About a year ago I stole this from Chris, who stole it from someone else. I had a lot of fun doing it, and since I have nothing better to post (plus I talked to Laura today and that reminded me of it), I’ll take another go at it, though I have made one substitution.

Directions: List pictures of 16 celebrities that you find attractive. List 8 females and 8 males.

FEMALES

1. Michelle Yeoh-Star of Tomorrow Never Dies, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Memoirs of a Geisha

2. Ziyi Zhang-Also from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Memoirs of a Geisha

3. Lucy Liu-From Ally McBeal and Charlie's Angels (anyone else notice an Asian bonanza here?)

4. Okay, I'm done with Asians, and I'll show you Catherine Zeta-Jones:

5. Claudia Black-Star of Farscape and has a recurring role on Stargate SG-1 (and yes, since she played an awesome character with my name in Farscape, I'll forgive her for Pitch Black)

6. Remember when I said I was done with Asians? I lied. Here's Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi, my favorite figure skater of all time (though this is admittedly an older picture; I recently saw her hosting a figure skating special on TV and she's starting to not age very well):

7. Michelle Kwan, who I still hope will become the next Kristi:

8. And finally, Lea Salonga-You'll probably recognize her as the singing voice of Jasmine and Mulan. She's also been in several musicals including Miss Saigon and Les Miserables. She's also the reason I got into Wicked (I saw a video of her singing "Defying Gravity") and I would love for her to be in that as well:

MALES (There'd be more than two Asians if not for the fact that most male Asian celebrities are older and have pretty much lost their looks)

1. Ewan McGregor- 

2. Rick Yune-He's probably best known for playing the villain Zao in Die Another Day, though he's only attractive in the beginning of that movie, before the production designer and makeup artists did bad things to him (I'm sorry, but the bald/eyebrow-less/creepy bluish-white eye look just doesn't do it for me)

3. Nate Richert-He played Harvey on Sabrina the Teenage Witch and that's pretty much the only thing he's done (I hear he has a band now), but I think he kind of looks like a young Ewan McGregor. Or at least he used to (I've heard that he's aged a lot and gained weight since Sabrina went off the air, but I haven't bothered to confirm this), so I'm basing it off what he used to look like, I guess.

4. Garrett Wang-He was Harry Kim on Star Trek Voyager and apparently must spend his time nowadays at Star Trek conventions or something, cuz I haven't seen him in anything else.

5. Jonathan Frakes-A little on the old side nowadays, but he was fairly attractive when Next Generation was in its heyday (plus I wanted one of my picks to be a guy with a beard):

6. Tim Martin Gleason-You've most likely never heard of him. He played Raoul in the touring company of Phantom of the Opera when I saw it in 2003. He's currently playing the role in Vegas now, and was part of the Broadway cast for the historic performance when Phantom became the longest-running musical. Plus, he's a good singer:

7. Oh, what the hell. I'm (still) feeling generous. Plus, he's a better singer:

8. This is the new addition to the list of 16. Yes, Adam Pascal is gone and has been replaced by David Tennant. If you're British, you'll probably recognize him as the title character in Doctor Who, which I've become totally addicted to. If you're American, you MIGHT know him from the fourth Harry Potter movie, in which he played Barty Crouch, Jr. (To me, watching the movie has become incredibly weird because I associate him as the Doctor so much that my mind just tries to reject the notion of him ever being a bad guy). He's not your ordinary brand of attractive, but there's something appealing about him nonetheless. Plus, he's an incredibly good actor. I hope he continues to play the Doctor for many seasons to come. And here's this for irony: the new season of Doctor Who premieres (in the UK) on March 31st, which just happens to be Ewan McGregor's birthday.

There you have it...again. And please remember that these are not necessarily in order of preference (with the exception of Male #1).

So Martin Scorsese has FINALLY won his Oscar. Let the cheering begin. It seems that the mass last-minute hesitation that caused experts and amateurs alike to switch their prediction from The Departed to either Little Miss Sunshine or Babel was for naught. I still haven’t seen The Departed, but I’m glad that it won because lately I’ve felt like I have some sort of obligation to see the Best Picture winner, possibly because I actually managed to see every Best Picture winner from Titanic to Lord of the Rings, plus a few scattered Best Pictures prior to that (though it seems I’ve been procrastinating on my obligation, since I still haven’t seen Million Dollar Baby or Crash). Anyways, The Departed just looks more interesting than Little Miss Sunshine or Babel. I haven’t gauged just how much effort I’m gonna put into seeing The Departed yet, though. A former co-worker of mine kind of vaguely gave away the ending (though he swears that it doesn’t matter if you already know the end), and I’ve gradually picked up more details along the way, specifically, two characters confirmed dead and one confirmed survivor (and I accurately guessed two of those). Actually, if you watch the Best Picture montage clip for The Departed close enough, you’ll see one of those deaths. At any rate, I’m probably more likely to see it with one of my friends (as long as they haven’t already seen it) than alone, but we’ll see.

