DVD REVIEW: "Superbad"

Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse in "Superbad"

If Martin Scorsese had made "After Hours" as a teenage comedy, it might have come out something like "Superbad."

But, then, perhaps not. Scorsese's movie is a comedy of a nightmarish short. You laugh, but you don't feel that comfortable about it. And like Scorcese's "Mean Streets" and "Taxi Driver," "After Hours" examined the horrors found on the underside of New York City. I seriously doubt that what happens to Paul Hackett in that movie ever happened (at least in one night) to any human being, at least anyone who lived to tell about it.

The adventures of Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (the remarkable Michael Cera) in "Superbad" are not only far more realistic, I'm betting they did actually happen--or at least approximately--and that's not just because the co-writers of the film are also named Seth (Rogen) and Evan (Goldberg), but because ... well, let's just say I could feel their pain.

My dad supervised the construction of chemical plants. When he was finished with one of these monsters, he packed up the family (my mother, my younger brother and I) and moved to the next assignment. We never remained in one locale for more than 18 months and the moves always took place during the school year. As a result, we would enroll in a new school where the cliques had already knotted, the friendships had already sealed, the boy-girl dating partners had already formed. I have an inkling of what it's like being on the outside looking in and if you've been there as well, especially in high school, you know it can be both painful and embarrassing.

This is the territory occupied by Seth, Evan and the third member of their team, Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who was a high school student when he tested for this part), who's so far on the popularity perimeter that even Seth and Evan indicate they'd rather not have anything to do with him. Evan has a crush on a girl named Becca (Martha MacIsaac), but he's so clueless that he has absolutely no idea that she has a crush on him as well. (There is a wonderful scene in the halls of the high school when Evan makes up this incredible story about his weekend adventures and Becca coyishly tells him "I'd love to do that sometime." He replies: "Yeah, I mean, who wouldn't?") Seth thinks the only way he'll ever have sex with a woman--especially a looker like Jules (Emma Stone)--is if he can get her drunk enough that he becomes one of those mistakes a woman regrets when she wakes up the next morning. Their adventures begin when Jules says she's having a party at her house while her parents are away and Seth volunteers he can secure liquor for the underaged party-goers. Seth, Evan and Fogell, the latter armed with a fake ID that identifies him as a 25-year-old from Hawaii with the single name of McLovin, set off to buy the booze and their evening begins going downhill quite rapidly.

If that was all there was to this film, "Superbad" would probably rank on my list of favorites somewhere around the neighborhood of, say, one of the "Porky's" films. But what sets "Superbad" apart is that these three kids really do have good hearts and Seth and Evan at least really do care about each other. The panic these two are facing is not the panic of two guys about to graduate from high school without losing their virginity, but of two guys who have been inseparable since the 8th grade and now must face the fact that one of them is going across the country to attend Dartmouth while the other goes to a local state college. "Superbad" is not about male hormones, but about friendship and the frightening possiblity of that friendship crumbling.

It does, however, have a downside, and it comes in the form of two policemen played by Bill Hader and Rogen himself, who was such a delight in "Knocked Up" earlier this year. ("Superbad" is another film from Judd Apatow, who, in addition to "Knocked Up," gave us "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.") These two characters really overstay their welcome. And I'm not sure I would feel any sense of security living in a community where these two clowns made it through the local police academy.

Unlike the comedies of the Farrelly Brothers or Ben Stiller, "Superbad," like Apatow's other films, doesn't depend on vulgarities or sadism. Instead, it depends on dreams, aspirations (I'm betting that Fogell succeeds Bill Gates as head of Microsoft) and the misplaced confidence of a couple of foul-mouthed teens who genuinely care for one another.

Grade: B+

DVD REVIEW: "Lady Chatterley"

Marina Hands and Jean-Louis Coullo'ch in one of the six explicit sex scenes in "Lady Chatterley."

Back in my teenage years, D.H. Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley Lover" was an underground treasure. It was still a couple years away from the censors' approval, so it couldn't be purchased by conventional means. And since at that age and time I was unaware of how to purchase anything unconventionally, I used to sneak quick peaks at copies purloined by friends. Quick it was, too, my friends, but then we all knew exactly what page to turn to first to read the "good" parts. We may not have had a great underground network with purchasing power but we had our own secret society and that was enough.

Later I went to college for a couple of years, traveled around the globe for many more and then went back to college where, lo and behold, "Lady Chatterley's Lover" had become part of the English literature curriculum. This time I read the entire book and was transfixed by Lawrence's ideas that animal impulses that result in lust can transform into genuine love. But even then I had no idea that the book I was reading was actually Lawrence's third version of this story and that two kinder and gentler versions had preceded it.

One of those kinder and gentler versions, the second one, was called "John Thomas and Lady Jane" and that version is the basis of Pascale Ferran's "Lady Chatterley," a film that doesn't seem quite worthy of all the recognition it received in France (winner of six Cesars--the French Oscar--including best picture, actress and screenplay, and nominated for six more), but still has a lot going for it.

First I will talk about what it has going for it. As the title of Lawrence's novel indicates, this is essentially a two-person story and the two main characters, Lady Connie Chatterley (Marina Hands) and the gamekeeper Parkin (Jean-Louis Coullo'ch) are inhabited perfectly by the actors playing these roles. Ms. Hands says more with her facial expressions and her eyes than many other actors could with a 10-page soliloquy. Mr. Coullo'ch brings a depth and sensitivity to a thankless part that did not come from Lawrence's prose but from deep within the actor himself. It is a smart acting choice because it makes us care for him more in the film's final scenes.

Ms. Ferran also wisely doesn't rush us through this story. The film's 2-hour, 48-minute running time is necessary to allow these two people to grow from wanton animal lust to transcendent love and, in the process, learn more about themselves and their place in the world. The running time also allows Ms. Ferran to explore the role nature can play in sex.

What the film doesn't have going for it are any other characters who even halfway believable or interesting. One of these is Connie's husband, Sir Clifford (Hippolyte Girardot) whose World War I wounds have left him paralyzed from the waist down. I have not read the book on which this film was based, but in "Lady Chatterley's Lover," Clifford was justly enraged when he discovered his wife's infidelities. Here the twit seems to go out of his way not to know the truth. Then there's his nurse, Mrs. Bolton (Helene Alexandridis) who always seems prepared to pounce on something any minute if there was only something around on which to pounce.

