Resolutions For 2011

1. Last six consecutive months without biting fingernails.

2. Travel outside the United States.

3. Converse with strangers more often.

4. Contribute to D-I-Y Foreign Aid Revolution.

5. Go skiing for the first time ever.

6. Focus more on U.S. policy, less on U.S. politics.

7. Go tubing down the Delaware river.

8. Wash Jeep for the first time in over three years.

9. Watch Lord of the Rings Trilogy back-to-back-to-back.

10. Accomplish more than half of these resolutions.

Revisiting 2010 Resolutions

1. End 20+ years of biting my fingernails.

[Lasted 5 months without biting, longest ever. Ugh.]

2. Microfinance through Kiva.org.

[Food vendors in Peru & Uganda. Readying third loan.]

3. Experience a new city with Andrea.

[Boston. More wicked awesome than we expected.]

4. Create detailed outline of book idea.

[Outlining chapters in my head doesn't count.]

5. Have more kayaking adventures.

[Charles River is choppy, crowded, and exhilarating.]

6. No cable television news before 8pm.

[A drastic reduction. Alas, it was an election year.]

7. Increase book reading to a book a month

[Read Zeitoun by Dave Eggers in a single day.]

8. Have more bike riding adventures.

[Need storage space for bikes. Also bikes.]

9. Own a PS3 sooner rather than later.

[Merry Christmas to me.]

10. Accomplish half of these resolutions.

[Boom.]

(Original Post: '10 Resolutions For 2010')

The Choice Couldn't Be Clearer In This Election

Over the past two years, President Obama & the Democrats have worked to pass a historic slate of legislation. Let's take a look...

• President Obama & the Democrats passed emergency measures to stabilize our economy in the face of a depression.

• President Obama & the Democrats cut taxes for 95% of working Americans, reducing federal tax rates to historically low levels.

• President Obama & the Democrats cut the deficit by $125 billion in their first year, reducing President Bush's $1.42 trillion deficit.

• President Obama & the Democrats fostered private sector job growth and small business tax incentives.

• President Obama & the Democrats expanded health care first to 4 million children and then to 32 million Americans.

• President Obama & the Democrats reformed bad business practices by credit card companies and Wall Street financial firms.

• President Obama & the Democrats expanded federal student aid and tripled the scope of AmeriCorps programs.

• President Obama & the Democrats passed equal-pay rights for women and hate-crime protections for LGBT persons.

President Obama & the Democrats have spent the past two years working, while Republicans in Congress have spent the past two years obstructing. The choice couldn't be clearer in this election: action vs. inaction, solving vs. stalling, forward vs. backward.

Now go out and VOTE.

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Judge Doom

That is all.

Top Ten Numbers From 1 - 10

#10.....10

#9.......5

#8.......3

#7.......9

#6.......2

#5.......6

#4.......4

#3.......1

#2.......8

#1.......7

*Inspired by a blog post from Ricky Gervais.
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This changes everything. Again.

See you soon.

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Remember When I Said I Couldn't Find A Good Summer Documentary?

Found one.

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2010 Summer Movie Season

It's that time again, bla bla bla, start of the 2010 summer movie season, yadda yadda yadda, top ten list of movies, etc. etc., you know the shtick.

1. Iron Man 2 (May 7)
2. Robin Hood (May 14)
3. MacGruber (May 22)
4. Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time (May 28)
5. The A-Team (June 11)
6. The Last Airbender (July 2)
7. Despicable Me (July 9)
8. Inception (July 16)
9. Salt (July 23)
10. The Switch (August 20)

Upon surveying the list of movies I'd be most willing to see this summer, I can't help but notice a shared trait among nearly all of the selections: ample levels of testosterone. Between Tony Stark, Robin Hood, MacGruber, Prince Dastan, and the entire cast of the A-Team, it's like somebody detonated a million crates of Axe body spray all over Hollywood. Look, it's no secret that the summer blockbuster is tailor made for males in their 20's and 30's who like stunning visuals, loud explosions, and hero-villain-damsel motifs (myself included), but this summer's crop of movies just really seems to be pushing that philosophy further than ever before.

