This weekend is the Red River Rivalry football game between The University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma. I have some considerably strong feelings regarding the outcome of this game owing to my law degree from The University of Texas. In consideration thereof, I give you an example of why Oklahoma sucks.
April 2003. Ballroom of the Omni Shoreham Hotel. The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Before competition begins, the organizers gather all 80-some four-to-six member teams in the hotel ballroom. Each team represents either a country or a region of a country, and each team hails from a particular law school. The organizers explain the competition rules, thank the sponsors and begin introducing each individual team. Assembled within this room are representatives of several countries who are historic and present day enemies. Countries that hold a deep seeded cultural, religious and historial animosity against each other that often results in death and war. Croatia and Serbia. Israel and Egypt. Greece and Turkey. India and Pakistan. France and everyone else. Yet, polite and even enthusiastic applause follows the announcement of each team's country, region and school name. Law students of the world join together in a spirit of peaceful unity....that is until one team gets booed. My team. The University of Texas. Gets booed. By Oklahoma. The Israelis, Serbs, Greeks and French can remain civil, but you, Oklahoma feel compelled to boo the University of Texas. A classless, yet class...ic example of why Oklahoma sucks.
By the way, we went on to compete against Oklahoma and absolutely crushed them. The low moment for them came when one of the mooters didn't understand the competition judge's Biblical reference to Paul on the road to Damascus. She repeated the judge's reference, only she called it "the road to the massacres." (The moot court problem dealt with the issue of genocide). That's right, good-old, home-of-the-heartland Oklahoma messed up a Bible reference. I'd let it slide.........if they hadn't booed us in front of representatives of the rest of the legal world and if Oklahoma were not evil.
So think on that, watch the Red River Rivalry, and Hook 'Em Horns!!!!!
Last fall it was Soup. This fall, it's Pie. It is not, however, a pie diet. That would be suicidal for my body. I'm limiting myself to one pie a week. As much as I love soup, I love pie more. And it's a toss up of what I love more: baking pie or eating pie.
So, I'll try to document my pie baking adventures and pie baking philosophy. Sadly, this documentation will not include photographic evidence. I don't have a digital camera (gasp!) and, also, I'm too lazy to take and upload pictures. Also, my pies get eaten quickly.
Over the summer I experimented with chiffon pies. Now it's fall, and it's time to move on to the delights of double crust, fruit filled pies. I'm talking to you apple!
Back to Sunday, when I made a pie, it was a double crust pie filled with apples, pears and Chinese Five Spice. Up to Sunday, I'd only used Five Spice in stir fry and my pathetic attempts at Singapore Noodles.
Chinese Five Spice was a surprisingly excellent accent flavor. And the pears helped out too. The best part about putting pears in the pie, I didn't have to peel them! Pear skin bakes away! Apple skin, not so much. But this new fun, fact about pear baking is making a pear pie for next weekend seem much more appealing.
The pie was good. It got eaten within 48 hours. It made an excellent breakfast. The hardest part in making it was, as always, waiting for it to cool. Which I failed to do. I lasted about an hour and a half. Then I just had to cut into it to see what the heck Chinese Five Spiced pie tasted like (it tasted like yumminess) and a half inch deep sea of juices poured out into the space my pie slice left.
I will work on my self control for next week.
Pie Report Conclusion: Apple + Pear + Chinese Five Spice = GOOD PIE.
Recipe after the jump.
This recipe is adapted from a recipe in this book. It's also from memory, so accuracy might be a problem.
Double Crust: 2 c flour, 1tsp salt, 1/2 c veg oil, 1/2 c cold water
Filling: 3 1/2 c apples (peeled, cored and sliced) 3 1/2 c pears (cored and sliced)(*) 2 T lemon juice 1/2 c sugar Mix the above ingredients and let juice in a strainer suspended over a plate or bowl for ten minutes (so that ideally the apples will lose much of their water and not deflate your pie too much when you bake it...which only half worked for my pie) 1 1/2 T corn starch 1/4 c sugar 2 t Chinese Five Spice Mix the starch 1/4 c sugar and Chinese Five Spice. Add to juiced apples & pears. Mix well. Pile on top of pie crust. Place several dabs of butter or margarine over pile of fruit then place second crust on top. Seal and flute edges. Cut vents into top crust.
Bake: at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes, then at 350 degrees F for 30 more minutes.
Let rest at least 2 hours (probably more) before eating. Resist cutting into it...if you can.
