Still here.

Yup. I’m still here. No commentery on anything though. But who knows. Maybe when I’m not feeling lazy or if life slows down. Hopefully the former.

Oscar Picks: Just 6 minutes in

So the Oscars are tonight and Wolverine is here to provide hosting duties. My final picks are as follows:
Best Documentary Feature

I have only seen Man on Wire. If you have not seen this film, I strongly recommend it. It’s a bar that docus have to raise.

Best Foreign Language Film

I, sadly, haven’t seen any of these films. So whatever pick I make here is based on buzz. So with that, I say Vals Im Bashir. But who really knows. I mean this is an animated film after all.

Best Animated Feature

Dare I say, WALL-E? Of course I do!

Best Adapted Screenplay

Well, to me, this award goes to Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire. For all I know, Eric Roth is catching shit for the striking simalarities between Forrest Gump and Benjamin Button. I also didn’t care much for The Curious Case (I did see it).

Best Original Screenplay

This award usually goes to the indie film nominated for Best Picture. If history is an indicator, then Milk would be the pick to go with. But Pixar rears its beautiful head too with WALL-E. I’m going to say that Dustin Lance Black will win it for Milk. Although, I believe WALL-E is the better pick.
Best Supporting Actress

I think it is anyones guess as to who will win in this category. The only performances that I have seen in this film were that of Taraji P. Henson and Marissa Tomei. But the buzz says Penolope Cruz, so I am going to go with that.

Best Supporting Actor

Wouldn’t it be funny if when they play a clip of Heath Ledger’s perrfomace they play this:

YouTube – joker kind of likes bacon (batman, 1989)

Oh yeah, Heath wins.
Best Actress

Guess what, as is almost always the case with this category every year, I have not seen any of these performances. What is it with me and women in cinema. Well everyone is saying that Kate is going to win it. It smells of an honorary Oscar presentation, but thats the way the Academy works sometimes.

Best Actor

Of the performances nominated, I have seen all but one (can you guess which?). And to me, it comes down to two. Sean Penn for Milk and Micky Rourke for The Wrestler. I’m going to declare Sean Penn the winner for this. He is my personal and official pick. Although it looks as though Rourke has a shitton going on for him at the moment. I think I’m going to be wrong on this one.

Best Director

On this category, I have seen three of the directors work: Danny Boyle, David Fincher, and Gus Van Zant. Danny Boyle presented a vast and epic film and Fincher provided, not just a portrait, but a movement and time. Boyle is my pick, but not my choice. My personal choice is Van Zant. But I do give kudos to both these men.

Best Picture

I have not seen The Reader or Benjamin Button, but of the other three I saw, two stuck out. For reasons I already mentioned above, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire were my favorite (Benjamin Button is nowhere near these two). But where as the director showdown of Milk and Slumdog were about which visionary worked out a vision, this one is just about that vision. And to me, Slumdog Millionaire is the universal reason why we go to movies. It’s a classic film that opens up worlds, has characters we like, and a story that captures us. And ultimately, it may very well come down to what you think movies can do. Milk gave the world perspective and attention to something special that took place. But for know, I am rooting and officially picking Slumdog Millionaire as my choice. If Milk wins, which doesn’t appear likely, part of me might rejoice.

Inside the Meltdown Impression & the Stimulus

I just finished watching Inside the Meltdown, a news documentary by PBS Frontline, which examined the meltdown of the financial markets late last year. Frontline’s report had a major theme in it that continues into this brand new presidential administration. Essentially, that theme is that of systemic risk trumps moral hazard.  Ben Bernanke knows this and is doing what he has to do. Henry Paulson struggled with the decision and actually gave in to the free market ideology only for it to not pay off. So Paulson, Henry, and Democrats know that the situation is not going to fix itself. About the only people not on the same boat are the Republicans in Congress. Sound familiar?

Now for the past month, I have seen the Republicans try their hardest to offer their cure for the problem. Their solution is tax cuts. Tax Cuts? Tax cuts are flat out not going to work. Ask the opinion of prominent economists and they will tell you the same thing. At least not the same type of tax cuts that the Bush administration gave out last year. Essentially the problem with tax cuts in a situation like this means people will either save their money or pay off their debt. They essentially will not spend money to get the economy moving. Now a type of tax cut that might work is a tax cut that pays it in portions. Well this guy spells it out for you:

Don’t just his word for it, here are Paul Krugman’s words.

