Ebertfest 2008

The number of blogs about the festival seems to have increased greatly over the years, though that is probably more connected to the increased popularity of blogging rather than the increased popularity of the festival. The worst blog is the "official" blog at the Ebertfest site. Not only does she not attend every film (as happened last year), she also fails to make timely posts about the festival (as happened last year). Better and more comprehensive blogging can be found elsewhere like at David Bordwell's blog, which also links to several other blogs. Missing from his list is Mark Pfeiffer's blog, David Poland's blog, and the Daily Illini blogging.

While I did very much enjoy Hamlet, it did not have the impact of some of the other 70mm films I have viewed. This was the sixth 70mm film I have seen at the festival (having missed Oklahoma!), and it is likely that the 70mm format just doesn't wow me as much as it used to. One technical problem did mar the presentation. The sound during the ghost scenes was very distorted, making the dialogue difficult to understand. It sounded like the subwoofers were being overpowered during these scenes. The problem did not reoccur during the other films, so I suspect an adjustment was made.

I sat in the balcony for every showing. Only once did I notice sound coming from the rear speakers behind me, and that was during The Cell.

The after-film questions started out very good, but they tended to deteriorate in quality as the night wore on. People should really limit their questions to 15 seconds. I understand that a comment is sometimes necessary to lay background for a question, but sometimes it is obvious that the questioners just like to hear themselves talk, much to the chagrin of the rest of the rapidly shrinking audience.

I do not know that Roeper was at the festival after Thursday. Considering that this was his first festival, moderating one film and appearing on one panel, I wonder if he really wanted to be there, or if his attendance was out of a sense of obligation.

Underworld was underwhelming, thanks to a lousy story. No wonder Ben Hecht wanted his name removed from the credits. Normally the silent film is the highlight of the festival, but not this time. A better crime/gangster silent film is Tod Browning's Outside the Law.

This was my first viewing of Hulk. My main criticism of the film concerns Banner's father. In the comic book, there was a villain character called The Absorbing Man. Dumb name, but it was actually a cool power. Banner's father took on this power, but the use of this power was skimmed over in the rush to end the film.

Tarsem Singh, the director of The Cell, was surprisingly straitforward and forthright. He used the words "eye candy" in describing his film, with a story that was pieced together in service of that eye candy. He also admitted that the opening scene didn't make a whole lot of sense, as the design in that sequence was actually intended for his second film. Before the film I observed a girl who was evidently stood up by a friend. She ended up belatedly sitting in my row, by herself. Loners are not very common at the festival, and young loners are even rarer, so they stand out.

Considering this was my eighth Ebertfest, it is unfortunate that I do not know more of the attendees. I found it interesting that three high schoolers attended Hamlet, though I did not see them at any of the other films. It was probably a mistake that I sat in the balcony for all of the films.

Scorsese's new concert film on The Rolling Stones is about thirty years too late. That is how long it has been since the geriatric group has been relevant in music. Never acclaimed for the greatness of their albums, their singles ability dried up around 1981. Since that year, their music has been about as successful as Mick Jagger's solo efforts. Not very, in other words. Some would say that John Lennon's musical efforts have not been very successful since 1981 either. Oh wait a second, John Lennon has been dead for that entire span of time.

Thanks to the pathetic baby boom generation, we continue to be subjected to their sustained mediocrity.

Ghosts

The New York Times has a story about the surprise release. Here is footage of a young Reznor, no more than two years before the debut of Pretty Hate Machine, playing second fiddle (actually keyboard) in a band called Slam Bamboo. The 1987 hair is astonishing. For some reason I have it in my head that bad hair was mostly confined to the early eighties, but the bad hair stayed around well into the nineties.