(*)No, you don't need to peel the pears!!! It's fantastic. No-peel fruit!
An annoyed person in a cubical near you, is probably fantasizing about how best to rip them off your hands....or just chop off your hands.
Click Here To Read Full Post And Comments!
I'm watching Bosie State vs. Oregon on espn360.com (how else is a girl without cable supposed to survive?) and just feel like sharing.
First issue: the field. It's blue. Second issue: the Boise St. uniforms. They're blue. Third issue: Blue on Blue = I can't tell what the heck is going on when Boise State has the ball.
Click through to read my sporadic blogging.
10:36 Boise State just had quite a drive including a go-for-it on 4th down and a recovered fumble off the snap for some serious yardage, followed immediately by another recovered fumble off the snap but this time for a loss, and then a field goal kick...that didn't happen. Score still zero - zero. You people who are sleeping. You're not missing much.
10:38 The blue field freaks out the announcer. I'm not freaked out by the blue field. I'm annoyed. Because it's not so easy to pick out what the home team is doing. Though right now, it looks like they are sacking a Duck.
10:47 End of first quarter. Still zero - zero. Not so much fun. At least the commercials are good. Mia Hamm in a commercial! Excellent. Texas in a commercial! Excellent. NASCAR in a commercial. Not so excellent, but it does have people speaking in Dutch accents (they came 5,000 miles from Holland) so I'm mildly entertained. And the Herbie Salsa-Boy commercial is back!!! Espn does good commercials.
10:53 Boise State in the red zone. Hope they don't fumble the snap again. Uh-Oh. Flag on the play. Hah. The announcer just said "this is a WAC officiating crew." In my head, my first reaction was that he said "this is a wack officiating crew." Turns out the officiating crew is both WAC and wack because they meant to whistle the play dead but didn't. So no more red zone. Ball comes back, minus five yards, and then Boise manages to lose two more yards on the 2d down.
10:56 Third and long......fails. Boise tries for the field goal again. No. Good. Still zero - zero. Boys, this is no time to spite all the football pundits who claimed this game would be high scoring. I wanna see a touch down before I fall asleep.
11:02 Third consecutive 3 and out for the Ducks. The announcers are blaming the blue turf.
11:08 Once again, Boise State goes for it on 4th down. Probably becuase they've not been able to kick a freaking field goal. I shouldn't complain. I'd much rather see a touchdown.
11:09 Disclosure #2: I'm so excited for Texas and the current football season that last night I watched almost the entire 2009 Fiesta Bowl on hulu. 'Horns crushing Buckeye hopes in the last couple minutes. It'll never get old.
11:12 here it comes.....TOUCHDOWN. finally. Boise State up by 6. What? They ran it in for 2. (probably because they aren't making their field goals tonight). Love those Boise state trick plays. But is it really a "trick?" Isn't it just a smart play, as in my offensive coordinator just out-smarted your defensive coordinator?
11:17 Ducks are on deck. Man, Oregon has had so many 3 and outs that it seems like I haven't even seen them play offense. And already, it's 3 and out. Nice seeing you again, Duck QB, all thirty seconds you were on the field.
11:25 The defense scores a safety for Boise State! 2 more points on the score board. yay!
11:26 Oregon locker room at halftime is not going to be a happy place.
11:27 The worst thing about suffering a safety is the added injury of being forced to kick off to the other team after you just effectively got scored on.
11:34 Boise State will try for a field goal.........and gets it. About time.
11:37 Oregon has the ball and is trying to do something before the half is over.
11:39 Oregon does basically nothing. It's another 3 and out.
11:40 Halftime. Boise State 13 Oregon 0.
USOPEN Intermission (a.k.a Andy Roddick is the best, let's check and see how he's doing)
11:44 Thank goodness for espn360.com. I can watch the USOpen as well as football. Oh, excellent. Roddick is beating a Frechman. He's already on the third (and hopefully final) set, having already won the first two. Oops, Roddick almost got broken.
11:50 Oh my. Roddick does a ridiculous overhead smash and then a big forehand.
11:52 I imagine that if I watched Roddick serve in person my neck would snap off from the force of just following his serve across the court.
11:57 Slightly disturbing montage of the French guy (Marc Giquel) doing splits as he extends to reach for the ball. The funniest part is listening to the announcers audibly cringe in pain as they watch.
11:59 Frenchie nicely slides one past Roddick. Don't worry, he's still losing. They appear to be on serve in the third set.
