The New Musings of a Quiet Geek

I wasn't impressed with Hugh Jackman's hosting job. Will Smith was said it best when he implied the guy must be napping. The musical mash-up sucked. It had no place at the Oscars. That's a Tony thing and even less people watch that awards show so do the math! Letterman's "Oprah/Uma" turd back in the day was more interesting. The Academy voters seemed particularly lazy this year. Slumdog Millionaire and Benjamin Button were nominated for and pretty much won everything. I haven't seen either movie but come on! Oddly, neither got any nods for acting. Heath Ledgwer's win though deserved was only because he was dead. As Will Smith also pointed out, action movies have the fans get the shaft when it comes to the accolades. Sure many deservedly win Razzies but there have been some awesomely acted superhero flicks in the last few years and yet they're relegated to the dumb technical awards that are blown through in ten minutes. Finally, what the hell ha...

In the last week or so, I've watched two completely different movies for two completely different audiences. First, The Spiderwick Chronicles . This movie was clearly trying to cash in on Harry Potter and perhaps even the Narnia movies. This was also based on a book series but instead of just one book per movie so they could legitimately milk it, this movie had plot and storyline from books 1-3 and 5. I really don't understand their reasoning here but, not having actually read the books, I can't complain too much. As for the movie itself, it pales in comparison to the other series mentioned above. Again, I haven't read the books here where I certainly have in the other two cases so maybe I'm ignorantly bias. While I honestly didn't even notice both of the brothers were played by Freddie Highmore, this role wasn't as good as Charlie never mind the kid, who's name escapes me, in "Finding Neverland." This wasn't mother Mary-Louise Parker...

Last night, friends from the seminary, along with three friends of one of the students, met downtown for drinks and to hear a musician known by my boss. Yes, I was the token male in a group of 6 women. (Like immortals, apparently, there can be only one. But there must be one.) The music, food and entertainment was great. I mean who wouldn't like a block of Tom Petty on a Friday night? Of course, it wasn't his three best tunes but what can you do? I close with a classic Valentine's article I wrote for a college website I maintained my senior year: "Valentine’s Day is almost upon us. The special semi-formal is scheduled for tonight and, mingled with coldness, love is in the air. Or is it? How do single people celebrate the day? It’s not like they have that special someone to shower with chocolate and jewelry. (Being a small college community, just how much of that can a lowly student afford anyway?) "The only option I see is the event mentioned above. School dan...

This is a time of change at the seminary where I volunteer. By the end of the month we'll have new professors in Old and New Testament. This week, we were treated to a lecture and Q & A over pizza with finalists for the position vacated by our retiring OT professor. Without getting into too much detail, both are women aged mid-30's to mid-40's and "of color." I choose to believe this is a coincidence but it sadly may not be. (The age thing in particular.) Both got the question of winters in Maine and both lived in New England for 3 or so years. Both are also ordained in some form of the Baptist church. The first one, a native of Cuba, had her PhD but no practical teaching experience and a very thick accent but very dynamic. Her topic compared her upbringing to the OT, particularly a couple of the women. It was impressive. This wasn't well attended by either students or faculty. Today, the second one, a "military brat" from the south, who is sti...

1. Yeah, so no eventful bus rides. It was kind of close making the bus home and for some reason the Metro bus driver didn't give me my free ride from the station. Maybe they dumped that arrangement due to the economy or maybe there's limits... 2. Wrote 10 pages. Actually, I wrote 16 but thanks to the cat, six were lost. She also managed to turn the display on my mother's laptop completely upside-down. Totally weird... I'm at about 75 pages now and have ideas on how to finish. I'm not sure how long it'll end up but will probably be comparable to the last one... 3. Watched many a TV movie but I will discuss 13 Going On 30 with Jennifer Garner. I think she is a much better actress than people give her credit. She acted like a 13 year old to me; at least one from the more innocent '80's... (Comparatively!) I loved her imitation of the "Thriller" dance as well as the dance she did to "Love is a Battlefield." 4. Susie was fine with it jus...