A Touch of Home at the Oscars

Hollywood appears to be a lot closer than most of us would think....

Diablo Cody, the Oscar-winning screenplay writer for the movie Juno, took home the gold man while holding back tears Sunday night. Cody, originally born as Brooke Busey, has lived quite the interesting life since graduating from the University of Iowa.

After receiving her diploma, she moved in with her boyfriend in Minnesota and began working as a stripper there. It was her experience in this field that allowed her to write her first book, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper.

From there, she began writing more and more and her screenplay was finally picked up and, well, we know the rest now don't we? Cody currently has 3 more movies in the making, and is looking to make a serious name for herself in Hollywood.

Did I mention she went to my high school, also? --Benet Academy in Lisle, Illinois-- Basically, after I get my diploma from Iowa, all I need to do is find a part-time stripping job and start writing....right?

If only it were that easy...

80 Years and Counting for the Oscars

On Sunday night, "The Daily Show's" Jon Stewart hosted the 80th Annual Academy Awards. This was the first time I watched the ceremony from start to finish. Plus, it was Sunday and I'm sure many University of Iowa students didn't have anything much better to do either! Here are some of my quick thoughts from the ceremony:

Things I Liked:

* I was glad to see some great movie choices for the "Best Picture" category. So many times before I would see movies nominated that I've never even heard of.

* Jon Stewart did another fine job with his hosting duties. I might be biased since I've always liked Stewart, even before his days with "The Daily Show."

* The tributes to those who have passed away in the last year was classy as always. To finish off with Heath Ledger was a very powerful moment. The video packages looking at past winners at the Oscars was a nice touch as well.

* It was awesome to see Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson present the award for "Best Visual Effects." I've been a huge fan of pro wrestling my whole life and it is amazing to see where The Rock has started in his movie career and to now see him at the Oscars presenting an award.

Things I Didn't Like:

* I saw some people were upset that people from different countries - or "ferners" as President Bush likes to call them - won so many awards on Sunday. I can't understand why anyone would be upset that someone who isn't American won an award. Do we really live in a country where people have that train of thought still? If anything, Chris Matthews pointed out on "Hardball" this week on MSNBC is that it shows that the academy choose on talent instead of how someone talks.

* I'm sure you saw this complaint coming - cutting people off during acceptance speeches. I'm all for keeping the show moving, but deliberately making more time for what some people feel are "more important" acceptance speeches isn't right. If you don't think that award should take up a lot of time, then keep it off TV and don't cut people off. I did like when Jon Stewart brought Marketa Irglova (who won "Best Original Song" along with Glen Hansard for "Once") back out to finish her speech. That was a classy thing to do.

* Wow, that was a long show to watch. By the time the more important awards were ready to be handed out, I was ready to change the channel!

Even though this wasn't technically the first time I've watched the Oscars, it was the first one I was able to sit through from start to finish and I enjoyed it. I plan on checking out next year's show if nothing else is going on that day.

It should be noted that this year's Oscars may have drawn the worst ratings for the ceremony ever according to an article by CNN.com (click here). The least-watched Oscars was back in 2003 and early ratings for Sunday's show had viewership at 14 percent lower than that show.

Trimming the Fat on Facebook

Facebook has swept the country as it has moved from a college-student-only network to a college and highschool-student-only network to a network that is open to anyone with internet access.

Students generally use it as a way to network with friends and display their interests and fun photos of good times with friends. At least this is what Facebook was and still is intended for.

Unfortunately for younger people, especially those who are looking for jobs, Facebook has been invaded by future employers. These employers, while not always trying to find reasons not to hire you, might want to confirm background information, see if your interests match those on your job application, and see if your personality is appropriate for the job. (Source)

I know that from all corners of the U.S. and maybe even the entire world, shouts of "unfair" can be heard in school corridors and dorm halls, but there is an easy way to avoid future problems.

First of all, Facebook allows you to use privacy settings beginning with very broad settings where you can choose which of your networks are allowed to see your profile to strict privacing settings where you can select only very specific people who can view your profile and what parts of your profile you want them to view.