INTERMISSION OVER. Back to your regularly scheduled football game
12:01 Disclosure #3: It's midnight and I'm getting exponentially tired. This live blogging could end very abruptly. Just giving fair warning.
12:05 Come on Oregon, make this interesting! Nope. Boise State is already inside the 10 yard line.
12:09 Giant pile on the goal line, but no touch down yet.
12:10 Second time works much better. Touch down Boise State. And the 2 point conversion....fails. I guess they'll go back to settling for the extra point.
12:15 STILL no first down for Oregon.
12:34 Oh look. I take a tiny nap and somewhere in there Oregon finally managed to score 8 points.
Sorry readers, sorry Oregon, sorry Boise. I'm going to sleep.
Thank you very much for choosing Neil Patrick Harris to host. I will love you forever if you let him sing. If he does anything close to his closing number for the Tony's, the night will start off a success. Also, while he's singing, why not have him sing a song from something he sung in a nominated show like....Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.
I know, I know it's highly unlikely I will see a number from Dr. Horrible at the Emmys. That wonderful web-cast show is nominated in the "technical" awards category of Outstanding Special Class Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program. (Which, honestly, just sounds like some kind of fake, catch-all category that you just made up to please the masses....but, on the other hand, hurray for you adapting to new media!). And I know that Outstanding Special Class and other "technical" awards are categories that are traditionally too unfamiliar and too boring to be worth keeping a flighty network audeince's attention on a Sunday night. But the key word in that last sentence is "traditionally." I have no problem with "technical" Emmys or Oscars being awarded at a separate, non-televised event. I am one of those flighty audience members who changes the channel if forced to sit through a series of acceptance speeches for Outstanding Lighting, Make-up, Sound Mixing, etc. And in years past I probably wouldn't have cared about the catch-all category of Outstanding Special Class Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program or even Outstanding Choreography. But, this year, I care. And my humble suggestion to you, Emmy Awards, is that if you are smart, you should take note of the fact that I and other fellow TV watchers care.
Now, I realize I probably will not get my fondest wish of seeing a live performance of a song from Dr. Horrible on the Emmy stage (but I am holding out hope that host Neil Patrick Harris does give the web show a shout-out somehow). On the other hand, when it comes to the "technical" Emmy of Outstanding Choreography, I think a live performance is an outstanding idea.
As I understand it, the "technical" awards are shoved to the side because they are boring and don't make for good TV. But my suggestion is that when the technical awards, as they do this year, happen to include nominations in Choreography from popular TV shows Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance, I say go ahead and move that award, temporarily, to the Big Leauges. It'll give the audience something to look at between all those acceptance speeches. It'll bring in the So You Think You Can Dance (younger demographic) and Dancing With the Stars (super HUGE demographic) audiences and even, maybe, get Hugh Jackman to show up (people obsessed with movie stars demographic). You won't have to find a choreogropher, costumes, dancers or camera angles because it's already been done. And, did I mention, IT WILL BE ENTERTAINING.
Thank you for listening, Emmy Awards. To refresh your memory, I'll post clips of the 2009 Prime Time Emmy Outstanding Choreography Emmy Nominees after the jump.
81st Annual Academy Awards: "Musicals are Back" Rob Ashford, Choreographer Considering the scope and star power of this number, it would be near impossible to reproduce at the Emmy Awards. Also, for the same reasons, it's likely to win, although it's my least favorite because it's more about the stars performing than the dancing.
Dancing With The Stars: Jive/"Great Balls of Fire" Derek Hough, Choreographer Julianne Hough, Choreographer Derek is one of my favorite choreographers on Dancing With the Stars. This routine is fun and entertaining and makes me want to dance. Also, props to the siblings for working so well together. My brother has the same name as Mr. Hough and all we can choreograph is how to set the dinner table when we are home for Christmas holidays.
So You Think You Can Dance: "Bleeding Love" Tabitha D'umo, Choreographer Napoleon D'umo, Choreographer This choreography duo goes by the name "Nappy-Tabs" on the show. Their specialty is "lyrical hip-hop," which I usually don't like too much. But I really loved this routine when I first saw it. It made the dancers, Mark and Chelsie, stand out to me. I really liked the story and expressions in the piece. (And I would love to see them dance it at the Emmys)
So You Think You Can Dance: "Mercy" a.k.a. The Door Dance Mia Michaels, Choreographer I didn't see this dance when it first aired, but I heard about it so I checked it out on youtube. Unfortunately, the first clip I watched told the story behind the dance and my latent feminist came out and ruined the dance for me.
