watch brick....and here's my Emmy picks...

Expect a Brick review sometime in the next fortnight, the same thing with Little Miss Sunshine.









Outstanding Comedy Series

Arrested Development
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The Office
Scrubs
Two And A Half Men

Will Win: The Office
Should Win: The Office

I think that the buzz for The Office has risen. I just hope I'm right. Although the Emmy voters might give this to Arrested Development, for a terrific last season. Too bad no one was fucking watching.

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Kevin James, The King Of Queens
Tony Shalhoub, Monk
Steve Carell, The Office
Charlie Sheen, Two and a Half Men

Will Win: Steve Carell
Should Win: Steve Carell

Carell's star is on the rise, with high-profile roles in The 40 Year-Old Virgin and this summer's Little Miss Sunshine plus his lead role in next summer's Bruce Almighty sequel, Evan Almighty. This will cement his meteoric rise.

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback
Jane Kaczmarek, Malcolm In The Middle
Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, The New Adventures of Old Christine
Stockard Channing, Out of Practice
Debra Messing, Will & Grace

WILL WIN: Debra Messing
SHOULD WIN: N/A

I have no opinion here except that the overrated Will & Grace will win another undeserved award. Alyson Hannigan should have been nominated for How I Met Your Mother; likewise for the always awesome Jenna Fischer for The Office. That staid mediocrity always gets nominated shows how clueless the Emmy nomination people are.


OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES

GREY'S ANATOMY
HOUSE
THE SOPRANOS
24
THE WEST WING

WILL WIN: GREY'S ANATOMY
SHOULD WIN: 24

24 should finally get recognition for its consistently excellent delivery of a taut, suspenseful drama series. Unfortunately, the buzz has built steadily for the show that will win tonight, so ABC's Doctors Screwing will eke out a win here.

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Christopher Meloni, Law and Order: SVU
Denis Leary, Rescue Me
Peter Krause, Six Feet Under
Kiefer Sutherland, 24
Martin Sheen, The West Wing

WILL WIN: Denis Leary
SHOULD WIN: Kiefer Sutherland

Michael Chiklis took home the gold for The Shield in 2003, increasing the visibility of FX as a network willing to program gritty drama. Emmy voters may seize on that tonight. Still, Kiefer's been deserving of this honor for so long and he really should get this one. It's been a long time coming.

I have no opinion about the lead actress in a drama series category, as I never watch any of those shows so I cannot judge adequately.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Will Arnett, Arrested Development
Jeremy Piven, Entourage
Bryan Cranston, Malcolm In The Middle
Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men
Sean Hayes, Will & Grace

WILL WIN: Jeremy Piven
SHOULD WIN: Will Arnett

While I love Piven on Entourage, Will Arnett made Gob Bluth a brilliant study in idiotic dysfunction and thus deserves the win here.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

WILL WIN: GREGORY ITZIN, 24
SHOULD WIN: " "

Itzin made the Commander-In-Chief look asinine and silly. Pretty true-to-life and therefore he deserves the win for doing such a brilliant job of a weasel under pressure.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

WILL WIN: Megan Mullally, Will & Grace
SHOULD WIN: Jaime Pressly, My Name Is Earl

Again, staid mediocrity will win, as Will & Grace will take this. A shame, as Jaime Pressly made Joy a believable trailer park queen.

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

WILL WIN: Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy
SHOULD WIN: Jean Smart, 24

Grey's Anatomy will pick up another but Smart's vivid portrayal of the First Lady on a razor's edge should get it.

OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE IN A VARIETY OR MUSIC PROGRAM

WILL WIN: Hugh Jackman
SHOULD WIN: Stephen Colbert

Jackman won last year; he'll repeat that win here. Colbert certainly should win the Emmy, as he zeroed in on BS right-wing talking points, creating a spot-on parody of O'Reilly and his ilk.

OUTSTANDING MADE FOR TELEVISION MOVIE

WILL WIN: Flight 93
SHOULD WIN: The Girl In The Cafe

The five year anniversary of 9/11 will allow Flight 93 to win. The Girl In The Cafe was somber, emotional, brilliant, and lovely. Kudos to Kelly Macdonald for her breathtaking performance and she should win her nomination as well.

OUTSTANDING VARIETY, MUSIC, OR COMEDY SERIES

WILL WIN: The Daily Show
SHOULD WIN: The Colbert Report

It'd be nice to see Colbert win his freshman year. It won't happen.

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES

WILL WIN: The Office - "Christmas Party"
SHOULD WIN: Arrested Development - "Development Arrested" (aka "Harboring Resentment"

The Office is always good; however, Arrested Development needs to win, for the best series finale I've ever seen.

And I think The Colbert Report should win the "Writing" category it's up for and The Girl In The Cafe should win the category it's nominated in. Sorry for the haphazard manner this is posted in...I'll try not to cram this in next time.

now, where was I?...

