Raquel Aurilia’s second album, Holding on to Love, is a passionate testament to the search for love and finding a deeper meaning in life.  The songs are all about the things that you love, and how you deal with the situations that come about because of the depth of your emotions.  From the more upbeat “How Can I” to the emotional title track “Holding on to Love,” (which was inspired by the strength of her family through the loss of a loved one) Raquel, with her intoxicating voice, completely opens up her heart to her fans.

Lyrics such as “Letting go of all the fears I hid deep inside of me / Finally I’m free to live the life that was meant for me”  and “Broken promises leave scars that never heal / Is it wrong to love you?  Is it wrong to care?  / Is it wrong to need you when you’re never there? / I can’t give what I’m not getting…” show Raquel’s ability to address emotions and questions everyone can relate to.

The most powerful thing about the CD is Raquel’s beautiful voice, which carries each song to its full potential.  Listen to some of Holding on to Love on Raquel Aurilia’s MySpace page here: Raquel Aurilia

Click here to buy the album: Holding on to Love

Get more info on Raquel at her personal site: Raquel Aurilia

After her years working as crime reporter for Florida’s The Daily Sun-Journal, Patricia Lieb has complied some of the stories from her career into a true crime book.  Murders in the Swampland is a fascinating look at the horrifying things that happen in a small town through the eyes of someone who was behind the scenes.  In the introduction to the book, Lieb writes of her boss at the newspaper saying that he had been told Brooksville, Florida was “a place where nothing ever happened.”  This book proves otherwise.

Serial killers, crimes of passion, and hate crimes are just a few of the cases that Lieb writes about.  She witnessed it all during her time as a reporter, and conveys it to her readers with a fierce honesty.  She doesn’t step around uncomfortable stories or avoid the details, but puts it all out there for everyone to see the reality of what crime does to people.  Although she originally wrote these stories as a reporter, she stylizes them in the book, developing the characters and giving us a vivid interpretation of the crimes.

Giving a book about true accounts of murders a personal touch is a difficult task, but Patricia Lieb succeeds, adding in accounts from her own notes during the trials, and speaking at some points about the personal effects the cases had on her and others.  It adds another dimension to the book, reminding you that they aren’t just stories, but that these things happened to real people.  Each story also has a picture of the people convicted in the case, along with details about their sentence and where they are currently serving time.

Muders in the Swampland can be purchased on the Asylett website: Asylett

You can also find out more about Patricia Lieb and the inspirations for her work by going to her online magazine: Writers Write On

And if you enjoy Murders in the Swampland, Lieb also has a fiction novel, Blue Eyes, which you can buy by clicking here: Blue Eyes

Australian singer/songwriter Butterfly Boucher (who now lives in Nashville) will release her new album Scary Fragile sometime this year, and I’m already in love with her music.  I’ve spent most of the day on her MySpace page, listening to “Gun for a Tongue,” “Bitter Song,” and “For the Love of Love,” which are all quickly becoming favorites.  Upbeat music and strong, clear vocals work perfectly with the thoughtful lyrics, giving you songs that you will find yourself listening to over and over.

“Bitter Song” was featured on Grey’s Anatomy, and she did a collaboration with David Bowie for Shrek 2 of his song “Changes.” Both songs can be downloaded on Amazon or iTunes.

Her album Flutterby was released in 2004 and can be listened to in its entirety on Butterfly’s MySpace page: Butterfly Boucher

Click Read More to see the video for another of her great tracks, “I Can’t Make Me Love You.”

Blackbird, a play by David Harrower, is the story of a 27-year-old woman named Una who goes back after 15 years to confront Ray, the man she had an affair with when she was 12 and he was 40.  The entire play takes place in the break room of Ray’s workplace, which is very symbolically littered with dirty dishes, empty food containers, and overflowing trash cans.  The show runs about 90 minutes, and consists of a discussion between the two characters about what happened and how it affected each of their lives.  They alternate between anger, fear, sadness, and even happiness in their emotional exchange, and you find yourself completely immersed in their pain and confusion.

