can host an awards show.

As I've done once or twice in the past, I will attempt to Live-Blog the ceremonies, but I warn you, it's up against the Giants-Cowboys, so my attention may be split.

Below, please find a list of the (major) nominees for your edification. Please note that major is just what Entertainment Weekly and every other site that created an easily cut/pasteable list of the Emmy nominees, but they didn't include the writing/directing awards, even though the portion of the awards when they announce the nominees for best writing of a variety, music or comedy program is among my favorite of the awards.

COMEDY

BEST COMEDY SERIES
Entourage
Family Guy
Flight of the Conchords
How I Met Your Mother
The Office
30 Rock
Weeds

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men
Kevin Dillon, Entourage
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock
Tracy Morgan, 30 Rock
Rainn Wilson, The Office

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock
Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds
Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live
Kristin Wiig, Saturday Night Live
Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty

GUEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alan Alda, 30 Rock
Beau Bridges, Desperate Housewives
Jon Hamm, 30 Rock
Steve Martin, 30 Rock
Justin Timberlake, Saturday Night Live

GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Jennifer Aniston, 30 Rock
Christine Baranski, The Big Bang Theory
Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live
Gena Rowlands, Monk
Elaine Stritch, 30 Rock
Betty White, My Name Is Earl

DRAMA

BEST DRAMA SERIES
Big Love
Breaking Bad
Damages
Dexter
House
Lost
Mad Men

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Simon Baker, The Mentalist
Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie, House

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Glenn Close, Damages
Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU
Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Christian Clemenson, Boston Legal
Michael Emerson, Lost
William Hurt, Damages
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
William Shatner, Boston Legal
John Slattery, Mad Men

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Rose Byrne, Damages
Hope Davis, In Treatment
Cherry Jones, 24
Sandra Oh, Grey’s Anatomy
Dianne Wiest, In Treatment
Chandra Wilson, Grey’s Anatomy

GUEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Edward Asner, CSI: NY
Ted Danson, Damages
Ernest Borgnine, ER
Michael J. Fox, Rescue Me
Jimmy Smits, Dexter

GUEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Brenda Blethyn, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Carol Burnett, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Ellen Burstyn, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Sharon Lawrence, Grey’s Anatomy
CCH Pounder, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

REALITY

REALITY COMPETITION PROGRAM
The Amazing Race
American Idol
Dancing With The Stars
Project Runway
Top Chef

HOST FOR A REALITY OR REALITY-COMPETITION PROGRAM
Tom Bergeron, Dancing With the Stars
Phil Keoghan, The Amazing Race
Heidi Klum, Project Runway
Padma Lakshmi (Host) and Tom Colicchio (Co-Host), Top Chef
Jeff Probst, Survivor
Ryan Seacrest, American Idol

REALITY SERIES
Antiques Roadshow
Dirty Jobs
Dog Whisperer
Intervention
Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List
MythBusters

VARIETY, MUSIC, OR COMEDY

VARIETY, MUSIC, OR COMEDY SERIES
The Colbert Report
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Late Show With David Letterman
Real Time With Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live

VARIETY, MUSIC, OR COMEDY SPECIAL
Will Ferrell: You’re Welcome America. A Final Night With George W. Bush
Ricky Gervais: Out of England
Kathy Griffin: She’ll Cut a Bitch
The Kennedy Center Honors
Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger

MINISERIES OR MOVIE

MINISERIES
Generation Kill
Little Dorrit

MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE
Coco Chanel
Grey Gardens
Into The Storm
Prayers For Bobby
Taking Chance

ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
Kevin Bacon, Taking Chance
Kenneth Branagh, Wallander: One Step Behind
Kevin Kline, Cyrano de Bergerac (Great Performances)
Brendan Gleeson, Into the Storm
Sir Ian McKellen, King Lear (Great Performances)
Kiefer Sutherland, 24: Redemption

ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
Drew Barrymore, Grey Gardens
Jessica Lange, Grey Gardens
Shirley MacLaine, Coco Chanel
Sigourney Weaver, Prayers For Bobby
Chandra Wilson, Accidental Friendship

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Len Cariou, Into the Storm
Tom Courtenay, Little Dorrit
Ken Howard, Grey Gardens
Bob Newhart, The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice
Andy Serkis, Little Dorrit

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Shohreh Aghdashloo, House Of Saddam
Marcia Gay Harden, The Courageous Heart Of Irena Sendler (Hallmark Hall Of Fame Presentation)
Janet McTeer, Into The Storm
Jeanne Tripplehorn, Grey Gardens
Cicely Tyson, Relative Stranger

Emmy nominations....

Entourage was nominated again? Really? But, no Big Bang Theory? Seriously? Sigh...

Picture of the Day - 12/31/08

In this the last day of 2008, I'm putting up a shot I took during my staycation (five glorious days where I went nowhere and made plans with nobody). It was swell. I spent some time at Grand Central Station (aka Grand Central Terminal), playing with the shutter speed of my digital camera, trying to turn people into shadows. Here's one of my attempts.

Picture of the Day

So, in anticipation of getting this blog back to some semblance of regularity, I thought I'd start by bringing back the Picture of Day.



This was taken in Central Park on Christmas Day. I decided to eschew the movie and Chinese food and instead went for a walk. There was a woman feeding the birds by one of the ponds near 76th Street(or so), and I snapped this while the bird was coming in for a landing.

Marlon Brando must be spinning in his grave...

Brooke Shields is going to be interviewed by James Lipton for Inside the Actors' Studio. Really? I mean, really??If you're interested it will be airing on Monday at 8P on Bravo.

Okay, props to the Emmy director...

They didn't cut Don Rickles off.

Poor Stephen Colbert...

First he loses to Barry Manilow, then Tony Bennett and now... Don Rickles.

Though, I can't wait to see him guest on Colbert's show.

And, I can't begrudge Mr. Warmth's victory. The mean's a legend...

If they cut him off, there's no redemption for theses awards shows.

For shame!

The Emmy's cut Kristin Chenoweth and Neil Patrick Harris' bit? I am APPALLED!

Watching the Emmys...

Well, I'm flipping back and forth between the Emmys and the last Yankees game at Yankee Stadium.

What was up with the award winner of Best Writer for a Miniseries movie or a Dramatic special getting cut off (and going to commercial!) within 20 seconds of speaking. Ridiculous. Ahhh... Kirk Ellis for John Adams "Independence" was the winner.

Mighty twitchy trigger fingers on the director this year. If a winner even remotely goes towards politics, the music starts up.

Though, I do like that a number of the winner are telling people to make sure they vote on Nov. 4.

Be sure to watch Costas Now on HBO (all this month)

Last night I had the most enjoyable baseball night of my life (while not physically being at a game). Bob Costas was doing a live taping of Costas Now at the Skirball Center at NYU and through the fortune of being on the Syracuse alumni list, I got tickets to go. It was billed as a Town Hall on the state of baseball today.

He had on current all-stars (Evan Langoria, Jimmy Rollins, and a pitcher for the Tigers whose name I'm blanking on) talking about the state of the game today from a players perspective. Rollins had some great stuff to say about the decline of African Americans playing and took the booing from the Met fans in attendance, in stride.

Former all-stars (Dave Winfield, Steve Palmer, and Pete Rose by satellite), talked about the game in their day and the Hall of Fame (whether Rose deserves to be in it and Bonds and McGuire). Andy Van Slyke and Arte Moreno spoke about today's game from a coach/owner perspective.

But, the kicker was the end of the program when Costas interviewed Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. They were supposed to have the last 30 minutes of a 90 minute program (with another 5 minutes of conversation on HBO.com), but they kept talking so much that, after the fact, the show decided to make that section it's own episode, so we got close to an hour of conversation between Aaron, Mays and Costas. Plus, a few asides were thrown in b y Bob Gibson from the audience. It was just amazing. They spoke about playing in the Negro Leagues, as well as how it was playing for MLB baseball when they were either unable to stay in certain hotels or when the hotels were finally integrated, they got the worst rooms. They talked drugs (both amphetamines and steroids) and Barry Bonds. They talked about the most intimidating pitcher they faced... Gibson with Don Drysdale a close second. It was fabulous. They got 3 standing ovations in the 60 minutes. Costas was clearly having a ball.

