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February 28, 2002

So Verio switched the servers... and man, does this rule. For one thing, it turns out I was about a meg short of my disk quota... now I have 100 megs to play with, which is nice. Also there's a new message board that will work and won't have that annoying pop-up ad, and I'll probably update the guestbook in short order too.
Also! Important, sort of, news. I can now create e-mail accounts besides my own at bigflax.com. So if you'd like a "yourname@bigflax.com" e-mail address (and who wouldn't, besides everyone), let me know.

February 27, 2002

I really wish Verio would just switch the servers already. Posting everything twice is such a drag (hence the pronounced delay in the last update). Anyway, here's the next set of Movies to See or Avoid, this time for the month of March (which starts this Friday... meaning here comes March Madness... yes!).

February 26, 2002

Screw this, I can't wait any longer.

The Hart's War review is up. So are slight changes to the Tournament Challenge scoring; check the Rules page for that.

    Also, fun fun times on the Indiana road trip last weekend. I had my first basketball play-by-play and that wasn't even close to the coolest part. It was just a trip of hilariousness as Nemo, Torms, and Rich A. Goldberg combined for the best road trip ever. Highlights include:
    * We ate at the Olive Garden Saturday night and Nemo didn't finish his food, so he had it boxed up. He proceeded to leave the box on the table, but he had written his name on it. So as he was standing in the lobby, this Mexican buslady ("about 4'7"," as Nemo described her) comes out with the box and asks, "Who es Mimo?"
    * We ate at Chili's the next day and the waiter was A.J., who was barely intelligible. The guys joked about putting my soup on my chair while I was in the bathroom to see if I would sit on it. They ended up not doing this (although Nemo now tells the story as they put it there and I sat on it), but did make the mistake of telling me about it, so when Nemo went outside to talk on his cell phone later, I put the soup on his chair. He noticed it, for what it's worth.
    * General hilarity in the car. I didn't quote much (though see quotes page for one new quote, which Drew will no doubt complain about) though I probably could have, but one thing caught my eye. You may recall my description of the subway in Rogers Park from the Illinois road trip back in November... well, I saw one about as good on the way down to Bloomington. Sign out front of a Super 8 Motel: "God Bless America," and then immediately below that, "Jacuzzi $70."

February 22, 2002

Presenting a little more detail on the new rules for the Challenge. This also appears in the Rules section, hence 3a, but I figured it's more likely to get noticed straight away out here.

    3a. Why the New Scoring?
    a. This isn't really a "rule," but a little research shows us the benefits of using the new bonus system.
    b. Here are last year's statistics for points received in games affected by the dark horse.
    Tyler: 770
    Flax: 540
    Marc: 540
    Dad: 540
    Jan: 450
    Halling: 450
    Zack: 450
    Drew: 300
    Jordan: 120
    Bauer: 120
    Steve: 120
    Rudnik: 60
    Rob: 30
    Ric: 20
    Dave: 20
    As you can see, the highest finisher had 230 more dark horse points than anyone else, and the lowest finishers had well fewer. However, this did not always hold true: Jordan finished near the top because he had one of (if not the, though unfortunately that stat is not still kicking around) the highest totals of correct picks, though his dark horse number was average at best, while Steve had the same number of points as Jordan yet finished much lower by virtue of having many fewer correct picks. Tyler and I also finished near the top in both correct picks and total points, proving that you do still need to pick games correctly.
    However, Temple alone was enough to catapult Tyler to the top of the heap and keep him there, as I recall winning him the title before the final game had even been played, thus removing any possible suspense associated with the championship game and its 160 points.
    c. I could have just done what ESPN does and go straight points, but that's kind of boring. So instead I went with the BB. Here are the numbers for last year's picks if the BB and not the DH had been in effect.
    Tyler: 120
    Jordan: 110
    Flax: 90
    Rudnik: 80
    Marc: 70
    Bauer: 70
    Steve: 50
    Halling: 50
    Jan: 40
    Rob: 40
    Zack: 20
    Drew: 20
    Dad: 20
    Dave: 20
    Ric: 0
    Note that Tyler still finished first, by virtue of picking #11 Temple to go to the Elite Eight and them doing so. However, note that Jordan rises all the way to second. In this way, the BB rewards accurate picking across the board, not in one special case. It also eliminates what the DH did not, which was (and I'll cop to this too) gutless DH picking (#2 Arizona and #3 Maryland were the dark horses of a total of six entrants) of a high seed that was expected to go far, because that earns way more points than picking a #13 seed to go two rounds (about the most that can be expected of a normal one).
    However, though I had Arizona as my dark horse, I also picked a lot of upsets, hence why I still end up third on the adjusted list. My dad, by comparison, picked Arizona as his DH but only one other correct upset, and then just in the first round, so he would only have received 20 points.
    So unlike the DH, which ended up (unintentionally) essentially rewarding wusses, the BB would do exactly as its name suggests: reward people for having balls.
    d. I'm currently in discussion with Jan (because he's a bit mathy) on some adjustment to the BB to give it a little more weight, or at least a little more effective weight. Watch this space for changes in the next week or so.

