Gotta get something done.

Been sitting here wasting my prime writing time doing silly things like researching Mensa and taking there on line practice test (I got 28 out of 30). This is not good for my writing, or my New Year's resolutions, but it did make me feel good about myself. I also helped Dakotah figure out some math problems that my father-in-law couldn't (and he is a math teacher)

I figured out I could probably qualify for Mensa (if you don't know what it is, Google it), then I looked at the testing fees and membership dues. DANG! You don't have to be a genius to know that's dang expensive. So now my writing time is almost up for tonight, and I've done zero work on my short story I'm working on. But I did get 2 blog posts written (counting this one).

Tomorrow is when the results are supposed to be in for the writing contest I entered n November. I'll let you know soon as I know anything.

Well, gotta get ready for the followup to writing time...TV time. Wonder what mindless drivel will pour forth from the tube tonight.

Oscar Predictions

Okay folks here it is, the blog post you all have been waiting for, my annual Oscar predictions. This post should have gone out last week, but stomach flu, and a slow loading computer update postponed it til today. I used to tackle all the Oscar categories, but due to lack of interest (mostly lack of my interest), I'm limiting it to the big six this year (Picture, lead and supporting Actor/Actress, and Director). My choice will be highlighted in blue. We will of course check in after the Oscars and see how I did.

Best Picture

"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
"The Help"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"Moneyball"
"The Tree of Life"
"War Horse"

For best Picture I'm bucking the tradition of going with a golden globe winner. I'm also not going with one of the heavily nominated films. I'm picking Spielburg's "War Horse", because Hollywood loves Spielburg, and especially his war movies. Now, if I had to choose what I wanted to win, it would be "Hugo", but I think "War Horse" may be the dark horse to win it.

Actor in a Leading Role

Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
George Clooney in "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"

I have seen none of these performances, but I am giving it to Clooney simply because I feel he is the best actor among the three names I recognize, and also I heard it was an amazing movie.

Actress in a Leading Role

Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis in "The Help"
Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"

A hard category for me. The women are all familiar names, except maybe Viola Davis. I saw only "The Help" and "Dragon Tattoo", but I'm sure all the others were great. Glenn Close might normally get my vote for playing a man; or Rooney Mara for playing a psychologically disturbed individual. But I'm going with Streep playing British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, because America seems so intrigued by British royalty and politics.

Actor in a Supporting Role

Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

I'm picking another dark horse here. Jonah Hill, though I'm sure he was great in the movie is out of his league. And the same could probably be said about Nolte. But as much as I didn't love "Warrior" (sorry Rachel Nichols) I thought Nolte was amazing as the father of two UFC type fighters.

Actress in a Supporting Role

Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

First let me say I thin it is ridiculous that Melissa McCarthy is nominated for a vulgar role in a disgusting mindless filthy comedy. That off my chest I think the obvious choice is Octavia Spencer for "The Help" if for nothing else but the pie scene.

Directing

"The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius
"The Descendants" Alexander Payne
"Hugo" Martin Scorsese
"Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
"The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick

I think despite the great work of the other three it will come down to the two giants, Allen and Scorsese, and in the end they will give it to Scorsese and "Hugo" with 11 nominations, but only 2 in the big 6 categories. Scorsese will take it because "Hugo" won't get best picture.

Okay, see you at the end of February for results.

I am a blessed man

I took the trash out after dinner. This is not my favorite thing to do. Due to the unseasonably warm winter that California is having this year, I went out in just my socks. Try that in Chicago in January. I looked up at the sky as I headed to the garage. I saw the Big Dipper, Taurus, Orion and the Plaedies (living in the mountains, I can see a whole lot of stars that those who live down the hill have probably forgotten about). Looking at the stars one thought crossed my mind. "I am a lucky man".

Upon a second examination I amended this to "I am a blessed man." My life is not perfect. I work hard, over 60 hours a week between my two jobs, and get to see way too little of the money I make (It seems orthodontists, phone companies, utilities, mortgage companies all like to have pieces of my money). I see way too little of my kids, and too much of strangers ordering pizza.

But I am blessed! In a country full of unemployment, or underemployment, I have 2 jobs. In a nation full of homeless people I have a nice roof over my head, and food for three meals a day (four if I really get hungry). I am so blessed.

I have three wonderful kids who are all in good health, all doing well in school, and so far none of them think their dad is dumber than dirt. I know the teen-age years are coming, but I think I can survive those. I am blessed.

I have a wife I love, even though we don't always agree on things. I am a blessed man.

