My Oscar Predictions

These are my predictions for the Oscars. And the Academy Award will go to:

Natalie Portman for Best Supporting Actress
Hilary Swank for Best Actress
"Million Dollar Baby" for Best Picture
Martin Scorsese for Best Director
"Born into Brothels" for Best Documentary Feature
"Shrek 2" for Best Animated Feature

This is kind of cruel, but my vote for the person who will get the most applause during the "In Memoriam" section will be Ozzie Davis.

Now for Best Actor and Supporting Actor winners. There seems to be no way that Jamie Foxx will lose Best Actor for "Ray", but I think there will be an upset. So, I am going to say that Don Cheadle will win Best Actor for "Hotel Rwanda" and Jamie Foxx will get Best Supporting Actor for "Collateral". But if Jamie does win for Best Actor, I hope Morgan Freeman get Best Supporting Actor for "Million Dollar Baby".

The show starts at 8:30pm EST but I will watching it on a TiVo delay at 9:30-10pm. I want to skip through all of the boring parts.

Project Runaway Finale Results

Congratulations, Jay! I have to admit that I like Kara Saun collection better, but you had more creativity. I am super glad that Wendy did not win or come in second place. Wendy remained evil even after her makeover. And Wendy, please stop saying that you are from a small town when the footage showed that your town is about 5 times bigger than the size of Jay's small town.

There was some interesting drama that wasn't related to Wendy during the finale. Appartently, Kara Saun seemed to have breached her contract when received custom made shoes imported from China from Dollhouse Shoes. I don't know the particulars of her contract, but the contestants were to pay for their collection with the $8,000 budget given to them. So when Tim Gunn, the fashion advisor, questioned her about the shoes she stated that she got them for free. It seemed to me that she honestly did not know she couldn't receive items that she didn't pay for out of her budget. I think that she paid for the shoes in another way. I am thinking that she made a deal with the company to design a line of shoes and in return she gets her items for free. The girl has some major connections, so I wouldn't be too surprised if this was the case. But as soon as she was told about the problem, she called the company to get a DEEP discount for the shoes.

She wanted $5 a pair, but they had rinestones and fur which probably retailed for hundreds of dollars. It just seemed odd that she would be given this information a day before the show, meanwhile Wendy got free shoes from Michael Kors because she didn't bring any. I think the producers was trying to add some drama, yet again. I still refuse to believe that Wendy is an acutal designer, but a mole working for the production to spice things up. But I guess that just me. Anyway ... the justification from Tim is that the Michael Kors shoes were offered to all of the contestants so everyone was on a level playing field. The other two (Jay and Kara Saun) really didn't need the shoes because they were already prepared. But it is over now, so it doesn't matter now. I think that Kara Saun will be the Clay Aiken of Project Runway because she got so much exposure.

Now that this season is over I am looking forward to season 2. Hopefully they will not cast people who might manufactor drama and just focus on talent. I also hope that I will have Bravo so I can watch the shows live instead of days later. I had the finale spoiled when a friend e-mailed his admiration for Jay. Thanks, by the way. :-)

Project Runway Finale

I am starting to regret not getting digital cable so that I would be able to get the Bravo Network. I am kind of over Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, because their schtick is really got old. I was a fan went it first started but I gradually stopped caring if I missed an episode. I would only watch it just to see Thom Filicia because he is from my hometown of Syracuse ('Cuse in the house!).

This past Christmas I caught the Project Runway mini-marathon -- and I was hooked. It was a reality show that required talent, unlike Fear Factor but it was also fun to watch...again, unlike Fear Factor. I love Jay because he is funny and bitchy, love Austin Scarlett (his new website) because he is so foppish, love Kara Saun because she is so professional, and I love Robert because he is soo not the sharpest crayon in the box -- but he is adorable. Wendy -- however -- I do not love. She played the game like Survivor instead rely on her talents. Well...I don't really hate her all the much. But I hate the producers of the show more for keeping her on the show for dramatic purposes. This decision caused one of favorites, Austin, not to make it to the final three. I am praying (not really) that Wendy does not win. If so, I am not watching this show next season.

As previously mention, I do not have Bravo so I will have to wait until tomorrow morning until I can download the episode. Until then I will have to avoid a myriad of website so I will not know the outcome of the finale until I see it. I think I have to change my homepage for my web browser from Yahoo! to something else because they might post the results in their news section. I hope they don't spoil it for me.

MY EX-it strategy *

My ex-boyfriend called me this past week after a month after his last call. I was enjoying the communication break after deciding it was best to sever all ties with him. Of course, I didn't tell him about this.