Finally there are--and I'm not sure how to say this without coming across like a prude--the nude scenes. Now I don't want to confuse the nude scenes with the sex scenes. The movie contains six (fortunately other reviewers counted them so I didn't have to) rather explicit sex scenes and they didn't bother me at all. In fact, I rather liked the way Ms. Ferran used these scenes to make a classical story seem more modern and relevant. And, of course, these scenes reveal the very nature of the characters themselves. But the full frontal nudity--of both sexes--came across as gratuitous. There is a long, slow scene in which Connie admires her nude body in the mirror that is in the films just so we in the audience can admire Ms. Hands' nude body (and, I will admit, I did admire it). Then there are a couple of scenes in which Connie makes comments about a rarely scene organ of Mr. Coullo'ch's that would lead one to believe Connie and Clifford never had sex before he was wounded. Plus there's an extended bit where Connie and Parkin frolic nude through the woods that left me convinced these folks lived in the least populated part of the English countryside. This scene served no purpose except to have two nude bodies on screen for an extended period of time. (They wind having sex in the mud in a scene that reminded me of a book, whose title I forgot decades ago, in which a young woman, whose boyfriend has just asked her to have sex with him on the beach, says completely innocently "But wouldn't the sand get into everything?")

The photography is stunning, the music is lyrical and all of Lawrence's ideas are here so all in all the scales are tilted more on plus side than the minus. And, in all honesty, it did feel more like the book I read in English Lit class than the scandalous pages I furtively read as a teen.

Grade: B

Romney's Surrender, Part Deux

In a marvelously crafted story in today's Los Angeles Times, Tim Rutten writes that Mitt Romney's speech to a hand-picked crowd in College Station on Thursday should not be compared to President Kennedy's speech to a hostile audience in Houston in 1960.

Rutten also wonders why the media didn't question why former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee wasn't held to the same standard as Romney:

"One of the suspicions Romney was forced to address was the notion that, as a Mormon chief executive, he would be compelled to accept direction from his church's leaders, even if it means acting in ways contrary to the nation's interest. In other words, some ancient Mormon elder in Salt Lake City is going to pick up the telephone and order President Romney to do something kooky. Huckabee, by contrast, already believes kooky things for religious reasons -- in things like creationism, which he thinks should be taught in the public schools. Doesn't anybody thing it's worth asking whether a nation fighting to remain technologically competitive can afford a president who -- for religious reasons -- wants to encourage as many children as possible to join him in scientific illiteracy?"

To read the entire piece, click here:

These Time-Management Issues Will Be Easily Resolved With A Series Of Streamlined Meetings

By Cole E. Perthkey
Director of Business Development

It's come to my attention that this office hasn't been managing time efficiently lately, so I'd like to use this open forum to address just a couple of the more pressing motivational concerns not covered in my last series of staff-wide e-mails. This is just a launching-off point to get the dialogue started. Obviously there will be more issues arising in the next few weeks—especially during Special Projects/New Goals week—and some of these issues will change slightly or completely, so we'll have to readdress those specific challenges at a later date or as they occur.

First order of business: meetings. Our meetings have become disorganized and sprawling, and far too much time is lost to non- actionable items. As you all know, production is down 7 percent company-wide, and I think we can attribute this to working hard and not working smart. I really want to get the machine running smoothly again, and the best way I know how is to get together and start shooting ideas around.

So let's plan to have a few ad hoc powwows next week to discuss the meeting situation, vis-à-vis the workplace. The prioritized goal of these meetings will be to draw up a comprehensive road map for what we should be aiming for while avoiding the stumbling blocks we've encountered in the past. The point here is to take a step back and reevaluate how we do things here, on a macro level.

Please bring a minimum of 15 topics to discuss, with a focus on "how to minimize wasted work." Of course, more ideas are always welcome. We'll be going through these point-by-point and selecting the top 20 to be discussed at next week's Productivity Enhancement off-site sit-down.

Once we've highlighted a list of problems, we're going to break up into smaller groups to tackle inter-group communication problems and idea bottlenecking, and then hopefully do some real blue-sky thinking. These groups will spend the majority of Thursday's retreat developing proactive steps that they, as a group or as individuals, can implement post facto. These groups will be called "solution-innovators" (SI for short) and each SI will meet every other week to track overall progress and facilitate productivity improvements.

I'll be floating between the two groups to gauge the temperature of the room.

The team that comes up with the best solutions at the end of each week will be rewarded with doughnuts. So by Wednesday at noon please e-mail me your top five doughnut preferences so we can have a good selection for the winners. Or, if you'd rather have muffins, we can do muffins. Totally up to you.

The first task of the groups will be to appoint a team leader and team manager, and to hammer out what each job entails. I'll be checking in weekly with both so they can report their progress directly to me so that I can provide feedback and make sure the meetings are going in the right general direction. At the end of each month we'll all come together again to touch base and do a postmortem on lessons learned. We want to keep all the feedback in these meetings mission-critical, so if there's any additional feedback in the one-page feedback reports you'll be bringing, I'll put that in a separate feedback overflow list to discuss at a later date.

I'll try to have Samantha schedule those meetings for Friday meeting-blocks, but we may need one or two quick conferences to figure out where to fit in the overflows, so please send her your daily schedules by EOD Wednesday so we can pull the trigger on this.

Finally, I'd like to address this office's morale problem. I've noticed everyone has seemed a bit sluggish lately, and our meetings have suffered as a result. I'd like everyone to brainstorm 15 functional ideas to create a better atmosphere, like new office furniture, some wacky clocks, or better stationery—anything that can inject a little more fun into the workplace. We won't have time to go over everyone's list one by one, so please send them via e-mail so everyone can get a chance to comment on them and get feedback. This is not optional.

I'm confident these new changes will get us moving in a forward direction, at all costs. But don't worry about all this over the weekend. Just come prepared for Monday morning's meeting. I want to get everything in place and humming along on this new timetable before I leave in February.

Baby Boomers Unite!

A fun video to take you into the weekend. There are those who will closely identify with this. I am not one of those. I repeat ... I am not one of those. Let me make this absolutely clear ... I am not ...

Romney's Surrender

My problem with Mitt Romney is not what he said a couple of days ago in College Station but that he felt he had to say anything at all.

The way I understand it, our founding fathers came up with this "separation of church and state" bit so that one religion could not be a dominant one in a public policy realm, and so that religion in and of itself would not be a test for political candidates. But, unfortunately, that is what has happened.

As a Jew, I am concerned that we are forcing presidential candidates like Romney to defend his Christianity or that John McCain has to go around calling the United States "a Christian nation." This is not what the framers of the Constitution had in mind.

The New York Times says today in a wonderfully crafted editorial that Republicans are forced into stances like this because they are being held hostage by Christian fundamentalists who are "determined to impose (their) religious tenets as a test for holding public office."

That's not right and the test of leadership is not speeches like Romney's but someone standing up and saying this is not right.

But, then, it's been close to 40 years since I have seen anyone I considered a courageous leader running for President. Why should I expect that to change now?

DVD REVIEW: "The Namesake"

The Ganguli family (Kal Penn, Irrfan Khan, Sahira Nair, Tabu) visit the Taj Mahal.

"The Namesake" offers us a different perspective on the immigrant story, a perspective I probably can't credit either director Mira Nair or her screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala with originating. No, I think it's probably lifted directly from Jhumpa Lahiri's popular novel. I say "probably" because I never read the novel.

