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February 26, 2003
I think I can predict pretty
much out of hand which among my fairly regular readers aren't listening to
Something Corporate, but the rest of you have no excuse. Mike first brought
"Leaving Through the Window" to my attention on the way back from CBI, and I
have to admit that I was expecting fair-to-middling emo (since the Get Up Kids, there
really haven't been any emo bands which have had more than a couple songs I liked a lot),
but instead I got 14 tracks of greatness. There is no bad song on this album, along
with some amazingly great ones. "I Woke Up in a Car" and "Cavanaugh
Park" own you, in particular, but "Fall," "iF yoU C Jordan,"
"Straw Dog," "The Astronaut," and "Drunk Girl" are also
really, really good, and the rest are "good if formulaic" at worst,
"excellent but not quite top shelf" at best.
I've basically been listening non-stop to this CD - or actually to the
alphabetical arrangement of tracks in WinAmp - since Saturday night. You'd think I'd
be sick of it by now, but you would also be wrong. I think I could listen
to the chorus of "I Woke Up in a Car" on an endless loop and I wouldn't get sick
of it for at least several hours (which doesn't sound like much, but I think that's pretty
good when we're talking the same 15-20 seconds over and over, eight hundred times in a
row).
February 22, 2003
CBI Regionals were Friday and Saturday. We dropped a bad game to UIC to actually go into the playoffs #3, but the outcome was the same - we finished second. Things were basically like last year, except I played better, we scored more points against the worst teams, we came within a question of beating Chicago once, and instead of losing three times, all to Chicago, we lost four times, three to Chicago. Close enough.
February 17, 2003
Harry Knowles, if you are messing with me, I will eat your soul.
Quite possibly the greatest news in the history of the world. If this does not fill you with joy, go back to Russia.
February 16, 2003
Well, I didn't see every movie of 2002 that I wanted to. I'll try to be better in 2003, but you'll have to settle for the good to great films I did see on the Top Ten Films of 2002 list.
February 15, 2003
Having already seen all five Best Picture nominees and unable to see any other major nominees I hadn't already, I finished off the Best Actor category and probably the films of 2002 as well (at least until things come out on DVD). Here, then, The Quiet American review.
February 14, 2003
In the grand tradition of movie reviews on BigFlax.com, may I present a new page in which I capsule review films from Netflix.
February 12, 2003
February 12, 2003
All right-o. Here's what I've got for you: the major Oscar categories. Should win, will win, worst inclusion, most surprising inclusion, biggest snub, best snub.
Best Original Screenplay
Nominees: Far From Heaven, Gangs of New York,
Talk to Her, Y Tu Mama Tambien, My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Should Win: Because it's the only one I've seen, Gangs of New York.
Not the year's best movie but very solid.
Will Win: At a guess, a tossup between FFH and MBFGW.
The Academy loves this category for rewarding popular and/or acclaimed films that
got screwed everywhere else. I'm not sure here whether they go with the runaway hit
or the one the critics loved; say FFH just because I'm not sure this goes to a
comedy.
Worst Inclusion: My Big Fat Greek Wedding. No, I haven't
seen it; would you like to fight?
Most Surprising Inclusion: Either of Talk to Her and Y Tu
Mama Tambien; I always find it interesting when films that aren't in English get
screenplay nods. It's pretty much assured they won't win, though.
Biggest Snub: Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, which
deserved a nod for its interesting treatments of happiness and fate.
Best Snub: 8 Mile. I didn't this one either, but it's one
I'm glad didn't make the cut that might have. (Most airtight prediction on this
page: Dave will not like that I said this.)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominees: About a Boy, Adaptation, Chicago,
The Hours, The Pianist.
Should Win: Adaptation, easily. It's a shame it can't be
considered original, as that category might have been weak enough for a curveball film to
take it. In this case...
Will Win: I am deathly afraid it, and perhaps the big winner in general,
will be The Hours.
Worst Inclusion: The Hours is the worst of those movies, not
that I'm surprised to see it included.
Most Surprising Inclusion: About a Boy, mostly because this is
its only nod. But now when American Pie 3 comes out, they can say
"From the Academy Award-nominated writers..."
Biggest Snub: 25th Hour, which was only the best film of the
year, and with some of its most meaningful dialogue.
Best Snub: About Schmidt. I know I'm in the minority on
this, but this film had nothing going for it besides Nicholson, particularly not Payne and
Taylor's "neither as clever nor as deep as it clearly wants to be" dull writing.
