If Your Life Was A Movie, What Would the Soundtrack Be?

It's time to hit the shuffle button again.

Here's how it goes:
1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the 'next' button
6. Don't lie
7. Answers either on your own blogs (link) or in the comments

Here's mine:

Opening Credits: Testify, Common

Waking Up: The Next Big Thing, Vince Gill

First Day at School: When the Sun Goes Down and the World Goes Down, The Magnetic Fields

Falling in Love: Can I Live, Jay-Z

Fight Song, Territorial Pissing, Nirvana (LMAO)

Breaking Up: Fallin’, Alicia Keys

Prom: Waiting, Girls Aloud

Life’s OK: Lips Like Sugar, Echo and the Bunnymen

Mental Breakdown: Tumbling Dice, Rolling Stones

Driving: Home, Dixie Chicks

Flashback: Hours, TV on the Radio

Getting Back Together: Smile Like You Mean It, The Killers

Birth of Child: Take Off Your Cool, Outkast featuring Norah Jones

Wedding: Safe From Harm, Massive Attack

Final Battle: Hide and Seek, Imogen Heap

Death Scene: A Day in the Life, Sean Connery (How fucking perfect is that? Brilliant)

Funeral: Baby Watch Your Back, Nellie McKay

End Credits: Atlantic City, Bruce Springsteen

So join in folks...

(Finally) Theena's Music Q

1. CD or Vinyl?
Is this really relevant anymore? I can't remember the last time I used the former and I've never had the pleasure of using the latter. Ultimately, I'm not much of a purist so I'll go with CD.

2. An Album You've Been Meaning to Listen To?
Far too many to count. Off the top of my head, Pink by Boris, Get Lonely by The Mountain Goats, Silent Shout by The Knife and Sign O'the Times by Prince

3. Grammys- Important or load of bollocks?
Load of bollocks. The only thing that keeps me coming back to them is that I am an awards addict. Otherwise, I am routinely in awe of just how profoundly bad some of their choices are.

4. Your Favourite Album is?
Tough question. It's probably between Abbey Road by The Beatles, To Bring You My Love by PJ Harvey, Kid A by Radiohead, Nevermind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols, and Surfer Rosa by the Pixies

scratch that- it's Astral Weeks, Van Morrisson. Perfection.

5. Invite 10 Music People for Dinner. Who are they?
Ok, Lennon, Thom Yorke, PJ Harvey, Prince, Phil Spector, Lou Reed, Bjork, Brian Wilson, Brian Eno, and David Bowie. phew.

6. Appropriate punishment for those who play Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’ while pretending that its still 1998?
I'm gonna go with Asvi and say a patronizing pat on the back, but I would couple it with a stare that told them just how pathetic they are.

7. Choose your favourite instrument and its best player in your point of view.
This is a hard one. I don't play an instrument, see, so I don't feel like I could give an educated answer. I guess its between guitar and the voice. If its guitar it's Jonny Greenwood. If its voice, its either Tom Waits or Bjork.

8. One Piece of Music That Can Move You to Tears?
'Adagio for Strings' by Samuel Barber or 'Atlantic City' by Bruce Springsteen

9. You are an executive at a major label and have the power to green light one album a year. What would you do?
Fuck.

I would sit David Sitek and Thom Yorke down and try to get their heads together. Certainly ban any artist that tarnishes the good name of hip-hop (That's you 50 Cent/Black Eyed Peas/Busta Rhymes/Akon/etc.), get Jay-Z to record an entire album with Just Blaze. Get PJ
Harvey to pull out another awesome record. Slap the fuck out of Liz Phair until she realises that this 'pop exercise' is not working and try to get another Guyville out of her. Get Bjork and Timbaland to hurry the fuck up with that new album. AND FINALLY, get Lauryn Hill out of whatever fucking funk she is in and finally record a follow-up to that masterpiece of a debut.

Also, the Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, [insert any random rock band that British rock critics have hailed as the 'second coming'], Jamie Foxx and other random boring R&B artists will be banned from making new albums until they can craft anything that is remotely original, doesn't sound like a 1000 other fucking bands and/or fun.