The concept is simply this: Second generation Americans can accept the American way of life over the traditions of their parents without rejecting their parents in the process. All it takes is a lot of understanding, compassion and love, emotions Nair and Taraporevala have dealt with before, in films like "Salaam Bombay" and "Mississippi Masala," but never in such depth and never so assuredly.

The Namesake of the title is not a family member. It is a Russian author Nikolai Gogol, who apparently tried to write a Russian version of Dante's "Divine Comedy" and whose short story "The Overcoat" is widely considered a literary masterpiece. It is also central to this movie.

In 1974 Ashoke Ganguli (Irrfan Khan) is reading "The Overcoat" during a train trip in India to visit his grandfather. A friendly stranger he meets on the train tries to tell Ashoke he should leave India and see the world, but Ashoke said he has learned from his grandfather that he can see the world in the pages of a book. Then the train crashes and most of the passengers, including the stranger, are killed. Ashoke miraculously survives.

He takes the man's advice and goes to New York where he studies to become an engineer. Just prior to entering graduate school he returns to the family home in Calcutta where, in a pre-arranged marriage, he weds a classically trained singer named Ashima (Tabu) and brings her back to a life of loneliness and isolation in New York. The interludes following their settling in America are delicately and beautifully handled with both actors compassionately and believably acknowledging and accepting their new life together.

Soon they have a son. They are told that the boy cannot leave the hospital unless he has a name that can be registered on a birth certificate. Apparently in India there is no rush to name a child--a job eventually handled by its maternal grandmother. But since their son needs a name now, Ashoke chooses the name Gogol because that writer wrote "The Overcoat" while he was an ex-patriate living in Paris, much like Ashoke and Ashima are outside of their homeland.

Gogol grows into his teenage years (and from here on he is played by Kal Penn in a remarkable breakout performance from his previously best known film, "Harold & Kumar Go to the White Castle"), although earlier he was finally given a real name, Nikhil (which, of course, becomes westernized as "Nick"). During this time he feels the name Gogol is a major handicap, re-inforcing the cultural tensions between the country in which he was born and the country of his parents. The tensions are further heightened by a trip to India with his parents and sister Sonia (Sahira Nair) during which the siblings ridicule the lack of American conveniences and later with Gogol/Nick's love affair with Maxine (Jacinda Barrett, who brings some humanity to a thankless part).

I am not going to go much more into the storyline here because "The Namesake" is not about its story anyway, more than it is incidents in the lives of this family--the first half being the awkward journey of Ashoke and Ashima and the second half being those that influence Gogol. Let it be said that Gogol does make an attempt to embrace the traditional way of life but learns even marrying a Bengali woman (Zuleikha Robinson) will not provide him with the overcoat his father told him to find for himself.

In the end, however, Gogol learns to love and respect the dignity and the strength of his parents even as he rejects the traditions that gave them those traits.

And when all is said and done, I think that's the right approach. After all, shouldn't we love and respect our parents for who they are more than for what they are?

Grade: A-

Why I'm full of beans

Dallas Morning News columnist Kevin Sherrington replied to my musings on why there won't be a BCS playoff in our lifetime:

"Here's what you don't get: The money that schools get for appearing in the post-season is partially shared with the conferences they come from. You say the WAC wouldn't vote for it because Hawaii's good? Hawaii is making them money. That's exactly why they would vote for it. That's like saying Rice and TCU shouldn't have wanted to be members of the SWC, because they regularly got their heads handed to them. Ask them if they'd like to be back in that league. They made a lot of money off those schools, and that's why the big public schools wanted them out. They weren't carrying their load.

"As for Leach's idea, how are you going to get those fans to travel to that many games? This isn't basketball, where who cares how many fans show up. Proposing 16 teams, as I did, is probably too much, for that matter."

Good points, all. But until someone explains to me how the SMUs of the college football world will make more money from a BCS playoff than they would being allowed to schedule more football games for themselves, I'm sticking to my original argument that the majority of schools will never OK a playoff.

Where has that slow moving outlaw gone

A couple of months ago, those more familiar than I with all the new electronic gadgets that are available these days talked me into getting an iPod (still haven't gone the Blackberry route, however; there's such a thing as being too connected, in my book.) Anyway, I spent a long time going though my CD collection and uploading songs in this contraption until I wound up with 6,113 songs in this little hand-held device.

I gotta tell ya, I love the thing. I don't know how I got by without one for so long. I have unique tastes in music--so unique there's not going to be a radio station that fits my needs. I like to listen to Robert Earl Keen, Marcia Ball, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springston, Bob Dylan (lots and lots of Bob Dylan), Frank Sinatra, Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, the Stones, Lyle Lovett, the Beatles, U2, Bonnie Raitt, Shake Russell, Wilco, the Flatlanders, Terry Allen. Tell me, folks, what single radio station is going to give me all that? So for years I used to make my own compilation tapes and then burn my own compilation CDs to keep me company in my automobile. But I was never going to be able to have tapes or CDs with 6,000 songs on them. Besides, they would always follow in the same sequence. Boring.

The iPod has been the answer to my dreams. So today I'm driving into the office, the iPod is randomly selecting tunes for me to listen to and I heard a song I first heard ... golly ... it's been way longer than 30 years ago now, called "Slow Moving Outlaw" by Dee Moeller. I almost had to pull off to the side of the highway.

I remembered how much I loved that song, how much I enjoyed seeing Dee sing it in concert and how, I must admit, I had a major crush on Dee Moeller for a long, long time. I have no idea where Dee Moeller is these days or even if she is still alive. I did a Google search, but it didn't give me much.

Dee Moeller wrote that song. It has been recorded by Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Lacy J. Dalton, among others, but no one could put the heartbreak into it like Dee could. Sam Peckinpah and other filmmakers of his ilk fashioned careers of making movies about the dying "Old West," but no one summed it up as perfectly or as succinctly as Dee Moeller:

"The wide open spaces are closing in quickly
From the weight of the whole human race.
It's not that I blame them for taking her bounty,
I just wish they had taken it slow.
Where has the slow moving, once quick-draw outlaw, got to go?"

I wish you well, Dee Moeller, wherever you are. And thanks.

Don't take this personally, JC

For some reason, this ad just struck me the wrong way.

It is a full page JCPenney ad on the back page of Section A of today's Dallas Morning News and it's for some kind of cooking collection (I have already disposed of today's paper so pardon me if certain specifics escape me). This particular cooking collection included a mixer (not a hand-held one but one of those counter models that come complete with its own bowls), cupcake tins and a cookie sheet, both of which were touted as being non-stick.

No problem with that. My problem was that standing at the kitchen counter behind this assemblage of products were two models, a woman wearing an apron and a young girl, obviously depicting Mrs. Lovely Homemaker and her Darling Daughter.

And it just struck me the wrong way.