Best Director
Nominees: Pedro Almodóvar, Talk to Her; Stephen
Daldry, The Hours; Rob Marshall, Chicago; Roman Polanski, The
Pianist; Martin Scorsese, Gangs of New York.
Should Win: Marshall wouldn't be a bad pick, but I'd like to see Scorsese
get it.
Will Win: A lot of actors have won "make-up" awards for movies
that weren't their best (Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman; Russell Crowe in Gladiator,
probably his worst performance of the past four years; Denzel Washington in Training
Day), so perhaps Scorsese will take this one in exchange for not winning for Goodfellas.
He certainly wouldn't be a bad pick; given two no-names, a felon, and a guy whose
film isn't in English, I gotta figure Scorsese has an advantage.
Worst Inclusion: It isn't just that The Hours is ponderous and
overbearing, it's that it couldn't have taken as much to direct as any number of other
films.
Most Surprising Inclusion: Easily Almodóvar, though it doesn't matter
since he won't win. I think the voters wanted to avenge the fact that Spain didn't
submit Talk to Her for Best Foreign Language Film.
Biggest Snub: Peter Jackson, The Two Towers. Mostly
because there's no good reason for him not to be here. He was nominated last year
along with his film; it was nominated again, so why wasn't he?
Best Snub: Steven Spielberg, Minority Report. A lot of
people wanted to see MR rake in the noms; thankfully, it didn't. It wasn't a bad
film, but this isn't best of the year stuff; it wasn't even the best film Spielberg made
this year, even if it was more technically accomplished.
Best Supporting Actress
Nominees: Kathy Bates, About Schmidt; Queen
Latifah, Chicago; Julianne Moore, The Hours; Meryl Streep, Adaptation;
Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago.
Should Win: Streep. Not only was she easily the best on
here, the movie deserves any award it can get.
Will Win: You have to like Streep's chances, having won the Golden Globe.
Moore and Zeta-Jones will be the only two who can give her a run, but I think
Moore's better off in the Lead Actress category, where Streep was passed over in favor of
Kidman. I like Streep here.
Worst Inclusion: Bates. Yes, worse than Queen Latifah.
Neither did very much, but I think Bates' role was particularly non-Oscar-worthy, as she
was only required to act like white trash. Special.
Most Surprising Inclusion: Probably Queen Latifah. I'm not stunned
to see her here, but she could easily have been passed over for, say, Cameron Diaz (who
then would probably have overtaken Bates for Worst Inclusion).
Biggest Snub: I don't think there were any obvious snubs here. I'll
say Samantha Morton just to appease the Minority Report fans who think she should
have been nominated, but I don't really believe that.
Best Snub: Cameron Diaz. Remember, I liked Gangs of New York,
but she's by far the worst part of it.
Best Supporting Actor
Nominees: Chris Cooper, Adaptation; Ed Harris, The
Hours; Paul Newman, Road to Perdition; John C. Reilly, Chicago;
Christopher Walken, Catch Me If You Can.
Should Win: Cooper, who was brilliant.
Will Win: Cooper has as good a shot as any... will Adaptation
really sweep the supporting awards? (Well, if there's any justice in the world,
yes.) If not, it's between Harris and Newman, and the Academy does seem to like
giving this one to old guys. First pick Cooper; if not him, Newman.
Worst Inclusion: Not to rip on Reilly, but he didn't really do much in
that movie, you know?
Most Surprising Inclusion: Probably Walken. First he upstaged Hanks
(whom I thought was great), then he got an Oscar nod! If it's any consolation, he's
probably least likely to win.
Biggest Snub: Barry Pepper for 25th Hour. I'm not
surprised he's not here, but he oughta be. Another big snub (besides Hanks) is Alan
Arkin, who deserves to be here for 13 Conversations About One Thing.
Best Snub: Andy Serkis, The Two Towers. You wouldn't
believe how many people think he should be here. Ignoring the whole "whether
his performance shouldn't count because only CGI is onscreen" debate, do you really
think the performance constitutes Oscar nomination status? Because I sure don't.
Best Actress
Nominees: Salma Hayek, Frida; Nicole Kidman, The
Hours; Diane Lane, Unfaithful; Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven;
Renée Zellweger, Chicago.
Should Win: Oof. I've only seen two of these (apart from Original
Screenplay, the only category in which I missed more than one), and I'm hesitant to say
either should win. Kidman was good but in an Oscar bait role; Zellweger was
good but was she really Oscar-worthy? I'll just say Zellweger should win.
Will Win: In this case, it looks more like a tossup between Kidman and
Moore. Hayek and Lane are wild card nominees, and though a wild card got this last
year (i.e. Halle Berry), I don't think they'll do it two years in a row. Zellweger
is the outside shot but the musical/comedy group is underrepresented in acting wins.