So, if you like baseball, check it out. And tomorrow night, Billy Joel at Shea. Life is grand.

My greatest live baseball game experience

Baseball season starts soon! Well, in two days anyway if you're a Mets fan. Negative a couple days if you're a Red Sox fan. Of course, I am talking about the start of the new baseball season. And, let's just talk a minute about how ridiculous starting the season in Japan was. Exactly who watched that game? The Japanese and insomniacs. Regardless of who is playing, I love watching the first game of the season. But, because it was a day game, it was the middle of the night even for folks on the West Coast. Just one more of Bud Sielig's bad ideas for the American pasttime. Yay Commish!

So, since the Mets opening game is a day game, I decided to DVR it and while looking for the game on my program guide, I saw that they were airing the 9/21/01 game on Mets Classics. This was the first baseball game in New York after 9/11. And, it remains the greatest baseball game I ever saw live (and this includes World Series games, division playoff clinches and my first live game ever).

A little backstory... My sister and her (then) fiancee were supposed to get married a week and a half after 9/11, but because they both worked in finance in NYC, they knew people who were directly affected by the attacks. They decided to postpone their wedding until the following month because they weren't in a celebratory mood and knew most of their guests would feel the same way. When I found out that the first Mets game was going to be on 9/21/01, I decided to take them to the game, as we are all huge Mets fans and I thought this might help them forget the disappointment/horror of the prior 10 days for at least a couple of hours.

Of course, the pre-game ceremony did everything they could do to remind us of the horror, but it was more to pay tribute to the victims and the heroes (the Fire Department, Police Department and EMS workers - not however Rudy Giuliani no matter what the television broadcast might have wanted us to believe). There was the moment of sllence, the bagpipe rendition of America the beautiful, the singing of G-d Bless America by Diana Ross, the throwing out of the first pitch by members of the FDNY, NYPD, EMS and Port Authority Police Department, another moment of silence, the National Anthem sung by Marc Anthony, and finally the shaking of hands by the Mets and Atlanta Braves before the game started.

And then the game started. It was a low scoring game which only added to the collective funk in the stadium. While everyone got up for the ubiquitous USA chants, it was like we weren't sure how excited we should be for the game itself. Just days before, Shea Stadium had been used as donation sorting site for the rescue effort. When the wind shifted, you could still smell the ash for the WTC site.

The Mets wore hats with the logos of the different rescue departments (hats they would wear until the end of the season and which they wear on the anniversary of 9/11).

Bruce Chen was the starting pitcher for the Mets, while Staten Island native Jason Marquis started for the Braves. Rey Sanchez got the first hit for the Braves in the third inning, and the following inning the Braves scored the first run of the game (scored by Chipper "Larry" Jones). That was when it seemed like the crowd first really got into that not only was this baseball, but baseball against the BRAVES. The derisive Larry chants got started in earnest this inning (though they had been shouted since his first at-bat) and, in my Left Field section we got on Larry everytime he took the field.

The Mets tied the score in the bottom half of the inning, when Mike Piazza scored on a Tsuyoshi Shinjo sacrifice. And that's were scoring paused until the 8th inning. In the 7th inning we had the first instance of the singing of G-d Bless America (by Liza Minnelli). The Braves scored again in the top half of the 8th inning and there was again a lull in the ballpark. But, then Fonzie (Edgardo Alfonzo) worked out a walk in the bottom of the 8th, bringing Piazza with one out and the Braves up 1-0. Desi Relaford pitch ran for Fonzie, but it turned out to be a moot point, as with one out at 10:29 p.m., he got a hold of a 0-1 pitch that he hit out of the ballpark. The Mets took a 3-2 lead, and Shea went crazy. It was cathartic. Shea Stadium was actually jumping from the sheer weight of people bouncing with glee. Armando Benitez who got the Mets out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the 8th returned to pitch the 9th and got Keith Lockhart to hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

Yes, when we got back on the 7 train and saw the gaping hole where the World Trade Center used to stand, the pain and sadness came flooding back, but for a few brief minutes, we forgot the pain and the uncertainty. Baseball again made us innocent and happy.

The New York Yankees went to the World Series that year, and people all over the media would say that their success was helping the city heal. But on 9/21/01, it was the New York Mets that started the healing process for those 40,000 fans at Shea. They made it okay to cheer for something as insignificant as a baseball game.

The Russell Girl

The Hallmark Hall of Fame umbrella series has a history of putting out some of the most beautifully schmaltzy made for tv movies. And the latest entrant into that series, The Russell Girl is a grand addition. Starring Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia) and Jennifer Ehle (BBC's Pride & Prejudice), this is a small story of a girl's inner turmoil over a years ago incidence that not only affected her life, but the lives of her neighbors.

Tamblyn stars in the title role, and she embodies the role of someone who just brings so much on herself. When she was in high school, she babysat for the MOrriyssey's across the street and through a serious of unfortunate events, tragedy happens. Sarah can't forgive herself and as soon as possible, she moves to Chicago to get away from the past. Mrs. Morriessey (Ehle) also can't forgive shadow, but really she can't forgive anyone, herself included.

While in Chicago, Sarah learns she developed leukemia and before dealing with medical issue, she decides to go home for the first time in a long time. Her mom is so excited to see her, that she doesn't care why she's home. Her father is worried, as he realizes that she has never recovered emotionally from the earlier tragedy. Sarah elects not to tell her family about her illness.

Sarah's appearance in the house across the street does not sit well with Mrs. Morrissey as all of her old thoughts and feelings bubbled to the surface, distressing her husband and teenage sons. She develops severe migraines that keep her from some of her sons' important events. And Sara does not make things easier as she clearly wants to talk, but doesn't really know what to say.

A lot of what happens is coincidence. Mrs. Morrissey is the first person to realize that Sarah is sick because she keeps running into the girl in town as symptoms keep popping up.

But, the acting (as is often the case with shmaltz) really makes the movie work. Both Tamblyn and Ehle keep their performances small, but that adds to the intimacy. And the supporting cast, Matt Czerny as Mr. Morrissey and Tim Dekay as Mr. Russell brought a sense of caring to the role. They clearly wanted to be their for their wife (in Morrissey's case) and daughter (in Russell's case), but it was never clear what the right thing to do was. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio has a harder role, as she plays Sarah's mother who goes through most of the film in a chipper mood wearing blinders. Everyone watching knows that she needs to take the blinders off to really see what is happening with Sarah. Mastrantonio plays the role fine, it's just pretty thankless until the end when she finally gets her chance to say what she thinks.


The DVD is going to be distributed through the Hallmark Gold Crown stores on Feb. 1. And, I might just have to get a copy. Though, I'm afraid something will be lost with the excision of the Hallmark commercials. Some of the commercials can bring me to tears faster than a sappy movie.

Spamming...

Since this blog just got its first spam, I think that's a nudge for me to start posting again. Point taken.

And, to all spammers... please don't. Just don't. It's annoying and it's not going to make me use your widget. Ever.

Heroes

Alright, I suppose I should admit up front that I wasn't what one might call a religious viewer of Heroes last year. I watched the first four episodes and really enjoyed them, but then real life took over and it became too complicated a series to follow. It's the same problem I had with Lost last season. Since I really enjoyed the first episode this season, I suppose I'll have to catch up on Season 1 through the DVDs.

I watched the first episode with Seema, who as an avid viewer of Season 1, had to deal with my non-stop questions. Not that she actually answered any of them. But I'd paid enough attention to the various pop culture shows that discussed the show that I had a pretty good idea as to what was going on.

