Oscar thoughts

I’ve been meaning to do this for a week now, but knew it was going to get pretty involved. Now I’m being all sickly with a nasty cold. I figure I can write up between NyQuil doses. I saw the 5th best picture nominee on Saturday. It’s the first time I’ve managed it, and it may be the last. I figured I’d give my preferences. I’ll give no spoilers in the main section. In the continued, I’ll give only some vague thoughts that some might, maybe consider spoilerish. So, movies I’ve seen that have been nominated for something:

The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Million Dollar Baby, Ray, Sideways, Collateral, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Icredibles, Shrek 2, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Troy, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Village, Spider-man 2, Before Sunset

Category – How many I’ve seen – my pick
Best Picture – 5/5 – The Aviator
Actor, Leading – 4/5 – Jamie Foxx
Actor, Supporting – 4/5 – Morgan Freeman
Actress, Leading – 2/5 – Hilary Swank
Actress, Supporting – 2/5 – Cate Blanchet
Animated Feature – 2/3 – The Incredibles
Art Direction – 3/5 – Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
Cinematography – 1/5 – The Aviator (by default)
Costume Design – 5/5 – Lemony Sicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
Directing – 4/5 – The Aviator
Film Editing – 5/5 – Million Dollar Baby
Makeup – 1/3 – Lemony Sicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
Original Score – 4/5 – (tricky one) Lemony Sicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
Original Song – 1/5 – I can’t pick “Accidentally in Love” from Shrek, so I’ll go with other
Sound Editing – 2/3 – Um, Spider-Man 2
Sound Mixing – 4/5 – Ray
Visual Effects – 2/3 – Spider-Man 2
Screenplay Adapted – 4/5 – (another tricky one) Million Dollar Baby
Screenplay Original – 3/5 – The Incredibles

Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Foreign Language Film, Short Film – Animated, Short Film – Live Action, – 0/5 – N/A

Today’s random food recommendation

The Hershey’s Take 5 bar. It’s really good. Pretzels, caramel, peanuts, peanut butter, chocolate. I finally got to try it today. Our new snack vending machine at work has been stocked with some fairly new items. I tried to buy this early last week, but the whole row got stuck after it took my money. I tried several times after that, but it continued to be stuck. (Although it just told me to make a new selection rather than eating my money.) Today I happened into the lunch room when the guy was there re-stocking it. I informed him of the jammed row and that it previously had taken my money. He offered me one, or the cash back, and thanked me for letting him know. I took the bar. Perhaps it was partly because of the delayed satisfaction, but I’d have to say this was the best of the new candy bars I’ve tried in a long time.

Emerald City Comicon 2005

This weekend was the third annual Emerald City Comicon. It was the first time I’ve gone, but it was surprisingly massive. It was like it was a real convention or something. There were real publishers, writers, artists, dealers with higher end merchandise and panels. There were even a fair number of people in costume. It was also in a large portion of the stadium exhibition center. It was cool. As if it may be starting to be counted in with the regular convention circuit.