Did you hear the AMAZING News?? Christina Ricci may be returning to Primetime!!!
Well, it seems the Alphabet Net (ABC) has given the official pilot (no pun intended) order for a period piece series set in the 1960's, based on the iconic Pan American World Airways, better known as Pan Am, centering around the flight crew.
And, yes, Ricci is in talks for the lead role, in-which I will do everything within my power to ensure that she lands. There is NO competition that I will hesitate to throw under a bus (literally or figuratively ... whichever helps you sleep at night) if it will result in her being cast.
The last closest thing we had to Christina being a primetime staple was her brief recurring role on TNT's Saving Grace in 2009,which ... unfortunately, meant actually having to WATCH Saving Grace (uhg) And before that? There was her guest appearance on NBC's Joey, so ... uhm ... yeah.
The 83rd Annual Academy Awards is over and done with ... the unofficial "end" to Awards Season ... Sad, I know. So before we pack it in, how about a quick recap of the night's events, shall we?
So, ok. The very BEST way to do this is to NOT rundown all the awards that you saw given out already ... Hell, even if you missed them, you can find THOSE results on any other website. Instead? I'm going to give out some awards of my own!
The 1st award of Worst Host EVERgoes to James Franco. God, was he doped up? Completely unprepared and nervous? Whatever it was, it was painful to watch. An otherwise likable actor, I hope he learned something from all this, cuz WE sure did.
Which brings us to our next winner. The We Try Harder Award, aka the Golden Lifesaver Award goes to Anne Hathaway. She wasn't stellar either, but you can see she came with her A game and put everything she had into carrying the whole damn thing, including Franco's load and making the hosting duties at least bearable this year.
Next, the Most Perfect Outfit Award(different than "Best Dressed") goes to Mila Kunis. I mean, just ... Dayum! Meg Griffin? Really? Timberlake had one of the best seats in the house.
The Best Presentation Duo Award goes to Russell Brand & Helen Mirren. Short. Funny. Non self-congratulatory. And the perfect chemistry between an ideal mismatch. Those Brits got it on lock!
Best Entrance of the Night? The award goes to Oprah Winfrey. To be honest I don't even remember what she was presenting, THAT's how impressive her walk to the stage was. When she came out it was like she owned the place. I mean, she's OPRAH, damnit! So snaps to her for unintentionally stealing that moment!
The Best Acceptance Speech Award goes to 2 people this time. Aaron Sorkin for winning Best Adapted Screenplay. He went long with his acceptance "thank yous", but didn't miss a BEAT when they brought on the "wrap it up" music. Kept his composure, was heartfelt, humble, eloquent, and he thanked EVERYONE. Also deserving of the Award was Luke Matheny for Best Live Action Short Film. Wild haired and crazy looking, he epitomizes the "I can't believe I'm here!" Undergrad Film major. He even thanked his mom. Not just for the usual "believing in him" (cliche') but for doing the actual kraft services for the film. Now THAT's genuine.
The ever controversial Fuck You Award went to Corey Haim. After not getting acknowledged during the "In Memoriam" segment of earlier this year's Screen Actors Guild Awards, (Haim died last year after an unintentional drug overdose) Haim's BFF Feldman made a little stink that "surprisingly enough" fell upon deaf ears. Some (like myself) wondered if that snub would be made up for at this year's Oscars ... and it wasn't. I watched intently as Celine Dion sang during the Oscar's Memoriam, and ... nothing. Oh well! Dion was great though. I love her!
The Most Perplexing aka the WTF? Award goes to Bob Hope ... or better yet, the people who orchestrated that whole Max Headroom-like scene, along with Billy Crystal. I see what they were trying to get at. It was kinda clever ... Honoring Oscar pioneers and legends as well as honoring Visual Effects ... It wasn't "BAD" per se, but the whole thing just left me scratching my head, like - "huh?"
And, not to be outdone, the 83rd Oscars Creepiest Moment Award goes to The PS 22 Children's Choir. I don't know what it was about these kids, but watching them take the stage and start crooning at the end of the show, for some reason just pushed it over the edge for me. Only 2 words came to mind: "Enough Already". And from there, I changed the channel.
Finally the Best Scene and Line Award for the entire Academy Awards presentation this year goes to Alec Baldwin. The opening skit where Franco and Hathaway entered his dream in order to find out secrets to hosting the Oscars was the funniest part of the night, and the high point was Baldwin telling them : "That's right. A dream inside two other dreams. You just got INCEPTIONED!"
For those living under a rock, and thusly, had no clue, tonight (8:30pm; on ABC) is the 83rd Annual Academy Awards, otherwise known as The Oscars.
