As If Anyone Cared

It's Oscar Time. But really, who cares? The awards don't affect my interest in a movie one way or the other. Will there even be an awards show due to the writer's strike? I guess that "Best Screenplay" would be a writer's award. Would they cross the picket lines to get their trophy? Who cares?



Complete list of 80th annual Academy Award nominations announced Tuesday:

1. Best Picture: "Atonement," "Juno," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood."

2. Actor: George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"; Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"; Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street"; Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah"; Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises."

3. Actress: Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"; Julie Christie, "Away From Her"; Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"; Laura Linney, "The Savages"; Ellen Page, "Juno."

4. Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"; Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"; Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"; Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton."

5. Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"; Ruby Dee, "American Gangster"; Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement"; Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"; Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton."

6. Director: Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"; Jason Reitman, "Juno"; Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"; Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood."

7. Foreign Film: "Beaufort," Israel; "The Counterfeiters," Austria; "Katyn," Poland; "Mongol," Kazakhstan; "12," Russia.

8. Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Hampton, "Atonement"; Sarah Polley, "Away from Her"; Ronald Harwood, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"; Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"; Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood."

9. Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody, "Juno"; Nancy Oliver, "Lars and the Real Girl"; Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"; Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco, "Ratatouille"; Tamara Jenkins, "The Savages."

10. Animated Feature Film: "Persepolis"; "Ratatouille"; "Surf's Up."

11. Art Direction: "American Gangster," "Atonement," "The Golden Compass," "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street," "There Will Be Blood."

12. Cinematography: "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," "Atonement," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood."

13. Sound Mixing: "The Bourne Ultimatum," "No Country for Old Men," "Ratatouille," "3:10 to Yuma," "Transformers."

14. Sound Editing: "The Bourne Ultimatum," "No Country for Old Men," "Ratatouille," "There Will Be Blood," "Transformers."

15. Original Score: "Atonement," Dario Marianelli; "The Kite Runner," Alberto Iglesias; "Michael Clayton," James Newton Howard; "Ratatouille," Michael Giacchino; "3:10 to Yuma," Marco Beltrami.

16. Original Song: "Falling Slowly" from "Once," Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova; "Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; "Raise It Up" from "August Rush," Nominees to be determined; "So Close" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; "That's How You Know" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz.

17. Costume: "Across the Universe," "Atonement," "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," "La Vie en Rose," "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street."

18. Documentary Feature: "No End in Sight," "Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience," "Sicko," "Taxi to the Dark Side," "War/Dance."

19. Documentary (short subject): "Freeheld," "La Corona (The Crown)," "Salim Baba," "Sari's Mother."

20. Film Editing: "The Bourne Ultimatum," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "Into the Wild," "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood."

21. Makeup: "La Vie en Rose," "Norbit," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

22. Animated Short Film: "I Met the Walrus," "Madame Tutli-Putli," "Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)," "My Love (Moya Lyubov)," "Peter & the Wolf."

23. Live Action Short Film: "At Night," "Il Supplente (The Substitute)," "Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)," "Tanghi Argentini," "The Tonto Woman."

24. Visual Effects: "The Golden Compass," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," "Transformers."

A Great Season With a Bad Ending

So the Packers fall at home to the Giants 23-20 in overtime and fail in their bid to go to the Super Bowl. The Packers gave the Giants plenty of opportunities to win and the Giants finally cashed in.

Favre didn't have his best game. His second interception was a killer but the game plan installed by Head Coach Mike McCarthy was questionable. Although, Eli Manning threw the ball 40 times to Favre's 35 times, the Giants had many more snaps and a far higher number of rushing attempts than did the Packers (39-14). Why the Packers didn't run more a week after Ryan Grant went for 201 yards is puzzling. Yeah, the yards weren't there early but you can't just give up on the running game.

All-Pro Cornerback Al Harris was overmatched against Giants' wide receiver Plaxico Burress all game. It didn't help matters that Harris played much of the game with an injured foot. But did the Packers make any adjustments to get Harris help? Uh-uh.

Generally, the tackling was about as poor as I've seen from this team this year. Lots of initial hits in the Giants' backfield still resulted in positive yardage when the first contact is made by someone who bounces off. And for the love of all things Lombardi, Jerrod Bush: FALL ON THE FREAKING BALL. DON'T TRY TO PICK IT UP AND RUN, YOU MORON!!!

