Feb 22 2009
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Movies

On the Oscars: The Ceremony

81st Annual Academy Awards

Now everyone knows that this year the Academy was trying to revitalize the Oscars in order to rekindle that viewership they used to have. Beginning with having Hugh Jackman as the host, I think they made a pretty good effort to meet that objective. Also, if you watched, you could see that they added quite a few things to the ceremony: the genre montages to give retrospective on the film industry as whole rather than just honoring those who were nominated, the 5 former winners presenting the best actor/actress awards, and the beautifully engineered and designed stage (Swarovski crystal curtains, who knew), and entertaining musical numbers. All in all, I am glad the Academy broke with tradition and that they finally accepted the fact that they are going to run over on time.

The only major issue with this Oscar ceremony was probably that the Academy was so predictable or maybe I was just that good this year. In the end I predicted all the categories winners, 24 out of 24, and was even able to guess Ann Hathaway’s dress color on the red carpet (Champagne if you were wondering).

The best moments:

1. “I’m Wolverine!” as the last line in the Hugh Jackman opening number and Ann Hathaway singing
2. Joaquin Pheonix impersonation by Ben Stiller and Natalie Portman’s comment that he looked like he worked in a meth lab
3. Musical montage arranged by Baz Lerhman and performed by Hugh Jackman and Beyonce (as Sasha Fierce), with backups by Mamma Mia and High School Musical cast.
4. Presentation of the Best Supporting Actor/Actress awards by 5 former winners and the video montage of past wins beforehand
5. James Franco in the Comedy 2008 montage
6. Audiences sentimental reaction to Heath Ledger’s win as Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film
7. Queen Latifah singing for the In Memoriam portion of the show
8. Kate Winslet having her dad whistle so that she could say thank you to them
9. Sean Penn calling the Academy, “Commy, homo-loving sons-a-bitches”…in a good way
10. The Best Picture nominee reel

The worst moments:

1. Bill Maher plugging his religion documentary a billion times while he presented the best documentary award
2. Winner of the Sound Mixing category crying while he accepted the award
3. Having to sit through 2 appearances by Zac Effron (and that doesn’t include him being all over the red carpet)

Now it is time to watch some more movies!

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Feb 22 2009
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Movies

On the Oscars: The Red Carpet

So the 81st Academy Awards began with a bang and people definitely showed up dressed to impress, and some were trying but I believe they missed the mark.

Now there were definitely some trends that could easily be noticed. Quite a few women were sporting one-shoulder numbers, champagne/cream seemed to be a popular color for both the women and the men (mmhmm Mickey Rourke) and embellishment is obviously in (look at Marisa Tomei)…

Now for my worst dressed, we have…

Beyonce

Worst Dressed - Beyonce

Worst Dressed - Beyonce

What was she thinking? She looks like a 1970s Chinese restaurant gone awry.

Miley Cyrus

Worst Dressed - Miley Cyrus

Worst Dressed - Miley Cyrus

She made a good attempt but she looks like a deranged Thumbelina, and why is she there? Does she really consider herself an actress?

And my final one..

Mickey Rourke

Worst Dressed - Mickey Rorick

Worst Dressed - Mickey Rourke

Now he’s looking all sorts of crazy. I guess someone had to take the place of Johnny Depp. The cream suit just seems wrong for the Oscars, better for the Grammy’s maybe and I cannot figure out what that metal thing on his hip is. It looks like a spit bucket.

Now for the best dressed.

Amy Adams

Best Dressed - Amy Adams

Best Dressed - Amy Adams

She was looking amazing in that crimson dress, it fits her skin tone and the occassion.

Ann Hathaway

Best Dressed: Ann Hathaway

Best Dressed - Ann Hathaway

She was looking stunning in that Armani Prive gown. Now for this Oscar pool we had to guess Ann Hathaway’s dress color as the tie-breaker and I totally guessed champagne.

Marisa Tomei

Best Dressed - Marisa Tomei

Best Dressed - Marisa Tomei

She said when interviewed on the red carpet that she was a little worried because she didn’t get the dress until that morning, but all that stress was totally worth it. The detail of the dress is exquisite, the color is perfect for her, and she looks amazing. She is the apotheosis of my earlier analysis–one shoulder, cream colored, and embellished.

Now wait and I will give my take on the ceremony itself.

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Jan 31 2009
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Food

Iron Chef: Bisquick

With my General Mills residency interview about a week in the past, I decided to put that horror aside and get the Bisquick out of the cupboard. Out of the countless recipes in my arsenal, I decided to make deliciously Southern Chicken and Dumplings (recipe at end of post). Now as any Bisquick connoisseur would know, you cannot eat chicken and dumplings alone, so I invited Liz and Don to come over and partake in its awesomeness. And I must say, it was delicious. Accompanying them were FruitSource Wild Berry gummies and a delicious red and a white…Welch’s Sparkling Grape Juice that is. (I must treat my body like a temple.)

Needless to say, it was a lovely evening of “wholesome” entertainment consisting of good food, good conversation and good people.

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken…
4 chicken breasts
1 box of chicken stock
1 medium onion
3 stalks of celery
3 carrots
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon flour
Pinch of McCormick’s Monterey Chicken Seasoning

Dumplings…
2  1/4 cups Bisquick
2/3 cups milk

Coarsely chop onion, celery and carrots. In a large pot, melt the 2 tbsp butter and saute the onion and celery approximately 2 minutes or until soft. Add flour and stir until it has coated the vegetables. Add carrots, chicken, chicken stock and seasoning. Stir to combine all ingredients and cook on simmer 10 minutes. While chicken is cooking, mix the Bisquick and milk in a bowl with a fork until a soft dough forms and set aside. After the timer goes off, add small “balls” of the dumpling dough to the chicken mixture, dropping them onto the top of the broth. After all the dumplings have been placed in the pot, cook for 10 minutes uncovered and then 10 minutes covered. Now you have delicious chicken and dumplings.

