Please Take A Moment To Vote In the Best Picture Oscar Poll... Thank You

The 2009 TV Land Awards

Since I have dogged out TV Land over the past few years for some of their programming decisions, it's only fair to give 'em props when they do something right. I don't know if any of you caught it, but the 2009 TV Land Awards (which first aired on Sunday, April 26) was outstanding! Here's a summary of some of my favorite moments:

*Host Neil Patrick Harris (who is quickly becoming one of my favorite entertainers). In addition to his hosting duties, Neil also did a Billy Crystalesque montage at the top of the show in which he appeared as cast members in TV series from the past and present.

* Cast reunions of TV series such as M*A*S*H, Home Improvement (where the hell are you Jonathan Taylor Thomas?), Married with Children, and Knots Landing.

* A "live blogging" bit where Neil would periodically read the online "comments" by someone watching the telecast and then reveal that they were "made" by a celebrity in the audience.

* The performance by Earth, Wind and Fire (winners of the "Entertainers" award) to close the show.

*Even with all this, my favorite part of the event was the tribute to Sid and Marty Krofft (who won the "Pop Culture" award), complete with an elaborate production number featuring the themes to many of their Saturday morning live-action shows. You can watch it below:



In case you missed the 2009 TV Land Awards, you may be able to catch a rebroadcast of it on the cable channel. You can also click the The 2009 TV Land Awards link to watch highlights of the event.

Academy Awards Highlights

The 2009 Academy Awards telecast was one of the best in years. After last year's show (the lowest rated ever), the Academy announced that they would keep the names of the presenters secret in order to boost interest. I was skeptical about this change, but it worked surprisingly well. I especially liked how they had 5 previous winners each in the 4 acting categories serve as presenters for the respective category in which they had won. I hope that they continue this practice for future Academy Awards telecasts.

Even though there was little suspense regarding who would win the various awards (it was basically a Slumdog sweep), the ceremony was still entertaining. Here are some of my favorite moments:

*Host Hugh Jackman's opening number. Although I knew the dude was talented (I caught a performance of his on the Tony Awards a few years ago), I never really gave him much thought. Props to him and to Anne Hathaway (who knew she could sing?)

*Dustin Lance Black's heartfelt acceptance speech for Best Original Screenplay for the film Milk.

* Presenter Ben Stiller's parody of Joaquin Phoenix' recent interview with David Letterman. Co-presenter Natalie Portman held her own with Stiller comedically, saying that he looked like he worked at a Hasidic meth lab.



*The speeches of Heath Ledger's family (his parents and sister) as they accepted his Best Supporting Actor statuette on his behalf. Doing what they did couldn't have been easy.

*Danny Boyle's "Tigger" impersonation as he accepted his Best Director Oscar.

*Jerry Lewis humble acceptance of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

* Sean Penn's acceptance speech for Best Actor. He was surprisingly humorous as he thanked the members of the Academy (aka the commie, homo-loving sons of guns) who voted for him. Sean also took the moment to get political in his references to President Barack Obama and the passing of Proposition 8.

What were some of your favorite or least favorite moments of the Oscar telecast?

Below is the opening number from the telecast featuring Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway:

Super Sunday Summary

Although it seemed to me that there was less buzz than normal leading up to the big game, Super Bowl XLIII turned out to be one of the best in the championship game's history. The team I was pulling for took home the Lombardi Trophy, so it's all good. Since you don't come here to get in-depth sports analysis, I will leave it to ESPN and their ilk to break the game down.

Luckily the game itself was a winner because most of the commercials weren't worthy of airing during the single biggest event in American sports. Here are some of the ones that stood out, for better or worse:

* I thought the Audi spot featuring action film star Jason Statham traveling through the decades was pretty cool.

* I got a laugh from the Bud Light commercial where the employee gets thrown out of a window for jokingly suggesting that they cut costs by not ordering the potent potable for every meeting.

* e Trade- I was immediately turned off during last year's Super Bowl as soon as the talking baby spit up food at the end of the spot. It's pretty much been all downhill since then. Whenever those commercials come on, I can't get to the remote fast enough. That rugrat needs to go away... NOW!!

* Maybe it's because I'm a fan of Hulu and Alec Baldwin, but I really enjoyed the commercial he did for the web streaming service.

As for the halftime show starring Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, it ranks right up there with Prince's performance from 2007. If people say that the Boss and his gang surpassed His Royal Badness, they won't get an argument from me. Even though I have never seen a Springsteen concert in person, I've seen enough footage to know that he's a master at putting on a live show. I loved the way he talked to the millions of viewers telling us to step away from the guacamole dip and to put down the chicken fingers down for the next 12 minutes. Those who listened to him were smart because Bruce and company were solid throughout. Some might say that the "referee" coming onstage to throw a flag near the end of the performance was corny theatrics, but I thought it was good old fashioned show biz.

What are your thoughts on the Super Bowl commercials and Bruce's halftime performance?

Final Results of the Super Bowl Halftime Show Poll

Chalking up exactly half of the votes, Prince was chosen as the artist who gave the best halftime performance during The Super Bowl. Given that many of our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, the fact that we still talk about Prince's 2007 halftime performance is saying a lot.

On the opposite end, MJ didn't receive a single vote. Maybe because it was awhile ago (1993) people didn't remember it much.

Here are the final results:

Prince- 50%
Janet Jackson & Justin Timberlake- 16%

Paul McCartney- 13%

The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and U2- 10%

Michael Jackson- 0%

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any suitable footage of Prince's performance.

Today Is Embrace Your Geekness Day

After browsing through the 2006 edition of Chase's Calendar of Events, I learned that July 13th is Embrace Your Geekness Day. Amazingly, this is an actual copyrighted holiday created by Ruth and Tom Roy of Wellcat Holidays. So if you dig and I mean REALLY dig things like comic books, music, D&D, or fantasy sports, today is the day to let your geek flag fly.

There was a time when to most people, the word geek was a 4-letter word (both literally and figuratively). In the eyes of many, it conjured up images of pocket protectors, nose spray, and taped-up glasses. For the most part, that school of thought has gone the way of the Trapper Keeper. Nowadays, there are numerous people (me included) who view the term "geek" as a badge of honor. As part of the term's evolution, it now denotes anyone who possesses an uncommon skill and/or knowledge in a particular area. I know that this next statement will come as a shock to you all, but I consider myself a pop culture geek. However, depending on the situation, I may break it down into specifics (TV/classic movies, music, etc.).

One way in which the modern geek differs from the "Poindexter" stereotype is in the area of social interaction. Although we may be borderline obsessive about our passion(s), we don't allow it/them to overtake our lives. If you have a spouse or significant other who supports your geekdom, you can even make it pay off for you in unforeseen ways. Although it wasn't my intention, I wound up impressing a former girlfriend with various pop culture factoids. She would show her appreciation by locking lips with me. As a result, I came up with the term "geek kiss".

Do you consider yourself a modern geek? If so, what areas bring out the geekiness in you?