The Oscars

The Oscars are this weekend, and ... I really don't care. I used to - the awards were something special. But now? It's boring, fueled in no short part by the fact that I see a lot less movies these days. But this year, it turns out that I've seen quite a few of the nominated films, so I actually have thoughts on who I'd choose in each category, at least the major ones.

Do you care? I don't know! But here goes anyhow:

Best Supporting Actress

Performances I Didn't See: Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom (In fact, I'm not sure what the heck that movie is. I've not hear even a whit about it.) But I did see both Melissa Leo and Amy Adams in The Fighter, Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit and Helena Bonham Carter in The King's Speech. I love HBC, but while her performance was quite solid it was buried by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, who we'll talk about later. It's hard to give an award out for the third best performance in a film. That also eliminates the lovely Amy Adams, who was great but ... Oscar worthy? It just wasn't meaty enough of a role. I'm writing Weaver off because ... again, what the hell is Animal Kingdom? Seriously? It comes down to Leo's amazing performance as the driven, mildly crazy mother in The Fighter, and the remarkable job by Steinfeld in True Grit.*
It says here that the award will go to Melissa Leo -- whose created a true character that is one of the main charms and strengths of the film; it's a performance worth rewarding and Leo is someone I think the Academy would like to reward. But personally, after thinking about it, I have to give this to Hailee Steinfeld. She genuinely carried the film, and it's not an easy character - a girl barely in her teens who speaks in a formal, halted manner that simply can't have come naturally. Without her, that movie collapses -- and she handily deserves the award.

* (And yes, the fact that Steinfeld is nominated as Best Supporting Actress, since she's in, I believe, every single scene in the movie. Jeff Bridges isn't, but he's nominated as Best Actor. That's a decision the filmmakers made, but it's ridiculous that it's allowed.)

Best Supporting Actor

Performances I Didn't See: Jeremy Renner in The Town. The remaining four were all great performances, though I think Mark Ruffalo had the easiest job in The Kids Are All Right, and I've seen him do better elsewhere so I'm crossing him off the list. I also think Renner is out of it since The Town was the fluffiest of all the films, and this is 'serious business.' Geoffrey Rush gave a great performance in The King's Speech, and it's exactly the kind of performance the Academy loves to reward. My wife feels strongly that the guy who deserves this is John Hawkes, who I agreed was flat out brilliant in Winter's Bone. I almost agree with her - Hawkes (who I didn't recognize as Lennon from LOST). But I think the mortal lock here is Christian Bale in The Fighter. It's a dominating, unique and indelible character and Bale knocked it out of the park. Bale is one of my favorite actors and despite (or because of) his noted temper, I think the voters think he's overdue. They're right.

Best Actress

Performances I Didn't See: Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole, Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine. Neither seems poised to win. Nobody seems to be giving Jennifer Lawrence from Winter's Bone much of a chance, which is a shame; her performance is top-notch and unusual, and in many years she'd probably win. But the talk seems to be about Annette Bening from The Kids Are All Right and Natalie Portman in Black Swan. Bening's odds are based on a very good performance as well as an acknowledgement that she's never won before. She may yet win - but, while she was very good, I don't know anyone who has seen the movie who doesn't agree that Julianne Moore was just as good and as much of a lead role as Bening. But, the trend seems to be leaning towards Natalie Portman, and perhaps it's because I so recently saw Black Swan, but I have to agree -- Portman is amazing, and the role is maniacally difficult. Her tortured mania was perfectly controlled, and she seemed plausible as a ballet dancer even if I know nothing about that sort of thing. I thought about Portman and the film for days after I saw it, and I can't say that - even a little - about Bening. This one goes to Queen Amidala.

Best Actor

Performances I Didn't See: Javier Bardem in Biutiful, James Franco in 127 Hours. I've heard that Franco is great and has a shot at the award. I'm doubtful, but I can't say whether it's justified or not, so let's move on. The remaining nominees are Jeff Bridges in True Grit, but to me that's barely a leading role and he just won last year. It's not gonna happen. I really think that Jesse Eisenberg deserves not only his nomination but to win - he absolutely defined this role, making a misanthropic, selfish loner into a fascinating character we end up rooting for, even as we never grow to like him. It's hard for me to think of Mark Zuckerberg and not picture Eisenberg instead. But I think instead the award will go to Colin Firth, who is truly incredible in The King's Speech. When he stutters, it's real and heart-breaking; his interactions with Geoffrey Rush are classic and captivating, and it's not until after the film that you realize how much you've invested in

Best Director

Nominated:  David O. Russell, The Fighter; David Fincher, The Social Network; Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit; Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan; Tom Hooper, The King's Speech.  First of all, that's a pretty nice set of directors. I know some are up in arms about Christopher Nolan being left off for Inception, but ... dude. It was well directed but sort of a slop of a film that got stupider every time I thought about it. Of the nominees, I think the Academy will give it to one of my favorite directors who turned in yet another brilliant film - David Fincher for The Social Network.