Since I don't think Moore will get Supporting, she has a pretty good shot at this
one, also the Academy's attempt both to recognize FFH and spread the wealth a
bit.
Worst Inclusion: I don't know enough about the wild cards to comment on
this one.
Most Surprising Inclusion: Lane got a lot of notice when Unfaithful
came out, so she's not that surprising; I guess it's just interesting that Hayek got a nod
at all, though it's not really "surprising."
Biggest Snub: I didn't see any other dominant female performances this
year, so I can't really comment on this one. I could mention ones other think are
snubs, but that wouldn't be accurate for me.
Best Snub: Nia Vardalos, My Big Fat-Ass Wedding. Don't
think I'm sorry that "Golden Globe nominee Nia Vardalos" got passed over.
I'm not.
Best Actor
Nominees: Adrien Brody, The Pianist; Nicolas
Cage, Adaptation; Michael Caine, The Quiet American; Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs
of New York; Jack Nicholson, About Schmidt.
Should Win: Either Day-Lewis or Cage, and frankly, I don't care which.
One of the few races where I feel strongly about any of the contenders, and in this
case featuring two performances I loved.
Will Win: Cage got absolutely jobbed at the Globes, losing to Richard F.
Gere (guess what the F stands for. Hint: not Francis). Day-Lewis got jobbed
too, losing to Nicholson. Nicholson is always a safe choice, but perhaps the Academy
will realize that he wasn't the best this year. I'm going to say Day-Lewis because
of all the notice he got, but Nicholson is the easy pick for second. Cage languishes
in third, while Brody and Caine are write-offs.
Worst Inclusion: I don't really have a problem with any of the nominees
I've seen, and I doubt Caine is bad.
Most Surprising Inclusion: No real surprises here.
Biggest Snub: Edward Norton in 25th Hour, who I would have taken
over Brody. Like Pepper, I'm not surprised he's not here. It's interesting
Gere got snubbed after winning the Globe, but he really didn't belong as a Lead Actor
anyway.
Best Snub: Adam Sandler, Punch-Drunk Love. Call it
irrational P.T. Anderson hatred, but I don't want to live in a world where we can say
"Academy Award-nominated actor Adam Sandler." I refuse to believe he was
this good, even if he was good.
Best Picture
Nominees: Chicago; Gangs of New York; The
Hours; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; The Pianist.
Should Win: Of those? Uh... god. That's the problem with the
Oscars; they lose all interest as soon as it turns out the Best Picture race sucks.
Of these I would pick The Two Towers, except it's stealing Adaptation's
spot (though I don't know why I'd want Adaptation to get nominated just so it can
lose). So I guess I'll say Chicago, just to spite the people who would
whine if a musical won Best Picture.
Will Win: The Hours winning would surprise no one, least of all
me. Which is depressing because it's the worst movie on there. Gangs
and Chicago have chances (the other two do not), but The Hours has the
Globe going for it and the fact that Best Picture very often matches the Globes' Best
Drama.
Worst Inclusion: Well, in my opinion it's The Hours. But
its inclusion was a foregone conclusion. (Ooh, rhyming.)
Most Surprising Inclusion: The Two Towers, which I think just
about everyone had written off by the time the nominations rolled around. Then it
snuck back on despite getting no other major nominations.
Biggest Snub: 25th Hour is the year's best movie, but it had no
buzz and was never going to be here. So from that standpoint, Adaptation,
which is better than any of the movies listed above.
Best Snub: Any number of other movies that might have snuck in and taken TTT's
wild card fifth spot. Thank God it wasn't My Big Fat Greek Wedding, About
Schmidt, or Road to Perdition, for example.
Well, that's it. Got comments? I know you don't (actually, I bet Red Dog Rob does, if no one else). Let's get a lively discussion going in the forum.
February 11, 2003
Coming later today and/or the more generic "soon," comments on the Oscar nominees as well as the usually half-assed predictions.
February 10, 2003
Updated the Not Seeing page to this month. It's a little late (sorry if you saw Deliver Us From Eva because I didn't warn you in time), but then we're a bit light this month.
February 8, 2003
Disappointing finish, but overall good time: NAQT Sectionals '03. Results ahoy.
February 7, 2003
Time once again for the existential portion of our program.
It is possible to see the future. I should know;
I've done it. More accurately, I've had it happen; I certainly don't set out to see
the future, and I've only done it while asleep; furthermore I've never had a premonition
of anything interesting or important, and never has the experience lasted more than about
30 seconds, and usually less.
