Looking Back at Lindsey

Here are my Oscar picks. So there.

Best Picture:
My gut reaction all along has been a “Brokeback Mountain” win, but my gut reaction was dead wrong last year, and one of the most accurate Oscar pickers (Roger) said that he thinks “Crash” will take it all. I’m still not shaken enough to change my pick, but it’s not as rock-solid as I once thought it was. As for who should, all five films are really, really good movies, but none of them had the emotional impact on me that “Crash” did.
Will Win: “Brokeback Mountain”
Should Win: “Crash”

Best Actress:
Reese Witherspoon has this one sewn up tighter than a hem on a puritan’s dress. Dench and Huffman may have given great performances, if only anyone had actually seen the movies they were in. Keira Knightley’s nomination is her grand coming out party as an actress, but the nomination is its own reward in this case. Charlize Theron once again gave us a heartfelt performance in an unexpected way, but she just won two years ago. That leaves Witherspoon, who crafted a June Carter which not only captured the soul of a classic performer, but was every bit as important to the story “Walk the Line” told as Johnny Cash was. It was the performance that made me stop hating her, who else COULD this go to?
Will Win: Reese Witherspoon
Should Win: Reese Witherspoon

Best Actor:
Not quite as sewn up as the actress category, here we have five damn good performances in a wide variety of films that a lot of folks have seen. I’d eliminate Strathairn from the running simply because his performance isn’t perceived as being as “showy” as some of the others on the list. Terrence Howard falls under the same category as Keira Knightly’s nomination in the previous category - the nomination is the acknowledgement and hope for great things to come. I’d also eliminate Joaquin Phoenix, though his work was brilliant, because we’re already honoring “Walk the Line” in Best Actress. That leaves a two actor race between Ledger and Hoffman, and when you get right down to it, Hoffman’s work is just the kind of star turn that Oscar loves, and it comes from a great performer who’s yet to be honored for his work. I’m going with Hoffman as your winner, and although everyone on this list is amazing, he’s also who I would vote for.
Will Win: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Should Win: Philip Seymour Hoffman

Best Supporting Actress:
Tough call here. I’d toss out Francis McDormand, because she’s won before, and Rachael Weisz, because as good as “The Constant Gardner” was, again, too few may have seen it to swing any votes her way. Catherine Keener is one of Hollywood’s great actresses, but she won’t win it because her Harper Lee wasn’t perceived as being really essential to the story of “Capote.” Amy Adams’s work in “Junebug” may be the spoiler here, but again, has anyone really seen the flick? My gut feeling is that we’ll wanna honor “Brokeback” in the acting category somewhere, and Michelle Williams’s performance as the emotionally tormented wife of Heath Ledger is as good a place as any. As far as should, perceived or not perceived, I found Keener’s performance crucial to the success of “Capote.”
Will Win: Michelle Williams
Should Win: Catherine Keener

Best Supporting Actor:
Another who’s who of great actors in this list. I’d toss out William Hurt because a lot of folks just plain didn’t like “A History of Violence,” disregarding the fact that his work was worthy of consideration on its own merits. Paul Giamatti’s nomination could be seen as some kind of carmic payback for his stunning lack of a nod last year for “Sideways,” but I don’t think he’ll win. Jake Gyllenhaal’s work was really a co-lead with Ledger, but putting both of them in the same lead category would be self-defeating - but something tells me he won’t win. That leaves Matt Dillon’s haunting work as the racist cop in “Crash,” and George Clooney’s performance as the estranged government agent in “Syriana.” Tough call, but I think Dillon’s work is seen as a great comeback statement, and folks just plain liked “Crash” more than they liked “Syriana.” As far as should…I’d be happy with anybody here, but Dillon was REALLY good in “Crash.”
Will Win: Matt Dillon
Should Win: Matt Dillon

Best Director:
Will win is pretty much a given: Ang Lee, who won the Director’s Guild award, which is as close to a rock-solid indicator as you can get in this crazy guessing game. Should win, however…of all five, George Clooney had the toughest assignment to handle, a black-and-white film where folks merely exchange heated ideas, and turned it into a masterpiece of pacing and tone. It was pretty clearly a labor of love, and it paid off in spades. Make a note: Clooney’s true future may very well be behind the camera.
Will Win: Ang Lee
Should Win: George Clooney

