Level Orange

While it’s starting to look like Slumdog Millionaire is the favorite to win Best Picture at the Oscars this year after snagging top honors at the Critics’ Choice, Golden Globes and SAG Awards, there’s also growing unrest over the nominations as a whole.  Would you rather have seen others on the list like The Wrestler, WALL•E or even The Dark Knight?

Are there any films that you think were overlooked or are these the right choices out of last year’s crop?

 Loading ...

Something you can never really count on these days is for a television show to get it right. With the networks cranking out reality TV shows, the same ol’ standard hour-long procedurals and only a smattering of sitcoms over the past several years, the odds of a television network putting together a quality scripted program are at an all-time low. Sure, I enjoy all of those from time to time, but there are only a few shows that I simply cannot go without watching every week. It’s a rare thing that I find something on TV that I will essentially schedule my life around, even in the days of DVRs and online viewing.

It’s only fitting, of course, that the two shows that I’ve been looking forward to the most, LOST and Battlestar Galactica, are also in the final stretch of their respective stories. I knew they would have to end some day. I was just hoping that day would be much later. Then again, I’d rather have quality over quanity anyday.

If you have any interest in seeing these shows and/or maybe aren’t caught up yet, consider yourself warned, there be spoilers ahead.

(more…)

Nominations for Best Picture include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire. Despite campaigns to land nominations, The Dark Knight and WALL•E were shut out, although WALL•E seems to be a shoo-in for Best Animated Feature. Also of note, Heath Ledger nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role of the Joker in The Dark Knight. Also also, Tropic Thunder’s Robert Downey Jr./Kirk Lazarus nabbed a nom too.

Personally, this will mark the first year that I haven’t seen a single one of the nominees for Best Picture. I’m not exactly in a hurry to see any of them, although I’ll probably catch Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon and Slumdog Millionaire on DVD someday. However, I’m excited to see Ledger, undoubtedly the best part of the year’s biggest film, receive some even-higher-profile recognition for his performance. 

LINK

With Barack Obama about to take office, he’s definitely bringing a new type of swing to government, including a full-fledged soundtrack. Featuring cuts by Black Eyed Peas, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Jennifer Hudson, Robin Thicke, Lionel Richie and others, the first single to drop is Stevie Wonder’s new original song “All About the Love Again”.

Apparently, Obama’s quite the Stevie Wonder fan:

“If I had one musical hero, it would have to be Stevie Wonder. When I was at that point where you start getting involved in music, Stevie had that run with Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Fulfillingness’ First Finale and Innervisions, and then Songs in the Key of Life. Those are as brilliant a set of five albums as we’ve ever seen.”

I’m all for breaking new ground and achieving some new firsts, but having your own administration soundtrack? Yes, he can!

It’s All About the Love Again – Stevie Wonder (Download MP3)

There’s no mistaking the voice, the style or the suave-ality of Ricardo Montalban. Probably best known for his role as Mr. Roarke in TV’s Fantasy Island (or as the menacing Khan to Star Trek nerds), he was in many ways an inspiration for Latinos to cross boundaries and carry themselves with dignity. Even his final on-screen appearance in Spy Kids 3D, in which he was seen standing proud and tall  with the help of visual effects magic (Montalban had been confined to a wheelchair since 1993 from a debilitating spinal injury), was a touching sight to see.

I like to think of him as the Mexican Sidney Poitier, if you will. But with a fly three-piece white suit and Hervé Villechaize always within arm’s reach. A class act, indeed.

RIP Senor Montalban