Monday, February 25, 2008

pop culture musings


First of all...YES!

Betsy and I were so pumped last night when Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won Best Song for "Falling Slowing" from Once.

All around, I thought the the 80th Academy Awards were pretty enjoyable. Here are a couple reasons why:

1). Jon Stewart. He is a fantastic host. He is funny, classy and doesn't try to steal the spotlight.

2). The music. I loved all the songs up for "Best Song". There were...I think...27 songs from Enchanted, which was cool. No...there were 3, but Betsy and I loved the movie so we were definitely alright with that. I'm not too proud to admit that I love me some show tunes.

3). Foreigners. Betsy predicted that VH1's "Best Week Ever" this week will say that "Foreigners at the Academy Awards" are having the best week ever. I think she might be right. Outside of "Best Director", no major award was won by an American last night. I find that interesting. It's almost as if America is a big melting pot or something. Weird.

4). The "Binoculars and Periscopes" montage. That was touching.

I mean, it wasn't the greatest night in television, by any means (that still belongs to the night the Patriots lost the Super Bowl), but it was entertaining. Of course, being able to fast-forward through all the commercials helps.

Also this weekend, Saturday Night Live returned, thanks to the end of writer's strike. I don't care who tells me that SNL's best days are behind them. SNL's best days are always behind them. That doesn't mean its not good now. Betsy and I have always enjoyed it.

Plus, its just nice to have something to fall asleep to on Sunday afternoons now that football is over with.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your thoughts on Daniel Day-Lewis and There Will Be Blood?

Jeff

ragamuffinminister said...

Least watched Oscars in the history of the show. Weird to me.

I love Javier. He's amazing.

Falling Slowly is an awesome song.

My favorite part of the Oscars is always the part where they take time to remember those who passed away between the last Oscar ceremony and the current one. I always cry.

Show tunes...I'm growing out of them. It's time I become a man.

SNL was hilarious this weekend. Huckabee was great. A writer from CNN ACTUALLY thought that he screwed up and forgot to leave the set during the weekly update. I almost wrote to CNN to tell their writers to get out of the office every once and a while.

And, my last comment on your post, get ready, BOUT TIME you posted something NEW!

:)

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed the Oscars too... good stuff. I was annoyed that they snubbed Brad Renfro from the "people who died" montage... not sure what's up with that but he's a local boy so I'm offended.

I can't believe you didn't mention the game of the century and the amazing viewing party that accompanied it. You probably just didn't know what to say and I would understand that.. no words can describe it.

I like that updating the blog thing. I should try that.

bill said...

yes, i was a way behind. my apologies.

and yes, Huckabee was hilarious. he is certainly making his bid for VP a strong one.

jeff, my thoughts on Daniel Day Lewis and "There will be Blood"? well, i haven't seen it. so, i really don't have too many thoughts. but since you asked, i'll share the few that i do have:

first off, from all the previews, i'm not that impressed with Daniel Day Lewis. it looks like the director told him, "Over-act as much as you possible can. Seriously, don't hold back. OK? Go. (pause) Cut! No scream louder! Be more over the top. Over act, man! Over act!"

again, i haven't seen the movie...so i'm sure there's more to it than that. but...hey, you asked.

my other thought is...what in the crap is the "I drink your milk shake" line all about?! It appears to be THE catch-phrase from the movie, which confuses me greatly. i want to see it just to figure out what that line means.

okay, thats it.

bill said...

greg, that game was great. and so was the food and darts and guitar hero that accompanied it.

we need to do that again. when does Tennessee play their next "Biggest Game of the Decade"? (maybe ESPN over-hyped the game a little...maybe).

Anonymous said...

Well, the head of the local church wouldn't sell him a certain tract of land Daniel needed, and at the end he finally decided to sell it to Daniel for $100k (since he lost a ton in the Panic and was broke). Daniel said great, but you have to say you are a false prophet and God is a superstition. The preacher gives in and says it. After that, Daniel is like, oh yeah, those areas have been drilled. What? Those areas have been drilled. Its called drainage. I own everything around it, so I get everything underneath it. Wait, I don't understand Daniel. I drink your water Eli, I drink it up. Like a milkshake. My straw reaches across the room and starts to drink your milkshake.

jason said...

that's gross. i don't like drinking after people. i guess it's from growing up on farms and everyone drinking from the same nasty water jug. and i certainly would never share a milkshake. sounds like a terrible movie.

The Anonymous Human said...

I absolutely loved when Marketa came back out and gave her little thank you speech. I think it's great that the power of the movie, the song, and the moment gripped Jon Stewart so much that he wanted her to have her chance. To give her (more than likely) only oscar speech in her life. I thought that was classy of Stewart.