2011 Oscar Birdbath (the Results)

Here, as promised, are the results to my annual Oscar Birdbath ("Pool"). It's a four-way TIE for first place (with 18 correct answers)!

• Rebecca Becknal (my oldest niece, who is currently racking up a healthy student loan while working on her masters degree at TCU)
• Jim Christiansen (aka "Jimbo" - a part of NewLife and [though long absent] the Fresno Gamers. Wanna play Bang, Jim?! We promise not to shoot you - much.)
• David Gullett (aka "Davebo" - a gamer and friend from the L.A. area)
• Margaret Kellar (1/4 of the much-missed Kellar clan... her husband was our worship/youth pastor here at NewLife)

Congratulations also go to the three 3rd place finishers (with 17 correct)... Bob Trezise, Charles Glaser & Jeff Monaghan.

Here are the final scores...

• 21 - the "collective mind' (this, btw, is the first time that we as a group scored higher than any one of us as individuals!)
• 18 - Rebecca Becknal, Jim Christiansen, David Gullett, Margaret Kellar
• 17 - Bob Trezise, Charles Glaser, Jeff Monaghan.
• 16 - Chris Newcomb
• 15 - Alea Fairchild, Scott Firestone, Craig Berg
• 14 - Mark Jackson
• 13 - Scott Alden, Elizabeth Arneson
• 12 - Jonathan Degann
• 11 - Jeffrey Leegon, Allen Troxler, Eric Arneson
• 10 - Gigi Johnson
• 9 - Eric Burgess, Chris Comeaux
• 7 - Alfred Wallace
• 5 - RC Martinez, Jennifer Madon, Joe Huber

Our predictions as a "collective mind" were spectacular!... 21 correct - way to go!

• BEST PICTURE: The King's Speech - correct!
• BEST DIRECTOR: Tom Hooper for The King's Speech (we picked David Fincher)
• BEST ACTOR: Colin Firth (The King's Speech) - correct!
• BEST ACTRESS: Natalie Portman (Black Swan) - correct!
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christian Bale (The Fighter) - correct!
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Melissa Leo (The Fighter) - correct!
• ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: The King's Speech - correct!
• ADAPATED SCREENPLAY: The Social Network - correct!
• CINEMATOGRAPHY: Inception (we picked True Grit)
• FILM EDITING: The Social Network - correct!
• ART DIRECTION: Alice in Wonderland - correct!
• COSTUME DESIGN: Alice in Wonderland - correct!
• ACHIEVEMENT IN ORIGINAL MUSIC: The Social Network (tied w/The King's Speech) - correct!
• BEST ORIGINAL SONG: "We Belong Together" (Toy Story 3) - correct!
• ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP: The Wolfman - correct!
• ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING: Inception - correct!
• ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING: Inception - correct!
• ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS: Inception - correct!
• BEST ANIMNATED FEATURE: Toy Story 3 - correct!
• BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: In a Better World - correct!
• BEST DOCUMENTARY: Inside Job - correct!
• BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT: Strangers No More - correct!
• BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT: God of Love - correct!
• BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM: Lost Thing (we picked Day & Night)... only one person got this one correct - my lovely niece, Rebecca!

And some final thoughts on the Oscar ceremony:

• Anne Hathaway is a delightful, vibrant young woman. James Franco is a sad product of the "everything must be ironic" way of treating life.
• I still think Toy Story 3 should have won Best Picture.
• Didn't miss Ben Stiller.
• The show seemed to flow smoother - but there wasn't much surprise to it.
• Second year with Tivo - still not missing the acceptance speeches.
• Stop picking on Hugh Jackman.

2010 Oscar Birdbath Results

I posted a bit yesterday about my Annual Oscar Birdbath... and so, as promised, the results. Well, I'm a bit embarassed... I won. Not a commanding win, mind you - I got sixteen correct (out of 24) and FOUR 2nd place finishers each got fifteen correct! They are:

• Elizabeth Arneson (oh-so-patient & loving wife of Erik Arneson, my friend who runs the About.com/Board Games site)
• Gigi Johnson (who was nice to me back in high school & not just because her sister & I share the same birthday)
• Margaret Kellar (1/4 of the much-missed Kellar clan... her husband was our worship/youth pastor here at NewLife)
• Susan Rozmiarek (Ed & Susan are gamers, friends, and - sadly - Aggies)

Congratulations also go to the two 3rd place finishers (with 14 correct)... Bob Trezise & Keith Monaghan.