Time Magazine Names Me the Person of the Year

I knew it was only a matter of time. Sure, I'd almost lost faith after numerous snubs, but they finally came to their senses. Read the full story here.

Thank You, Time Magazine!

Everyone Has to See This Film Right Now

wow.

2006: Year in Music - R&B

Best R&B Album
3121, Prince
B'Day, Beyoncé
The Breakthrough, Mary J. Blige
On the Jungle Floor, Van Hunt
Testimony, Vol. 1: Life and Relationships, India.Arie

the winner: B'Day, Beyoncé
This album really surprised me, a tremendous improvement on the scattered, overrated and only sporadically good Dangerously in Love. B'Day pulsates with big beats and one anthemic club track after another. But the moment you realise just how good the album is, is when 'Irreplaceable', one of only two slow tracks on the album, plays and it dawns that even the ballads are awesome.

Best R&B Song
Be Without You, Johnta Austin, Mary J. Blige, Bryan Michael-Cox and Jason Perry (Mary J. Blige) watch
Black Sweat, Prince (Prince) watch
Crazy, Brian Burton, Thomas Callaway, Gianfranco Reverberi and Gianpiero Reverberi (Gnarls Barkley) watch
Déjà Vu, Shawn Carter, Rodney Jerkins, Beyoncé Knowles, Makeba, Keli Nicole Price and Delisha Thomas (Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z) watch
Irreplaceable, A. Bjørklund, Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen, Beyoncé Knowles, E. Lind, and S. Smith (Beyoncé) watch

Best R&B Male Vocal Performance
Being a Girl, Van Hunt
Black Sweat, Prince watch
King of the Game, Cody ChesnuTT watch
Save Room, John Legend watch
So Sick, Ne-Yo watch

Best R&B Female Vocal Performance
Alarm, Namie Amuro watch
Be Without You, Mary J. Blige watch
Beware of the Dog, Jamelia watch
Don't Forget About Us, Mariah Carey watch
Irreplaceable, Beyoncé watch

Best R&B Group or Duo Vocal Performance
Beautiful, Loved and Blessed; Prince and Tamar
Cruise Control, Teena Marie featuring Smokey Robinson
I Found My Everything, Mary J. Blige featuring Rapahel Saadiq
Love Changes, Jamie Foxx featuring Mary J. Blige watch
S.E.X., Lyfe Jennings featuring Lala Brown watch

Best Urban Alternative Music Performance
Bossy, Kelis featuring Too $hort watch
Crazy, Gnarls Barkley watch
Idlewild Blue (Don'tchu Worry About Me), Outkast watch
SupaStar, Floetry featuring Common watch
That Heat, Sergio Mendes featuring Erykah Badu and Will.I.Am watch

Tomorrow: Music videos, songs written for films and producer of the year

I.Can't.Wait.

Yeah, it looks a little generic, but Amy Heckerling knows how to avoid the pitfalls of mainstream comedy (see Clueless and Fast Times at Ridgemont High)and this is THE RETURN OF LA PFEIFFER after FOUR long, cold years. It reminds me of 'Something's Gotta Give' but even cutesier. Which I'm ok with. After all, we all remember what happened to Diane Keaton for that film, right? What? I can dream, can't I?

2006: Year in Music - Country

and so it begins...one genre a day. winners in bold.

Best Country Album

American V: A Hundred Highways, Johnny Cash
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Neko Case
Some Hearts, Carrie Underwood
Taking the Long Way, Dixie Chicks
You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker, Willie Nelson

Best Country Song (songwriting category)
8th of November, Big Kenny and John Rich (Big and Rich)
Goodbye to My Mama, Garrison Keillor (Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin)
A Love That Will Never Grow Old, Gustavo Santaolalla and Bernie Taupin (Emmylou Harris)
Not Ready to Make Nice, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Emily Robinson and Dan Wilson (Dixie Chicks) watch
Travelin' Thru, Dolly Parton (Dolly Parton)

Best Country Male Vocal Performance
Better Life, Keith Urban watch
He Was a Friend of Mine, Willie Nelson watch
Give It Away, Geogre Strait watch
God's Gonna Cut You Down, Johnny Cash watch
Settle for a Slowdown, Dierks Bentley watch