The way the script is written leads you through the minds of the characters and you find yourself relating to both of them.  I realized at the end that really most of the performance took place in my head, as you visualize the moments the characters are referring to, but the stage action is very minimal.  I thought this was a very interesting way to present theatre, and it takes a very talented writer and actors to pull it off.

Although the subject matter is serious, the play’s author says it is about looking more deeply into these issues and seeing how they can happen. “I don’t believe it is [a play about pedophilia],” Harrower said.  “Yes, it discusses an illegal, underage relationship and, in most people’s minds, the man would be termed a pedophile.  But I wanted to look at the gray areas in between.  I don’t condone their relationship, but in their past, it happened — and it has happened in real life.  What interested me is how people then go on to deal with the consequences of their actions and desires, how they justify or explain to themselves the reasons for what they did.”

I saw the play at Cincinnati’s Playhouse in the Park, and it was one of the best shows I’ve seen there.  The acting by Joy Farmer-Clary (Una) and John Ottavino (Ray) was excellent, especially for such an intimidating piece.  Both actors have appeared in multiple theatrical productions across the country, as well as some television and films.  John Ottavino most recently appeared in the films Revolutionary Road and The Happening.  The play was performed in Playhouse’s more intimate, blackbox style theatre, and it really added to the atmosphere.  If you live near the Cincinnati area, the show runs until March 8th, and tickets can be purchased by calling the Playhouse or reserving them online at cincyplay.com.

Even if you don’t live in Cincinnati, I would recommend checking out the show’s website, where you can read more reviews, see photos from the production, and even see a short video of the show: Blackbird

This year’s Oscar ceremony was a mix of excellent and horrible.  In an attempt to draw in more viewers (as their ratings dropped heavily last year) they changed up a lot of the formulas for the show.  The first major obvious change was the host.  Usually they choose someone funny who makes a lot of jokes about the films and the celebrities in attendance.  This year Hugh Jackman stepped in as a singing/dancing/trying-to-be-funny-and-not-succeeding host.  He couldn’t deliver comedic lines at all and got a lot of courtesy laughs.  I guess that’s the bonus to performing in front of an audience of actors: they can all act like you’re a great host.

Then there were the musical numbers…I really don’t even need to say anything about these because if you saw them you will know that it was worse than watching a grade school production.  Nothing was even cohesive; it was just a big mash up of badly performed song and dance routines with a few celebrities thrown in to try to hold your attention.  The Hugh Jackman/Beyonce/Disney mix of songs made me feel that they must have interrupted the Oscars with an episode of “The Twilight Zone.”  But nothing could be worse than the opening performance: it took 20 minutes to get to the first award, Anne Hathaway did a horrible acting job for being nominated for Best Actress, Hugh Jackman made a total fool of himself, and they made The Reader seem insignificant.  Here’s the clip if you want to torture yourself or someone else today:

Another change this year: they had 5 former award winners present the awards to the Best Actor/Actress/Supporting instead of just last year’s winner which has been the tradition.  At first I was upset because I liked the tradition of handing over the Oscar to a new winner, but this turned out to be pretty great.  Each of the 5 former winners gave a little speech to the nominees and then they announced the winner.  It gave it a little bit of a personal touch and seemed to mean a lot to the nominees.  It also successfully got them all crying before they got on stage, so more added drama.

The clip compilations they put together for each category were worse than usual this year.  They had horrible music with pictures flashing by so fast you couldn’t figure out what they were even supposed to be presenting half the time.  Apparently the theme this year was “How to Induce a Seizure.”  During the tribute segment where they remember those who have died this past year, Queen Latifah performed a cliche song (“I’ll Be Seeing You”) and they didn’t make the names full screen so I had a hard time even seeing who was being remembered.  The worst compilation was the one before Best Picture.  They showed the current Best Picture clips mixed in with old winners so unless you knew what to look for, you had no idea which were the actual nominated clips.  They always try to bring back the old Oscar memories, but sometimes you just need to focus on the new ones.

Some of my favorite moments of the night:

When Kunio Kato accepted his award for Best Animated Short (“La Maison en Petits Cubes”), he thanked his pencil and also thanked Mr. Roboto.  This has to be one of the best acceptance speeches I’ve ever seen:

“So heavy. Thank you very much. Thank you, my supporters. Thank you, all my staff. Thank you, my pencil. Thank you, Academy. Thank you, animation. Thank you my company, Robot. Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto. Thank you very much.”