Home of Mold

I happened upon a brief reference to Grog's Pizza today. Grog's was a pizza place at UI on Green Street, in that plaza by Locust that contains the Jimmy John's. Grog's was most notable for the price of its pizza-two small cheese pizzas for $3.99. That's right, $3.99 (the price did go up by my senior year). Mediums and Larges were comparably priced, as long as they were purchased in twos. This was cheaper than Gumby's and Pizza World, who also specialized in cutrate pizza. I thought Gumby's and Pizza World had absolutely awful pizza. On the other hand I actually liked Grog's. It was thick crust pizza, with sweet crust, and a little on the greasy side. We would get barbecue sauce all the time, because the barbecue sauce was good and the regular pizza sauce was nothing to write home about. The thought of a small pepperoni pizza with barbecue sauce has my mouth watering right now. I was turned onto Grog's by the Marmion bunch on my floor at Bromley my freshman year (the same guys who would be my roommates in the crack house two years later). Ian ordered Grog's so much that he had a corner of his room devoted to the Grog's graveyard, which consisted of two (maybe more) stacks of old Grog's boxes, all the way to the ceiling. His plan was to take the boxes into Grog's and demand a free pizza from them for being such a good customer. I don't remember if he ever followed through on that plan. Anyway, Grog's closed down in 1995-I don't remember if it closed down before I graduated, but a new pizza place was already there by September of that year (Dewey's Pizza, which only lasted two years or so). Meanwhile, a Grog's in Normal remained open until 1998-which of course was the year when I moved to Normal, so I just missed it. Here are two paragraphs I found when googling Grog's, and I wish I had a picture of that pizza box to show you!
"A now-defunct local pizza delivery business, noted for being very inexpensive and for being the only establishment that offered pizza topped with barbecue sauce. It got its name when the founder, a regular Plato user, asked the readers of a notesfile what he should name his new restaurant; inexplicably, this joke entry became the winner. Grog’s was the pizza of choice among the sysops at CERL 165, who ordered with such regularity that the restaurant had been known to call them back after an orderwas placed to let them know that they hadn’t ordered their “usual”, wondering if this was perhaps an oversight. Officially, the restaurant’s name was simply “Grog’s,” but the “Home of Chow” portion was used as an advertising tag line on its pizza boxes. Regular eaters, however, quickly noticed a quirk in the lettering of this tag line: the word “CHOW” was written in such a way that, when turned upside down, read “MOLD”. A popular dorm room door decoration for many years was a Grog’s box with “Chow” carefully cut out and inverted, so that the box now read, “Grog’s Home of Mold.”

The Killing Joke

The ramifications of Heath Ledger's death in regards to the new Batman movie are unknown at this time, but it certainly doesn't look good for the movie. Even though primary shooting has been completed, this makes reshoots difficult, though presumably they could pass off someone else as the character when in full makeup. If this movie wasn't already going to be dark, it had better be now. Light popcorn fare is not a good combination with a recently deceased, twentysomething actor. Marketing is another problem. Will the new trailers contain any shots of Ledger?

Bull Run

I just had the morbid thought that the most famous person I personally had contact with during my four years at UI is now dead. Actually, he became famous due to the circumstances surrounding that death. While in law school I ran into my one of my freshman suitemates from my UI days. He made the passing remark that it was "too bad about Tasio." Tasio? He proceeded to explain that Matt Tasio was a friend of my other suitemate. I instantly knew who he was talking about. I didn't remember his name because I hadn't seen him since my freshmen year. Anyway, Matt Tasio had died in the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. When the news broke I remember reading a newspaper article about a recently graduated University of Illinois student (engineering degree) who had been killed during the Running. I just didn't realize it was someone I knew. Today I looked up the Running of the Bulls to see if I could find any information about the incident. 1995 was still pre-Internet for the newspapers, so contemporary online articles about the incident were not to be found. I did find a few short references to the incident, but only in articles about the history of the Running. Despite what you would think from the footage, only 14 men have died in the Running. Matt Tasio was the 13th.

Escape to the Past!

I used to get so excited when we would receive TV Guide's special "Fall Preview" issue. This supersized issue contained writeups and accompanying cast pictures of all the new shows. This was the most reading in one day that tv addicts would every be exposed to. What, McLean Stevenson is a new sitcom? Alright, I can't wait to watch! Well, that was 25 years ago. Now few if any tv shows are worthy of excitement, not even McLean Stevenson excitement, and TV Guide is no more thanks to the foolish eradication of its previous incarnation. Ironically it is now easier than ever to sample a huge number of new shows thank to the DVR. I also hate to start watching a show, only to have it canceled a few episodes later. That is why I missed the first few episodes of House, and still haven't watched an episode of some of the better reviewed and rated shows. I'll have to catch up on Heroes and Battlestar Gallactica sometime I guess, if I ever get around to starting up my Netflix membership again. This fall I altered my plan by watching three new shows from the beginning-Journeyman, Dirty Sexy Money, and That Pie Show. I'll save discussion of the latter two shows for future postings.

