Oscars 2011 Prediction Scorecard

To go back to  Oscar Part I
To go back to   Oscar Part II
To go back to Oscar Shorts

Scorecard:
Total Predictions: 15
Total Correct: 9
% Accurate:  60% (Chance ~ 20%)

Pretty decent?

Actress in a Supporting Role

This is subject to revision once I see Ms. Steinfield in True Grit. Helena Bonham Carter was very impressive and stands a good chance and may benefit from vote-splitting for The Fighter. Melissa Leo was most impressive as the mother of 10 kids. She wears heels, tight-fitting clothes, smokes, swears and so believably plays the blue-collar, lower-class mother that it's hard to imagine anyone outdoing that. Then, quite oddly in the very same movie, Amy Adams as Mark Wahlberg's girlfriend plays the a younger, tougher version of Melissa Leo and one is amazed. She is Leo's alter ego slightly updated and comically referred to in the movie as the 'MTV girl' (someone who is loose and wild). The votes will be split to negate either's chances.

Update: I had to considerably revise the above after watching Hailee Steinfield in True Grit a little while ago. What a great performance! I had initially picked Helena Bonham Carter, but that role that pales in comparison to what I just saw. I do have a soft spot for Melissa Leo, but Hailee was superb as the precocious, headstrong, and gutsy Mattie Ross. Anyone who can across as an equal to the talent of a Jeff Bridges/Rooster Cockburn and a Matt Damon/Texas Ranger deserves it.
Who should win: Hailee Steinfield
Who will win: Hailee Steinfield
Who won: Melissa Leo 
Comment: Very happy to hear to know Ms. Leo even though I bungled the prediction with too much punditry.

Actor in a Supporting Role

I have not seen the other movies, but I would hazard that it's going to between Batman and Capt. Barbossa. Christian Bale so totally embodies the washed-up, crackhead former 'Pride of Lowell' that I thought that it would really be hard to top that performance this year. The Fighter is a wonderful movie and when you think that all the possible boxing movies have been made, what could possibly be done differently? An interesting exercise to list all the great boxing movies (Recently: Ali, Raging Bull, Cinderella Man, Million Dollar Baby come to mind, what else?) Then I saw Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech and he doesn't knock you out as much as astounds you like a magician - the precision, the control, it's a master at work. Nothing was overdone, not a single superflous action or gesture, not a single wrong note. The only thing that might count against Rush is that he has possibly won every accolade there is to win. But to deny this because of that would be a travesty. Sadly, The Fighter does down in this one.
Who should win: Geoffrey Rush
Who will win: Geoffrey Rush
Who won: Christian Bale
Comment: Guess in this case I was right in being a pundit? Glad that Bale and Leo are bringing attention to The Fighter

Animated Feature Film

Not much to say here.
Who should win:Toy Story 3
Who will win:Toy Story 3
Who won: Toy Story 3

Set Decoration

Inception captured everyones imagination over the summer and has made some lasting contribution in the 'weird thought-experiment movie' category and will be a perennial cult favorite. Though it truly deserves an Oscar only in this category, which it will and should win barring King's Speech mania that may have taken over the hearts and minds of the Academy members.
Who should win: Inception
Who will win: Inception
Who won:  Alice In Wonderland

Film Editing

Black Swan was very tight, and I don't really see a reason for the The King's Speech winning. If there was a close second, then I would put The Social Network
Who should win: Black Swan
Who will win: Black Swan
Who won: The Social Network


Foreign Language Film

Innaritu's Biutiful with Bardem was interesting and this movie got more eyeballs than the others. So, just based on the campaigning, I think it may win. This is always the most interesting category. On my list of things to do: I have to see every single Foreign Language Oscar winner since 1980. I have three more to go. So, if Biutiful wins my list will stay the same. So I am rooting for it.
Who should win: Biutiful
Who will win: No clue.
Who won: In a Better World” Denmark
Comment:  Okay!  +1

Music (Original Score)

To be frank, I seriously think the King's Speech has been over-nominated. I don't think it's going to win that many Oscars. I could well be wrong. We will find out tomorrow.
The soundtrack for The Social Network captures the frantic energy, the scheming, adrenaline rush of money and power and makes the entire movie more effective. Alexandre Desplat has been excellent as usual, but this will be on his rack as something that he did. His other work has been so much more memorable.
Who should win: The Social Network
Who will win: The Social Network
Who won: The Social Network

