I saw the fabulous Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela at The Warfield in San Francisco earlier this month. They put on a very energetic show reminiscent of their metal background. We were sitting in the balcony but still managed to get a decent view and was able to record their encore performance with my small P & S camera. Here’s the video:
As a movie buff, I look forward to the Academy Awards every year with great anticipation. However, the 80th Academy Awards being hosted at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles tomorrow, doesn’t excite me as much as some of the previous years. There seems to be a shortage of superstar celebrities in the running save a Depp or a Blanchett. And even the movies for which these two are nominated didn’t ignite the box office like a “Gladiator” or a “Blood Diamond” from recent years. Even a potential hit like “Charile Wilson’s War” with uber stars Tom Hanks and Julie Roberts (both not nominated) was a dud at the box office.
But still, I have seen a few of the movies for which lesser (from a box office perspective) stars have been nominated and have to say all of them are fabulous movies in their own right and some of the performances will go down in history as among the greatest ever. Cue in my predictions for a few categories.
I have mentioned all nominees in the lists below with my choices in bold yellow color.
This is not exactly a tight race if the critics and oddsmakers are to be believed. I haven’t yet seen “There will be Blood” but I am really looking forward to. I do think Day-Lewis is one of the greatest actors of our generation and that he should have won over Adrien Brody in 2003 for “Gangs of New York.” So that’s why I am casting my vote for him despite not seeing the movie. Depp will be my emotional favorite as he has never won. Mortensen was phenomenal in “Eastern Promises” but I am not sure he deserves an Oscar for this role. Tommy Lee Jones should be given another Oscar just once and they should not do it for a specific movie as he plays the same character every time (and he’s real good at it). I didn’t see “Michael Clayton” and can’t comment on Clooney’s role though I was so bored by “Ocean’s Thirteen” that I don’t want him to win this year.
I have seen most of these movies and I had earlier blogged about “La Vie en Rose” and at that time said that if the Academy did not nominate Marion Cotillard, it’d be time to throw the members to the dogs. Yes, Cotillard’s performance was that good. So, I think she should win this. While most people are rooting for Julie Christie, I think she was only good in “Away from Her,” not great. Although I think the Academy missed out on nominating the director of “Away from Her,” Canadian actress Sarah Polley. Blanchett, to me is a worthy successor to Meryl Streep for the title of the world’s greatest living actress and I am certain that she’ll be nominated many more times and I am really hoping she will win this year’s supporting actress award for also which she’s nominated. There has been only great performances in Linney’s career but I don’t think this is her year. Ellen Page, while fabulous in “Juno,” is too fresh to win it this year.
For best supporting actor, I think Javier Bardem is a shoo-in for “No Country for Old Men.” In it, he utters to a hapless store clerk: “Call it, friendo.” This spine chilling phrase is still stuck in my head. See the movie if you haven’t: you’ll be stunned. If Bardem doesn’t take the prize, I’d want this to go to Hal Holbrook in “Into the Wild,” a very brief but moving performance.
For best supporting actress, I am rooting for Cate Blanchett even though Amy Ryan is supposed to be very good in “Gone Baby Gone” from Ben Affleck.
For best animated feature, my pick is “Ratatouille” from the incomparable Brad Bird. Even though Bird did not convince me to start liking rats, he came very close.
People either drink tap water or they don’t. There’s no middle ground here. 
Some of us are brave enough to drink the local tap water in countries as exotic as Burundi and some of us won’t drink tap water certified to be germ free by the local government. Some of us drink only bottled water with fancy names such as Evian or Pellegrino. I have been brave (or foolhardy) in trying out tap water in most places I have traveled to. But when one is depending on the Lonely Planets and the Rough Guides for guidance to countries one doesn’t know much about, eventually one succumbs to the marketing hype and plow down for the bottled variety of the essential liquid.
Today, at a bar here in Colorado, I overheard the bartenders discussing how the French named Evian, the famous bottled water company, as such: spelled backwards it’s N-A-I-V-E. Yikes!
