My Oscar Picks

Let's see how many I got right.

Best Picture
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3”
“True Grit”
“Winter’s Bone”

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

Best Actor
Javier Bardem, “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges, “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg, “The Social Network”
Colin Firth, “The King’s Speech”
James Franco, “127 Hours”

Best Actress
Annette Bening, “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman, “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence, “Winter’s Bone”
Natalie Portman, “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams, “Blue Valentine”

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, “The Fighter”
John Hawkes, “Winter’s Bone”
Jeremy Renner, “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo, “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush, “The King’s Speech”

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter, “The King’s Speech”
Melissa Leo, “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld, “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver, “Animal Kingdom”

Best Animated Feature Film
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Illusionist”
“Toy Story 3”

Best Foreign Film (not sure)
Mexico—“Biutiful”
Greece—“Dogtooth”
Denmark—“In a Better World”
Canada—“Incendies”
Algeria—“Outside the Law”

Best Original Screenplay
“Another Year”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right”
“The King’s Speech”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3”
“True Grit”
“Winter’s Bone”

Best Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I”
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech”
“True Grit”

Best Costume Design (not sure)
“Alice in Wonderland”
“I Am Love”
“The King’s Speech”
“The Tempest”
“True Grit”

Best Original Song (not sure)
“Coming Home”—“Country Strong”
“I See the Light”—“Tangled”
“If I Rise”—“127 Hours”
“We Belong Together”—“Toy Story 3”

Best Original Score (not sure)
“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

Best Documentary
“Exit Through the Gift Shop”
“Gasland”
“Inside Job”
“Restrepo”
“Waste Land”

Best Film Editing
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”

Best Cinematography
“Black Swan”—Matthew Libatique
“Inception”—Wally Pfister
“The King’s Speech”—Danny Cohen
“The Social Network”—Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit”—Roger Deakins

Best Makeup (not sure)
“Barney’s Version”
“The Way Back”
“The Wolfman”

Best Sound Editing (not sure)
“Inception”
“Toy Story 3”
“TRON: Legacy”
“True Grit”
“Unstoppable”

Best Sound Mixing (not sure)
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech”
“Salt”
“The Social Network”
“True Grit”

Best Visual Effects
“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
“Hereafter”
“Inception”
“Iron Man 2”

Best Documentary (Short Subject) (not sure)
“Killing in the Name”
“Poster Girl”
“Strangers No More”
“Sun Comes Up”
“The Warriors of Qiugang”

Best Visual Short Film (Animated) (not sure)
“Day & Night”
“The Gruffalo”
“Let’s Pollute”
“The Lost Thing”
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)”

Best Short Film (Action) (not sure)
“The Confession”
“The Crush”
“God of Love”
“Na Wewe”
“Wish 143”

Ironic

Toshio Tamogami, former head of Japan’s air force, wrote an essay that won an essay contest denying Japan’s role in sponsoring wartime atrocities.  He was fired by the Prime Minister Taro Aso. 

Here are some quotes from his article:

"Roosevelt had become president on his public pledge not to go to war, so in order to start a war between the United States and Japan, it had to appear that Japan took the first shot." 

“Even now, there are many people who think that our country’s aggression caused unbearable suffering to the countries of Asia during the Greater East Asia War.  But we need to realize that many Asian countries take a positive view of the Greater East Asia War. It is certainly a false accusation to say that our country was an aggressor nation.”

And in conclusion, Gen. Tamogami wrote:

“A country that denies its own history is destined to fall."

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12544740&fsrc=rss

If Law does not Require Parents to Support Their Children...

A WSJ article today reports that: an ambiguous Nebraska law passed in July was "designed to let troubled mothers relinquish newborns" without including an age limit.  As a result, parents and guardians interpreted the measure to mean they could abandon any children under the age 18 without criminal prosecution.  So far more than 30 children and teens were abandoned.

http://sec.online.wsj.com/article/SB122645008216719185.html

1.  Lawmakers, please write clearer statutes.

2.  Let women abandon their children when they are not out yet?

3.  You think your parents are intolerable?  They think the same about you.  But they didn't abandon you (yet), so don't yell at them. 

4.  I find it to be a very sad story. 

 

Testing

Hey, it's me.  I'm talking.  Nobody will listen but that's fine.