Cinematography

A bit of tough choice between The Black Swan and The King's Speech. would go with the former for the excellent filming of the dance sequences. For the first time we have so many nominees in this category for movies that don't really have panoramic locales.
Who should win:Black Swan
Who will win:Black Swan

Who won :“Inception” Wally Pfister

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)


Coen brothers did a wonderful job with the script and made a really gritty, realistic True Grit.
But, I would hand it to Aaron Sorkin. Beautiful work!
Who should win:The Social Network
Who will win:The Social Network
Who won:The Social Network

Writing (Original Screenplay)

I am bit surprised that neither the Black Swan nor Blue Valentine made it here. They would not have won. The King's Speech truly deserves this one. The other nominations barring Firth and Rush are just hype.
Who should win:The King's Speech
Who will win:The King's Speech
Who won: The King's Speech - David Seidler

Short Film (Animated)

(see separate post on descriptions and predictions on the short films)

Who should win: The Lost Thing

Who will win: The Lost Thing

Who won: The Lost Thing

Short Film (Live Action)

Who should win:Na Wewe

Who will win:Na Wewe

Who won: God of Love

Comment: Luke Matheny said on-stage that all the  movies are available on iTunes. I highly recommend checking them all out. 

Actor in a Leading Role

Franco gave a great performance but should be happy to be nominated and is the weakest prospect.
I wasn't particularly impressed by Bardem. Pretty decent job, but not enough to win. Jeff Bridges won last year, so that kind of goes against him slightly. The way John Wayne played it is almost syrupy in comparison. But, Bridges is not really a contender. The two strongest candidates are Jesse Eisenberg and Colin Firth. I should check the 'likes' on Facebook for his portrayal of the nerdy, egotistical, socially awkward Mark Zuckerberg. Colin Firth though deserves to win not just for this role, but turning in great performances throughout his career. This one's long overdue. This will be his first. The next time he wins would be when he plays an explosive (as opposed to implosive) angry man, a mad man. Do a Robert DeNiro sometime. But, he is the current champion 'Milquetoast of the Movies'.
Who should win: Colin Firth
Who will win: Colin Firth
Who won: Colin Firth

Actress in a Leading Role

Again, I have only seen the last two and I will wing it saying that there are the only ones that matter. I thought overall Blue Valentine was an excellent movie and both Ryan Gosling (where is he?) and Michelle Williams did an excellent job first playing the goofy, cute lovers and then a married couple that grows apart. This may not quite be the winner for Michelle Williams. Natalie Portman was indeed perfect as both the White and Black Swan. That movie has really creeped out many people and it's entirely to Portman's credit. In this movie, she really doesn't say much, or even do much apart from dancing. What would you credit an actor who can suck you into their dark, crazy, neurotic world by just using the veins on their neck?
Who should win: Natalie Portman
Who will win: Natalie Portman
Who won:  Natalie Portman

Directing

The Coens are in a class of their own. This is not their best work (or rather re-work). Aronofsky did an excellent job of marshaling the talent of Natalie Portman and adapting Tchaikovsky's wonderful ballet. I personally think that David Fincher deserves this award for presenting the whole story of Facebook (with some artistic license). He didn't really have a star cast of any sort and it's a tricky story to bring on screen. It's not a feel-good movie like The King's Speech and people have strong and differing opinions on their judgement is. Though what's going to happen is that The King's Speech is going to win the double. Invariably, this happens and I don't really understand it. Ang Lee won for Brokeback Mountain, but the movie lost the Best Picture to Crash. Despite Annie Proulx hissy fit I think it was the correct choice. So this year, I feel it should be similarly so.
Who should win: The Social Network
Who will win: The King's Speech
Who won: The King's Speech

Best Picture

True Grit is the weakest of the lot, despite the great work by the trio - Bridges, Damon and Steinfield. Black Swan was little better, but it's Portman's movie and owes to much to the libretto and the score. I was very impressed with The Fighter. We've had enough of boxing movies and many have won already. The big message, if there was one was sort of lost. But, that being said there was a lot of freshness in the acting, in the approach and in the story-telling of the bouts. It comes a strong third.

