Oscar Shut Out

Oscar Shut Out

This weekend is the Oscars and I really couldn't care very much about them. It comes as a surprise since I'm such an industry whore. It has just been one of those years that nothing really popped out at me as something I loved enough to see it get awards. Add in that Hugh Jackman is the host and you completely lost me. I really don't care if "really tall" Wolverine is hosting it. He may be the sexiest man alive. Then again, I'm not gay so again, I don't care.


The Host of the show... Mr. Sexy himself!


If anything can be said about this years Oscars it's that it's the Coronation of Slumdog Millionaire. We all know it's going to win. It's such a non-brainer. But while it's clear that Slumdog will take home the prize, there's many folks screaming foul on the fact that other films didn't make the cut.

The Dark Knight is one of those films that is loved by one and all. While I loved the film, I did think that Bale's Batman voice has been god awful in every possible way. I'd say that Ledger's Joker was the best possible thing of that film. Without him, I'd have the same stance I do with Batman Begins. That is while it's cool to see once, I doubt I'll watch it all the way through again. Ledger did get the Oscar nomination for his role even though he's dead. So what's the problem here folks? The best part of the film got his due.


Little dude making all the noise

But then again, that's not enough for some fans who are now taking up the dumbest causes. The cause to make sure Ledger is the last Joker. They're demanding that Heath Ledger's role as the Joker be retired with him.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A group of Heath Ledger fans have taken their reverence for the late "The Dark Knight" star to a whole new level.

Followers of the actor, who electrified audiences with his chilling reinvention of the Joker in the second Batman blockbuster, are calling for the character to be retired from the movies permanently.

Ledger supporters at new Web site, The Ultimate Joker, launched a petition last week calling for studios to remove the Joker from any future Batman movies. The petition currently has 2,431 supporters.

"We think Heath deserves this honor," the site's team leader, Fer Barbella, told CNN from Buenos Aires, Argentina. "He is the ultimate Joker.

That's an amazingly stupid cause to be fighting for. Don't get me wrong. Heath was an amazing Joker. Hell, I've been saying that long since before the Dark Knight came out and was still in production. I think they are just upset because TDK wasn't nominated in every Oscar category.



I wonder if we're also suppose to retire gay cowboys and Medieval knights jousting to modern rock? Besides, do they really think that they'll need to bring back the joker for the rest of the franchise? It seems like something that's a moot point and wouldn't be an issue. Now if they're talking about forever keeping joker out of any Batman film or show.. Fuck them in the ear.

Besides, cesar Romero is dead too. They should have retired the Joker years ago!

If anyone got snubbed in this Oscar race it was Clint Eastwood. Gran Torino may have been badly acted by everyone besides Clint but it was still a good film all around and had a clear cut message. Besides, shouldn't Clint get something for all the racist remarks he said? He didn't get a damn nomination.



Hell, Revolutionary Road may have been like awkwardly listening in on a couple fight for two hours and then find themselves at a very disturbing ending, but Leonardo DiCaprio was shut out of the best actor role. Kate Winslet, who I'm discovering is very much a beautiful actress even when she's not all wacky looking like she was in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind. She, on the other hand, is more than likely going to take the Best Actress for the Reader.

Even more so is that Oscar snub is that many of the Oscar attending stars are being asked to avoid the red carpet.

A US report claims that publicists for some of the ceremony's presenters have been asked to instruct their clients to enter the ceremony's venue through an 'off camera' entrance.

According to the LA Times, organisers hope that the element of surprise may help to resuscitate viewing figures for the February 22nd telecast, which dipped to an all-time low of 32 million last year. It represented a 20 per cent drop on 2007 ratings.

The strategy to save more 'star power' for the ceremony has drawn complaints from several quarters, however. "If you show only half the people who are going to be at the Oscars beforehand on the red carpet, that's not a very good commercial for the show," photographer and WireImage co-founder Jeff Vespa told the newspaper. "How do you have the largest red carpet in the world and put less celebs on it?"

Which leads one to really ask why bother with a red carpet anyway? I really don't care about the fashion of it all. As if E! needed anything else to fill their station with. Hours and hours of pointless "who looked who" and "who was wearing WHAT?!"


As Borat would say "Veeerrrry Niccce!"

My advice, avoid Hollywood at all cost today. Highland is closed and the streets are going to be crazy all around that area. You'll really be the one who gets snubbed. Snubbed at getting anything done if you're stuck in traffic.

So I guess I should just do the whole "Who will win" bullshit and then check on the results later..