Best Country Female Vocal Performance
Before He Cheats, Carrie Underwood watch
Kerosene, Miranda Lambert watch
John Saw That Number, Neko Case
A Love That Will Never Grow Old, Emmylou Harris watch
Travelin' Thru, Dolly Parton watch

Best Country Group or Duo Vocal Performance
8th of November, Big and Rich watch
Boondocks, Little Big Town watch
Leave the Pieces, The Wreckers watch
Not Ready to Make Nice, Dixie Chicks watch
What Hurts the Most, Rascal Flatts watch

Best Country Vocal Collaboration
Jackson, Jaoquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon watch
Love Will Always Win, Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks watch
My Minnesota Home (The Old Folks at Home), Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin watch
The Reason Why, Vince Gill featuring Allison Krauss watch
When I Get Where I'm Going, Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton watch

Tomorrow: R&B

Awards Update

Helen Mirren is nominated thrice for this year's Golden Globes for The Queen and, for the television films, Prime Suspect 6 and Elizabeth I

Much has happened since my last update, with the big critics groups having announced their winners and the announcement of the Golden Globe nominations last night. Critics group wise, all you need to know is that everyone is split on the Best Picture race: the NY critics went for United 93 (which gives director Paul Greengrass a large push to get the lone director slot), LA critics repeated the Clint love for Letters but gave Greengrass their Best Director award. Scorsese took Best Director in New York. The Boston critics went crazy for The Departed and, surprisingly, gave their Best Supporting Actor award, not to Nicholson but, to co-star Mark Wahlberg (who's looking better and better for an Oscar nom). The Queen also recieved a major boost from the LA critics coming runner-up for Best Picture and winning awards for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score. Speaking of The Queen, Helen Mirren has now won every single Best Actress award bestowed so far. Forest Whitaker's no slouch either, his performance as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland has won all but one prize. That was a minor critics group but the winner also tied with Whitaker for the LA Best Actor prize: Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat, who could turn out to be a major spoiler.

Now that's done, let's move onto the Golden Globe nominees:

Best Picture-Drama
Babel
Bobby
The Departed
Little Children
The Queen

The Departed and The Queen lead the race here with Bobby and Little Children being the major surprises. Could Bobby suddenly gather up steam and overcome tepid reviews. It's doubtful and we should all be thankful for that. Babel also did well gaining the most nominations (7), but it seems like it's more of an HFPA film rather than one the Academy will eventually go for.

Best Picture-Comedy/Musical
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
Thank You For Smoking

Pretty good category. No surprises but it is a strong lineup, nevertheless. Dreamgirls should bag this one easily seeing as it's this year's big Oscar dog but the shocking Best Director snub tells me either Borat or LMS could upset.

Best Director
Clint Eastwood, Flags of Our Fathers
Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! FUCK FUCK FUCK on Eastwood double nom. So. Fucking. Unnecessary. Marty will probably win and the Frears nom just adds more steam to The Queen's rather formidable engine.

Best Actor-Drama
Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond
Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed
Peter O'Toole in Venus
Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland

It's nice to see Leo get double nominations here but it worries me. All this indecision between his two films means that his chances of getting an Oscar nomination are deteriorating. And damnit, HFPA, is it too much to fucking ask for you to nominate Ryan Gosling? assholes. At least, his Oscar hopes aren't too damaged.

Best Actor-Comedy/Musical
Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat
Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Aaron Eckhart in Thank You For Smoking
Chiwitel Ejiofor in Kinky Boots
Will Ferrell in Stranger Than Fiction

Boring category: Depp and Ferrell's noms are dull and unimaginative. Good for Eckhart-he's a brilliant actor. Cohen takes this in a cakewalk.

Best Actress-Drama
Penolope Cruz in Volver
Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal
Maggie Gyllenhaal in Sherrybaby
Helen Mirren in The Queen
Kate Winslet in Little Children

Replace either Gyllenhaal or Winslet with Streep and you've got a good idea of who the final Best Actress lineup will be. This award already has Dame Mirren's name on it (the three nominations she recieved only helps her case). Unless the other Dame can get some last minute traction for, what is supposed to be, the best performance of her career.