Heroes is, above all, a fun show. It's very reminiscent of (depending on your age) comic books or the old kiddie serials you used to be able to catch in movie theaters back in the 30s and 40s. The actors, for the most part are great, and due to its serial nature, the viewer gets a chance to really get to know the characters and to form an attachment to them. Like Lost (which, yes, I know did get better at the end of last season), Heroes ended the season with plenty of questions and while none were really answered with the first episode we got the sense of moving forward. And, we got the addition of David Anders (fka Sark from Alias)... In addition to Sark, we have the new friend of Claire's who can fly, the immigrants from South America, one of whom seems to have the ability to kill people, which does not mesh well for her religious upbringing. And, we have Hiro! Who remains as adorable as ever.

All, in all, I can't wait for episode 2.

Bleh...

Pardon me if I seem bitter during these posts, but I'm a Mets fan. I hope you understand.

And a new tv season begins...

I admit it. I was one of those crazy kids who didn't mind the end of the August. I liked September because I liked going back to school. What can I say? I liked the learning. And now that I'm no longer in school (though sometimes a PhD does sound nice), I look forward to September because that is when the new television series starts. And yes, in this age of 888 channels new programming can be found 52 weeks a year on cable, but there is definitely something special about broadcast series. It's not that the shows are all better, it's more that there's a history there.

Due to a friend staying with me, I was unable to watch much television over the past week, so I had a ton of shows queued up in my DVR. Due to the limitations on my Time Warner Scientific Atlanta DVR box, I was not able to cover everything in the first week, but I did what could.

This is what I watched over the last week (though really over the last few hours)...

Heroes
House
Ugly Betty
Journeyman
The Simpsons
Family Guy
K-Ville (episode 2)
Grey's Anatomy
Private Practice
Chuck
Big Shots
The Office
Without a Trace
Law & Order: SVU

Picture of the Day...

After I graduated from college, in lieu of traveling across Europe, I decided that what I really wanted to do was see America. So, I convinced my parents to let me drive across country as part of my plan to settle in Los Angeles. Here is just one image from that trek...




(c) Kerri L.Berney 2007

Copyright...

Please note that all photos on this page are (c) Kerri L. Berney 2007.

Summer on the TV

In the old days, television was for the most part done live. It's one of the reasons that there are so few remnants of the early days of tv. what we have nowadays from the late 1940s and early 50s exist as kinescopes which basically means they filmed the televison screen. It's why the quality is so bad. The stars of radio were slow to gravitate to television and when they did, it wasn't with any sense of regularity. so, a number of shows might share the same time slot.

By the mid 50s, there was definite sense of a schedule, but even that followed the calendar set years earlier in radio. The A star's show would be on for 39 weeks and they would take the summer's off and another show would air in that time slot.

In around 1952, smart producers like Desi Arnaz realized that when you film your show, you have access to it after the show airs. It's not ephemeral. Desi retained ownership of I Love Lucy and pretty much printed his own money by selling them as reruns.

This little history lesson isn't just to show off, but to show how everything is cyclical - especially in television.From the 1960s to the mid 1990s, things followed the same schedule. shows would air from the Fall to the Spring and reruns would take over the summer months. As the years went on, the amount of shows being produced dwindled from 39 to 33 to the high 20s today.

And yet in the world of cable and even sometimes on the broadcast networks, there are more and more shows premiering at "off-peak" times.

This year, Lifetime, TNT and USA networks seem to be the big winners in the summer tv season. Lifetime has already renewed their new drama Army Wives for a second season. And tonight, USA premieres a 5th season of Monk and a second season of my personal favorite, Psych.

Summer on the TV

In the old days, television was for the most part done live. It's one of the reasons that there are so few remnants of the early days of tv. what we have nowadays from the late 1940s and early 50s exist as kinescopes which basically means they filmed the televison screen. It's why the quality is so bad. The stars of radio were slow to gravitate to television and when they did, it wasn't with any sense of regularity. so, a number of shows might share the same time slot.

By the mid 50s, there was definite sense of a schedule, but even that followed the calendar set years earlier in radio. The A star's show would be on for 39 weeks and they would take the summer's off and another show would air in that time slot.

In around 1952, smart producers like Desi Arnaz realized that when you film your show, you have access to it after the show airs. It's not ephemeral. Desi retained ownership of I Love Lucy and pretty much printed his own money by selling them as reruns.

This little history lesson isn't just to show off, but to show how everything is cyclical - especially in television.From the 1960s to the mid 1990s, things followed the same schedule. shows would air from the Fall to the Spring and reruns would take over the summer months. As the years went on, the amount of shows being produced dwindled from 39 to 33 to the high 20s today.

And yet in the world of cable and even sometimes on the broadcast networks, there are more and more shows premiering at "off-peak" times.

This year, Lifetime, TNT and USA networks seem to be the big winners in the summer tv season. Lifetime has already renewed their new drama Army Wives for a second season. And tonight, USA premieres a 5th season of Monk and a second season of my personal favorite, Psych.

Picture of the Day...

I'm back from vacation in the lovely Bahamas. Had a wonderful time, thanks for asking.


(c) Kerri L. Berney 2007

From Strawberry Fields in Central Park...

Imagine


(c) Kerri L. Berney 2007

Finally, I can end my candlelight vigil...

Our long national nightmare is over... After 3 days (though she is getting credit for five), Paris Hilton is out of prison.

She is apparently getting out because of psychological issues she experienced in prison. I'm currently watching the press conference (on both CNN and MSNBC), and she actually gets credit for 5 days, as they include today (even though it was really early) and the day she went in (even though it was late). The reporters are not happy, it seems.

She is under house arrest for 40 days. A reporter just brought up a good question... When Martha Stewart was on house arrest, she was allowed to leave the house for business, but Paris Hilton's business is going to parties. So, will she be allowed to leave her house to go to parties? The spokesguy didn't know; it's apparently a question for the LA Sheriff's department.

And for some reason, I'm just speechless...

My, how MTV has fallen...

I freely admit that I have been out of the target MTV demographic for nearly a decade, but I still find myself watching the channel at work. We only get a dozen channels, and there are only so many times I can watch The Real Housewives of the OC on Bravo. This afternoon I watched almost two full episodes of My Super Sweet 16 and marvelled as to how much I loathed the protagonists. And then I felt bad because a) it's their birthday and b) they're 16. But then I stopped feeling bad because I'm pretty sure I would have loathed them even more when I was 16. Because, my G-d, have you seen that show? Anyway, since I do try to keep up with pop culture, I DVR'd the MTV Movie Awards, but... I haven't been able to bring myself to watch them yet. Instead, I'm reading the recap on TWOP. What do you think? Is that a sign as to how far MTV has fallen?

Old photos of February peace rally...

This is from February '07... Thank goodness I upgraded and got the 1 GB memory card, otherwise I would not have gotten quite so many pictures of quite so many signs...

DC peace rally
(c) Kerri L. Berney 2007

R.I.P. Steve Gilliard: 1966-2007

I never met Steve Gilliard, in fact I only heard of him a few years ago when I stumbled upon his blog, www.thenewsblog.net, but in a short time, I became a huge fan. He was a New Yorker, a liberal, a soccer aficianado and a die-hard fan of the New York Mets. Shortly after I first read him, he became a regular stop on my daily blog reading. Whenever I wanted a local perspective of a national issue, he was there. And of course, he was more than just a New York view on national issues. As a student of history, he could always be counted on to bring a new perspective on the history of the Middle East, historically, politically and militarily. I rarely commented on his blog, because either he or someone else would say what I wanted to say faster and more eloquently than I ever could. But, for the past three or four years, I was always there as a reader, often nodding my head in agreement to what I was reading.

And, as Steve would say... PUCK the Yankees (though he would have no trouble using the vernacular, as he was not afraid to mince words).


Steve, you will be missed, and I offer my most heartfelt sympathies to those friends and family (of which there are many), who knew and loved him.

Happy Memorial Day...

Let's take a moment to remember the men and women who have lost their lives protecting the USA, as well as those who are still in harms way (regardless of what we feel about the current administration who put them there, we all hope they come home quickly and safely).

Picture of the Day...

One of two lions that guards the New York City Public Library headquarters on 5th Avenue and 42nd Street.