So guys, c’mon! Lets spend some of that money! Why not go to the movies? Get the large popcorn. I recommend Slumdog Millionaire.

TUESDAY was HISTORY

Yes. Without a doubt, history was made Tuesday. Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States of America. I watched it during the first day of classes here at my cc with several other people. Certainly, MLK would be proud of this moment.

The same country that was built through hard work of Americans, also was built on the backs of slaves. The same country that emancipated slaves afterwards also took a hundred years to grant sweeping voting rights to blacks. And thankfully it didn’t take a hundred years to reach the moment that took place Tuesday. An African American man is now the leader of the free world. This is certainly something that I thought would take place years later when I was older and something older men and women thought would never happen in their life.

When it all said and done, Obama didn’t take long to usher in the positive change we expected. He moved to close the Guantanamo Bay prisons and he made a several sweeping ethics changes at the executive level. With that said, here is my favorite moment of the week:

George W. Bush’s Good

How will history judge George W. Bush? His fans hope for the best, but as it stands, it doesn’t look very good. But, the man did do some good. And I use the word ‘some’ very loosely. I had to actually do some searching here and find some positive actions by Bush and by his administration. So here are the top five four good actions and policy that the 43rd pulled off.

George W. Bush at the Bishop John T. Walker Memorial Dinner

One of the most progressive actions by President George W. Bush certainly is his finanical aid to Africa to better tackle AIDS. Now while the abstanance aspect of the funding is sure to have some lower their heads, Bush did triple the aid since Clinton. This is certainly a lot better than a “something than nothing” situation would of been.

When Al-Qaeda became a household name to Americans, it meant bad news for the terrorist network. Since entering the American lexicon AQ has had many of their memebers killed or captured. Although the major face of the group remains elusive, the group no longer has the country of Afghanistan to harbor them.

Great Britain and the United States secretly worked with Gaddafi and managed to get one of the longest serving heads of state to not only get rid of his nuclear weapons program, but also get him to  pay $3 billion in compensation to the families of the Pan Am Flight 103 and UTA Flight 772. Bush did not squander this opportunity.

Following the September 11 attacks, Bush rose to the occasion and provided leadership in the mold of Ronald Reagan did after the Challenger Disaster. While several action today are regretful, such as the PATRIOT Act, it was the quick call for justice and the comfort he gave to the nation in that week that had the nation looking to him for direction.

First Week Homies!

First week of the new year! This is officially that year that change and hope are implemented so what better way to start the year than to have Israel bombing Gaza!? Well, peace has been lacking in the middle east for some time. Well, today there seems to be at least a ceasefire for a short amount of time. What about in other parts of the world? Surely, things must have been more peaceful? Well, pirate activity seems to be coming under assault.  Over in Greece the prime minister is sure trying his best to maintain control of the country during one of the worst civil unrests seen there.

Okay! What about here in the states? Well Blagojevich’s appointment to the senate is being vowed by Harry Reid to not be seated. Of course the law may not on his side.

So…

Pirates, Israel-Gaza, Senate Seats, and Civil Unrest. Lets just consider those things holdovers from 2009. Too easy? Fine. So what do we have to look forward to? How about less than two weeks! TWO WEEKS! Till bye bye to:

and hello to:

2008 Person of the Year: Barack Obama

Time and I are in agreement. Barack Obama is Person of the Year. And he certainly did a lot to be named that. Obama created history in almost every step he took in 2008. He defeated the inevitable Clinton name when he took the Democratic nomination after an epic showdown between him and Hillary Clinton. He raised he most amount of money any candidate running for president has ever done. He defeated John McCain  with the backing of the infamous Republican Party.  He tore down racial barriers that many believed would haunt someone with his skin color and name.

Barack Obama has expectations and problems ahead of him beyond this year. Next year will be 2009. He will on January 20th, be officially sworn in as our first African-American president. Though, the problems facing this country are daunting, Obama, who is no stranger to making history, will be the person to face them.