Oscar Picks

Since it's the season to be talking movies, here are my Oscar picks. Please note that while I enjoy films quite a bit I have not seen several of the major movies of 2007 since I have other hobbies as well.

Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There (It really was quite a remarkable performance.)
Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men (Creepy. And evil.)
Lead Actress: Ellen Page, Juno (This is actually the only one of the Best-Actress-Nominated films I've seen. Am I a closet misogynist? Do I secretly despise Edith Piaf? The world may never know.)
Lead Actor: Clooney was very good in Michael Clayton, but I've got to give the edge to Viggo Mortensen and his tattoos in Eastern Promises (This is where my disclaimer comes in; see, I haven't seen Daniel Day-Lewis and his ridiculously hyped performance in There Will Be Blood. Nor have I seen Johnny Depp sing as Sweeney Todd. Cut me some stinkin' slack already.)
Picture and Director go to No Country For Old Men and the Coens. They're good.
Random gripe: I already admitted to not having seen There Will Be Blood, but by all accounts Johnny Greenwood got screwed. Seriously, Ratatouille was nominated for best score at the expense of my boy Greenwood? What gives? I'm just going to go ahead and say it: Ratatouille sucked. The human main character was annoying. The rat was a little better but occasionally boring. All in all it was a very underwhelming viewing experience for me after I went into it with high hopes predicated on an insane amount of positive reviews. And then it goes and disrespects Johnny Greenwood like that. Ratatouille and I are about to have it out.

Music in 2007

How about a (somewhat belated) top ten albums of 2007 list? I thought so.

Honorable Mention: Neon Bible, The Arcade. Enjoyable, but I found it to be a little over-hyped. Like when people said the AF is the best band ever (presumably with a straight face) after their second album. Favorite tracks: Windowsill, Intervention, Antichrist Television Blues.

10) The Reminder, Feist. Bought it for Darcy, but enjoyed it for myself. Favorite tracks: Brandy Alexander, 1234 (the ipod song).

9) The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, Josh Ritter. Not as good as the Animal Years. Still quite good. Favorite tracks: The Temptation of Adam, Right Moves, Rumors.

8) Icky Thump, The White Stripes. I docked them a couple of spots for canceling their fall tour on me. We put our refund toward tickets to see the Decemberists in November. They canceled their tour too. Still a little bitter about that sequence of events. Favorite tracks: You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told), Effect and Cause, Icky Thump.

7) Snow Angels, Over the Rhine. This is a Christmas album I haven't stopped listening to yet. It's the end of January. And I hate Christmas music. Favorite tracks: New Redemption Song, All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue.

6) Instant Karma, Various Artists. Great songs redone (with varying degrees of aptitude) by some big names. All to support Amnesty International (full disclosure: I am a member and supporter of this awesome organization. additional disclosure: I have their sticker on my car). Favorite tracks: (Green Day's) Working Class Hero, (Jack Johnson's) Imagine.

5) Wincing the Night Away, The Shins. Solid album, listenable from start to finish. First Shins disc I've purchased. Favorite tracks: Turn on Me, Phantom Limb.

4) Cassadaga, Bright Eyes. Some truly amazing songs, a little long overall though. A song or two could have been cut and released as a B-side and it wouldn't have hurt the album. Favorite tracks: Soul Singer in a Session Band, If the Brakeman Turns My Way, Classic Cars.

3) Boxer, The National. The ranking may be a little inflated since this is the last album I've purchased and it's what I'm listening to right now, but I'm liking it a lot. Not a bad song on here. Favorite tracks: Fake Empire, Start a War, Mistaken for Strangers.

2) The Shepherd's Dog, Iron and Wine. To quote Andrew again: "He's a metaphorical genius but I can't understand what he's talking about." True. Luckily if you get tired of thinking about his lyrics you can sit back and enjoy his beautiful melodies. Favorite tracks: Boy With a Coin, Flightless Bird American Mouth, House by the Sea, Resurrection Fern.

1) In Rainbows, Radiohead. To paraphrase Rolling Stone's review: This album serves as a reminder that every other band owes us a collective apology for the crap they keep shoveling in our direction. It's awesome. And you've missed your chance to get it for free. Favorite tracks: Videotape, Faust Arp, Weird Fishes, House of Cards.

Who's ready for baseball?

It may only be January, but I just ordered my Dodgers mini-plan (12 games, $48 + processing fee). I'm also pretty excited that for the second time ever the Indians are playing a series against the Dodgers. In LA. Over a weekend (Fri-Sat-Sun). June 20, 21, 22. Naturally I'm going to pick up all three games. Anyone care to join us on any of those days? Darcy's already announced her intentions to cheer for the Dodgers - which threatens to tear me apart inside every time I hear it. I mean, as much as I love the Dodgers they'll always just be the next best thing to the Indians for me. Darcy doesn't have the 26 years invested in the team that I do. She just knows she's seen more Dodgers games than Indians games - a cumulative effect of the cheaper tickets and the shorter stadium commute time (15 minutes vs. an hour from Akron or about 2 from Mt. Vernon). I'm interested to see what she'll do when we move somewhere else and start seeing games at another new stadium.

In other baseball news, I floated a proposal around the office this week for a Building Services departmental Dodgers game and got 3 affirmative responses and 3 of what I would call enthusiastic affirmative responses. Fun times! My tactic for sealing the deal was to propose an April date when they play the Pirates (the boss is from Pittsburgh and has been following the Pirates since before they were terrible, i.e. before Barry Bonds left). I like having good ideas.