I personally believe that The Social Network should win the double and is clearly a better movie from a lot of aspects than the The King's Speech.
Who should win:The Social Network
Who will win:The King's Speech
Who won: The King's Speech

Oscar 2011 Picks and Reviews - Part I

This review and prediction list used to be a yearly ritual, though I have kinda dropped the ball on this lately despite gentle admonishment and encouragement from JR. This year in terms of movie watching I have been pretty good. Once I see True Grit later this afternoon, I will have managed to see almost everything that was nominated, at least everything important. The lesser categories or unimportant ones being the technical, non-sexy categories, things like shorts, documentaries that realistically NO ONE gets a chance to watch. I did see the shorts though I think that the winners are treated badly, sandwiched between the silly jokes and frequently banal performances and soon forgotten. Sometimes they don't even get to go onstage. Terrible.

I sincerely wish that they would be a way to watch the Foreign Language Films because often times these movies are much better than the actual winner and the entire nominee list is best of the best from the rest of the world. Luckily, the Michigan Theater in A2 shows both the Live Action Shorts and the Animated Shorts. See the separate piece on the Oscar 2001 Shorts. They were all excellent and I've made personal note to myself to try to see places where I can watch more of these.

I was a tad bit disappointed to see such few nominations for Black Swan and The Social Network. I thought they deserved as much acclaim as The King's Speech. Among other movies that I thought were slightly given less importance were Blue Valentine and The Fighter. Can anyone explain the recent madness with having 810 nominees in the Best Film Category? What the hell is that all about? Studios wanting publicity and increased sales with the 'Nominated' tag? I am waiting for the day when they even split the Best Picture award in gazillion fragments to please everyone.

Predictions are in part of separate post Part II.

Oscar 2011 Picks and Reviews - Part II

To go back to to Oscar Part I

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
• Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
• Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
• Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
• Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

This is subject to revision once I see Ms. Steinfield in True Grit. Helena Bonham Carter was very impressive and stands a good chance and may benefit from vote-splitting for The Fighter. Melissa Leo was most impressive as the mother of 10 kids. She wears heels, tight-fitting clothes, smokes, swears and so believably plays the blue-collar, lower-class mother that it's hard to imagine anyone outdoing that. Then, quite oddly in the very same movie, Amy Adams as Mark Wahlberg's girlfriend plays the a younger, tougher version of Melissa Leo and one is amazed. She is Leo's alter ego slightly updated and comically referred to in the movie as the 'MTV girl' (someone who is loose and wild). The votes will be split to negate either's chances.

Update: I had to considerably revise the above after watching Hailee Steinfield in True Grit a little while ago. What a great performance! I had initially picked Helena Bonham Carter, but that role that pales in comparison to what I just saw. I do have a soft spot for Melissa Leo, but Hailee was superb as the precocious, headstrong, and gutsy Mattie Ross. Anyone who can across as an equal to the talent of a Jeff Bridges/Rooster Cockburn and a Matt Damon/Texas Ranger deserves it.
Who should win: Hailee Steinfield
Who will win: Hailee Steinfield


Actor in a Supporting Role

• Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
• John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
• Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

I have not seen the other movies, but I would hazard that it's going to between Batman and Capt. Barbossa. Christian Bale so totally embodies the washed-up, crackhead former 'Pride of Lowell' that I thought that it would really be hard to top that performance this year. The Fighter is a wonderful movie and when you think that all the possible boxing movies have been made, what could possibly be done differently? An interesting exercise to list all the great boxing movies (Recently: Ali, Raging Bull, Cinderella Man, Million Dollar Baby come to mind, what else?) Then I saw Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech and he doesn't knock you out as much as astounds you like a magician - the precision, the control, it's a master at work. Nothing was overdone, not a single superflous action or gesture, not a single wrong note. The only thing that might count against Rush is that he has possibly won every accolade there is to win. But to deny this because of that would be a travesty. Sadly, The Fighter does down in this one.
Who should win: Geoffrey Rush
Who will win: Geoffrey Rush

Animated Feature Film

• “How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
• “The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
• “Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

Not much to say here.
Who should win:Toy Story 3
Who will win:Toy Story 3

Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects
Pass

Set Decoration
• “Inception” 
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
• “The King's Speech” 
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
• “True Grit” 
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Inception captured everyones imagination over the summer and has made some lasting contribution in the 'weird thought-experiment movie' category and will be a perennial cult favorite. Though it truly deserves an Oscar only in this category, which it will and should win barring King's Speech mania that may have taken over the hearts and minds of the Academy members.
Who should win:Inception
Who will win:Inception