Short clip. Poor quality, but you can view it without the intro that tainted my view of the dance.
Full clip that I originally saw, that explains the story behind the dance: obsessed, "crazy" girlfriend won't leave ex-boyfriend alone and he has to throw her out the door but she still hangs around so he can have sexual benefits whenever he wants but can still exert his power and throw her away whenever he wants and it's all justified because she's "crazy." The girl is a mess. And the guy wears a wife-beater. The dancing is good. But I just hate the message.
So You Think You Can Dance: "Adam and Eve/Silence" Tyce Diorio, Choreographer Not a personal favorite of mine, but a very powerful and beautiful performance.
So You Think You Can Dance: "A Los Amigos" Argentine Tango Dmitry Chaplin, Choreographer Dmitry was a contestant on So You Think You Can Dance, so I feel a little like I've watched him grow. He's on Dancing With The Stars now with Chelsie whom he choreographed in this Tango. (The ballroom dancing world...it's smaller than you think). Also, this is my favorite of the bunch. It brings a real story and theatrics to a ballroom dance. I hope it wins.
Spaced, all two seasons, is available for your viewing pleasure on hulu.com. WATCH IT NOW!
Need Convincing? Well....
If you watched Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz and your cheeks hurt afterward from laughing so much, you must watch Spaced.
If you watched the new Star Trek movie and thought the guy playing Scotty was hilarious, you must watch Spaced.
If you were a slacker in the late 90s who procrastinated from work and study by obsessing over the minutia of pop cultue, you must watch Spaced.
If you like funny, you must watch Spaced.
Spaced is the story of Tim and Daisy, recent friends who in order to move into an available and affordable "flat," hold themselves out as a romantic couple, which they are not.....but that's not the point of the show at all. Really it's about late 90s slackers and their wacky friends, downstairs neighbor, and upstairs landlady. If you have seen Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, then you will notice where the humor, editing, cast and general ideas came for those films. Episode three has Simon Pegg blasting zombies, and in the second season there is an excellent exhibition of slo-mo action fighting. The show also has fun toying with the audience's expectation that Tim and Daisy will end up together.
After the jump, I've posted my favorite clips. Take a look.
Favorite Spaced Clips:
The Magnificent Seven Moment I love the theme music to The Magnificent Seven, an excellent movie that the men in my home forced me to watch many times while growing up. (And yes, I know all about Seven Samurai. I like The Magnificent Seven better because of Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn and the music. Deal.) And I alternately laugh out loud and cheer when the music comes on as downstairs neighbor Brian saves the day.
Slo-mo Action Fighting The clips speak for themselves.
Step Into My TARDIS I love Doctor Who and think it would be the most fantastic thing if my boss needed to ream me out and called me into his TARDIS to do so.
Mike Sees Dead People My favorite send-up of The Sixth Sense, especially since it uses actress Oliva Williams from the movie.
Well, the Duke loss demoralized this blog, but the Carolina Blue(*) faithfully plugged on past LSU to a series of perfect wins. And now we know, Spartan may beat Trojan, but it does not beat Tar Heel.
It's sad when the tournament ends, but the cherry on top for me every year is the "One Shining Moment" montage at the end. No matter who wins, who loses, or how boring or lop-sided the game, I will stick around for One Shining Moment. (I am slave to the Inspirational Sport Montage).
(*) See, it's good to be both a UNC and Duke fan. If one lets you down the other will come through!
Click through for some other random thoughts.
Other random thoughts: -sort of boring tournament this year, no Cinderella, no stand out player. -the last minute narrative trumped up by the media that Michigan State was this little can-do working class team that was going through the tournament slaying one-seeded giants sort of ruined the hoop-la surrounding the final. Michigan State is good, always has been good. They are as much big time b-ball as UNC is. Shut up media. -there was more narration than usual in the One Shining Moment montage, which I liked at first, but then at the end I thought the praise of North Carolina was excessive. -also, I thought for sure the One Shining Moment montage would have a clip of Scheyer tossing the ball back in-bounds during the Duke-Texas game, instead they went with a clip of Scheyer making one of his now almost trademark funny Scheyer-faces. -finally, I heart kids who stay to play all four years.
Louisville (because they are the more fun team to watch) Syracuse (because Oklahoma is evil and MUST BE STOPPED) Michigan State (go Spartan Spirit!) UNC (I hate to see Gonzaga go, but I love Carolina Blue)
Click Here To Read Full Post And Comments!