Best Actress-Comedy/Musical
Annette Bening in Running with Scissors
Toni Collete in Little Miss Sunshine
Beyonce Knowles in Dreamgirls
Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada
Renee Zellweger in Miss Potter

Golden Globe, meet your new owner, Meryl Streep. This is hers, and deservingly so. Unless, he HFPA give into their usual starfucking and give it to Beyonce, eh. Love that Toni Collete got in but the Breslin snub is puzzling.

Best Supporting Actor
Ben Affleck in Hollywoodland
Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson in The Departed
Brad Pitt in Babel
Mark Wahberg in The Departed

Wierdly star-packed lineup. THRILLED that Wahlberg got in, he stole every fucking scene he was in. The Michael Sheen snub means nothing since Miramax submitted him in lead here and the LAFCA win has pretty much solidified his nom.

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barazza in Babel
Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal
EMILY FUCKING BLUNT IN THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA!!!!!!!!!!
Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi in Babel

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!!!!!!!!!! Cannot believe they actually went for Blunt's wonderful work. Streep wasn't the only one working her ass off and it's good to see Blunt get the recognition after critics pretty much ignored her. The rest of the category is a snorefest and I wouldn't worry about the snub for Catherine O'Hara for For Your Consideration. After all both Amy Adams and Catherine Keener were ignored here last year and O'Hara's pretty much in the same position.

Screenplay
Babel
The Departed
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal
The Queen

Again, the Little Children love is surprising. All in all, this is a good category.

Best Foreign Language Film
Apocalypto
Letters From Iwo Jima
The Lives of Others
Pan's Labyrinth
Volver

The fact that Gibson and Eastwood were allowed to pass of their films in this category simply because their in a dead and foreign language, respectively, is utter bullshit. Letters will win unless the HFPA is feeling adventurous. Volver is divine and the other two films are said to be two of the best, if not the best, films of the year.

That's all for now, folks. Music year-end picks comes tomorrow.

Grammy Nominations

So the Grammy noms came out last night and...they weren't that bad? Yes, the Bob Dylan snub is unwarranted and the love for John Mayer, James Blunt and Stadium Arcadium is gross but I expected that, and the noms for the Dixie Chicks, Imogen Heap and Justin kinda make up for it? It's almost boring...

The noms in the big 4 categories are so:

Album of the Year
Taking the Long Way, Dixie Chicks
St. Elsewhere, Gnarls Barkley
Continuum, John Mayer
Stadium Arcadium, Red Hot Chili Peppers
FutureSex/LoveSounds, Justin Timberlake

The biggest shock here is that the supposed mortal-lock, Bob Dylan, didn't make it for Modern Times-the best reviewed album of the year. The Mary J. Blige snub is also odd, considering her great year, the album's huge success and the love she got in other categories. I cannot begin to express my happiness that FutureSex/LoveSounds made it into the lineup. As I've said before, the album is an absolute must-have. THRILLED that the Dixie Chicks received representation, not just here (where it was expected), but in all 3 of the major categories. The Chili Peppers gain their first grammy nomination in one of the major categories and, in true Grammy style, its for a boring and bloated album that no one should care about and pales in comparison to their previous LPs. The St. Elsewhere nom is nice but dull and VOMIT on the John Mayer nom. Anyways, its between him and the Chicks to grab the gold.

Record of the Year
Be Without You, Mary J. Blige
You're Beautiful, James Blunt
Not Ready to Make Nice, Dixie Chicks
Crazy, Gnarls Barkley
Put Your Records On, Corrine Bailey Rae

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....A strangely chart-free line-up. Its like they went out of their way to ignore the major hits of the year: Hips Don't Lie, Sexyback, Promiscuous, etc. 'Crazy' deserves to win this, hands down: It stands head and shoulders above the rest. The Dixie Chicks' nomination is nice to see, especially considering the way it had trouble charting because of country radio's refusal to give it airplay. The James Blunt nomination is completely predictable and disgusting. That man needs to die. I'm 'ok' with the other two- nice songs, but nothing much else, certainly not among the best of the year. Winner? They always go safe here so it's between Rae and Blunt, I guess.