February 20, 2002

It's time for the official announcement. Yeah, the banner's been sitting there for a while now, but here it is.

The BigFlax.com 2002 NCAA Tournament Challenge is underway. If you participated last year and still go to NU or expressed interest in doing it again, you're on the list. If you'd like to get on the list, e-mail me at r-flaxman@northwestern.edu.

For all the official rules, see The Rules Page.

February 16, 2002

The Big Maroon Machine once again proved too much, as Chicago dealt us all three of our losses to send us to a second-place finish at CBI Regionals. Seems great, although if you consider the rest of our competition, only Loyola, Beloit once (in three games we played against them), and maybe Ripon gave us any game at all. Anyway. Full results here, as usual, and again the score archives have been updated accordingly.

February 12, 2002

Another update? Wow... I spoil you people. Not much meat in this one, though; just the lyrics to the three songs I've written recently (at least the ones that are any good). Here's Last Train to You (my personal favorite), followed by Endurance and Reaching for the Moon. If you want the mp3s, download them off me on IM (you can do this while I'm away so long as you're on my buddy list, otherwise you'll have to ask).

February 12, 2002

The Oscar nominations came out today. Unsurprisingly but quite annoyingly, Memento was almost totally shafted, getting just two nominations - Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing. People who thought Almost Famous got shafted last year should quit complaining, since at least it was nominated for a bunch. Memento not winning would have been one thing; failure to even be nominated is pathetic. It proves, if nothing else, that Hollywood generally prefers either big-studio films or "acting showcases," as opposed to films that are, I don't know, interesting.
With that out of the way, here are some predictions for Oscar night.

Best Original Screenplay

Nominees: Amélie, Gosford Park, Memento, Monster's Ball, The Royal Tenenbaums.
Prediction: Gosford Park.
Why: You can almost assuredly write off Amélie - it's not in English, after all. Monster's Ball seems a little left-field to win, and of the remaining three, the Academy probably has the most incentive to reward Altman's film, since he's a film veteran as opposed to Nolan and Anderson. Altman does often complain about Hollywood, though, so who knows why he got so many nominations in the first place. If Gosford doesn't win, I'd give the nod to The Royal Tenenbaums as part of a "Rushmore didn't get shit in '99" reparations campaign (think Russell Crowe's acting win last year).

Best Adapted Screenplay

Nominees: A Beautiful Mind, Ghost World, In the Bedroom, The Fellowship of the Ring, Shrek.
Prediction: In the Bedroom.
Why: It's either this or A Beautiful Mind, in my opinion. Why? Well, I've got three words for Shrek: no fucking way. Ghost World is this award's Monster's Ball, and I think Ring's nom is more a token because of the Tolkien books, rather than anything to do with the actual screenplay. This leaves the two mentioned above, and I'm going with Bedroom as this year's Almost Famous - it's likely to get bitched for everything else, whereas Mind could well win Best Picture. But we'll get to that.

Best Director

Nominees: Robert Altman for Gosford Park; Ron Howard for A Beautiful Mind; Peter Jackson for The Fellowship of the Ring; David Lynch for Mulholland Drive; Ridley Scott for Black Hawk Down.
Prediction: Peter Jackson.
Why: Because as far as things needed to be directed, he was probably the best director. The only other case on here, in my opinion, is Howard, because of all the nominations for his film. Altman's anti-Hollywood stance, as mentioned, should bury him, and Scott and Lynch might as well not even go because they don't have a chance (would you like to guess the last time a director whose film failed to be nominated for Best Picture won? The answer is never). Often you'll see the Best Director directing the Best Picture, but the Academy seems to have subverted that a bit in recent years. Since Ring probably won't win the whole thing, Jackson will probably get this one.