Connecticut (because husky dogs are cute and tough) Xavier (because Duke has a better shot at beating Xavier) Missouri (go big 12 team) Duke (I love them blue devils!!)
Click Here To Read Full Post And Comments!
Syracuse (because I like oranges) Xavier (because I like it when the A10 wins) Dayton (because I like it when an underdog from the A10 wins, even if said dog is in Ohio) Arizona (because Cleveland is in Ohio(*)) Pittsburgh (because I'm from Pennsylvania) Marquette (because I like their name) Michigan State (because Spartan always beats Trojan) Siena (because I'd like a huge upset)
(*)Yes, I realize I am haphazardly applying the anti-Ohio rule.
Villanova (because I like Philly cheese steaks) Maryland (because I like an upset) Connecticut (because I must not root for Aggies) Purdue...or Washington (Big10 + Pac10 BBall makes me sleepy) North Carolina (because I can't help myself) Michigan (because, say it together now, Oklahoma is evil) Western Kentucky (because they were the only low seed that came through for me on Thursday, but my bracket has Gonzaga) Duke (because my parents did a better, longer brainwash job on me training me to root for Duke basketball; Texas however did a successful brainwash job on me for football)
Click Here To Read Full Post And Comments!
But the best, most thorough salute to the Iranian New Year (which is TODAY), came from Steven Colbert last week. His particular attention to the traditional dish of herbed rice and fish (a.k.a Sabsi Polo and Mahi) as well as the table of seven s's (a.k.a the Haft Seen) is what sets his tribute apart:
Syracuse (because of the six overtimes) Oklahoma State (because Oklahoma is evil, as in "the enemy of my enemy is my friend") North Dakota State (because they had the best crowd at the selection show...I think the crowd consisted of half the residents of North Dakota) Marquette (because of my bracket) Temple (because they are in the A10) Pittsburgh (because of where my parents live...and my bracket...and I want Duke to prove everyone wrong and beat them...and yes, that would take a tall miracle in the defensive post position) West Virginia (because of where I live, also, Dayton is in Ohio) Mizzou (go Big 12 team that is not OU) Louisville (because of my bracket) Arizona (because they deserve the chance to prove they do belong in the tournament) Boston College (I love ACC basketball) Xavier (I root for the A10, even when said A10 team is a GWU rival) Wake Forest (ACC team from North Carolina!!) Siena (because, when burnt, it makes a nice crayon...and because when they win, Ohio State will cry) Robert Morris (because of where my parents live, but, yes, of course, my bracket has Michigan State) Florida State (because I enjoyed watching them play in the ACC championship)
Click Here To Read Full Post And Comments!
BYU (because I must not root for the Aggies) Northridge (root for the Cinderella even when it goes against my bracket) Butler (more fun to root for them than LSU) Purdue...or Northern Iowa (I don't really care) UNC (because I was raised to love the Tarheels) Maryland (because of where I work) Connecticut (because I miss Stephen Curry and wish to punish the rest of his conference) Washington (because of my bracket) Texas (hook 'em.....until they get to Duke) Clemson (Tigers rawrhh!) American (go little Eagles soar!) Gonzaga (because Akron is in Ohio) Duke (because I was raised to love the Blue Devils...you may think this expressly conflicts with a certain statement above, but in my family light and dark blue are completely compatible colors) Morgan State (because Oklahoma is evil) VCU (I never root for UCLA because as a kid I got UCLA confused with UNLV and as a kid I was a Duke fan) Western Kentucky (because they had a fun crowd at the selection show)
Click Here To Read Full Post And Comments!
I watch the show 30 Rock. My favorite quote from the show is "I want to go to there," used whenever the character Liz Lemon hears about something she likes. It's hilarious. I've tried adopting it as my own little catch phrase. And it turns out this very funny, much beloved catch phrase was written by a BABY! Watch the hulu clip below, as Tina Fey explains how her baby daughter originated the catch phrase when she saw a Disney World website on the computer.
Lent (to me) is a sober time of thinking about the reward of grace in our lives. Some people do this by abstaining from chocolate. Some people don't even think about grace and abstain from chocolate anyway. Either way, somehow, thoughts of Lent get tied up with thoughts of self deprivation, religious study, internal reflection and general unfunness. Then Easter comes. The sun rises, and Christians release their 40 days of gloomy abstinence and unfunness in a celebration of eternal life by singing songs, chasing after colored eggs, eating chocolate bunnies and wearing Sunday finery.
