how to win your office pool

The office Oscar pool is almost as big a tradition as the office March Madness pool. But who to vote for? Even Academy members don't seem to have a clue. I had seen most of the nominated movies this year and my score - 14 out of 24 - a piddling effort, barely better than guess work. Where did m.o.i. go wrong?


Turns out, the thing to do is what others have found who have looked into winning March Madness pools. The group largely gets it right. Bet on the ones that other folks bet on. Since your office mates aren't likely to reveal their hand until yours are on the table, you should just look at the Vegas odds. Money talks, people lie.

Last night, voting with the favorite won 80 percent of the time. Not bad, but still unlikely to win the office pool. Exceptions to this rule last night were in the 3 short film categories, sound mixing, and original screenplay.

So ultimately, it's a life lesson. Mostly play by the rules, but take a few chances along the way. The best ones to take? It's a gamble.

nutty oscar mashup: jerry lewis. m.i.a., dancing with the stars, and the jonas brothers

In an effort to jazz the Oscar telecast this year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts is attempting a mash-up to include:
*Jerry Lewis (receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award)
*M.I.A. singing from a bed(nominated for Best Song O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire)
*Big dance number from network host ABC's Dancing With Stars cast members including Jewel, Lil' Kim, Steve Wozniak, Nancy Odell, and Lawrence Taylor.
*And to keep the pre-teen crowd up past their bedtime The Jonas Brothers will sing backup for no apparent reason.

david versus goliath

The 3rd Annual Tour of California and the 80th Annual Academy Awards ended yesterday within a few hours and few miles of each other. These two, seemingly unrelated events, have more in common than might appear from a first, casual glance.

Both events are vying to recover from hard times - Pro Tour bicycle racing from what has amounted to about 4 straight years of doping scandals and the movie industry from the 4-month long Writers Guild of America strike. Just as there were signs yesterday that things are slowly being righted in both industries, there were also lingering signs of the confusion that exists among die-hard fans of mobbing enthusiasm.

Although as expected, Levi Leipheimer, the pre-race favorite ended up Sunday in the yellow jersey and at the top of the podium, and his team Astana was workman-like in their defense of the jersey for much of the race, riders from Sliptream-Chilpolte who herald themselves, like their flagship burrito as drug- and synthetic,hormone- free, placed 2nd, 3rd, and 6th in the overall general classification and won the team competition. However, unless Amaury Sports Organisation, the governing body for a number of the big European races, most notable being the biggest race of all, Le Tour de France, have refused to allow Astana to ride in ASO races this year.

This means, Alberto Contador, the defending Tour champion, won't be allowed to race, which is about like barring the Super Bowl NY Giants from competing in next year's NFL season. This will really hurt the sport this year. Americans, who don't usually pay attention in the Grand Tour events unless an America is doing well (i.e. Lemond, Lance, Flance, Leipheimer) likely won't tune in this year unless they have a competitive team. The newbie Sliptream-Chilpolte, despite having world-class riders, has yet to earn the right to even race in Le Tour.

Depending upon which side of the fence you sit, you either view the Oscars as a vastly entertaining, important cultural event for 80 million people or a blase, self-rightegous night of blather by pretentious stars. Folks more erudite than I have discussed this in detail (see below) so you can decide for yourself what it means.

Moi? Actually, I'm a centrist when not busy being trying to pound you into submission with my feeble opinions, and on this issue I'm a fence straddler. I love films AND aliens; so movie stars, being from another planet would appear to fit both categories. I do believe celebrities should have their own set of laws. But I also think John Tierney is onto something with the notion that just because a lot of people agree that something is a good idea doesn't mean it's bad, but it's decent working hypothesis.

elsewhere:
david versus goliath audiomp3 audio

or read david

or read goliath

please do not adjust your screens

this is merely a test.

The writers strike has come to an end. Some of you may have learned the perils of endless channel surfing on youtube, the sublime irony of Ron Paul campaign postings, or discovered that Quarterlife is a basket exactly one-fourth full. But fear not, The Daily Show will soon replace A Daily Show, the Oscars will go on, and the internet is here to stay. Here's to victory! HuZZah.

nine pin to the king pin's head and off you go

The Oscar nominations were announced Monday, and leading the list of nominees is There Will Be Blood. Being loosely based on Upton Sinclair's novel, Oil (1927), dare we say the movie is "torn from yesterday's headlines"? or is today's? as the director, Paul Thomas Anderson, gives us plenty of headroom (literally) for reflecting on other bloody battles that consume the current world.

There Will Be Blood, might politely be described as a parable of how humans are wont to take advantage of each other, especially if money, fame, or religion are involved. In less polite company, you might summarize the plot as, the proper way to smash a skull - to bits. The movie works on many levels but life affirming it is not, unless you wish to come out on top, and really, don't we all? Some of the violent images in this movie will have you turning away in disgust. They made me cringe and fall into my seat gasping for air. The last scene could only be said to make a caring person angry enough to want to bash out the brains of the studio mogul who financed the damn thing. You won't leave the theater feeling good. Rather, you'll be lucky if you don't commit murder if someone dares step in front of you on the way out the door.

Movie goers have seen so much screen violence that there must be Hollywood consultants whose express purpose it is to dream up more and more inventive ways to surprise and shock our calloused souls. No Country For Old Men, which also garnered a lot of nominations, featured as a subplot, a novel way to kill humans. Lest we give the plot away and feel good about ourselves, let's just say it's nothing we haven't already perfected on cows and pigs. Only the vegans die old in Hollywood.

But really, what every one seems to want to know, after "why did he do it?" is "will there be a red-carpet Oscar gala event this year?". Of course there will be - why do you think There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men received so many nominations?

However, an Oscar holdout is the WGA ace-in-the-hole so they won't be offering any waivers for Valentines unless there's a done deal in the works. Right now, preventing the A-list and the studios from an updo is the only hand the union has to play, so play it they will. The studios will look to settle this soon, and if they don't then they won't play again for many months.