NO OSCARS SHOW FOR OLD MEN

I tuned into the Academy Awards show for 5 minutes after "The Wire" was over, and apparently the French have taken over: Ratatouille and some French actress (who portrayed Edith Piaf) won?! Absurd, and I won't stand for it. Actually, I don't give a shit, I would have turned it off anyway. I know the Coen Brothers and Danny-Day are going to win anyway. Yawn.

I used to watch the Oscars every year and even attended parties, but now I'm really no longer interested. In fact, for the first time in many years I haven't even seen any of the movies nominated for Best Picture. The only nominated movies that I've seen were Into the Wild (which I despised, and which also reminds me of a bad date I went on), and Ratatouille. (I saw the latter with my nieces a few weeks ago, but only because I bought the DVD for them for Christmas. It's a shame that they introduced the Best Animated Film category so it didn't get nominated for Best Picture. Yes, I'm serious.) Regardless, I officially don't give a Pixar-animated rat's ass who wins what golden, glorified personality contest trophy. I just heard about how the Hollywood writers' were getting the shaft, now I have to watch these same guys patting each other on the backs? Forget it. Oh, and fuck James Mangold.

Maybe I'm just getting more jaded in my old age (d'ya think?) but I find very few movies that are worth my $10.50 (and rising). I tried to go see a matinee of No Country for Old Men the other morning only to find that it had only one showing at 4 PM; however, I could go to any one of 12 showings of the new Larry the Cable Guy "offering" instead. This is the problem with the current movie landscape: the divide between genres has never been greater, as it seems like there are either "Oscar" movies or "escapism" (action/comedy/kids) movies, the latter financing the former. Blame it on Lucas/Spielberg and the rise of the blockbuster, but things like "marketing", "focus groups" and "financial viability" have more to do with what gets greenlighted and shoveled into multiplexes than actual creative decisions made by the studios.

Why is it that the quality movies don't get showcased as robustly as the mass-market ones? For every No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood trailer I've seen, I've had to endure about 100 various ads for Jumper and Transformers, and I don't think I've seen trailers for the other 3 nominated movies more than once or twice. The main problem is that movies that make a lot of money don't win Oscars, possibly because of snobbish voter backlash ("if so many people enjoy it, there's no way it can be good"). Usually, only 1 out of the top 10 is even considered worthy for best picture; this year, that number was zero. In fact, the only #1 top grossing films to win the Best Picture award in the past 20 years were Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003), Titanic (1997), Forrest Gump (1994), and Rain Man (1988). (Okay, I'll cut Spielberg a break: in 1998, Saving Private Ryan got screwed by Shakespeare in Love. But fuck Lucas, who long ago stopped directing movies and decided to just sit back and cash the checks.)

So when was the last time all 5 nominees were also among the Top 10 grossing films? 1970, just before the blockbuster era was ushered in, and Spielberg's Jaws and Lucas' Star Wars were just mere gleams in their directors' eyes. Why am I mentioning this? I don't know. I just wanted to say that there will be no Oscars show for me, I'm too old to care.

0% GOOD!

We have our first 0% movie of 2008! That's right. Out of 55 reviews, NOBODY has recommended the cinematic turd entitled "One Missed Call".

As you may know, January is the annual dumping ground for bad movies. I should clarify: bad movies come out every week, but these are the ones that Hollywood knows are bad, AND don't think they can make any money on, and that equals fucking horrible. And sweet bastard, the slate of movies coming out this month sure do look atrocious. Someone (not me) should go see all of them and write a book.

Infesting a theater near you in January:

First Sunday. I've never thought Tracy Morgan was funny. Sit through the trailer for this and try to argue otherwise.

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. I guess it could be worse, it could be "Transporter 3".

Cloverfield. "Blair Witch" meets "Independence Day"--the hybrid no one asked for! Once again, please stop beating up the Statue of Liberty, you Hollywood assholes.

Mad Money. Chick flick alert! I bet Queen Latifah says something "sassy" in this one, am I right? Diane Keaton really needs to stop making movies, period. I wouldn't watch this even if Jim Cramer was yelling at them the whole time.

Meet the Spartans. Approximately 0% funny!

How She Move. Is there a verb missing here? Maybe a letter dropped off the marquee?

Rambo. It's over, Johnny. No, really, I checked.

Untraceable. Unwatchable!