The first thought that jumped out at me is that why did JCPenny just naturally go with the safe model choices--a slightly-less-than-middle-age blonde white woman and the wholesome looking pre-teen female. Why is it that it's always the women who are in the kitchen?

I remembered back to the days shortly after my divorce when my ex had moved to San Francisco and my son, who was about 2 at the time, and I were living in this wonderful Lakewood duplex. Our resources weren't great, but, dammit, we had great times together. One of the things we really enjoyed was making and baking cakes, specifically layer cakes. I vividly remember my son sitting on the counter top in the kitchen anxiously waiting for me to finish mixing and applying the frosting so that he could lick the mixer blades and bowl remnants. Even now, after all these years, I can recall the excited, glorious look of anticipation on his face as we baked a cake together. Those were some wonderful times.

Things have a way of coming around and the joining back at the beginning. Now my son is raising a daughter. She's 2. And often when I come home in the evening, the two of them are in the kitchen. He's cooking and she's sitting on the counter, laughing and helping her dad, and I look at her and see my the face of my son from a quarter of a century earlier.

So pardon me, JCPenney, but I want to tell you that not all homemakers are women and I'm betting there are a lot of women out there who resent being automatically stereotyped as homemakers. I'm undoubtedly making a lot more out of this than I should, but that ad just struck me the wrong way.

From the Department of Monumental Cluelessness

Huckabee on the defensive

After this, the former Arkansas governor and current GOP presidential candidate will probably pose for a photograph sitting in a tank with a silly looking hat on and muttering "Oh, my, please tell me this damn thing ain't loaded!"

Why we won't see a college football playoff anytime soon

Say you've got two guys and they are both pursuing the same woman. They are, for all practical purposes, identical in their good looks, their pleasant personalities, their stable mental and physical health, their interests, their political and religious beliefs. In fact they could be twins except for one factor: One of the guys makes around $1 million a year and the other makes $30,000. Now I'm not saying this woman they are pusuing is a golddigger--she is in fact a rather independent young lady who, if she decides to be one half of a romantic couple--simply wants to make sure she is going to be happy in that relationship. Still, the guy making the mil has a distinct competitive adantage over the guy making thirty thou.

And that, dear friends, is why were are not going to have a college football playoff in the Bowl Championship Division anytime soon, regardless of what sports columnists like Kevin Sherrington have to say on the subject. These guys just don't get it.

The argument is not about the two, four, eight or even 16 teams that would make it into a playoff. The argument involves the unfair adantage it puts the 100 or so teams that don't make it and even the sacrifices that might have to be made by some that do.

Let's look at Hawaii, for example. It's recruiting budget, according to the guys who were announcing the Hawaii-Washington thriller last Saturday night, is $500,000, probably on a par with many of the other schools in the Western Athletic Conference. This year Hawaii is going to the Sugar Bowl. Its payout for that trip is estimated at $4 million. Think what that does for the recruiting budget.

But that's OK. Hawaii earned that. It finished the season undefeated. Last year Boise State did the same thing and wound up in the Fiesta Bowl. Who knows, next year it might be Fresno State from the WAC or maybe even Central Florida from Conference USA. However, it probably won't be New Mexico State from the WAC, UNLV from the Mountain West or even our own SMU from Conference USA.

And therein lies the rub.

Because let's say there is a playoff system--a 16-team playoff like the one Sherrington envisions--and let's say a team like Hawaii gets this nice payday for every game it plays. One bowl appearance is one thing but that kind of payout in a playoff system is going to give Hawaii a huge monetary advantage over its other WAC revivals and it's the New Mexico States and SMUs of the world that will need to give their OK for a playoff for it ever to happen. Do you for one second think they are going to vote in favor of putting themselves at such a disadvantage?

Now lets assume the payout for a first round playoff game in this 16-team format is a fourth or even less than what it would be for a BCS bowl appearance. So now Hawaii is going to get $1 million or less for its appearance and because of its lower BCS ranking, it draws a tough first round opponent and loses. Now a playoff has just cost Hawaii at least $3 million in potential revenue. Do you think it's going to support a system that will slices their paycheck like this.

A college football playoff makes as much sense as trickle-down economics. It rewards the rich at the expense of the poorer schools. And until someone comes up with a plan to solve this dilemma, university officials are simply not going to approve a playoff system.

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, if I understand his idea, may have come the closest to solving it. His concept is to limit the regular season to 10 games and then have a playoff involving 64 teams, identical to what we have in basketball. Then, he said, you take the teams that didn't make the elite 64, and have them play each other in some kind of format that's comparable to basketball's post-season NIT tournament. Depending how it's structured for the non-64, that idea just might work. It is worth exploring.

But until someone comes up with a playoff plan that doesn't put non-playoff teams at a severe financial disadvantage, there is not going to be one. After all, these guys should have the opportunity to win the girl, too.

DVD REVIEW: "Waitress"

"Waitress" is an enchanting fairy-tale of movie that comes equipped with a happy ending but is still draped in sadness.

The title character is Jenna (Keri Russell, who played Felicity in the television series of the same name) who escapes from the drudgery of her dead end job and a marriage to a man she despises by making actual and allegorical pies with mismatched ingredients and whimsical names. Her husband Earl (Jeremy Sisto) insists she turns over all the money she makes to him and, combining that with his own salary, keeps telling Jenna how he has provided with a fine home, the clothes she wears, everything she will ever want or need (as long as she doesn't want or need all that much) and therefore owes him her love and sex whenever and however he wants it. But Jenna has a plan of her own. She is not turning over all the money she makes. She is hiding a lot of it away so when she has enough, she can run away.

Then she learns she is pregnant.

Jenna doesn't think twice about having the baby, but she is not all that happy about it. In fact, when she makes her first visit to her obstetrician Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion) she tells him right off to forget all the "congratulations on your pregnancy" patter, and just get with the program.

Watching "Waitress" is like watching Martin Scorsese's "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" if that movie had been sprinkled with fairy dust. It's arguably more like watching the television program "Alice" that sprung from Scorsese's film. Jenna even has her versions of Alice's Vera and Flo, although here they are named Becky (Cheryl Hines) and Dawn (Adrienne Shelly, and I'll have more to say about her later on). Neither Becky nor Dawn lead lives that would make their parents proud, but both agree that neither of them would trade places with Jenna. Then there's the epitome of small town southern man, Andy Griffith (pictured above with Ms. Russell), as Old Joe, the owner of the diner where Jenna, Becky and Dawn work, a man who strives to be as self-centered and demanding as Jack Nicholson's Melvin Udall in "As Good As It Gets," but is much softer in the middle.

The movie basically tells the story of Jenna's pregnancy, during which she has a bittersweet affair with Dr. Pomatter (although she refuses to call him anything else than "Dr. Pomatter," even in the throes of ecstasy). This interlude could have been handled very badly; you know the bit, the handsome doctor from the big city taking advantage of the sad country girl who thinks he will save her from her miserable life but, in reality, has no plans to leave his wife. But there is none of that. The movie deals with this honestly and the screenplay treats these people like adults and acknowledges their humanity. In fact, what all the characters say and do in this film comes from who they are, not what the script dictates.