Amazing what staring at the stars will do for you. So if you're reading this. Look at the sky, see those stars and realize that the One who put those stars in the sky is holding you in his Hand. Look around you and count your blessings.

The Problem of Writing the Future

Today's blog is about writing. As many of you know, I am a struggling writer among other things. And for quite a long time Science fiction has been a favorite genre for me to read and write in. But over the last ten years this has become an extremely difficult field to write in due to the fact that science and technology is increasing at such a fast pace that sometimes our imaginations can't advance as fast as silicone valley can create new things.

In the futuristic novel I've been working on for way too long now, I thought, when I started writing it, that it was a cool idea to have several of the main characters have their own laptop computers. How was I to know that Apple would invent the iPad, and now everyone has their own personal electronic notepad of some sort. Guess it's time for a rewrite.

I have a couple science fiction things I'm working on, but it is getting tough. Once I finish them, I think I'll try my hand at some historical fiction, or fantasy work. Elves and faeries are easy to control than technology. And if any one in silicone valley is reading this, could you slow down just a little and give us writers a break.

Crazy week

Well, the first two weeks of 2012 seemed kind of normal, and uneventful. This gave me hope of a calm year to come. I was hoping for such, since the last few years have been anything but calm and peaceful. Then came THIS week...OY!

On Monday I had my laptop fixed. We wiped the hard drive, upgraded the OS and quadrupled the RAM. Or something like that, anyway, $200 later my computer is noticeably faster, and much less likely to make me throw it off the deck. I saved EVERYTHING, or so I thought, I realize now I missed a few things, but hopefully none were too important. A few small glitches...first ff my Roxio disc, I lost the envelope that had the registration code, so I can't reload it...Ugh! I need that! Secondly I had to download iTunes again, and when I added my music library, it gave me around 1500 duplicate songs, eating up an extra 8GB of my iPod's storage space...and thanks to the joy of iTunes, I have to delete those 1500 songs one by one. Also, I thought iTunes library would save my playlists...it did not, so now I must try to recreate them. Oh, and for some reason Apple decided that the latest version of iTunes didn't need to include quicktime, so after 2 days of wonder why my videos wouldn't play in iTunes, I downloaded quicktime...but why would they drop it from iTunes??? So a great deal of this week was spent putting little touch ups on the computer.

Another part of the week was spent winning money on scratchers. I admit that I play these nasty lottery scratcher tickets, and usually get nothing more than another ticket, or maybe 2 or 3 bucks. But last Friday I won $20, then on Tuesday $500 (YES REALLY!!) then on Thursday another $20, then last night $20 and $25 on 2 separate scratchers. Now please understand I know it was pure luck, and please don't anyone think I rest my financial future on scratchers. I put my financial future entirely in God's hands...but it is kinds fun to see God use a stupid little game to give me a financial boost.

So that was my crazy week....how was yours?

Pretty Sure

Russell Brand (sp) is divorcing Katy Perry (rt) (stupid man). And my wife has informed me that Zooey Deschanel (lft) is also getting divorced. I'm pretty sure this means they will both be in the market for a rebound man. I'm pretty sure I'd like to apply for this job. I'm not talking about a long turn relationship, I just want to be the rebound guy. I'm pretty sure my wife won't mind. I'd come back home in a few months, hopefully with a few nice gifts from my romance which I'm pretty sure I could auction off on ebay for a pretty penny. I'm pretty sure either of these lovely ladies would love to spend a few months with an emotionally stable, average non-celebrity guy. And maybe in a few months, Julianne Hough will break up with Ryan and I can once again be the celebrity rebound guy...Pretty sure this could be a new profession for me. Pretty sure my wife won't mind. Pretty sure I better wake up now!

Golden Globes Report

So Sunday evening were the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards. Let me start off by saying a big improvement over the People's Choice Awards. Ricky Gervase (sp) hosted again this year, even though he offended nearly everyone last year. This year I found him much less offensive, mostly because he was on much less.

Best picture comedy went to The Artist a silent film. In principle I'd like to see it, but probably won't because a) My wife would never go for it, and b) I would probably be asleep in the first ten minutes. Best picture drama was Descendants starring Geprge Clooney, probably good, probably will never see it. Kind of sad the Hugo didn't win anything. No big surprises in the movie area.

One of the reasons the Globes are fun is that it is a dinner party, and alcohol is freely flowing. What this means is that towards the later half of the evening the "gracious loser face" is gone, replaced by the "How the hell did they win" face. This was evident particularly when Matt LeBlanc won for best actor in a TV comedy.