27 Dresses. EXTREME TO THE MAX CHICK FLICK ALERT!

February ain't much better:

Jumper starring muthafuckin' Samuel L. Jackson. By my calculations, he's made approximately 1 good movie and has just coasted since then.

The Eye: Jessica Alba is blind, so she doesn't know how hot she is!

Postal. Uwe Boll's magnum opus, as if he could even spell that.

Witless Protection. Fuck Larry the Cable Guy and upgrade to FiOS.

Fool's Gold. What is this, "Romancing The Stone"? Who greenlighted another McConaughey/Hudson movie? Are they the new Crosby/Hope?

The Hottie & the Nottie. The three words that strikes fear in the hearts of moviegoers: Starring Paris Hilton.

And now I've lost the will to continue typing.

WEEKLY TOP 10: BECAUSE KRIS HATES TOP 10 LISTS

10. I put a mirror in my living room so I can quickly poke my head out of the kitchen while I'm cooking to see what's on TV. This was a genius move, and I don't know why it took me 6 years of living in my apartment to figure this out.

9. Kris put up a fuckatively funny post the other day which made me think about, among other things, the Rotten Tomatoes "Tomatometer" ratings. Regardless of the fact that he didn't like "Knocked Up", I think we should use the percentages to pay the actors for their work. For example, if someone signs a $1 million contract to star in a flick, a 87% rating would net them 87% of that amount ($870,000), while a 3% rating would earn them only $30,000. That's still decent pay day, and they could also get a percentage of the box office receipts if they so choose, but it would make actors think twice before agreeing to make a piece of shit movie.

8. There's officially no difference in value between the US dollar and the Canadian loonie, as US$1.00000 now equals C$1.00507. I guess the Quebecois strippers won't be getting my money after all--they're probably all Russians anyway.

7. It's Halloween candy buying time, and it's already an undisputed fact that Brach's makes the best candy corn; it's not open for debate. But I discovered that they also make a fantastic "caramel candy corn", which I give 9 thumbs up.

6. I'm not sure why I didn't look into this before: Planet Fitness only charges $10 a month (after a $59 initiation fee, at the newly opened Nanuet location). Wow, I was paying $57 at my previous gym before I quit. Plus, they're open 24 hours on the weekdays, so I can run on the treadmill at 2 AM! Finally! Okay, maybe not. I'll still hate the gym, but the lower price will make it much less painful.

5. Here's a fantastic golf story. Bruce Crampton, who had a reputation as being a bit ornery, was partnered at a pro-am with a woman. At the beginning of the round she told him that a friend bet her $10 that he wouldn't say 5 words to her all day. His response was: "Sorry lady, you lose". He didn't speak to her again. A perfect demonstration of douchebaggery if I've ever heard one.

4. The season premiere of HEROES featured one of the more egregious product placements that I've ever seen. When dropping off Claire at her new cliche-ridden high school (the head cheerleader is so mean to newbies!), the camera sweeps across the front bumper of the family car in such a way that not only can we tell it's a NISSAN their driving, but it fills my entire widescreen HDTV and obscures the actors. Then he hands her the keys and she excitedly shrieks, "The Rogue?!?" Uhm, the what? Why, it's the new NISSAN Rogue crossover vehicle, which 3 identical commercials in a row informed us several minutes later. The trade-off for less ads is more NISSAN logos shoved in your face during the show? Pretty disgusting.

3. I read this with alarm: ad blocking plug-ins like AdBlock might be illegal. Fuck you, internet advertisers, I'll block ads in Firefox if I want to. The only thing that incessant web ads do is make me NOT want to buy your product (or tune into your show, like NBC's Chuck). You know what I hate? Those irritating Lowermybills.com ads with some dancing thing on it telling me I can easily put my house into foreclosure RIGHT FROM MY COMPUTER! Ugh.

2. Tiger Woods will be playing this weekend in the "USA vs. The Others" Presidents Cup. I guess I'll tune in, but I'm honestly worn out after the "playoffs". So since that's over, is this like the PGA equivalent of the Pro Bowl?

1. AMAZON has finally announced its online digital music download service called, well, AMAZONmp3. There are several things that make it better than iTunes: the tracks are DRM-free to use on any player, nice sounding 256kbps mp3s, the tracks are always cheaper (ranging from $0.49-$0.99), and you get a discount for buying the entire album at once. It's just been released into public beta and several record companies haven't signed on, but the selection is growing every day. Very promising, and a welcome alternative to the iAppleTunes.

