Monday, February 25, 2008
Worst. Oscars telecast. Ever.
The awards themselves were fine, even good (though Diablo Cody, ughhhhhhhhhhh), but that was the most half-assed show awards show I have ever seen. Queen Latifah wouldn’t let that shit fly at the People’s Choice Awards. But we’re over it, seriously, so let’s get back to our regularly scheduled programming.
8:00 – A Raisin in the Sun (ABC)
No, this isn’t a side effect of ABC’s constant stream of advertisements (“The money doesn’t BELONG to us, it’s your MOTHER’s money”), but more a side effect of Diddyitis. No matter how ridiculous, misguided, or poorly produced, we can’t help but pay attention to whatever Diddy does (Making the Band excepted). And he’s promised that his performance will be even more “impactful” than Sidney Poitier’s! We’d be crazy not to watch.
8:00 – The Rundown (FX)
The Rock, Stifler, and Christopher Walken. Surprisingly, this isn’t based on an SNL sketch.
9:30 – In Treatment (HBO)
It happened. We got hooked to In Treatment. HBO is giving away weeks worth of the show via iTunes, and it only took a couple hits for the addiction to become full-blown. The voyeuristic thrill I’m getting from eavesdropping on these conversations is almost enough for me to go into therapy myself. Oh God, this is coming off as a cry for help, but I’m fine! Really! Where are you taking me?!?
Late Night
At long last, my dreams of beautiful Will Ferrell and Michael McDonald love are to be recognized on Letterman tonight. In the off chance they don’t duet, maybe Will Arnett and Flava Flav will on Conan. Eric Bana broods a while on Leno, and Stewart and Colbert are still on vacation. To be fair, Stewart deserves a little time to himself after last night (okay, now we’re over it).
Just to get it out of the way, the 80th Academy Awards were last night. No Country for Old Men was the big winner, pulling down awards for best picture, best director, and best supporting actor. Best actor went to Daniel Day Lewis in There Will be Blood and best actress went to new 2.0somethings obsession Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose (A biopic of someone I have never heard of). If anyone wants you to talk about the ceremony (and they will) just mention it that seemed subdued and talk about how much all the montages sucked. We discuss the latter at length in our 2.0somethings liveblog.
Ralph Nader has entered the race for the Presidency. To people of our generation he is known more for being a perennial third-party candidate than he is for his crusading consumer protection work. That should say something, Mr. Nader. Nader announced his intentions on Meet the Press on Sunday. If this comes up at work, just say disdainfully that it is all ego at this point.
Democrats, Cuba, and Iraq after the jump
Keep reading
Sunday, February 24, 2008
11:56 pm – Josh – No Country for Old Men got the awards for Best Director and Best Picture. After tortuously stretching out the ceremony for 3.5 hours, the last 10 minutes and the biggest awards were rushed through. Overall, this whole thing kind of blew. I have banished most of our liveblog to after the jump. Let’s never speak of it again.
11:35 pm – Jeff - 
Daniel Day gets it, and will now return to his secluded underground lair for another 8 years before he resurfaces in another brilliant role. Let’s take this moment to acknowledge last night’s awesome SNL parody of There Will Be Blood.
11:28 pm – Josh - The first writers strike shout out? From a stripper? Diablo Cody wins best original screenplay for Juno.
Keep reading
Friday, February 15, 2008
On Saturday, February 23, AMC Theaters are featuring a pretty awesome deal to get you all caught up on Oscar madness. For 30 bucks, you not only get to see all five best picture nominees in a row, but a free large popcorn and unlimited drink refills as well. But it takes more than popcorn and soda to make it through a day, so here’s our official food recommendations for those of you taking the plunge.
11am – Michael Clayton
A whole sackful of crispy French baguettes is just the trick for your late morning naked mental breakdown (somebody tell Britney).
1:20pm – There Will Be Blood
You drink your milkshake!! You drink it up!!!
4:20pm – Atonement
Okay, fine, we still haven’t seen Atonement, but in honor of Keira Knightley’s painful skinniness, indulge in your inner anorexia for a while.
7pm – Juno
Dinner time, so pound some delicious burgers that bear a strange resemblance to telephones and wash it all down with your weight in Sunny D.
9pm – No Country for Old Men
If you’ve still got an appetite after watching Javier Bardem reset his broken arm, then do what Sheriff Tommy Lee Jones would do and hit up your local diner and wearily reflect on your day’s accomplishments. Congratulations: even though this year’s Oscars are going to be a hasty mess, you’ll be completely in the know.
Honorable mentions
Go see Diving Bell and the Butterfly and stay nourished with a feeding tube, bring along some trail mix for Into the Wild, but keep away from the meat pies from Sweeney Todd. Just take our word for it.
Awesome milkshake image above shamelessly stolen from the Vulture blog.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The biggest news today that every paper put on the front page is the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut, which was an attempt to prevent a massive sell off in stock markets all over the world. Most papers agree that it worked, sorta, but that we are still either entering or already in a recession. Yesterday’s rate cut was the largest in 20 years. Some people say that the Fed is too concerned with the stock market since their job is ostensibly to worry about the economy as a whole, and not just Wall Street.
Confused? Me too. We will have a longer post some time over the next few days explaining exactly what the Federal Reserve is and how it works.
The Washington Post has an excellent article with advice for investors of all ages. Their advice for those just starting out is that we are investing for the long term (not planning on withdrawing the money for 40 or 50 years) so one week, month, or year doesn’t really matter. The article actually recommends that young people go out and invest while stocks cost less to prepare for their eventual bounce back.
The President and Congress are close to an agreement on a stimulus package, so that bounce back will be just around the corner.
Oscar nominations are out, but no one knows if there will actually be an awards show because of the writers’ strike.
Finally, filed under news you heard about already, Actor Heath Ledger was found dead in a Manhattan apartment yesterday.