Though this is not entirely true, it does give one pause.
Ireland has given us many fabulous musicians over the years. Among them are luminaries such as U2, Van Morrison, Enya, Thin Lizzy, The Cranberries, and of course Sinéad O’Connor. Today, I read in The Wall Street Journal about another Irish band called Bell X1 (X one and not eleven) about to release their first album in the United States. This album, called Flock, was first released in Ireland in 2006 and went on to become a multi-platinum selling one vaulting them to superstardom in the Emerald Isle. I had never heard of the band until today and curious, checked them out online. They sound awesome and are like a cross between Coldplay and Radiohead, if that’s even possible.
There are many of their songs on youtube (including some from Flock) but the following from an earlier album stood out for me. It’s called Tongue and is a high rocking number. Wear headphones if at work.
Have you ever looked at a Jackson Pollock masterpiece and thought to yourself “I could do better than that”? No, you can’t, but now you can at least pretend, and that too without all the mess and bother of real drip painting. Digital art saves the day, yet again.
Move the cursor over the blank page to start your drip painting. Clicking changes the color of your paint.
It’s been a long while since I left the world’s largest democracy to come live in the world’s oldest. I have always been interested in civics and politics and missed the joys of participating in true democratic process. I have voted only a few times in India and now, fifteen years after coming to the US, I am ready to vote again. As a freshly minted American citizen. I couldn’t ask for a more interesting election year to do this.
As an undeclared voter (I am up for grabs, you party people!), I feel like I will have more power in this particular election (both the primaries and the main one in November) than any other time in recent memory. It feels good to know that my vote will make at least an iota of a difference. In California, the Republicans don’t allow independents to vote in the primary election but the Democrats do. I am quite certain, as is everyone else, that McCain will prevail over Romney in the former (as I would have voted despite Romney’s business acumen and experience in “running” things). It’s the Democratic primary that’s more captivating just because of the high brainpower remaining.
Both Clinton and Obama are exceptionally gifted. If either one becomes president, it’d truly be a historic occurrence. Both have quite the same goals for the country despite the vitriolic attacks against each other (see Clinton, Bill on race and Obama’s macaca moment as examples). I have friends and co-workers who are passionate about one or the other but I’d be happy with either being my president. With only a few hours remaining to vote, I am still undecided. I probably won’t decide which way the cursive goes until the curtains are drawn. Some of my friends are voting for Obama because they are convinced that he’s more electable against McCain than Clinton. This might very well be true but for an independent like me, I am not so much against McCain as my Democratic friends are. I believe in checks and balances and politicians of all ilk are bound to screw things up if left unchecked. A Democratic Congress plus a Democratic President is likely to be as bad as the potent combination that ruled us six of the the last seven years. In different ways, perhaps. But there is much homework to be done before November rolls around. All the best to the three candidates that matter today.
I will leave you with some of my favorite opinions/articles regarding this election (I have been reading up vigorously over the past month or so):
In the NFL, there are only two possible outcomes when you win the first 18 contests of the year. You win the last game, finish with a perfect season as champions, repeating a feat that has been accomplished only once in the history of the NFL (though the season was 17 games long then). 19-0.
Or you lose the last game, with a record of 18-1 and go home, wondering about that 1 game that got away. It sure feels better to end the season 0-16.
What does an 18-1 season sound like, you ask? Quiet as a pin drop. My otherwise garrulous 7 year old whose entire footballing memory consists of ‘and the Patriots win again’ was speechless for the first time I can remember. I hear the clackety clack of the keyboard from the next room (no I tell myself, the office isn’t any quieter today), and I swear I hear the distant roar of laughter from not so distant New York and perhaps the rest of the country.
Life goes on. It’s just a game. There’s always next year. 18-1 must be better than 0-16.
But, why does it hurt so?
[Hat Tip to Tomas of The Closet Entrepreneur for the link]
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