Thursday, February 24, 2005

"...and the Seth goes to..."

Having seen, somewhat atypically, all of this year's Academy Award nominees for Best Picture and a large percentage of the contestants in the other major categories, here are my selections of who SHOULD (not will) win.

BEST PICTURE

THE AVIATOR
FINDING NEVERLAND
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
RAY
SIDEWAYS

...and the Seth goes to: Finding Neverland


ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Don Cheadle - HOTEL RWANDA
Johnny Depp - FINDING NEVERLAND
Leonardo DiCaprio - THE AVIATOR
Clint Eastwood - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Jamie Foxx - RAY

...and the Seth goes to: Jamie Foxx


ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Alan Alda - THE AVIATOR
Thomas Haden Church - SIDEWAYS
Jamie Foxx - COLLATERAL
Morgan Freeman - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Clive Owen - CLOSER

...and the Seth goes to: Morgan Freeman


ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Annette Bening - BEING JULIA
Catalina Sandino Moreno - MARIA FULL OF GRACE
Imelda Staunton - VERA DRAKE
Hilary Swank - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Kate Winslet - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

...and the Seth goes to: Hilary Swank (though I only saw her & Winslet's performances, and thought Winslet's nomination was for Finding Neverland.)


ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Cate Blanchett - THE AVIATOR
Laura Linney - KINSEY
Virginia Madsen - SIDEWAYS
Sophie Okonedo - HOTEL RWANDA
Natalie Portman - CLOSER

...and the Seth goes to: Sophie Okenedo


DIRECTING

Martin Scorsese - THE AVIATOR
Clint Eastwood - MILLION DOLLAR BABY
Taylor Hackford - RAY
Alexander Payne - SIDEWAYS
Mike Leigh - VERA DRAKE

...and the Seth goes to: Martin Scorsese (can you believe he's never won? It's a crime)


WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

BEFORE SUNSET
FINDING NEVERLAND
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
SIDEWAYS

...and the Seth goes to: Finding Neverland


WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

THE AVIATOR
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
HOTEL RWANDA
THE INCREDIBLES
VERA DRAKE

...and the Seth goes to: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Don't be surprised when a crack in the ice appears under your feet

I've never been a big hockey fan, in terms of following NHL results throughout the season or watching games on TV, but I enjoy the game itself enough to have gone to 1-2 Hawks games per season for most of the last several years. It's quite possible I would've become a bigger fan if the Hawks haven't been so dismal on & off the ice. So all things being equal, I would prefer for there to be professional hockey being played, but that said, if the NHL never plays another game due to the labor problems that resulted in this season's cancellation, I doubt I'd much care.

Monday, February 07, 2005

A Classic Farce, A Powerful New Drama and A Welcome Return

Weekend Reviews

The Importance of Being Earnest - Peabody Estate, Oak Brook
A Play Review
@@@1/2
Over the past year or so, I've gained greater awareness & familiarity with the life & works of Oscar Wilde, a legendary Irish/English writer of the late 19th Century. I've seen two plays about him -- A Man of No Importance and the Judas Kiss -- saw a play by him -- Lady Windemere's Fan -- and took an Oscar Wilde-themed walking tour when I was recently in London. So I eagerly attended a performance of his play, "The Importance of Being Earnest" produced by the First Folio Shakespeare Company at an old estate in Oak Brook. It was cool seeing the play in a setting that felt like the setting in the play -- i.e. not a theatre with a set, but the real thing -- and I enjoyed it. But though not quite as hard as Shakespeare, the tone, dialogue and dialect of Wilde's plays are somewhat hard to appreciate on an initial viewing, let alone the Victorian-era subject matter. I guess dating your cousin wasn't taboo back then. Wilde's wordplay is fascinating, but at this point I appreciate his quips better than I have his full plays. But the performance was certainly well worthwhile.

Permanent Collection - Northlight Theatre, Skokie
A Play Review
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As a fictionalized account of recent happenings at the Barnes Collection, a spectacular & unique private art museum in the Philadelphia suburbs that I had the pleasure of visiting, this recent play by Thomas Gibbons would have intrigued me simply with it's insight into art (and the viewing of it). But going far beyond a story about art, the play presents a fascinating debate about race. It really is well written, and insightful to the point that I figured that Gibbons had to be a black writer, but was surprised to learn he isn't. And it stars a great actor named Harry Lennix, who played Joe Adams in "Ray" (he's the impresario who steals Ray away from his original manager) as well as substantial supporting roles in both Matrix sequels. The other performances are very good too. This really may be the best new play I've seen since Proof.