As I was saying before Mother Nature reared her disruptive head...

I procured the following from Netflix last Friday...



and...




These should make for an excellent double feature. Rian Johnson's directorial debut Brick was mentioned by me earlier this year when I lamented, once again, of how I had a dire need to see it in the theater but Savannah sucks through a coffee table when it comes to indie film. And, as always, my viewing of the film is relegated to DVD. In any case, I'm excited to watch it.

I'd always known he wrote the 1996 Troma film Tromeo and Juliet. But I was not a fan of James Gunn in 2002. I saw his 1999 film The Specials and thought it simply a lower-budgeted version of Mystery Men but lacking something. He wrote Scooby-Doo and I was lead down a path of distaste via Ain't It Cool News. But you know what? It wasn't all that bad. The sequel is another thing. In 2003 he wrote the remake of Dawn Of The Dead. It was a good horror film (and I'm Mr. Anti-Remake usually), one that I suspect would have gotten more respect had it carried any other title. Earlier this year he gave us his directorial debut Slither. He wrote it as well and supplied a very good horror comedy that came and went like a breeze in theatres. It's a shame as it was a really good throwback to '80s horror comedies like Night Of The Creeps.

His wife, Jenna Fischer, can currently be seen on NBC's hit series The Office. She plays Pam, the receptionist. In 2004 she made her writing and directing debut with the above mockumentary Lollilove, about a satirical version of James and herself who give out lollipops with inspirational slogans to homeless people in order to cheer them up. Advance word is very good on this one as well. I'll tackle these and post reviews after.



This was an experience to be certain. Jeff, our assistant manager, let me borrow it and I finally got around to watching it. It concerns a hidden subculture in which men run websites around overweight girls. They are the "feeders", the girls are the "gainers" and bets are taken on when these girls will die. A cop in Australia finds one such guy in America and heads out to stop him. It's a taut, unnerving film that I only recommend if you know that it's certainly unlike anything you've ever seen.

And now the long-awaited jury duty story...gather round children of the world for here goes...

I checked the Chatham County Juror website every night at 5:45, hoping to not get called. But lo and behold, Tuesday night mine was called: 528. So I arrived at the courthouse at 8:30, fifteen minutes early. I'd been through this before and took a seat in the jury assembly room on the second floor. I read the book I'd brought (Off Season by Jack Ketchum) and waited. The jury services lady told us that both cases that were being tried were criminal trials. We had The Travel Channel on a screen behind her for the most part. She gave us a ten-minute break after supplying us with our juror stickers. One group had their numbers written in pink marker, others in brown. I was one of the brown group. The pink marker crowd went up to the fourth floor; I'm unaware of their fate.

We were told that we'd be going into Judge Karpf's courtroom. We were led into the courtroom, where I noticed that I knew one of the bailiffs. He waved at me and smiled and I returned the favor. Twelve of us potential jurors were already in the jury box; the rest of us took seats in the gallery. The judge came in at that time. The defendant, a young black male, sat with his attorney. A blond female, presumably the prosecutor, was seated ahead of them. They all kept glancing back at us, sizing us up as we all know.

Judge Karpf told us about how important us showing up was and thanked us immensely. He was talking about the process of jury selection when a loud knock could be heard at a door attached to an alcove near the judge. A bailiff handed Judge Karpf a note written on paper from a legal pad. The judge said that he suspects he'd have to deal with a juror's issue, as there was another jury deep in their third day of deliberation on another case. If that happened, we'd have to go back to the jury assembly room and wait. He continued telling us about what was going to happen and, in a very cool move, said that even if we're not selected by no means does that mean we cannot stay. He added that our legal system is transparent and all courtrooms are open for the public....and that he'd really appreciate the company! ;) Judge Karpf then said that he doesn't labor under any false illusions that people would want to stay to watch -- just that he'd appreciate it, as it gets awfully boring in the courtroom! He was a really cool guy (maybe not if you're charged with a crime) with a great sense of humor and personality.

He surmised correctly. We were lead back to the jury assembly room, where the jury services lady forgot to turn The Travel Channel back on. The room was cool and it was still 11-something in the morning. Snores were abundant and I almost fell victim to slumber as well. Luckily, I had my book. She came back in and turned the TV back on. We were in there for about 30-35 minutes. The lady returned then, turning off the TV. She said the judge had something to tell us. He then entered, along with a bailiff. Judge Karpf said, "Unfortunately sometimes these things happen when we try to juggle too many things on one plate. We were making an attempt to try two cases at once. I had to pause to deal with one juror's concern on the other case when the case you were going to try was plea bargained." He said that the defense attorney had met with him and a deal was struck. The case involved a young man who approached a woman at a Garden City shopping center. He told her that he had several XBox video games he'd be willing to sell her at a severely discounted rate -- for about $140. They went to his car, she produced the money, and he took off with it. There was a camera in the parking lot and he was caught. He entered a plea and the judge accepted, so he got five years -- two served, three on probation. Judge Karpf thanked us for our service and told us we were free to go.