Journeyman was incredibly flat from the beginning. I think that is why it immediately dropped in the ratings. People want excitement, and all this show had was a familiar premise and actors who were unfamiliar to most people. People like to be teased with mystery, which is why a show like Lost retained its popularity despite the writers not having thought out answers to many of those mysteries. The X-Files droned (pun not intended) on and on without any sense of resolution, and people eventually lost interest, as they have with Lost.

The familiar premise (traveling back in time) had been explored already in shows like Quantam Leap and my favorite, Voyagers!. Journeyman didn't seem to offer anything new, except that this time the main character starts out as clueless as the audience about what is going on. Explanations were so slow in forthcoming that after five episodes the show seemed to be spinning its wheels, with the family turmoil being uninteresting and somewhat annoying. I almost stopped watching, but due to the derth of shows that Christy and I could watch together I decided to trudge on. As the show approached its tenth episode we were suddenly being clued into more of the mystery, and it became clear that the creator of the show did have some interesting ideas to support the overtly mundane premise. And, of course, about this time rumors began online that the show was not going to be renewed. In fact, it wasn't even clear that all 13 episodes would air. I can't say that I blame NBC. The ratings are mediocre. The show didn't start with some of its best material right out of the gate, which cost it many viewers. It turns out the 13th episode is going to air, but it will air on a Wednesday, which doesn't sound promising for the show's future.

The Sound of Music

I hate the feeling that I missed something. In this case, a music format, or should I say, two music formats passed me by. They passed most people by, but that is little consolation. DVD Audio and Super Audio CD were two advanced audio formats that came out in around 2000. The music companies and hardware makers were looking for the replacement for the CD, and were sure that they had found that replacement. Oh were they wrong.

These formats were high resolution audio recordings on optical discs. The discs could contain high resolution two channel (stereo) mixes, high resolution surround (5.1) mixes, or both. Better sound quality, in other words.

There were numerous reasons why they failed. Starting with the obvious, the format war between DVD Audio and Super Audio CD made it difficult for the consumer. Each format required its own expensive hardware, and each format had different music companies in its corner. So if you wanted to buy into one format, you were stuck with the software that was released in that format. You could buy into both, but at the beginning the hardware was quite expensive.

The cost was a major detriment. At a time when people were downloading their songs for free, and CDs were pushing $15, DVD Audio and SACDs were even more expensive. The popularity of downloading was partially the result of the price gouging in the music industry. People listened to MP3s, which were generally much lower quality than even CDs, and liked what they heard. The price was right, and eventually downloads began to dominate with the Ipod leading the way. CDs became archaic. DVD Audio and SACD didn't stand a chance. It was the wrong technology at the wrong time.

In retrospect a high resolution format might have been more successful if it had been a part of the DVD spec from the beginning. If any DVD player could play the disc, it would open up the disc market to tens of millions of households. The big detriment of having to buy a player would have been eliminated.

Both formats are pretty much done for. The music releases have dried up, with the vast majority of releases being limited to classical. There never were a lot of rock and pop releases. For example, groups like U2 and Radiohead never were released in the formats, and rarely was an artist's entire catalog released in the format, with one or two releases being the norm.

I had been waiting to upgrade my sound equipment before buying into the formats. Right now I have a barely adequate sound setup. That was another problem with these formats. To really hear the improvement, you need to have good speakers, and a good receiver or amp/processor. Well, I still have some upgrading to do, but what I have will do for now. It took several years before a decent priced ($160) universal player became available. When I say universal, I mean a player that plays both formats. Secondly, it has an hdmi connection, which means all I need is one cable to hook between my player and my receiver. Before hdmi you had to hook up six! cables between the player and the receiver. Talk about a pain in the ass!

I haven't ordered the player yet. It can wait. Right now I am scrambling to buy the few releases that I really want before they disappear from the market. Well, they won't disappear entirely. They will always be available for upwards of $100 on ebay. Luckily (and somewhat disappointingly) there aren't that many DVD Audio or SACD that I am actually interested in. I already own the three Nine Inch Nails releases. Most of R.E.M.'s catalog is available in DVD Audio, so I will eventually pick up those. Same with The Talking Heads and Depeche Mode. Fleetwood Mac's release of Rumours is already going for $40-$50 on Ebay. Ugh. Thankfully that is the only release that I really want that isn't available at a reasonable price. The Beatles' Love compilation is also available, and is supposed to sound fantastic, which is somewhat surprising, considering its age.

back from the dead...