Here are the final scores...

• 16 - Mark Jackson
• 15 - Elizabeth Arneson, Gigi Johnson, Margaret Kellar, Susan Rozmiarek
• 14 - Bob Trezise, Keith Monaghan
• 12 - the "collective mind", Erik Arneson, Jeff Monaghan, Rebecca Becknal
• 11 - Jason Bullion
• 10 - Greg Thatcher, J. Hunter, Josh Bussell, Shane Oakley
• 9 - Crystal Bussell
• 8 - Jennifer Collier Madon, Wayne Hansen
• 7 - Ray Mulford
• 5 - Jim Christiansen, Joe Huber
• 4 - Darrell
• 3 - Tony

Our predictions as a "collective mind" were OK if not spectacular... 12 correct.

• BEST PICTURE: The Hurt Locker (we picked Avatar)
• BEST DIRECTOR: Katheryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (we picked James Cameron)
• BEST ACTOR: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) - correct!
• BEST ACTRESS: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) - correct!
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds) - correct!
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo'Nique (Precious) - correct!
• ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: The Hurt Locker (we picked Inglorious Basterds)
• ADAPATED SCREENPLAY: Precious - correct!
• CINEMATOGRAPHY: Avatar - correct!
• FILM EDITING: The Hurt Locker (we picked Avatar)
• ART DIRECTION: Avatar - correct!
• COSTUME DESIGN: The Young Victoria (we picked Nine)
• ACHIEVEMENT IN ORIGINAL MUSIC: Up - correct!
• BEST ORIGINAL SONG: "The Weary Kind" (Crazy Heart) - correct!
• ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP: Star Trek - correct!
• ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING: The Hurt Locker (we picked Avatar OR Star Trek)
• ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING: The Hurt Locker (we picked Avatar)
• ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS: Avatar - correct!
• BEST ANIMNATED FEATURE: Up - correct!
• BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: El Secreto de Sus Ojos - Argentina (we picked Das weisse Band - Germany OR Un prophète - France)
• BEST DOCUMENTARY: The Cove (we picked Food, Inc.)
• BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT: Music by Prudence (we picked The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant)... btw, Jason Bullion was the only one to get this one correct!
• BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT: The New Tenants (we picked Miracle Fish)
• BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM: Logorama (we picked A Matter of Loaf & Death)... NONE of us got this correct!

And some final thoughts on the Oscar ceremony and a couple of the films:

• The category explanations were much more concise & "spot on" than in previous years... and the lame jokes by presenters were kept to a minimum - thank you.
• Hollywood, if you're listening, John Lasseter told you the secret to making great films during his short film introduction blurb. Hint: it's not the tools.
• Ben Stiller is to Oscar night as John Ratzenberger is to Pixar films.
• The dual host thing worked OK - not bad but not great.
• Please don't waste Neil Patrick Harris again - if you're going to let him sing, turn him loose in something besides a Vegas showgirls number.
• Didn't listen to the majority of the acceptance speeches thanks to Tivo - probably missed a good moment or two but also missed a lot of dreck.
• What was up with George Clooney? Who put a thumbtack in his chair?
• I guess I need to see "The Hurt Locker" now. And "Avatar."
• The memorial for John Hughes was very classy... thanks, Academy. "The Breakfast Club" is still one of the best films ever about the social dynamics & rabid insecurities of high school.

The Collective Mind of the Birdbath Predicts the Oscars (2010 Edition)

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 life in general, I don't want to get too big a crowd playing.)

