SleepingPoliceman

So watching the Oscars the other night reminded me of two things. One, I need to finish my 2007 In Music posts so I can get out my 2007 in Movies posts. I probably won’t be done with reviewing 2007 until March 2008 begins. Uncalled for.

Two, something that’s been bothering me for a while. They did a little montage…well, many little montages, actually, but this one in particular. It was a montage of all the Best Picture winners. It ended, of course, with 2006’s The Departed. Which was a phenomenal movie, and is I assume generally considered to be pretty great.

But I’ve heard some chatter, mainly from The Sports Guy, that Nicholson’s performance in that movie is considered awful. There’s never really any further exposition about why it’s awful…just that he did a horrible job and brings down the whole movie.

Uhhhh…what? Really? I’ve seen the movie a handful of times, even once with this vague criticism fresh in my mind. And, frankly, I don’t get it. I’m not saying it’s the best performance he’s ever turned in. I’m not saying his Boston accent isn’t hellishly forced from time to time. And I’m not saying that it’s everything you possibly could have dreamed it might be when you heard that Scorcese was finally directing Jack. But…it’s a perfectly credible performance, with some great moments. He very rarely ends up looking like the over-the-top maniacal caricature of himself that he can sometimes resort to…and when he does (most obviously when he makes the rat face in the closed restaurant when questioning DiCaprio), it makes sense in the context of the movie as Costello is totally falling apart.

So I turn it over to you, dear readers: what gives? Where’s the negative energy? Is it people pissed that Jack wouldn’t wear a Sox hat in the movie because he loves the Yankees so much? Is it Simmons-heads dittoing away at whatever the BSG tells them? Is it just that some people are sick of Nich…olson? Teach me, people. Teach me.

Continued on from installment #1, we carry on with the next segment of my way-too-late review of last year’s music scene. It’s album time…first the honorable mentions, and then the top 10. Ready? Good.

Part III: Albums of the Year – The Honorable Mentions

Instead of doing a top 13 like last year, I’m doing three honorable mentions and a top 10. Is this less wishy-washy? I don’t know. But here we are. The mentions that are deemed to be honorable happen after the jump.

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Well, as it’s almost the end of February, I guess it’s about time for me to hunker down and actually do my year-end reviews for 2007. I had this list pretty much finalized around the time I finished the always-popular 2k7 mix. But I wanted to make sure I took the time to write out my thoughts. Who benefits from that? You, the readers…naturally.

So this is quite late, especially when compared to last year and the year before that. I have no excuse for you.

This year this music review will be divided into three posts. This is mainly because I was so lax in writing concert reviews after seeing bands, so I want to give the top 10 show list its own full post. That will be part 3. First and foremost, though, let’s get to the first installment. Let’s hit it, after the jump.

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For some reason, that line makes more sense with Edible Arrangements than with Valentine’s images.

Anyway, this is for all those people out there who have a certain special someone. You probably celebrated yesterday. But, really, shouldn’t you celebrate that specialness every day? Yes…yes, you should.

So, happy belated Valentine’s day to one and all. But especially one.

Nothing says love more than nerdy jokes. Thanks, 4 Color Rebellion.

And for those of you out there who are single…sorry that you just got blindsided with another reminder of your singleness one day after the Day of Unavoidable Singlehood Reminders. Feb. 14 sucks when you have a significant no one. I blame Hallmark. And your inadequacies.

CNN.com: Ex-Florida prison boss: Drunken orgies tainted system

This has the early lead in the race for, “best headline of 2008.” And the article also contains one of the greatest sentences every uttered by anyone on the face of anything:

“The connection between the softball and the parties and the corruption and the beatings was greatly intertwined.”

Wow. Wow. Nothing about that isn’t genius. The sunshine state, indeed.

The posts here have been focused a lot in the past few months on topics of sports and arts. (I’ll let you decide which is the bread and which is the circuses.) But what better night than Super Tuesday to bring us back into the political realm?

The big headlines as of this writing focus on Hillary winning California soundly. But progressive sites and even mainstream pundits are pointing out that Obama had a big night. It looks like the race is still close.

On the other side, Heart Huckabee somehow found a way to jump back into the race. Apparently, being a very hardcore right-wing “let’s make God’s law the law in America” candidate can help you win Republican primaries in the south. Who knew? On the other hand, Nathan Petrelli Mitt Romney looks a little washed up, winning his Rep. friends in MA and carrying Mormonland, but not much else. “Frank discussions,” indeed. McCain looks to be pretty close to locking up the nomination, as everyone in the GOP sort of looks at each other, shrugs and says, “Meh? Meh.”

Given the roster of candidates who started in the race, I gotta say: it could be worse. Of the remaining real candidates (sorry, Ron Paul…and sorry to the people on Murdock Street that have the huge Paul sign with the blinking Christmas lights around it), only Huckabee would be a truly scary president. And I don’t care how much extra boost he got tonight or how personable he seems whenever he’s chatting with pundits…his religious views are too extreme even for the Republicans. Look, I don’t want an (R) next to the name of the next resident of the White House…but if it’s really down to McCain and Romney, then whatever. Neither looks that bad in comparison to the W. crew.

All that being said, I think that I’m ready to go all-in on the junior senator from Illinois:

MSNBC: Obama Super Tuesday speech

Dude can definitely orate. Methinks I’m going to have to sit down with The Blueprint For Change in the near future to see if we finally have the candidate that I can pledge my full devotion to. It hasn’t really happened yet in a major election…but this really could be different.

In other words, I haven’t fully caught Obama fever, but I have a strong case of Barack sniffles. And my forehead is feeling very, very warm.

The Sports Guy: ‘Free fallin’ out into nothing’

I’m going to point at everyone’s friend for a moment: I think it’s perfect that he parallels the ‘02 Super Bowl and this one. I mean, they’re right there. I don’t think a reasonable Patriot fan can be too pissed about losing this game…we toughed out an improbable victory back then, and we had one toughed out against us now. What goes around comes around. Yes, it would have been great to win and go 19-0 and be the best team to ever be a team in the history of ever. But…it didn’t happen. So it goes. I’m not happy about it, but I can’t be too upset either. The team has won three titles this decade after being a joke forever. That’s pretty great. Then was good, now is bad…at least there was a then.

Anyway, the parallels between the Super Bowls just underscore how much the Sports Guy himself has changed. Back then he became famous for being the, “Holy shit, I’m just a regular dude who got to go to the Super Bowl and, wow, my team won and I just can’t believe it!” dude. Now he’s the “Yeah, I was all start to write my fourth Super Bowl victory column talking about the private 18 person party I was going to go to in Tom Brady’s hotel room. I have friends who have connections. I’m pretty cool, yeah, they think I’m pretty cool,” dude. The shift is seismic.

I still read his stuff every time he puts something up…but he’s definitely a different guy now. And his, “I’m a regular Joe” common man perspective is pretty much all artifice at this point. Not going to blame him or lament his path…just funny the way things turned out for him.

Any and all parallels you want to make between this transition and the evolution of the football team he roots for can be made without my participation. I will now go off to mull over the question of whether this marks the end of the Patriots as a top-tier football dynasty, with nucleus of players and coaching staff never recovering from this defeat…or if they are back in the thick of it next January, pushing to vindicate themselves and get that fourth title.

Or I won’t mull that…instead, I’ll just go to the Beanpot, where the team I root for is never the heavily favored overdog. Come on, Eagles.

SP’s official Super Bowl reaction:

It’s 11 days until pitchers and catchers report.