Click images for desktop size: "Silentium" by SC I've gotten a cold. I don't have the immune system left to deal well with colds.
Not missing work though.

Coughing and sneezing can't mask the annual disappointment with the Oscar nominees.
Most astonishing to me was that "The King and The Clown", one of the best films I've ever seen, wasn't even nominated for Best Foreign film, while vapid drek with an absolutely non-astonishing performance from tired Helen Mirren is considered a shoo in!
When I was younger we used to calculate that if an earthquake were too swallow up the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Oscar night then we would move to the top of every ones rolodex and be the hottest commodity in town . . . now to accomplish that we'd have to pray for war against England . . .
Hollywood is easily intimidated. America makes the best films in the world (at least from a technical standpoint). Other countries judge the performance of their films against the domestic receipts of the latest Hollywood smash-up but Hollywood keeps thinking that everyone over there is “better than us.” They must be more artistic, more talented, more understanding of the "art" . . . Hollywood films are mongrel creations - multi-ethnic, females taking a bigger voice than you'll find in any other world cinema, more balanced in tone and more universal in theme. But we always feel inferior.
The only American actress worth a look at is Meryl Streep? For a performance in the terrible “The Devil Wears Prada”? I admit she was the best thing in that hashed up mess, other than some of the clothes, but Judi Densch?
There are so many viable real actresses out there but they get ignored because they don't have an accent? Hollywood has been infatuated with England for too long. The ultimate culmination was when Columbia was handed over to Brit David Putnam, who's biggest claim was producing the Oscar heavy, but mediocre, “Chariots Of Fire”.
It was the biggest fiasco in Hollywood history until Michael Cimino bankrupted UA.
That cooled the Academy's Anglophile passion for a while.
There are a couple of the nominated films I haven't seen so I want to wait before becoming totally depressed . . . Little Miss Sunshine . . .
Ennio Morricone is getting a special Oscar . . . it will be fun watching them play snippets from “The Mission” and “The Untouchables” and maybe some of his better work where no one will recognize the film and the applause will flitter down until someone recognizes a star, but then they'll play “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” and the crowd will deservedly go nuts.
Thinking about it the guy who wrote “TGTBATU” and “Harmonica” for “Once Upon A Time In The West” deserves an honorary Oscar and indulgence in whatever other vices he wants to preserve.
The greatest disappointment is Scorsese getting a nomination for “The Departed”. He's an icon and his remake was flat out terrible. It has tarnished his reputation. The original is very good but only very good. It looks great compared to this totally cooked version. (The original was called “Infernal Affairs” South Korean.) "The Departed" lacks the drive, the heart, the shocking reality of its original and those are all the things that used to make Scorsese great.

Surprisingly quiet pre-Superbowl week. Race of the coaches. Manning's thumb . . . that's been about it. I think the lower key everything is the more it favors the Colts. The Bears thrive on raw passion that's directed by Smiths cool hand. The Colts are best when playing “business a usual.”

Pitchers and catchers report in 23 days!

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