One of two lions that guards the New York City Public Library headquarters on 5th Avenue and 42nd Street.
(c) Kerri L. Berney 2007

Picture of the Day...

And, we're back... No, not with a scintillating bit of commentary about the state of television today... Instead, I'm showing off a picture I took with my brand spanking new camera. It's of New York City (natch...)


(c) Kerri L. Berney 2007

Picture of the Day...

The day after the (hopefully) last snowstorm of the winter. Yes, this was the snowstorm that kept me visiting my dad down in Florida for the weekend. Instead, I saw Journey's End at the Belasco and then The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Circle in the Square. This picture was taken when I was killing some time before seeing Spelling Bee (which was a great show).

(c) Kerri L. Berney 2007

Great movie alert... Night of the Hunter (1955)

I just noticed that my DVR was recording one of my favorite movies of all times... Night of the Hunter (1955). If you haven't seen it, you should. It stars Robert Mitchum, silent film star Lillian Gish and Shelly Winters. The only film Charles Laughton directed, it was based on a story by James Agee. At it's core, it's a version of Little Red Robin Hood, with the wolf as a killer in preacher's clothing and Robin as two Depression era kids (John and Pearl). Mitchum is deliciously evil as the preacher who woos a killer's widow in order to get to the money he hid. When he realizes the woman doesn't know anything about the murder, he dispatches her and takes off after the kids who have seen his true colors and run for their lives. They end up at Lillian Gish's place (Rachel Cooper) and join her happy brood of unofficial foster kids. Where the Preacher sees a dark and vengeful G-d (Old Testament, if you will), the Widow Cooper sees a G-d of light and forgiveness (New Testament, anyone?). As in any movie with good and evil, the two sides meet in a showdown and one of them gets it in the end.

Several years ago, it was adapted into a stage musical. Oh, and if you are looking for this on television, make sure you are watching the 1955 version, and not the made for tv version from the early 90s. Trust me. It's a mistake I made once and will never make again.

In the 60 years since this film was released, there have been many homages to it, owing mostly to the love and hate tattoos on the Preacher's knuckles (Do the Right Thing and The Simpsons are among the most prominent).

Cool Quotes...

Ben Harper: I got tired of seein' children roamin' the woodlands without food, children roamin' the highways in this here Depression, children sleepin' in old abandoned car bodies in junk heaps. And I promised myself that I'd never see the day when my young-uns had want.

Rev. Powell: [when he notices John staring at the words "love" and "hate" tattooed across his knuckles] Ah, little lad, you're staring at my fingers. Would you like me to tell you the little story of right-hand/left-hand? The story of good and evil? H-A-T-E! It was with this left hand that old brother Cain struck the blow that laid his brother low. L-O-V-E! You see these fingers, dear hearts? These fingers has veins that run straight to the soul of man. The right hand, friends, the hand of love. Now watch, and I'll show you the story of life. Those fingers, dear hearts, is always a-warring and a-tugging, one agin t'other. Now watch 'em! Old brother left hand, left hand he's a fighting, and it looks like love's a goner. But wait a minute! Hot dog, love's a winning! Yessirree! It's love that's won, and old left hand hate is down for the count!"

Rachel Cooper: You know, when you're little, you have more endurance than God is ever to grant you again. Children are humanity's strongest. They abide.

Icey Spoon: [about the conjugal bed] When you've been married to a man for forty years you know all that don't amount to a hill of beans. I've been married to Walt that long and I swear in all that time I just lie there thinkin' about my canning.

Icey Spoon: [about sex in marriage] A woman's a fool to marry for that. That's somethin' for a man. The Good Lord never meant for a decent woman to want that. Not really want it. It's all just a fake and a pipe dream.

Jennifer Garner's bike...

Sure, she is no longer portraying Sidney Bristow on ABC's "Alias" (three of the best tv seasons ever, unfortunatel, it lasted five), but I like to think that she still owns this bicycle, given to her by creator, JJ Abrams. I took a friend to lunch on the Disney lot, when Alias was still in production, so we could try stalking any Alias castmembers, but it was Christmas-time so most shows were on hiatus and besides I'm sure I would have chickened out anyway.

Postmortem...

As I mentioned earlier, I think Ellen did a great job. Yes, even better than Jon Stewart, mainly because I think she fit more into the Hollywood ideal of what a host should be. Although, I have no doubt that Jon Stewart would have had fun with Al Gore's film.

As to how I did with my Oscar picks, assuming we're just going to go with what I thought would win (as opposed to what I thought should win), I did not do well at all, going just 13 for 24, barely over 50%.

I did a little better with the pool I was in for work, going 18 for 24, but still not quite passing, and I did beat the other folks who guessed from my department. So, research group, eat your heart out!

And now, we have snowy conditions in NYC which means my commute tomorrow is gonna suck... Excellent...

Overall, good Academy Awards... though lose the America montage and start earlier and I think we can move that up to a solid great Academy Awards. Most of the folks I wanted to win won, and even with the categories I guessed wrongly on, I was never displeased with the result. And, so I end my blogging on the 79th Academy Awards with this...

RUN AL, RUN!

And the Oscar goes to...

BTW: Diane Keaton looks great!

And, The Departed wins!

Backstage, Spielberg gives Scorcese a hug even though he just lost the Oscar to The Departed.

And another Brit gets to give an acceptance speech. Good on you...

And so another Academy Awards comes to an end.

Ellen did a great job, even though it ended 45 minutes past what my DVR said it should.

Best Picture...

We're down to the wire...

Babel...

The Departed...

The Queen...

Letters from Iwo Jima...

Little Miss Sunshine...

George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppolla, and Steven Spielberg present the Best Director Oscar...

That was very funny. They start off talking about how great it is to win an Academy Award when Lucas pipes in with he's never won one. They start mocking him. He says it's better to give than to receive and they rejoin with it's better to give than to receive.

And Marty Scorcese wins!! Awww... that's awesome! Finally, he's tied with 3-6 Mafia!

And everyone seems genuinely happy! Spielberg says, "Hey, Mazel Tov," like a good Jewish boy. And he gets a standing O from the theater. Scorcese asks that they check the envelope. He thanks his reps, the producers, the crew, the cast... He thanks his fans... And his family. good job, Marty. And as he walks off, Nicholson captures him in a big bear hug.

Best Actor...

is presented by Reese Witherspoon who does look fabulous. Divorce agrees with her?

I do enjoy Ryan Gosling...

This is a very tough categry, but the Oscar goes to... Forest Whitaker!

Yay! I called that one.

Okay, but I did not know that he had gotten his start in entertainment by getting a scholarship as an operatic tenor. That's pretty cool.

For such a big guy, he sure is soft spoken.

How come he didn't get played off? He had kind of a long speech...

Another commercial...

cause we haven't had enough of these. And while I liked the Apple ad the first time I saw it, by time #3, it's really beginning to lose something. This is why commercials shouldn't air more than once per show. That said, yes, I still do want an Apple Iphone, but no, I won't be switching to Cingular to get it.

Didn't Jon Stewart last year come out on time? Or, close to it?

Yes, we could have lost the Salute to America through the movies montage. Unless, the producers did it so they could point to their patriotism when pundits from the right went off on their awarding so many Oscars to Al Gore's film?

And with running so late, did we really need this brief comic interlude by Ellen? Though, it was really funny, I agree.

Ellen Degeneres

was again very funny when she comes out and says that we're done and under time. Then she gets a voice in her earpiece saying that there are several awards left to present.

Philip Seymour Hoffman comes out to award the Best Actress Oscar...

While I love Meryl and hopes she wins, her role was not big enough to warrant a win in this category.

And the Oscar goes to... Helen Mirren... yeah... that's what I thought. And they're not wrong. Speeches are just more interesting when they're said by Brits. And, Aussies. And she gives a shout out to her fellow nominees (the only one to do so, I believe - well, maybe Adam Arkin did) and the filmmakers on The Queen. And then a shout out to Queen Elizabeth II.