Here's my Oscar predictions: Everything about them will be boring and horrible and they will suck heartily. Pick that in your work pool. I don't care who wins best actor,Could not give a fuck less for best actress, and for best picture it's Slumming it cause it's a feel good film.



Paul Newman will be in the montage video with a bunch of dead dudes you don't know. Oh shit! It's that dude who was a gaffer on wizard of Oz who died! I loved that dude. He gaffed the shit out of some shit -Cowardly lion or whatever. He was gaffed as fuck. And now an era ends...

I guess I should write these down so you can have something to take into your pool you're betting money on with others with...

Best Motion Picture of the Year
-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Ceán Chaffin, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall
-Frost/Nixon (2008): Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Eric Fellner
-Milk (2008): Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks
-The Reader (2008): Nominees to be determined
-Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Christian Colson

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
-Richard Jenkins for The Visitor (2007/I)
-Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon (2008)
-Sean Penn for Milk (2008)
-Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
-Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
-Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married (2008)
-Angelina Jolie for Changeling (2008)
-Melissa Leo for Frozen River (2008)
-Meryl Streep for Doubt (2008/I)
-Kate Winslet for The Reader (2008)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
-Josh Brolin for Milk (2008)
-Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder (2008)
-Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt (2008/I)
-Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008)
-Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
-Amy Adams for Doubt (2008/I)
-Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
-Viola Davis for Doubt (2008/I)
-Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
-Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler (2008)

Best Achievement in Directing
-Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
-Stephen Daldry for The Reader (2008)
-David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
-Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon (2008)
-Gus Van Sant for Milk (2008)

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
-Frozen River (2008): Courtney Hunt
-Happy-Go-Lucky (2008): Mike Leigh
-In Bruges (2008): Martin McDonagh
-Milk (2008): Dustin Lance Black
-WALL·E (2008): Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
-Doubt (2008/I): John Patrick Shanley
-Frost/Nixon (2008): Peter Morgan
-The Reader (2008): David Hare
-Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Simon Beaufoy

Best Achievement in Cinematography
-Changeling (2008): Tom Stern <------ MAINLY BECAUSE I'M A LOS ANGELES WHORE! God, the look of the film blew me away
-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Claudio Miranda
-The Dark Knight (2008): Wally Pfister
-The Reader (2008): Roger Deakins, Chris Menges
-Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Anthony Dod Mantle

And who really cares about the rest, am I right? So enjoy the Oscars. I'm sure it'll be shoved in your face for a long time. As for me. I may as well just get some sleep. I'm in much need of it after spending most of the morning with beef tripe.

HAPPY OSCAR DAY! Now go out and do something productive.

I Got 99 Blogs And This Ain't One!

I Got 99 Blogs And This Ain't One!



So it has come to my attention that this blog has now reached 100 post. I really don't know how that happened. Well, I guess I know HOW it happened -by me making a series of button pressing and drunk rantings about whatever it is that I found funny or worth pointing out. That still doesn't explain the how of it. Especially with my stance of being counter internet culture.

I don't consider social media as anything more than a comedy option. Sure I spent hours on message boards. Even had internet celebrity as the one with the most post on some DVD forum. If a large number of people found something entertaining, interesting or informative, chances are I hated it and ridiculed it for no reason other than the fact that I could. I never took part of live journal or any blogging sites because I was aware that the world didn't want, nor cared to hear my daily adventures. It would have consisted of something along these lines:

Mode: iNSANE
Dear Journal, Today I drank a shit-ton of Pepsi and then played video games. I may very well watch the Matrix later. Peace out yo!

If they weren't suicidal enough, I'm sure my crazy talk, which I believe makes some people shake their head and wonder what's wrong with me, would push them over the edge and kick the chair out from under them.


Stepping on the grave of those LJ Suicidal peeps

I like the idea of using all these tools to be ironic. Much the same I look like a hipster with my threadless shirts and my casual wear in the same ironic sense that I'm using all these web 2.0 tools to openly mock the internet culture.

This blog rarely, if ever, reflects what's going on with me as a person. Sure there's a lot of my views and opinions littered over every post. You can see what I care about through these post but there's no real description of myself here. That side bar with a profile description? Layers and layers of sarcasm. Though I stand by the stance that I'll openly mock people on the internet. Perhaps it's time, with this 100 blog, that I strip off the protective layers and show you who I am.


Weird.. I know.

Javier is a twenty-eight year old male who resides in Los Angeles. I have boyish good looks with an eccentric nose that looks right on a person working in the industry. There are dark blue rings under my eyes and I have the skin pallor of a man who has toiled under florescent lights for too long. I wear the bemused expression of a guy who knows how bad it can get. Who is always looking and waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'm not so much a screamer anymore.