I've been gone a while. Soon after the film festival in April I started a second job, and that has taken up a lot of my time and energy. My workload should diminish later this month, when my posting should become a little more frequent.

The new video archive of the Siskel & Ebert reviews has just gone online, and it is quite addictive. Type in your favorite movies, and there is a good chance one of them did not like it! That might not be too surprising. But I am somewhat perplexed and bewildered. Is it possible that Siskel's views on movies are this far afield from my own? I remember Ebert more often would match my thoughts about movies, but I don't remember finding Siskel's opinions so objectionable. If you want examples of this, go watch the reviews of Unforgiven and Boogie Nights. Siskel really seemed clueless about these two movies. I am sure there are many more examples, but I have to get some sleep!

Day Four

There was no way we could make the start of Holes after the previous late night, so we skipped its showing. We can easily watch it some other time, on DVD or one of its frequent showings on the Disney Channel. Man of Flowers was the third Paul Cox film at Ebertfest, and it is the second I have seen and liked. The film is loaded with motifs and symbolism, just the way I like it. I am still trying to figure out the extended shots of the bulldog. After watching a show on dogs last night, I have come to the dubious conclusion that the bulldog is representative of the bastardized art of his owner. Today's bulldog is a folly of unconscionable breeding practiced by kennel clubs in the last hundred years. Instead of a work of art, the bulldog is an unhealthy travesty. Ok, maybe I am stretching. At least it is an explanation.

Herzog's Stroszek is a little film that reminded me a lot of Stranger Than Paradise. The acting is good because most of the actors are playing characters very much like themselves. In fact Herzog revealed that some of the movie originated with the actors themselves. This begs the question, why hire an actor to play a pimp when you can just hire a pimp to play himself? It is kinda scary how well Herzog taps into real life. The main character ends up at Cherokee, North Carolina, and having been there, I can say that I can't think of a better place for the movie to have concluded.

Even better was the after-film discussion with Herzog. Herzog is both informative and entertaining as he is literally oozing with personal anecdotes. The most memorable went something like this: Errol Morris (friend and greatest documentary filmmaker of the last 30 years) had been doing research on Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein, and figured out that a circle was formed from the graves that Gein had robbed. In the middle of that circle was Gein's mother's grave. Herzog and Morris agreed it was a good idea to dig up the mother's grave to see if mom was still there. We will never know, as Morris chickened out.

The last movie, Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus a documentary of sorts, was terrible. It claimed to be about the "real south." It was so real that at one point an unidentified David Johansen was shown playing the guitar. In case you are unfamiliar with Johansen, he is a native New Yorker. Huh? A visit to a trailer park revealed a woman who had several tattoos, which she identified. Wow, that the real south!Particularly illuminating is the almost complete absence of minorities. Last I checked...oh, forget it. Should I mention the sloppy continuity when the Jesus statue is/is not/is hanging out of the trunk? Nah, that'd be piling on.

Day Five

I'm doing this festival overview out of order because it is Monday and I am just now recovered enough to write on the last three days. The last day of the festival is a day that I have rarely attended, as I am usually worn out, and having to drive from out of town makes it even harder. But I felt that it would be worth it this year. Not only is Beyond the Valley of the Dolls rarely shown theatrically, it is the type of visually arresting movie that can benefit from the great projection at the Virginia. In this case they showed a new print whose bright and bold colors must have matched what was first shown in theaters four decades ago. The movie looked and sounded fantastic, but is the movie any good? Surprisingly, yes. While the movie starts out as an incomprehensible mess, it is clear that Meyer was trying to portray the chaotic life that these characters were living. While I hesitate to call Dolls a comedy, the audience laughed enough to apply that label. Ebert was clearly in on the joke when he wrote the screenplay. It is surprising that the scenes hold up so well, but maybe that is because the movie is so over-the-top that even forty years later the scenes still make a resounding impact.

Dolls is true to itself. The drug use is shown unapologetically, and the violence is carnal to the core. The nudity, well, what would a Meyer film be without nudity? Ebert and Meyer really threw in everything but the kitchen sink, as homosexuality (male and female) and abortion also appear in the storyline.