I've searched high and low for a solid summer documentary (I guess Babies looks interesting?), for an early Oscar contender (first year I haven't been able to find one), for a summer movie oozing with originality (last year we had Inglourious Basterds; this year we have sequels to Shrek, Sex and the City, Toy Story, and Twilight...kill me now). That said, I'm certainly intrigued by Christopher Nolan's Inception, I'm excited for Robin Hood to be the Gladiator sequel I always wanted, and I welcome The Switch as the romantic comedy summer date movie for me and my love (I like Jason Bateman, she likes Jennifer Aniston. She also likes Jason Bateman. I somewhat dislike Jennifer Aniston, mainly becomes she seems a bit snobbish, but I'm still willing to see the...what am I talking about again?).

A more pressing issue is the reality that the costs associated with seeing a movie in the theater have skyrocketed some 1000% over the past ten years (completely made that figure up, but probably close). Based on the calculation that spending $1 at a Redbox on a not quite five-star movie is a much savvier decision than spending $25 to see the same movie in theaters (albeit a bit sooner), I'd be surprised if I end up seeing more than half of the movies on this list.

In summation, the 2010 summer movie season may be terrible and you'll probably spend a small fortune finding out. See you at the movies!

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Health Care Reform: A Historic Victory

The DCCC should plan on buying television air time to run this video frequently during the months leading up to the midterm elections.

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iBooks: A 21st-Century Reading Experience

Having never fallen in love with the Kindle - or any electronic book reader, for that matter - I'm surprised by just how affected I am by this guided tour of the Apple iPad's iBooks feature.

For the first time, I get the sense that reading a digital book with the iPad will not only preserve 95% of the positive aspects associated with reading a regular book, but will also expand the reading experience in ways that would never be possible with a regular book.

And that is precisely what consumers should expect from an electronic media reader (whether for books, newspapers, or magazines): all the integrity of the printed version + all the potential of the digital universe.
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President Obama, Thank You

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And The Oscar Goes To...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE: Let's see how I did: 15 out of 24 correctly predicted (62.5% correct). Not too bad...although I can't say the same for the Best Picture winner. Zing!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BEST PICTURE
Predicted Winner: Avatar
Preferred Winner: Inglourious Basterds

BEST DIRECTOR
Predicted Winner: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Preferred Winner: Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

BEST ACTOR
Predicted Winner: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Preferred Winner: Even though I have yet to see Crazy Heart or A Single Man, I'd prefer a win for either Jeff Bridges or Colin Firth over George Clooney, Morgan Freeman, or Jeremy Renner.

BEST ACTRESS
Predicted Winner: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Preferred Winner: Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Predicted Winner: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Preferred Winner: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds (Best Supporting Actor performance of the decade?)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Predicted Winner: Mo'Nique, Precious
Preferred Winner: Mo'Nique, Precious

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Predicted Winner: Inglourious Basterds
Preferred Winner: Inglourious Basterds

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Predicted Winner: Up in the Air
Preferred Winner: Precious

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Predicted Winner: Up
Preferred Winner: Coraline (Although, I have yet to see Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I hear is...fantastic.)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Predicted Winner: The White Ribbon (Germany)
Preferred Winner: Sadly, I haven't seen any of this year's nominees.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Predicted Winner: The Cove
Preferred Winner: The Cove

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Predicted Winner: Avatar
Preferred Winner: Inglourious Basterds

BEST FILM EDITING
Predicted Winner: The Hurt Locker
Preferred Winner: Precious

BEST ART DIRECTION
Predicted Winner: Avatar
Preferred Winner: I've only seen Avatar, so...one of the other four nominees.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Predicted Winner: The Young Victorian
Preferred Winner: The one about the fashion designer?

BEST MAKEUP
Predicted Winner: Star Trek
Preferred Winner: Star Trek, I guess.

BEST SOUND EDITING
Predicted Winner: Avatar
Preferred Winner: Avatar

BEST SOUND MIXING
Predicted Winner: Avatar
Preferred Winner: Avatar

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Predicted Winner: Avatar
Preferred Winner: Avatar (Notice a pattern in the technical categories?)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Predicted Winner: Michael Giacchino, Up
Preferred Winner: Simply haven't seen (heard) enough of the nominees.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Predicted Winner: 'The Weary Kind,' Crazy Heart
Preferred Winner: Once again, I'm ignorant in this category.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Predicted Winner: A Matter of Loaf and Death
Preferred Winner: Speaking of being ignornant in a category...