Best Animated Film:
This one is as close to a no-brainer as last year’s, really. Miyazaki is a master, but “Howl’s Moving Castle” was far from his best work, and he just won a few years ago for “Spirited Away.” “Corpse Bride” was okay, but a far cry from “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” which makes it look even weaker by comparison. But “Wallace and Gromit” is a tremendous comic romp from a studio that has churned out the most memorable cartoon creations of recent years, and Nick Park NEVER loses when he’s nominated. And he shouldn’t, here.
Will Win: “Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit”
Should Win: “Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit”

Best Documentary:
The best documentary of the year - nay, I firmly believe, the best FILM of the year, period - was Werner Herzog’s incredible character study “Grizzly Man.” But it wasn’t nominated, the biggest travesty since “Hoop Dreams” got shafted back in 1994. We still have some excellent films here - “Enron” and “Murderball” are both better than almost all of the nominees for best picture, IMO - but the category has a gaping hole as a result of this omission. Just sad. But to deal with the subject at hand, I have not seen either “Darwin’s Nightmare” or “Street Fight,” so I can’t really judge them, though their subject matter makes them seem more like filler than true contenders (which makes “Grizzly”’s absence all the more galling). “Enron” is an excellent and scathing look at the scandal, but may be deemed too subversive for the Academy to vote for. “Murderball” is the best doc of the nominees, but too few may have seen it, possibly because dense audiences thought it was “Rollerball.” “March of the Penguins,” however, was a surprise hit, and is a truly beautiful wildlife film, and the sheer determination it took to make it will earn it the statue. But “Murderball” is clearly the better film.
Will Win: “March of the Penguins”
Should Win: “Murderball”

Best Adapted Screenplay:
“Brokeback” will take this one pretty easily, and of the nominees, I’d say it easily deserves to, as well. Only “Capote” is a true challenger here, but “Brokeback”’s delicately beautiful handling of its subject matter deserves to be honored.
Will Win: “Brokeback Mountain”
Should Win: “Brokeback Mountain”

Best Original Screenplay:
If there’s a surprise to come out of the night, it’ll be here…in fact, I’m gonna go out on a limb and call “Match Point” to win this one. It was Woody’s comeback vehicle, it got surprisingly ignored in most every other category, the voters like Woody and will want to see him honored for his return to form. I may be wrong, but call it a hunch. As for who should, my respect for “Good Night, and Good Luck”’s understated yet powerful writing deepened with a second viewing.
Will Win: “Match Point”
Should Win: “Good Night, and Good Luck”

And the rest (that I know anything about):

Art Direction:
Will Win: “Memoirs of a Geisha”
Should Win: “King Kong”

Cinematography:
Will Win: “Brokeback Mountain”
Should Win: “Good Night, and Good Luck”

Costume Design:
Will Win: “Pride & Prejudice”
Should Win: “Pride & Prejudice”

Editing:
Will Win: “Crash”
Should Win: “Crash”

Makeup:
Will Win: “The Chronicles of Narnia”
Should Win: “Star Wars: Episode III”

Musical Score:
Will Win: “Brokeback Mountain”
Should Win: “Brokeback Mountain”

Original Song:
Will Win: “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” Hustle & Flow
Should Win: Actually, I haven’t heard the other two songs… :)

Sound Editing:
Will Win: “King Kong”
Should Win: “King Kong”

Sound Mixing:
Will Win: “King Kong”
Should Win: “King Kong”

Visual Effects:
Will Win: “King Kong”
Should Win: “King Kong”

Two Notes About the World's Coolest Wrestler

PWInsider.com is reporting that Samoa Joe has apparently agreed to a new deal with TNA for the next 2-3 years, and DAMN is that good to hear. The man is quite simply the most exciting thing to hit the national scene in many years, consistently turns in awesome matches, is probably the best brawler in the business, a damn great technician, can fly for a big man, plays the bad-a$$ heel incredibly well, and on and on. The Company That Shall Not Be Named probably didn't even give him a serious glance because of his percieved "look" (i.e., he's not a muscle-headed roid freak so how could he possibly get over), and that is their loss. And if he had decided to sign with them now, they'd probably do a Taz(z) on him, taking one of the hottest non-them commodities on the market and utterly destroying his credibility, because everything in wrestling has to have been created by Vince and Vince alone, wah wah. To hell with them, and thank you Joe for staying where you can still be you. And hoping this means we'll get a rematch of...

Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi. I had heard tales of this match from various news sources, and it finished third in the match of the year voting, an impressive feat for a contest that didn't even air on television. It was held by an independant promotion named Ring of Honor on October 1st of last year, and those who were there heralded it as one of the greatest matches they'd ever seen. The DVD of the show in question was simply named "Joe vs. Kobashi" - for those who knew, apparently, no more hype was necessary. Well, after many moons of anticipation, I finally order it from ROH and it arrived in the mail yesterday.

I have watched the match three times in the ensuing 24 hours. Capsule reaction: Holy S#!t.

There is not a drop of blood spilled in the match. No weapons of any kind are used. Just a straight-up contest between two of the hardest hitters in the game. And it may be the single most brutal match I've ever seen. Chops so hard they practically echo. You can see the progression as Joe's chest turns beet red from the sheer force of the blows. Incredibly stiff bumps all over the place. No blown spots. This one may be as close to perfection as you can get - perfection of execution, perfection of storytelling, and most of all, perfection of sheer effort. When Joe can barely stand up at the end to shake Kobashi's hand, you somehow know he's not selling. Both guys left everything they had in that ring. Just incredible.

So, I own it. Anyone who wants to see it, I'll be happy to show it to you. It may amount to a wrestling epiphany.

Oy. Just Oy. Phelps doesn't even deserve an "Oy Vey."

Read, if you please. Heather directed my attention to this one.

So, Phelps and his oh-so-brilliant followers are thanking god for IEDs because they're his way of punishing our nation for allowing homosexuality to exist. And they are doing this by showing up at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq.

Think about that logic for a second. Or maybe you don't want to, because there is no logic to be found.

Man, I hate fundamentalist yahoos. Think Brother Jed is among Phelps' crowd?

These poor families are grief-stricken enough over the loss of their sons and daughters in a wartime situation. Must this @$$hole and his followers hijack their attempt to cope with their misguided, imbicilic and ultimately useless protests?

Now, the Patriot Guard Riders, the anti-protest protestors, may ultimately be turning each funeral into even more of a circus as a result, but at least their hearts are in the right place. Roll on, brothers.

Did I mention Christian is world champion?

The Company That Shall Not Be Named completed the circle of shame attached to exploiting Eddie Guerrero's death by actually putting Randy Orton over Rey Mysterio tonight, giving Orton the WrestleMania title shot and essentially rewarding the Orton character for his actions in the angle, while not only rendering Mysterio's Rumble victory moot, but giving him nothing for participating in the angle in the first place.

Folks, I am very, VERY seriously considering skipping WrestleMania for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Hey Vince - blow me.

I'm sick....

...pretty nasty headcold. Stranded at home all day. Why not cheer me up by telling me wonderful and horrible things about myself? :)

The Johari Quiz for Jeff Mac

The Nohari Quiz for Jeff Mac

Go ahead, I can take it!

Hall of Fame Inductees...

The Company That Shall Not Be Named (I like the gimmick so I'm sticking with it) is lining up its ducks for their annual Hall of Fame inductions. Personally, given the role that politicing and business sense plays in whatever decisions get made in this particular HOF, I tend to give their choices no weight whatsoever (example: Tito Santana was a HOFer before Hulk Hogan was - not a disparagement to Santana, mind you, merely a note that Hogan simply wasn't inducted until we could sign him to do it). But the three names they've already announced for this year are pretty interesting:

-Eddie Guerrero, because I guess inducting him into a fake HOF is some kind of payback for besmirching his memory in storylines

-Dusty Rhodes, who has the benefit of now working for TCTSNBN as a booker, ergo he's perfectly positioned for it this time around

-And...Bret Hart. Yes, THAT Bret Hart.

Now, before we criticize Bret as a hypocrite for saying he'd never work for TCTSNBN and then agreeing to this, there is an addendum, according to the fine reporters over at PWInsider.com: apparently, Bret's doing this completely for free. He is accepting no money for appearing at the HOF ceremony, he just wants to be a part of honoring his career. I can dig that idea, and am perfectly fine with Bret's decision.