It sure has been a while

Wow. Sorry to all of my loyal readers out there, and to you disloyal readers as well.

At Darcy's urging, here's the soundtrack to my life:

Opening credits: Hate to Say I Told You So, The Hives (Seems oddly appropriate here, doesn’t it?)

Waking up: The Upper Peninsula, Sufjan (Wake up; here’s a song to make you want to stay in bed.)

First day of school: Mistaken for Strangers, The National (School can be an alienating experience … unless you get to eat lunch with the popular kids, then it’s the best thing ever.)

Falling in love: Conquest, The White Stripes (Never really thought of myself as the guy from this song before.)

Fight song: Faust Arp, Radiohead (Kind of pretty for a fight song; quite short too … maybe this says a little something about my angst. Or maybe falling in love was only a partial conquest, like the Israelites in Canaan.)

Breaking up: Time for Heroes, The Libertines (Be strong, self. And don’t become a junkie like Pete Doherty.)

Prom: Mary don’t you weep, Mike Farris (You don’t hear many old old gospel songs at prom and it’s a shame if you ask me … now if only I stood up a girl named Mary at my prom, but alas – was not to be.)

Life: The Celibate Life, The Shins (Well that’s just sad; it does provide some insight into my impending mental breakdown though…)

Mental breakdown – Such Great Heights, The Postal Service (Apparently I’m actively psychotic with hallucinations and delusions of grandeur. All because of that celibacy. Thanks a lot, celibacy.)

Driving – Garden, Pearl Jam (This song reminds me of driving … in about 1997. I must have just gotten my license.)

Flashback – Natural Blues, Moby (Looks like it’s a flashback to something sad.)

Wedding – Narc, Interpol (“Don’t give up your lover tonight 'cause it’s just you, me and this wire ...” let’s hope not.)

Birth of child – The Hospital Song, Ben Folds Five (Seems appropriate enough.)

Final battle – Forever for Her (Is Over for Me), White Stripes (This is a pretty good song for ending something.)

Death – Reckoner, Radiohead (Second In Rainbows song so far in case anyone’s counting.)

Funeral – Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?, Moby (Maybe because it’s not beating anymore and you’re dead? Just a guess.)

Closing credits – Mrs. Robinson, Simon and Garfunkel (Whoman and Whatfunkel??? Sorry, that’s my little joke. Mine wouldn’t be the first movie to close with this song. It certainly wouldn’t be the best either.)

I knew it.

Quote from me to Andrew King approximately a month ago:

"Someone's going to seriously overpay for Andruw Jones this off season, and I just hope that it's not the Dodgers."

If Darth Vader and Benito Mussolini had a baby that was raised by Satan himself, the result would be just like Scott Boras. I hate you, Scott Boras.

If the end result of this is trading away Matt Kemp (seems likely) I may just give up altogether.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3143653

The Real Despair of Adam Miller

Update: All went well on Thanksgiving. Good food, good times.

So I watched "The Real Housewives of Orange County" last night on Bravo for the first (and hopefully last) time. I don't even know where to begin. I fought a brief bout with nausea during the opening credits when they all took turns saying what money meant to them. Let's just say that I'll be a happy man if I ever have a family that loves me as much as these women love their money. Highlights of the hour included: a mother forcing her obviously uncomfortable 18 year old daughter to take her top off at a photo shoot for her first modeling job, a 21 year old son going clubbing with his mother and her exceptionally lame (but rich) boyfriend and everyone trying to act like it wasn't super awkward and more than a little creepy, and the whole group getting obnoxiously drunk at lunch. Darcy and I had a conversation afterwards about whether or not the wives realized they were the punchline of an unfunny joke. We settled on "No."

Why don't we just call this whole series what it actually is: "Al Qaeda Recruitment Footage?" Seriously, who can watch this show and honestly wonder why the terrorists hate us? When I watch this show I hate us for all that we are and all that we stand for to the rest of the world. Then I hate myself for watching it. There's plenty of hate to go around when this show is on.

One positive effect of the whole experience was to reemphasize my commitment to keep cable TV out of my home, at least for the immediate future. And all it took was a single hour of reality television. Well done, Bravo network. Well done.

Wish me luck

Well, I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving with Adam, Mary, Lauren, Andrew and Robin. And Darcy too. Darcy's cool. We don't want to forget her. I will be missing Ben. Drinking beer and watching football all day won't be the same without him. And without being at his house and getting to watch his cat attack Andrew's face.

A few days ago I somewhat rashly (and quite possibly foolishly) declared that I would prepare a couple of dishes to bring. I was a little upset when I realized that Darcy had volunteered to bring only things that she makes, specifically pies and appetizers. See, I enjoy cooking. I'm also better at it than Darcy. She bakes, I cook. That's the way it generally goes in our house. I especially enjoy cooking for friends, so Thanksgiving is right up my alley and I was a little irritated at being left out of the preparation plans. "What about cranberry sauce???" I asked furiously. "And cornbread! People need cornbread! It's Thanksgiving, for the love of Myles Standish!" I didn't really say that last part, but it would have been funny if I had. Go ahead, look up Myles Standish on Wikipedia. I'll wait.

Long story short, in a fit of passion I exclaimed that I would make cranberry sauce and cornbread for Thanksgiving dinner despite the fact that I've never actually made either one. Or personally seen the process of making either. Not to be deterred, I looked up some recipes online and, much to my relief, discovered that cranberry sauce is quite easy. We also found an awesome looking recipe for southwest style cornbread. Should be spicy.

Hopefully all goes well.