That is the primer of all this. I'm a deeply complex person who seems to collect a lot of silly images from the internet in a vain effort to post them again some day. I have folders and folders of images that will more than likely end up as image macros and played out internet memes.


Serious Discussion

I have made an effort to keep as much personal life out of here. You don't want to hear about it and frankly, I'd rather escape those situations through a series of comedy writings highlighting what I find funny. I'm proud that this hasn't gone down the road of most live journals. Content is king and I try to keep this as entertaining as possible. Conflict may be the essence of drama but it seldom makes for a good read to those not introduced to the characters of your story.

I like to think that I live up to the name WeirdTV. It holds a special meaning to me growing up as it shaped the way I viewed everything. Weird TV was something that shaped the 15 year old mind of mine. It was a late night show on the now defunct KCOP Channel 13 in Los Angeles. It would make more sense if I was either drunk, high or a combination of both. For what it was, it was the bullet in the gun of my creative mind and turned me towards broadcasting. I wanted to unleash such madness on others.

So here I am thirteen years later working in the industry. It's a big part of me and what I'd like to consider my future. For all you film students, interns looking to move up the ranks, personal assistants and the otherwise unemployable actors who make up so much of our work force, I have some knowledge to lay upon you from a little over ten years of doing all the wrong and some of the right in the Television and Film industry.


Striking for fellow writers

For the growing number of people who come out to L.A and are considering entering the industry I have some advice, too. In fact, let's dispose of you first.

So you want to be in the industry? You really, really really want to be in this industry? If you've been working in another line of business, have been accustomed to working eight to nine hour days, weekends and evenings off, holidays with the family, regular sex with your significant other. If you are used to being treated with some modicum of dignity, spoken to and interacted with as a human being, seen as an equal with hopes, dreams opinions and aspirations. The sort of qualities you'd expect of most working persons... Then you should reconsider what you'll be facing when you graduate from whatever quick film school or theater troop that filled your head with this nonsense to start with.

I'm not kidding when I say that at least in the beginning, you have no rights, are not entitled to an opinion or a personality. All you can hopefully expect is to be treated like a gopher, only less useful. I wish I had a dollar for every well meaning career changer who attended a four month course and showed up to be an intern on one of my film sets. More often than not, one look at what they would really be spending their first few months doing, one look at what their schedule would be, and they ran away in terror.

To those serious ones who know what it is they were entering, who are fully prepared, ready, willing and able, and committed to this career path. Who want to be whatever they want to be in the industry, must work on a studio lot, whatever the personal cost and physical demands. Willing to have to deal with months without work only to jump back on the wagon and do sixteen hour days. Then I have this to say to you.

Welcome on set. Stick around long enough, do your job in some half way decent way, survive the long hours with little to no personal time and I'll be glad to take you out for a cold beer after work. Don't worry, we wont stay out too long. I know you need to get in some sleep before the next call time.


Yeah, back to the weird.

And after I finish writing this I just realize that I actually have 99 blogs this year with 11 last year. This whole blog was built on a foundation of lies and much like a city built on Rock and Roll, it's not structurally sound. So hell, this is actually the 111th blog and is simply another arbitrarily number in a sea of mind rantings. Then again, 111 blogs later, it's never too late for me to introduce myself. It goes without saying that the About The Author section of any book is at the very back.

Back In Black

Back In Black

Welcome to a new reality. President Obama is our first black President. A totally new day. Then again, it's nothing new in my world. The world of screen. I've seen many a black men stand in the position that Obama is today. Sure, it doesn't take anything away from his role as the future Commander and Chef, but at least by drawing some comparisons, we can see what other fictional Black Presidents can do in the White House.

President Lindberg - "The Fifth Element"

The first Black President comes to us from two hundred and fifty years in the future. It’s true, he can’t enunciate his words particularly well but so what! Just knowing this man, with the intelligence of a grapefruit, was able to rise up to become the President of the United Federated Territories lets me know the future is going to be a great place. Thankfully, I’ll be dead by then. For those unlucky enough to not be dead, cab driver Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis) for example works to save the planet from extinction with the help of Ruby Rhod (a whacky role played by Chris Tucker). Dallas saves the world, but only because President Lindberg (Tommy 'Tiny' Lister) said so. He's a hard as nails crazy S.O.B of a President. Someone who Russia's leader Dmitry Medvedev wouldn't dare threaten with a missile attack. Unless of course he wanted his ass handed to him.