Now, as far as who else: guys, you have Ted DiBiase and Ricky Steamboat RIGHT THERE, ON YOUR PAYROLL, and I ain't seeing any plaques for them yet...

Peeps unite! Christian is world champion!

I dunno if it'll stick this time (unlike when Rhino won the belt), but bravo to TNA: Christian Cage won the NWA World Title from Jeff Jarrett tonight at Against All Odds. Judging by the pop the win got, and the nearly-riotous reaction of the crowd, it was a move that was long overdue. Gotta be honest, I didn't think he had a hope in hell, and I am extremely happy that I was wrong. Here's hoping that Christian's reign is given more time than his "brother"'s was over in The Company That Shall Not Be Named.

The rest of the show was pretty darn good, too. The three-way rematch was really good, but I don't think it was as good as the first one...but then, to improve on perfection is a really tall order. I'll have to watch it again (and again, and again) to know how it really stacks up. Rhino and Abyss, as I suspected they would, had an awesome falls-count-anywhere match, with Abyss taking a hellacious bump to end it. The rest of the card ranged from solid to okay, with no really bad match anywhere to be seen. A good outing to rebound from last month's lackluster Final Resolution.

The Rumble

I have the world’s coolest friends.

Much of what appears on this blog is opinion - the preceding sentence is fact.

Last night, we held the fourth annual BGSU Rumble. My goal in holding this event is always, first and foremost, that everyone who comes has a lot of fun. I just want my dear friends, who I love and care about a ton, to have a great time hanging out with each other, while enjoying a fun “competition” between our imaginative creations.

But I can honestly say that of all the things I’ve been involved in during my time in Bowling Green, nothing has been more consistently fun to work on, nor more gratifying to participate in, than these silly wrestling events. Why? Because it illuminates the fact that I do, indeed, have the best friends I could ever ask for. That so many people not only indulge this odd little events, but actually turn out en masse to participate and see them? This year we had more entrants into the Rumble than ever before - enough to completely fill up the event with characters, and not have anyone entering more than one fighter. That just blows me away. That 30 people (well, 29, if ya subtract me) took the time out of their lives to participate in our little event is truly remarkable to me, and I am grateful to all of you.

But the amazing part doesn’t end there. Last night’s event was attended by more folks than we’ve ever had before, as well - we damn near filled up Steph and J’s place with about 20 folks or more. And that wasn’t just people who had fighters entered and wanted to see if they’d win - there were oodles of folks who were just there to hang, to watch, to see people, to just plain have a good time. I mean, we had Greg and Anne come in from Cleveland! Courtney, Jodie and Beth came from Toledo! And it was snowy out, too! The turnout last night was simply incredible, and I am deeply thankful to everyone who came.

The Rumble itself also worked wonderfully well, with the reaction of the crowd being truly amazing to see. And it provided one moment I will never, ever forget. When Steve Boone, Jessica’s creation, was fighting to win in the Elimination Chamber, there was a moment when EVERYONE in the apartment was counting along with one of his pinfall attempts. “ONE!….TWO!…” And then, when Ben Roethlisberger, Megan’s creation, kicked out, everyone simultaneously went “AWWWW!!!!” It was the damnedest thing I’d ever seen. Here were a bunch of my closest friends, gathered together, watching a video game, and they were reacting exactly like a real-life wrestling audience to a great near-fall. That they were enjoying the match so much, and wrapped up in the experience so completely, they were behaving exactly as a crowd would at a great wrestling match - that meant more to me than anything.

Winners and losers really don’t matter a hill of beans in the long run. These events aren’t about conquest and bragging rights. What they’re really about, to me, is giving a great evening of fun to all the people I care about. That’s why I work so hard at it. And that why, when it works, nothing feels quite as good.

So, some thanks:
Steph and J, thank you so very much for letting us use your place!
Greg and Ryan, thank you so much for being my most consistently enthusiastic participants!
Beth, Megan, Jessica, Laura, Tyler, Kristen, Anne and Kurt, thanks for making it there to cheer your fighters on!
Courtney, Jodie, Laura B., Nick, and everyone who showed up without a fighter: thank you so much for coming!
To everyone who created fighters but couldn’t make it: Thank you very much, and hope you can make it next time!