Which brings me back to Adrienne Shelly who also wrote and directed "Waitress" in addition to taking the deliberately unglamorous role as the mousy Dawn. This is her third feature, but the first I've seen. Those first two films, I'll Take You There and Sudden Manhattan, did not receive much attention. "Waitress," on the other hand, was a major hit at the Sundance Film Festival.

Ms. Shelly never knew that, however. She was murdered a little more than a year ago in her Manhattan apartment, shortly after learning Sundance had accepted this film.

On the screen, "Waitress" has a gloriously happy, uplifting ending. But I couldn't escape the sadness that crept over me watching that ending, knowing that I would never see another movie like this one from such an obviously gifted writer-director-actor.

Grade: A-

Kay Bailey takes on this lady

Kay Bailey takes on Edna: two out of three falls

The announcement of Trent Lott's retirement is seen as a blow to the interests of the folks over at American Airlines as well as the other big commerical carriers.

You see, everyone agrees that a more modern air traffic control system is needed. The hangup is how to pay for it. As I understand it, the funds for the modernization will come from a trust fund and the commercial airlines claim that non-commercial and business jets do not pay their fare share into this fund. They want to impose a flat fee on all planes for using airports and Lott has been a major supporter of this plan.

Lott is expected to be replaced as the top Republican on Senate Commerce Committee's aviation subcommittee by Texas' own Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is not a supporter of this change. So the commercials are not only losing an ally, they are gaining a foe.

The private pilots argue that charging the same $25 airport-user fee to a Jumbo Jet and a Piper Cub (do Piper Cubs still exist?) is not fair and they are arguing for the modernization to be funded through increases in fuel taxes.

The Air Transport Association, the lobbying group for the commercial airlines, has launched what it is calling a "Smart Skies" campaign which includes ads in in-flight magazines that feature Edna, a fictional housewife, who's fuming because commercial airlines are subsidizing corporate "bigwigs" in their private jets.

Stay tuned.

One More Chance to Call the Whole (College Football) Thing Off

Because someone has to provide this service, each year I rank the college bowl games from best to worst based on (1) the quality of the teams playing each other in the game and (2) how competitive the game appears to be based on the oddsmakers' lines.

For the first time that I've been doing this in the BCS era, the game that is supposed to decide the national championship did not come out No. 1 on my list. And one of the mighty BCS bowls (the Rose, in case you want to know) didn't even make it into the Top 10, although it was close.

This list can also serve as a guide for those of you out there who, like me, like to see as many of these games as possible and must make decisions when two games are on at the same time.

So here's the list of this season's bowl games, ranked from best to worst, with the teams playing in them, the time and date of the game and the television network that will be carrying it. All times listed are Central Standard.

1. Orange: Virginia Tech vs. Kansas, 7 p.m., 1/3, Fox
2. Fiesta: Oklahoma vs. West Virginia, 7 p.m., 1/2, Fox
3. BCS National Championship: LSU vs. Ohio State, 7 p.m., 1/7, Fox
4. Holiday: Texas vs. Arizona State; 7 p.m., 12/27, ESPN
5. Cotton: Missouri vs. Arkansas, 10:30 a.m., 1/1, Fox
6. Sun: South Florida vs. Oregon, 1 p.m., 12/31, CBS
7. Chick-fil-A: Clemson vs. Auburn, 6:30 p.m., 12/31, ESPN
8. Sugar: Georgia vs. Hawaii, 7:30 p.m., 1/1, Fox
9. Capital One: Florida vs. Michigan, noon, 1/1, ABC
10. Music City: Kentucky vs. Florida State, 3 p.m., 12/31, ESPN
11. Rose: Southern California vs. Illinois, 4 p.m., 1/1, ABC
12. Outback: Tennessee vs. Wisconsin, 10 a.m.. 1/1 ESPN
13. Champs Sports: Boston College vs. Michigan State, 4 p.m., 12/28, ESPN
14. Meineke Car Care: Wake Forest vs. Connecticut, noon, 12/29, ESPN
15. Las Vegas: BYU vs. UCLA, 7 p.m., 12/22 ESPN
16. Emerald: Oregon State vs. Maryland, 7 p.m., 12/28, ESPN
17. Gator: Texas Tech vs. Virginia, noon, 1/1, CBS
18. Alamo: Penn State vs. Texas A&M, 7 p.m., 12/29, ESPN
19. Armed Forces: California vs. Air Force, 11:30 a.m., 12/31. ESPN
20. Independence: Alabama vs. Colorado, 7 p.m., 12/30, ESPN
21. Liberty: Central Florida vs. Mississippi State, 3:30 p.m., 12/29, ESPN
22. Insight: Oklahoma State at Indiana, 6:30 p.m., 12/31, NFL Network
23. Humanitarian: Georgia Tech vs. Fresno State, 1 p.m., 12/31, ESPN2
24. Hawaii: Boise State vs. East Carolina, 7 p.m., 12/23, ESPN
25. Poinsetta: Utah vs Navy, 8 p.m., 12/20, ESPN
26. PapaJohns.com: Cincinnati vs. Southern Mississippi, noon, 12/22, ESPN2
27. International: Rutgers vs. Ball State, 11 a.m., 1/5, ESPN2
28. Texas: TCU vs. Houston, 7 p.m., 12/28, NFL Network
29. Motor City: Purdue vs. Central Michigan, 6:30 p.m., 12/26, ESPN
30. New Mexico: Nevada at New Mexico, 3:30 p.m., 12/22, ESPN
31. GMAC: Tulsa vs. Bowling Green, 7 p.m., 1/6, ESPN
32. New Orleans: Fla. Atlantic vs. Memphis, 7 p.m., 12/21, ESPN2

National political news: Could it be the Perry factor?

According to a just released Gallup/USA Today poll, support for the presidential frontrunners in both political parties has slipped dramatically.

On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani's numbers are down nine points with most of that support going to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee who has climbed from fifth place to second behind Giuliani. I'm thinking people are looking more closely at all those surrogates out there, like Texas Gov. Rick Perry, campaigning for Giuliani and not liking what they are seeing.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton's support is down 11 points, but she still holds a huge lead over Barack Obama. That's because that 11 percent moved to a variety of other candidates, none of whom gained more than 3 percent.

Here are the Republican standings:
Giuliani, 25%
Huckabee, 16%
Thompson, McCain, 15%
Romney 12%
Paul 4%

Democrats
Clinton, 39%
Obama, 24%
Edwards, 15%
Richardson, Biden, Kucinich4%

Of course, at this stage of the presidential campaign, polls are about as relevant as pre-season college football polls. They will mean more after the Iowa caucuses.