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
Predicted Winner: China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
Preferred Winner: Uhh...yes?

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Predicted Winner: Kavi
Preferred Winner: Umm...we're done here.
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Top Ten Films of 2009

1. Inglourious Basterds
2. Precious
3. Star Trek
4. Avatar
5. (500) Days of Summer
6. The Hangover
7. Coraline
8. Funny People
9. Where the Wild Things Are
10. A Serious Man

The Academy Awards are tomorrow night, and that means it's time to officially lock in my choices for the top ten films of 2009. Sure, most people have this discussion at the end of the year in consideration, but I've always felt that if the Academy is going to hold the ceremony several months into the next year then I deserve that time to see as many films as possible before rendering a final verdict.

And as far as final verdicts are concerned, I feel relatively comfortable asserting that 2009 was one of the weaker years for film over the past decade. More specifically, I'm referring to my impression that there were relatively fewer films in 2009 that will have a lasting presence in the film appreciation portion of my brain, as well as a bit of an uptick in the number of supposed standout films that ultimately left me unsatisfied (See: Up in the Air, The Hurt Locker, Up...or rather, don't see them. I kid, I kid.). Still, there were at least a few truly great films from 2009, including some that have also passed the "Would I want the DVD in my home movie collection?" test (Inglourious Basterds, please!), and several others that, for lack of a better phrase, constitute "the rest of the best" of 2009.

As always, there remains the caveat that I haven't managed to see all of the films from 2009 that I assume have a chance of being among my top films of the year - including An Education, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Crazy Heart, A Single Man, Capitalism: A Love Story, The Road, Zombieland, and others - and, thus, the list above more accurately represents the top ten films of 2009 of the ones I saw.
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Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion

Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion from Will Ferrell

The first few episodes of HBO's Funny or Die Presents have been at best uneven and at worst unfunny. Thankfully, we have this epic web-exclusive video to reminder us of the brand's original brilliance.

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BREAKING: New Sarah Palin Hand Notes Photos Surface From 2008 Vice Presidential Campaign

[From Republican National Convention Speech, 09.04.08]

[From ABC News Interview with Charlie Gibson, 09.11.08]

[From Vice Presidential Debate in St. Louis, 10.02.08]

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Top 3 Best/Worst Ads of Super Bowl XLIV

Let's face it, this year's crop of Super Bowl commercials were an utter disappointment. It was more difficult than ever to find three ads worthy of being designated "the best", and equally as difficult narrowing down "the worst" from an enormous pile of simply awful advertising (Talking babies? Kooky animals? What decade is this!?). And yet we soldier on, driven by the sheer importance of designating the top three best and worst commercials of Super Bowl XLIV.

~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
The Best
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

{3rd} Robin Hood: Trailer
Do we need another Robin Hood movie? Probably not. Am I pretending this is
the long-rumored Gladiator sequel I always wanted? Yes I am.

{2nd} Snickers: Hungry
Betty White and Abe Vigoda? In the same commercial!? SOLD!

{1st} Google: Parisian Love
The obvious choice. It's simple, it's touching, and, considering how I use Google somewhere between 25-50 times a day for searches related to just about
every aspect of my life, it's relatable.

~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
The Worst
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~

{3rd} Focus on the Family: Tebow and Mom

Oh look, it's Tim Tebow's mother talking about her "miracle baby," what
a beautiful...and Tim Tebow just tackled his own mother. Awkward.
(Bonus: Head over to the Focus on the Family website to give your brain a free wash!)

{2nd} Bud Light: Auto-tune
A Bud Light auto-tune commercial during last year's Super Bowl: trendsetting.
A Bud Light auto-tune commercial during this year's Super Bowl: embarrassing.
Oh how the mighty advertisers have fallen.

{1st} Late Show: Letterman, Leno, & Oprah
WOW, it's EVERYMAN Jay Leno, the guy that DESTROYED the Tonight Show career of Conan O'Brien, doing a commercial for a RIVAL network's late night talk show!
HA HA HA HA HA, FUN-NY!