I love you all!!!

The Vice President Imitates Art

Thanks to Beth for the heads up on this one. Again, this is not from the Onion.

"The Hunting Song" by Tom Lehrer

"How distinctly I remember
'Twas a year ago, November
I went out to shoot some deer
On a morning, bright and clear
I went and shot the maximum the game laws would allow
Two game wardens, seven hunters and a cow.

"I was in no mood to trifle
I picked up my trusty rifle
And went out to stalk my prey
What a haul I made that day!
I strapped them to my fender and I drove them home somehow
Two game wardens, seven hunters and a cow.

"The law was very firm, it
Took away my permit
The worst punishment I'd ever endured.

"It turned out there was a reason
Cows were out of season
And one of the hunters wasn't insured.

"People ask me how I do it
And I say there's nothing to it
You just stand there, looking cute
And if something moves, you shoot.
And there's ten stuffed heads in my trophy room right now
Two game wardens,
Seven hunters,
And a pure bred Guernsey cow!"

Kudos and congratulations

Bravo to Mr. J. Michael Bestul for his excellent response to a completely ludicrous argument printed in The BG News. The article literally begged folks not to see "The Vagina Monologues" because it's offensive and it's actually bad for women and an additional number of completely unsubstantiated arguments the author makes in opposition to the show. Heck, he even begs the CAST to not participate.

In response, I think an event should be organized where the cast shows up at the BG News's office and stages a reading of the show right then and there. See if Johnson can make such offhanded judgments about the effect this show has on society while those who believe in it are actually in his presence.

Or who knows, maybe he'll actually enjoy it. My guess is it'll actually be his first time seeing it, anyway.

The most surreal news story ever...

I swear to you, this was not on the Onion.

Yes, Al Michaels, all-time great sports announcer and the voice of Monday Night Football, got traded to NBC for a cartoon rabbit. There is no possible punchline I can come up with that would top that.

Must-read column from Mick and a personal proclamation

This week's Foley is Blog on WWE.com is the gutsiest thing Mick's written yet, maybe the most gutsy thing Mick's ever written, and is an absolute must-read for all wrestling fans. Mick takes WWE to task for the absolutely disgusting recent tactic of exploiting Eddie Guerrero's death in storylines in an effort to get Randy Orton over as a heel.

For those who don't know, last Friday on Smackdown, Orton challenged Rey to a match for the WrestleMania title shot (which he'll probably win, BTW) by ridiculing Eddie and proclaiming that he was in hell right now.

(Insert mental image of Jeff sitting silently, brooding until steam comes out of his ears.)

You know, this weekend will be a wonderful time for me. There will be the BGSU Royal Rumble on Saturday, which I hope to see a lot of you at. There will also be an actual wrestling PPV to watch on Sunday - Against All Odds, TNA's February offering, featuring a rematch of last year's blow-the-doors-off match-of-the-year with Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels. I still love wrestling with more passion than almost any other hobby I have.

But not WWE. Whatever lingering love I had for WWE, based upon nostalgia or the guys currently working there or whatever, is now gone, maybe never to return.

Vince, you've managed to accomplish something I never thought possible. You're making me regret supporting the WWF back in the Monday Night War era. You're making me hate myself when I watch your show. You're making me ashamed to be a wrestling fan.

For this to be coming from a guy who's watched your product for nearly 20 years, that's a hell of an achievement. Congratulations.

Go TNA.

Did you hear the one about the gay cowboys?...

“Yeah, I’m gonna see all the best pictures nominees. Except for that f*ggot movie. They can go f*ck themselves for all I care.”

A middle-aged guy at work said that during my shift on Wednesday. And he wasn’t saying it quietly, either. Nope, he proclaimed it, in a loud conversational voice, while looking directly at myself and one of my co-workers. My co-worker just kinda laughed it off. I didn’t. I was deeply angered and offended by it. But, I was at work, and any comment in return would probably cost me my job. So I simply seethed in silence until they walked into their theatre.