News News

The Advocate Magazine's Back Talk blog speculates today that the Dallas Morning News may be going private and getting rid of more of its better news people, including such top guns as editor Bob Mong and managing editor George Rodrigue, which could mean the end to one of the more entertaining journalistic feuds this city has seen in ages.

Writing for the Advocate, Jeff Siegel argues that the reason neither Mong nor Rodrigue are listed among the paper's post-spinoff leaders is because they won't be around. Siegel says jettisoning Mong and Rodrigue would be one of the many cost-cutting moves the News would make to put it in better position for a buyout.

In a parallel development, sources have told me that Robert Decherd has set his sights on the Advocate because its publisher, Rick Wamre, made the heroic decision to side with maverick City Council member Angela Hunt on the recent Trinity River Tollway referendum. According to these sources, efforts will be made to use Wamre's position to convince advertisers not to spend their money in the Advocate. If this is true, I really hope it doesn't work. If I had a business in Lakewood or Lake Highlands, I would find it far more advantageous to advertise in the Advocate than in the Morning News. As a private citizen living just outside the northern most edges of Lake Highlands, if I had to choose between the two, I would definitely subscribe to the Advocate over the Dallas Morning News.

Let's Call the Whole (College Football) Thing Off

Pete's Place South Florida correspondent Howard Schulman brought to my attention an interesting article written by Josh Levin for Slate in which he argues that the problem with the BCS system is that it is a system. Each year, the system may be tweaked slightly but the system is designed so that the No. 1 college team plays the No. 2 college team to determine a national championship.

Mr. Levin suggests that instead of a system, perhaps flexibility should be order. I have made this same argument off and on ever since the BCS started. If at the end of the year, there is a compelling reason to have a playoff between or among undefeated teams, then have one (the USC-Texas matchup from a couple of years back is a great example). In years where this is not the case--and this season is certainly one of those--then don't. The past Sunday morning, before the BCS results were made official (although everyone knew it would be LSU and Ohio State), I told my son that the only bowl game that could hold any interest for me this year would be a matchup between Hawaii and USC. The regular college football season this year was fun, it was dynamic and it was certainly unpredictable, right up until the very end when, fittingly, both of the top two ranked teams lost. Anything after this is definitely anti-climatic.

Here's the salient point Levin makes: "if there are five or seven or 10 teams that are roughly indistinguishable, don't bother with a playoff or a championship game. The regular season may do a terrible job at selecting the country's best team, but it functions rather well at determining who the best team isn't. This year, every team has done more than enough to eliminate itself from contention. So, let's play all the bowls, give everyone a smallish trophy, and tell them better luck next year. "

I'll drink to that.

DVD REVIEW: "Mr. Bean's Holiday"

I'm wagering that Rowan Atkinson spent a lot of time studying the great French comedian Jacques Tati, particularly Tati's masterpiece, "Mr. Hulot's Holiday." I'm also betting that that Mr. Atkinson watched Tati get into all kinds of mishaps and said to himself, "Gee I can do that."

And he was right. He can. But he forgot or couldn't grasp or simply failed to put his arms around what made Tati so special. Tati was endearing, charming, a man whose heart was always in the right place even when his body wasn't. Atkinson is like olives. I understand a lot of people like olives. I'm not one of them.

In this reprisal of Atkinson's Mr. Bean character, the bumbling idiot wins a raffle that awards him a vacation on the French Riviera. That, dear friends, is the last good thing that happens to him. Oh, well, I really shouldn't say that. He does get to meet a plunky kid, Max Baldry, and a lovely actress, Emma de Caunes (the three are pictured above), for whom the word spunky was invented. But he meets them both, especially the kid, in a cruel manner. And he gets into situations that anyone with even the slightest dash of intelligence could have either avoided completely or stopped before they got out of hand.

Tati always got laughs when mishaps befell him as he tried to help his fellow man. Atkinson, on the other hand ..., well let me describe just one scene that will illustrate the point. Bean is in a French restaurant and is served oysters on the half shell, which, to some, I guess, are like olives. Bean acts like he's never seen an oyster before. The waiter encourages Bean to slurp the oysters from their shell, but instead Bean hides them in the folds of his napkin and then finds an opportune time to dump them in the purse of a woman sitting at the table next to him. The laughs are supposed to come when the woman's mobile phone rings and she reaches into her purse to answer it. Yuck! Yuck!

There are two funny moments in the film, however. The first is Bean's interpretation of an opera as he and the kid are begging for money on the streets of a French village. The second is when that well-known funnyman Willem Dafoe (Aren't you just howling at the very mention of his name?), playing a movie director, pompously introduces his new film at the Cannes Film Festival and his name appears four times in the movie's opening credits that are displayed over a closeup of him on a moving sidewalk. Then he sits in the audience oblivious as all those around him are falling asleep during the screening.

If only the movie had more moments of genuine satire like this.

Grade: C+

The Last of the Big Spenders

I don't like the looks of this AP story that says the national debt is growing at an astounding rate of $1 MILLION PER MINUTE. Are there debt counselors for governments? Call 1-800-The-Boat-Is-Sinking.

It's easy for people of my generation to say there's nothing really to worry about here, but I'm really wondering if there is going to be anything left when my son reaches a certain age --will Social Security, for example, be a relic of a by-gone age by then.

I don't want to be the sky-is-falling alarmist here, but this really sounds serious. I would appreciate it if someone would tell me something that would ease my mind about this or, failing that, buy me a case of pinot so I could forget the whole matter.

Industrial Boulevard Name Change

This had escaped me, but apparently the City of Dallas is thinking of changing the name of Industrial Boulevard. Apparently "Industrial" is not the type of descriptive name it wants for a thoroughfare that will run adjacent to the Trinity River Corridor Project. So city planners have come up with a list of possible names (including, I kid thee not, Kirk Parkway) which were presented today to the City Council's Trinity River Corridor Committee, the one in which Angela Hunt is not a member.

So it's public service time. What I want you to do is check out pages 5 and 6 of this briefing and let me know what you'd like the new name of Industrial to be. You can even vote to keep the name Industrial, which is what most of the businesses, who will not want all the additional expenses that come along with a street name change, will be in favor of.

Just think, all this could have been avoided by changing the name earlier to Trinity River Parkway. Oh, well.

Is "American Intelligence" an oxymoron

One has to wonder after this report that says "Sorry, we lied to you again. Iran isn't really working on building a nuclear weapon. In fact, Iranians aren't playing with nukes at all." This on the heels of similar reports about Iraq that led us to the current quagmire we're in -- reports which also turned out to be false.

Something to wine about

The Nielsen Co., which, I guess, is in the business to survey just about everything, recently completed one on wine, what kind of wine people are buying and so forth. A couple of results that I found fascinating are (1) the average price for a bottle of wine is $5.66 and (2) wines with screw caps cost twice as much as wines without screw caps. Result (1) becomes more plausible when you realize there really is a lot of cheap wine sold in this country (hence the population demographic known as "winos"), but (2) really baffles me. Oh, and chardonnay is not only the wine of choice in this country, but accounts for 23 percent of all the wine sold in the United States.