Song of the Year (the songwriting award)
Be Without You, Johnta Austin, Mary J. Blige, Bryan-Michael Cox & Jason Perry (Mary J. Blige)
Jesus, Take the Wheel; Brett James, Hillary Lindsey & Gordie Sampson (Carrie Underwood)
Not Ready to Make Nice, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Emily Robison & Dan Wilson (Dixie Chicks)
Put Your Records On, John Beck, Steve Chrisanthou & Corinne Bailey Rae (Corinne Bailey Rae)
You're Beautiful, James Blunt, Amanda Ghost & Sacha Skarbek (James Blunt)

'Not Ready to Make Nice' is the only one that really deserves to be here and even it is a little obvious. American Idol Carrie Underwood had a great single in 'Before He Cheats' but 'Jesus, Take the Wheel' is laughable dreck, so of course it gets nominated. Rae's song is tepid and uninspiring, while Blunt's ubiquitous hit is just asinine. Alright it wasn't a great year for songwriting but if you can honour 'Crazy' in Record of the Year, why not recognize that its the best written song of the year, by far? I couldn't give a fuck who wins (unless its the Dixie Chicks, of course).

Best New Artist
James Blunt
Chris Brown
Imogen Heap
Corrine Bailey Rae
Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood becomes the first Idol to be nominated in one of the majors, I expect she'll join Kelly and become the only two to win (but not here, her success will come in the genre categories). FUCK YEAH!! on Imogen Heap's nomination. I don't even care that she's actually been around since 1998, I'm way too happy about this out-of-the-blue nomination. The rest is crap.

Some "highlights" from the rest of the nominations:

• Sexyback in Dance Recording is unexpected but nice. Also great to see Justin honoured in 4 categories and the Dixie Chicks in 5.
  
• Good to see Madonna nominated. Also glad her Dance Recording nom is for the underrated 'Get Together' rather than 'Sorry' or 'Jump'. The snub for 'Hung Up' in Pop Female is odd though.
  
• NO TIMBALAND FOR PRODUCER OF THE YEAR!?!? Bullshit.
  
• WTF? Only one nom for Nelly Furtado?
• 'Not Ready to Make Nice' makes the lineup for Song of the Year but not Best Country Song? Also, Corrine Bailey Rae is nominated in 3 major categories but they couldn't fit her in the pop categories where she was submitted?
• Pink is nominated? WHY!!!!!!!!! That idiotic 'Stupid Girls' video coupled with the completely hypocritical video to 'U and Ur Hand' should be enough to banish her forever. On the other hand, nice to see Natasha Bedingfield get her first nom.
  
• Can we go through one year without noms for Sheryl Crow and Paul McCartney?
• Daniel Powter should die.
• LMAO about the Pussycat Dolls being Grammy nominees! For 'Stickwitchu' as well!
• The rock nominees are, as always, laughable. Coldplay? The Fray? U2 and Green Day? 'Dani California'? 'Chasing Cars'? VOMIT. At least the Raconteurs and Wolfmother get much deserved attention. Still, it isn't enough.
• Yay for Thom Yorke and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs but the Alternative Music Album category is in serious need of a shakeup. Arctic Monkeys? Don't be fucking silly.
• Can't believe I'm saying this but Beyonce didn't get nearly enough love. B'Day is a solid album and miles better than it's overrated predecessor.
  
• Lionel Ritchie? You've gotta be fucking kidding me
• Happy to see Prince copiously mentioned in the R&B categories and thrilled to see Mary J. Blige and Raphael Saadiq's 'I Found My Everything' get nominated.
• Glad to see noms for the criminally underrated Lupe Fiasco and, also for, T.I. and Chamillionaire.
• Eminem getting two nominations is just plain silly
• They had better right Oscar's wrong and give Dolly a Grammy for the wonderful 'Travelin' Thru' which, btw, is miles better than 'It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp'. Even Chuck D thought so.
  