Just my luck that for the past 40 days and more I have been largely abstaining from fun, drowning in legal study, reflecting on my stressed out state of mind and experiencing general unfunness due to the impending February Bar Exam. Am I looking forward to my day of release? Yes. But there's a catch.
The Bar Exam ends on February 26th, which also happens to be Ash Wednesday, the day Lent starts. The seemingly arbitrary and bewilderingly complex lunisolir calendar and computation system has conspired not only to force me to take a six hour essay exam on Fat Tuesday/Fastnacht Day(*)/Fasching/etc., but to also morally obligate me to be reflective and penitent on an evening on which I will be wanting to feel release. Somewhere, some religious scholar is thinking: "how apt." I am thinking: "I will eat off a chocolate bunny head to spite him."
(*) Fastnacht Day is Amish Donut Day in Lancaster County, PA. If you go to school, your teacher buys the class fat, heavy, delicious donuts and you eat them all day long. It is heaven.
Every year I know fewer and fewer of the movies nominated for Academy Awards. This year, I thought I might actually have a good chance of having seen at least one of the best picture nominees. Turns out, I’ve seen Two. Although, of the over 40 different films nominated for various awards, I have seen Six. That’s right six.
Click through to see who those lucky six are.... Happy-Go-Lucky Nominated for: Best Original Screenplay This is a nice little movie that doesn’t feel like a coherent film until the very end, when you finally understand that it’s about how much work goes into being a happy person, and how special and beautiful happy people are. Sally Hawkins, the actress who plays the happy-go-lucky main character Polly is delightful to watch. (Her portrayal reminds me for some reason of the character Donna Noble in Doctor Who, which is why I’m probably heavily disposed to like this movie). Also, the movie has a memorable catch phrase: “En-Ra-Ha!” (Watch the movie, and you’ll understand.) It’s nominated in the proper category, and I hope it wins.
Slumdog Millionaire Nominated for: Best Picture, Director, Cinematography, Editing, Original Score, Origianl Songs (“Jai Ho” and “O Saya”), Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Adapted Screenplay. Wow, a “little” critical darling and I’ve actually seen it. I’ve seen it because it’s good and it’s joyful. Really, whether it wins or not, go see this movie. It has humor, romance, culture, tragedy, adorable child actors and a Bollywood-esque dance scene during the end credits. A very great movie. I don’t know if it’s “best picture” material, but I’d be happy to see it win. It should win for Best Original Score. The music, while often fun, also carries the film from highs to lows and between flash backs. Both nominated best songs “Jai Ho” and “O Saya” are good. I’m considering downloading them. (Also, I'm actually look forward to watching the Oscars if it means the cast recreates the dance to “Jai Ho” at the broadcast Ceremony).
Frost/Nixon Nominated for: Best Picture, Actor (Frank Langella), Director, Film Editing, and Adapted Screenplay This is a nice movie to watch. The only problem with it is its lack of historical accuracy. Frank Langella, nominated for his portrayal of Richard Nixon, does an excellent, riveting job. He makes Nixon quirky, compelling, awkward, arrogant, tall, handsome and sympathetic, qualities, all of which, do not accurately apply to Nixon. Check your facts before or after you go into the film. Aside from historical accuracy, the film is very pleasant. I think it’s too pleasant for an Oscar as best picture though. It’s fluff masquerading as meaningful historical fiction. Actually, for the sake of history, it shouldn’t win anything.
Iron Man Nominated for: Best Visual Effects and Sound Editing Seeing as how The Dark Knight got shut out of any fun awards, Iron Man is lucky it got nominated at all. Fun movie. I’ll leave the judgment as to visual effects and sound editing to professionals.
The Dark Knight Nominated for: Best Supporting Actor (Heath Ledger), Art Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. If The Dark Knight had been nominated for best screenplay, best direction or best picture, then I wouldn’t say this, but since it got otherwise ignored in the marquis categories: Heath Ledger only got nominated because he’s dead. That’s not to say Heath Ledger doesn’t deserve it. His Joker was fantastic, but so was the rest of the movie. Even though (or maybe because) it has the same theme as last year’s best picture winner, No Country For Old Men, it somehow didn’t rate a best picture or best director nomination. Very sad, that one of the best superhero movies ever can’t get nominated. (The Watchmen has no chance next year).