And the dancers are back to do The Departed in the shape of a gun.

Bank of America commercial...

Assuming it was a national commercial, that was a great commercial. It's a mirror in the shape of the Bank of America logo and it shows the future (or possible future) of the person looking in the mirror. And it's a cross section of the American public (age, sex, race) and then the voice over says the future is full of possibility and Bank of America can help take you there...

And Jodi Foster is presenting...

the In Memorium tribute... I don't like how some people applaud during it. Especially for the folks who did the bulk of their work during the 40s and 50s, they might not be as well known today, so of course they wouldn't get the same amount of recognition, but that doesn't take away from their body of work. They should do like we're taught to in grade school... save your applause til the end.

Will Smith introduces...

Michael Mann's viewpoint of America through its movies... Which seems to be just a montage of other people's movies...

What's the point of this stuff? -Wendy
Good question. We're already 9 minutes late with five films to present. And while I personally love a good clip show, this is kind of silly... Plus, we haven't done in memorium yet either... So, we have another clip montage to get through.

And now, we have Kate Winslet introducing Best Film editing...
And the Oscar goes to Thelma Schoonmaker for The Departed... I like her, so I'm glad. I heard her speak once when I was just out of college. She's good people. And, the first person she thanks is Martin Scorcese and then the writer and the actors.

Jennifer Lopez is introducing...

Dreamgirls' Best Original Songs... (3 of them)

Jennifer Hudson leads it off with Love You I Do... she is good. She's got a full voice, though I think if she keeps bending over, she's gonna fall out of that dress...

And then Beyonce joins in... And then starts in on Listen. Which, in an interesting factoid she co-wrote, but was deemed not to have contributed enough, to qualify for an Academy Award. Jennifer Hudson joins in on this one. And then Beyonce finishes off alone.

Patience is sung by Anika Noni Rose and Keith Robinson.

John Travolta and Queen Latifah come out to give out the Oscar for Best Original Song...

And the Oscar goes to Melissa Etheridge. Yay for that one... I do think that Dreamgirls lost because they split the vote, but her song ("I Need to Wake Up") is great! And I like her speech. And I like that she kissed her wife and called her that when she thanked her from the podium. And she's right, we can become the generation that woke up and we can change!

It's 11:17 and

there are still six more awards to give out...

Overall I think they're doing a great job with the awards show, but would it have killed them to start it at 8 p.m.? It's already going to run over and so it's not going to end until midnight. Maybe the folks in LA are taking the day off tomorrow (though since it's three hours earlier, they really don't need to), but us New Yorkers have to get up for work. Okay, so this wasn't a problem last year when I was running on Pacific Time, but I'm fickle.

Best Original Score...

Gosh, Hugh Jackman is dreamy. And Penelope Cruz who co-introduced with him looks smashing, as always.

Babel wins! Yay Gustavo! I thought The Queen would win, but I wanted Babel to win, so that's kind of cool.

I am really enjoying Ellen Degeneres. She's doing a lot of interaction with the audience, and that's cool.

The 60 second recap of what the Academy does was pretty impressive.

And Kirsten Dunst and Toby Maguire are introducing Best Original Screenplay...

Again, I'm liking what they're doing with the presenters reading the stage direction, character and then letting the movie run. Wow... Michael Arndt was the assistant to Matthew Broderick and quit his job to write this movie. That's pretty cool... And he thanked his family who actually drove across country in a VW Bus with a broken clutch.

The dancers are back to introduce The Devil Wears Prada... Wow... They made the logo of the shoe...

An honorary Oscar goes to...

Clint Eastwood introduces and gives a nice little introduction about Ennio Morricone who has done a bunch of the scores you know and love, including the first film Clint Eastwood ever starred in, A Fistful of Dollars. Morricone is being given an honorary award, though I can't figure out which one. And Celine Dion is singing a song to one of his scores, I believe.

And I just looked it up, the award doesn't actually have a name. It's just called an Honorary Award. Which I think is kind of silly. With all the thousands of important and talented folks who have worked in Hollywood over the past 100 years, they couldn't come up with someone to name this thing after.

Anyway, apparently Morricone went to school with Sergio Leone and that's where they started their partnership. And he's giving his acceptance speech in Italian, but since I can't speak Italian, I'm not sure what he's saying. But, he just spoke for 3 minutes and Eastwood's translation was only about 25 seconds. He wants to thank the Academy. And thank his co-workers. And he wants to thank the other artists whose work has never been recognized, but who are just as talented and work as hard. He's going to stay as dedicated and this is not going to be an end point for him, but a beginning. He dedicates the Oscar to his wife, Maria. Which gets a huge round of applause, as well it should.

Best Documentary

(short subject)...

Haven't seen any of these, I'll admit. But, I read an article about Recycled Life and the story behind that is great.

And the Oscar goes to The Blood of Yingzhou District. Again, I know nothing about this and heard nothing about it, so it didn't even figure into my thinking. But, congrats go out to the winners.

And Jerry Seinfeld is introducing Best Feature documentary. As to what he has to do with the film industry, I have no idea. But, he's funny, so I'm being entertained and that's to the good. He's taking on the theater announcements that ask you to pick up your trash. I don't agree, but good for him for saying so...

And he finally gets to the nominees... I really have to see the rest of these movies...

But, Al Gore's films wins! Yay, An Inconvenient Truth... Run Al Run!! Davis Guggenheim is the producer and the weird looking guy that neither me nor my sister could place him. Go, Davis!

Now, run, Al run!!!

Naomi Watts and Robert Downey Jr introduce...

visual effects...

And the Oscar goes to... for Pirates...

Ha! Totally called that one. Again, Superman's special effects were horrible. And I heard Posiedon was not good.

Liked the shout out to Ellen's suggestion on how to give a speech even though it didn't get a laugh.

Best foreign language film seems to be up next...

And after a neverending montage, it's introduced by Clive Owens and Cate Blanchett...

The winner is Lives of Others (Germany). I'm honestly stunned. I just assumed that Pan's Labyrinth would win cause so many people said nothing but good things about it. Huh... oh well...

And Ellen is doing shadow puppets...

And is eaten by the snakes on the plane that turn into an actual plane. Loving it...

George Clooney is introducing the Best Supporting Actress nominees...

Okay, the man is seriously handsome and sexy and good looking and smart and funny and good lord, talented. He is seriously our generation's Cary Grant...

I'm all nervous for this category...

The winner is Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls!

Wendy just asked me how she could be surprised that she won, but two years ago she was being mocked by Simon Cowell and now she just beat out Cate Blanchett for the Oscar and she was just hugged by George Clooney. And she nearly breaks down... but she's being played off as she finishes. And doesn't forget Jennifer Holliday...

More Ellen in the audience

Ellen bypasses Clint Eastwood's wife so that Steven Spielberg can take a picture for her MySpace page...

SO FUNNY! She asks him to take two cause the first one didn't come out too well... Ha! Asking Spielberg for a redo. I love that he and Eastwood have good senses of humor.

Gwyneth introduces Best Cinematography... Is that her real hair? Or does she have extensions in?

Pan's Labyrinth wins... Got that one wrong. But again, I've seen none of these films, so I took a shot in the dark. And guessed wrong. Bah! And this Guillermo fellow is getting played off, and honestly his voice made me sleepy, so I'm not quite sure what he said.

And the dancers did Little Miss Sunshine and made a bus out of themselves.

Costume design actor...

Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway introduce this one. Sort of in character...

And, LOVE that Meryl.. So funny... where is her cappacino and then she looks miffed! I wonder if that was planned... It had to be planned, right? Love that Meryl!

Since I am severely lacking in costume and fashion acumen, I'm just going to be impressed with all of the nominees cause they all looked swell...

Marie Antoinette wins! Called it! well, I called that it would win. I still think Dreamgirls should have one. But of course I didn't see Marie Antoinette. Though the winner is French so at least her acceptance speech is neat. And I like that she's wearing a tux.