Then we have Kate Winslet’s acceptance speech for Best Actress.  I thought I might make it through this year’s awards without crying for once, but then she got up there and I lost it.  Some people thought it was cheesy that she talked about performing this speech in front of the mirror with a shampoo bottle as a kid, but if you’re an aspiring actress, that means so much to hear that someone like you made it.  I also loved how she called out for her parents.  You could tell it meant so much to her that they were there.  She’s such a sincere person, and I admire her so much.  Here’s the speech:

Dustin Lance Black’s acceptance speech for Best Screenplay for Milk was also amazing.  He managed to be inspiring without being over the top politically:

I loved the Slumdog Millionaire song performance of O Saya and Jai Ho by A.R. Rahman, but I didn’t like how they mixed together the Slumdog songs with the Wall-E song.  That’s why Peter Gabriel refused to perform his own song (John Legend performed for him), because he said a short mix of it didn’t do it justice.  However, I still think that’s pretty snobby if you’re offered to perform at the Oscars for an award you may win.  So I’m glad that Jai Ho took the award instead, plus it’s an amazing song.  Gotta love a little Bollywood.  (The clip below also has A.R. Rahman’s acceptance speeches, so skip to 2:44 if you just want to see the performance.)

As far as funny moments, I really liked Ben Stiller’s mockery of Joaquin Phoenix.  He deserves it for how he’s been acting lately and I think it’s great that Ben Stiller isn’t afraid to make fun of a big actor in front of all his peers. I thought it was the funniest moment of the show.

Sean Penn won for Best Actor and gave a speech that was good, but a little too political.  He can’t go more than about 30 seconds without getting his politics going, so it was expected.  He also forgot to thank his wife, even though he’s been quite a horrible husband lately.  I was also bitter that Mickey Rourke didn’t win, because his performance blew Sean Penn’s away.  But I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise.  I think Hollywood wanted to prove something after the Proposition 8 drama this year.  Which is fine, but let’s recognize the best actor and not the one who made the biggest statement.

Of course Slumdog Millionaire won almost everything, including Best Picture, which was totally expected.  I wasn’t happy about it at first, but it was nice to see how much all the people involved appreciated it.  I like how so many unknown people and real kids from the slums were involved with the film, and it’s nice when that gets recognized.

The biggest question of the night: Where was Jack Nicholson?  He’s always sitting right up front with his sunglasses on, bantering with the host.  I wonder what happened this year?

And, finally, I’ll leave you with a scary image from last night’s ceremony.  Sophia Loren was there to help present the Best Actress category.  I’m still not sure if it was really her or if they just borrowed a wax figurine from Madame Tussad’s museum, so I’ll let you be the judge…

In The Visitor, Professor Walter Vale has been living and teaching in Connecticut for months, and when he comes back to New York he finds a young couple living in his apartment.  At first he makes them leave, but then worries that they have nowhere to go and invites them to stay.  He finds out that the couple are illegal immigrants, and learns of their struggles and will to stay in America.  Through their spirit for life, and their acceptance of him, Walter begins to discover things that make him a happier person, and realizes that he hasn’t been truly living for a long time.

The Visitor was probably the most underrated film of the year.  It had a very limited theatrical release and was overlooked in the Oscar nominations, aside from the Best Actor nomination for Richard Jenkins, which was well deserved.  I’m glad that this nomination drew some attention to the film, because it merits some recognition.  I think it will be a film that will grow in popularity as more people are able to see it.

The film also discusses the issues of immigration and the laws that we have in America regarding deportation and rights (or lack thereof) of immigrants.  It shows the importance and diversity these people bring to our society, and how they can be such a powerful force in bringing new ideas and passion to our way of life.

The title, The Visitor, plays on many aspects of the film: the couple staying as visitors in Walter’s apartment, the fact that they are immigrants or “visitors” from another country, and also the fact that Walter finally is able to visit another world and another side of himself where he feels fulfilled.  It also speaks of the temporary nature of times of happiness and sadness, and that both the good and bad times can be fleeting visitors into our world.  Overall, the film is filled with the uplifting message of going after what makes you happy and finding your place in the world.  And realizing that it might not always be where you think.