THINGS I HATE

Here's the deal. Kammann's the only one that posts to this blog, therefore, one could presume that he's the only one with an axe to grind against the world in general...not true. Having taken a nice 3-week vacation that consisted on totally ignoring the a) radio, b) TV news and c) newspaper left me in a bliss that is only experienced by 97% of Americans. Coming back not only meant working, or giving the semblance of working, but also learning that the rest of the world didn't stop turning, it's still a shitty place. Anyway, I should do 10, but I fucking hate top-10 lists, so I'm going to do 5 things that I absolutely, fuckatively hate.

1. I watched Knocked Up the other day (it may have been yesterday, it's still relatively fresh in my mind) and I laughed a couple of times; then started searching online for Judd Apatow's home so I could go and beat the living shit out of him ruining my time that could've been spent, oh I don't know, staring at a brick wall. How the fuck did this get a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes? If there is one thing that I hate, it's making socio-political statements in films. Listen, I don't care if you're for or against abortion, this film just pussied out on the whole issue and since the fact that they "kept" the baby is kind of a main plot point in this film, it's fucking idiotic...They never even really discuss the whole keep it or not...They address it just enough so most of the idiotic reviewers give them a pass, but they never get anywhere near dealing with the issue. I know it's not an abortion film...but come on: They keep the baby and live happily ever after...James Dobson in 2008.
Beyond that what did I learn? Hanging out with your buddies is immature. If you don't do 9-to-5, you're not a "man". Oh yeah, and threating a woman with physical and/or mental assault is the best way to calm her down (and probably attract her too).
1a: Why the fuck does Rotten Tomatoes make me go to their UK site? I don't want to go to their UK site, I want to go to the US site...just because I have a European IP address doesn't mean that I should be forced to go to the Blighty site...what the fuck did the Brits ever do for me anyway?


2. Crisis management and slimy marketing advertised (and believed) as "Doing the Right Thing."Mattel apologizes to China for toy recalls. Ok...where to start? Should I start with the fact that it does no use apologizing to China because it should be their government that actually keeps an eye on things and makes sure that foreign companies don't export lead-paint based toys? Or should it be the fact that Mattel should spend less time apologizing to China and more time apologizing the the parents of lead poisoning victims? Oh, and Mr. Thomas A. Debrowski, executive vice president for worldwide operations, did you apologize the workers who inhaled lead paint in their menial few-dollar a week jobs who made this shit in the first place? Fuck it. My kid's going to play with local made, hand carved, wood toys...and s/he's going to like it.

3. French trade unions who are going to make my life a living hell starting on October 18th. I like Sarkozy, but I don't love him. He's a politician and he's got his shtick and all that...good for him. And I like the fact that he's got the balls to go up against the trade unions. And I like the fact that [I hope/think/believe] that he's going to stare down this strike and figuratively (and maybe literally) give these dinosaur unions the finger. But the unions are going to try to push back. If they block the highways like in '95, I hope Sarko calls in the army and busts some heads, really. These unions have no respect for the law and no respect for their fellow Frenchmen...there are people here who want to bust their balls and make money...if you don't, just get the fuck out of the way, but don't stop the rest of us from getting to work, or getting food and gasoline, or whatever. I'm so sorry that you have to wait until you're 57 to retire and you can't retire at 50 anymore, you fucking louses.

4. I can't even get my bile up for this. This is more a wholly depressed kinda rage, but the people spend their time following celebrities. You know, the whole People Culture, but I just, I don't know...I try to convince myself that its just people's way of forgetting about their terrible little lives, but then you realize that the majority of Americans do this, and, fuck me, these people vote? That's why John Edwards spends $400 on his hair. Does anyone vote on political beliefs, ever?

5. This kind of ties in with #4 and #2: The media buying whatever it is that the people (politicians, celebrities, spinmen, handlers...) feed them. This story about Rudy taking a call from his wife is case-in-point; of course that was staged. At least it only took 4 comments to come to the same conclusion as me, but CNN "blogs" doesn't even talk about that...isn't that the point of a blog? To be able to say things that you wouldn't be able to say in a news report? Time and again you see this. I like to read about cars, but even Jalopnik.com, which I think is the best of the automotive blogs, falls for the old company line. Time-and-again...just regurgitate the shit that the marketing departments feed you. Fuck you all. I'll see you in Hell.