Time to prepare: approximately 35 minutes.
Serves 4

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Oct 28 2008
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The Wonderful World of Statistics

I sometimes wonder how the brain works. What makes it so you can read text and see the math through your mind’s eye. Equations, symbols, numbers and principles immediately evaluate the given data and you are then presented with minor calculations to devise the answer. It’s like your brain is a white board and the Expo marker is writing feverishly to keep up with the data. It makes sense and you didn’t even try.

But then there are the others. Those who cannot seem to distinguish the tiny nuances of the problem. Where math is like a giant boulder that their mind just cannot wrap its arms around. It isn’t that they as dumb or idiotic but that their mind just doesn’t see the text in the same way.

But the question is who is luckier? Those who get it or those who don’t? For those who don’t, they have to struggle through each problem and try to figure out the correct method when it doesn’t seem obvious. It’s pretty unfortunate. But those who get it, they are the true unlucky ones. They are the ones cursed to help the countless others. The ones who have to look at one problem so many times that they not only know every part of the question but the responses to the 4th decimal without even checking their paper. They are the ones who know that the 3rd Quartile of a normal distribution falls at a z-score of approximately .675 without referencing the table in the appendix. They are the ones who have to try and explain what seems obvious into a way others can understand. And on top of it all, they are labeled the “nerds” because they “get” math.

Statistics. What a wonder world.

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Jul 11 2008
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Movies

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

I came into this film with mixed expectations. When I saw the first Hellboy film, I left with lackluster emotions towards it. I felt it was corny and didn’t provide enough exposition to produce an effective comic book adaptation. The viewer left feeling like they didn’t know why this was happening. Who was Hellboy? Who was Rasputin? What are these Seven Gods of Chaos? However, since that faithful day in 2004, Del Toro developed a motion picture masterpiece in Pan’s Labyrinth and I found a new hope for the second installment of the Hellboy franchise.

Now, having seen the second film, I can say with much confidence that Del Toro has evolved greatly as an artist and as a storyteller. To start, in this film, he interlaces a Christmas Eve experience of Hellboy’s in 1955 with a bedtime story concerning the Golden Army. This provides a deeper glimpse into the origins of the protagonist while giving the viewer an understanding of the past to set the stage for the remainder of the film’s plot. 

It can also be decided that Del Toro has developed a signature style for his “monster” for there are obvious commonalities between his monsters in Pan’s Labyrinth with the creatures of this film, the herald to King Balor and the Angel of Death being the most recognizable examples.

If one were to watch the first Hellboy film and compare it to the second installment, I would presume that it would be difficult to assume they were of the same director. Del Toro had developed into a more distinct creative mind and it is strongly evident in this film. However, in the realm of screenwriting, Del Toro still leaves room for improvement. Amidst fantastic powers, violence, wit, and the intriguing plot concerning the truce between the ancient races of Earth and human kind, Del Toro placed useless dialogue and scenes I can only believe were intended for comedic effect. If these were left on the cutting room floor, I believe that Del Toro could have provided insight into this curious alternative world living hidden beneath the realm of humans.

On a high note, the introduction of the German ectoplasmic spirit that is Johann Krauss (“there are two s’s”) to the BPRD team of Hellboy, Abe Sapien, and Liz Sherman was a light-hearted and refreshing addition to the story. Apart from his ridiculously German accent (provided by Family Guy famed, Seth MacFarlane), Krauss provides new possibilities for the BPRD team as well as provide one of the most humorous scenes in the movie in his locker room skirmish with Hellboy. 

It is rare to find a sequel that holds up to the first film and even more difficult to find one that surpasses it. However, I believe this sequel can be placed in the upper echelons of those rare few. With the additional exposition and a more developed understanding of cinematic storytelling, Del Toro had delivered a movie that provides the comic book enthusiasts with something they can enjoy as well as provides the masses with action, laughs, monsters and interesting central characters they can connect with. Overall, the movie is worth the money. Now lets see what Del Toro does with The Hobbit and Doctor Strange.

Rating: B

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Jul 10 2008
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Books

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

Now, I would not consider myself a “business book aficionado,” but in this book I found 247 pages of unfathomable realizations concerning my own irrational behavior and eye-opening stories of marketing  genius.

As early as the introduction, Dan Ariely provides what can only be described as a long-winded research abstract mixed with a little light-hearted, nerdy humor and some autobiographical rationalization of his research. In addition, within the introduction, Ariely provides a little snippet of advice that you realize must be adhered to as soon as the first  chapter. “My suggestion to you is to pause at the end of each chapter and consider whether the principles revealed in the experiments might make your life better or worse, and more importantly what you can do differently, given your new understanding of human nature.”

At the heart of this book, amidst some absolutely GENIUS experiments, Ariely provides a sort of argumentative essay concerning the emerging field of behavior economics and how it takes into consideration a part of human behavior that makes classical economics obsolete and almost worthless. This idea that humans behave irrationally without any conscious thought astounds me. Throughout the book Ariely continues to throw punches until one is on the floor, knocked out by their own irrational behaviors of their past. One almost feels cheated by themselves for making decision that don’t make sense. When the words, “free shipping,” make you wonder if you are quasi-retarded and cause the actual expulsion of “uhh,” Ariely has uncovered something serious.

Rating: A-

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