Holy Oscars Batman!

Wow! The Oscars were pretty bare-boned this year. From the "high school project" computer animation at the beginning, to the just over 3 hour broadcast it was a pretty straight and to the point show for the Academy Awards. I think Jon Stewart did fine as host and took some good jabs at Hollywood's love of congratulating itself on job well done. Oh, and to all of the reporters covering the Red Carpet: How do you sleep with yourself at night?

Thoughts of mine in list order:

-Golden Compass winning an Academy Award for anything was pretty awesome. The movie wasn't terribly good, but I'm a big fan of the books. Plus it beat Transformers. Atheism 1, Michael Bay 0.
-Bourne Ultimatum taking home the 2nd largest number of Oscars for the night (if my counting is correct). Who knew?
-None of the schmaltzy and white-bread songs from Enchanted won.
-Javier Bardem winning.
-US armed forces presenting an award to a documentary about the fight for same sex marriages. Take that Department of Defense!
-Jon Stewart calling the Academy out on montages and sarcastically remarking on how interesting the "Award process Montage" was. That particular montage was one step above an educational movie from high school.

Switching gears, we caught Romero's Diary of the Dead on Friday, and it was splatterific. I always enjoy his ambiguous social commentary and intentional b-grade acting. At least I hope so, otherwise he really needs new casting directors. Stylistically it was in between Cloverfield and Dawn of the Dead - which was a good mix. It was bleak and zombie deaths are always a delight. Romero knows what he's doing when it comes to commanding mindless hordes.

I will try to post a recipe later this week.

Planesmistakenforstars Final Show

I just got back from Planes' final show. One word: epic. I remember seeing this band for the first time in the fall of '99 when I was a lowly freshman in college. I've seen them countless times through the years and one thing that's remained consistent is their passion and energy when they play. If they don't move you in some way you must be the walking dead.

Tonight's show killed, the final 3 songs kicked everyone's ass so hard they'll be waking up with bruises. Planesmistakenforstars is the best band to come from Denver in the last 5-10 years. Period. Thanks for all of the great memories and the great music.