Everything including the kitchen sink... but with special attention paid to board games, Jesus Christ, my family, being a "professional" (and I use that word loosely) Christian, and the random firing of the 10% of the synapses I'm currently using.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
The Collective Mind of the "Birdbath" Predicts the Oscars
Each year since 2000, I've hosted what I jokingly call "Mark's Oscar Birdbath"... it's just not right to call it an Oscar Pool when there's no money involved. I invite folks from throughout my life (past & present churches, high school friends, family, gamer buddies, etc.) to participate. (Don't be miffed if you weren't asked to join - what with the compiling of the Five & Dime reports and the continuing wackiness that is The Apples Project, I don't want to get too big a crowd playing.)
So far, 44 folks are participating in this go-round (with 12 hours left until the deadline)... and here's what THEY think will be the winners this year. (This is based on their entries - when the voting is tight, I'm listing multiple entries.)
BEST PICTURE: The Departed
BEST DIRECTOR: Martin Scorcese, The Departed
BEST ACTOR: Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
BEST ACTRESS: Helen Mirren, The Queen
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Little Miss Sunshine
ADAPATED SCREENPLAY: The Departed
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Pan's Labyrinth
FILM EDITING: The Departed/United 93
ART DIRECTION: Dreamgirls/Pan's Labyrinth/Pirates of the Caribbean 2
COSTUME DESIGN: Marie Antoinette
ACHIEVEMENT IN ORIGINAL MUSIC: The Queen/Pan’s Labyrinth
BEST ORIGINAL SONG: “Love You I Do” from Dreamgirls/“Our Town” from Cars
ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP: Pan’s Labyrinth
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING: Pirates of the Caribbean 2/Letters from Iwo Jima
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING: Dreamgirls
ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS: Pirates of the Caribbean 2
BEST ANIMNATED FEATURE: Cars
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Pan’s Labyrinth (Mexico)
BEST DOCUMENTARY: An Inconvenient Truth
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT: Recycled Life/The Blood of Yingzhou District
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT: “West Bank Story”
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM: “The Little Matchgirl” (Buena Vista)/“No Time for Nuts” (20th Century Fox)
Come back on Monday & see how the collective mind of "my friends" did... and find out who won the Birdbath!
A couple of "I'd like to thank the Academy"-ish kind of things to close this post out:
Thanks to Steve Stigler & his buddies from high school, who first introduced me to Oscar Pools and the musical stylings of Stephen Sondheim when we were students together at Baylor University
Thanks to Matt Baldwin, whose website Defective Yeti (www.defectiveyeti.com) is the one who makes it so darn easy for me to maintain the Birdbath
"# Original Song: we picked "Our Town" (rather than "I Need To Wake Up" - serves us right for forgetting that these folks who drove to the Oscars in multiple gas-guzzling limos want to vote for stuff that's enviromentally friendly)"
Not true. They were all *driven* to the Oscars in Priuses. Rented Priuses. So that we could see what good guys they are. Then the other 364 days of the year they are driven in their Hummers.
But Randy Newman has won enough best song Oscars, and this one was a real snoozer. Dreamgirls had two terrific songs (of three nominated), but had its vote split. The Melissa Ethridge song was pretty good, but it would not have stacked up against "Love You I Do".
"# Animated Feature: we picked Cars (rather than Happy Feet - see gripey enviromental comment above)"
Because "Cars" is about cars? Gimme a break! George Miller is a terrific director (of films ranging from Mad Max to Babe) and even my nine year old daughter greatly preferred Happy Feet.
follower of Jesus, husband, father, "pastor", boardgamer, writer, Legomaniac, Disneyphile, voted most likely to have the same Christmas wish list at age 58 as he did at age 8
1 comment:
Some official corrections and clarifications:
"# Original Song: we picked "Our Town" (rather than "I Need To Wake Up" - serves us right for forgetting that these folks who drove to the Oscars in multiple gas-guzzling limos want to vote for stuff that's enviromentally friendly)"
Not true. They were all *driven* to the Oscars in Priuses. Rented Priuses. So that we could see what good guys they are. Then the other 364 days of the year they are driven in their Hummers.
But Randy Newman has won enough best song Oscars, and this one was a real snoozer. Dreamgirls had two terrific songs (of three nominated), but had its vote split. The Melissa Ethridge song was pretty good, but it would not have stacked up against "Love You I Do".
"# Animated Feature: we picked Cars (rather than Happy Feet - see gripey enviromental comment above)"
Because "Cars" is about cars? Gimme a break! George Miller is a terrific director (of films ranging from Mad Max to Babe) and even my nine year old daughter greatly preferred Happy Feet.
You guys just own too much Pixar stock.
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