The Visitor was both written and directed by Thomas McCarthy, who is better known as an actor, but also received acclaim for writing and directing The Station Agent.

For those of you who don’t know what “Power Hour” is, it’s a drinking game where you get together with a bunch of friends (or by yourself if you really have the urge) and take a shot of beer every minute for an hour.  It always sounds like a good idea until about 30-40 minutes or so in when the minutes start feeling more like seconds and you find yourself cheating with half shots or the line “oh yeah, I already took mine, you just didn’t see it.”

To assist you on your drinking venture, Ali Spagnola came up with the idea to make a Power Hour CD.  It has 60 tracks about drinking, and each one is a minute long.  She also has a DVD as a visual aid in case her smiling face might help you through your Power Hour pain.

You can buy the album through Amazon by clicking here: The Power Hour Album

And check out Ali’s art, music, and blog at her official site: Ali Spagnola

Click Read More to see the full track listings.

• 1 – 60 Songs About Drinking
• 2 – It Sounds Like A Good Idea
• 3 – Drunk Dialing
• 4 – Game Within The Game
• 5 – Shot Glass On A String
• 6 – The Minute’s Not Up
• 7 – Double Fisting
• 8 – Done With One
• 9 – Drunk Running
• 10 – Hermakey
• 11 – Everybody Wins
• 12 – Pink Elephant
• 13 – This Bar
• 14 – Clean Up That Spill
• 15 – People Drinking Boone’s
• 16 – Pause For The Cause
• 17 – Party Tattoos
• 18 – Synonyms For Drunk
• 19 – Emotional Black Hole
• 20 – Jesus Loved Power Hours
• 21 – Drinking With A Helmet
• 22 – I’m Fine Occifer
• 23 – Mixed Drinks Too
• 24 – Third Beer Assault
• 25 – Get Out Of Couch
• 26 – For Light Beer
• 27 – Text Someone That’s Not Here
• 28 – Truth Serum
• 29 – This Frat Sucks
• 30 – Halfway
• 31 – These Songs Keep Getting Faster
• 32 – If You’re Wasted And You Know It
• 33 – Liquid Blank
• 34 – Break The Seal
• 35 – Instrumental
• 36 – One Chord For One Shot
• 37 – Do The BAC
• 38 – Fill It To The Brim
• 39 – 39th Song
• 40 – Five Caps
• 41 – Ode To Everyone Under Age
• 42 – Power Nap
• 43 – Fill It Up Again
• 44 – Salute To Lightweights
• 45 – Refill Right After You Drink
• 46 – S Curve Jig
• 47 – Efficient Drinking
• 48 – Alcohol Is My Anti-Drug
• 49 – Shots In The Shower
• 50 – My Liver Hurts
• 51 – This Song Drunk
• 52 – Cheers For No Reason
• 53 -Build A Beeramid
• 54 – Song In The Key Of An Empty
• 55 – Bar Fight
• 56 – You Won’t Remember This Song
• 57 – Sandwich In A Can
• 58 -You’re Almost There
• 59 – But You Drink Instead
• 60 – The End

As an 8 year old, Spree Wilson had his first taste of performing – he wrote a song called “Pray” and performed it at church.  His preacher shunned him, saying that even though the song was about prayer, it was hip-hop, which made it evil.  But Wilson didn’t give up, and eventually was able to enroll in an art school at age 12 to encourage his musical creativity.  He continued writing songs and learning to play the guitar, and has never stopped loving music.  “I want my name to be mentioned with the idols I adored when I was a child,” Wilson says. “Who knows? Maybe in ten years we’ll be talking about how ‘Wilson Mania’ swept the world, and touched the heart of everyone.”

