Oscar Shocker

Posted on January 27 2004 by Mickey
    I’m up early and watching E!:
    Wow! No Cold Mountain for Best Picture! No Nicole Kidman as Best Actress. Some heavy-weight competition in the Best Actor category. A big ten nominations for Master & Commander (but not for Russell Crowe). And no acting awards for Lord of the Rings. More disappointingly, The Return of the King did not get all the nominations it deserved. Yes, the music group wisely nominated it for Best Score, and costume designer Nglia Dickson is poised to finally get the award the Academy has owed her for three years; but no cinematography nomination for Andrew Lesnie? And a Best Sound nomination but no Best Sound Editing? Add those two to its 11 nominations and it would’ve tied the number for Fellowship of the Ring; and add a couple more and it would’ve (and should’ve) beat Titanic‘s record. (Sean Astin should have been nominated, but then again I thought the Academy were generous in giving ROTK an adapted screenplay nod.)
    Since this undoubtedly has to be Lord of the Rings‘ year: Billy Crystal, come 2/29, please go easy on the short jokes.
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Golden Globes Blog

Posted on January 25 2004 by Mickey
    • A couple disappointments and some bad guesses on my part, but — woohoo! — the show redeemed itself with a big win for 24, a new favorite show.
    • E! better not compliment Nicole Kidman on her dress this year. It looks like a badly done mermaid costume.
    • Wow, Bill Murray wins over Jack Sparrow. My nieces probably just threw something at the TV and stopped watching the show.
    • Good job Robin Williams on learning the name of the movie you’re introducing. No, it’s not Master and the Commander.
    • Ha ha. The censor missed Diane Keaton’s cuss word. Is the FCC going to have to cause another stink? Does this mean she should front a rock band?
    • 9:25 PM: Yes! Howard Shore wins best score! …And back-to-back wins, with an award for best song! Let the four-award sweep begin.
    • 9:37 PM: Cool. Mary Louise Parker, whom I’ve seen naked, is talking about her “boobs” on TV. And her award was presented by Justin Kirk, who was also in Angels in America. I thought his performance was excellent, yet he was the only actor from the mini-series not nominated. Go figure.
    • 10:05 PM: here it comes…Best Director… YES! Peter Jackson wins! To my way of thinking, it was never a question of his deserving it, it was whether the Foreign Press (and the Academy) would do what’s expected of them.
    • 10:12 PM: looks like all you needed for a nomination was to have something to do with gays. I guess it’s a good thing so many people have misread Sam and Frodo’s devotion.
    • 10:43 PM: haven’t said anything in a while, but I’m only posting on the awards I care about. One more commercial break to go, reportedly…
    • 10:47 PM: nope, the announcer lied. This is the one commercial break…
    • 10:52 PM: here it comes. They’re going over the nominee clips again now. And Leonard DiCaprio is about to read the winner.  ……  Ahhhh…all is as it should be. Four out of four. Now bring on the Oscars.
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A 20 Year Old Apple

Posted on January 24 2004 by Mickey
    Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Mac. Coincidentally, this happens right at the time for it to mean something to me, as I’ve just started using Apple products. In honor of this momentous occasion, let’s celebrate not with a visit to Cupertino but with a look back at those guys in Redmond, and an appearance by none other than that dancing monkey boy himself, Steve Ballmer.
    (Courtesy of NTK.)
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File Sharing Declared Legal by GOP

Posted on January 23 2004 by Mickey
    First the Boston Globe breaks the story, yesterday, of how GOP leaders were able to hack a computer belonging to Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committe — a story which I’m hoping will be referred to as “Watergategate” (that is if other news sources even cover it) — and now, today, the Globe is updating the story.
    It turns out The so-called Committee for Justice  has found “that no rules or laws were broken by Republican staffers who exploited a computer glitch on a shared server that allowed them to access memos written by their Democratic counterparts without having to enter a password.”
    So there you go. Not only is it perfectly acceptable to download and distribute files that don’t belong to you, but you can do so without the original owner’s permission. So the RIAA and MPAA can piss off — our leaders have said so! It’s open season on digital media folks! Free Carmine Caridi!