So, rather than get into any long drawn out analysis about the upcoming events ... the sketchiness of one of the hosts ALSO being a nominee for Best Actor ... or the fact that I'd give ANYTHING to be there live in person right now ... I'll do the next best thing - I'll travel 12 hours into the future and post all the winners for you in the categories that matter.
* Notice how late I'm doing this, so either A) I was being super lazy, B) I didn't want you (and you know who you are) to jack my picks and win your office Oscar pool, or C) Stuff kept coming up ... mostly sandwich related.
Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams (The Fighter)
Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)
Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)
Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)
Winner: Helena Bonham Carter
Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale (The Fighter)
John Hawkes (Winter's Bone)
Jeremy Renner (The Town)
Mark Ruffalo (The Kids are All Right)
Geoffry Rush (The King's Speech)
Winner: Christian Bale
Actress in a Leading Role Annette Benning (The Kids are All Right)
Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)
Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)
Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)
Winner: Natalie Portman
Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem (Biutiful)
Jeff Bridges (True Grit)
Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
James Franco (127 Hours)
Winner: James Franco
Best Directing
Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
David O. Russell (The Fighter)
Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)
David Fincher (The Social Network)
Joel & Ethan Coen (True Grit)
Winner: Darren Aronofsky
Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids are All Right
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone
Winner: The Social Network
There you go folks! Super 100% guaranteed correct Oscar results! Also, keep watch for the point where Jeff Bridges goes feral and starts attacking the other Best Actor nominees ... Jesse Eisenberg, you will be missed. Oh, and set your DVR's till about 2:30am ... this bitch is going LONG!!
An idea straight out of 'Chelley's cook book, Subway was featuring a brand new cookie the other day. The Raspberry Cheesecake Cookie ... yummers! ... Sounds magical and delicious, right?
Wrong! It was terrible. Even for a Subway cookie. Everything you imagine it COULD taste like, it did not. Once again, Subway, when it comes to lunching, you have Failed. The $5 Footlong for every sub was a nice promotion, but if everything you've got (even the desserts) just universally sucks, what's the point?
And only a mere 40 city blocks south is a Blimpe! Next time, DEFINITELY worth the walk!
Ok. It's been 2 weeks since the iPhone 4 has been released on the Verizon network and since I got it the day it came out, I figured this would be a good opportunity for a quick review on it thus far ...
I love it. The ease and simplicity of EVERYTHING you do with a mobile device. From Facebook, to Twitter, to web browsing, to E-mail, to pictures, to games, to checking Subway schedules, to everything else ... I thought my old LG ENV3 phone could do these things ... By the iPhone 4 standard? - It could not. The iPhone 4 does everything I ask and need of it with no hassle. The potential "issues" of being on Verizon's CDMA based 3G network, essentially that you can't make a call & web browse/etc. at the same time, have been non-existent.
The only minor hurdle has been downloading large apps. For the very large ones, you can't download them off the cellular network (3G). You either have to plug into iTunes on your computer or switch to WiFi. The issue with iTunes is that the new iPhone will only talk to the latest version of iTunes. And the latest version of iTunes will only talk to the newer Mac OSX (for those of us Mac users). What does that mean? Well, if you are like me and still using something like Tiger or possibly even Leopard, then you are gonna have to shell out another $150 or so to upgrade your Mac processor in order to use the newest iTunes, just to synch the iPhone, just to download a big app. A pain, right? Well, like I said - it's only a minor hurdle. You still have the WiFi option. Synch your iPhone to any WiFi you can latch on that isn't shared by too many other iPhones in the area, and not only can u download the largest apps, but you are now also NOT being charged for the data usage. Minor hurdle - averted.
Moving on, the other day, my good friend Joey asked me to take a peek at the new Droid Bionic phone by Motorola, soon to be released on the 4G (LTE) network, and to weigh in on it. So "take a peek", I did!
Droid Bionic
Unfortunately, it was hard to do so without ALSO looking at the new HTC Thunderbolt.
First off, they both claimed to be the FIRST smart phone to be released on Verizon's 4G. Well the Bionic's speculated release is Mid/Late April. The Thunderbolt was yesterday. So ... yeah. Thunderbolt easily wins THAT argument.
Bionic has a huge screen, HDMI output, all the bells and whistles you could ask for in a smart phone. It's got an 8 megapixel camera, superior to iPhone's current 5 megapixels :(, and being on the 4G network, its basis is that it is going to be lightning quick. So is that a good enough reason to get it? I couldn't play with it myself, but check out this demo:
Then we have Thunderbolt. It's got the 8 megapixel camera like the Droid. (apparently the NEW standard in phone cameras ... fine) It does the super fast 4G thing as well. Has the huge screen, a lot of customizables, yadda, yadda, yadda ... And even some cool little tidbits like the flashlight and stuff like that. Hey, you never know, right?
