Pouncing

Molly does this weird pose when she hunts. I finally got it on film, er, pixels. She splays her arms out really flat. And she doesn't look directly at the object she's hunting. We had a lot of fun with this mouse today.

Birthday trip to San Diego

Yea, I'm 23! I hate prime number years...

Southern California was so richly green from all the rain.
Colorado looked downright dull when I got home.

Oscar update

You can submit your bid on the oscars electronically at Jeff's website: http://jeffc.zapto.org/oscars/.

Safety in Numbers

Our latest movie is up! Check it out here.

Oscar Pool

From Brian:

Well, it's that time of year again - The magical season when people
are compelled to do crazy things like wager 5$ on whether that one
movie they never saw gets more votes than that other movie they never
saw. I hope you will all forgive me for copying and pasting last
year's instructions pretty much exactly (although there are a few bits
of new information, so I recommend reading it again). And even though
I say it down below, let me reiterate preemptively: Feel free to pass
this message on to anyone who might be interested. More entries =
more money for the winner.

So here's how it works. Select a winner in each category. Remember
to pick who you think will win, not who you think should win. Get the
ballot to me (Brian) along with $5 by midnight, February 26 (The night
before the Oscars). If you are planning to come over to the
Superhouse to watch the Oscars, you can email the ballot by midnight,
Feb. 26 and bring the cash when you come to watch the show. Either
way, I'll need the money before the ceremony starts.

As you can see, each category has been assigned a certain number of
points. If you guess the winner in a given category correctly, you
will receive that number of points. At the end of the night,
everyone's total points, along with the tiebreaker question, if
necessary, will be used to determine who gets to take home what part
of the pot. The money will be divided as follows:

60% to the first place winner
30% to the second place winner
10% to the third place winner.

If, even after the tiebreaker question is taken into account, there is
a tie for first place, the breakdown will be 45/45/10. If there is a
tie for second place, the breakdown will be 60/20/20. If there is a
tie for both, the breakdown will be 45/45/5/5. If there's an even
more complicated tie, we'll figure it out later.

If you're going to email a ballot, send it to (Rachel's e-mail).

Feel free to pass this message on to anyone you think may be
interested. . . remember, the more people that enter, the more money
you can win.

So, without further ado, here's the ballot:

NAME:
PHONE:
EMAIL:

Picture – 5 Points
__A The Aviator
__B Finding Neverland
__C Million Dollar Baby
__D Ray
__E Sideways

Actor – 4 Points
__A Don Cheadle – Hotel Rwanda
__B Johnny Depp – Finding Neverland
__C Leonardo DiCaprio – The Aviator
__D Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby
__E Jamie Foxx – Ray

Actress – 4 Points
__A Annette Bening – Being Julia
__B Catalina Sandina Moreno – Maria Full of Grace
__C Imelda Staunton – Vera Drake
__D Hillary Swank – Million Dollar Baby
__E Kate Winslet – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Supporting Actor – 4 Points
__A Alan Alda – The Aviator
__B Thomas Haden Church – Sideways
__C Jamie Foxx – Collateral
__D Morgan Freeman – Million Dollar Baby
__E Clive Owen – Closer

Supporting Actress – 4 Points
__A Cate Blanchett – The Aviator
__B Laura Linney – Kinsey
__C Virginia Madsen – Sideways
__D Sophie Okonedo – Hotel Rwanda
__E Natalie Portman – Closer

Director – 4 Points
__A Martin Scorsese – The Aviator
__B Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby
__C Taylor Hackford – Ray
__D Alexander Payne – Sideways
__E Mike Leigh – Vera Drake

Original Screenplay – 4 Points
__A The Aviator
__B Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
__C Hotel Rwanda
__D The Incredibles
__E Vera Drake

Adapted Screenplay – 4 Points
__A Before Sunset
__B Finding Neverland
__C Million Dollar Baby
__D The Motorcycle Diaries
__E Sideways

Art Direction – 3 Points
__A The Aviator
__B Finding Neverland
__C Lemony Snickett's A Series of Unfortunate Events
__D The Phantom of the Opera
__E A Very Long Engagement

Cinematography – 3 Points
__A The Aviator
__B House of Flying Daggers
__C The Passion of the Christ
__D The Phantom of the Opera
__E A Very Long Engagement

Editing – 3 Points
__A The Aviator
__B Collateral
__C Finding Neverland
__D Million Dollar Baby
__E Ray

Score – 3 Points
__A Finding Neverland
__B Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
__C Lemony Snickett's A Series of Unfortunate Events
__D The Passion of the Christ
__E The Village

Foreign Language Film – 2 Points
__A As it is in Heaven
__B The Chorus
__C Downfall
__D The Sea Inside
__E Yesterday

Documentary Feature – 2 Points
__A Born into Brothels
__B The Story of the Weeping Camel
__C Super Size Me
__D Tupac: Resurrection
__E Twist of Fate

Costume Design – 2 Points
__A The Aviator
__B Finding Neverland
__C Lemony Snickett's A Series of Unfortunate Events
__D Ray
__E Troy

Sound Mixing– 2 Points
__A The Aviator
__B The Incredibles
__C The Polar Express
__D Ray
__E Spider-Man 2

Original Song – 2 Points
__A "Accidentally in Love" – Shrek 2
__B "Al Otro Lado Del Rio" – The Motorcycle Diaries
__C "Believe" – The Polar Express
__D "Learn to be Lonely" – The Phantom of the Opera
__E "Look to Your Path" – The Chorus

Live Action Short – 1 Point
__A Everything in This Country Mist
__B Little Terrorist
__C 7:35 in the Morning
__D Two Cars, One Night
__E Wasp

Animated Short – 1 Point
__A Birthday Boy
__B Gopher Broke
__C Guard Dog
__D Lorenzo
__E Ryan

Documentary Short Subject – 1 Point
__A Autism is a World
__B The Children of Leningradsky
__C Hardwood
__D Mighty Times: The Children's March
__E Sister Rose's Passion

Animated Feature -1 Point
__A The Incredibles
__B Shark Tale
__C Shrek 2

Makeup – 1 Point
__A Lemony Snickett's A Series of Unfortunate Events
__B The Passion of the Christ
__C The Sea Inside

Visual Effects – 1 Point
__A Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
__B I, Robot
__C Spider-Man 2

Sound Editing – 1 Point
__A The Incredibles
__B The Polar Express
__C Spider-Man 2

Tiebreaker – How many commercial breaks will there be during the show?
(between the "77th Annual Academy Awards" title card and the end
credits, not including commercials that play during the credits)

Home Again

Ben is back in town! It sounds like he had a fun time driving across the county. But I'm happy he's home to take care of my cold. This cold has also hampered my efforts to plan the next movie saturday. I still need to gather costumes and storyboard the script because I haven't had the energy to do it yet. I hope I feel good enough tonight to go to ballet class. Let's see...not much else going on. So here's a couple fun links:
maps
names
art mash-ups

Home Alone

Once again, Ben has left for Maine. He and his father drove all the way there in just three days. Meanwhile, I've just been going to work and watching movies when I get home. I also painted my bathroom and tomorrow I'll paint the study. Already I can tell that it's going to be a long weekend.