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TV Night - 1/25/2007

Back again with another edition of the widely never read edition of tv night. Thursday is the most crazy night too! Here we go:

Smallville: Clark wakes up in a mental asylum after being attacked; a fellow patient (Phil Morris) tells Clark that their doctor is a phantom who must be killed t...

The Office: After Jan busts Michael for declaring it's "movie Monday," where everyone watches a movie instead of working, an upset Angela pushes Dwight is into ma…

Ok, ok, for my wife:

Grey's Anatomy: Bailey proposes the creation of a free clinic; a Seattle Grace doctor receives a proposal...

ASP.NET vs. Ruby on Rails

I don't really know ruby as well as I'd like to, but the parts I know I really love. Actually, if I had the time, I'd be drooling over it on a daily basis. One of the biggest things that make me drool are under the "Get Excited" section of the Ruby on Rails site.

Tonight, while installing all my standard development software, I came across a video showing someone develop a to-do list based on ASP.NET and AJAX. It was cool and all, but after about 10 minutes, I realized, this video is similar to a 15 minute video showing the Ruby implementation of a weblog website. I hoped the ASP.NET version would be as cool, but after about 20minutes, I was left a bit bored. The Ruby version seemed quicker, more fun, and more.... well, more.

See for yourself:

Creating a weblog in 15 minutes

Scott's To-do list

Now, I'll probably end up staying in .NET world, for work reasons. I just find it odd that Ruby's example seemed so much more exciting.

State of the Union address

As you most likely know, tonight was the state of the union address from the president; on just about every channel. As usual, there were things I didn't like so much and things I agreed with. Also, it was fun to watch the gratuitous applause. I lost count of standing ovations after 10; mostly because I didn't care.

For a great play by play of the state of the union, check out my wife's blog: Nat's Chat. She also went on to make a rebuttal of the democrat rebuttal, and a great posting about why there were WMDs in Iraq:

"If my 8 and 9 year old children will hide things from me when they know I am coming - guess what? Saddam Hussein could get the WMDs out of Iraq and into the hands of terrorists or Syria or whoever.

Oftentimes, I don't have "proof" of my children's misbehavior. They leave little traces, I can tell by the look in their eyes, but the hard evidence isn't there or I wasn't present at the time of disobedience. That doesn't mean it didn't occur.

These same principles apply to dictators."

I've been saying it for years, a lot the people in the world act like children: dictators are no exception.

Oscar Nominations

This year's Oscar nominations have been announced; and to my dismay, "How to be a Girl" was not nominated for best short, best screenplay, or best director. This is an OUTRAGE; but I digress, the nominations are here and some of them are a bit of a suprise!

From my wife's blog, Nat's Chat, there is a link to an article of snubbed movies that should have been nominated.

And don't forget to look at the Razzie nominations, they go hand in hand with the oscars and I feel any movie that was nominated in both the Oscars and the Razzies should be considered film of the year.

Here are my picks and maybe some comments of who I think will win, in some cases, it is not who I want to win at all, now that is an Inconvenient truth:

Best Motion Picture Of The Year

• "Babel"
• "The Departed"
• "Letters from Iwo Jima"
• "Little Miss Sunshine"
• "The Queen"

Performance By An Actor In A Leading Role

• Leonardo DiCaprio in "Blood Diamond"
• Ryan Gosling in "Half Nelson"
• Peter O'Toole in "Venus"
• Will Smith in "The Pursuit of Happyness"
• Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland"

Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role

• Alan Arkin in "Little Miss Sunshine"
• Jackie Earle Haley in "Little Children"
• Djimon Hounsou in "Blood Diamond"
• Eddie Murphy in "Dreamgirls"
• Mark Wahlberg in "The Departed"

Performance By An Actress In A Leading Role

• Penélope Cruz in "Volver"
• Judi Dench in "Notes on a Scandal"
• Helen Mirren in "The Queen"
• Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada"
• Kate Winslet in "Little Children"

Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role

• Cate Blanchett in "Notes on a Scandal"
• Abigail Breslin in "Little Miss Sunshine"
• Jennifer Hudson in "Dreamgirls"
• Adriana Barraza in "Babel"
• Rinko Kikuchi in "Babel"

Original Screenplay

• "Babel" - Written by Guillermo Arriaga
• "Letters from Iwo Jima" - Screenplay by Iris Yamashit, Story by Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis
• "Little Miss Sunshine" - Written by Michael Arndt
• "The Queen" - Written by Peter Morgan
• "Pan's Labyrinth" - Written by Guillermo del Toro

Adapted Screenplay

• "Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" - Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter Baynham & Dan Maze, Story by Sacha Baron Cohen & Peter Baynham & Anthony Hines & Todd Phillips
• "Children of Men" - Screenplay by Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus & HawkOstby
• "The Departed" - Screenplay by William Monahan
• "Little Children" - Screenplay by Todd Field & Tom Perrotta
• "Notes on a Scandal" - Screenplay by Patrick Marber