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The Empty Treasure House

Posted on January 23 2004 by Mickey
    It is with deep sadness and regret that I acknowledge the passing of Captain Kangaroo, Bob Keeshan, who died earlier today. In this world of flashy, loud, and abrasive children’s programming, his soft-spoken and gentle presence is and will be greatly missed. In his honor, I am dumping a hundred ping pong balls over my head.
Posted in News, TV | 1 Comment

Diet Blog: Day Twenty-One

Posted on January 22 2004 by Mickey
    I weighed myself again this morning. Now that I’m in Phase Two, I am able reintroduce some carbohydrates into my diet, and as predicted my weight loss has slowed somewhat. I’m at 226½, which is down one pound from Monday and down twelve pounds over all. I was enjoying the substantial and almost effortless weight loss of Phase One, and I’m really tempted to go back again in the near future.
    Also, some people have pointed out I haven’t made any mention of the recent voyage to Mars. I’m kind of surprised by this too. Usually I am a strong proponent of space exploration; but ever since President Bush expressed an interest, it’s suddenly lost its appeal.
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The Following Entry Takes Place Between 2:38 PM and 2:58 PM

Posted on January 21 2004 by Mickey
    With The X-Files long gone (even before it officially left) and The West Wing reduced to being just another hourlong drama, my TV viewing has been soulless and robotic.
    Enter 24.
    My friends have been talking about this show for a while, and I finally gave it a chance when its third season started. And now I am completely hooked. The show has taken a couple weeks off over the holidays, and in that time I’ve rented seasons one and two on DVD from NetFlix. I’m devouring the discs as soon as they arrive, staying up till four or five in the morning because I can’t stop watching. I just finished disc four of season two last night, and disc five might show up Friday. I’m greatly enjoying the second season. I think expanding the story to involve global terrorism really holds up better in the long run. This truly feels like a huge eighteen or nineteen hour movie, more so than season one (which seemed to founder and lose its way during the second half).
    It’s a lot of fun watching the episodes back to back, without commercial interruption; but the drawback is that I am so involved with last year’s story that I’ve completely lost my place in the new shows. The other drawback is that if I want to augment my interest by checking out fan sites, I run the continual risk of uncovering spoilers — like with this morning on IMDB. Thank God for 24 though. It reminds me of the glory days of The X-Files with its high production values and film-like look; and it’s revived the fun in TV viewing for me, by giving me something to look forward to again (and, what novelty, on a Tuesday no less).
    FUH-chum, fuh-CHUM, FUH-chum
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The Return of the Millennium Group

Posted on January 21 2004 by Mickey

Millennium: Released Dec 19 2003. ©Fox Music
    We’ve been waiting for years for the planned CD of Mark Snow’s music from Millennium. Fox Music has released it, but as an exclusive on iTunes. It has 22 tracks, runs around 80 minutes long, and covers music from seven shows (the Pilot, Marantha [sic], José Chung’s Doomsday Defense, Midnight of the Century, The Time is Now, Omerta, and Goodbye to All That).
    One nice thing about this release is that each track is self-contained. There are no crossfades, as with Snow’s X-Files CD [The Truth and the Light], and this works well in avoiding the gaps inherent with MP3 and AAC files.
    I have found no word on whether the music will be released on CD in stores, so this might be our one chance to have more of Mark Snow’s inimitable atmospheric and eerie music.
Posted in Music, TV | 3 Comments

Today in Food (2004/01/20)

Posted on January 20 2004 by Mickey
    A rescue mission that hits close to home, Russia, according to Reuters, has called in the Army to salvage a truck carrying ten tons of beer which sank under Siberian ice. Our thoughts are with the rescuers. It’s nightmarish to think of friendly tasty beer in such horrid conditions, trapped and helpless; but at least the containers will be nicely frosted.
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More Stuff for Me to Buy

Posted on January 19 2004 by Mickey
    Sideshow Weta, the maker of the high quality statues and busts from The Lord of the Rings, has announced its 2004 line-up. I’m still kicking myself that I missed out on the Fell Beast, which sold out before it was even shipped, so I definitely need to keep an eye out for these. The information comes from the movies’ official fan club site, and dates and prices are estimates.
• Uruk-Hai Berserker Statue – 3000 pcs – $125 – March 2004
• Morgul Lord Statue (The Witch-King) – $200 – May/June 2004
• Haradhrim Soldier Statue – $125 – June/July 2004
• Eowyn/Dernhelm Statue – $125 – July/Aug 2004
• The Balrog Statue – All New Sculpture – $150 – Sept 2004
• Gandalf and Shadowfax Statue – $300 – June/July 2004
• Sauron Statue – $300 – Sept/Oct 2004
• “A Meeting of Old Friends” Plaque – Fellowship piece – $150 – July/Aug 2004
• Helm’s Deep Environment – $125 – May/June 2004
• The Golden Hall Environment – $125 – May/June 2004
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