Oh well, over all a good show, can't wait for Oscars.

The People's Choice Awards...Really?

So last night we watched the people's choice awards, and let me just say I was a little disappointed. And I feel my disappointment is in award shows in general nowadays and not just the people's choice. But before I list my complaints, let me say I thought Kaley Cuoco did an amazing job hosting, she is adorable. Betty White shines at 90 as she always does. And Jane Lynch cracks me up.

...but, here's my award show gripe. Today's award shows have become so much SHOW that they forget the awards. They presented maybe 12 to 15 awards in 2 hours, and tossed off the names of a few other winners, and then said "Check our website for a full list of winners" What kind of garbage is this. Too much of the show was spent on "funny bits", and a couple musical numbers (which is funny because they almost totally ignored the music categories.

So, besides all that was missing, there were a couple of stand out moments in my mind: Adam Sandler's hilarious thank you speech to his former teachers (including Mr. Pit-stains, and Mrs. old lady who died halfway through fourth grade); Morgan Freeman getting the Movie Icon Award. But the biggest surprise to me was when Chloe Grace Moretz (Hugo, KickAss, 500 Days of Summer) won for favorite actor under 25 beating out the other nominees (AKA the cast of Harry Potter). She was so cute in her acceptance speech.

Anyway, I hope the Globes and Oscars do a better job of actually presenting the awards.

Resolution update

So we are ten days into the new year. Probably a little early for a resolution update, but I'm doing really well and want to brag.

First resolution was the one about food. I have only ordered once from work at Domino's (well, once for me anyway, also once for the kids) I have avoided all the mistakes sitting around work...will power has been working OT. No fast food stops on my home from Toyota. I do allow fast food for my weekend lunch, while driving around for Domino's, but this is a regular meal, not just a snack between meals. Also, I have used Subway instead of McD's or Domino's. I have been doing good avoiding family desserts, wit h1 tiny exception last night I had a piece of Birthday cake for my Father-in-Law's birthday. But I did not have a second piece tonight with everyone else.

As for my reading I put in two hours last week, and almost an hour already this week.

My writing is also going well, I finished my short story The Sentry and am getting ready to enter it, along with my Christmas story into writing contests for Glimmer Train, a literary magazine. I put in over 2 hours last week, and an hour and a half so far this week on writing.

And my blogging is going well. Check out my blog activity to see this.

I will keep you updated as 2012 winds on. Thank you for your support.

So Beautiful or So What

Tuesday evening of his past week I slipped on the floor at Domino's. I got up, shook myself off and went about my evening at work. The trouble is that my body is not 25 any more, and doesn't bounce back the way it used to. Wednesday more I was a little sore. I went to work and soldiered on, but with some pain. Come Thursday morning I was driving down the hill to work, I was having trouble breathing, and every thing in my body, inside and out was hurting. I was sure I had internal bleeding, and was going o die. So I did what anyone would do, I called off from work and went straight...to mom and dad's. I spent most of the day dozing with their puppy, who also has been feeling sick. I drank lots of liquids, and began to feel better. I realized my body was just telling me to rest and let i heal a bit... and reminding me that water consumption is important in winter as well as summer.

I tell you this story because it brought to mind one of the things I find unfair about aging. The body falls apart sooner than the mind. Inside my had I AM still 25. I have 100 plans of what I want to do, what I want to accomplish, and as each day goes by my body less and less feels like it can do even a fraction of them. Plus of course there ae so many obligations that demand my attention, so that my dreams and ambitions must sometimes hold off in the face of glaring reality. There are orthodontists to pay before I update to a faster computer. There are new school clothes that must be bought before I sit down to read a good book.

I always felt I could do something, could make a mark on the world before my life sped by. Now I look around and realize that maybe my mark will be to leave a legacy of being a good loving father to my three brilliant wonderful kids. Who cares if the whole world can't see my mark. It is a mark that hopefully my kids can see. Another sign of getting old is when you write a blog and it totally strays from where you started, which has happened here.

Getting old isn't fun, or easy, but it happens. I'm going to close with a quote from Paul Simon's 2011 release So Beautiful or So What? --

I’m going to tell my kids a bedtime story
A play without a plot
Will it have a happy ending?
Maybe yeah, maybe not
I tell them life is what you make of it
So beautiful or so what

A little Tired

My daughter Dakotah is 12 years old. When she was born I noticed we were a bit behind with a few bills and I decided to start working at Domino's a couple nights a week to make a few extra bucks until I could get caught up. 12 years later the pile of bills has not shrunk any, and I now work 4 evenings a week, plus 8 hrs Saturday & Sunday at Domino's...this is on top of my 40 hour a week job at Toyota.