Alejandro Escovedo
with Jon Dee Graham
Saturday, 2/5 at the Old Town School of Folk Music
A Concert Review
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For nearly the past 10 years, Alejandro Escovedo has been a singer/songwriter who I've really enjoyed and seen a couple times. Over the last couple years Escovedo has been battling Hepetitis C, which supposedly nearly killed him. I don't think he's cured, but has improved to the point where he's beginning to play sporadic shows. His 3 local shows this weekend marked his first performances outside his hometown of Austin, TX since his illness became debilitating. It was great to see him again and the setting at Old Town was very comfortable; I may have wished for some other material than what he selected to play, but that's almost immaterial. Plus, his old bandmate in the True Believers (who precede my awareness), Jon Dee Graham opened for him and played alongside him. I stumbled across Graham at the Continental Club in Austin when I was there a few years ago and I thought he was very good. So I enjoyed seeing him play again, too. And after the show, both signed CDs.

And Now For A Commercial Message

Well, it's about 2-1/2 hours after the Super Bowl telecast ended. From just before kickoff until just after the trophy presentation, I saw every play, every commercial and what I thought was the best half-time show ever. Paul McCartney singing great songs, and sounding pretty good doing so. I thought it was great. But as for the commercials, by and large, they again seemed like a person (guy or girl) who just tries way too hard. Even wanting to comment on them, I really can't recall very many of them. And even if you laugh, or are somewhat surprised by a commercial, that doesn't make it good. I mean, I know Mike Ditka, Jim McMahon, William Perry and Dennis Rodman were in a commercial. I think it was for countertops of some sort, but I have absolutely no idea what the brand was. And I doubt you do either.

I thought the best commercial, though I doubt many pundits tomorrow will concur, was the Blockbuster spot. It actually debuted previously and wasn't laugh out loud funny, but in a clever way introduced you to a new service of theirs (videos by mail, to compete with NetFlix). It did what I think a commercial should: add to the brand identity while also selling a product, cleverly but also clearly.

The FedEx Kinko's spot making fun of Super Bowl commercials was pretty astute.

And what's with all the chimpanzees? I don't see any, ever, except for on Super Bowl ads. The Verizon (?) ad was cute, I guess, but CareerBuilder's ads were a bit dim. I may have a chip on my shoulder since I've had various dalliances with joining CareerBuilder in some sort of marketing role that have never gone anywhere, but aren't there better ways of showing a bad job than using Chimps? I would've used Donald Trump (as much as I hate him) saying "I'm hiring again, apply through CareerBuilder.com" Then at least people would go to the site. But who am I to say.

And those are just the commercials I remember. Oh yeah, there was some stupidity with Puff Daddy and Carson Daly for Diet Pepsi (I think I'll keep with my Diet Coke) and more stupid animals for Budweiser. But maybe stupidity sells more than I think. I just visited GoDaddy.com (seemingly a perfectly mundane web domain buying site), despite it probably having the most egregious commercial of the night.

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Feeling Patriotic

Devoid of a rooting interest (and as a Chicagoan, let's face it, I often am), I've always been a sucker for a historical storyline, or some sort of significant milestone coming to fruition. Unless I dislike a team or player for some reason, I'd just as soon see history be made. As such, I was rooting for the Patriots and am glad they won (fortunately, I didn't bet on the game, as I would've bet the Pats to cover the 7 point spread, which they didn't in their 24-21 win). While it gives me no particular happiness to see the Boston area get more than its share of winning (3 Super Bowls in 4 years plus the Red Sox in '04), the Patriots themselves seem like an admirable team. They play hard and they seem to win without being particularly arrogant and obnoxious. Even some of the post-game interviews I just saw showed players and their coach, Bill Belichick, proud of their victory and repeated success, but unwilling to proclaim themselves a dynasty. Sure, perhaps even modesty can be an act, but at least it's a becoming one. I'm also reminded again of what I blogged about a few weeks ago, that what Tom Brady has done is incredibly impressive and I don't really understand why post-season accomplishments aren't considered in league MVP voting. In 4 years as an NFL starter, this 6th round draft pick has won every playoff game he's played in, including 3 Super Bowls. And unlike some quarterbacks who perhaps were along for the ride with a great team and just didn't have to screw up for their team to win (e.g, Trent Dilfer) Brady is as big a reason for the Pats success as any, except perhaps Belichick. He seems as cool and composed as any quarterback ever could be, and he always seems to make the big play when needed. At only 27 (I think) he really has to be mentioned among the all-time greats. I believe on Bradshaw, Montana and Aikman have won as many or more Super Bowls, and theoretically Brady's best years should be ahead of him.