Spree Wilson’s music stands out with an electro feel, rap beats, and playful lyrics.  “Word” is reminiscent of Andre 3000 and Outkast, while “Dreamworld” has a touch of Jamiroquai’s sound.  Keep an eye out for Wilson, because he’s quickly heading to the top of the music scene.  See the video for “I Am”  and listen to “Dreamworld” by clicking Read More below, then go to Wilson’s MySpace page to hear more: Spree Wilson

Performance by an actor in a leading role:

• Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films)
• Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
• Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features)
• Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
• Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Winner: I think Mickey Rourke will take this one.  He won the Golden Globe already, and his performance in The Wrestler isn’t even comparable to any of the others.  He takes it hands down, and I totally agree with that winner.  Also my pick.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:

• Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features)
• Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.)
• Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Winner: Heath Ledger is a definite win for this category.  Not only was his performance absolutely amazing, but the fact that he died this year will make everyone biased to voting for him.  Remember, the winners are chosen by other people in the Hollywood industry scene, so they have biases just like anyone else.  And not voting for a dead guy would seem pretty bad to them.  Heath Ledger is also my pick, and not because he died, but because of the quality of his performance.

Performance by an actress in a leading role:

• Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal)
• Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)

Winner: I’m a little torn on this one between Anne Hathaway and Kate Winslet.  I think people want Anne Hathaway to win because she’s one of those Hollywood sweethearts.  She also won the SAG Award, which can be a good indicator of who might win the Oscar.  I do hope Kate wins though, and I really think she will, because I felt that her performance was above all of these other nominees.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role:

• Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company)
• Viola Davis in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
• Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Winner: Penelope Cruz will get it.  People love her for some reason that is beyond me, and I really think her “cuteness” will overpower the voters and get her the Oscar.  Also, I’m really not impressed with any of these nominees this year, as I thought none of their performances were Oscar-worthy.  I’ll be rooting for Marisa Tomei though, because I want The Wrestler to take as many awards as it can get.

Best animated feature film of the year:

• “Bolt” (Walt Disney), Chris Williams and Byron Howard
• “Kung Fu Panda” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount), John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
• “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Andrew Stanton

Winner: Honestly, I haven’t seen any of these because I thought they all looked pretty worthless.  But most of the buzz I’ve heard is going for Wall-E, so I’d put my bets on that.  I also hope that one wins just because I think the robot is so darn cute.

Achievement in art direction:

• “Changeling” (Universal), Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
• “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
• “The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
• “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

Winner: Unfortunately I think that Benjamin Button will take this one.  It’s nominated for 13 Oscars this year, so it’s in someone’s good graces.  I think people also love to see Oscar sweeps, so it’s sure to win a bunch of stuff it doesn’t deserve.  In all honesty, the Art Direction for Benjamin Button was well done, so if it has to win something, it can have this.  I, however, hope that Revolutionary Road takes it, as I thought the Art Direction set the mood perfectly in the film.

Achievement in cinematography:

• “Changeling” (Universal), Tom Stern
• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Claudio Miranda
• “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister
• “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle

Winner: Slumdog Millionaire I can almost guarantee will take this one.  The cinematography was amazing in that film, some of the best I’ve seen.  I think that Benjamin Button has a chance here too, but I think Slumdog has just enough of an edge to take it.

Achievement in costume design:

• “Australia” (20th Century Fox), Catherine Martin
• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Jacqueline West
• “The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Michael O’Connor
• “Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Glicker
• “Revolutionary Road”  (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Albert Wolsky

Winner: The Duchess might get this one because of the period costumes.  They love those at the Oscars.  It’s also a more difficult task to do period design instead of more modern fashions.  So I’d say they have a great chance here.

Achievement in directing:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Fincher
• “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Ron Howard
• “Milk” (Focus Features), Gus Van Sant
• “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Stephen Daldry
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle

Winner: I think Slumdog might take this award as well.  Danny Boyle is an amazing director, and did a great job putting that film together.  However, in this category I could see each film winning for different reasons.  I’m also tempted to say Benjamin Button, because one of the few redeeming factors about that film was its direction.  If I could pick a winner it would be Revolutionary Road, even though it’s not nominated.  Oh well.

