Yee haw. The Oscar crowd has seen fit to correct its 1998 mistake (i.e. Oscar for Gwyneth Paltrow, not for Cate Blanchett) yesterday evening, and Cate Blanchett goes home with the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, for her role as Katherine Hepburn in Martin Scorcese's The Aviator.

Take that, Sideways. As for the other winners, I don't know and don't care. Late last night and this morning, it snowed something like half a foot or so, and life is great at the moment.

NB: A quick search of Technorati seems to indicate that the Italians are very excited about our Oscars. That's weird. Usually, when someone mentions the word "Oscar" to me, I think of (variously) the letter "O", a Soviet SSGN, or the type of fish my folks used to keep in the early 1970s. Obviously it's a problem of branding.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 06:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Oh, joy. If you're one of the people (like me) who once upon a time liked to listen to "the Bristol sound"---vaguely defined as trip-hop---then the subject will mean something to you. The eerie sounds of Beth Gibbons used to echo through part of my college career, and I'd always wondered what had happened to them.

According to a news post on pheadweb, Portishead frontman Geoff Barrow told an outfit called "BBC Music 6" that their third LP was nearly completed.

I went and checked this for myself on the BBC Music 6---some sort of music channel that simulcasts to digital radio, the Internet, and something called interactive TV---site and found the following from Geoff Barrow:

"We're actually into it as we speak. We took some time off for Christmas, but generally we're doing another record, yeah. We got together, sounds cool, so we're gonna go with it."

Music 6 noted that Barrow "told us it's already well on the way to being written".

I don't understand British music journalism very well, but there may be some sort of disconnect between the fan site, Geoff Barrow, and the Music 6 people. At any rate, it'll be a Good Thing if I get another Portishead album in the next couple of months or so. Three albums, one of which was a live one, in eleven years is lagging behind even Liz Phair, and that takes some work.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:59 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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JohnL of TexasBestGrok has the new poll up. The TCP Voter Guide is below:

A. I recommend a vote for Tricia Helfer's Number Six. This recommendation is not made on the basis of having observed her in the new Galactica, but rather web-based observations.¹ In fact, I've never seen the new show. Not having the SFC will do that to you, although it appears that Katee Sackhoff might be cute. Nothing, however, will beat Maren Jensen in blue on the bridge.

B. Kristanna Loken fails for two reasons: 1) She's made out in public with the entertainer, Pink. That's disgusting. If women are going to do that sort of thing together, both of them need to be good looking. Loken skates perilously close to not making the cut, and Pink fails miserably. 2) Her acting, and thus the T-X, made less of an impression on me in T3 than Claire Danes did. Given that Loken wore tight leather, didn't say anything (for the most part) and was blond-haired/blue-eyed, that's saying something. Coming up second to Claire Danes in overall appeal isn't something that just happens. Indeed, it takes strenuous effort to be less appealing than Miss Danes. (Admittedly, I have a bit of a favorable lean towards Miss Danes, although I've certainly never really watched anything she's in other than T3.)

C. Seven of Nine not only represented audience pandering but booted my favorite character off of Voyager. Yes, I was more taken with Jennifer Lien's Kes than I was Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine. Blond hair, blue eyes, pointed ears, and a honey-laced drawl that could melt titanium win over sheer forward weight, catsuits, high heels, and a domineering personality every time.²

For the forgoing reasons, dear readers, I suggest that you vote for Six and don't go on to seven or ten. Thank you. I'll be here all week.

UPDATE: Hah! Téa Leoni wins the poll, with 24 of 69 votes cast. Liv Tyler finished second with 21 votes, Annabella Sciorra was third, and Natalie Wood was fourth. Not bad for someone who's been dead on the order of 25 years. Yay for Mrs. Duchovny, even if she is reportedly "grieving" over the re-election of George W. Bush. Well, I didn't vote for her brains, and I for darned sure didn't vote for her body, so it doesn't look like I'm out too much. A year or two at Camp Country Pundit could probably correct any errors in thought, and "we have the technology" to improve the latter issue as well. more...

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The latest sci-fi babe poll over at TexasBestGrok is up. Subject: "The Women of Asteroid Disaster Flicks".

After careful review, the proper choice is (B), Téa Leoni as Jenny Lerner in Deep Impact.

(D) Annabella Sciorra is the wrong choice because she was last hot in Jungle Fever with Wesley Snipes. (A) Natalie Wood is wrong because we don't know anything about her, other than that she was supposed to be hot. (C) Liv Tyler is wrong because Armageddon is that bad of a movie.

Although I never actually saw Deep Impact, Mrs. Duchovny (much to Bree Sharp's disappointment, I bet) was one of the reasons that I thought about going. I've never actually seen her on screen for any other thing than a random episode of The X-Files, so where the attraction comes from, I don't know. Maybe I ought to rent/buy Jurassic Park III and watch that, although I've never seen any of those. (On the other hand, that could cause problems; Laura Dern, despite her fog-headed nitwittery, is good-looking.)

On review, the thing that once caught my eye about Fox's wife was this picture. I don't particularly know why, but it did. Anyone who's got an explanation can go right ahead and tell me; I'd like to know. Use e-mail, because I've never figured out how to nuke the comment spam.

Meanwhile: Neener neener, JohnL, Wilma still won.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 12:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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