I have a love/hate relationship with this show. I’ve watched every season, but I haven’t enjoyed watching every season. After taking a year off due to the Writer’s Guild strike/Kiefer Sutherland’s legal problems, the show came back with a solid season last year. It was decent, but I was beginning to doubt whether I’d stick with it this year.

All doubts have been erased at this point. Actually, I think I knew this a few weeks ago but I had to be sure. I’ve found myself looking forward to the show each week and at this point I’m confident the rest of the season is going to be worth watching. The threats are developing nicely, villains are being taken off the playing field on an almost weekly basis, and the subplots are intriguing. Sure, it’s basically the same show it always is except they’re in New York this time, but it’s being done well.

Jack is still doing the impossible, but that’s really nothing to complain about. Kim Bauer and her family are hopefully completely out of the picture for this season. The addition of Katee Sackhoff doesn’t hurt. I’m genuinely interested in her character as well as her love interest Freddie the Prinze, June. Annie Wersching returning as the completely unstable Reneé Walker is adding the much needed wild card and Chloe O’Brien is still a sourpuss.  What more can you ask for from this show?

Last week, I began MLD’s Oscar preview with five of this year’s nominees for Best Picture.  This year, the Academy decided to change the number of Oscar nominees for Best Picture from five to ten, since every year we have so many great movies.  This week, the remainder of the ten movies will be discussed at length.  Next week will have Oscar Predictions along with several other movies that will be remembered from 2009. The Oscars will be televised on March 7 at 8pm on ABC.

And the list goes on:

The Blind Side
There is a general rule, or at least I think there should be a general rule, which states a brunette should NEVER go blonde. It is a crime against nature. Sandra Bullock is one of those famous brunettes out there today, along with Jennifer Connelly, Demi Moore, Megan Fox, and many others. She has no business changing her hair color. Some of us appreciate the dark hair. Lucy Lawless pissed me off when she was blonde in BSG. The Academy should take this into account and deduct at least two-tenths of a point.

I have not seen The Blind Side, so Netflix tells me similar movies include Friday Night Lights (Liked), We Are Marshall (Hated), Radio (Hated), and They Call Me Sirr (Never Saw). I am going to include other similar movies: Remember the Titans (Mixed), Rudy (Hated), Invincible (Hated), Miracle (Liked), and The Express (Hated). So this movie is getting great reviews, when pretty much every other movie of its kind that followed the same formula has been terrible. Friday Night Lights was not inspirational, which means it really should not be in this conversation.

The Blind Side has no shot at Best Picture. Bullock may win Best Actress, but she does not deserve it. I guess this follows the well-worn Oscar precedent of doing something crazy to get an Oscar. Charlize got fat: Wins Oscar. Halle Berry gets REALLY naked: Wins Oscar. Bullock gets blonde: Wins Oscar. Maybe I will not be so surprised by this.

District 9
I loved District 9. I loved it as a sci-fi film, and not necessarily as a Best Picture-type movie. It should be on the “My Favorite” list, but not the “Best” list. You know why? It is about a dude that turns into a creature. That is the gist of it. There is a lot of political subtext that really doesn’t make sense 20 years later. We should not overlook the delay of the social commentary since good science fiction is able to tackle sociopolitical issues when they are happening.  BSG handled suicide bombing and the insurgency issue pretty well in Season 3. Star Trek: The Original Series was able to handle a lot of race issues during the 60s. It is just too late to do Apartheid.  It doesn’t speak to our times.

D9 has should just be happy with the nomination. If you take everything into account, such as the $30 Million budget, the believable CGI characters of Christopher Johnson and his little adorable prawn son, and the seamless documentary-to-linear storytelling transition.  The movie took storytelling chances, which is more than can be said about the OTHER nominated science fiction film.

District 9 would never have made it with just five nominees, but who cares.  Its a fun little film.

The Hurt Locker
The only problem with The Hurt Locker is that there is not a plot. That is kind of a big deal. The movie is more of a voyeuristic look at the lives of these bomb techs in Iraq. If this film were any longer it would have been boring, so it closed out at the right time. I wish Avatar ended in 131 minutes instead of its 162 minute run time.  I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Another problem with The Hurt Locker is that it may not be large enough in scale to be Best Picture. The Hurt Locker is a small film with a small budget focusing on a small part of life in Iraq. It is not as rewatchable as other movies in this category, though there are some intense scenes that I would love to see again like the opening scene with Guy Pearce and the middle part with Ralph Fiennes.   As an aside:  how awesome has Ralph Fiennes been over the past couple years?  He really has done everything right.

The Hurt Locker has a good chance at Best Picture and Best Director. Best Actor nominee Jeremy Renner was great, but everyone thinks Jeff Bridges will win for Crazy Heart. I’ve seen the trailer of Crazy Heart and it is clearly unwatchable dreck. I hope Clooney gets it for Up in the Air because I will watch that movie.  So if Renner wins it is not undeserved.

A Serious Man
I just got around to seeing A Serious Man and I just do not get it.  No, not like when people did not get No Country for Old Men with an ambiguous ending.  I just did not get where the Coens were going with it.  I could go into what it was about, but I really don’t know.  The easiest description is that a man’s life is falling apart all around him and he has to make a choice of faith.