PS: I saw a Ron Paul sticker on a Cadillac...vintage 1975, purple with velvet seats...I don't know what that means, but it made me smile.

Oh and I hate Harlan Coben too and his cliqued, worthless, contrite drivel. I have rarely read an author that sells so many books, but is such a bad writer.

WEEKLY TOP 10: I AM BOURNE AGAIN

10. Of course I'm talking about the Bourne Bridge that leads into Cape Cod. I always forget how nice the Cape is until I go there and dread having to come back home. The house my friend Kerry's parents rented in Chatham was nice, but the house (uhm, the Spillane compound) I visited in Hyannis, featuring a huge deck with ocean views, was astonishing. I have to find a job out there, maybe scraping barnacles off of billionaires' yachts or something.

9. I'm done with comic book superhero movies. It's not as though I was a big fan to begin with, but I'm officially sick of them. Sure, I liked Spiderman, which was surprising because I never really liked any of the previous incarnations. But I was thoroughly non-plussed by Spiderman 2 (which everyone else loved), so I have just decided to avoid anything and everything having to do with the newest movies about Batman, Superman, X-Men, The 4 Fantastic Men, or whomever. Enough already!

8. Probably nobody cares, but here's a video highlight of the Bad Art Auction I was at a few weeks ago. If you don't like that, here's a blooper reel of Zach's "twin brother" Seth Galifianakis being interviewed by Brian Unger (the actual interview is here). If that doesn't strike you as funny, well, I guess you're not a Zach fan.

7. Flooding cripples the entire NYC transit system! A tornado rips through Brooklyn! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!

6. National Treasure was one of the most preposterous and inane movies I've seen in quite sometime (I had only watched it because I had just gotten my new HDTV)--a Da Vinci Code for drooling morons. However, inexplicably a second one is coming out this year, and as with the first movie the screenplay was written by a couple called "The Wibberleys" (Cormac and Marianne). They are the same geniuses responsible for the horrendous Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Shaggy Dog and I Spy. So there's a really excellent chance that this ponderous sequel will also be a pile of horseshit.

Meanwhile, where did it all go wrong for Oscar® winner Nicolas Cage? I'm going to go with 1999's 8MM, an unintentionally laughable Bruckheimer disaster about the slimy world of underground porn. I might have to do a whole separate blog entry for that one.

5. I'm no longer rooting for players in sports, just teams. It's a waste of time to get attached to some player who will say something stupid, sign as a free agent for your hated rival, or stick a needle in their ass and lie about it, or all of the above--they'll just let you down eventually. And it's pointless to celebrate some guy's personal achievements, so I'll leave that to their family members.

4. The Simpsons Movie was very funny, but ultimately not especially memorable; a week later I can't really remember any jokes from it. I give it 8 thumbs up. And because of the marketing deluge, I'm tired of seeing everyone "Simpsonized" already.

3. How is it that French actress Julie Delpy isn't married yet? I've had a crush on her since the one-two punch of Before Sunrise and White back in 1995. She's gorgeous, independent and a music lover (and singer, apparently), and she's only 2 months older than me. So dare I say she'd make a great wife for me. I'll have to email her when I get a chance.

2. How funny is it that a Mets fan, wearing a Mets uniform, caught Baroid's home run ball? The Onion put it best: Destruction Of National Pastime Given Two-Minute Standing Ovation.

1. I'm watching FIGJAM! right now play his second round at Southern Hills on the PGA website. God bless free live online golf! These announcers have to stop complaining about the heat in Oklahoma. Anyway, it's the PGA's fault they decided to play the 89th PGA Tournament on that course in August, and it can't be hotter than when I attended Baltusrol in 2005, which averaged about 99° over the four days. Anyway, the only golfers that this heat will effect is the older players or those who are out of shape--well, good riddance! I guess that means John Daly will no longer be near the top of the leaderboard after today.

Why do sportswriters always get extra punny with golfer's names in their headlines? First round leader Graeme Storm brought on a downpour of bad jokes: "Storm Brews Great Opening Round", "Storm on PGA Radar", "Storm Surges", "It's not easy being a Storm in a tempest", "Storm Watch", "Storm Subsides", "Imperfect Storm", "Storm Downgraded". Bloody fucking hell, we get it!