Later this afternoon, I’ll be heading out for a week long road trip, with stops in Virginia, Florida, and many stops in between. The plan is to head to Roanoke tonight, spend the weekend there taking in the sights, and then head down to Florida and Disney World on Monday. After spending Tuesday at Hollywood Studios, we’ll be heading to Universal on Wednesday for all things Harry Potter, before returning to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot on Thursday. After that, it will time to take the long ride home, with a few interesting stops along the way.
Tag / Harry Potter
Book 3 (of 52) – Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – J.K. Rowling
After this novel was released in 1998, Harry Potter became a bit of a global phenomenon. One I had managed to mostly avoid, until now. With a trip (or 2) planned to Universal Studios later this year and with a promise from a certain someone to quit smoking should I read all the books and watch all the movies, I went about reading the first entry in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to see what the fuss was about.
And, I have no idea what all the fuss was about. I can see why kids would enjoy it, but the response from adults is mostly a mystery to me. Other than a small bit at the end, there was little in the way of excitement in the entire book. I’m told the books get better, but I’m not entirely looking forward to finding out if that is true or not.
And The Oscar Went To
A few thoughts on the Oscar telecast before we get into my predictions from yesterday.
- In the same week an ESPN writer is fired for using a headline that could be considered insensitive to Jeremy Lin, Billy Crystal dons black face for the Oscars.
- There’s enough time for a special Cirque de Soleil performance, but not for the 2 nominees for Best Song? Who says Hollywood is out of touch?
- Emma Stone truly is lovely, isn’t she?
- The Marty Scorsese drinking game would certainly get one drunk tonight.
- Wait, Whitney Houston died? Why wasn’t that in the news or something?
So, how did my predictions fare? Out of 24 categories, I managed to get 9 correct. Here are my predicted winners along with the actual winners. Continue reading →
And The Oscar Goes To
Tonight is the 84th annual Academy Awards. Here are my predictions:
Best Motion Picture of the Year
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
Of the nominated films, Moneyball is the only one I’ve seen. I think The Artist takes home the award. It is definitely the type of film the Academy likes to reward.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir for A Better Life
George Clooney for The Descendants
Jean Dujardin for The Artist
Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt for Moneyball
Again, Brad Pitt’s performance in Moneyball is the only one I’ve seen. Clooney seems to have some momentum on his side.