Entries from February 2007 ↓

I said was taking the day off from blogging but I really can’t help myself: My man stopped to pick up a few sale items at Wegman’s. He brought home Pepsi in 12 oz. bottles. Isn’t it cute? I’ve been calling it “Dinky Pepsi” [lol]

I’ve had a few things come up this morning & they will be taking up most of my time today. I’m taking a personal day from blogging to clear my head a little.

Enjoy your day.

I commented twice on Rus Thompson’s blog after he posted a report by Tennessee Center for Policy Research:

I think the only hypocrisy is the target on Al Gore in this “research”. I wonder if the Tennessee Center for Policy Research expanded its study to more than just Al Gore’s little crib. His estate isn’t like my 4 bedroom flat in the city. Of course it’s going to use more energy than the average household. I’d like to see an energy study of the Governor’s Club in Tennessee.
http://www.thegovernorsclub.com/res/home.htm

Rus, lets say Al Gore sells his estate for something a little more “greener”. The new owners of his estate will be using the same amount of enery as the study claims the Gore family did. Using the claims of the average American households makes the “reseach” unbalanced. I think a comparison of his previous address at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. would show he’s living in an environmentally friendly house.

I see the North Buffalo Journal & Review has the same study posted.

The reason for targeting the Vice President’s energy usage is because the righties are afraid Al Gore will take another run at the White House. Yikes! Let the slander begin before any announcements are made.

Yes this is a personal joke & a note to my friend:

Now that the day is over we can laugh a little about it

I want to say welcome to the newest blogger to the WNYmedia Family.

Random Acts of Typing will be here soon.

It’s Monday & Rus Thompson is going looooove me for this post. I have been thinking over how I am going to respond:

I find all discussion of Hillary’s problems to be superficial. Is she “embarrassed” by Bill, etc. Don’t be fooled, all these topics are designed to generate sympathy and divert from her own problems

It seems pretty amazing how she can just issue these sweeping orders - and the media and any democratic opponent just falls in line and obeys? Hardly… It’s going to be kind of difficult to keep Monica, Etc. quiet, given that, by a stroke of timing, next January will be the 10th Anniversary of everything breaking - so there will be a lot of talk about it, right in the middle of her campaign, whether Hillary likes it or not.

She’s already started using the “politics of personal destruction”, to defend any questions on character…

I think Rus Thompson was getting close to being right about one thing. The media. They are excellent at creating diversion in the news. We see it on the news, we talk about it at home or at work & with friends. Suddenly everyone cares about Uncle Bill’s “encounters” in the Oval Office again just because Hillary Clinton is running for President of the United States. Suddenly no one is talking about the issues. I pride myself on being a voter of issues, not campaign slander & dirty politics from the other side. I want to hear what a Presidental candidate can do for the people of New York State, to make it better for us in this fucked up state we call home, not the “Inside Edition” version [of dirt & vicious rumors] we call “news”.

I think the Hillary haters cometh because they are intimidated by a woman being the leader of the free world. When I was a little girl I can’t remember [ever] hearing about a woman taking an oath of office. Today it looks like women in power are the norm & old-school political oriented men feel a little threatened by it. My children are hearing it different than when I was their age. They are talking about America may have its first women President. So, the politcal pundits on the other side have nothing else to do but to bring up Uncle Bill getting his groove on with Monica because his wife is now a candidate for President. They haven’t anything else to use in the media in diverting the public’s opinion from the real issues in America. That is what Hillary wants to talk about.

As a person, a singer, a songwriter … an artist, I have always been a [straight] fan of Melissa Etheridge’s work. She won an Academy Award for “I Need to Wake Up” from “An Inconvenient Truth”.

She accepted the Oscar & thanked her wife & their family along with many other people. Props to her for that. HT Melissa Etheridge for standing up on stage & reminding us all we’re living in a different time. A better time for anyone to find love & happiness in any relationship we [as Americans] choose to have.

I’m not going to allow comments for this post. I want this to be my opinion alone without fighting the gay issue, the political issue, the religious issue.

Nominees & Oscar winners from the 79th Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.