Now onto Oscar Picks. After a pathetic showing last year, I seem to have bounced back, because I won this year with nine “agreements” (I don’t really want to call them “matches” cuz these weren’t predictions). Specifically, I got Best Actress, Director, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Editing, Makeup, Live Action Short Film, Visual Effects, and Adapted Screenplay. Mandy and Rachel tied with five each. Rachel got Best Supporting Actress, Original Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects, while Mandy got Best Supporting Actress, Documentary Feature, Original Score, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects.

This year, the Oscars were hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, who really wasn’t that funny (for some reason, Yahoo liked her). Truth be told, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, and Steven Spielberg were all funnier than she was. Still, it could’ve been worse. We could’ve been saddled with Steve Martin.

Other observations:

·        So…Jack Nicholson is showing his support for Britney Spears? Seriously, I didn’t recognize him until pathetically late in the show (BTW, I checked IMDB. He plays a cancer patient in his next movie).

·        Wait, didn’t Jack Nicholson present the Best Picture award LAST year?

·        Okay, they got rid of playing the music during the acceptance speech, but the music they used to play people off seemed oddly poignant and sad.

·        Here’s a tip for all you wannabe producers, sound guys, makeup people, and visual effects artists: If you are nominated as part of a team, and you win, make sure you are the first person to get to the mike. Otherwise, you’re only gonna be able to quickly shout out a thank you to your wife as the “get-off-the-stage” music drowns you out. And if you’re the third guy in the team, forget about any chance to say anything.

·        My local newspaper apparently went to bed at ten o’clock because they only had the list of winners up to the supporting roles.

·        I normally don’t like Will Ferrell, but he wasn’t so bad last night. That musical number was kind of funny, actually, although I’ll be mean and give most of the credit to Jack Black and John C. Reily.

·        The acting nominee clips were WAY too short. If they wanted to save time, why not get rid of the sound effects choir or those themed montages about “writers in the movies” and “America in the movies?”

·        I missed part of the beginning clip that had a bunch of the nominees talking about being nominated and winning and making movies, but I liked the part where Leonardo DiCaprio was trying to figure out how many movies he’s made where his character gets killed off. They do like having him die, don’t they?

·        In the past, there’s always been a “humorous” bit that I thought was completely stupid but which all the critics rave about as the most hilarious moment of the evening (for example, last year with Ben Stiller in the green screen suit). That didn’t really happen this year, but that doesn’t mean the “humorous” bits were actually funny. I shall elaborate momentarily.

·        Gospel Choir: Huh?

·        Ellen’s bits with the screenplay and the digital camera: Ellen really wasn’t that funny, but Marty, Clint, and Steven were hilarious.

·        Ellen’s bit with the vacuum cleaner: I can’t decide if this was stupid or mildly amusing in a weird way. Penelope Cruz’s dress really was torn, though.

·        Please, stop with the inserting of animated characters into live-action surroundings! At least they weren’t presenting an award (I’m not really into the “precocious little kid” act, but I’ll take Abigail Breslin and Jaden Smith over an animated character any day). What they did was the SAME EXACT THING that they did five years ago when the Best Animated Feature category was first created (showing some characters from the movie in the audience, followed by reaction shots of the losers looking pissed off). Plus, Cameron Diaz’s joke about “animated characters must remain seated” was one of the biggest thuds of the evening.

·        Of course, the critics are once again complaining that it was boring. A) I didn’t think it was boring, and B) I’m not sure what it is that they want so that it won’t be “boring.”

·        I know Peter O’Toole is a legend, but for some reason, he looked “fake,” like he was made out of wax or something. I’m happy for Forest Whitaker, but I still feel bad that Peter O’Toole lost again. He looked really sad. It could be worse, though. He could be the sound guy from Apocalypto who has now lost 19 times.

·        There were no real standouts either way as far as fashion goes, but I’d say Beyonce and Kate Winslet were probably the best-looking, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Will Smith among the guys. On the other side of the scale, Penelope Cruz’s dress kind of made her look like the bridesmaid in that Herbal Essences commercial, and Cameron Diaz’s skirt was just way too big. Jodie Foster had a nice dress, but her hair was awful.

·        “Academy Award-winning screenwriter Ben Affleck?” There’s something weird about hearing that.

·        My “Maybe I Have Been Living Under A Rock” moment of the evening: Finding out that Portia di Rossi was dating Ellen. I didn’t even know that Portia di Rossi was gay.

·        What was up with everyone putting their Oscars on the floor?

·        As usual, the Memorial Tribute music was familiar, but I don’t know what it is.