• YES!! YES!! YES!! on OK Go's Best Video nomination for the brilliant 'Here It Goes Again'. My absolute favourite nomination.

The full list can be found here.

and the Awards Season Begins...

The National Board of Review kicked off awards season as always by announcing there winners on Wednesday. The NBR is a 'critics' group of 'elite' movie-watchers who usually give their awards to whichever studio buttered them up the most, so the winners need to be taken with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, they have an impact on the race and officially start award season. The winners are:

Best Film: Letters From Iwo Jima (Warner Bros.)
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, The Departed (Warner Bros.)
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland (Fox)
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, The Queen (Miramax)
Best Supporting Actor: Dijmon Honsou, Blood Diamond (Warner Bros.)
Best Supporting Actress: Catherine O'Hara, For Your Consideration (Warner Independent)
Best Foreign Film: Volver (Sony Pictures Classics)
Best Documentary: An Inconvenient Truth (Paramount Classics)
Best Animated Feature: Cars (Buena Vista Pictures)
Best Ensemble Cast: The Departed (Warner Bros.)
Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson (ThinkFilm) (!!!) Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: (2) Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls (Dreamworks) and Rinko Kikuchi, Babel (Paramount Vantage)
Best Directorial Debut: Jason Reitman, Thank You for Smoking (Fox Searchlight)
Best Original Screenplay: Zach Helm, Stranger Than Fiction (Sony Pictures Entertainment)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Ron Nyswaner, The Painted Veil (Warner Independent)

The top 10 from the National Board of Review:

"Letters From Iwo Jima" (Warner Bros.)

"Babel" (Paramount Vantage)

"Blood Diamond" (Warner Bros.)

"The Departed" (Warner Bros.)

"The Devil Wears Prada" (20th Century Fox)

"Flags Of Our Fathers" (Warner Bros.)

"The History Boys" (Fox Searchlight)

"Little Miss Sunshine" (Fox Searchlight)

"Notes on a Scandal" (Fox Searchlight)

"The Painted Veil" (Warner Independent)

The results pretty much launches 'Letters' position as big Oscar contender and makes Warner's last minute decision to pull it into a 2006 release a very smart one. 'Letters' is, of course, the second part of Eastwood's ambitious WWII project, the first being 'Flags of Our Fathers', which flopped at the box office, prompting the studio to quickly pull the even more ambitious 'Letters', which tells the Japanese side of the battle of Iwo Jima and is entirely in Japanese, into a one week qualifying run this year. I can't say I'm thrilled that this incessant Eastwood worship does not seem to have stopped. Just when it seemed like Scorsese was finally the frontrunner to win (and for a great film), Eastwood comes chomping back for his third serving. Scorsese's win is promising and is, perhaps, a hint of how the year may turn out: with yet another Best Pic/Director split.

Whitaker's win also brings him as formidable force in the race. The actor needs all the awards he can get, if he wants to regain any of the buzz he had two months ago. Mirren's win was a foregone conclusion and simply assures everyone that she'll be holding that Oscar come February. The supporting winners are the big surprises here but they possibly won't make too much of an impact in the race as NBR is never really on the same track as Oscar when it comes to these two categories. Still, it's nice to see O'Hara mentioned and can only help her towards Oscar.

As for the rest, 'Dreamgirls' manages one meager win for former-American Idol Jennifer Hudson bringing her one step closer to that inevitable Oscar. Rinko Kikuchi gets some nice ink and Ryan fucking Gosling (!!) gets recognized for his superlative work in 'Half Nelson'. 'The Painted Veil' mention is a surprise but seems to hint at what I've suspected for a while, this may become a big Oscar player. The biggest impression the awards have made is in leaving out gung-ho frontrunners 'Dreamgirls' and 'The Queen' out of their top-ten, neither is brutally hurt by this but both will need major support from other bodies to back up their 'lock' status in the Best Picture lineup. What's even odder is that both films have been passed over for lack-luster efforts like 'The Devil Wears Prada', 'The History Boys' and 'Flags of Our Fathers'. But if you look at the studios, you'll notice that most every award is divided between Fox and Warner and their independent divisions... so, again, a grain of salt.

Post on the Grammy nominations later today...