Best Picture

I Didn't See: 127 Hours. Seriously, I saw NINE films nominated for Best Picture. How about me? The remaining nominations: Black Swan; The Fighter; Inception; The Kids Are All Right; The King's Speech; The Social Network; Toy Story 3; True Grit; Winter's Bone. I think the fight here is between The King's Speech and The Social Network. As I understand it, The King's Speech has won a lot of the other award shows, and that supposedly means it's the favorite to win the Oscar. Perhaps - it was certainly great, and as good of an example of what great writing, acting and direction can do - because the plot itself is somewhat shockingly banal. (A member of British royalty has...a speech impediment!)

But frankly, the same can and should be said about The Social Network, a movie about ... the creation of a website. And wait! It's about the lawsuit over that very web site! It's an incredible script (for which Aaron Sorkin is likely to win his own Oscar), with great performances and direction. (Lost amidst the other snubs is Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin. He was hugely integrated to the film, and was fantastic.) Of all the films nominated, it's probably the most well developed, most complete film. While I also loved Winters Bone and The King's Speech, I can't quite say the same about those films. It's a resounding success, and while it may not win on Sunday, it should.

Anyway, that's what I think.

Save PBS

Among their many odious planned cuts, the Republican-led House has suggested cutting all funding to PBS. This is a pet peeve of theirs and has been for going on fifty years. (There's a video out there of Mr. Rogers testifying to Congress on the importance of PBS, and if that doesn't convince you, you are dead to me.)

Practically speaking, I'm more outraged at the gall and heartlessness of some of these cuts rather than fearing their passage, as the Senate and President Obama have no reason to accept this nonsense.

But here's another good example of why PBS matters. If it's too small below, either click the image to enlarge or follow the link in the prior sentence.

Some Recent Books

One of the nice thing about commuting each day is I've been able to read a lot more (somewhat ironic since my last job was working for a book company, but life is oh-so-hilarious that way). Here are some of the books I've recently read, and a brief review of each:

Nicole Krauss is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors - her prior novels (Man Walks Into A Room, The History of Love) were very impressive, and her latest, Great House, was one of the books I anticipated in 2010, even before it showed up on almost every Best of 2010 list in existence.

Great House tells four separate but linked stories, each chapter switching to another story told by another character. They are all linked together by, of all things, a writing desk (though in truth, one story is so subtly linked to this that I missed it while reading it - or, more accurately, I wasn't sure I'd grasped it.) The connections between the stories is clever, and much more than a gimmick; the characters here are also all sad, desperate and searching for something. Krauss' mastery of language and story makes this worth every bit of praise that it received.

One of these days, I'm going to write a blog post that I've been noodling on for awhile - the top 12 authors I'd like to publish one new book a year (that is, one for each month). When I do, Krauss seems well poised to make the list.

Review: 9.0/10.0

Another writer I'd admired before was Myla Goldberg - her debut novel Bee Season was fantastic, though her follow-ups were not as well received. However, her 2010 novel The False Friend received a great deal of praise, so I picked it up.

I'm not sure I've ever read a book faster that I was so unsure about; I never really liked it, but I finished it in less than three days. It's the story of Celia Durst, who returns home 20 years after her best friend Djuna disappeared. Celia is convinced that despite telling her friends and family that Celia had gotten into a strangers car, the truth was worse: she'd seen Djuna fall into a hole in the forest but left her there, filled with childhood anger. Her latent responsibility and guilt has finally caught up with her, and she wants to reconnect with those old friends and own up - or discover - the truth. It's a good premise - and Celia discovers some things that I found genuinely interesting - but The False Friend fails because of one main thing: Nobody is likable. Celia, in particular, is depressed to a degree that probably rings true but ... depressed people aren't fun. And the ending isn't particularly satisfying either ... in short, I think it's a successful story, but really not enjoyable. I can't recommend it.

