Thanks to Sara for alerting me to the significance of February 28.
Apparently, it’s National Public Sleeping Day, a chance for people to fall asleep in public — on the T, in the office, at Starbucks, or wherever you may be — and have it be perfectly alright.
In keeping with the holiday, I’m going to take a public nap right here on the Internets.
So check back in a few days. There’ll be nothing new to read here until next week.
Stuff@Night is out with its “Clubs Issue.” I’m just wondering: Isn’t that a little like Playboy coming out with a “Naked Chicks Issue?” Or Newsweek coming out with a “News Issue?”
(click on the link for my review)
2. GAME 6
4. DAVE CHAPPELLE’S BLOCK PARTY
7. UNITED 93
9. POSEIDON
11. THE BREAK-UP
12. KEEPING UP WITH THE STEINS
13. THE LAKE HOUSE
14. CARS
15. CLICK
16. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST
17. SUPERMAN RETURNS
20. MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND
21. SCOOP
25. THE ILLUSIONIST
26. TRUST THE MAN
28. THE LAST KISS
30. HALF NELSON
32. THE DEPARTED
34. BORAT …
35. FAST FOOD NATION
37. THE PRESTIGE
39. CASINO ROYALE
40. SHUT UP & SING
42. BOBBY
43. HAPPY FEET
45. THE HOLIDAY
46. THE HISTORY BOYS
47. BLOOD DIAMOND
49. DREAMGIRLS (2x)
50. ROCKY BALBOA
51. WE ARE MARSHALL
52. THE QUEEN
53. CHILDREN OF MEN
55. BABEL
I guess it was an enjoyable Oscars show. I’ll probably always enjoy it. Perhaps that’s the ultimate in denial, because this year’s show was really safe, slick, slow-moving, and not too exciting or surprising overall. And for a change, it felt long. That said, it had its moments:
I was shocked that Alan Arkin actually won Best Supporting Actor (though let it be said that I predicted that). Somewhere Jeffrey Wells is gloating, and elsewhere, Dreamworks/Paramount is regretting releasing Norbit before the Oscars … Celine Dion still sucks. I wish she’d stayed in Vegas, where we didn’t have to hear from her … J.Hud won and gave a nice, genuinely emotional speech — and gave me the chance to say for the last time (I promise) that I interviewed her months ago (I even scooped Barbara Walters) … I liked the opening Nominees film, by Errol Morris … I thought Ellen’s monologue was good, but I think she was probably a little too quirky for the Oscars … 
Good for An Inconvenient Truth, but I thought there was a little too much Al Gore, even if I do like him … A definite highlight was Apple’s commercial for the iPhone … Why was Jack Nicholson bald? … Does anyone else remember when Chris Connelly was cool? … The Dreamgirls musical number was good — if you don’t include “Patience” — but Eddie Murphy was missed … Jennifer Lopez: whoa! … So WTF were those shadow dancers?? … I still wish Judi Dench had won Best Actress … You know, say what you will, but I do sorta feel bad for Eddie Murphy. Were it not for Norbit, that award would have been his, and he seemed, in the end, to really want it (too little, too late, I guess) … Did Ellen really vaccuum?? That was ridiculous … Best acceptance speech: Forest Whitaker’s. Second best: the guy who won for West Bank Story, the Best Live Action Short Film … I’m happy Helen Mirren doesn’t have to feign surprise anymore … And while I thought Little Miss Sunshine would win Best Picture, I’m happy The Departed actually did. After all, it was my favorite movie of last year … 
Oh, and I can’t believe the three Dreamgirls songs actually cancelled themselves out and Melissa Etheridge won Best Song; that may be a bigger surprise/upset than Alan Arkin’s win because I thought “Listen” was a sure thing. (A complete list of winners is here.)
I guess that’s it. It’s past Abigail Breslin’s bed time. On to next year!
For all the unpredictability that accompanies this year’s Best Picture nominees, the rest of the major categories look to go according to plan. As a result, there’s not so much interesting about an Oscar predictions post this year. I’ll say I hope The Departed wins Best Picture, but I expect Little Miss Sunshine to actually win — which is fine, because Sunshine is a great movie. Otherwise, Scorsese, Hudson, Whitaker and Mirren will all win (though I’d rather Judi Dench take Best Actress). And The Departed and Sunshine will win the screenplay categories. Perhaps the only surprise might come in Best Supporting Actor, where Jeffrey Wells has convinced me that Alan Arkin might actually win, not Eddie Murphy. So I hope Ellen DeGeneres does a great hosting job, because the show is not shaping up to be a suspenseful one. (And by the way, if you need a ballot to keep track of the winners, here’s one.)
Either way, the show has to be better than the one in 1989, when Snow White and, yes, Rob Lowe opened the show by singing, among other things, “Proud Mary.” If you’ve never seen it, here’s your chance. The year after this debacle, Billy Crystal hosted and all was right with the world. But this is a great reminder of how bad the Oscars can be. So at 12:30, when the show is still going on, remember: it could always be worse. (And thanks to David Poland for the tip.)