This year, 23 folks are participating... 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: Avatar
• BEST DIRECTOR: James Cameron
• BEST ACTOR: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
• BEST ACTRESS: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds)
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo'Nique, (Precious)
• ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Inglorious Basterds
• ADAPATED SCREENPLAY: Precious OR Up in the Air
• CINEMATOGRAPHY: Avatar
• FILM EDITING: Avatar
• ART DIRECTION: Avatar
• COSTUME DESIGN: Nine
• ACHIEVEMENT IN ORIGINAL MUSIC: Up
• BEST ORIGINAL SONG: "The Weary Kind" (Crazy Heart)
• ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP: Star Trek
• ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING: Avatar OR Star Trek
• ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING: Avatar
• ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS: Avatar
• BEST ANIMNATED FEATURE: Up
• BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (Germany) OR Un prophète (France)
• BEST DOCUMENTARY: Food, Inc.
• BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT: The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
• BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT: Miracle Fish
• BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM: A Matter of Loaf & Death

Come back on Monday & see how the collective mind of "my friends" did this time around... 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 (especially Chris Newcomb), 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, is the one who makes it so darn easy for me to maintain the Birdbath

The Collective Mind is, well, OK

Yesterday I posted about the collective mind of the "Birdbath" predicting the results for the Oscars... so, here's the results.

There are 24 categories... and we got 15 of them right! (For the record, Chris Newcomb won my annual Oscar Pool/"Birdbath" with 18 correct.) The ones we missed were:

• Actress: we picked Ellen Page (rather than Marion Cotillard - in fact, only the winner, Chris, managed to get this one right)
• Supporting Actress: we picked Cate Blanchett (rather than Tilda Swinton - who I can't get the picture of her as the White Witch of Narnia out of my head, no matter how many Oscars she wins)
• Cinematography: we picked No Country for Old Men (rather than There Will Be Blood - and don't you think that a multi-million dollar actress would work on pronouncing the word correctly before she got out there?)
• Makeup: we picked Pirates of the Carribean 3 (rather than La Vie en Rose)
• Sound Editing & Sound Mixing: we picked Transformers (rather than The Bourne Ultimatum)
• Visual Effects: we picked Transformers (rather than The Golden Compass)
• Documentary Feature: we picked Sicko (rather than Taxi to the Dark Side - ah, exposing torture is more important to the folks in Hollywood than fixing our health care system OR giving Michael Moore more camera time to pontificate with)
• Documentary Short: we picked Sari's Mother (rather than Freeheld)

Not as good as last year... but still decent

And speaking of not-bad performances, I was pleasantly surprised by how watchable the Oscar broadcast was this year. Some highlights:

• Jon Stewart, who managed to take shots at both sides politically (both McCain's age & the liability that is Bill Clinton got mentioned) as well as a very funny joke about Yom Kippur...
• a delightful performance of "Falling Slowly" (and all of the other nominated songs)
• having the good sense to allow the young lady who co-wrote "Falling Slowly" to come back on stage after she got cut off
• the opportunity to figure out that I've only seen 33 of 80 Best Picture winners - I've got some watchin' to do!

As for the actual awards, I (like my buddy, Stven Carlberg), find myself wanting to see the nominated films - for once, the show got me more rather than less interested.

The Collective Mind of the "Birdbath" Predicts the Oscars - 2008

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 life in general, I don't want to get too big a crowd playing.)

So far, 31 folks are participating in this go-round (with 18 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: No Country For Old Men
• BEST DIRECTOR: Joel & Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men
• BEST ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
• BEST ACTRESS: Ellen Page, Juno
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Javier Bardern, No Country For Old Men
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There (but this one is very close)
• ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Juno
• ADAPATED SCREENPLAY: No Country For Old Men
• CINEMATOGRAPHY: No Country For Old Men
• FILM EDITING: The Bourne Ultimatum
• ART DIRECTION: Sweeney Todd
• COSTUME DESIGN: Elizabeth: The Golden Age
• ACHIEVEMENT IN ORIGINAL MUSIC: Atonement/Ratatouille
• BEST ORIGINAL SONG: “Falling Slowly", Once
• ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP: Pirates of the Carribean 3
• ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING: Transformers
• ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING: Transformers
• ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS: Transformers
• BEST ANIMNATED FEATURE: Ratatouille
• BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: The Counterfeiters (Austria)
• BEST DOCUMENTARY: Sicko
• BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT: Sari's Mother
• BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT: Le Mozart des Pickpockets
• BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM: Peter & the Wolf

Last year, we went 19 for 24 - which is pretty impressive. Come back on Monday & see how the collective mind of "my friends" did this time around... 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 (especially Chris Newcomb, who's actually playing in the Birdbath this year!), 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, is the one who makes it so darn easy for me to maintain the Birdbath

The Collective Mind Is Pretty Darn Good

Yesterday I posted about the collective mind of the "Birdbath" predicting the results for the Oscars... so, here's the results.