Rating: 5.5/10.0

Another book I recently read that suffers from a less than likable narrator is The Ask, by Sam Lipsyte. In this case, it's Milo who works for a private college in Manhattan, trying to raise donations for the school. (The title refers to the request for those funds.) Milo loses this job quite quickly, then gets it back, and things go worse from there. The book is mainly a satire, and is often quite funny - but, at the end of the day it's hard to root for Milo, and that's pretty much required here to find it satisfying. As is often the case in satire, the story spirals into something a bit crazy and implausible, but those flaws are made more obvious through the lack of a faithful narrator.

What's more, it seems like Lipsyte knows this. Here's a quote (and yes, there's a character named Vargina; she's a former crack-baby whose name was adjusted by a charitable hospital nurse who has made something of her life):

"I'm not very likable, am I?"
"You're likable enough," said Vargina.
"No, I mean, if I were the protagonist of a book or a movie, it would be hard to like me, to identify with me, right?"
"I would never read a book like that, Milo. I can't think of anyone who would. There's no reason for it."
"Oh."

For that bit of self-acknowledgment, I'll give The Ask an additional half-point. But as biting satire, it falls short - and as a modern commentary, it feels watered down. (A far better example of this would be, among others, The Financial Lives of the Poets.)  It's quite enjoyable, but not much more than that.

Rating: 7.0/10.0

I expected to like The Ask and The False Friend more than I did, based both on the stories and the authors. With Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, I knew literally nothing about the book except how many people liked it. Had I known the plot, I'm not sure I would have actually even picked it up.

It is, as my mother described it to me after I'd read it, a modern-day Jane Austen. (Yeah...I didn't think I'd read that either.) Major Ernest Pettigrew is retired, living in a provincial seaside English town. The book begins with him hearing that his brother has died; he finds an unlikely sympathetic friend in Mrs. Ali, a Pakistani shopkeeper in town who has lost her husband. The story doesn't necessarily tell all that much - a major plot point is what will happen with his expensive set of collector Churchill hunting rifles - and the conclusion seems all but evident quite early on, debut novelist Helen Simonson creates a riveting, completely absorbing story. Pettigrew is a codger, disgusted with the way modern society has stripped all the elegance and ritual out of daily life; his son Roger is sadly a prime example of this (and one of the funnier characters I've discovered in some time). Mrs. Ali has to deal with the relatives of her deceased husband giving the store over to her fundamentalist nephew. The two develop a late life love story (hey, say that five times fast) that is incredibly moving, funny and tender.

As the story builds, I was worried that the ending would be forced or contrived, but I honestly was suprised and engaged by it, and it's incredibly satisfying. 

Let's be clear - this is not my kind of book. But perhaps it should be - frankly, regardless of the plot, any book that is as satisfying as this - more, please.

Rating: 8.5/10.0

The Greatest Movie Review Ever?

Courtesy of Lamebook, this is a good contender for the greatest movie review, ever:

In case you can't read it, it reads as such (about the wonderful film The King's Speech):

I truly enjoyed the cinematography of this wonderful work of cinema, in addition to the direction which gave a realistic feel of not only the King's inhibitions, but the gravity of a situation that, albeit overplayed with regards to historical accuracy, was portrayed as one whose implications would result in seemingly severe consequences. Firth and Rush were exquisite to say the very least ... Could have had more tits though

 Get this man a gig!

Questions and Answers

Q: (me) "Why did we not board the regular ferry?"

A: (ferry employee) "The regular boat was having problems."

Q: (me) "Oh. Like, what?"

A: (employee) "I think they couldn't make the boat steer."

Me: "Yeah...good call, then."


-- I posted this from my iPhone, please excuse the mess.

Location:San Clemente Dr,Corte Madera,United States

Transmission by Playmobil

Sometimes, you don't know something needs to exist until you see it. This ... is one of those things.




"This" for the inquisitive mind, is a video of Joy Division's "Transmission" - as performed by the band originally for John Peel in 1979. Thanks to kottke for the link, and to softwareDR on YouTube for posting.

Yes, the 49ers Blew It. No, They Were Not Alone.

Now that Aaron Rodgers has won his first Super Bowl for the Green Bay Packers, you are hearing the completely predictable chatter on sports radio about the decision that the 49ers front office made back in 2005, to take Alex Smith over Rodgers. Clearly, this was a monumental miss.

Let's forget for a moment that Rodgers is who he is today through sitting and watching a legend for three years, and learning and perfecting a consistent system ... while, had he been in San Francisco, he would have been starting from Day One with one of the worst teams in the franchise and league history. (Seriously, Arnaz Battle was the best wideout the team had in 2006. It was not pretty.) I think Rodgers would have done better than Smith - he's more talented and has a better head for the game - but if 49ers fans think the team would be celebrating a Super Bowl win today with just that draft day change, they are kidding themselves.