Film Editing

• “Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
• “The Fighter” Pamela Martin
• “The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
• “127 Hours” Jon Harris
• “The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Black Swan was very tight, and I don't really see a reason for the The King's Speech winning. If there was a close second, then I would put The Social Network
Who should win:Black Swan
Who will win:Black Swan

Foreign Language Film

• “Biutiful” Mexico
• “Dogtooth” Greece
• “In a Better World” Denmark
• “Incendies” Canada
• “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Innaritu's Biutiful with Bardem was interesting and this movie got more eyeballs than the others. So, just based on the campaigning, I think it may win. This is always the most interesting category. On my list of things to do: I have to see every single Foreign Language Oscar winner since 1980. I have three more to go. So, if Biutiful wins my list will stay the same. So I am rooting for it.
Who should win: Biutiful
Who will win: No clue.

Music (Original Score)

• “How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
• “Inception” Hans Zimmer
• “The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
• “127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
• “The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

To be frank, I seriously think the King's Speech has been over-nominated. I don't think it's going to win that many Oscars. I could well be wrong. We will find out tomorrow.
The soundtrack for The Social Network captures the frantic energy, the scheming, adrenaline rush of money and power and makes the entire movie more effective. Alexandre Desplat has been excellent as usual, but this will be on his rack as something that he did. His other work has been so much more memorable.
Who should win: The Social Network
Who will win: The Social Network

Music (Original Song)

These things don't really register while watching and have to be considered kinda separately. So I am going to pass on this.

Cinematography

• “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
• “Inception” Wally Pfister
• “The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
• “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
• “True Grit” Roger Deakins

A bit of tough choice between The Black Swan and The King's Speech. would go with the former for the excellent filming of the dance sequences. For the first time we have so many nominees in this category for movies that don't really have panoramic locales.
Who should win:Black Swan
Who will win:Black Swan

Costume Design
Taking a pass on this one.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Coen brothers did a wonderful job with the script and made a really gritty, realistic True Grit.
But, I would hand it to Aaron Sorkin. Beautiful work!
Who should win:The Social Network
Who will win:The Social Network

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

I am bit surprised that neither the Black Swan nor Blue Valentine made it here. They would not have won. The King's Speech truly deserves this one. The other nominations barring Firth and Rush are just hype.
Who should win:The King's Speech
Who will win:The King's Speech

Actor in a Leading Role
• Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
• Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
• Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
• Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
• James Franco in “127 Hours”

Franco gave a great performance but should be happy to be nominated and is the weakest prospect.
I wasn't particularly impressed by Bardem. Pretty decent job, but not enough to win. Jeff Bridges won last year, so that kind of goes against him slightly. The way John Wayne played it is almost syrupy in comparison. But, Bridges is not really a contender. The two strongest candidates are Jesse Eisenberg and Colin Firth. I should check the 'likes' on Facebook for his portrayal of the nerdy, egotistical, socially awkward Mark Zuckerberg. Colin Firth though deserves to win not just for this role, but turning in great performances throughout his career. This one's long overdue. This will be his first. The next time he wins would be when he plays an explosive (as opposed to implosive) angry man, a mad man. Do a Robert DeNiro sometime. But, he is the current champion 'Milquetoast of the Movies'.
Who should win:Colin Firth
Who will win:Colin Firth

Actress in a Leading Role

• Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
• Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
• Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
• Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Again, I have only seen the last two and I will wing it saying that there are the only ones that matter. I thought overall Blue Valentine was an excellent movie and both Ryan Gosling (where is he?) and Michelle Williams did an excellent job first playing the goofy, cute lovers and then a married couple that grows apart. This may not quite be the winner for Michelle Williams. Natalie Portman was indeed perfect as both the White and Black Swan. That movie has really creeped out many people and it's entirely to Portman's credit. In this movie, she really doesn't say much, or even do much apart from dancing. What would you credit an actor who can suck you into their dark, crazy, neurotic world by just using the veins on their neck?
Who should win:Natalie Portman
Who will win: Natalie Portman

Directing

• “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
• “The Fighter” David O. Russell
• “The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
• “The Social Network” David Fincher
• “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