It seems my blogging power has untold reach. First, on the way home, I saw that the stretch of sidewalk I wrote about earlier today had been cleared. Now I know it wasn’t all my doing; Universal Hub linked to it and drove a lot of traffic to my post. And of course, I didn’t physically do the shoveling. But still, I’d like to think I had at least something to do with it finally being cleared.
And then my girl Haley Scarnato wasn’t voted off American Idol, which means you all must have read my post about her and called in to vote. Good for y’all. I mean, she wasn’t the best singer this week, and she certainly looks a little out of place next to some of the other women, and I actually felt bad for her during that Tears for Fears song they all sang, but hey … that’s not the point.
The point is that in my own warped little world, my demented sense of reality tells me that my two posts made change happen today. Behold! I am the change maker.
Who is responsible for the ice and slush on the sidewalk of Babcock St. in Brookline not being cleared yet? The storm was more than a week ago, and yet, that long strip of sidewalk along the parking lot by Harvard Ave. is still covered by a mix of snow, ice, slush and just mess. It’s the only extended part of the street that has yet to be cleared, most likely because it’s not in front of an apartment building. And I know there are rules about this sort of thing if you own property. Well, if this is community property that doesn’t fall under the aegis of a landlord, then doesn’t this strip of sidewalk belong to the town of Brookline? And shouldn’t the town have done something about it by now? And if the weather’s been warm the past two days, wouldn’t it make sense to clear the sidewalk now? I’d love to see this get done soon, so I don’t have to walk in the street anymore to avoid slipping. Especially before the weather turns cold again and more snow comes. Thanks.
I really and truly wish I was upset about The O.C. ending its run tonight, but I just can’t get too wistful anymore. Actually, I’m happy it’s ending because the show got so bad halfway through season two and never quite recovered, and I feel like I started watching it again this season mostly because it was ending, and in doing so, I’ve missed out on watching supposedly better shows like 30 Rock. (Fortunately, I have a dual-tuner cable box, so I don’t have to miss Grey’s Anatomy.)
I mean, there was a time when I really really really liked this show. I was so excited to go to California just because I knew I’d be going on a tour of O.C. locations. The Chrismukkah episodes were a highlight of the holiday season. There was always great music. And of course, Summer Roberts. Mmmm…Summer Roberts.
But the bloom fell off the rose and I stopped watching for a while. And now that the show is ending, I’m actually happy about it. So, I’ll be watching tonight (after Grey’s, of course), but I won’t miss The O.C. when it’s gone.
I was already sort of embarrassed to be buying the three magazines I did today at Barnes & Noble, but somehow, it made me feel better that I didn’t make a bad situation even worse. To wit:
Exhibit A:
The cashier rings up my copy of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and I notice the price. So I say to her, “Wow, six bucks for that thing?” And she says, “Well, it’s a special issue.” And I almost replied to her, “It’s not as special as it used to be,” and explained why I was saying that, but I figured it was better to just bite my tongue.
Exhibit B:
The cashier rings up my copy of Every Day with Rachael Ray and comments to me, “I didn’t know Rachael Ray had a magazine.” And while my actual response to her was an emasculating, “Yes, she’s had it for more than a year now,” I almost said, referring to the other magazine I was buying, “Yes, and so does that guy from M*A*S*H.”
So yeah, that situation could have been much worse.
God bless Billy Ray. The director coaxed a good performance out of Hayden Christensen in Shattered Glass in 2003, and now he’s done the same with Ryan Phillippe in Breach, a film that tells the story of the efforts in 2001 to catch FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who was suspected of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia. The end result of this film is known up-front — not only is this a true story, but the movie begins with a clip from John Ashcroft’s press conference announcing his capture — so it’s more about the way he was captured. Hanssen, who is played brilliantly by Chris Cooper, was a devout, seemingly by-the-book FBI agent, who doesn’t suffer fools. I love that the Boston Herald called this movie The Devil Wears Brooks Brothers because at first it’s like that. But as Hanssen’s clerk, Eric O’Neill (Phillippe), starts to peel away the layers and becomes an instrumental part of the FBI’s attempts to catch Hanssen, the movie becomes more cat and mouse and less, um, catty. Because we know how the story ends up, there aren’t too many surprising twists like you’d find in a conventional spy thriller, and Ray does his best to ratchet up the suspense a few times, but mostly Breach plays like a solid inside-D.C. drama that eschews such conventions. As mentioned, both Cooper and Phillippe are good, but Laura Linney, as O’Neill’s real boss, just doesn’t carry her weight. For some reason, she can’t bark orders like the rest of them and it’s almost laughable. They say good movies don’t get released in mid-February, and while I didn’t enjoy Breach as much as Shattered Glass, I still say it’s still worth seeing. I’m giving it a B+.
Martin's Musings 