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2010 Oscar Nomination Predictions

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE: Now that the 2010 Oscar nominations have been announced, let's see how successful my predictions were, shall we?

In what I consider the nine "main" categories - Picture, Director, Acting categories, Screenplay categories, and Animated Feature - I managed to correctly predict 45 out of 50 nominations, or 90% correct (46 out of 50, or 92% correct, if you count my alternate picks). Easily one of my best years predicting the main category nominations since Mr. Cooper and I started these shenanigans many years ago.

So how about my success predicting the nominations for the full Oscar ballot? Well, certainly not as good as the main categories, but a pretty solid showing nonetheless. For the list of 21 categories (which excludes the three Short Film categories), I managed to correctly predict 81 out of 106 nominations, or 76% correct (84 out of 106, or 79% correct, if you count my alternate picks).

As far as my reactions to the nominations themselves, my biggest disappointment was the absence of an Original Screenplay nomination for (500) Days of Summer, and concerning the Best Picture nomination for The Blind Side......well, all I can say is I was blindsided.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With less than eight hours to go until the 2010 Oscar nominations are announced, it's time to lock in my predictions. That's right, my predictions are no longer up in the air, so I won't be a basterd and keep them from you any longer. And these predictions are so precious that I've been storing them inside my special locker until tonight. Also...avatar.

Let's do this.

BEST PICTURE

A Serious Man

An Education

Avatar

District 9

Inglourious Basterds

Invictus

Precious

The Hurt Locker

Up

Up in the Air

BEST DIRECTOR

James Cameron, Avatar

Jason Reitman, Up in the Air

Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Lee Daniels, Precious

Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

[Alternate: Clint Eastwood, Invictus]

BEST ACTOR

Colin Firth, A Single Man
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Morgan Freeman, Invictus

[Alternate: Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine]

BEST ACTRESS

Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

[Alternate: Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria]

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Christopher Plummer, The Last Station

Matt Damon, Invictus
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones

Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

[Alternate: Alfred Molina, An Education]

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Diane Kruger, Inglourious Basterds

Julianne Moore, A Single Man

Mo’Nique, Precious

Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air

[Alternate: Penélope Cruz, Nine]

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Bob Peterson, Up

Ethan & Joel Coen, A Serious Man

Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker

Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer

[Alternate: James Cameron, Avatar]

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Damien Paul, Precious

Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tetchell, District 9

Nick Hornby, An Education

Jesse Armstrong, et al., In the Loop

[Alternate: Anthony Peckham, Invictus]

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Coraline

Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Princess and the Frog

Up

[Alternate: Monsters vs. Aliens]

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Bright Star

Coco Before Chanel

Inglourious Basterds

Nine

The Young Victoria

[Alternate: Sherlock Homes]

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Avatar

Inglourious Basterds

Nine

The Hurt Locker

The White Ribbon

[Alternate: Invictus]

BEST ART DIRECTION

A Serious Man

Avatar

District 9

Inglourious Basterds

Nine

[Alternate: The Lovely Bones]

BEST FILM EDITING

Avatar

District 9

Inglourious Basterds

The Hurt Locker

Up in the Air

[Alternate: Star Trek]

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Avatar

District 9

Star Trek

[Alternate: 2012]

BEST SOUND MIXING

Avatar

District 9

Star Trek

The Hurt Locker

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

[Alternate: Up]

BEST SOUND EDITING

Avatar

District 9

The Hurt Locker

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Up

[Alternate: Star Trek]

BEST MAKEUP

District 9

The Road

The Young Victoria

[Alternate: Star Trek]

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Avatar

Sherlock Holmes

The Informant!

The Princess and the Frog

Up

[Alternate: A Single Man]

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Almost There,” The Princess and the Frog

“Cinema Italiano,” Nine

“Come Home,” Everybody’s Fine

“I See You,” Avatar

“The Weary Kind,” Crazy Heart

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Every Little Step

Facing Ali

Food, Inc.

The Beaches of Agnes

The Cove

BEST FOREIGN FILM

A Prophet (France)

Ajami (Israel)

El Secreto de Sus Ojos (Argentina)

The White Ribbon (Germany)

Winter in Wartime (Netherlands)

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