Tom Cruise presents the Jean Hersholdt award winner (for humanitarian stuff)... Sherry Lansing wins... She was the first female president of a major studio (20th Century Fox). She cofounded Stop Cancer... Sits on the board of Teach for America... Donates time/money to eradicating childhood diseases in third world country. Started Primetime America (a new program that places retirees in schools).

Wow... she's seriously awesome.

Screenplay awards... (or Best Adapted anyway)

Given out by Tom Hanks and Helen Mirren (an odd coupling if ever I've heard one)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Okay, I finally understand why Borat is considered an adapted screenplay. It's because the characters already existed... Seriously, that has bothered me. But, now I know.

I really like how they're reading the stage directions, characters and letting the movie run for a line or two.

And the Oscar goes to William Monahan for the Departed... I got this one right, but I had a slim hope that Borat would have won. Winner sounds a bit drunk (or, actually on the Valium he alluded to). And, he's getting played off.

Ellen recycling jokes...

Touching upon Gilligan's Island... Ginger bringing to many clothes for a three hour tour. And Mrs. Howell brings a fur coat to go fishing... What's up with that?

Cameron Diaz introduces the Best Animated Picture nominees...

And the Oscar goes to... Happy Feet!

That one's for you, Lukey! Producer sounds slightly drunk. But, I liked that he talked about his kid and he was short. Gotta respect that.

Ben Affleck is introduced as the Academy Award winning screenwriter... I know it's true, but c'mon...

And it's a salute to writers... I love these montages!

Much more creative this year - Rich
Much more - Wendy

Much better writers this year -Kerri (aka yours truly)

The Departed...

Okay, I've gotta see this movie. This week...

And James Taylor is singing the song, "Our Town" from Cars, written by the extremely prolific Randy Newman.

Melissa Etheridge is singing "I Need to Wake Up" for An Inconvenient Truth. I like the suggestions/notations on the screen behind her and the band. And, as a side note, run Al run!

Leo says is there something you want to announce (to Al Gore)... Again, run Al, run! Al says he's here just for the movies.

And the Oscars have officially go green. Not as hard as you might think (www.oscar.com to find out how you can do your part).

That was really fun! Leo says doesn't he have announcement to make to Gore? Gore says that he hadn't really thought about it, but now that he's here, he has something to formally announce and the MUSIC plays him off. He shrugs and he and Leo walk offstage.

Run Al, Run!!!

Best Supporting Actor...

I'd be happy with any of these guys winning... It's a strong category this year.

Alan Arkin wins... I didn't guess that. :-( He was great... And he's got lots of friends in the Academy, so I'm not shocked. And he was fabulous. But, I did want Eddie Murphy to win, cause he was quite good.

And Alan Arkin thanked his teachers both in and out of the profession. That's pretty cool of him.

And Ellen is taking a walk around the theater... Saying hi to Marky Mark and then giving Marty Scorcese her screenplay... a cross between Goodfellas and Big Mama's House. He's gonna read it during the show. Ha!

And the dancers were intorduced and are now being the penguins from Happy Feet in silhouette. Very cool!

Salute to Sound and Cinema...

Interesting, and yet odd...

It's beginning to grow on me.... The corale are doing the sound effects from famous movies... There's Ben Hur and a few seconds ago we saw Singing in the Rain. And now Casablanca with the plane...

Steve Carrell (yay!) and Greg Kinnear are introducing the Sound Effects category...

Sound editing is like sex... it's often done at night and often alone.

Again, good writing between the presenters... I am still impressed with writers.

And the Oscar goes to...
Letters from Iwo Jima

Ha! Called that one.

The guy who talked first was very nervous...

Next up... Sound Mixing with Jessica Biel and somebody else... (sorry, I missed the name and though I'm DVR'ing the Oscars, I refuse to pause it). If I can't live blog it for real, then it's just not worth it.

Dreamgirls wins it!!! Ha! Called that one too!

The things you learn...

According to the announcer, we are watching the Oscars on ABC... Good to know.

Best shorts...

Abigail Breslin and Jaden Smith were really cute, especially Jaden's little flub.

Best animated short...

The Danish Poet (know nothing about this film, but I was still rooting for Little Match Girl).

The writers for the bits between Abigail and Jaden were pretty good.

West Bank Story wins!! I totally called that one, based on the fact that a movie about the Holocaust or a movie about the Middle East always wins at least one award.

I like Ari's thank you... He thanked his parents... awww... but he gave a shout out to the little guy in explaining his award. And he talked about hope in the Middle East which you rarely hear about these days. But, someone's got to have it. Now, I have to find his short. I'm sure I Tunes will have it within a couple of days (if not sooner)...

And now Clint Eastwood is talking about Letters from Iwo Jima. I do want to see this movie.

Will Ferrel sings...

A comedian at the Oscars...

but your name they'll never call.

A comedian at the Oscars, is the saddest thing at all.


Jack Black helps him out...

What did you think?


John C. Reilly...

I took both Boogie and Talladega Nights...


Hellen Mirren and an Oscar will be coming home with me...


LOVED IT!!

That was funny. That was new for the Oscars. -Wendy


And, Best Achievement in Makeup...
C'mon, achievement in makeup is a category? -Rich


And the Oscar goes to...
Pans Labyrinth

Which I thought would win, going on my theory that nobody saw Click and nobody would vote for Apocalypto.

Commercials...

No, I won't be talking about much of the commercials, but I LOVED the spot for Apple IPhone. Hello!

Now, people have been saying for the past few weeks that the Oscars are the Superbowl for women, so I'm wondering if the commercials will reflect that. They're definitely sappier, if this first commercial break is anything to go by.

Scientific awards...

Maggie Gyllenhal said some stuff about this but I missed it. I should point out that I'm watching this with my sister and brother-in-law who apparently don't stop talking throughout all awards shows. So, I will probably be missing some more stuff, but I will do the best I can.

And I liked that weird dancing silhouette that ended up in the shape of an Oscar.

Art Direction...

Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman introduce...

Pan's Labyrinth wins... I haven't seen this, but I have heard it's gorgeous.

Ellen's opening bit...

Oh... Errol Morris directed the opening bit. I like him.

Isn't it a bit odd that Ellen wanted to host the Academy Awards, rather than win one? Just me? Okay. Ahhh... she mentions that. I feel better.

And, Mexico gets its due. Some folks in the Border Patrol won't appreciate that.

Wow... Ellen does look really happy to be hosting. She's practically gleeful.

Four laugh out loud moments already. I'm liking this. Mostly the British stuff. And the slightly self-deprecating moments.

Again, they say a billion people are watching. I don't know if I believe that.

Keep your speeches short. I wonder if they're going to mention the website acceptance speeches. This is the deal with that. If you want to make a long acceptance speech, then you're allowed to, but you have to do it off the main stage, behind the scenes to a web producer.

A shout out to Abigail Breslin who looks surprised and gosh adorable.

Peter O'Toole was nominated eight times without a win.

Jennifer Hudson - American Idol... America didn't vote for her and she's here with an Academy Award nominatioin.

Al Gore - America did vote for him and then... Gosh, I hope he wins.

If there weren't blacks, Jews and gays there would be no Oscars. So true.

Gospel singers and tambourines. Didn't get that...

Opening bit...

I'm not quite sure what this opening bit is about... is it people who have been nominated, but never won? Or, just people who were nominated this year?

It's funny... But, kind of odd. I kind of want to know what the questions are, am I alone in that?

And all the nominees get appluase before the show. I like that. Before anyone loses, or rather is declared not to have gotten the Oscar, they all get acclaim.

And, here's Ellen!

And so it officially begins...

And we're off!

8 minutes to go...

so let's talk about the host. I'm expecting good things from Ellen Degeneres. She's always funny, which is good. As host of her own tv show, she knows how to keep things moving which is necessary for the Oscars. Am I slightly annoyed that Jon Stewart wasn't hired again? Yeah, but I don't think he was able to put his best foot forward last year, and he took so much time off of The Daily Show to prepare for hosting, that I guess I'm glad that he is devoting 100 percent of his energy to The Daily Show. Then again, he did make me laugh many times next year, but I expect Degeneres will do the same this year. Plus, the mere fact that she has a career makes large percentage of the religious right annoyed, and that gives me pleasure.

