First Half Hour (of the Oscars 07')

So far, Pan's Labyrinth has won for Art Direction [ Art Direction: Eugenio Caballero, Set Decoration: Pilar Revuelta] and they mispronounced maybe all their names. No surprise, the movie won for makeup as well [David Martí and Montse Ribé]. The ceremony started with many of the nominees in front of a white screen and it was very creative. According to Ellen, this show is all about the Nominees supposedly. Also, Will Ferrell and Jack Black were very funny with their singing and dancing Schick about not being able to be nominated for an award. Nicely done, they have a crush on Helen Mirren. Jaden Smith and Abigail Breslin came to be present Best Animated Short and Jaden read the wrong line. It was so cute, he seemed unphased.

And they should have done what they did last year and have the winners from the top seats have their own podium because it was very akward when the winner [Torill Kove for The Danish Poet] for the short animated film took forever to come down from her seat. They also presented the award for best short film. The winner for that, didn't catch his name, made a great speech about his subject matter and short film directors period. They didn't play that 'stop talking' music once.

My Oscar Picks

Well I'm not going to over all the categories, some years I can do all the categories but this year, I'm not all into it. And I wish Children of Men could have been in the nominations but maybe they were too late.

Best Actor
Almost every Best Actress category goes to a cute young thing (Reese Witherspoon) but actors don't (Not that Jamie Foxx isn't cute and young). Now, I know I said actors shouldn't be compared by other actors on talent but I am sure Ryan Gosling can act Leonard DiCarpio out of a bloody T-Shirt. While Forest Whitake, Will Smith and Peter O' Toole gave strong performances but Ryan deserves it. Yes, his movie Half Nelson was a characterization-based movie and Pursuit of Happiness had a larger audience but stranger things have happened.

Best Actress
Helen Mirren hands down. Meryl Streep may gave a good performance but she did a comedy and the Oscars aren't known for giving awards to comedies. Also Old Royal English Ladies always trump everything else, remember Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love ?

Best Director
Hands down to Scorsese

Original Screenplay
Babel, if you can just write that thing, you need an award.

More to come.

My Take on the Oscars

Tonight I will be posting a lot about the Oscars, which is the Super Bowl of award shows. I love the Emmys and Golden Globes but the Oscars I look forward to the much. The year after the Titanic, the lay people weren't feeling the Oscars a smuch because there wasn't a movie the could unite for. Last year, I really enjoyed it--of course, it was awesome that Jon Stewart hosted it. He said something that was true, everyone was down- depressed and stressed. He wasn't. I think it was because th tension formed by the nominations. I think it was an injustice that Brokeback Mountain didn't get Best Picture. Don't get me wrong but Crash was awesome and poignant but people didn't think it matched up. But like one-time host Chris Rock said, you can't compare one movie to another, talent to talent. How can you say Will Smith's performance was better than Ryan Gosling? As for, Ellen Degeneres, she has hosted the Emmys way before people found out she was gay--she's cheery, what the Oscars need. Now, is she the first gay person to host the show?

Al Santos Eye Candy #3

This is Johnny undressing for a wet suit in the pilot.


These are from a "Prelude to a Kiss."




Don't remember which ep was this one.

Johnny has a wardrobe malfunction in "Prelude to a Kiss."

And these might be the last for a while.

Positive Female Role Models on TV

About ten years ago, a surge of young female protagonists on television started emerging. There was a serious lack of them and even with more shows starring women, not all of them were taken so positive ('Ally McBeal' comes to mind in the sense that nobody thought she was great for feminism, evidence by 'Time' Magazine). There was 'Clueless' (which switched from ABC to UPN), 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch' (ABC to the WB), 'Daria' (MTV), 'Moesha' (UPN), 'Sister Sister' (ABC to WB), Dawson's Creek (the WB), and of course 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' (WB to UPN). I am not saying those were all positive either. What I am talking about specifically is positive role models for young girls.

Now, why I am talking about this is because I have noticed that we are sort of dry in that department. CBS has 'The New Adventures of Old Christine' and 'How I Met your Mother' that are more adult fare but have female pragmatists none the less and not treated as victims or someone's mom (well technically for the latter). FOX has none basically and even The O.C.'s women couldn't be consider at all role models or positive. It could be said that Tina Fey is a positive protagonist in '30 Rock' on NBC but I am not sure if she would like to be considered a role model. 'Medium' is a great series too, a working mother who saves people and solves crimes. The CW, much as its predecessors the WB and UPN, they have female-headed series such as 'Gilmore Girls,' 'Veronica Mars,' 'Girlfriends' and so on. I would totally say that the negative is 'One Tree Hill' that has more cat fights and skanks than 'Dawson's Creek.' Finally we get to ABC, which has a boat load of women but they do walk the fine line that Ally McBeal took. The women in 'Desperate Housewives' and 'Grey's Atanomy' can be considered independent and sexuality liberated but of course in this country, that is not considered all well and good.

As for 'Veronica Mars,' I am not in the camp that considers it the next 'Buffy' but it is still a work in progress series even in its third season. Veronica, herself as a character, comes off more annoying and stuck up than Buffy-trademark wit that I see her emulating at times. It is still about a teenage heroine which is a good. More shows like these people and less Laguna Bitches. Don't even get me started on gay-protagonist shows! 'The L Word' is great but it is not on a network. And 'Brothers and Sisters' is the next step. But where is our 'Will & Grace' successor?

Grosse Pointe Hotties: Jonathan Del Arco

This handsome actor's name is Jonathan Del Arco.

On "Grosse Pointe" he protrayed Greg who I believe may have been the casting director. These pics are from the episode "Star Wars."

You may not be able to tell from these pictures but he protrayed pre/post-op Sofia Lopez on 'Nip/Tuck.' He has also been on 'Huff' (Dr. Ruiz), 'The Sopranos' (Father Jose), '24' (Ian) and a bunch of Star Treks (Fantome on 'Star Trek: Voyager,' Hugh on TNG and did voices on the video games).