Oscars Recap (sorta)

We don’t have much to add to the millions of words already written about Sunday night’s Academy Awards—and it's not like anyone really cares what we think about the subject—but we sat thru most of it so here’s our take, anyway:

- Our longstanding crush on Sandra Bullock notwithstanding, her Oscar win for starring in what is essentially a Lifetime movie—wealthy, white, suburban mom rescues inner city black youth who becomes an NFL player—was a bit much.

- The tribute to the late John Hughes was our favorite part of the evening; it was trés cool to see Matthew Broderick, Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Alley Sheedy, and Macaulay Culkin come together onstage to pay their respects to the man who helped make them stars. Broderick's funny and touching anecdote referencing the role for which he is best known was tops:

...and thanks to him, for the last 25 years, nearly every day, someone comes up to me, taps me on the shoulder and says, "Hey, Ferris. Is this your day off?"

- Wow, Jeff Bridges IS The Dude.

- No more choreography, please!

- A woman who made a war film won Best Director and her film got Best Picture: Kathryn Bigelow made history, yes. She’s also pushing 60 and hot, too. Sorry, couldn't help it.

RIP: Mark Linkous

Singer/songwriter Mark Linkous, who led the critically acclaimed band Sparklehorse, took his own life on Saturday, March 6th in Knoxville, TN. The cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Described by The New York Times as having "developed a style that sent sunny, Beatles-esque melodies through a filter of crackling, damaged folk-rock, and...songs...filled with entropic imagery", Linkous released four albums with Sparklehorse, and had participated in the recent Danger Mouse/David Lynch project Dark Night of the Soul, as well as collaborations with the likes of PJ Harvey, Daniel Johnston and Tom Waits, among many others. At the time of his death, Linkous was said to have completed most of the work on an upcoming Sparklehorse album.

He was 47 years old.

Tit for That: The Milk of Sorrow

Perhaps The Milk of Sorrow is a much more poetic translation,
but Peru's entry in this year's Academy Award nominations for
Best Foreign Film is actually titled The Scared Tit (La Teta Asustada) in Spanish. Thought you'd like to know.

Hot Tub Time Machine: Better Off to The Future?

Basically, three bored life-long friends--plus the nephew of one of these middle aged dudes--are transported via magical hot tub back to 1986 and embark on some comical adventures. Does it work? Looks like it just might. Will there be a good dose of current cringe-inducing humor? Let's hope not.

Starring John Cusack (an '80s teen idol himself, who seems to be doing a turn a la Molly Ringwald in Not Another Teen Movie here),
Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson and Clark Duke. Here's the trailer:

Michael Cera to Star in Gilligan's Island Movie

Um, yeah.
Can you believe this nonsense?
Good grief.

TCM Bests Oscars Posthumous Tribute

If we're ever watching the Academy Awards' Oscars telecast, the one thing we always look forward to is the "In Memoriam" part of the show, in which tribute is paid to the actors and industry folks that have passed away in the previous 12 months.

Unfortunately, because of time constraints on an already too long show, many people are left out, much to the chagrin of both the Academy and the families of the snubbed. The TCM channel doesn't have that particular problem, and as such does a much better job with their annual "TCM Remembers" tribute, albeit by shortening the onscreen time of those honored.

As for New York magazine's bet that Patrick Swayze will be the last to be honored during this year's "In Memoriam", we dunno...it's hard to pick an end-of-montage actor among people who, while talented and noteworthy, were mid-montage material. It's not like there were Brandos or Newmans who died this past year, right?

Meanwhile, check out the most recent "TCM Remembers":

What We're Listening To

GIRLS Album [True Panther / Matador]
NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN Rapture [Music Club]
LENNY KRAVITZ Mama Said [Virgin]
MASTERS OF REALITY Sunrise on the Sufferbus [Chrysalis]
LOS TRES Fome [Sony US Latin]

What are YOU listening to?

RIP: T-Bone Wolk

Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, a 30-year bassist/collaborator with pop icons Hall & Oates, died of a sudden heart attack on Feb.27th.

Once referred to by Hall as "the ampersand in Hall & Oates", Wolk was scheduled to appear tonight with his long-time employers on Jimmy Fallon's 1st anniversary show.

Eerily, this past weekend, unaware of the well-regarded musician's passing, we found ourselves visiting Daryl Hall's Live form Daryl's House website for the first time in months and soaking up some of the stellar performances, of which Wolk was an integral part. Man...

T-Bone was 58 years old.

Guru Suffers Heart Attack; Slips into Coma

Guru of seminal rap duo Gang Starr and Jazzmatazz is in a coma after suffering a heart attack on Sunday. The 43 year-old will undergo surgery this afternoon.

Born Keith Elam, Guru rapped on Gang Starr hits including "Words I Manifest," "Just to Get Rep," and "Full Clip," and the group earned critical acclaim for Guru's earnest, intelligent lyrics and DJ Premier's innovative sampling and use of jazz in their music.

With Guru's Jazzmatazz, the rapper delved into jazz further while also collaborating with the Neptunes, Kelis, and Chaka Khan. He had recently hinted on Twitter that he and DJ Premier were set to work on new Gang Starr material, and had a Jazzmatazz tour planned.

[Guardian.co.uk via All Music Guide]

See No Evil: Network TV Roundup

The NY Times' recap of the returning prime-time network TV dramas pre-Spring, post-Winter Olympics included this gem:

LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT (NBC) It must be the first law of “Law & Order” thermodynamics: As the original show has improved over the last two years, “SVU” has declined. The only idea the writers seem to have left is to put Elliot (Christopher Meloni) or Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) in danger, preferably in a situation that includes serious injury or torture. Returns Wednesday, with back-to-back episodes featuring the noted thespians Kathy Griffin (as a lesbian-rights activist) and Mischa Barton (as a prostitute).

Nice.

Speaking of TV, our new favorite cable show is TNT's Men of a Certain Age starring Scott Bakula, Andre Braugher, and Ray Romano, a well-written slice-of-life about three childhood friends as they approach the big 5-0, created by Romano. Also in the running is HBO's The Ricky Gervais Show, the animated version of the hilarious, world famous podcast featuring The Office co-creator Stephen Merchant and the incomparable Karl Pilkington. Also, a special mention mention to another HBO show: Bored to Death, a Jonathan Aames-created, Brooklyn-based comedy nugget starring Jason Schwartzman and Ted Danson.