But let's instead focus on what actually happened in that draft. Smith went #1 overall to the 49ers, this much we know and repeat day after day after day. But Aaron Rodgers fell to the Packers at 24. For sure, some teams in between didn't need a QB, but many of them did. Here are just a few of the teams not named the 49ers that passed on Aaron Rodgers, and the QB they felt comfortable starting the 2006 season with:

Pick	Team	Who They Liked Instead at QB	Who They Drafted Instead
2	Miami Dolphins	Daunte Culpepper, who was later benched for Joey Harrington.	Ronnie Brown. Good pick.
3	Cleveland Browns	Charlie Frye. Seriously.	Braylon Edwards. Meh pick, especially with Frye throwing to him.
4	Chicago Bears	Rex Grossman	Cedric Benson. Average player - for the Bengals.
5	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Chris Simms	Cadillac Williams. Decent pick.
6	Tennessee Titans	Kerry Collins	Adam "Pacman" Jones. That didn't work out.
7	Minnesota Vikings	Brad Johnson	Troy Williamson. Whoops.
9	Washington Redskins	Mark Brunell. Seriously.	Carlos Rogers, CB.
10	Detroit Lions	Jon Kitna	Mike Williams. Whoops.
14	Carolina Panthers	Jake Delhomme	Thomas Davis, LB.
15	Kansas City Chiefs	Trent Green, backed up by Damon Huard	Derrick Johnson, LB.
18	Minnesota Vikings	Brad Johnson. Yes, they passed on Rodgers twice. Good thing he's in their division now!	Erasmus James, DE.
19	St. Louis Rams	Marc Bulger	Alex Barron, OL.
21	Jacksonville Jaguars	Byron Leftwich	Matt Jones, WR. Wow...that's bad.
23	Oakland Raiders	Aaron Brooks. This might be the funniest name on this list.	Fabian Washington. Sorry, that's the funniest name on this list.

* I didn't include the Arizona Cardinals, who had just drafted Matt Leinart high and didn't know yet how bad that pick was. The same goes for the Houston Texans and David Carr. Also not included: Dallas (Drew Bledsoe), Cincinnati (Carson Palmer), San Diego (Philip Rivers), New Orleans (Drew Brees), Baltimore (Steve McNair).

For what it's worth, Ronnie Brown and Braylon Edwards are the only guys on that list who have been to a Pro Bowl ... and Edwards is already out of Cleveland and Brown may be out of Miami this off-season ... and both Cleveland and Miami have been looking for QBs ever since. (Cleveland may have found one with Colt McCoy, time will tell.)

Do Redskins fans talk about how they missed out on Aaron Rodgers? Do Vikings fans lament that they passed on him twice? They might ... but I doubt it, and no way is it sports radio fodder to the extent that it is here in the Bay Area. To be sure, none of these teams took a QB with the pick, and there's something to that (though the Redskins took Campbell with the 25th pick just after Rodgers went to Green Bay .

Look, I am the last guy to apologize for Mike Nolan and the shambles of a front office that decided Alex Smith was their guy and Aaron Rodgers wasn't. It was a massive mistake. But the 49ers were not alone. More than 2/3 of the league decided against taking Rodgers. They were ALL wrong.

It All Makes Sense Now

This post feels a bit like rubbing salt in an open wound, but I just can't resist.

When Mike Singletary was fired from the San Francisco 49ers, he got himself a new gig in Minnesota, and described the position as exactly what he'd held with the Niners before his fateful promotion - linebackers coach and Assistant Head Coach. In San Francisco, that latter position seems largely to have been as a motivational speaker, but undoubtedly there was more. And though it's quite a fall from head coach to positional coach, meaning Singletary still has never been a coordinator, the "Assistant Head Coach" eases the blunt.

When interviewed, this is what Singletary said:

[Mike] Singletary confirmed in an interview with Chicago radio station ESPN 1000 that he will become an assistant to Vikings coach Leslie Frazier, with whom he played in Chicago.
 
"I will be in Minnesota with Les," Singletary said. "I will be a linebackers coach/assistant head coach."

Now ... here's how the Minnesota Vikings list Singletary on their website:

Yeah, that says Special Assistant TO Head Coach. Kind of a major difference. (Also, there's another guy named Dennis Polian whose entire job is 'Assistant to Head Coach.' For what that's worth.)