Performance by an actor in a leading role:

Leonardo DiCaprio in “Blood Diamond” (Warner Bros.)
Ryan Gosling in “Half Nelson” (THINKFilm)
Peter O’Toole in “Venus” (Miramax, Filmfour and UK Film Council)
Will Smith in “The Pursuit of Happyness” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Forest Whitaker in “The Last King of Scotland” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:

Alan Arkin in “Little Miss Sunshine” (Fox Searchlight)
Jackie Earle Haley in “Little Children” (New Line)
Djimon Hounsou in “Blood Diamond” (Warner Bros.)
Eddie Murphy in “Dreamgirls” (DreamWorks and Paramount)
Mark Wahlberg in “The Departed” (Warner Bros.)

Performance by an actress in a leading role:

Penélope Cruz in “Volver” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Judi Dench in “Notes on a Scandal” (Fox Searchlight)
Helen Mirren in “The Queen” (Miramax, Pathé and Granada)
Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada” (20th Century Fox)
Kate Winslet in “Little Children” (New Line)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role:

Adriana Barraza in “Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage)
Cate Blanchett in “Notes on a Scandal” (Fox Searchlight)
Abigail Breslin in “Little Miss Sunshine” (Fox Searchlight)
Jennifer Hudson in “Dreamgirls” (DreamWorks and Paramount)
Rinko Kikuchi in “Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage)

Best animated feature film of the year:

“Cars” (Buena Vista) John Lasseter
“Happy Feet” (Warner Bros.) George Miller
“Monster House” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Gil Kenan

Achievement in art direction:

“Dreamgirls” (DreamWorks and Paramount)
Art Direction: John Myhre
Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
“The Good Shepherd” (Universal)
Art Direction: Jeannine Oppewall
Set Decoration: Gretchen Rau and Leslie E. Rollins
“Pan’s Labyrinth” (Picturehouse)
Art Direction: Eugenio Caballero
Set Decoration: Pilar Revuelta
“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (Buena Vista)
Art Direction: Rick Heinrichs
Set Decoration: Cheryl Carasik
“The Prestige” (Buena Vista)
Art Direction: Nathan Crowley
Set Decoration: Julie Ochipinti

Achievement in cinematography:

“The Black Dahlia” (Universal) Vilmos Zsigmond
“Children of Men” (Universal) Emmanuel Lubezki
“The Illusionist” (Yari Film Group) Dick Pope
“Pan’s Labyrinth” (Picturehouse) Guillermo Navarro
“The Prestige” (Buena Vista) Wally Pfister

Achievement in costume design:

“Curse of the Golden Flower” (Sony Pictures Classics) Yee Chung Man
“The Devil Wears Prada” (20th Century Fox) Patricia Field
“Dreamgirls” (DreamWorks and Paramount) Sharen Davis
“Marie Antoinette” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Milena Canonero
“The Queen” (Miramax, Pathé and Granada) Consolata Boyle

Achievement in directing:

“Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage) Alejandro González Iñárritu
“The Departed” (Warner Bros.) Martin Scorsese
“Letters from Iwo Jima” (Warner Bros.) Clint Eastwood
“The Queen” (Miramax, Pathé and Granada) Stephen Frears
“United 93” (Universal and StudioCanal) Paul Greengrass

Best documentary feature:

“Deliver Us from Evil” (Lionsgate)
A Disarming Films Production
Amy Berg and Frank Donner
“An Inconvenient Truth” (Paramount Classics and Participant Productions)
A Lawrence Bender/Laurie David Production
Davis Guggenheim
“Iraq in Fragments” (Typecast Releasing in association with HBO Documentary Films)
A Typecast Pictures/Daylight Factory Production
James Longley and John Sinno
“Jesus Camp” (Magnolia Pictures)
A Loki Films Production
Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
“My Country, My Country” (Zeitgeist Films)
A Praxis Films Production
Laura Poitras and Jocelyn Glatzer

Best documentary short subject:

“The Blood of Yingzhou District”
A Thomas Lennon Films Production
Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon
“Recycled Life”
An Iwerks/Glad Production
Leslie Iwerks and Mike Glad
“Rehearsing a Dream”
A Simon & Goodman Picture Company Production
Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
“Two Hands”
A Crazy Boat Pictures Production
Nathaniel Kahn and Susan Rose Behr

Achievement in film editing:

“Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage)
Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise
“Blood Diamond” (Warner Bros.)
Steven Rosenblum
“Children of Men” (Universal)
Alex Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón
“The Departed” (Warner Bros.)
Thelma Schoonmaker
“United 93” (Universal and StudioCanal)
Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse and Richard Pearson

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) :

“Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage) Gustavo Santaolalla
“The Good German” (Warner Bros.) Thomas Newman
“Notes on a Scandal” (Fox Searchlight) Philip Glass
“Pan’s Labyrinth” (Picturehouse) Javier Navarrete
“The Queen” (Miramax, Pathé and Granada) Alexandre Desplat

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) :

“I Need to Wake Up” from “An Inconvenient Truth”
(Paramount Classics and Participant Productions)
Music and Lyric by Melissa Etheridge
“Listen” from “Dreamgirls”
(DreamWorks and Paramount)
Music by Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler
Lyric by Anne Preven
“Love You I Do” from “Dreamgirls”
(DreamWorks and Paramount)
Music by Henry Krieger
Lyric by Siedah Garrett
“Our Town” from “Cars”
(Buena Vista)
Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Patience” from “Dreamgirls”
(DreamWorks and Paramount)
Music by Henry Krieger
Lyric by Willie Reale

Best motion picture of the year:

“Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage)
An Anonymous Content/Zeta Film/Central Films Production
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jon Kilik and Steve Golin, Producers
“The Departed” (Warner Bros.)
A Warner Bros. Pictures Production
Graham King, Producer
“Letters from Iwo Jima” (Warner Bros.)
A DreamWorks Pictures/Warner Bros. Pictures Production
Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg and Robert Lorenz, Producers
“Little Miss Sunshine” (Fox Searchlight)
A Big Beach/Bona Fide Production
David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf and Marc Turtletaub, Producers
“The Queen” (Miramax, Pathé and Granada)
A Granada Production
Andy Harries, Christine Langan and Tracey Seaward, Producers

Adapted screenplay:

“Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (20th Century Fox)
Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter Baynham & Dan Mazer
Story by Sacha Baron Cohen & Peter Baynham & Anthony Hines & Todd Phillips
“Children of Men” (Universal)
Screenplay by Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby
“The Departed” (Warner Bros.)
Screenplay by William Monahan
“Little Children” (New Line)
Screenplay by Todd Field & Tom Perrotta
“Notes on a Scandal” (Fox Searchlight)
Screenplay by Patrick Marber

Original screenplay:

“Babel” (Paramount and Paramount Vantage)
Written by Guillermo Arriaga
“Letters from Iwo Jima” (Warner Bros.)
Screenplay by Iris Yamashita
Story by Iris Yamashita & Paul Haggis
“Little Miss Sunshine” (Fox Searchlight)
Written by Michael Arndt
“Pan’s Labyrinth” (Picturehouse)
Written by Guillermo del Toro
“The Queen” (Miramax, Pathé and Granada)
Written by Peter Morgan

More HERE

Last week Harvick did it. This week was Matt Kenseth’s turn to win the Busch Series & The Nextel Cup back to back in one weekend. I posted a picture yesterday of Kenseth on the finishline at California. Who would think he won today

FONTANA, Calif. — Matt Kenseth put the disappointment of Daytona well behind him Sunday, driving away with his second victory of the weekend and second NASCAR Nextel Cup win at California Speedway.

Read more

It was a tense few moments for the Domino Pizza car. It looked like driver David Reutimann was tapped causing him to crash into the wall. The front of the car was on fire & it took him a few seconds to respond. He was okay & it was said he may have had the wind knocked out of him.

This is why I have an “oink!oink!” catergory on my blog. I can agree with Mike in WNY:

The economy sucks, good jobs are hard to find and people are leaving the area in droves. The reason is the large amount of money the government takes from individuals and businesses. Large amounts of the money taken is wasted and this study is an example of that waste.

The reason for the study:

UB researchers will work with researchers from the University of Utah to test whether aspirin can improve a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant and of maintaining a pregnancy to term.

Why can’t Bayer (the leading aspirin company) use their own money to do the study & donate the findings to UB? A $2.8 million grant to help the part time minimum wage workers [like myself] get a little more ahead might be more useful in bringing New York back to a comfortable way of life. I read in the Mayor’s State of the City Address:

And how nice to awake this morning and learn that the City of Buffalo is ranked number one in the nation by Forbes Magazine for cost of living - that’s a ranking we’ll gladly accept!

Where I’m sitting, the only difference I see is higher prices at the grocery store for less products, higher gas bills, more fees & taxes, more taxes & fess. When I go to work tonight I’ll think about how I’m going to save the last $10 from my paycheck.