It's not whether you win or lose, it's if you graduate that counts

A close friend from Florida sent this to me this morning in which the Top 25 football teams are ranked according to each team's (not the school's) academic performance. There are some very interesting little nuggets in this story. Here's one:

"Only 56 percent of Division I-A football players entering college between 1997 and 2000 graduated within six years of initial enrollment. And it’s likely that many of those players who left with a degree did not gain workforce-ready skills, because they were tracked into 'jock majors' or were required to meet informal, deflated academic standards for student-athletes."

At some points the author gets a little too pedantic (..."fans should care because college football players should be students first. When their football demands overwhelm their academic demands, players too often have little choice about which to prioritize, and it's not the books. But the future of most players depends on getting a college degree, not securing an NFL contract.").

But, overall, this is an interesting read.

"Juno" could gun down "Gangster"

By PHILIP WUNTCH
Film Critic Emeritus

The highly opinionated Mr. Oppel is also frequently accurate, and his Saturday predictions of Oscar noms has the ring of reality.

But I feel he gives too much importance to "American Gangster." After the initial rush of the gangster epic wears off, viewers are left with a "been there, seen that" feeling that doesn't wear off. Those who saw DeNiro and Pacino in "Heat" recognize a recycling of formula. We should remember that "Saving Private Ryan" seemed a Best Picture lock in the '98 race, but voters apparently thought it recycled too many characters and situations seen in earlier films.

"Juno" could supplant "American Gangster" on the Best Picture ballot. It's both off-beat and "feel-good," a surefire combination for Oscar approval. Sidney Lumet could also knock "American Gangster"'s Ridley Scott off the Best Director roster. "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" has brought renewed interest in the 83-year-old Lumet's estimable career, which has won him many awards but no Best Director golden guy. Those who dwell in filmmaking circles fear aging more than most other humans, and Mr. Lumet's devilishly good movie provides comforting proof that an oldtimer need not fade away.

This leaves "American Gangster"'s best chance at an Oscar nod with Denzel Washington's magnetic performance. Magnetic, yes, but not quite as layered as his corrupt-cop Oscar-winning "Training Day" portrayal. Again, "been there, seen that."

Mr. Oppel and I are in complete agreement that, at least at this point, "Atonement" looms as an Oscar heavyweight. It promises an emotional mix of ill-fated love, wartime violence and poignant aftermaths. What's not to like? Besides, it's also got a sheen similar to those highly respected David Lean productions of the '50s and '60s. And history proves how much Academy voters admired the Lean sheen.

Among Best Actor candidates, consideration also should be given Emile Hirsch's "Into the Wild" portrayal. He's definitely an actor on the rise. Even more ascendant is Josh Brolin, whose intuitive Everyman anchored the superb "No Country for Old Men." And few performances were as moving as Benecio Del Toro's loyal drug addict in the unjustly neglected "Things We Lost in the Fire."

Philip Seymour Hoffman may find himself the recipient of nods in both male acting categories, frequently the kiss of death. But he definitely deserves a nod as lead actor in "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" and probably for the upcoming "The Savages." And his supporting performance in "Charlie Wilson's War" is engulfed in dynamic buzz.

Cate Blanchett probably won't have the same problem. She was the golden centerpiece of "Elizabeth: The Golden Age." But that film's tarnished reputation and box-office decline make a lead actress nod improbable. At this point, though, she's the probable supporting-actress winner for playing Bob Dylan (yes, that's right) in "I'm Not There." If so, she'll go down in trivia history as the actress who won Oscars for playing both Bob Dylan and Katharine Hepburn.

Among lead actress candidates, let's not underestimate Laura Linney. She's been outstanding even in less-than-outstanding movies. And "The Savages" has won honorable notices for both her performance and the film itself. Academy members may feel Ms. Linney should at last be given her due. Besides, her final Lady Macbeth moments in "Mystic River" still linger chillingly with viewers and voters.

While Javier Bardem's diabolical killer in "No Country for Old Men" is an undeniable frontrunner, Albert Finney should not be discounted. He invests the mourning husband and father in "Before the Devil Knows Your Dead" with intense, often inarticulate fury. Besides, he's had a long, strong career, without an Oscar to his name. Is his favor is the undeniable fact that over the last decades, the supporting-actor race has resembled a "career achievement" derby. (Sorry, Eddie Murphy, but it was Alan Arkin's turn last year.)

Although Ms. Blanchett's Dylan seems a lock in the supporting-actress ranks, Tilda Swinton could sneak in for her superb "Michael Clayton" showing as a nervous executive. She tries to hide her panic attacks, dress appropriately and present a good appearance, all the while sweet-talking herself into believing that she's doing the right thing.

Believe me, Hollywood can relate to nervous executives.

I Left My Biodiesel in San Francisco

The City of Dallas is touting about how environmentally friendly it is becoming, what with Leeds certified buildings and all that stuff, but the folks here are going to have go further and faster to top what's going on in San Francisco.

Interesting Choice of Words

In the advertisments for the movie "Atonement," which opens at the Angelika on Friday, there is a prominently placed quote attributed to John Powers of Vogue: "The most enthrallingly stylish tale of love and war since 'The English Patient'."

Now that's diabolically clever. "The English Patient" won the Oscar for best picture in 1996 and its closest competitor for the award was Joel and Ethan Coen's "Fargo." Now here we are 11 years later with "Atonement" the front runner for the best picture Oscar and its closest competitor seems to be Joel and Ethan Coen's "No Country for Old Men."

Nothing like sending a not-to-subtle message.

Proving Anything Is Possible

I never thought I would ever tip my hat to the editorial writers at the Dallas Morning News, but then I never thought I would live to see this on the News' editorial pages. I have a feeling the backlash on this is going to be brutal and I also believe Editorial Page Editor Keven Ann Willey knew that before she ventured down this path. All the more reason for me to tip my hat in respect. Well done, Dallas Morning News.

Nobody Asked Me, But ...

Here are my Top 25 college football teams going into the bowl season:

1. Virginia Tech 11-2
2. LSU 11-2
3. Oklahoma 11-2
4. Ohio State 11-1
5. Kansas 11-1
6. Missouri 11-2
7. Georgia 10-2
8. Hawaii 12-0
9. Southern California 10-2
10. Boston College 10-3
11. West Virginia 10-2
12. Florida 9-3
13. Arizona State 10-2
14. Clemson 9-3
15. South Florida 9-3
16. Virginia 9-3
17. Tennessee 9-4
18. Illinois 9-3
19. Auburn 8-4
20. Connecticut 9-3
21. Oregon State 8-4
22. Cincinnati 9-3
23. BYU 10-2
24. Florida State 7-5
25. Wake Forest 8-4

Oscar Nomination Scorecard

The Oscar nomination process is fairly simple. Each voter receives a ballot in which they are asked to vote, in order, for films in their respective crafts and for best picture. In other words, cinematographers get to select five films in the cinematography category and five for best picture. Writers get to vote for both original and adapted screenplay and best picture. The voters are asked to list the movies from their top preference to their fifth preference. In this way, five points are awarded for each picture listed first, four for second, etc., except, of course, in those categories that will only have three nominees: animated film, makeup and visual effects.