Calling one the "Assistant Head Coach" when in fact, you are an Assistant to the Head Coach sounds familiar. Sort of hilariously so. And, everything begins to make sense now -- Mike Singletary is Dwight Schrute:

I WANT WINNERS!

It's just incredible that he didn't succeed as a head coach. Wow.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

One of the things I find myself doing - and trying to stop doing while I'm doing it - is to imagine a book I'm reading as movie. It can be a fun exercise, and to some degree imagining a book in one's head isn't all that far off from seeing it on a screen. Certain writers -- mostly ones I don't enjoy reading - essentially disguise screenplays as novels, while others simply describe characters, landscape and events so clearly and brilliantly, one can't help but direct the scene.

Laura Hillenbrand is such a writer - her first book was Seabiscuit, a simply amazing detail of the Great Depression and the racehorse - a book I loved so entirely that I was shocked by:

a) How crappy the movie turned out to be.
b) How many people loved that crappy movie.

Hillenbrand's latest book takes place around World War II, focusing not on a horse, but a human: Louis Zamperini. Once a thug, Zamperini refocused and became an Olympic runner, alongside teammate Jesse Owens in the Berlin 1936 Games. After the U.S. entered the war, Zamperini became a bombadier in the Pacific theater. The reader knows - from the opening passage, as well as an description of the story - that Zamperini is at some point lost at sea after a crash, surrounded by sharks and spotted by the Japanese.

So ... there's that.

Hillenbrand then rewinds and brings us to that moment by detailing Zamperini's childhood - described elegantly and vividly, Zamperini (or, simply, Louis as he's referenced through the book) starts off life as a massively energetic, often thuggish, delinquent kid. His brother Pete, a runner himself, decides Louis will not only succeed at running but be reformed by it, and this proves true as Louis was good - Olympian athlete  good. But all of this, as well told as it is, pales to the story once war begins.

This is Louis Zamperini, and he's way tougher than us.

Zamperini is a bombardier, flying missions that were almost insanely fraught with risk. The statistics Hillenbrand places are horrifying and crazy; close to 29,000 planes were lost due not to combat, but to accidents and over 50,000 airmen died in training and the war due to noncombat accidents. Add in the obvious real risks of combat itself, and the job was one of the most dangerous in all of the war.


As foretold in the opening segment, Zamperini does crash, surviving it along with his close friend and pilot Russell Allen "Phil" Phillips, and the tailgunner Mac. They survive on the raft for an unheard of time (truly) and do so through desperate but ingenious methods, mostly of Zamperini's design.

And then, they are "rescued" by the Japanese and put into POW camp.

What's insane about Unbroken is that as crazy and insane the "castaway" portion of the story is, it gets more horrifying. The abuses waged against Zamperini's body and mind and his fellow captives are devastating in their totality. And as it becomes more unbelievable, it is instantly reinforced that it MUST be believable because this all happened. The fact that someone like "The Bird" existed is both repugnant and somewhat incredible, because if this were fiction, you'd find his behavior over the top, unbelievable and potentially an offensive depiction.

As hard as it would be to create a realistic looking month-plus at sea with actors wasting away to almost nothing, it might be harder to successfully pull off the horrors that Hillenbrand details here. I rather hoped that nobody even attempt to turn this into a film -- but ... of course it's already are in the works. Sigh. 

Without going further in the story, it's finally worth stating that the story ends on a scale that was both suprising and satisfying. The book is gripping, powerful and at times, as one might expect, emotional and inspiring. I knew nothing of Louis Zamperini, or that he'd once been a national hero. He still is one, and should be celebrated as such. Laura Hillenbrand has written another spectacular book, one I simply can't recommend enough.


Rating: 9.5/10.0

Friday Tunage: We Were Promised Jetpacks

It's been awhile, and this is something that got recommended to me about an hour ago and I have already listened to it too much. It's from a band called "We Were Promised Jetpacks" -- which is now one of my favorite band names, and not just because it recalls one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite shows, The West Wing:

Leo McGarry: My generation never got the future it was promised... Thirty-five years later, cars, air travel is exactly the same. We don't even have the Concorde anymore. Technology stopped.
Josh Lyman: The personal computer...
Leo McGarry: A more efficient delivery system for gossip and pornography? Where's my jet pack, my colonies on the Moon?

No idea if these Scottish blokes in the band are referencing that - somehow I'm skeptical - but regardless, they play some damn fine music. Here's a video of Quiet Little Voices, the first single from These Four Walls, their first release:

Have yourself a lovely weekend.