The Coens are in a class of their own. This is not their best work (or rather re-work). Aronofsky did an excellent job of marshaling the talent of Natalie Portman and adapting Tchaikovsky's wonderful ballet. I personally think that David Fincher deserves this award for presenting the whole story of Facebook (with some artistic license). He didn't really have a star cast of any sort and it's a tricky story to bring on screen. It's not a feel-good movie like The King's Speech and people have strong and differing opinions on their judgement is. Though what's going to happen is that The King's Speech is going to win the double. Invariably, this happens and I don't really understand it. Ang Lee won for Brokeback Mountain, but the movie lost the Best Picture to Crash. Despite Annie Proulx hissy fit I think it was the correct choice. So this year, I feel it should be similarly so.
Who should win: The Social Network
Who will win: The King's Speech

Best Picture

• “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
• “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
• “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
• “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
• “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
• “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
• “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
• “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
• “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

While the above certainly lists the best movies of 2011, with the notable miscarriage of justice by not listing Blue Valentine.
'Academy? Are you listening? We are really looking for the Top Five, alright?'

So, if one takes the trash out this is the correct list:

• “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
• “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
• “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
• “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers

Also, did I already mention that Blue Valentine should've been up there? May be I am biased, but it was great stuff. Advice: DO NOT watch with significant other.

True Grit is the weakest of the lot, despite the great work by the trio - Bridges, Damon and Steinfield. Black Swan was little better, but it's Portman's movie and owes to much to the libretto and the score. I was very impressed with The Fighter. We've had enough of boxing movies and many have won already. The big message, if there was one was sort of lost. But, that being said there was a lot of freshness in the acting, in the approach and in the story-telling of the bouts. It comes a strong third.

I personally believe that The Social Network should win the double and is clearly a better movie from a lot of aspects than the The King's Speech.
Who should win:The Social Network
Who will win:The King's Speech

2011 Oscar Shorts

Go back to Oscars 2011 - Part I

Luckily, the Michigan Theater in A2 shows both the Live Action Shorts and the Animated Shorts. Though they only show it for a week and if you blink then you may entirely miss it. This time I wasn't blinking or napping and I did get to see both. They were both excellent and I've made personal note to myself to try to watch more of these. A lot of previews for these movies are available online. My comments are inline right after the movie below cause I think they all deserve a mention. The Shorts are the playground of the up-and-coming and seeing them one does not fear for moviemaking. Lot's of creative and brilliant work yet to come. Lot's of light in the dark.

Short Film (Animated)

Previews of the movies below

• “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois
This was rather strange. I really failed to get the story. The animation was great and it was sort of mixed media - different kinds of animation styles, but the story was terrible.

• “Day & Night” Teddy Newton
This is from the Disney/Pixar. A feel-good comparison of Night and Day impersonated by two creatures that come from these two worlds. They look Casperish. Cute! Showcases the animation talent and a creative theme.

• “The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Helena Bonham Carter lends her voice to the mother telling her kids a story about a happy-go-lucky mouse who bluffs his way escaping predators by making up a story about a "Gruffalo". 'What's a Gruffalo?' you may ask. I guess that's the point. A great story and technically very sound.

• “Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
A sarcastic look at the modern world with all it's waste. Encourages people to pollute and destroy the planet. A animated version of a Michael Moore style polemic. Interesting, but not that compelling. Great job with the technical animation details.

• “The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
If I had to own a movie then this would be the one. It's Orwellian, Dahl-esque and Kafka-esque at the same time. A nerdy boy in highly industrialized city presumably in the future finds a strange object/creature and tries to find a home for it. I don't want to give away the punchline and if the movie rightly wins the award then it may be available on the web. It's about a loss of wonder in a society that so rigidly follows rules and directions that they don't explore or wonder anymore.

See trailer here

Who should win: The Lost Thing
Who will win: The Lost Thing

Short Film (Live Action)

• “The Confession” Tanel Toom
This is story of two boys about to receive their First Holy Communion in the Catholic Church and one of the kids is such a good boy that he has nothing to really confess for. Thinking that not having anything to confess for will not allow him to enter the Church, he wants to find some sin. They boys concoct a plan and invariably mishaps occur. Not funny ones, but gruesome ones. Well boys will be boys right?

• “The Crush” Michael Creagh
A story of Ardle, a 7-year old who develops a crush on his class teacher and decides to tell her that he wants to marry her. She finds it amusing and so does her thoroughly inconsiderate fiancee. Ardle challenges her fiancee to a duel. Very cute movie.

