@w00d’s nerdtainment

What happened this week in Nerdtainment?

We got a little bit of hunky Matt Damon, some Playboy and of course staples like MySpace, NBC and Apple.

Show links:

Stage 6, Stage 9, TMZ, Special Delivery, quarterlife, Miss Playboy Mobile 2008, Sarah Silverman & Matt Damon, Jimmy Kimmel & Ben Affleck, Seth Rogan & Elizabeth Banks

I was asked why I hadn’t posted a wrap-up for the Oscars and my answer was…cuz I’m annoyed!

I don’t want to sound negative. I truly respect the Coen brothers and have since “Raising Arizona.” Their offbeat view of life and dark sense of humor speaks to my soul. And I think its because I hold them up on a pedestal that I am so disappointed with No Country for Old Men. They let me down with this film.

The Academy is known for overlooking people and understandably regretting it down the road. They are also known for recognizing an artist’s body of work. Thats obviously what happened here. They wanted the Coen brothers to get the recognition they deserve but it shouldn’t have been this film. Now, in a few years, PT Anderson is going to win for a film that won’t be his best. But, that will be the Academy’s way of making it up to him. Its an annoying cycle.

I did enjoy the telecast overall. Jon Stewart was entertaining as usual. I had heard there were a ton of montages cut prior to the end of the strike since there might not have been any writing allowed. I’m really glad they kept them. I loved seeing all the old footage. Hollywood history is something that excites me. Which is why I loved this blog post of all the best picture posters. Aren’t they gorgeous?! I would love to have a room covered in them one day.

My prayers were answered…the writers strike ended before the Oscars! The time has come for the cream of the crop in Hollywood to dress up, strut down the red carpet and announce this years best productions and performances. And for me and my struggling artist friends to dress comfy, eat chips and guacamole and announce why we agree/don’t agree with this years best productions and performances.

“No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood” seem to be neck and neck for best picture. The films have enough similarities, though, that could split votes and allow one of the other nominees to slip through and win. “Atonement” is a well constructed film and “Juno” is an audience favorite with the highest box office earnings of the nominees. “Michael Clayton” is the final nominee but I don’t see it having much of a chance.

In my opinion, “Atonement” should hands down win best cinematography. Did you see that long ass scene on the beach? That blew me away. I can’t even imagine what went into making that scene alone. And for that scene alone it deserves an award…but not best picture. “Juno” is a very witty, entertaining movie with great performances all around. But, not a best picture. I would love to see it win best original screenplay. The writing is brilliant.

Both “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood” are great films. They both have compelling stories and enthralling performances but only one of them has an ending that doesn’t make you want to go running through the streets yelling “why, why, WHY?”! I was sucked into about two-thirds of “No Country for Old Men” and was completely let down by the denouement (thats fancy theatre major talk for final resolution). “There Will Be Blood”, however, transported me so deeply into a crazy, traumatic, depressing place that it took me quite awhile to return to my own crazy, traumatic, depressing life when it was over. That, my darlings, is a best picture!

The actor categories are pretty much set. Daniel Day-Lewis and Javier Bardem won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for best actor and best supporting actor, respectively. It would be a huge shock if they did not take home the Oscar as well.

I wish the best actress category was different. Julie Christie took the GG and SAG awards for her role in “Away From Her” but I can’t fathom why. She is barely even in the movie. Yes, we are all touched that her character had Alzheimers but her portrayel wasn’t moving. It was the situation that was moving. Cate Blanchett or Laura Linney should win. The best supporting actress category is totally up in the air. Cate Blanchett won the GG and Ruby dee won the SAG award. Amy Ryan is getting a lot of buzz for her role in “Gone Baby Gone” as is the little Saoirse Ronan for “Atonement”. I’m not a big supporter of children getting Academy Awards, it seems to send them down the wrong path, but Ronan was incredible.

I predict Paul Thomas Anderson will win best director and I believe he deserves it. Like I mentioned earlier, I would like to see “Juno” win best original screenplay although I also think “Lars and the Real Girl” derserves it. This movie is the most overlooked, in my opinion. What a great film. The writing is beautiful and the performances are captivating. Ryan Gosling should have gotten a nomination for his loveable yet frustrating character. Johnny Depp should NOT have gotten a nomination for “Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

Adapted screenplay could go many ways. Again the top runners are “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood” but if the votes are split, “Atonement” could take it. I hope that “Transformers” wins for visual effects and “The Bourne Ultimatum” for editing. I also hope that Colleen Atwood takes home the best costume Oscar for “Sweeney Todd”…only because of her cool last name (no relation).

No matter who wins, I am prepared for a great show. Jon Stewart is hosting and that makes me feel confident that I will be entertained. He hosted two years ago and the critics had less than great things to say about him. I, however, enjoyed it and say to the critics, back off and let the funny man do his thing!

Microsoft is wanting to take over Yahoo. To avoid this, Yahoo is considering partnering with News Corp. News Corp. owns MySpace. And now I can’t email from my Gmail account the word MySpace to a Yahoo email account. WHAT???????

In my signature is my MySpace profile address. This afternoon I went to send an email to a Yahoo user. Out of the blue, the email came back to me with this error message.

“Technical details of permanent failure:
PERM_FAILURE: SMTP Error (state 16): 554 Message not allowed - UP Email not accepted for policy reasons. Please visit http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/defer/defer-04.html[120]“

So, I tried again. And again. Then I tried other Yahoo email addresses. Those bounced back as well. Then I took out the MySpace part of my signature and the emails went through. Please, someone explain to me what is going on and how any of this makes sense.  Kthnxbai!

Hey, guys!  TGIF, right?  Time to make some big plans for the weekend.  What am I up to, you ask?   WATCHING KNIGHT RIDER ON SUNDAY.  Yeah, I am!

One of the best 80’s television series is being revitalized.  With an updated cast and car, Knight Rider returns to NBC with a 2 hour event Sunday at 9pm.  KITT, Knight Industry Two Thousand, has been upgraded to Three Thousand and I bet its awesome.  Who doesn’t love a talking car and some kickass action?  Watch videos and get pumped up like me here.

The Onion sure knows how to spread the love and lift our spirits.  This video is hilarious.  No more words are necessary.  

Old Spice, you have won me over! Whoever came up with this ad campaign is a genius in my book.

On the Old Spice website there is eight 15 and 30 second spots with Will Ferrell as his Semi Pro character, Jackie Moon, endorsing “clinically proven odor and wetness protection” Pro-Strength Old Spice.  And of course they are Will Ferrell comedy gold.  If you vote for the video you like best three new videos will show up and those are just as fun.  So, now, not only am I on the edge of my seat to see Semi Pro but I have to go stock up on Old Spice products.

What says Be My Valentine more than an online series titled 10 Dates From Hell? Idk…makes perfect sense to me.

Everyday leading up to Valentine’s day, TBS.com will post a short scene from a date gone wrong. I worked on the pre-production side of this series. I thought the scripts were cute and I’m looking forward to seeing how they turned out. The first one was posted today and so far so good.

Superbowl XLII was an awesome game but lets not talk about that. Let’s discuss ads. The commercials are a huge part of the experience and I have to say I was a bit let down. This year did not live up to past years.

There were two that stuck out to me. First is Budweiser’s with the horse and dalmatian and Rocky music. I can usually bank on Budweiser coming through with a good Clydesdale campaign. But, second was a UGC ad made for Doritos Crash the Superbowl.

I am intrigued to see MySpace has a page for the ads. Its set up pretty nicely where you search for the commercial you want by quarter. Then you can choose to add it to your profile. Unfortunately, there isn’t one worthy of my MySpace page.