Movies like it on Netflix include Election (Liked), Ghost World (Liked), Husbands and Wives (liked), and Fight Club (Liked).  The only one it is anything like is Husbands and Wives, but even there the inside nature sets it apart. I could tell you what the other movies are about.  Netflix should just list four movies that make no sense.

It has also been nominated for Original Screenplay. That’s it. It may win since the Coens tend to win things.  I’m just really confused by it.  I don’t think I liked this movie.  You tell me.

Up in the Air
I have not seen this one yet. I know a bit about it, but really tried to keep myself spoiler free. George Clooney travels like 250 days out of the year by plane.  It is a movie about the lifestyle of flying.  The last movie that seems to have hit the same cord about flying was Catch Me If You Can. Flying was not about TSA checks, but stewardesses and hotel bars. That is kind of neat and I will see it for that reason alone. That and George Clooney tends to make fun movies.

Netflix claims if I liked this I would like Glengarry Glen Ross (Liked), Good Night, and Good Luck (Liked), Legends of the Fall (Never Saw), and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (Liked). I really love Glengarry and Good Night, and Good Luck. Netflix never lies. I will probably like this one.

Up in the Air will go awardless, though people love George Clooney. People are hip to his game, though. The last time he legitimately acted was in O’ Brother. It doesn’t mean he is a bad actor. He is great at what he does. Also nominated was Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. Good for them. Anna Kendrick was useless in the Twilight movies.  To get a good performance out of her must mean Reitman can direct, right?

Go to Oscar Night In America, week one, Oscar Night In America, week three.

Today you may have seen some dirty people walking around.  Dirt on their foreheads.  Possibly in the shape of a cross, but doubtful since most priests aren’t that precise.  It is Ash Wednesday.  For the next 40 days some people may give something up.  No chocolate, no ice cream, no sugar, no swearing, etc.  Many people will go vegetarian on Fridays.  Well – fake vegetarian….they will eat fish.  Giving up meat, oh my!  I don’t care what religion you are or even if you have no religion at all.  There is something great about this time of year.  Something that you can’t deny.

That something is Fish Commercials.  Most notably – the return of last year’s incredible McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish commercial.  It is awesome.  And I am looking forward to hearing it for 40 days.  I’m also looking forward to having a Shamrock Shake next month on my annual McDonald’s trip.

This is long overdue.  Pete and I started a 365 blog, and then a few days later some new cookbooks arrived.  I immediately started focussing on my new treasures.  In 2010, I have been trying to cook as often as possible.  Pictures of the food were ending up on the 365 blog, and it had clearly become a huge distraction.  The more I cooked, the more it became clear that I need a better way to organize everything.  No recipe program is going to cut it for me.  I considered building a database….but that is a lot of work and a lot of time.  The biggest problem is that a database is just for me.  Clearly, I wanted to share these kitchen adventures with others.  Pete kept telling me I should do a food post for MLD since that has clearly been a huge distraction for me.  I wanted to, but I wasn’t sure exactly what to post about for the MLD audience.  With how often I have been in the kitchen trying something new, I could completely overtake MLD with food posts.  So…I started a separate blog.  Just for food.  Well, not just for food, it will cover all of my food love….cooking, baking, restaurants, gadgets, and everything in between.  So that explains my lack of posting here.  I have been barefoot in the kitchen.  Check out my food adventures at NotJustTakeOut.com!

As if I wasn’t already addicted to my iPhone (my wife wants to throw it against the wall), ESPN released their Streak for Cash iPhone app late last year and I can’t seem to put it down.

ESPN Streak for Cash is a game that originated on the ESPN website. Each day, they post of series of scenarios in sports ranging anywhere from who will win a certain soccer match to which player will score the most first-half points in an NBA basketball game. I even saw a curling matchup the other day. You choose who will win the scenario and your goal is to put together the longest winning streak possible. There are around 7 scenarios posted each day. You are able to choose as many or as few matchups as you want, but you can only choose one scenario at a time. You are locked into your choice when the game starts and you have to wait until your first game is over before you can choose your next matchup.

Seems fairly easy, but this is probably one of the most difficult sports-related games that I’ve ever played. For the entire month of January, I had a record of 60-42-1 with my longest win streak going 8 matchups. The participant with the longest streak for the month scored $100,000 for a 20 wins in a row. So far this month, I’m 18-28-1 with a 3 win streak. The leader has 21 wins in a row.

No matter what kind of strategy I employ or how much research I do on certain matchups, I can’t seem to find a system that works for me. That’s what is so great about this game. I don’t think that any person, no matter how knowledgeable, has an advantage. It’s a guessing game. You can look up every wacky statistic in the book, but the simple fact is that anything can happen in sports.

I recommend this game for everyone that loves sports. It is so addicting. The iPhone app is extremely buggy and crashes quite often, but I am able to look past that simply because I enjoy playing the game so much. If the app becomes frustrating, take a look at the version on ESPN’s website.