The Oscar Rules

Well, my multi year winning streak for our friends’ Oscar pool was finally broken last night.  I got most of the major awards right, but blew it on the short film categories.  I really need to research those more.  I immediately knew when I saw some short clips of the films which ones were likely to win.  I mean, Israelis and Palestinians dancing in formation like out of some musical or music video?  Come on, what’s not to like about that.  I used to have some hard and fast rules about the Oscars that served me well, but times have changed with the Oscar voters.

OLD RULES
1.  Older nominees who have never won are sure things (worked for Scorcese, not for Peter O’Toole)

2.  Don’t vote against any movie dealing with Israel or the Holocaust.  If those topics are not available, movies dealing with slavery are a good second bet (this is still a good rule, see short film on Israel mentioned above – though it didn’t work for Munich last year).

3.  Look for the clear favorite to sweep all the awards (this will often still work if there is a real powerhouse like The Lord of the Rings running the table, but voters seem to be spreading the wealth a lot lately.)

4.  Sentimental songs done by popular pop stars generally win best original song (This used to be the case, but no longer, Melissa Etheridge not withstanding.  If Eminem and then “It’s Hard Out There for a Pimp” can win, you know things have changed.)

5.  The costumes that involve Renaissance finery and ample bosoms will always win. (Still a good rule, see Marie Antoinette, an otherwise forgettable film).

We’ll see if these rules can help me more next year.  Perhaps a little more research as well.  Why can’t the academy post some of those short films on their websites anyway.  That is an idea whose time has come.  Maybe I should try Youtube.

The “Civil War” is over, AKA Marvel loses a customer (for now)

The “final” issue of Marvel’s much delayed, overhyped Civil War is finally here and I have to say I haven’t had this strong of a negative reaction to a comic book in a long time.  Maybe that is what they want, but I’m done with them for a while.  Their entire line is so tied into this book that I’m unsure what books of theirs I can even buy for the library. 

For the uninitiated, Civil War shows what might happen if superheroes kill a bunch of school children while battling supervillains.  After this initial incident, Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic advocate registering the heroes through the government, while Captain America and others struggle against this.  Spider-man starts on the proregistration side and even reveals his identity to the world, but switches midstream to Cap’s side.  That’s when the story really comes off the rails.  Thor clones emerge, mass murdering supervillains get enlisted by the government and the writers show a true hatred or lack of understanding towards the characters of Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic as they are turned into deceitful, manipulative egomaniacs.  Then to top it all off, Captain America gives up.  That’s right, he doesn’t die or fall in battle, he gives up.  Because he’s worried about too many civilian casualties?  They fight huge battles in the streets of New York every few issues and they’re concerned about civilians now?  What a lame ending.  And I know it’s so they can write more stories about this for the next year.  If that’s the case, they should be honest about it and say it’s a two year storyline.  Civil War did not end, it’s going to go on and on.  It’s going to have to go on without me.