President David Palmer - "24" (Seasons 2 and 3)

No, this is not an All-State commercial. Which reminds me, I need to pay my auto insurance. President David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) may be seen on ads hocking you low car insurance rates but he's better known to me as the black President from 24. He was elected by the people and targeted for death, protected by Jack Bauer. This President took one crazy hand shake that almost took him out, only to come back and kick some major terrorist ass. He knocked heads with his shady ex-wife, Sherry Palmer, who sort of reminds me of Michelle Obama for some reason. He couldn't dodge the bullet two seasons later and was assassinated. Maybe he should have had that wall of bullet proof glass set up for his office windows. R.I.P

President Wayne Palmer - "24" (Season 6)

David Palmer's death paves the way for his younger brother Wayne (D.B. Woodside) to move into the Oval office. Which is rather strange that not only is there two brothers in the white house, but they are actually brothers. Since this is the 24 universe his presidential career is no easier. He helps free Jack Bauer's release from the Chinese government, fakes a nuclear bombing, is severly injured by an explosion at a press conference, and ends up in a coma by the season's end. I mean, come on. Can't a brother get some peace and quit? Then again, this shows that you'd elect two black men into the office before a Women, let alone a Hispanic. Gee, thanks a lot. I'm feeling the love here.

President Mays Gilliam - "Head of State"

"Head of State"

Chris Rock takes to the white house, and not for some comedy special. His character, a fired D.C. official Mays Gilliam, gets his party’s nomination for presidency he can hardly believe it. But after speaking his mind about society’s ills (as well as hiring a Klan member to endorse his White opponent) this underdog seems to be the rise. So it's easy to see that he had to do a little bit of Republican dirty tricks to get into the white house but hey, whatever gets you in the door. What's not to like about Chris Rock as President? He tells it like it is and is funny as all hell. I'd elect him a second time around.

President Darth Vader... er... um.. Douglas Dilman - "The Man" (1972)

The Lion King was once the President. Yeah, that's right. Darth Vader was the first black screen president. When the President and Speaker of the House are killed in a building collapse, and the Vice-President declines the office due to age and ill-health, Senate President pro tempore Douglas Dilman (James Earl Jones) suddenly becomes the first brother in the Oval Office. The events from that day to the next election when he must decide if he will actually run challenge his skills as a politician and leader. To think that in 1972 the very idea of a black man in the Oval Office to 2008 when we actually will have one seems like they're a life time apart. I'm really glad that we made it to this day.

President Beck - "Deep Impact"

And finally we have one of the most dignified Presidents around. Sure James Earl Jones has the voice, but Morgan Freeman has both that and the look. But talk about shit luck. Instead of hearing him talk to us about the plight of penguins, Morgan Freeman is dealing with the East Coast getting wiped out when a comet is set to collide with planet Earth. President Beck here has devised a plan to save a million lucky people to keep the human race going. Who makes the list? Well, Beck does, of course. Talk about hope and change in a big way. At least Obama doesn't have to worry about any burning rocks from the sky in his administration.. Wait, what's this?

Meteor Shower Could Spur Bright Fireballs

The Taurid meteors, sometimes called the "Halloween fireballs," show up between mid-October and mid-November, but Nov. 5 to 12 will likely be the best time to look for them this year, taking into account both their peak of activity and the effect of increasingly bright moonlight on viewing conditions.

After the Moon sets – around 11 p.m. local time on Nov. 5, later on subsequent nights – some 10 to 15 meteors may appear per hour. They are often yellowish-orange and, as meteors go, appear to move rather slowly. Their name comes from the way they seem to radiate from the constellation Taurus, the Bull, which sits low in the east a couple of hours after sundown and is almost directly overhead by around 1:30 a.m.

Meteors – popularly referred to as "shooting stars" – are generated when debris enters and burns up in Earth's atmosphere. In the case of the Taurids, they are attributed to debris left behind by Encke's Comet, or perhaps by a much larger comet that upon disintegrating, left Encke and a lot of other rubble in its wake.

Indeed, the Taurid debris stream contains noticeably larger fragments than those shed by other comets, which is why in certain years – and 2008 is predicted to be one – this rather elderly meteor stream occasionally delivers a few unusually bright meteors known as "fireballs."

Oh well. Looks like we're heading into a Deep Impact situation. It'll at least be nice and bright as we get blown up. My regret here is that I had hoped we'd be getting a Chris Rock comedy for the next four years.