In short... while I don't think she'll be in Billy Crystal's league, I expect to be entertained.

And so we begin...

ABC is starting things off with a pregame show with, it appears Chris Connolly (former MTV VJ) and Lisa Ling as the hosts.

I'm not going to liveblog this part. So, I'll see you in a twenty minutes.

Let the countdown begin...

Okay, I suppose I should be giving my thoughts on the preamble to the Academy Awards (aka the red carpet arrivals), but in order to do that I would have to change the channel from Dora the Explorer and I'm pretty sure my two year old nephew would fight me to the death in order to stop that from happening. So, let's just assume that there are some stunningly beautiful women and devastatingly handsome men strolling down the red carpet with some inane commentary from either Joan or Melissa Rivers, Billy Bush and Ryan Secrest (who is really growing on me). Some of the dresses will be fabulous and some will be downright embarrassing and all will be wearing some really expensive jewels.

And the nominees are...

Below is the official Oscar ballot (reformatted for easy blog reading). Nominees who I think will win will be noted with a W; nominees who I think should win will be denoted with a S. I have not seen all the films, so some of this will just be pure conjecture. But, still... it'll be fun. And, the Academy voters don't have to see all the films. Yeah, I know... thhey're supposed to, but they get the DVDs sent to them and they still can't manage to see them all? Pshaw..., I feel no guilt at all that I didn't shell out $10.50 a pop to see all the films nominated.


ACTOR -- LEADING
___Leonardo DiCaprio – BLOOD DIAMOND
___Ryan Gosling – HALF NELSON
W__Peter O’Toole – VENUS
___Will Smith – THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
S__Forest Whitaker – THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
I haven't seen any of the movies, but I hear that Forest Whitaker was just amazing in The Last King of Scotland. Still, I think Peter O'Toole has the sentimental vote sewn. I also hope that this is not the first nomination of Ryan Gosling's career. He is talented, and I've thought so since he first appeared on my radar as a guest star on the Canadian series, Flash Forward (which also introduced Ben Foster to American audiences).

ACTOR -- SUPPORTING
___Alan Arkin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
___Jackie Earle Haley – LITTLE CHILDREN
___Djimon Hounsou – BLOOD DIAMOND
SW_Eddie Murphy – DREAMGIRLS
___Mark Wahlberg – THE DEPARTED
While it's cool that Jackie Earle Haley is back in the movie theaters after a couple of decades of absence (he was the Kelly Leak in the original Bad News Bears), I think Eddie Murphy has this in the bag. Not only does he have the paid his dues vote sewn up, but he was really good in a pretty good movie.

ACTRESS -- LEADING
___Penélope Cruz – VOLVER
S__Judi Dench – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
W__Helen Mirren – THE QUEEN
___Meryl Streep – THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
___Kate Winslet – LITTLE CHILDREN
Okay, I just want this stated... Meryl Streep was FANTASTIC as Miranda in The Devil Wears Prada. She made a blah movie into something really enjoyable. But... it was really a supporting role. And Helen Mirren was really good in The Queen and she's wrapping up all the awards. But, Judi Dench scared me in the commercials for her film.

ACTRESS -- SUPPORTING
___Adriana Barraza – BABEL
___Cate Blanchett – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
___Abigail Breslin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
SW_Jennifer Hudson – DREAMGIRLS
___Rinko Kikuchi – BABEL
Jennifer Hudson was just great. And, yeah... maybe she hasn't had to pay her dues (which seems to be an issue with the Academy), but she had to be disparaged by Simon Cowell, and it's not like any of the other nominees (with the exception of Cate Blanchett) are household names.

ANIMATED FEATURE
W__CARS
S__HAPPY FEET
___MONSTER HOUSE
Pixar just always seems to win these things, don't they? And while Cars has the Paul Newman factor, my nephews just adore Happy Feet, so I say... go Happy Feet!

CINEMATOGRAPHY
___THE BLACK DAHLIA
SW_CHILDREN OF MEN
___THE ILLUSIONIST
___PAN’S LABYRINTH
___THE PRESTIGE
Haven't seen any of these, but folks say that Children of Men is just gorgeous.

COSTUME DESIGN
___CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER
___THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
S__DREAMGIRLS
W__MARIE ANTOINETTE
___THE QUEEN
While the clothing of Prada and The Queen was great. Both were too modern to really take home the gold. I thought the period costumes of Dreamgirls (from the 60s through the 70s) were great, but with the aged Academy, it's probably still considered too modern, so I'll bet Marie Antoinette will win.

DIRECTING
___BABEL
SW_THE DEPARTED
___LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
___THE QUEEN
___UNITED 93
As Jon Stewart said last year... 3-6 Mafia has an Oscar before Marty Scorcese is crazy (though I did like their song), and I suspect that oversight will be remedied this year.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
___DELIVER US FROM EVIL
SW_AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
___IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS
___JESUS CAMP
___MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY
C'mon... who do you think is going to win... in Hollywood? Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. I think it will win. And iI think it should win. A) cause maybe Gore will declare himself a candidate for the presidency at the podium (how cool would that be?) And B) it'll make conservatives see red. And that's always good for a laugh.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
___AFTER THE WEDDING
___DAYS OF GLORY (INDIGÈNES)
___THE LIVES OF OTHERS
SW_PAN’S LABYRINTH
___WATER
Didn't see any of these, but I hear nothing but great things about Pan. And anytime you hear a foreign film be talked seriously about possibly being nominated for or even winning against English language films, it's usually a shoo-in.

ORIGINAL SCORE
S__BABEL
___THE GOOD GERMAN
___NOTES ON A SCANDAL
___PAN’S LABYRINTH
W__THE QUEEN
Okay, seriously... I know nothing about this category. I threw darts.

ORIGINAL SONG
S__“I Need to Wake Up” – AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
W__“Listen” – DREAMGIRLS
___“Love You I Do” – DREAMGIRLS
___“Our Town” – CARS
___“Patience” – DREAMGIRLS
I just like Melissa Etheridge. And, I do think there is a real chance that the three Dreamgirls songs will split the vote too much... I just think that Beyonce singing (and kinda sorta co-writing) Listen is too much star power to the Academy. I also think that the Oscars will want to prove that they're not racist (because they didn't nominate the musical for Best Picture) by giving Dreamgirls several victories in the more minor categories.

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
___THE BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT
S__RECYCLED LIFE
___REHEARSING A DREAM
W__TWO HANDS
I read an article about the folks in Recycled Life. It's about a poverty stricken group of folks who live on a land fill in Guatemala. It's a great story. But, the Academy loves tales of common folks overcoming diversity. So, I think Two Hands pulls it out.

ART DIRECTION
SW_DREAMGIRLS
___THE GOOD SHEPHERD
___PAN’S LABYRINTH
___PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST
___THE PRESTIGE
Dreamgirls was just beautiful to watch. And I still think the Academy will want to make up for the lack of a Bes Picture nod.

MAKEUP
___APOCALYPTO
___CLICK
SW_PAN’S LABYRINTH
I'm thinking Hollywood still hasn't forgiven Mel Gibson and even the folks at Sony didn't see Click, so I think Pan wins it in a walk.

FILM EDITING
W__BABEL
___BLOOD DIAMOND
___CHILDREN OF MEN
S__THE DEPARTED
___UNITED 93
In my mind, film editing and directing always go hand in hand, so since I'm picking Marty for director, I think his editing partner should win for The Departedalso. But, Babel had several separate stories to intercut together, so based on sheer complexity, Babel might win.

VISUAL EFFECTS
SW_PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST
___POSEIDON
___SUPERMAN RETURNS
I loathed Pirates II. Loathed it wiht a passion. I want the 2 plus hours of my life back. To make matters worse I saw it in the theaters and wasted one of the last weekends I spent in LA seeing this drek. Stilll... the special effects in Superman were laughable. And, all of three people saw Poseidon, so holding my nose, I'm picking Pirates.