A more drastic and probably smart way to go about it is to trim the fat from your Facebook. If you are old enough that it is time for you to start looking for a job, maybe it's time to untag those pictures of you out drinking with your buddies on Friday night. Maybe it's even a good idea to remove "streaking" from your lists of interests. And, while I know the "Naughty Gifts" application is fun, maybe it's time to remove it before your future employer or Grandma sees it.

Hey, you never know who's on Facebook these days.

Cloverfield: To go or not to go?

Since the rush to see the film has died down quite a bit, I decided to check out "Cloverfield" on Wednesday night and was not disappointed.

This was a classic case of a movie that really got you excited to see it, yet you didn't know a whole lot about the plot and had no clue what was attacking New York City (that is unless you did a ton of research before you went to go see it).

I had seen more negative than positive reviews of the film courtesy of publications like "Rolling Stone" and in syndicated columns by Robert Ebert. The film was even panned early on by fans on the popular IMDB.com website comparing the camera work to "The Blair Witch Project" and that the action was overdone a bit too much.

Five weeks and $78 million later, the film has to be considered a success with just a budget of $25 million.

I will say this...don't see this movie at the theatre or on DVD later if you get motion sick really easy. If you can handle it, you will enjoy the movie and won't have a problem. However, if you are fan of seeing a story told from a different perspective and enjoy getting a majority of the plot out of the way in the first 20 minutes or so, then I highly reccommend it.

"Cloverfield" definitely follows the pattern of past tragedy films where something happens and you are along for the ride with the characters. It takes that formula (think about all the zombie movies that have come out in the last few years), but puts it right in the middle of New York City along with other screaming and confused bystanders. While there are moments where the action stops and gives you a chance to catch your breath so to speak, you are still left with more questions than answers as the fast pace of the movie continues.

One scene in particular was eerily similar to the famous video footage from September 11th when a cloud of dust and smoke fills a city block. Seeing people covered in dust coughing and confused takes you right back to one of the darkest days in the history of the U.S. and marks just the beginning of a wild ride.

If you are a fan on nonstop action and confusion (not plot wise), I highly suggest checking out "Cloverfield" before it leaves theatres soon. This is a movie you have to experience on the big screen as the small screen won't be able to do it much justice.

Final Verdict: See it!

Link to Trailers

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367882/videogallery

Here are the links

Old Movies[tars] Come Back to Life

So the trailers for the newest installment of the Indiana Jones series were released over the last week - check them out here:



Not that I don't like Indiana Jones, cause I do, but why is it that Hollywood is obsessed with bringing back old movie series? Harrison Ford, who plays the role of Indiana Jones, was 65 during the filming of the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
.
Sylvester Stallone was 60 during the Rocky Balboa and 61 when he shot Rambo.
So even though these movies continue to make money at the box office, doesn't anyone else wonder when some of these movie stars are going to call it quits?

To Stream or To Download

At the University of Iowa, students are always looking for the new, cheap and usually FREE way to get movies right on their own desktop. Now, students aren't looking much further than 66stage.com.

Video streaming is all the rage on college campuses across the country because it does not leave a trail like video downloading. Because streamed videos are hosted by internet sites, law officials are unable to punish those who stream copyrighted material, mainly because they can't find them. 66stage allows the streaming of unreleased movies, TVshows, cartoons, etc, for free, making it one of the most popular sites among students on campus.

Mike, a sophomore at the university, enjoys streaming videos with his roommates. "With the price of movie tickets getting more and more expensive every day, it's fun to be able to watch new movies at home at no cost."

Mike and his roommates have also hooked up their TV to their computer modem so that they can enjoy the movies they stream on a big screen.

If you are interested in streaming online movies, but are looking for a more guilt-free way to enjoy them, try joining a program such as Netflix. Not only do they offer movie rental by mail, but you can also stream movies with the click of a mouse, at a small fee of course.

For those of you who opt to stream for free, I hope you enjoy it while it lasts. It's only a matter of time before the law catches up, and streaming is out.