Oscars @ MindSay 
academy awards
• I found out that the girl I blogged about last week is not interested in me. Moving on....
• I find the sounds of Electric Wizard exhilarating these past few days. Getting "Witchcult Today" last Friday was a good thing.
• If you don't watch the show Scrubs, you should. It's excellent.
• I'm leaning towards trying to eat more vegetarian again lately with the possibility of eliminating all non-seafood again in the future. For a number of reasons, I'm thinking that this isn't the worst idea I've had in recent months.
• I cannot wait until March 24th when the new Mastodon album comes out. Also, March 3rd is when MLB 09: The Show comes out. Merely an update of what my next few purchases will be.
• Frost/Nixon got highway robbed at the Oscars. So did The Dark Knight.
Playlist for 2-24-09
Obscura Cosmogenesis
Afro Samurai Season 1
Mastodon everything
Scrubs Season 2
Electric Wizard We Live
Black Tide Shockwave (haven't gotten into the rest of the album yet, but that song rocks)
5. Halle Berry (Best Actress for MONSTER'S BALL)
She won for allowing Billy Bob Thornton to climb her back and live out his jungle fever fantasies on film. Honestly can anyone remember anything about Monster's Ball aside from that sex scene? So Halle snuck a fast one by the Academy and what does she do? She takes her little naked golden man statue and signs on to play Catwoman in a movie that had nothing to do with Catwoman and seemed to be written by a mentally challenged chimp. Then she follows that disaster up with a string of forgettable roles that probably deserved to go straight to DVD (Gothika, Perfect Strangers) while fitting in a couple of bad acting showcases in the X-Men sequels just for shits and giggles. Its not often that a person can lay claim to being an Oscar winner as well as a Razzie winner but Halle broke that barrier, she should be oh so proud.
4. Nicolas Cage (Best Actor for LEAVING LAS VEGAS)
Look at Cage's post-Oscar rap sheet: Snake Eyes, Face/Off, Gone In Sixty Seconds, Next, Bangkok Dangerous, Ghost Rider, and the creme de le creme of movies that are so bad they are funny...The Wicker Man. Its like he let's his dog pick his scripts.
3. Lou Gossett Jr (Best Supporting ACTOR FOR AN OFFICER & A GENTLEMAN)
Gossett delivered a great scenery chewing performance to win his Oscar and then once he had the cache to get the types of roles that were probably denied him before decided that his next picture would be Jaws 3-D. Crickets. Crickets. And he has been spiraling down the Hollywood ladder ever since. The last thing I remember Lou starring in was an episode of the crappy sci-fi series Stargate. Hattie McDaniel must have rolled over in her grave.
2. Cher (Best Actress for MOONSTRUCK)
Cher was on a role for a while in the 80's. She wracked up a pretty stellar list of great performances in really good movies (Silkwood, Mask, The Witches of Eastwick) so when she won for Moonstruck it was expected that she'd go on to make more quality films and probably get a couple more nominations. Instead she started hawking skin cream in super cheesy infomercials.
1. Cuba Gooding Jr. (Best Supporting Actor for JERRY MAGUIRE)
Cuba Gooding must be a compulsive gambler with massive debts owed to some deadly mobsters. Its the only thing that can explain how he went from red hot young Oscar winner to the punchline of way too many bad career decision jokes. There was a slight glimmer of hope for a career rejuvenation after he made Shadowboxer but he shot that all to hell by following it up with Daddy Day Camp. That movie made Boat Trip look like Citizen Kane.
Hugh Jackman.
Did you hear that? That was the sound of me sighing.
Okay, honestly, I was a little worried about Hugh's stint as host of the Oscars. It is one of my favorite nights of the year (I watch it every single year) and I wasn't sure how it would go with a pretty face at the helm instead of the traditional comedian. Jon Stewart, who hosted last year, did a very credible job. But, now that I think of it--using an actor makes sense. Jon Stewart isn't an actor and he doesn't typically (if ever?) appear in films. So why use him? Because he's funny. But funny isn't everything. As Hugh Jackman showed quite impressively in his first turn as host. He did the quips, he got a few laughs, but what you also got from him was the whole package. The man can sing, he can dance, he can deliver a line, he's charming, congenial, friendly, and he looks damn good in a tux.
See?
As far as I am concerned, before they set the date for next year's show, the producers should first check to make sure that Hugh is available. He kept things on track, rolling right along. It didn't seem sluggish, and whenever it headed that way, Hugh popped out onto the stage and with a wink and a smile, brought everyone back into the moment. I loved it. Even the cheesy musical number was delightful. It was fun to see an actor (especially one best known for playing a superhero in an action movie franchise) be willing to step out of "character" and just give it his all. In fact, my only complaint about Hugh's hosting abilities is that he wasn't on the stage enough.
Having said that: having experienced that, I have made a momentous decision.
A couple of months ago, I posted a list of my top 25 favorite Hollywood men. Hugh Jackman did appear on that list, coming in at a very respectable #13. To honor his performance in last night's Oscar telecast, I am promoting him.
That's right, promoting him. Hugh is not only climbing the list, he is actually swapping places with someone higher than him, in order to not bump everyone above him. So, from now on Hugh Jackman will be #6 on the list, dropping Johnny Depp down to #13. (I do love JD and he is certainly handsome, but his personality could use a polish....unlike HJ, who is about as shiny as they come). There you go. I loved Hugh Jackman as Oscar host so much that he jumped seven whole spots on my Hollywood love list.
One last picture?
Oh, hell yeah.
I won't bore you with details of the rest of the night....it's everywhere on the internet today, if you really want to know. Let's just say that for me, Hugh saved the show. It would have been awful if not for him (read that as wholly unsurprising).
God Bless Australia. And Hugh Jackman.
20 days.
My predictions are never that spot-on (maybe a third of my picks are correct). I like Slumdog Millionaire and haven't seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, basically.
For my complete picks go to: http://cinemabecomesher.blogspot.com/2009/01/time-for-oscars.html
The annoying thing is how how torn I am over best supporting actress. And like everyone I have a bunch to see, mainly the foreign nominees, shorts, and documentaries. Oh, and Tropic Thunder.
Not only was she the best dressed person (she decided to drop the "fallen angel" look and adopt the white mermaid /flapper gown which actually works), but she won for BEST ACTRESS!!
You can't imagine the anticipation, and I screamed when the winner was announced. It looks like my Marion Cotillard campaign paid off. Marion and I are celebrating by grabbing drinks at the Frolic Room. No, actually, sorry, Marion doesn't even know me. But I congratulate her nonetheless!
Other noteworthy comments: Jennifer Hudson looked much better than last year.
Handsome Owen Wilson was a presenter. I didn't expect to see him. YUM!!!!
I was kind of banking on Viggo, because Daniel Day-Lewis has had much better roles in the past, but I wasn't very moved by There Will Be Blood. But whatever, I guess.
Katherine Heigl - beaautiful, but WORST presenter ever (as I was telling Andreux).
Diablo Cody - YAY!
And they mentioned nearly every dead person, but not Brad Renfro!?!?! He died 2 weeks or less before Heath Ledger and he didn't get a mention at all. I informed everyone at my table about Heath's cause of death, because they hadn't heard yet (yes pneumonia with 6 different kinds of prescription medications, not very wise).
So many people. So many of them looked good. I will add more when I think of it, maybe!
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