SOUND EDITING
___APOCALYPTO
___BLOOD DIAMOND
___FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
SW_LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
___PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST
While there's a real possiblity that Flags and Letters will split the vote, I've just been hearing great things about Letters and I think they're gonna go home with something.

SCREENPLAY -- ADAPTED
___BORAT CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
___CHILDREN OF MEN
SW_THE DEPARTED
___LITTLE CHILDREN
___NOTES ON A SCANDAL
While I would love it if Borat wins something (seriously, how could Sasha Baron Cohen not get an acting nod?), I think there was too much improv involved for it to get a writing nomination. So, I'm putting my money on The Departed.

SCREENPLAY -- ORIGINAL
___BABEL
___LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
SW_LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
___PAN’S LABYRINTH
___THE QUEEN
While there is an outside shot that Little Miss Sunshine gets the Best Picture prize, I think this is their best shot at a major award.

SOUND MIXING
___APOCALYPTO
___BLOOD DIAMOND
SW_DREAMGIRLS
___FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
___PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST
Always go with the musical in this category. You're gonna be right more often than not.

SHORT FILM -- LIVE ACTION
___BINTA AND THE GREAT IDEA (BINTA Y LA GRAN IDEA)
S__ÉRAMOS POCOS (ONE TOO MANY)
___HELMER & SON
___THE SAVIOUR
W__WEST BANK STORY
Did not see these and I know nothing about any of the movies, but anything about Israel or the Holocaust usually wins in their category. So, we'll see if the Middle East is close enough to keep that trend alive.

BEST PICTURE
___BABEL
SW_THE DEPARTED
___LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
___LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
___THE QUEEN
I really do think the Oscars are up in the air in most categories, especially Best Picture. All of these movies have won major awards, but I just think it's Scorcese's year. With the star power on screen and behind the camera... I think it's The Departed's to lose.

SHORT FILM -- ANIMATED
___THE DANISH POET
___LIFTED
SW_THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL
___MAESTRO
___NO TIME FOR NUTS
I actually did see The Little Matchgirl and it made me cry. The animation was simple, but befitting a classic.

Okay, so those are my picks and my thoughts. As I mentioned, there will be live blogging of the awards themselves and after the show, we'll see how I did.

Yes...

there will be live blogging of the Academy Awards...

To check out the nominations... http://theenvelope.latimes.com/media/acrobat/2007-02/28002598.pdf

For people who like ice skating...

hear the rink at Rockerfeller Center is neat. Me? I've never actually attempted to ice skate on actual ice skates, and going by my experiences on both rollerblades and rollerskates, I have a sneaking suspicion I wouldn't be very good. Plus, ice hurts when you fall on it, so I'm just gonna stay on asphalt.

A little late but...

in honor of the anniversary of Benjamin Kubelsky's birth. On Feb. 14, 1894, a baby boy was born to Mr. and Mrs. Kubelsky of Waukegan, IL. As many middle class youth of the early 20th century did, he learned to play an instrument as a young boy and harbored dreams of becoming a professional musician. Entering vaudeville in his late teens, he played on the same bill as the Marx Brothers. First known professionally as Benny Kubelsky and then as Ben K. Bennie and finally as Jack Benny, where he headlined in vaudeville, was a mainstay on radio for over 20 years and was one of the first comedians to succesfully transition to television. He was one of the few comedians to realize that one could get laughs playing the straight man. I've said it before and I'll say it again, without The Jack Benny Show, there would have been no The Bob Newhart Show and Seinfeld.


So, one more time for old time's sake... "Now cut that out..."

Live blogging the commercials...

is officially over, slo from now on, I will only pop up when there's a good comemrcial. So far, there have been two good commercials, a handful of mediocre commercials and many, many bleh commercials...

Commercial #12

Coke commercial with Nicholas Coster who was on Santa Barbara...

And Adam Vinitieri misses the field goal.... What are the odds..

Commercial #10

Missed it completely...

There was some Amazing Race, and HOw I Met YOur Mother commercials...

This live blogging isn't quite what I expected... I think I was expecting the commercials to be good or funny, but they just weren't and aren't.

Mabye in the second half they'll be better. If not, well then...

But I do gotta say that I am really digging the commercials that touch upon Black History Month, as well as the fact that regardless who wins the game, there will definitely be an African American coach who will be a Superbowl Champion.

Commerccial #8

Damn Yankees song with men in disease labels attacking a heart. Beatyourisk.com. I liked it.

United Way.org...

GM. 1000,000 warranty - suicidal

Coke commercials in honoro Black History Month... Different bottles from different time periods honoring a specific moment in the civil rights movement.

Commercial #8

Careerbuilder.com - missed it, but the visuals weren't

Doritos - blah...

Chevy - College Ad commercial - cute, but I don't know how long we'll be speaking about it...

Commercial #7

Budweiser... parade with models?

GPS system - Garmi n- while I like the system, I wasn't crazy about the robot man vs. the Map monster...

Big Brother - can't argue with the concept and I liked that hte coaches of the Colts and Bears were in it.

Grammy commercial... who will Justin T. sing with?

Commercial #6

Go Daddy.com = I still don't know what that site does. Is it just a

Coke commercial - in the vein of Grand Theft Auto video game - I really like this one, icnluding the Busby Berley vendors.

Commercial for CBS - since I like the channel, I like the shows.

Chevy cars... different singers/athletes. Kind of l iked this one.

Carlos Mencia... new spokesperson for Bud Light?

Grammys....

Late Show with David Letterman - Letterman with Oprah... each rooting for different team (Dave - Indy/Oprah - Chicago). First one I really liked.

Commercial #4

Snickers --- doing something manly... huh?

Schick Qutattro Titanium - in the gym.

Pride (the movie) - meh... something to do with swimming.

Survivor

Still not crazy about the commercials.

COmmercial# 3

Toyota Trucks - about to go off a cliff....

I don't think there should be commercials where I don't understand.... I should be able to look away from the commercial and still know what is goingg on."

Fed Ex... In Space. Hit by comet...

Auction marriage - Bud Light.

So far I'm liking the Bud Light commercials.

And Amazing Race All Stars... Who hear hasn't thought that Rob and Amber have had their 45 minutes.

FUMBLE!!! Colts recover...

FUMBLE! Bears recover...

Next year a Domed stadium?

COmmercial# 3

Toyota Trucks - about to go off a cliff....

I don't think there should be commercials where I don't understand.... I should be able to look away from the commercial and still know what is goingg on."

Fed Ex... In Space. Hit by comet...

Auction marriage - Bud Light.

So far I'm liking the Bud Light commercials.

And Amazing Race All Stars... Who hear hasn't thought that Rob and Amber have had their 45 minutes.

FUMBLE!!! Colts recover...

FUMBLE! Bears recover...

Next year a Domed stadium?

Commercial Break #2

Sierra MIst - missed it.

Sales Genie.com - The dotcom boom is over...

Sierra Mist - It is that refreshing.

Commercial break 1

Bud light - Rock, Paper Scissors - I'll admit it. I laughed.

Doritos.. Bad, kind of incomprehensible

Blockbuster Total Access - animals trying to use the mouse to get the movies from Blockbuster. I thought it was cute. It was memorable if nothing else.

7-0 Bears...

off of a 90 yards kick off return... Insane! Hester - #23... 90 yards!!!

Ford company...

Did Ford Motor Company just lay off a ton of people? Should they really be wasting all that money for a commercial?

And the kick off is about to occur, so finally Superbowl XLI is agonna start.

So far, I'm 0 for 1...

I apparently missed a really good commercial - known as the Chad Johnson superbowl commercial, but nobody I'm with knows what the commercial was about, so I'm stating that the good commercials aren't starting until kickoff.

Super Bowl XLI

So, much like I liveblogged the Golden Globes, I am going to attempt to liveblog the commercials for Superbowl XLI. I don't know how successful I will be, but let's just see how it goes.