Each year around this time I begin polling Oscar voters in each of the branches who are willing to tell me how they would vote if they had to return their envelopes today (they will have to return them by the end of the year). The one thing I have found, however, is that I need to find more reliable sources in the music category.

I don't list the documentary categories, the shorts or foreign film because those are selected by committees, not the main group of Oscar voters.

In each category, the films are listed according to the percentage of the total points they received, which should give you an idea of which actors and what films are the leading contenders in each category and how they compare to one another within each category. The totals listed come out less than 100% in each category, because I eliminated a lot of films at the bottom of each category that received small percentages. The top five in each category (the top three in Animated, Make-Up, Visual Effects) should be the nominees, however, if the percentages are close between the fifth and sixth film, anything can happen. Here are the results of my latest polling.

PICTURE
Atonement 30.2%
No Country for Old Men 17.9%
American Gangster 11.7%
There Will Be Blood 10.5%
Sweeney Todd 7.4%
Juno 6.2%
Into the Wild 4.3%
Charlie Wilson’s War 3.1%
The Kite Runner 2.5%
Michael Clayton 1.9%
In the Valley of Elah .6%
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly .3%

ANIMATED FEATURE
Ratatouille 46..9%
The Simpson’s Movie 25%
Persepolis 21.9%

DIRECTOR
Joe Wright: Atonement 26.7%
Joel & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men 19.9%
Ridley Scott, American Gangster 15.5%
Paul Thomas Anderson: There Will Be Blood 13.7%
Tim Burton, Sweeny Todd 6.8%
Sean Penn, Into the Wild 5%
Mike Nichols: Charlie Wilson’s War 3.1%
Sidney Lumet, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead 2.5%
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly 1.9%
Marc Foster, The Kite Runner 1.2%

ACTOR
Daniel Day Lewis: There Will Be Blood 29.2%
James McAvoy, Atonement 17.4%
Johnny Depp, Sweeny Todd 16.8%
Denzel Washington, American Gangster 15.5%
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah 7.5%
George Clooney, Michael Clayton 4.3%
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises 3.7%
Tom Hanks, Charlie Wilson’s War 1.9%
Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild 1.2%

ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose 25.9%
Ellen Page, Juno 21.6%
Julie Christie, Away From Her 17.9%
Keira Knightley, Atonement 11.7%
Amy Adams, Enchanted 6.8%
Laura Linney, The Savages 6.2%
Cate Blanchett, The Golden Age 5.6%
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart 2.5%

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men 30.8%
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton 17.3%
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild 16%
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War 11.1%
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 9.3%
Paul Dano, There Will Be Blood 6.2%
Philip Bosco, The Savages 5.6%

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There 32.3%
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone 14.3%
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement 13.7%
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton 9.9%
Helena Bonham Carter, Sweeney Todd 7.5%
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Margot at the Wedding 5.6%
Vanessa Redgrave, Atonement 5%
Romola Garai, Atonement 3.7%
Catherine Keener, Into the Wild 2.5%
Kelly McDonald, No Country for Old Men 1.2%
Marisa Tomei, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead .6%

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Michael Clayton 25.4%
Juno 24.6%
The Savages 21.4%
Ratatouille 11.1%
Eastern Promises 4.8%
I’m Not There 4.7%
Things We Lost in the Fire 3.2%
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead 1.6%
Knocked Up 1.5%

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

No Country for Old Men 27.5%
Atonement 26.7%
There Will Be Blood 18.3%
Charlie Wilson’s War 9.9%
Into the Wild 9.2%
The Kite Runner 3.1%
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly 2.3%

ORIGINAL SCORE
Atonement 25.8%
The Golden Compass 14%
Ratatouille 12.9%
Beowulf 10.6%
Into the Wild 8.6%
There Will Be Blood 8.5%
Lust, Caution 5.4%
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 4.4%
The Kite Runner 4.3%
No Country for Old Men 2.2%

FILM EDITING
Atonement 18.8%
No Country for Old Men 17.7%
American Gangster 16.7%
Sweeny Todd 15.6%
There Will Be Blood 9.4%
Charlie Wilson’s War 6.3%
I’m Not There 4.2%
The Golden Compass 3.1%
The Kite Runner 3%
The Bourne Ultimatum 2.1%
Michael Clayton 2%

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 26%
There Will Be Blood 20.8%
Atonmement 18.8%
No Country for Old Men 9.4%
Sweeny Todd 9.2%
I’m Not There 6.3%
Charlie Wilson’s War 3.1%
Lust, Caution 2.1%

ART DIRECTION
Sweeny Todd 27.1%
Atonement 20.8%
There Will Be Blood 15.6%
The Golden Compass 10.4%
The Golden Age 10.1%
Hairspray 6.3%
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 6.1%

COSTUME DESIGN
Sweeny Todd 29.2%
Atonement 24%
The Golden Age 19.8%
Hairspray 12.5%
The Golden Compass 4.2%
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 3.9%
Love in the Time of Cholera 2.1%

MAKE-UP
Sweeny Todd 47.5%
Hairspray 17.5%
The Golden Age 17.2%
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End 7.5%
Love in the Time of Cholera 5%

SOUND MIXING
Sweeny Todd 28.1%
Transformers 26%
Beowulf 11.5%
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End 9.4%
Hairspray 8.3%
Spider-Man 3 5.2%
300 4.2%

SOUND EDITING
Transformers 33.3%
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End 18.4%
Spider-Man 3 16.1%
Beowulf 13.8%
Ratatouille 6.9%
The Golden Compass 6.6%

VISUAL EFFECTS

Transformers 50%
The Golden Compass 25%
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End 12.5%
300 7.5%

Another Silly Love Song

The New York Times uses tonight's Missouri-Oklahoma Big 12 Championship game as an excuse to sing yet another rhapsody for Southlake Carroll's football program. It's probably a good thing this did not happen before the story ran. However, is this outcome a harbinger of things to come later this evening?

Update: Turns out, it was.

Maybe It's Me, But ...

I was going to mention this yesterday when I saw it in the Dallas Morning News, but I let it pass. Now here it is again today, this time right smack dab on the front page of the Metro section, down there at the bottom. The item in question concerns the Neiman Marcus Adolphus Children's Parade. There's a bit that begins:

"Admission: Free. Bleacher seats are sold out, but several blocks are open along the curb."

Now, to me, for something to be "sold out," it had to be offered for sale. Hence, was not free. Or am I just missing something here.