Thunderbolt
So what's the verdict? I like the Thunderbolt better than the Bionic. It's hard to tell exactly, unless you hold them both up next to each other, but it appears that the Thunderbolt is a little thinner. Smart phones are continually growing in size and the less ease that you can just throw them in your pocket, the less attractive a phone option it is. Also, the Thunderbolt appeared to be a bit more fluid and responsive to user touch, which is probably the #1 feature of ANY smart phone ... and also the reason (as biased as it may sound), theiPhone 4 is still better than the both of them.
iPhone is smaller, thus fits anywhere you need it to fit. It's touch capacity is hands down the BEST in the business. I compared the touch scrolling against S & S's phones the other day and to say theirs were PAINFUL by comparison would be an understatement. Even Noodles, who uses an Evo or something couldn't help but admire the ease and responsiveness of the iPhone 4 vs. his phone. We even timed who could load Angry Birds faster, and iPhone won.
I'm guessing Bionic and Thunderbolt may be faster in their data downloads, surfing the net, etc. But we're talking only a couple seconds. And everything else, with actual phone usability? They still won't touch the iPhone. Who cares how many people sweat and celebrate the iPhone? It's not bandwagon hopping. They rave about it because it's that damn good. Avoiding it is like saying "I'm not going to eat at that restaurant because everyone says how delicious it is." Insane, right? Seriously. Being hard-headed won't get you anywhere in life. Just go to the Verizon store and play with it. You'll see what I mean.
The highest rated new sitcom last year and ABC breakout hit comedy, Modern Family(Wednesdays; 9pm) delivered yet another pretty strong episode this past week. It's NOT the funniest show on TV, despite what ABC, it's Emmy wins, and people who just parrot anything printed in Entertainment Weekly will tell you. It's not even the Alphabet Net's (yes, that's its nickname) best show on Wednesday nights.
But Modern Family IS consistently solid overall, and that is 100% thanks to the show's 2 strongest weapons: Cameron Tucker, played by Eric Stonestreet, and perhaps the funniest kid on television today, Luke Dunphy (sorry, Manny), played by Nolan Gould. While the center family, The Dunphys, are usually redundant and grating, Luke saves it for them every week. They don't often give him a lot to say, but when they do, he NAILS it.
Ed O'Neill's Jay Pritchett and his family can be hit or miss, but at least Sofia Vergara is nice to look at.
And then, of course, Cam, who's the partner of Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), is as note perfect as Luke, and is the driving force of the 3rd, but funniest family in the series.
This past Wednesday, Feb. 23rd, they decided to team-up both Luke AND Cam, in helping organize a musical fundraiser party ... which was the best thing they've done all season:
It's worth tuning in every week, just for the 2 of them.
FYI - Luke's recurring self-motivating catch phrase: "C'mon, Luke!" = Priceless.
Good ol' Marc made an interesting post on this new website called Facebook the other day, entitled "Things people like that I just don't get"(or something to that effect) which reminded me of something I sampled ... or RE-sampled the other day - CSI: Miami (Sundays; 10pm, on the Eyeball)
Once upon a time, this was one of the top rated primetime dramas on television, and is still today a solid rock performer for CBS. Many people, even those well outside it's "target demographic" would swear by this show. I've never been a huge fan of the procedural, but whatevz. I'm open-minded. ... That and a lack of cable access allowed me to give CSI: Miami a fair look last Sunday. And you know what I found? It sucks. It's just a laughably corny show.
Now in all fairness, I'm not biased against the program type. Hawaii Five-0, a relatively similar show on CBS that I've discovered this season, I actually love. So what's wrong with CSI: Miami? The acting. The execution. You'd think a show that practically has the word "Forensics" in the title would be a little "smarter". Nope! As both The Simpsons AND Family Guy have described CSI: Miami before - "all flash and no substance" ... Crazy out of sequence music, wild camera angles and plays on light when they are doing "science" and "investigating" ... Is that supposed to make it seem cool or exciting? Who are they kidding? ... and David Caruso is a joke.
But don't fret. I've got good news. Your soul-mate EJ has found a REPLACEMENT criminal investigative show for you - National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle
Trust me. This one they got right. It's everything you think you want in TV show, with none of what you forgot you hated. Check out the commercial spot for the coming season finale.
Did you hear the AMAZING News?? Christina Ricci may be returning to Primetime!!!
And, yes, Ricci is in talks for the lead role, in-which I will do everything within my power to ensure that she lands. There is NO competition that I will hesitate to throw under a bus (literally or figuratively ... whichever helps you sleep at night) if it will result in her being cast.
