Day: March 27, 2022
As I mentioned in a previous post, my friend, who has mainstream tastes, rated CODA about an 11 out of 10, and didn’t really like any of the other nominees that much. She ranked Belfast second, but a distant second, and King Richard third. She totally despised Licorice Pizza and Power of the Dog.
I am also OK with the choice of CODA. I liked it a lot, and I might have voted for it myself, although I’m not sure because I liked some of the others as well, and I haven’t watched Drive My Car yet. CODA is basically an entertainment picture that is at heart a typical coming-of-age picture, albeit involving some atypical people. (CODA is an acronym for Children of Deaf Adults.) It has some deep underlying themes, but never preaches, and it buries the messages subtly inside a good story. It is totally family-friendly, in addition to being totally accessible to mainstream audiences. Even the critics liked it (95% at RT), which is unusual for a schmaltzy Disney-like story. I’m fine with heart-warming material. I still cry when I think about Old Yeller. Anyway, I haven’t really heard of anyone who saw it and didn’t like it. The only really critique of it is that it is neither bold not challenging. Of course, few people have seen it, but I hope the Oscar will change that.
Will Smith – what can you say? He had the best moment of his life and the worst only a few minutes apart. This was supposed to be his night to get respected, and instead the world sees him as a cowardly little bitch, sucker-punching a guy who is much smaller and obviously can’t fight back in that situation. Rock stayed amazingly calm. Man, it’s a good thing Will and Jada never attracted any attention at the Golden Globes. Imagine how Will would react once Ricky Gervais started in on Jada and her pretensions!
Rock’s joke wasn’t mean-spirited. It was just cutesy, and presented no reason for that kind of reaction. On the other hand, Rock did make a mean joke about Jada on a previous Oscar night, and Will may still have been seething about that one.
The tepid alopecia joke Rock made tonight:
“Jada I love you, ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it.”
The mean joke he made in 2016:
“Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited.”
When you look at the final score of the Miami-Kansas game, it seems impossible to believe that Miami had a solid lead at halftime. Kansas then proceeded to blow them out. Consider this: Kansas scored 76 points, so let’s divide that into even halves of 38 each. While Kansas scored their first 38, Miami scored 40. While Kansas scored the second 38, Miami scored only 10.
Ten!
I’ve been kidding about Miami’s players being so old they live in an assisted living dorm, but it didn’t seem like kidding in the second half of this game. Kansas ran them so ragged they were shitting in their Depends. Those old geezers really could have used that oxygen.
As for the double-dicks … as they say in their Jersey City home – fuhgitaboudit. That first half was painful to watch. Those kids did great, but North Carolina was their Waterloo.
Remember what I said about UNC’s Armando Bacot being the new Rodman? Well, the scorecard says he “only” had 22 rebounds in this game, which is a big number in 35 minutes of play, but it seemed more like 52. That kid was everywhere.
While the St Peter’s story line failed to produce a Hollywood ending, it worked out exactly right to set up Coach K’s swan song. It will be Duke against North Carolina in the semi-finals. The teams met twice during the year. Duke won the first one easily, 87-67, but North Carolina came back with a vengeance, scoring 94 points – including 55 in the second half – to spoil Coach K’s final game on the Duke home court. Four UNC starters scored 20 or more in that game.
I had to look this up: Duke and North Carolina have played each other 257 times in history, but they have never met at the NCAA tournament. Coach K’s storied career could end with a dramatic defeat, with his main rival spoiling both his last game at home and his last game away from home, or he could use that once-in-history meeting to get revenge for that home loss, as a launching point for his final championship bid. It’s a good story either way, unless he wins against UNC and gets his ass kicked by Kansas. Those mean old Jayhawks (or less likely, Villanova) could certainly spoil the script.
Today’s final scores were about what you’d expect in the first round, when the top seeds play the marginal teams, but come to think of it, Miami and the Double Dicks were double-digit seeds, so I guess their expected first round routs just came a little late.
Final Four odds
(1) Kansas -4 vs. (2) Villanova
(2) Duke -4.5 vs. (8) North Carolina
Futures odds (to win it all)
Duke +150
Kansas +190
Villanova +450
North Carolina +550
There is a complicated back story behind this nude scene. Alexis Dziena became popular on the celebrity nudity circuit way back in 2005, when she flashed a youthful full frontal at Bill Murray in Broken Flowers, earning her the #3 spot among the Top Nude Scenes of 2005. That was almost two decades ago. We have barely heard from her since, and she’s been completely off the radar for at least five years.
So what is she doing here now, looking like she hasn’t aged much?
Well, I’ll give you a hint. One of her co-stars in this film is Martin Landau.
The film was lensed in 2012! You can read the full story here, in detail.