That said, the Packers had a great season. Far beyond initial expectations. I figured a 9-7 season and a wild-card playoff spot. They're still the youngest team in the league even with the Old Man of the Mountain, Favre, skewing the numbers. If Favre returns, this year's seasoning can only help them understand what they're capable of and what still needs to be done. Of course, I'm not taking anything for granted until I hear Favre say, "I'm back." While it makes all kinds of sense that he'd come back after having an MVP-calibre season personally and a great year for the team overall, he's just nutty enough to do something unexpected like retire. I'm just not quite ready for the Aaron Rodgers era to begin yet.

I'm Back

OK, after a 2 month hiatus to get settled into the new house, I'm back. The BlogDogHouse has been discontinued as it was more about the process of the building of the house rather than the mundane story of day to day living in the house (which has been great, by the way).

So to kick off the new year, here's a funny anecdote from Quantas Airlines. After every flight, pilots fill out a form called a gripe sheet, which conveys to the mechanics problems encountered with the aircraft during the flight that need repair or correction. The mechanics read and correct the problem, and then respond in writing on the lower half of the form what remedial action was taken, and the pilot reviews the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews and engineers lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual logged maintenance complaints and problems as submitted by Qantas pilots and the solution recorded by maintenance engineers. This is apparently Quantas' answer to Southwest Airlines' funny flight attendants.

By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never crashed, right, Rain Man?

(P = The problem logged by the pilot.)
(S = The solution and action taken by the engineers.)

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on backorder.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're there for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

Hope for the Bleak Future

Disappointed in the vampire flick "30 Days of Night", I have more hope for "I Am Legend" even though it does star Will Smith in the lead role. Based on the classic book by Richard Matheson, the story of "I Am Legend" has been previously told in movie form by Vincent Price ("The Last Man on Earth") and Charleton Heston ("Omega Man"). One man is immune to the ravages of a virus that changes the entire population of earth into night-dwelling, blood-thirsty vampire-like mutants. He must fend off their attacks while attempting to figure out how his own immunity can be used to save humanity.

The current incarnation of "I Am Legend" is said to be more true to the original text (save some enhanced action scenes to keep the ADD audience engaged). Of course, it will be interesting to see how the Fresh Prince does with the central role. While Smith did prove himself to be a good actor in "Ali", whether he can handle the melancholy depths of the Robert Neville character remains to be seen.


Visit the Official I Am Legend Website

Remembering Max McGee

I never saw him play live but every Green Bay Packers fan has seen the greatness of his play in Super Bowl I and knows the legend of his pre-Super Bowl preparation. Many remember Max McGee for his color commentary during Packers games for 19 years. McGee had all the passion for the Packers that Ron Santo has for the Cubs except McGee could string an occasional coherent thought together.

On October 20, 2007, McGee died as a result of a fall from the roof of his home in Deephaven, Minnesota while removing leaves from the roof with a leaf blower. While one may question why a 75 year old needed to be climbing around on a roof, that was just McGee's everyman, self-reliant style. He will be missed.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Two Florida high school girls were kicked out of the stands at a football game for arriving bodypainted in school colors. The girls wore bikini tops and all of their private bits were covered yet they were ejected while bodypainted boys were allowed to stay.

I'm not the women's lib movement's greatest advocate but come on, fair is fair. The girls took physiological and social differences into account by wearing tops whereas the boys undoubtedly were topless. I have to agree with the girls on this one. Either both genders can wear bodypaint or neither should.

Article HERE.

ANNOUNCING: KAISER VON FECHNER!!!

Kerry and I are announcing the conception of Baby Kaiser Von Fechner. We started planning for a baby back in June when Kerry went off her birth control pills. We had hoped that we'd conceive while on our Hawaiian vacation in early July.

I guess it took a little time for the pill to cycle out (I really don't know how that works) but about 10 or so weeks ago my Super Sperm got the job done and the stick turned blue. Supposedly, the new home pregnancy tests are a lot more accurate than they used to be but we still wanted official medical confirmation. By the way, Kerry did a nice job, too.

Confirmation came when went to the doctor last Saturday and an ultrasound was done. (See below) We saw little Kaiser and his little heart beat. That rocked! Everything looked good and Kerry was even given the green light by the doctor to run in the Chicago Marathon Sunday with the caveat to take it easy (an "easy" marathon?), keep hydrated and pay attention to her body during the race. Kerry did so and dropped out after running 12 miles. Right around the same time that the race officials decided to stop the race anyways.

Kerry has a strong feeling that the baby will be a boy. Hence, the "Kaiser" moniker. If the baby's a girl: Kaiserina? Kaiserette? Kaiseriti?

There's nothing like posting a picture of your wife's uterus on the internet, is there?