Tropic Thunder Nominated for: Best Supporting Actor by Robert Downey Jr. Robert Downey Jr. was the funniest part of this movie...but doesn’t the nomination sort of play into what the movie was trying to mock? The character in Tropic Thunder went to extreme lengths to change his appearance (a white actor playing "black face") in order to gain critical renown. He even lectures the Ben Stiller character on the strategy of choosing roles as Oscar bait.
Kirk Lazarus: Everybody knows you never go full retard. Tugg Speedman: What do you mean? Kirk Lazarus: Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, 'Rain Man,' look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Counted toothpicks, cheated cards. Autistic, sho'. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks, 'Forrest Gump.' Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain't retarded. Peter Sellers, "Being There." Infantile, yes. Retarded, no. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. You don't buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001, "I Am Sam." Remember? Went full retard, went home empty handed...
It's nice of the Academy to recognize a comedic performance, but I are they recognizing a performance or playing into a joke at their own expense?
Regarding the movies I haven't seen... I guess I should see that darn Benjamin Button movie. And I know, I know, I know, I need to see WALL-E. The Wrestler intrigues me. I suffered through reading the novel "The Reader," so I'm not all that thrilled about seeing the movie. The subject of Milk just doesn't interest me, but I might like it. I wouldn't mind seeing Rachel Getting Married. I'd be interested in seeing Doubt and the nominated documentary Man On A Wire.
Follow the link above for the shocking details about this ferocious political assassin.
Incidentally, a french poodle in French is called a caniche. These poofy, ferocious canines must have something of a reputation, because a quick google search revealed a French indie rock band called Cannibal Caniche.
Big thanks to the roommate, who alerted me this morning to this article in the NY Times. The Canals have frozen! The Dutch are skating! I lived for an extremely brief period of time in South Holland. At first it was cold, wet, windy and wonderful. Then it was cloudy, wet, windy, temperate and tulipy. But never cold enough until this year. Not since 1997 have flocks of Dutch been able to skate from Gouda (town with cheese and yummy syrup waffles) to Utrecht (town with lowered canals and a tall (for the Netherlands) church tower). But this year Europe is freezing, and the canals in South Holland are finally freezing as well. I wish I were there, freezing and skating with them. I'll just salivate over the pictures.
Click Here To Read Full Post And Comments!
Over at The New Republic, the blog posters aredrooling over Jeffrey Goldberg's op-ed piece in the New York times...and rightly so. It's entertaining, informative, relevant and incisive. I highly recommend it, especially if you are like me and are not so clear on the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas.
Hezbollah and Hamas are Islamic political and paramilitary organizations. They don't like Israel, hate Jews, commit terrorism and armed strikes against both the Israeli army and civilian population, get money and weapons from Iran, and seek to remove Jews from "occupied Palestine."
They also both start with "H," which is why I have problems distinguishing them in my head. Jeffry Goldberg's op-ed does a good job of clarifying the differences between the two (and an excellent job of explaining the mindset behind each group. Seriously. It's good. Read it.).
I analogize my confusion to the T.S. Eliot poem "Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer" which tells the tale of two thieving and destructive cats who act alone and sometimes in concert and you never know for sure which cat did what.
They would go through the house like a hurricane, and no sober person could take his oath Was it Mungojerrie -- or Rumpleteazer? or could you have sworn that it mightn't be both?
And when you heard a dining-room smash Or up from the pantry there came a loud crash Or down from the library came a loud ping From a vase which was commonly said to be Ming --
Then the family would say: ‘Now which was which cat? It was Mungojerrie! and Rumpelteazer!’ -- And there's nothing at all to be done about that!
Not that Hezbollah and Hamas are anything like those two horrible (yet somehow lovable cats), they are worse, terrifyingly worse. It's just that Hezbollah and Hamas inspire a similar confusion in my head as to which is which destructive quasi political terrorist organization.
So here is an over-simplified Hezbollah/Hamas cheat sheet for my head:
Hezbollah is Lebanese and shoots at Israel from its bases in Lebanon.
Hamas is Palestinian and shoots at Israel from within Israel.
Hezbollah is fanatically Shia. (Shia = version of Islam, Shia do not get along with Sunnis).
Hamas is fanatically Sunni. (Sunni = version of Islam, Sunnis do not get along with Shia).
They are both bad.
And sadly it seems, "there's nothing at all to be done about that!"
