Sunday - And the Oscar Goes To ---

Good Morning my loyal and faithful readers who have been anxiously awaiting my predictions for the winners in the major award categories at tonight’s 81st Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award Ceremony aka The Oscars.

I have to admit that I haven’t seen all of the pictures and actors that are in contention for the various awards, but I have seen:

Slumdog Millionaire
Milk
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
The Dark Knight
The Wrestler
Tropic Thunder

and I believe these are enough to justify my opinions and predictions, so ... without further ado ... here goes:

BEST PICTURE - Slumdog Millionaire. I loved this movie, but I also liked Milk and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

BEST DIRECTOR - Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire.

BEST ACTOR - Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. I also thought Sean Penn was awesome in Milk. I wasn’t that turned on by Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button.

BEST ACTRESS - ????. The buzz seems to favor Kate Winslet in The Reader (which no one has seen) but I would love to see Meryl Streep win it for her outstanding role in Doubt. I think, though, that Winslet will win.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight. If there is a lock on any of the categories, this is it, although, honestly, I personally liked Robert Downy, Jr., in Tropic Thunder, better.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - in this category the only one I didn’t see was Penelopy Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and there is a lot of favorable buzz about her. In this one I am going to pick, tada, Taraji P. Henson for her role as the Mother in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

So there you have it my loyal and faithful readers. Will I be glued to my TV, you ask? Well, actually ... no, not at first because I have a show at 7:30 at the theater on 59th Street called:

“Fresh Kills” - Off Broadway. “Staten Island, New York. Thirty-something Eddie is restless, his wife Marie is busy trying to impress the Women's League with her kitchen cabinets, and their six-year-old is off camping with the local cub scouts. When Eddie meets sixteen-year-old Arnold on the internet, his life suddenly takes a turn. The two meet and it soon becomes clear that Arnold's interests go beyond night-time encounters.” (complimentary ticket).

I have a lot more to report, including some future travel plans, but I will post this and then do something later on in the day, hopefully.

Oh, a lot more negative news coverage on the Yankee ticket fiasco. The ones who seem to have been shafted the most are those former partial season ticket holders who had weekend packages. They are being offered weekday packages only. Why? Because management wants the stadium on weekends to be filled with newbies who will be buying food, booze and souvenirs.

Go Gators!!

Billi Pod