Best documentary feature:

• “The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)” (Cinema Guild), A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
• “Encounters at the End of the World” (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
• “The Garden” A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
• “Man on Wire” (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall in association with Red Box Films Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
• “Trouble the Water” (Zeitgeist Films), An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Winner: This is a category that none of the movies are ever available to the public, so I haven’t seen any.  The best I can do is go with the buzz I hear about the films and say that I’ve heard the most about Encounters at the End of the World.

Best documentary short subject:

• “The Conscience of Nhem En” A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki
• “The Final Inch” Vermilion Films in association with Google.org, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
• “Smile Pinki” A Principe Production, Megan Mylan
• “The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306” A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

Winner: Also no idea on this one.  I haven’t even heard any buzz about these, so you’re on your own for this guess.

Achievement in film editing:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
• “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lee Smith
• “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
• “Milk” (Focus Features), Elliot Graham
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens

Winner: If Benjamin Buttons wins this one I will give up on the Oscars forever.  That was some of the worst editing I’ve ever seen.  Also, Milk was awful editing, so I sure hope not.  I think that Slumdog Millionaire might get this one because the editing was really fabulous, and I also have a feeling this is one of those films that will win almost everything it’s nominated for.  When there’s a movie like this with no bad press whatsoever, and constant celebrity love whenever they refer to it, it takes it all.

Best foreign language film of the year:

• “The Baader Meinhof Complex” A Constantin Film Production, Germany
• “The Class” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haut et Court Production, France
• “Departures” (Regent Releasing), A Departures Film Partners Production, Japan
• “Revanche” (Janus Films), A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production, Austria
• “Waltz with Bashir” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel

Winner: Again, I wasn’t able to see any of these films, but I have been hearing a lot of great things about Waltz with Bashir.

Achievement in makeup:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Greg Cannom
• “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan
• “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (Universal), Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Winner: Ugh, I think Benjamin Button will take this one.  They made Brad Pitt look old and tiny, therefore everyone thinks they’re amazing.  Age affects always win out over any other makeup jobs.  Make an actor look old and wrinkly – Oscars for everyone!  I’d bet my life on this one.  I’d like to see Dark Knight get this one, but I really don’t think it will.

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

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Alexandre Desplat
• “Defiance” (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard
• “Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Elfman
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
• “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman

Winner: I have a bad feeling that Benjamin Button could get this one as well, but I also think that Slumdog has a good chance.  The score for Slumdog was amazing, and really fit the image of the film well.

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

• “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
• “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
• “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

Winner: The problem with this is that when the same film is nominated twice in a category, people don’t know what to do and often vote for the other one.  Like last year, Enchanted was nominated for like 3 songs and then the song from Once got the award because people feel too conflicted with the same movie being in there.  So I’m going to go ahead and give this one to Wall-E, although I think either of the Slumdog songs were much more musically rich.

Best animated short film:

• “La Maison en Petits Cubes” A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato
• “Lavatory – Lovestory” A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production, Konstantin Bronzit
• “Oktapodi” (Talantis Films), A Gobelins, L’école de l’image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
• “Presto” (Walt Disney), A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland
• “This Way Up” A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

Winner: No clue here.  Your guess is as good as mine.  I always guess wrong on the animated shorts.

Best live action short film:

• “Auf der Strecke (On the Line)” (Hamburg Shortfilmagency), An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production, Reto Caffi
• “Manon on the Asphalt” (La Luna Productions), A La Luna Production, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
• “New Boy” (Network Ireland Television), A Zanzibar Films Production, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
• “The Pig” An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
• “Spielzeugland (Toyland)” A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank

Winner: No idea again.  Shorts I never get to see.  I’m going to root for “Spielzeugland” though, just because I want to see whoever presents this award try to pronounce it and look really embarrassed.

Achievement in sound editing:

• “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Richard King
• “Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Glenn Freemantle and Tom Sayers
• “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
• “Wanted” (Universal), Wylie Stateman

Winner: I think that Dark Knight has a good shot at this one.  I thought the sound editing was terrible in Slumdog, so I’d be pretty shocked if they won.  I still think they have a chance because of what I said before about them winning it all.  But Dark Knight deserves this one.

Achievement in sound mixing:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
• “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
• “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
• “Wanted” (Universal), Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Winner: I didn’t see Wanted, but I’ve heard the rumors about it taking this award.  Apparently their sound mixing was great, so I’m going to take the word of some pros on this one.  I also think Benjamin Button has a good shot.