Once upon a time, I worked with some people in Ohio. They were Ohio State Buckeye fans. On New Years Day 2005, my team, the wonderful Texas Longhorns, played the Michigan Wolverines, hated enemy and arch rival of the Ohio State Buckeyes, in the Rose Bowl. Texas won in spectacular, come-from-behind, heralding fashion. I came to work on Monday prepared to revel in the glory of beating Michigan with my Buckeye coworkers. They spoke not a word of the game. Sports radio and ESPN could not shut up about Vince Young, and all these fools at work would talk about was how the Cleveland Browns might not lose as badly next year. So.....
I brought up the subject: "How about that Rose Bowl game?" Collective consensus answer: "Yeah, it was pretty good. Too bad Michigan lost." Incredulous thought explosion in my head: Too bad Michigan lost? We’re talking about Michigan. Losing. In a high profile, emotionally crushing defeat. The team you spent a full week in November trashing and insulting. The rivalry you spent an impassioned half hour describing as bigger, harsher, deeper and better than the Texas/Texas A&M rivalry. And you are sad they lost?!
My position is this: if your conference is more important to you than your rivalry.....then your "rivalry" is pretty weak.
But I accept that this is not how everyone feels or should feel. This Thursday night, the Oklahoma Sooners will lose to play the Florida Gators for the College Football National Championship. Oklahoma is Texas’s rival (first in hatred, second in stature(*)). I will root for the Gators to crush and destroy the Sooners, because they are my team’s rival, and to see the Sooners denied their dream will cheer my heart. (Also, Oklahoma is evil). Some fans have a different opinion and want Oklahoma to win because it will reflect well on our conference, i.e., prove that we played against and BEAT a good team. That is a rational, thoughtful sentiment. But it does not cheer my heart.
Conference vs. rival is a surprisingly divisive issue. The Defensive coordinators for Texas and Oklahoma have expressed to news media that they would rather root against their respective rival than root for them to win and demonstrate conference strength. Comments posted below these news items reflect that fans from both teams agree and disagree.
As passionate as I feel about my opinion, I must conclude that the conference vs. rivalry question is a matter of personal choice. I suppose it has to do with several factors, i.e., how much a person enjoys Schadenfreude, how wronged a person feels by the rival team, how committed a person is to seeing their team judged the best at the end of a season. And, I think, as well, it depends on where the person grew up. I did not grow up in Texas. I was there for the express purpose of going to school at UT. I feel no loyalty to teams in the Texas or South West region or to supporting graduates of Texas high schools. My coworkers in Ohio grew up in Ohio. I bet they feel that Ohio and the Midwest grow superior football players and that plays a factor in their devotion to the Big Ten conference.
Conference vs. Rivalry, something to consider as the Bowl Season winds down. Also, consider this: GO GATORS!!!! CHOMP THE LAND THIEVES TO BITS.
(*) I distinguish the Texas/Texas A&M rivalry and Texas/Oklahoma rivalry the following way. I see A&M as the traditional rival whom I root against because, otherwise, Texas would strip me of my degree. Also, some good friends and a few family members are graduates of A&M, so the rivalry, for me, has an undertone of sportsmanship and respect. Oklahoma is the hated rival whom I root against because Oklahoma is evil. It helps that I know no one from Oklahoma, I have never been to Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma coach is from North East Ohio (where my former coworkers live).
(**) My bitterness over my coworkers’ inability to root for my team when I supported them in cheering the Ohio State Buckeyes to a National Championship in 2002/2003 manifests itself in my inability to ever root for (and sometimes driving need to root against) the Ohio State Buckeyes, as well as any coach(***) or player(****) from North East Ohio. And yes, the win Tuesday night was a little sweeter due to my Ohio State antipathy. (Also sweet because I ate a buckeye in celebration).
(***) This naturally includes Bob Stoops, the coach of Oklahoma. I am slightly torn about Urban Meyer, the coach of Florida, who also hails from North East Ohio. But there is precedent for me allowing Urban Meyer's state citizenship to be trumped by other rooting interests.
(****) Yes, Penn State fans, your quarterback impedes my ability to fully commit myself to rooting for your team.
This blog needs a name change. I picked the current obscure and ridiculous title on a whim. I wanted to be literary and cynical and went with an allusion to a Fyodor Dostoevsky short story about a raving, suicidal lunatic. My blog's not really about that....I'd like to think.
I was thinking of using a title related to my "sister T." moniker, or something different. Ideally a new title will be simple and catchy. Suggesstions are literally more than welcome. I'm pretty much demanding that you readers, all four of you(*), post suggestions in the comments section.
Thanks. And Happy New Year!
(*)I'm optimistic enough in this New Year to assume that my readership has increased to at least four semi regular readers.