This was not the first, nor will it be the last, example of people deriding “Brokeback Mountain” because of its theme. We’ve heard it non-stop at the theatre ever since we started carrying it last week. And now that the film has been nominated for 8 Academy Awards (and in my mind, is the front-runner to win the statue for Best Picture come March 5th), the hate will intensify. People will continue to use the movie as an outlet for their hatred and prejudice. But it’s not just those who are morons who are getting on my nerves. I believe that others are using the movie, too - in a different way.

Heather and I had a conversation on Monday about the increasing number of jokes being told about “Brokeback.” To my mind, I haven’t seen this many jabs and one-liners aimed at a single subject since Dan Quayle decided “potato” needed an extra e. I mean, they’re everywhere. Leno, Letterman, comedians, humor writers, sports talk shows, you name it. I have heard about how the Marlboro Man plus PMS equals Brokeback Mountain. I have heard of how a feuding player and coach made up by going to see “Brokeback Mountain.”

Heather’s take on it was relatively simple. She felt that the jabs, by and large, were not doing the movie any harm, and in fact were helping it by increasing its visibility and cementing its place in the American consciousness. I cannot disagree with this assessment, but I think that only views one side of the effects - what this means to the movie itself. What these jokes mean to people, however, is another matter.

Your average, garden variety bigot isn’t gonna care about what they say and who they say it to. The *sshole quoted at the top of this article is an example of that. These kind of morons are merely continuing their barbaric, loutish behavior and hanging “I’m a d!ckwad!” signs around their neck for all to see. That’s what makes America the great country it is - freedom of speech means that we know EXACTLY who the biggest jerks are, because they get to say whatever they want, and they usually do.

But it seems to me that the kind of folks I hear these jokes from are often another matter. They’re usually good-hearted, nice folks, who often see themselves as progressive, understanding, tolerant. They’re open-minded, and they don’t have anything against gay people. They just tell the jokes because they’re an easy laugh.

Hey, as someone who chuckled at the “Keep It Gay” musical number during “The Producers,” I’m hardly one to hold myself to a higher standard. But I firmly believe that any subject matter can be made funny if one takes the right attitude to the material. When “Family Guy” did the gag about Peter and his barbershop quartet singing to a guy that he had AIDS, I was on the floor. But the joke there was not that someone had AIDS - the joke was that Peter and company were so oblivious to the fact that this approach was horrifically inappropriate.

The difference in many of these jokes lies in the fact that often their tellers seem to be using them as an outlet, a release valve, for something inside them they may not have fully addressed. An unspoken, maybe even latent, prejudice, which this movie and these jokes provide a vent for. Homophobia is alive and well, folks, and the reaction to this movie is a prime example of that. Do you know how many heterosexual men have stated to me how they will not watch the movie? That, sight unseen, they refuse to even consider the possibility? Heck, just this afternoon on the Dan Patrick show, I heard a semi-serious speculation about how if you see the film once, or even twice, that would be okay, but if you saw it more than that, well…

Well, what? You’ll catch gay? Do these people honestly still think that homosexuality is some kind of disease or disorder that constant exposure to will somehow change someone’s orientation? See, therein lies the problem here - this film has now become a buzzword in the mind of many to supplant “gay,” and allows them to express things that they would not feel comfortable expressing in any other context. Deriding homosexuality in public is no longer acceptable, socially. But deriding a MOVIE, well, that’s safe! It’s just a movie, after all! So, I can tell jokes and chastise it and get away with it. Imagine the speculation cited in the last sentence of the previous paragraph, but instead of “seeing the film” substitute “hanging out with a gay man” and see how socially acceptable you’d find THAT conversation. It wouldn’t have made the airwaves, lemme tell ya.

Look - I believe a sense of humor is the most important thing anyone can have. Finding humor in life’s little foibles is what gets us through this silly little thing called life. But humor can also sting. Sometimes a little sting is a good thing. But a lot of little stings add up pretty damn quick. So to everyone out there who are telling “Brokeback” jokes, I will merely ask that before you tell another one, ask yourself why you find it funny. If you can live with the answer, then by all means, fire away. But if it causes you to take a second look at yourself, maybe you should hold back on the guffaws.

Oh, and get out and see “Brokeback Mountain.” It’s an excellent movie. Heck, I’m going again myself before the Oscars hit. Anyone wanna come along?