gottahavacuppamocha

Throughout the year, there are only two times I will plug in the TV to watch something. One is for the Super Bowl and the other is for the Oscars. Despite what Chris Rock said, it is one of the few things on TV somewhat worth watching. Most TV is crap, IMHO. I suppose some of the other award shows, might be kind of interesting, but sicne I don’t watch TV, the Emmys are kind of worthless. Likewise for the multitude of music award shows because most of the acts I’ve never heard of or care to listen to.

Anyway, as far as Oscar shows go, this one was kind of…boring. Chris Rock’s opening was pretty bland. It had a few moments, but none of them are memorable. I don’t know if it is because he toned down his usual act, or because this was the first time he hosted, and was trying to find the right fit. Probably the best thing he did was the sequence where he interviewed people at a theatre, asking their opinions of the Best Picture nominees. The answers were pretty funny. Aside from that, the only funny one-liner I can remember was his quip about next year’s ceremony being held in the parking lot – drive-thru to get your trophy and a McFlurry, then leave.

Not that it being boring was all Rock’s fault. The idea of presenting some of the awards from the seats, was pretty stupid, as was the idea of gathering all of the nominees of a category up on stage, then announcing the winner. Sure, it takes time for the people to get up on stage, but that is part of the drama. The music soaring while they are walking up to the stage, the hugs, the handshakes, and the kisses. They just won the Oscar. This is the once-in-a-lifetime chance. The pinnacle of their career. Let them enjoy it for the few extra seconds it takes to get to the stage.

The best speech of the evening was probably Jamie Foxx’s, especially when he mentioned that his daughter told him the eve if he didn’t win, he was still good.

Martin Scorcese is now 0 for 5 for Best Director, which ties him with Alfred Hitchcock. I was under the impression that the Oscars weren’t necessarily always given for the picture that was nominated, but sometimes was given to acknowledge a body of work. That said, I think Scorcese probably should have won the Oscar. On the upside for “Marty,” he was thanked more often than Harvey Weinstein, which I guess is something important in Hollywood (how often a person is thanked by name at the Oscars).

Overall, I thought it was fairly boring. Do I regret plugging in my TV and watching it? No. I might have to go check out some of the nominated films and see what they are all about. However, i was a bit disappointed by the telecast, and felt it could have been better.

When I first saw it, my first reaction was, “Holy Shit!” Hunter S. Thompson was an author and journalist who pioneered a new type of journalism. He was certainly a maverick when it came to covering stories, as seen in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72. I could go on about his writing, but since it has been years since I read one of his books, it’s probably better not to.

What I do remember about him though, is when I lived in Colorado, and he would pop up in the news on occassion. He was very fond of guns and guarded his privacy. He also ran for sheriff of his county a few years back (IIRC, he lost). If you have read any of his books, you would probably also know that he was fond of drugs and alcohol.

While everyone has to go sometime, I always figured he would either die of cancer, cirrhosis, overdose, or maybe a car accident. Due to his love of guns, I suppose it isn’t too surprising that his life ended due to one. He apparently died by his own hand, which is a shame, because he seemed to have such a zest for life. My main consolation at the moment is that it is still early, and maybe it was an accident, or stupidity, or maybe he recieved some bad news (cancer, etc). I hope in the days ahead, we find out why.

Well, since I got some of the WordPress comment spam plugins installed, the site has been relatively free from that insidious pest. However, today I was doing some checking and saw they had added some spam by using trackbacks. It was kind of interesting.

I have never fully understood trackpacks and pingbacks, so I had left them on, figuring somebody might find them useful. Too bad this wasn’t the kind of usage I was anticipating. The trackback linked to a site that was for free online gambling – or so I thought. I deletd the trackbacks from the database, then I went to the website that linked to me.

There is only one static page, that says free online poker a few hundred times, with some assorted text in between (in order to make it appear legit). However, there were no links to any poker games. The only links were at the bottom of the page and they were to Google, Yahoo, and Open Directory with the terms free online poker added to the string. I guess they were trying to boost their rankings, or they had their actual poker sites listed.

Anyway, no more trackbacks or pingback for now. As far as I am concerned, they are pretty useless. If I want to link directly to a page I will do that. If you are a blogger and you use them on your blog, let me know what you think of them (or how to use them).

Well, it was a good game, IMHO. Mostly because the Patriots won :-D But even besides that, it was still a good game. It was close, both teams played very well, there were lots of trunovers, and the half-time show was more or less worth watching ( I hated the half-time shows where they had every other hack celebrity singing the same song :-P ).

Anyway, congrats Pats!

According to this article over at Yahoo, veteran actor, John Vernon, has passed away. While he was in many movies (including the role of Big Brother in the 1956 version of 1984), he will probably be best remembered for the role of Dean Wormer in the movie Animal House.

Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son – Dean Vernon Wormer