Best Supporting Actress

Nominees: Jennifer Connelly for A Beautiful Mind; Helen Mirren for Gosford Park; Maggie Smith for Gosford Park; Marisa Tomei for In the Bedroom; Kate Winslet for Iris.
Prediction: Jennifer Connelly.
Why: Because I don't really see a frontrunner here, and Connelly's movie helps her out. On the other hand, the Academy has been known to use this one to reward lesser-known films or actresses (Marcia Gay Harden last year, for example), or at the very least to make some offbeat selections. Still, the fact that Connelly won the AFI and Golden Globe Awards helps her out a lot. If she doesn't win, go with Winslet - she hasn't won anything before. Neither has Mirren, but another actress from the same film in the same category doesn't help her chances.

Best Supporting Actor

Nominees: Jim Broadbent for Iris; Ethan Hawke for Training Day; Ben Kingsley for Sexy Beast; Ian McKellen for The Fellowship of the Ring; Jon Voight for Ali.
Prediction: Jon Voight.
Why: If Supporting Actress is used to make offbeat choices, this award has typically gone to veterans, and Voight is certainly that. If he doesn't get it, I'd expect Kingsley to win. This wasn't the role for McKellen to win it; Broadbent is too outsider; and Hawke can just forget it.

Best Actress

Nominees: Halle Berry for Monster's Ball; Judi Dench for Iris; Nicole Kidman for Moulin Rouge; Sissy Spacek for In the Bedroom; Renee Zellweger for Bridget Jones' Diary.
Prediction: Sissy Spacek.
Why: Excepting last year, when Julia Roberts was clearly going to get it, Best Actress is often the toughest of the big five awards to predict. This year is anything but an exception to that, with nothing even resembling a frontrunner. As usual, though, there's at least one candidate who can be immediately ruled out: Renee Zellweger. Comedies don't fare well at the Oscars, and comedic performances don't do much better. Beyond that... I don't see Kidman winning either, and of the remaining three, Spacek just seems like the most viable choice (Dench won recently, and Berry's just a wildcard).

Best Actor

Nominees: Russell Crowe for A Beautiful Mind; Sean Penn for I Am Sam; Will Smith for Ali; Denzel Washington for Training Day; Tom Wilkinson for In the Bedroom.
Prediction: Russell Crowe.
Why: The NAACP has to be rejoicing - two nominations for black actors in the biggest individual category of the night. Unfortunately, neither of them will win. Neither will Wilkinson, leaving it to Crowe and Penn. Let it never be said that the old stereotype of playing a mentally deficient character of whatever stripe doesn't hold true come Oscar time. But the fact that Penn's movie got blasted by the critics ought to be enough to keep him back. As for Crowe, the only thing that should prevent him from winning would be some strange "let's not let him join Tracy and Hanks" thing. I doubt it.

Best Picture

Nominees: A Beautiful Mind; Gosford Park; In the Bedroom; The Fellowship of the Ring; Moulin Rouge.
Prediction: A Beautiful Mind.
Why: It doesn't happen too often that a film wins whose director isn't even nominated for his award (though at least it has happened, unlike the reverse). Since Todd Field and Baz Luhrmann don't show up on the Best Director list, wipe their films off this one. Gosford Park is more comedic, which doesn't generally produce a win. That leaves Mind and Ring, and I see the former as more viable, particularly if they're going to give Jackson the Director award. Both have lots of nominations, what better way to do it than to split the big two between them?

February 10, 2002

Did I actually just go eight days without an update? Must be that time of year (see the months around, mostly after, now if you don't believe that). Anyway, here's the NAQT Sectionals results.

February 2, 2002

Yet another weekend eaten up by a supposedly mACF tournament that ended up way more hard-core. (Put it this way: at only two other tournaments have I ever failed to break 25 ppg - 2001 MLK and 2001 ACF Fall.) At least I still get Sunday, and at least it managed some semblance of fun as quiz bowl usually does, though I wish I could have answered a few more. Of course, what with the next four tournaments in order being NAQT Sectionals, CBI Regionals, CUT, and Duck Bowl (I hope), I shouldn't really be complaining. Anyway, here are the Elvis 2002 results. The personal score archive has also been updated accordingly.

There's more! View last month's updates.

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This page last updated: Monday, April 15, 2002 08:12:44 PM