• “God of Love” Luke Matheny
This is entirely shot in black and white and has an old feel, but timeless quality to it. Luke Matheny wrote, directed and acts as the "God of Love". He gets a package from Olympus Corporation that contains love-darts. While he tries in vain to get a girl he likes to love him back, it does not work. You fall in love with someone you are destined to fall in love with. And why is he chosen as the "God of Love"? Cause he has good aim.
See clip to find out why -
Oscar clip

• “Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite
A teenager is terminally ill with cancer and the equivalent of Make-A-Wish foundation wants to know if they can arrange something special for him. His wish, called'Wish 143', is to get laid. Makes sense right? He's a teenager and has never got laid and he's going to die. The man at the foundation balks. He was expecting fishing by the lake, or a soccer game, or something of that nature. Some local matron volunteers to help, which the boy declines citing that he 'already did it'. He actually hasn't and it's up to his priest to arrange a hooker which he does. Hilarious!

• “Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
This takes place in Gambia at the height of the Hutu-Tutsi Rwandan genocide in 1994. A car full of people gets waylaid by Hutu Power rebels and they decide to massacre all the 'Tutsi snakes'. The Europeans are let go first. Then each of the Africans makes some kind of excuse to get out of the killing by either claiming to be Hutu, not really knowing who their father was, etc. I would give away too much, if I mention who intervenes. You could say Bono rather obliquely, but

See clip: Na Wewe

Who should win:Na Wewe
Who will win:Na Wewe

Lending out Books - Hal Sirowitz

A lesson that I simply fail to learn...

Lending Out Books - Hal Sirowitz

You're always giving, my therapist said.
You have to learn how to take. Whenever
you meet a woman, the first thing you do
is lend her your books. You think she'll
have to see you again in order to return them.
But what happens is, she doesn't have the time
to read them, & she's afraid if she sees you again
you'll expect her to talk about them, & will
want to lend her even more. So she
cancels the date. You end up losing
a lot of books. You should borrow hers.

The first obscenity: lines from The Primer

In the history of language
the first obscenity was silence.

Full text of this excellent short poem by Christina Davis on poets.org.

Street Music Project

(Hattip: Ashdin)

A great idea to record the same song played by street musicians in different parts of the world:

The Monkey and the Fish

A monkey was walking along a river and saw a fish in it. The monkey said, Look, that animal is under water, he’ll drown, I’ll save him. He snatched up the fish, and in his hand the fish started to struggle. And the monkey said, Look how happy he is. Of course, the fish died, and the monkey said, Oh, what a pity, if I had only come sooner I would have saved this guy.

Thought provoking article on the harm that aid does in some situations. Philip Gourevitch on Humanitarian Aid: Alms Dealers.. That article generated a lot of responses from aid organizations that P.G. had to write a rebuttal which makes excellent reading as well: Response: to Alms Dealers. Quite surprise to read in the article that Florence Nightingale was opposed to Henri Dunant's idea for the Red Cross. Called it a ludicrous idea from Geneva. On reading Gourevitch's article, seems like the Lady of The Lamp had a point.

Review of Vikram Seth's "From Heaven Lake"

Review of Vikram Seth's delightful first book: Lit blog.

We don't do porn

I recently got a nice roll-film camera and it has been a rather interesting mixture of frustration, surprise, and reward. I intend to write about this at length soon, but the latest in the series of continuing trials and tribulations of temporarily switching to old-school format was just too funny. So here goes:

Time: Sat morning, about 1p

Scene: I have just finished developed a roll of b/w film and am admiring the work and I can't wait to get this printed. So, I call CVS 1-hr photo thinking they will be able to develop the Kodak Tri-X B/W film.

Me: Hello, CVS Photo services?
CVS lady: Yes, how can we help you today?
Me: Can you make prints from negatives?
CVS: You mean you just want prints? from film developed at CVS?
Me: Um... yes and no, I have developed my own roll of film and I just wanted some prints. You make prints of any kind of film right?
CVS: (pause).. We don't make prints of pornography
Me: (flabbergasted)... (long pause).. What?! (thinking WTF!) Excuse me?
CVS: We don't make prints of pornographic or any stuff like that..
Me: (recovering somewhat and embarrassed laugh).. oh no this is quite regular pictures.. umm.. nothing dirty.. just pictures of streets and buildings.
CVS: Ok, bring them in. I will have to first take a look to see before we can develop them
(perhaps implying maybe you have some porn that you don't know yet?)
...