Achievement in visual effects

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
• “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
• “Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

Winner: Once again, I think that Benjamin Button will take this one because of the visual effects they used to make Brad Pitt looked shorter, and they also had some other strange looking people.  If they win visual effects because of that stupid hummingbird that flutters around throughout the film I’ll jump off a cliff (you know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen the movie).  Personally I think that both Dark Knight and Iron Man are deserving of this award because they had far more difficult and intense effects than little hummingbirds.

Adapted screenplay:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
• “Doubt” (Miramax), Written by John Patrick Shanley
• “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Screenplay by Peter Morgan
• “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Hare
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Winner: I’m a little indecisive about this one.  I think that The Reader deserves the award, but I’m not sure if it will win.  I’m leaning more toward Slumdog or Frost/Nixon for this one.  It’s not really fair if Doubt wins, because the guy who wrote the book also wrote the film, so that’s kinda cheating right?

Original screenplay:

• “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt
• “Happy-Go-Lucky” (Miramax), Written by Mike Leigh
• “In Bruges” (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh
• “Milk” (Focus Features), Written by Dustin Lance Black
• “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

Winner: I think In Bruges is going to get this one.  It’s an action-comedy, which is not an easy thing to write, and the lines are very well thought out.  I also don’t see the others being much competition, except for maybe Milk.  In Bruges also won the Golden Globe here, so that says something.

Best motion picture of the year:

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), A Kennedy/Marshall Production, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
• “Milk” (Focus Features), A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
• “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production, Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti and Redmond Morris, Producers
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production, Christian Colson, Producer

Winner: Ah, here we are at Best Picture.  The one everyone really cares about.  Well you don’t even have to watch, because I can promise you that Slumdog Millionaire has probably already packed that award away.  It’s theirs, no question.  The other films don’t even need to show up.  However, if I could pick, I would have nominated The Wrestler and Revolutionary Road and given the award to The Wrestler.  It was my favorite film of the year, and the most original.

The film follows Frank and April Wheeler (DiCaprio and Winslet), a young couple with two children in the 1950’s.  They are trying to remember what it’s like to be exciting and happy together, and they feel that they are falling apart.  The desperation and need for each other that they have, yet wanting completely opposite things in their lives is heart wrenching to watch, and the incredible acting by DiCaprio and Winslet make it even more so.

I rarely get as affected by a movie as I was by this one.  I was pulled in to the lives of these people so strongly that I wanted to reach out and help them.  Their emotions were so deep and so heartbreaking that I could hardly stand to watch what they were going through.  Even when they were doing terrible things to each other, I could understand the place in their heart that they were coming from.  The writing, acting, and directing was done so perfectly that there was not a moment that I felt removed from the film.  I was completely immersed in the story to the point that my emotions were going up and down right along with the characters.

This was one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s greatest performance since What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? and also one of Kate Winslet’s best by far.  The way they acted individually as well as how they played off the emotions of one another in the scenes was completely sincere.  Watching this film I can believe that they forgot they were acting and really lived the scenes.  Kathy Bates also was outstanding as their real estate consult and friend.  I have always thought Bates was overrated, but in this film she proved to me that she can play a wide range of emotions and can also hold back when necessary.  Michael Shannon’s performance as Kathy Bates’ insane instigator of a son was amazing, even though I had never heard of him before this film.

Revolutionary Road was based on the book by Richard Yates and was written for the screen by Justin Haythe.  This is Haythe’s first major film, and I expect that it will bring him more jobs in Hollywood than he can handle.  Sam Mendes directed, and he is also Kate Winslet’s husband, so he had quite a few challenges that most directors may not have to deal with, especially considering the highly emotional and sexual scenes between his wife and DiCaprio.  Mendes is best known for his Oscar winning direction of American Beauty.

Revolutionary Road is nominated for 3 Oscars: Best Actor (Michael Shannon), Art Direction, and Costume Design.  I personally think it was shorted and should have been nominated for Direction, Best Picture, and Best Actress for Kate Winslet.