·        Let’s move on to Best Original Song, since I seem to devote a bullet for it every year (though I’m probably gonna have to devote two this time). Three songs from Dreamgirls were nominated this year. This reminded me of a certain observation I had two years ago (and don’t let the last picture fool you; Beyonce WAS performing there):

·        In case you didn’t get the point, Beyonce has now performed SIX songs in the space of two years.

·        The MSN critic was especially vicious this year in his insults against the performers. I’m actually kinda glad that nobody I liked was performing last night (besides, they’re all busy invading my Spanish class). Anyways, did anybody else notice during the Dreamgirls medley that Jennifer Hudson was dangerously close to having a wardrobe malfunction?

·        I still don’t like Melissa Etheridge.

·        Daniel Craig is…not very attractive.

·        People kept messing stuff up. Ellen accidentally insinuated that Penelope Cruz was Mexican (She’s Spanish). Ben Affleck said that Infernal Affairs (the movie that The Departed is based on) was a Japanese movie (It’s from Hong Kong). George Lucas called the director of The Queen “Stephen Fears” (It’s “Frears”). Jaden Smith read the wrong line on the teleprompter. And then there was Clint Eastwood and his complete botching of the intro to the Ennio Morricone tribute.

·        I would have been more impressed by that dance troupe if I hadn’t originally seen them in a car commercial.

·        And finally, my mom REALLY wants Al Gore to run for president.

Well, that’s my post-mortem. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have.

BEST DIRECTOR

The Nominees Are:

• Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel)
• Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
• Clint Eastwood (Letters From Iwo Jima)
• Stephen Frears (The Queen)
• Paul Greengrass (United 93)

Erin’s Pick: Martin Scorsese (The Departed) 

Mandy’s Pick: Clint Eastwood (Letters From Iwo Jima)

Rachel’s Pick: Clint Eastwood (Letters From Iwo Jima)

The Winner Last Year Was: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)

I originally picked Stephen Frears for The Queen, but I switched to a sympathy vote for Scorsese. C’mon, give the guy a break, already. And isn’t it ironic that he’s up against Clint Eastwood AGAIN?

BEST ACTRESS

The Nominees Are:

• Penélope Cruz (Volver)
• Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal)
• Helen Mirren (The Queen)
• Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)
• Kate Winslet (Little Children)

Erin’s Pick: Helen Mirren (The Queen)

Mandy’s Pick: Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)

Rachel’s Pick: Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)

The Winner Last Year Was: Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line)

Hasn’t Judi Dench been nominated about eight times in the last ten years? Anyways, as I’ve said before, I found The Queen to be an excellent movie, largely because of the performances of Helen Mirren and Michael Sheen (who played Tony Blair and was not nominated). Little factoid: Meryl Streep is the only American nominated this year (Penélope Cruz is Spanish, the other three are British). As an aside, I went to IMDB to verify that Meryl Streep is in fact American (cuz you never know when someone’ll turn out to be Canadian just to make you look dumb), and I discovered that she’s gonna be in about 5 different movies in 2008. I have seen The Devil Wears Prada as well, but I prefer Helen Mirren (plus, Meryl Streep’s “boss-from-Hell” character is about 10 times worse in the book).

BEST ACTOR

The Nominees Are:

• Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)
• Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)
• Peter O’Toole (Venus)
• Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)
• Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)

Erin’s Pick: Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)

Mandy’s Pick: Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)

Rachel’s Pick: Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)

The Winner Last Year Was: Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)

Okay, this is the message I seem to be getting from those who actually do predictions: 1) Forest Whitaker is the favorite, with Peter O’Toole as a dark horse (because he’s a legend who’s been nominated about eight times with no wins except for an Honorary Oscar that he got four years ago). 2) Leonardo DiCaprio could have been strong competition for Whitaker had he been nominated for The Departed instead of Blood Diamond (How did that happen, anyway?). At any rate, I don’t think I’ve seen a single movie with either Peter O’Toole or Forest Whitaker (or Ryan Gosling, for that matter). That leaves me with Leonardo DiCaprio and Will Smith, and since I feel kinda bad that Leo didn’t win for The Aviator (not that Jamie Foxx was undeserving, cuz he was really good in Ray), I’ll give it to him. It may change after I see the movie, though.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

The Nominees Are:

• Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine)
• Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children)
• Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond)
• Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)
• Mark Wahlberg (The Departed)

Erin’s Pick: Mark Wahlberg (The Departed)

Mandy’s Pick: Mark Wahlberg (The Departed)

Rachel’s Pick: Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)

The Winner Last Year Was: George Clooney (Syriana)

Dude, I’m voting for Mark Wahlberg? The guy that was in that Planet of the Apes movie with the ending that made no sense? The guy who has the same name as a not-so-famous game show host? What is this world coming to? On the other hand…Academy Award Winner George Clooney? Anyways, most predictions sites are giving it to Eddie Murphy with Alan Arkin as a dark horse. At any rate, can anyone tell me if Jackie Earle Haley is any relation to the guy who played the Tin Man?