The music is not half bad. Not only did the film feature a successful band performing its music, it also featured some snappy music by a band with a female lead singer. Who this band was, I don't know, as they were thankfully "fronted" in the film by a photogenic threesome. I use the term fronted both loosley and literally, as the three girls did an awful job pretending to play music, though they adeptly displayed their fronts. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Ebertfest Day One

Opening night was rather uneventful. The biggest news is that we were able to get in without getting too wet, and I was interviewed by channel 3, though I expect my ramblings did not make the cut. WGN and Fox Chicago also were in attendance for the pre-show waiting. Ebert looked better and much more energetic than I was expecting. Only his voice seemed to be holding him back from his usual hosting duties. As he predicted the paparazzi exploited the opportunity. Actually just a paparazzo, who was snapping pics as Ebert left the theater. Christy thought it was quite rude, but at least the guy kept his distance and was gone after 3 flashes.

The CD Release

This overview of Year Zero does a good job of explaining what Trent is trying to do. The biggest misconception is that this is some kind of marketing attempt, when it is actually all inclusive of the whole Year Zero project, which is more than just 16 songs on a disc. Meanwhile, this L.A. Times review intelligently examines the CD.

Victims of Circumstance

Attempted armed robbery results in beating. It is too bad the "victim" was unable to inflict more pain on these guys, though it sounds like they might be taking some time off from their chosen profession in order to lick their wounds. Quite frankly, these two guys stand out like a sore thumb. Their description is hardly typical of the average pair of university students-and the campus is so closed off from the rest of the city, that ONLY university students frequent that area.

9th Annual Ebertfest, in 21 days

David Poland has a writeup on the festival at his blog. I'm still wondering what happened to the 70mm film this year...

Festival Musings

The films for the 2007 Roger Ebert Overlooked Film Festival have finally been named. This list really caught me by surprise. I didn't have an inkling that any of these films would be a part of the festival, although Ebert's four star review of Perfume late last year was a good indicator. Wow. First off, I have to say that I am disappointed that there is no 70mm film this year!!! I love Gattaca, but there is no way that film was originally supposed to be the opening night film. What happened? Maybe there was a last second cancellation, which was the reason for the film list being released so late? I keep thinking that Vertigo is going to play the festival. It was originally supposed to open the festival a couple years ago, but the story was that scheduled guest Kim Novak fell off a horse, causing them to replace it with another film.

It is interesting that Paul Cox and Werner Herzog are returning, after already having films at the festival previously. Some people might like a little more variety to the festival, but I like both filmmakers, so their return is welcome.

Except for the omission of a 70mm film I am quite pleased with films this year. I have only seen two (Gattaca and La Dolce Vita). The Weather Man does not excite me very much, as I really can't stand Nicolas Cage.

As everyone knows, Roger Ebert is still recuperating. It still is not clear that he will be participating in the festival as in previous years. But considering the Sunday selection is a film he actually worked on, I think that it is safe to say that he will be at the festival on that day.

A Weasel by Any Name

An addendum is needed for my last post. Some research on Wikipedia reveals that the critter from my last post was probably a weasel. Little did I know that there are several varieties of animals in that particular family. I wish I had taken better pictures of it, but it was running around too fast. The tail was definitely short, which makes me think that it was either a Least Weasel or a Stoat. Whatever it was, hopefully it was a wild animal and not a pet.

Critter Country

With the combination of the warm weather this week and garbage night, encounters with wildlife were in the offing. Before I relate tonight's excitement, I'll backtrack and reveal my brush with three deer. I had noticed three deer feeding in a pasture twice on my way to work. This particular area is forested with a lake, and is apparently teeming with animals. Anyway, I am always careful to go only about 45 in this area. This caution paid off when all of a sudden three deer appeared in the road ahead of me. Luckily I was driving with my brights on, otherwise I don't know that I would have seen them in time. I slowed down almost to a stop. One deer went back to the left of the road, and the other two went ahead and crossed the road to the right. These must have been the same deer that I had seen before.

Then tonight not far from that same area an opossum appeared on the road in front of me. He just stared at me and kind of ran aimlessly on the road. I stopped and waited, and just when I was about ready to give up and try to go around him, he ran off the side of the road. I don't know if my headlights blinded him for a few seconds or what, but he sure didn't seem to be afraid of me.