So no more jury duty for me -- until January 2008 at the earliest.

And now onto more musings from me...

A couple of books I'm eager to pick up...










I've yet to decide what I want to buy with my $10 juror check. I was planning on picking up the 1990 Bill Murray comedy (which he co-directed) Quick Change on DVD. It's his best movie and you need to see it immediately if you haven't. I still might although I would like to pick up a new book.

I spent several evenings in the company of two friends, Zach and Amanda. We just hung out and watched TV. A very cool time was had by all. Neither has seen Quick Change. I have it on VHS but cannot find it anywhere. I tore my room apart looking for it, to no avail, so I think I'll get that at Best Buy tomorrow. I need it for my DVD collection anyway.

Tomorrow the Fox Searchlight film Little Miss Sunshine will begin playing here in Savannah at Carmike Cinemas Wynnsong 11. I've been waiting for this film. It was directed by the husband-and-wife directing team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The duo has directed tons of music videos over the decades and along with Kevin Kerslake, Mark Pellington, David Fincher, Mark Romanek, and Spike Jonze, really helped define MTV during the early '90s. Their debut film has garnered terrific critical acclaim. I look forward to seeing it, especially Steve Carell's performance.

Well I've blathered tons for now. More later. Now, I'm off to view the films from Netflix, watch a little TiVo, and just relax and try to enjoy the last vestiges of my paid vacation. Check back closer to Sunday for my Emmy picks. And don't forget...THE MAN himself...Conan O'Brien is hosting...click the below banner to be taken to NBC's Emmys site.

rain falls against the windowpane...

Wow...where the hell have I been, huh?

Well, I'm off until Monday, as I had to cash in the very last bit of paid vacation time because I'd lose it in September and ALSO because I had jury duty this week. More on that in a bit.

I also spent several evenings in the company of two friends, Zach and Amanda. We saw Snakes On A Plane Friday; I then saw it again with my mother last Saturday (thank you connections). It's mindless fun and worth watching only if you're in the company of a crowd. It's definite audience participation material.

I received the following from Netflix last Friday...



and...

post to be continued later today as there's quite the hellacious thunderstorm outside.

some people just don't get it...

Need New Army Recruits? Please Don't Ask At A Video Store....

I posted the above diary at Daily Kos. It's a record of what transpired Monday morning at work. It's a very interesting read.

1995 was a good year...

for music, for it gave us The Rentals. Former Weezer bass player Matt Sharp's band combines unique, somewhat dissonant melodies with Moog synthesizers and hell any other instrument you can think of. Expect a new album from The Rentals in 2007. For now enjoy their hit song "Friends Of P." from their debut album Return Of (The Rentals).

you need some brilliance...

September cannot come quick enough, as that is when Capitol Records will release Sean Lennon's sophomore album Friendly Fire. I'm a big fan of his 1998 debut album Into The Sun and I cannot wait to delve into his latest offering. Above you'll find a promo video for said album, with clips interspersed from music videos shot for every song on Friendly Fire.

today...my horror thirst is slaked...

Much has been written of director Neil Marshall's (Dog Soldiers) latest film, that it's a return to form for the often-maligned medium known as horror films and that The Descent is a taut exercise in claustrophobia. I can't wait to find out at 5 o'clock today. An employee of the theatre I'll be seeing it at came into work tonight (I worked 5-close Saturday) and said that he felt like he needed an oxygen tank afterwards, as the film was intense. Now that's a rave review.

I'm off today.

The Scoop review is forthcoming and I'll try to tackle Eureka ASAP as well.

Over at DailyKos.com Markos and the gang have really done a bang-up job at following the Connecticut Senate race. I hope Ned Lamont receives the Democratic nomination but I'm afraid Joe "I'm a lobbyist whore who should register as a Republican" Lieberman might garner some muster. Even if he loses the bid, the asshole that Lieberman is plans to run as an Independent, effectively hurting the Democrats in the fall midterm elections. Check out Matt Taibbi's latest "Road Rage" article in this newest issue of Rolling Stone; it's a kick-ass piece that details why Lieberman is a totally clueless fuckhead who's only in it for himself and his inside-the-Beltway lobbyist sugar daddies...

Lieberman: Bush's Favorite Democrat


And now it's bedtime, for I'll not sleep the day away yet again.

U.S. Vs. John Lennon Trailer

Fucking amazing.
I cannot wait to see this. Now if only Bush and his ilk could see the forest for the trees. Unfortunately that'll never happen as they're all too delusional.

Last December, I made my thoughts known on Lennon's assassination.

My John Lennon Post