The conversation then continued and it was then shortly determined that despite the complete lack of pornographic, erotic, or any other kind of visually arresting, publicly unmentionable content CVS will not develop my negatives. In fact, no large store will process even the most innocuous photos taken on a Kodak Tri-X roll. All because it's not a C41 type roll. I would have to either do it myself or ask a professional photo lab. I am wondering if that specialty lab will be disappointed that it's not porn. I do have some photos of a fountain with a naked Neptune surround by mermaids. Does that count?

Towards a Monoculture

I cannot explain why I am attracted to words and sounds: there is this mystery to alien sounds, like listening to strange music. There are words like caïque* which sound and read mysterious and interesting. Naturally, sounds in other languages are even more interesting that words in the dictionary. Even if you don't understand a word there this is mysterious enjoyment of just listening to the phonemes, phrasing, the cadences and rhythms.

My abilities in German have been asymptotically diminishing, but it's fun to be able to catch some snatches of Italian and Spanish and guess the meaning by using the Latin roots. But, do languages have utility? The general attitude is to learn languages that are 'useful'. So, English, Spanish and lately Chinese, are more useful than learning say, Pashto, Tagalog or Swahili. While communication and understanding maybe improved when people speak the same language, it's not entirely a good thing as the world drifts to a monoculture, or monopoly of a few select language. It's well known that when the last speaker of a language dies, he or she takes with him/her a whole way of expression, an entire culture, and often it's the end of a way of life.

Sadly, in India, a land of many languages we are losing reason to learn or master the vernacular. It seems likely that in a generation, chaste Hindi or even Urdu will be lost. I will not dwell individual dialects and accents that color languages. My own mother tongue - Gujarati has variants depending on whether the speaker is Parsi, or Bohri, or from Surat, Kathiawad, or Ahmedabad. Of course, these dialects and other Indian languages will survive in the the hands of few. But, it's quite likely that poetry, plays and books will cease to be written as often as they were. First, there won't be writers with the fluency, and sadly they will be starved of an audience. An artist needs an audience that actually understands the nuances or subtleties to appreciate the skill in creating within the confines of the language.

It's sad but true that many of my friends have not taken any great effort to teach their kids languages other than English thinking that it will 'confuse' them. A common idea is that child development is hindered with learning more than one language and that they won't get admission since they can't speak English properly.

The polymath Jared Diamond presents research to the contrary. In a piece for Science he demonstrates that conventional thinking about language confusing kids is quite wrong. (See: The Benefits of Multilingualism, by Jared Diamond, Science 15 October 2010: 332-333| link to summmary)More importantly there are additional benefits:

Recent studies show that children raised bilingually develop a specific type of cognitive benefit during infancy, and that bilingualism offers some protection against symptoms of Alzheimer’s dementia in old people.

He goes on to write...

More recent studies, comparing subjects matched for those other variables, have found bilinguals and monolinguals to be largely similar in cognition and language processing.

He presents additional material to show that those who speak more than one language are better at handling multiple inputs, ie better multi-taskers. Now who wouldn't want that?

So, if you aren't so interested in sounds, or saving poetry and languages from extinction you may be interested in conferring some benefit to your kids by teaching them more than one tongue.
--------------------
*caïque: A Turkish hand-rowed boat

Review of Peter Hessler's Country Driving

China is a fascinating country. As Indians we love to compare against it. Peter Hessler lived in China for many years and has written wonderful books on the subject. My review of his latest book 'Country Driving' on the Lit blog.

Afghan Women

Why do husbands, fathers, brothers-in-law, even mothers-in-law brutalize the women in their families? Are these violent acts the consequence of a traditional society suddenly, after years of isolation and so much war, being hurled into the 21st century? The foundation of Pashtunwali is a man's honor, judged by three possessions—zar (gold), zamin (land), and zan (women). The principles on which the honorable life is built are melmastia (hospitality), nanawati (shelter or asylum), and badal (justice or revenge).

The greater a Pashtun man's hospitality, the more honor he accrues. If a stranger or an enemy turns up on his doorstep and asks for shelter, his honor depends on taking that person in. If any injury is done to a man's land, women, or gold, it is a matter of honor for him to exact revenge. A man without honor is a man without a shadow, without assets, without dignity.

But it is not generally acceptable for Pashtun women to extend hospitality or exact revenge. They are rarely agents. They're assets to be traded and fought over—until they can stand it no longer.

