My Oscar Texts

Here's a ceremony long text conversation between myself and Kyle. We were at different Oscar gatherings. Me being in New York, and him being in Florida, but with the constant back and forth, it felt like we were watching it together like we used to. Here's a few snippet from our so-called "Oscar commentary":

Kyle: Sorry you couldn't be here, but you will be watching with us.

Peter: Wow. Sooooo creepy. Hahaha.

Kyle: Yes. This will be the creepy Oscars.

Peter: Ummm... okay.

Peter: That was like some MTV opening montage. Younger Oscars!

Peter: Starting off with a very awkward acceptance speech for Art Direction.... nice. Sigh. Academy Award winner 'Alice In Wonderland'. 2 semi upsets so far... and we're off!

Kyle: Wow. Awesome. But does this bode well for 'The Social Network'?

Peter: I think so. I should've switched over. Regrets are starting. We'll know whenever film editing arrives.

Kyle: So glad for 'Inception' upset with cinematography. Willing to lose Oscar pool if 'Inception' continues to surprise.

Peter: But it's kinda sad Roger Deakins is still Oscarless, no?

Peter: I almost feel sad for Kirk Douglas. Maybe that's the point? A win for Leo!

Kyle: That's more like it. Douglas was awkward but memorable awkward. Like stories you tell about your kooky grandpa.

Peter: Uh...

Kyle: Love Franco's line to Melissa Leo. Felt like she was trying to make a moment. I think the F bomb was planned.

Peter: Yeah? Just judging from Leo's past speeches, maybe she's just that way. She her Spirit Award speech for 'Frozen River' a few years back.

Peter: And we're back on schedule in terms of winners with 'The King's Speech' winning only one so far.

Kyle: Umm... you think Seidler wrote that speech?

Peter: Props to Anne for throwing it all out there for a crappy, crappy number.

Peter: A ".com" shot out? A little low brow, no? That site is about to explode with traffic volume.

Kyle: On surface low brow, but really shows his admiration and dedication to the real life person.

Kyle: Wow. 'The King's Speech' weak again.

Peter: I sooo should have switched over for Best Picture. That montage clip for original score just made me more mad that Andrew Garfield was not nominated.

Kyle: Was Scarlett taking a nap in the back?

Peter: I think so.

Kyle: And next to McConaughey's tanning bed?

Kyle: Ugh. Burton reign of terror on the Oscars.

Peter: Also, 'Alice' has 2 Oscars. Someone here is asking why 'Lord of The Rings' is in the background after the winner's announced. I told them it's call bad producing.

Peter: This confirms it. All of Newman's songs sound the same.

Kyle: I think he wrote them all 12 years ago and just uses them as movies come up.

Peter: That Chuck guy and Mandy Moore are sounding (and looking) good.

Kyle: Best speech of the night.

Peter: I will gladly sit through another decade of crappy auto-tune for another one of those song montages.

Kyle: Franco seems high but I love his distant attitude though.

Peter: Me too. Took awhile for me to get used to. It kind of works with this "younger" Oscars.

Kyle: "You're all getting an Oscar!!!"

Peter: I will always love the way Jennifer Hudson mispronounces the word 'nominees'. NUM-MEN-NEESE!

Kyle: Is Kathie Griffin singing?

Peter: I don't think so. It's supposedly "country sensation" Gwyneth Paltrow. I don't get it. She did awesome at the Grammys. What happened!?!!

Peter: Did Randy Newman just complain about having 2 Oscars? He won for his worst 2 songs!

Kyle: Is he doing a Sean Penn/ 'I Am Sam' impression?

Peter: Oh. Low! I think he sounds the same rather he's singing or not.

Peter: Oh, Ms. Bigelow. What are you wearing!?!?! Wow. Hooper in it to win it.

Kyle: Wow. Can go to bed now. It's over.

Peter: Maybe 'The King's Speech' can squeak this out after all.

Kyle: C'mon, Inception!

Peter: Uh...

Kyle: Oh I know. Just wishin'.

Peter: The clip for Annette was more for Julianne than the actual nominee.

Kyle: Tinkerbell is nominated? (re: Williams)

Peter: Kudos to Natalie for naming crew! I so thought she was going to name my friend Tony, the script supervisor for 'Black Swan'.

Peter: Dance, Colin, Dance!

Kyle: What a very British speech.

Peter: Yeah. I said poise. Someone here said boring. LoL

Peter: There you go. 'The King's Speech' pulls it out. How about that?

Kyle: Not the sweep I expected, but it still got it. Okay, have to work at 4am. Have a good night!

Peter: Was fun and had fun!

Kyle: Good show.

Peter: Umm... sure. Night.

My Oscar Snacks & Predictions

For as long as I can remember, my friends Kyle and Julie have been watching the Oscars together even though we live hundreds of miles apart. This would be the first year in awhile we won't be able to- I blame many things, but mostly my busy work schedule. But we're definitely keeping another one of our mini-traditions going, getting snacks themed after the Best Picture nominees. Who can forget the goodness that was Frosty Flakes cereal ('Frost/Nixon') with Milk ('Milk') or the shrimp cocktail ('District 9') with some Taco Bell ('The Blind Side')?