Best Animated Feature Film Of The Year

• "Cars" John Lasseter
• "Happy Feet" George Miller
• "Monster House" Gil Kenan

Achievement In Art Direction

• "Dreamgirls" - Art Direction: John Myhre, Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
• "The Good Shepherd" - Art Direction: Jeannine Oppewal, Set Decoration: Gretchen Rau and Leslie E. Rollins
• "Pan's Labyrinth" - Art Direction: Eugenio Caballer, Set Decoration: Pilar Revuelta
• "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" - Art Direction: Rick Heinrich, Set Decoration: Cheryl A. Carasik
• "The Prestige" - Art Direction: Nathan Crowle, Set Decoration: Julie Ochipinti

Achievement In Cinematography

• "The Black Dahlia" Vilmos Zsigmond
• "The Illusionist" Dick Pope
• "Pan's Labyrinth" Guillermo Navarro
• "Children of Men" Emmanuel Lubezki
• "The Prestige" Wally Pfister

Achievement In Costume Design

• "Curse of the Golden Flower" Yee Chung Man
• "Marie Antoinette" Milena Canonero
• "The Devil Wears Prada" Patricia Field
• "Dreamgirls" Sharen Davis
• "The Queen" Consolata Boyle

Achievement In Directing

• "Babel" Alejandro González Iñárritu
• "The Departed" Martin Scorsese
• "Letters from Iwo Jima" Clint Eastwood
• "The Queen" Stephen Frears
• "United 93" Paul Greengrass

Best Documentary Feature

• "Deliver Us from Evil" - Amy Berg and Frank Donner
• "An Inconvenient Truth" - Davis Guggenheim *sigh*
• "Iraq in Fragments" - James Longley and John Sinno
• "My Country, My Country" - Laura Poitras and Jocelyn Glatzer
• "Jesus Camp" - Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

Achievement In Film Editing

• "Babel" - Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise
• "Blood Diamond" - Steven Rosenblum
• "The Departed" - Thelma Schoonmaker
• "United 93" - Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse and Richard Pearson
• "Children of Men" - Alex Rodriguez and Alfonso Cuaron

Best Foreign Language Film Of The Year

• "After the Wedding - Denmark
• "Days of Glory " - Algeria
• "The Lives of Others" - Germany
• "Pan's Labyrinth" - Mexico
• "Water" - Canada

Achievement In Makeup

• "Apocalypto" Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
• "Click" Kazuhiro Tsuji and Bill Corso
• "Pan's Labyrinth" David Marti and Montse Ribe

Achievement In Sound Editing

• "Apocalypto" - Sean McCormack and Kami Asgar
• "Blood Diamond" - Lon Bender
• "Flags of Our Fathers" - Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
• "Letters from Iwo Jima" - Alan Robert Murray
• "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" - Christopher Boyes and George Watters II

Achievement In Sound Mixing

• "Blood Diamond" - Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Ivan Sharrock
• "Apocalypto" - Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Fernando Camara
• "Dreamgirls" - Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer and Willie Burton
• "Flags of Our Fathers" - John Reitz, Dave Campbell, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
• "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" - Paul Massey, Christopher Boyes and Lee Orloff

Achievement In Visual Effects

• "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" - John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall
• "Poseidon" - Boyd Shermis, Kim Libreri, Chaz Jarrett and John Frazier
• "Superman Returns" - Mark Stetson, Neil Corbould, Richard R. Hoover and Jon Thum

I am really would have liked to see Superman Returns take it for Visual effects, but even with that $200+ million budget, they didn't do that much that we haven't seen before. Pirate won it with the character of Davey Jones alone.

As for movies in both the Razzies and the Oscars, it looks like Superman Returns, Poseiden and Click all are the best and worst of the 2006.

TV Night - 1/22/2007

Some good stuff on TV tonight and if you don't have a TiVo or a DVR, you'll be stuck hoping for an online version, or reruns. Here is a rundown of some good stuff to look for.

24 - 9pm on Fox - President Palmer and his advisers deal with a series of lethal terrorist attacks that rattle the country.

Super Nanny - 9pm on ABC - Jo helps two marine biologists who cannot control their 3-year-old and 18-month-old sons.

Heroes - 9pm on NBC - Nathan seeks Simone's help to save comatose Peter; Hiro and Ando go in search of the sword in Isaac's painting; Jessica struggles with Niki's decision…

Studio 60 on the sunset strip - 9pm on NBC - The staff comes back from the holiday break to prepare for the first show of the year; Danny is in full pursuit of Jordan; Matt bids in an online auction...

Some good stuff and that is just at the top of the list, there are lots of other things too... We need 3 TiVos!

Be a filmmaker...

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