The real question, though, is this: how is this possible? I think
most of us operate under the assumption that time is linear, but that it is impossible to
travel on the line except in a forward motion at normal pace. Until I see evidence
otherwise - which I don't expect to - I will believe that this is true for the corporeal
part of a person. But what about the mind? Evidently, it is somehow possible
for the subconscious mind to travel forward in time.
This creates problems because it implies that the future has already
happened, or is presently happening; it implies that time is more a river than a line.
While we are traveling on our part of the river, other people - or indeed other
versions of ourselves - are traveling on other parts of the river. We can't see or
get to the other parts of the river except by simply following the river downstream, but
the other parts of the river are flowing simultaneously nonetheless.
Doesn't this scare you? It does me. Now, maybe you just
don't believe me and so you don't care about it, and I guess you don't have to, but
where's my motive for making this up? Here's what I saw today - about ten seconds of
a new movie trailer. That's what I'd seen before, in a dream that I had I don't
remember when, but almost definitely within the past couple months. This isn't
exciting stuff; I'm not claiming I foresaw the Columbia disaster or something.
Anyway. This scares me, not least because it suggests that the
future has already happened, as I said - thus suggesting that the future is predetermined.
I think of Back to the Future, though, and get reassured. The future
has already happened in Back to the Future (specifically Parts Two and Three, but
in Part One as well), but only to the extent that it follows the current path Marty is
taking. Marty can change his path, though (as he does by not drag-racing Needles at
the end of Part Three), thus changing the future. So at least I have that going for
me.
Still... doesn't this suggest that it is somehow possible to travel
into the future? If I can access it, why couldn't someone else in a more
sophisticated way?
February 6, 2003
Thought experiment: you are involved in a competition
featuring a specific rule you do not agree with. The outcome of failure to play by
this rule is undetermined, but there is a possibility it could result in
disqualification. However, playing by the rule will result in failure by some of
your team members to have as good a time competing as they might. It is too late to
change the rule before the competition, but after that point you may make your dislike
known to the organizers, which could at least result in reconsideration of the rule.
Do you:
a) Play by the rule and attempt to petition a rules change after the
competition?
b) Break the rule and hope no one notices?
If that's too literal for some of you to actually think
about it, try this one: you believe that a donation you made to an organization should be
tax-deductible. The IRS rulebook states that due to the way the organization is run,
donations to the organization cannot be written off your taxes. You disagree with
this rule, but the possible consequence of breaking it is a big fat audit. Do you:
a) Play by the rule and pay your taxes?
b) Write off the deduction anyway and hope no one notices?
February 5, 2003
There's still well over a month to go, but I might as well get it over with: the BigFlax.com NCAA Tournament Challenge is returning for its third year, as the gif at the top of the page may well have suggested. This is your official announcement; the rules page is up now so you know what will be expected.
February 3, 2003
Drew, Rich and I went to see the Civic Orchestra perform
tonight. There was an experience. Bullet pointed for your quick perusal:
* We went to Bennigan's first, where Drew and Rich begged me to get a
Monte Cristo sandwich but I steadfastly refused. I got chicken, mashed potatoes, and
broccoli cheese soup, the latter of which would come back to haunt me. The waitress
was pretty hot, too (just thought I'd mention that).
* We go to see the orchestra. So, things start off with four
Benjamin Britten interludes from Peter Grimes. But things actually
start off with Cliff Colnot droning on about tritones and other bullshit that could only
have been of interest to music majors, except even Rich was like "what the hell is
this?" Then came the part where we almost got kicked out because Drew and I
regressed to fifth grade.
* Christopher Seaman, world famous conductor or something, was in town
to conduct the Civic Orchestra. We had a little chuckle over his name before the
show, and that was that. Then, nearing the end of his spiel, Colnot says something
like "you'll see in a few minutes when Maestro Seaman comes out." That was
that. Drew and I covered our mouths and barely managed to hold back the laughter.
I took several minutes to actually get to a point where I wasn't laughing every
time I moved my hand. Had Drew and I looked each other in the eye at any moment,
that probably would have been it, at which point we would have had to leave and never come
back.
* The Britten stuff sounded fine but in the middle I started having
searing abdominal pains as the cheese in the soup took its revenge on my audacious eating
of it. I managed to hold on but had to leave at intermission and proceeded not to
get back in time for the start of the Shostakovich main event, thus consigning me to 45
minutes in the foyer listening to the music over the loudspeaker. Not good times.
Bad times. At least it was free.
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This page last updated: Thursday, February 27, 2003 12:42:20 AM