So we've distributed our nominees to year and I've been assigned 'Black Swan', 'The Fighter' and 'Winter's Bone'. Here's what I came up with:

Black and white cookies for our black and white swan.

A shot of Irish Monkey for our Irish Mickey.

A pile of wither chicken bones for our Winter's Bone. A huge stretch.

As for my Oscar predictions. I'm confident in all these except for Best Picture. I'm going with 'The King's Speech' for now but I'm feeling less and less secure about that with every moment. There could be a last minute switch to 'The Social Network' on my part:

Best Picture: The King's Speech

Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network

Best Lead Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech

Best Lead Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network

Best Original Screenplay: The King's Speech

Best Cinematography: True Grit

Best Film Editing: The Social Network

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3

Best Foreign Language Film: Denmark

Best Documentary Feature: Inside Job

Best Art Direction: The King's Speech

Best Costume Design: The King's Speech

Best Make-Up Design: The Wolfman

Best Visual Effects: Inception

Best Sound Mixing: Inception

Best Sound Editing: Inception

Best Original Score: The Social Network

Best Original Song: 127 Hours

Best Short Live Action Film: Na Wewe

Best Short Animated Film: Madagascar, A Journey Diary

Best Short Documentary: Strangers No More

Happy Feasting!

My Top Ten 2010 Film Performances Not Nominated For An Oscar

Wordy title, but pretty self explanatory. These are the gems not recognized by the group known as "The Academy"- they're sounding more and more like a higher force everyday, no? You might notice a shortage of female performances on this list. Don't fret, it's probably because most of my favorites were nominated close to a month ago (Leo, Kidman, Adams, Portman...). So in alphabetical order by film, they are:

Ryan Gosling- Blue Valentine

Richard Jenkins- Eat Pray Love

Olivia Williams- The Ghost Writer

James Franco- Howl

Xavier Dolan- I Killed My Mother

Ewan McGregor- I Love You, Phillip Morris

Julianne Moore- The Kids Are All Right

Andrew Garfield- Never Let Me Go

Leonardo DiCaprio- Shutter Island

Andrew Garfield- The Social Network

Sorry for the double dosing of Mr. Garfield... or am I? The guy had a stellar one-two punch that landed him the role of Peter Parker/Spiderman (still an odd choice, IMO). While I'm glad Michelle Williams and Annette Bening got recognized for their work, their onscreen partners's performances were nothing to sneeze at either. I'm just going to blame early and/or limited release for the snubbings of Olivia Williams, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ewan McGregor and Xavier Dolan- with the latter having to deal with being a teenager and a foreign-language performance. James Franco got in for his broader, more popular work but his portrayal as Allen Ginsberg had more of an emotional punch. And lastly, poor Richard Jenkins just got stuck being in a crappy movie about Julia Robert spending 2 hours proving she doesn't need a man only to sail off (literally) with one.

My Top Five Matt Saracen Moments on 'Friday Night Lights'

The series finale to one of the least appreciated, if not the greatest, television show came to an end last night. Along with the conclusion of 'Friday Night Lights' came the end of the story of one Matt Saracen, my favorite character on FNL, as we know it. "Seven" as his friends (save for Landry) would call him is a character you can easily root for simply because there's so much good in him. Through the course of the show's five year run, there were plenty of moments where the character and his portrayer, Zach Gilford, shined and tugged at our heartstrings. Here's just five of them, spoilers ahead:

5.

Season 1 Episode 9: "Full Hearts"

While on his first date with Julie, Matt receives a phone call from best friend

Landry that Grandma Saracen locked herself in the bathroom. Cutting his

date short, Matt rushes home and had to pretend to be his grandfather to

his dementia grandmother and sing her her favorite song.

4.

Season 1 Episode 1: "Pilot"

After Panther star quarterback Jason Street goes down with a injury,

Coach Taylor, his teammates and the rest of Panther nation calls on Matt

to fill in with the once promising season on the line. Never even thrown a

football in a game, "Seven"'s hail mary was caught and the Panther's

path to glory is temporarily restored.

3.

Season 2 Episode 14: "Jumping The Gun"

Good guy Matt spirals out of control after he realized his girlfriend

left him for a better life, his ex-girlfriend left him for a better guy,

his teammates abandoned him for a better quarterback and his father

left him to fight a war. After Coach Taylor throws him in a cold shower

to cool him down, Matt asks desperately "What is wrong with me?

Why does everybody leave me?".

2.

Season 5 Episode 13: "Always"

Courting Julie Taylor for five years led to the ultimate proposal. In true

Matt Saracen fashion, he brought his girl to the Alamo Freeze, a local

hangout where he first told her he liked her, Matt got on one knee

with his grandmother's ring and propose to the girl of his dreams.

1.

Season 4 Episode 5: "The Son"

Hearing his father had died in Iraq, Matt arrives at the Taylor household

in full composure after visiting the morgue to see his father before

crumbling into pieces. This scene perhaps sums up why Matt, and

in extension his portrayer Zach Gilford, is such a easy character to root for.

Thanks FNL, thanks for the memories.