Here is how unstoppable confidence looks

No thanks, I'll stick with:

Off Topic... SULLY'S OSCAR PICKS

Sorry I've been behind in my writing. I've been feeding my other obsession... movies and the Academy Awards.

I'm a rabid Oscar nut on par with my baseball nuttiness. I've seen every Best Picture winner ever and every Best Picture nominee since 1950.

And this year I've seen all the nominees for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Song, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound and Best Visual Effects... so I am pretty prepared for tonight's show.

(The lone Best Original Screenplay nomination I didn't see was Happy Go Lucky. If that wins the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, I will post a picture on this site of me wearing a Yankees hat.

Naturally the Oscars didn't nominate the three best pictures of the year (Wall-E, The Dark Knight and Doubt) for Best Picture of the Year and saw fit to nominate a Brad Pitt film based on a short story that was so long that I am convinced it was told in real time.

Naturally it nominated well intentioned historical films (Milk was OK... aren't films like Frost/Nixon the reason we have HBO Films?) and the required Holocaust film. (The Reader, which asks us to have sympathy for an SS Guard because she can't read has to rank as one of the worst Best Picture nominees of all time.)

And this year's nominees also included a pretty cool film that featured an evil Indian Regis Philbin!

So indulge me... I don't have a SullyOscars blog (yet.)

I need to do an Oscar list and why not here?
These are who I think WILL win, not SHOULD win

THE OFFICIAL PAUL SULLIVAN OSCAR PICKS


BEST PICTURE:
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

BEST DIRECTOR
DANNY BOYLE, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

BEST ACTOR
MICKEY ROURKE, THE WRESTLER

BEST ACTRESS
KATE WINSLET, THE READER

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
HEATH LEDGER, THE DARK KNIGHT

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
VIOLA DAVIS, DOUBT

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
MILK, Written by DUSTIN LANCE BLACK

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, Screenplay by SIMON BEAUFOY

BEST MUSIC SCORE
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, Music by A. R. RAHMAN

BEST SONG
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, "O SAYA"

BEST EDITING
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

BEST ART DIRECTION
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
THE DUCHESS

BEST SOUND EDITING
WALL-E

BEST SOUND MIXING
WALL -E

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
WALL-E

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

BEST MAKE UP
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
WALTZ WITH BASHIR

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
MAN ON WIRE


And of course the three categories that nobody ever sees the nominees so you just pick them at random.


BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
THE CONSCIENCE OF NHEM EN

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
NEW BOY

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
PRESTO


So there you have it... I am picking 6 wins for Slumdog Millionaire and Viola Davis will win the Oscar because she allowed a booger to dangle from her nose while doing a scene with Meryl Streep.

I promise next week, Sully Baseball will be back with a vengeance... but as this clip shows, the Oscars are no small obsession of mine!

Life

My bday speech is similar

Sing it. Yes

Cornbread

This tasted good. I made it this morning.

Whole Grain Corn Bread
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup whole grain corn flour
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup skim or 1% milk
¼ cup canola oil
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat an 8 x 8 inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine first four ingredients with a wire whisk. Add the remaining 3 ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Pour batter into greased pan and bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes 9 servings.

There used to be an order to the Universe

With the Oscars right around the corner, I am finding myself cramming for the big show.

I still haven't seen Benjamin Button but I will before the ceremony.

But I have a problem with the Oscars being scheduled where they are now... in February.
They used to be in late March, early April.

And thus there was a perfect order in the Universe for everything I obsess over.

Follow me.

The new year begins in January and most of the Oscar nominees and hopefuls are released around Christmas time.
I would spend January seeing most of the obvious Oscar hopefuls.

In February the nominations would come out and I would spend February and March seeing the other nominees.

Then the show would be on in late March, early April.

A week or so after the Oscars end, the baseball season would start.
And then I'd go into the season obsessing until the end of October.

Then it would be Christmas time where I would try to get the best gifts without breaking the bank...
And during Christmas the best Oscar contenders would be released.

Lather.
Rinse.
Repeat.

Well now with the Oscars a month earlier, I have less time to see the movies! And now that I'm a dad, I need MORE time!

And with the ceremony over before March, I'll have more than a month before the season starts.
It's screwing up my equilibrium.

I'm not joking. My obsessions can't take a month off!
What am I supposed to do in March?
READ???