I got home, and upon sitting down at my computer in the basement I heard a scratching at the window. Uh oh, I wonder what animal it is this time. Last year I had to rescue a baby rabbit and several toads from our window well, and so tonight was no surprise. I opened the blinds, and there was a little critter staring at me. I say little critter because I'm not sure what it was. It reminded me of a ferret, but its adolescence made it difficult to identify (I hope it wasn't a rat!). I've included a picture of it. Butterbut jumped up on the window ledge, and I'm not sure who was more excited, Butterbut or the critter. The critter actually wasn't afraid of Butters, as he even leaned up against the window as Butterbut stared with eyes wide open and tail wagging. At some point the critter climbed up the window screen, but the screen is not high enough to enable him to get up out of the well.

After watching the critter for five minutes it was pretty clear he wasn't going to be able to escape on his own, so I ventured outside. At first I placed a slender board into the well, hoping that the critter would use it to climb out. Not being the smartest of critters, he ignored the board. I gave up on the board and went to my tried and true method of window well animal rescue-the bucket and the stick. I was afraid that the critter might crawl up my leg and bite me, so I wore gloves. I jumped down, and the critter went into the corner and played dead. I then used the stick to tap him out of the corner. This got him excited, and he circled me faster than I could easily follow. I smelled something, so he must have let loose with another natural defense mechanism. He was so fast that I was getting nowhere in trying to coax him into the bucket. But I saw my chance when he climbed up the window screen. I nudged him into the bucket and turned the bucket sideways outside of the well. The critter wasted no time in fleeing the bucket.

Money Changes Everything

Two articles in today's Daily Illini caught my attention. The first article talks about the possibility that the university will be required by law to adopt a book rental program. I agree that such a program might not be feasible for a university as large as UI. But I also believe that something should be done about alleviating student book expenses. Revised editions of textbooks are often nothing more than a way for professors to supplement their income. For example, why do history textbooks need a new edition every three or four years? Unless the subject involves contemporary times, nothing new is happening to warrant a new edition. Maybe every ten years a new edition is warranted, but more often than that is just a money grab. At a university as prominent and large as UI, often the books will be written at least in part by a UI professor. To me this means that the university should have some control.

The second article is about venerable Lincoln Hall. Hopefully this proposed funding for renovations will come to fruition. Lincoln Theater (which seats about 700 and is used for many of the classes that require a large lecture hall) is probably the most outdated and dilapidated part of the quad. The talk about squirrels is not exagerrated; I can remember squirrels inviting themselves onto the stage during lectures, and that was over ten years ago. The seating is very uncomfortable (my note-taking was abysmal in that place-I'm blaming the seating), and an ugly yellow predominates. I do not know how bad the rest of the building is, but hopefully most of the money will be put into the theater.

All Signs Point To...

Weather.com (aka The Weather Channel) has a ten day forecast. That's right, a ten day forecast, even though they can't get a three day forecast right. I don't know how many times they have claimed a warmup in the last month, only to have it peter out. The third day of the forecast usually shows a high near 40, with the fourth and fifth days warmer than that. Then that gets pushed back the following day...and then pushed back again...and pushed back...it is like they have no ability at all to make an accurate forecast in the winter beyond two days into the future. I could make a more accurate long range forecast based on the averages and current readings. Seriously.

One of my favorite tv weather moments occured the Sunday before Katrina hit. I was flipping through the national news channels (like CNN and Fox News), trying to get the latest on the hurricane's movements, when I realized that the so-called weather experts were just blonde airheads reading off the teleprompter. Everyone was off for the weekend, or on the typical end of August vacation. The biggest weather story, if not news story of the year, and there was no one around to provide any insight into the events.

Stay tuned for part two of my rant about weather forecasting when I will write about the skill that it takes to forecast in the summer a high of 88, with partly cloudy skies and a 20% chance of rain.

Time After Time

What advice did I give last week? Don't sing a Cindy Lauper song!!! Tonight one of the contestants ignored that sage advice, and proceeded to crash and burn. He'll be lucky to be around next week.

Oscar's Labyrinth

I missed 9 of the categories in my Oscar Pool, which includes all 24 categories. My guesses didn't pan out too well, and I always have a tough time with the cinematography category, for whatever reason.

I was wrong about:
Supporting Actor-Eddie Murphy
Foreign Language-Pan's Labyrinth
Cinematography-Children of Men
Film Editing-Babel
Art Direction-Dreamgirls
Costume Design-Dreamgirls
Original Song-"Listen"
Animated Feature-Cars
Animated Short-The Little Matchgirl