- Elizabeth Rubin (Photographs by Lynsey Addario)
Afghan Women

Everyone is familiar with Steve McCurry's iconic image - one of the few that you can that truly deserves it - of the Afghan woman from 1985. Sadly, not much has changed in a land that seems to be so stuck in time that hurtling it into the modern world seems just as cruel as treatment of women in that country.

I was amazed by how short and effective Rubin's. Clearly, it wasn't so much an essay accompanied by photographs, but more like a lens to focus the reader's attention on Addario's pictures that tell a lot more than a thousand words.

Only the ones you need

In their remarkable book called You: The Owner's Manual, Drs. Roisen and Oz  wrote on the human body. A thing that everyone possess but most people (including yours truly) seem to know little about (and what they think they know is mostly myth). I was most intrigued by their descriptions of the two main cavities that book-end our generous plumbing a.k.a the 'digestive system'.

On one end they recommended to stool watch - i.e to pay attention to the shape and the consistency. If something's wrong with your digestion then you are gonna see the effects. The ideal stool needs to long and S-shaped (they write: like the shape of your intestine). It shouldn't be hard and softer than al dente is Goldilocks perfection.

We all know garbage in, garbage out doesn't just apply to computer programming. On the oral end people seem to have most of the right ideas. Eating healthy is known, if not followed very well. On the aspect of maintenance people are diligent about brushing their teeth at least twice a day and certainly at night. Of course no one really changes tooth brushes every six months as recommended. It's one of those things that no one really takes seriously like the notice on mattresses: "Do not tear this label, or hell will break loose".

Despite all evidence and suggestion to the contrary, I have yet to see anyone as diligent about flossing. No dentist, drunk or sober, is going to not recommend flossing. What do Roisen and Oz propose? They  leave it up to you and recommend rather pithily:

Teeth: Floss only the ones you need

Since my last dental exam, I have actually behaved in a manner that I didn't care.  I was given a clean bill but like everything in life, you can't rest on your past laurels. So, I freaked out when I learned that I had my dentist's appointment in two weeks. Brush as much as you want, those bleeding gums give away that you haven't flossed for love or for money in past few months. 

To avoid the dead giveaway and lose face in front of my dentist, I crammed.  I was cramming for the last two weeks for the dental exam by flossing every day.  The gums, they bled, but by the end of the week the really nasty tell-tale signs would be gone.  On the day of the exam, the removal of the calculus was painful, but the gums didn't bleed. This is to say that I  passed with a high B+ on in the flossing column of the report card.

As is always the case, after the cleaning and gentle admonishment I felt very repentant. I swore that I will finally turn a new leaf and floss. It's for my own good, no?

So, I have been very disciplined. Using the best floss money can buy and sleeping very soundly at night.

What is it with flossing? Is it just me? Every time I floss, I feel very virtuous, as if I did a good deed that day. A feeling that is better than the one you get when you eat a healthy salad when the rest of the people around you are eating something patently bad -  like nasty French fries. It just seems to lift you up to a higher plane.

Consequently, if you really want to intimidate somebody then just floss while they are brushing their teeth. It eerily makes them feel a little less clean. It's more effective than the using a hand sanitizer for no real reason. Pulling out the hand sanitizer makes most people think you are just one of the  'germ theory' show-offs. You could lose friends this way.  But, flossing, ah that's a subtle one.

So, every night as I rub the twine between my teeth I feel like a  better bigger person, a human being that people want to emulate but can't quite do it. Besides, I sleep rather soundly knowing my gnashers will be there the next morning.

He had it coming...

Paul the Octopus the world's most celebrated eight-armed cephalopod has died. He briefly dazzled the world with his Nostradamus-like ability to predict the outcomes of football matches featuring his adopted homeland (or Fatherland) Germany. He entertained millions on YouTube and had the bookmakers in a tizzy. That could be the seed of one of the many conspiracy theories. Who killed Paul?

Nobody. He did it himself. The truth is that it was 'self-guilt'. The pressure and attention got to him - as he was consulted on deeper problems that plague our human lives - Will the Tea Party change politics? Will China let the Renminbi float?
It wasn't that his area of expertise was limited to just football.  Paul knew deep inside that he was a fake. His fate hanging on the balance of a string of lucky, very lucky coincidences. So before he was exposed as a false prophet he took a dive to ensure immortality.

Paulos. Eight-armed
Requiescat in pacem.
Predict no more.