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Nominees Are:

• Borat
• Children of Men
• The Departed
• Little Children
• Notes on a Scandal

Erin’s Pick: The Departed

Mandy’s Pick: Borat

Rachel’s Pick: Borat

The Winner Last Year Was: Brokeback Mountain

For all of you who thought I would type the full title of Borat, I’ve got news for you. Anyways, I haven’t seen any of these movies, but I’d like to get around to seeing The Departed  before Oscar Night (though once again I wish to know the level of goriness, because I’m not squeamish, but I do draw a line, and recent movies have repeatedly crossed that line). One of my co-workers vaguely gave away the ending during work one day, but he insists that it’s one of those movies where it doesn’t matter if you know the ending, cuz the important part is how the plot unfolds. One of the details that I guessed seems to be true, though.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Nominees Are:

• Babel
• Letters From Iwo Jima
• Little Miss Sunshine
• Pan’s Labyrinth
• The Queen

Erin’s Pick: The Queen

Mandy’s Pick: Letters From Iwo Jima

Rachel’s Pick: The Queen

The Winner Last Year Was: Crash

The Queen is the only one of these movies that I’ve seen, but I thought it was a really good movie and I would probably go for it anyways. We have the DVD of Little Miss Sunshine at home, so maybe I ought to check it out before Oscar Night, since it’s supposedly such a big frontrunner.

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So, it seems I've been spammed by...the atheist neocon objectivist? Not sure there, but at any rate, since I'm neither atheist, nor a neocon, nor an objectivist, I'm not sure why he figured I was worth spamming. I'm not rising to any bait either, because I really don't care, so his spam comment can just sit there.

I'm lucky to have found a free computer cuz it seems every computer lab on campus is full. Does every class except mine have a paper due today or something?

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

The Nominees Are:

• After the Wedding (Denmark)
• Days of Glory (Algeria)
• The Lives of Others (Germany)
• Pan’s Labyrinth (Mexico)
• Water (Canada)

Erin’s Pick: Pan’s Labyrinth

Mandy’s Pick: Pan’s Labyrinth

Rachel’s Pick: Days of Glory

The Winner Last Year Was: Tsotsi (South Africa)

With the exception of Pan’s Labyrinth, I don’t know much about these films (except that apparently the guy who made Water tried for years to get it made in India before finally ending up in Canada for some reason). I decided on Pan’s Labyrinth because it’s a fantasy, a genre I tend to favor (though I’d like to get some sort of reading on how gory this particular fantasy is before I see it).  

BEST ART DIRECTION

The Nominees Are:

• Dreamgirls
• The Good Shepherd
• Pan’s Labyrinth
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
• The Prestige

Erin’s Pick: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Mandy’s Pick: The Good Shepherd

Rachel’s Pick: Dreamgirls

The Winner Last Year Was: Memoirs of a Geisha

Once again, Pirates is the only movie here that I’ve seen, but I’d probably go for it regardless.

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By the way, I forgot to mention something the other day: our pharmacy manager now has more hair than Britney Spears (see Saturday's post for more explanation).

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

The Nominees Are:

• The Blood of Yingzhou District
• Recycled Life
• Rehearsing a Dream
• Two Hands

Erin’s Pick: The Blood of Yingzhou District

Mandy’s Pick: Recycled Life/Two Hands

Rachel’s Pick: Rehearsing a Dream

The Winner Last Year Was: A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin

This year, I was actually responsible and looked up the synopsis of each documentary, which I will list for you here. The Blood of Yingzhou District chronicles a year in the life of rural Chinese children whose parents have died from AIDS. Recycled Life is a story of families working in a toxic waste dump in Guatemala. Rehearsing a Dream documents a week with 17-year-old artists being mentored by famous dancers and singers. Two Hands is the story of a heart surgeon living in Palestine. I picked The Blood of Yingzhou District because AIDS is one of my top charity interests. I know Mandy picked two (she couldn’t decide), and ordinarily I don’t allow that, but since she abstained from the Best Original Song category, I’ll let her have it just to make up for it. Once again, it looks as thought one of us is guaranteed a point.

BEST EDITING

The Nominees Are:

• Babel
• Blood Diamond
• Children of Men
• The Departed
• United 93

Erin’s Pick: The Departed

Mandy’s Pick: Blood Diamond

Rachel’s Pick: Children of Men

The Winner Last Year Was: Crash

Of course, the category I may claim some expertise in has no nominees that I’ve seen, just like last year. However, I shall try very hard to see both The Departed and Blood Diamond before Oscar night (and Children of Men if I can squeeze it in). Here’s something I don’t understand: When it first came out, every review I saw of Blood Diamond was negative, and yet it got a bunch of nominations. I’ll have to judge for myself.