There are 24 categories... and we got 19 of them right! (For the record, Bob Trezise won my annual Oscar Pool/"Birdbath" with 16 correct.) The ones we missed were:

• Score: we picked The Queen or Pan's Labyrinth (rather than Babel)
• 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)
• Animated Feature: we picked Cars (rather than Happy Feet - see gripey enviromental comment above)
• Foreign Film: we picked Pan's Labyrinth (rather than The Lives of Others)
• Animated Short: we picked The Little Matchgirl or No Time For Nuts (rather than The Danish Poet)

All in all, not a bad performance from the 45 of us, eh?!

And speaking of not-bad performances, I was pleasantly surprised by how watchable the Oscar broadcast was this year. Some highlights:

• Ellen, who was low-key & funny... and, for the most part, not terribly political in her humor
• the show-stopping production number from Will Ferrell, Jack Black & John O'Reilly... unlike many of the big numbers from previous years, this one was INTENTIONALLY funny
• the dance troupe who did the shadow pictures
• acceptance speeches that, for the most part, didn't devolve into blubbering or silliness
• the video pieces... esp. the president's speech, the foreign film montage, and Errol Morris' opening interviews w/the nominees

As for the actual awards, I'm a bit miffed about Cars getting passed over, but not surprised when I think about it. Sigh.

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

Oscar Dribs & Drabs

Well, last night was the 78th Annual Oscar ceremony... Hollywood's biggest party. You'd think a pastor of a smaller church in the rural outskirts of Fresno, CA, wouldn't have much to say about such a "Left Coast" kind of event.

But you'd be wrong. :-)

• Initial reports put viewership down by 10%... which is hardly surprising, considering that the majority of the nominated films didn't connect with the public at large. I'm not saying that these films didn't earn money or recognition, just that they didn't capture a wide swath of viewer loyalty & interest.
• Jon Stewart is very funny on The Daily Show. He was not particularly funny last night. I particularly didn't like the "Jimmy Kimmel Live"-ish bits (the campaign commercials, the gay cowboy montage) which fit nicely on a late night talk show but seem woefully out of place in an evening set aside to honor excellence in filmmaking. (It's one of the major problems of cyncism & irony - when our humor is based entirely on shredding things, what do you do when you want to give something honor? You're forced to undercut your admiration & praise with a sly wink... sigh.)
• I will give Jon Stewart credit for the best line of the night, however - following a montage of "message" films, he commented: "And none of those issues were ever a problem again." (Smirk) A well-placed pin jab in the self-inflated importance of the Hollywood elite.
• Look, I don't hate Hollywood. I love movies. I think they are the "sitting around the fire storyteller" of our media-heavy generation. But it's important to remember that media doesn't lead cultural change as much as it reflects it.
• Rachel Murray (aka Rachel Jones) beat me by ONE STINKIN' POINT in my annual Oscar Pool. (For those of you who are mid-gasp that I'm running a mini-gambling ring out of the church office, please note that there is no financial reward here. All you get is bragging rights for next year.) Congrats, Rachel.
• Movie I need to see: Crash (and not just because it won Best Picture... the whole issue of racism in America is important stuff for those of us who claim to follow Jesus)
• Nominated Movies I'd Actually Seen Before the Awards: Pride & Prejudice (which should have garnered some awards - what a delightful film), Batman Begins, Chronicles of Narnia, Star Wars Episode III, King Kong, and Wallace & Gromit. Yep, 6 films.
• Last but not least... Ben Stiller is the King of Uncomfortable Comedy. (See the picture above.)