This is the place in my blog where I usually say something funny or put in a cute story. No humor tonight, no story. I am tired. I need your prayers. I don't know how much more of this I can take. Please pray for strength...or a lottery win. (That was it, the humor part).

iPod Playback (Part 2)

We come now to the list of the top 25 songs on my iPod for 2011. Last year's list had a wide variety of artists, this years top 25 contains only 5 artist, 3 of them very prominantly. One artist is Christina Perri, all the songs come from her LOVESTRONG CD (deluxe edition) except A Thousand Years which is from the Breaking Dawn Part 1 soundtrack. All the songs by Still Running are from their CD ONE. All the songs by The Hawk In Paris are from their EP His+Hers. The other two songs are performance tracks from TV competition shows.

I'm just going to list the songs, you can check them out for yourself on line. I just noticed that when I printed this list it did not print the # of plays, so you'll have to trust me on these.
TOP 25 PLAYED SONGS OF 2011:
25. Black + Blue -- Christina Perri
24. Bang Bang Bang -- Christina Perri
23. Heavy is the Heart -- Still Running
22. River Deep Mountain High -- Pia Toscano (American Idol Performance)
21. Simple Machine -- The Hawk in Paris
20. Put Your Arms Around Me -- The Hawk in Paris
19. Distance -- Christina Perri
18. Total Eclipse of the Heart (video)-- Bonnie Tyler (vocal)/Melanie Moore (dance SYTYCD)
17. Science Fiction -- The Hawk in Paris
16. Bluebird -- Christina Perri
15. Penguin -- Christina Perri
14. Jar of Hearts -- Christina Perri
13. The New Hello (Hers) -- The Hawk in Paris
12. Interlude -- Christina Perri
11. Mine -- Christina Perri
10. Merciless Sun -- Still Running
9. The Lonely -- Christina Perri
8. Only Now -- Still Running
7. The Mountain -- Still Running
6. Robert Immolation -- Still Running
5. Miles -- Christina Perri
4. A Thousand Years -- Christina Perri
3. Between The world And You -- The Hawk in Paris
2. Crazy -- Still Running
1. Arms -- Christina Perri

iPod Playback (Part 1)

Well, it is time to look once again at what was playing on Steve's iPod for 2011. In part one I will cover the top 5 Christmas songs played this Christmas season, and the top 5 videos for the year. In the next blog I will cover my top 25 most played songs...some interesting trends there.

Top 5 Christmas songs:
5) Hold on to the Feeling -- The Nylons (11 plays)
4) Love, Peace, Harmony -- The Nylons (12 plays) Both these tracks are from the Nylons 2nd Christmas album "A Wish For You" which I just added to my collection this year even though it released in 2001. Love them on traditional numbers, but their original tracks like these are what make their Christmas albums great.
3) Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) -- Jars of Clay (12 plays) With their new EP Jars of Clay released their 3rd Christmas offering. This is a fun remake of a pop classic.
2) O Holy Night-- Jewel (14 plays) Another Christmas offering from the early part of the 21st century which I just added to my collection. Jewel's voice is practically angelic on this number.
1) Silent Night-- Amy Whitcomb (15 plays) I fell in love with Amy's voice as the rockin' front woman of Delilah on The Sing Off this season on NBC. When I found this song I found out she had a beautiful voice for mellow music as well.

Top 5 Videos (I'm gonna list them here, but only show you #1...you can find them on youtube if want the rest)
5) Why I Kissed a Girl -- Karen Gillan (9 plays) A parody of Katy Perry's hit by Doctor Who's Karen Gillan...SO FUNNY!!
4) You Don't Know Anything -- Mollee Gray (11 Plays) A music video by this season 7 SYTYCD contestant. Hope she comes out with more music, because this is good.
3) Jar of Hearts -- Christina Perri (16 plays) An artist who got her big break on SYTYCD, and several dancers or featured in this video which is choreographed by one of the shows choreographers. Great Video!!
2) Arms -- Christina Perri (20 plays) The follow up hit to Jar of Hearts, makes sense that it is on the list..hint, she features prominently in the top 25 songs list as well.
1) Total Eclipse of the Heart (SYTYCD version) -- Music by Bonnie Tyler, Dancing Melanie Moore & Neil Haskell (29 plays) This was my number one TV moment as well, so you may have seen the video a few days ago...watch it again. Goose bumps every time I watch. Can't wait to see what Melanie has in store next!!