This past Wednesday, Lunar New Year, I was enjoying American Idol and my phone rang. It was a double ring, so I knew it was an off-campus call. But who could be calling me? (My friends know NOT to call me during American Idol. Just kidding. Since I got TiVo I lifted the ban on calls during primetime.) I located my cordless phone and I didn't recongize the number listed on my caller-id. After few moments the number made sense. Knowing who it was, I decided that answering machine was better suited to handle the call. No message was left, so I thought I was in the clear. The familiar melody of my cellphone began to play with the same caller-id information. Once again, I declined to answer the phone. After the initial melody subsided, the next melody alerted me that there was a new voicemail. I contemplated whether or not I should listen to the message, but curiousity got the better of me.

The message was very benign. He was wishing me a happy new year, wondering how I am, wondering how's the new job going, etc... It was a nice gesture, but I won't be returning the call. I spent a lot of time analyzing the whole relationship up to its end. I determined that there were too many bad things that overrides all of the good he has done. The breakup was not bad -- I think it was probably the most adult breakup I've had. The information I received from him during and post breakup is what soured me on this relationship. Hindsight is 20/20, but I wasn't blind throughtout the relationship...just a bit impaired which didn't allow me to see things about him that were clearly visible. Knowing all that I know now I couldn't possible carry on friendship with him. However, I am willing to give an awkward greeting if I bump into him at the grocery store, mall, or on the street.

The only thing I would wish I could change is how the relationship ended. I so wished it could have been soap opera-ish. But nothing like me finding out he was dumping me for my non-gay brother. That would be awesome -- if it happened to someone else. I do wish that I played it up a bit. I have the useless skill of crying on command, but I wouldn't want to waste the fake tears. Throwing a drink in his face or storming out after statement that cut him down to size would have been nice but I guess I don't have that Alexis Carrington side to me. Maybe next time....

[* post edited to reflect the gender of the nouns. I ran out of creative ways to disguise the gender of the person in question, thereby giving a bit more insight on who I am.]

Coon

This past Monday a co-worker (who is in his late 50s) was in the middle of telling a story. To be honest, I wasn't really paying attention because I was in the middle of a project. I heard, "...I haven't done that in a coon's age." My fingers stopped typing. I just sat my chair for a few moments processing what I heard while my co-worker still was going on with his story without missing a beat.

Now I know that phrase "a coon's age" means a long time, but being the only person of color working at that timeI found it a bit un-PC. I didn't find what he said racist, it was just jarring. I never heard the word 'coon' uttered outside of the television. To actually hear it in person and for the person saying it not the thing about the negative connotation, I found interesting. I turned my chair to face him, and gave him a look to say "did hear what you just said?" He looked at me, still in the middle in of story, but it didn't register. I don't know. There was no need for me to get all confrontational so I didn't say anything.

If it happens again I think I might have to pull him aside. When the new building finally opens and 350 employee fill it, he may say something similar and offend someone.

6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon Dream

Last night I had the weirdest dream. I dreamt that I was at a carnival and there was a booth for the game '6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon.' This part of the dream was about five minutes before I woke up, but before I did, I paid my dollar and I was told that I have to find a link to Kevin Bacon using Jim Caviezel...then I woke up.

Still groggy I thought, "How in the hell are Jim Caviezel and Kevin Bacon linked?" I was determined to find the answer without using any internet resource. It took about 30 minutes but I finally found these links:

1) Jim Caviezel was in 'The Count of Monte Cristo' with Guy Pierce, who was in 'Memento' with Carrie-Ann Moss, who was in 'The Matix' with Keanu Reeves, who was in 'Feeling Minnesota' with Cameron Diaz, who was 'There's Something about Mary' with Matt Dillon, who was in 'Wild Things' with......KEVIN BACON!

2) Jim Caviezel was in 'Angel Eyes' with Jennifer Lopez, who was in 'Out of Sight' with George Clooney, who was in 'Oceans 11' with Brad Pitt, who was in 'Interview with a Vampire' with Tom Cruise, who was in "A Few Good Men" with.......KEVIN BACON!

I was trying to find a link using Charlize Theron, because she was in two movies with Keanu Reeves ('Sweet November' and 'The Devil's Advocate')............WAIT, I JUST THOUGHT OF TWO!

1) Jim Caviezel was in 'G.I. Jane' with Viggo Mortensen, who was in 'Lord of the Rings' with Liv Tyler, who was in 'That Thing You Do!' with Charlize Theron, which was directed and written by Tom Hanks who had a small part, who was in 'Apollo 13' with............KEVIN BACON!

or

2) Jim Caviezel was in 'Angel Eyes' with Jennifer Lopez, who was in 'Gigli' with Ben Affleck, who was in 'Reindeer Games' with Charlize Theron, who was in 'That Thing You Do!' with Tom Hanks, who was in 'Apollo 13' with............KEVIN BACON!

Alright, this is making my brain hurt. Now I am probably going to spend the entire day thinking about this. So I will watch some TV to keep my brain occupied.