Wednesday, January 31, 2001

I've added BlogVoices to my site though in doing so my frustrations with it and Blogger have grown. If I had time and a little more know how I'd switch to greymatter... 1/31/2001 11:26:14 AM .:. | Discuss

Tuesday, January 30, 2001

I gave you my major category Oscar nomination predictions a few weeks ago. What follows are all category predictions for this year's Oscar nominations. I'll give my "Who Will Win" predictions after the final nominations are announced. Remember, these are who I believe will be nominated and not neccesarily who should... BEST PICTURE Almost Famous Crouching Tiger Erin Brockovich Gladiator Traffic ACTOR Javier Bardem, Before Night Falls Russell Crowe, Gladiator Michael Douglas, Wonder Boys Tom Hanks, Cast Away Geoffrey Rush, Quills ACTRESS Joan Allen, The Contender Ellen Burstyn, Requiem for a Dream Juliette Binoche, Chocolat Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich DIRECTOR Cameron Crowe, Almost Famous Philip Kauffman, Quills Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger Ridley Scott, Gladiator Steven Soderbergh, Traffic SUPPORTING ACTOR Willem Dafoe, Shadow of the Vampire Albert Finney, Erin Brockovich Benicio Del Toro, Traffic Gary Lewis, Billy Elliot Joaquin Pheonix, Gladiator SUPPORTING ACTRESS Judi Dench, Chocolat Marcia Gay Harden, Pollock Kate Hudson, Almost Famous Frances McDormand, Almost Famous Julie Walters, Billy Elliot ORIGINAL SCREEPLAY Cameron Crowe, Almost Famous Susannah Grant, Erin Brockovich Lee Hall, Billy Elliot Kenneth Lonergan, You Can Count on Me David Mamet, State and Main ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Stephen Gaghan, Traffic Robert Jacons, Chocolat Steve Kloves, Wonder Boys Ted Tally, All the Pretty Horses Doug Wright, Quills ORIGINAL SONG I Believe, Billy Elliot I've Seen it All, Dancer in the Dark My Funny Friend and Me, The Emperor's New Groove Someday Out of the Blue, The Road to El Dorado Things Have Changed, Wonder Boys ORIGINAL SCORE Chocolat Crouching Tiger Gladiator Requiem for a Dream Sunshine FILM EDITING Almost Famous Billy Elliot Crouching Tiger Gladiator Traffic CINEMATOGRAPHY Almost Famous Crouching Tiger Gladiator Traffic Wonder Boys ART DIRECTION Crouching Tiger Gladiator The House of Mirth How the Grinch Stole Christmas Quills COSTUME DESIGN Crouching Tiger Gladiator How the Grinch Stole Christmas The House of Mirth Quills MAKEUP Cast Away How the Grinch Stole Christmas Shadow of the Vampire SOUND Cast Away Crouching Tiger Gladiator The Perfect Storm Traffic SOUND EFFECTS EDITING Cast Away Gladiator The Perfect Storm VISUAL EFFECTS Cast Away Gladiator Hollow Man 1/30/2001 04:47:40 PM .:. | Discuss

Monday, January 29, 2001

I just bought me a brand new computer! It should be ready to pick up tomorrow afternoon, just in time (perhaps) for DSL to be installed next week. Woo hoo! 1/29/2001 01:44:25 PM .:. | Discuss

Sunday, January 28, 2001

I went to Travis' housewarming on Saturday night. He's got a really great place which is actually less than a mile away from mine! I guess that means that my housewarming should be coming up sometime soon... T minus ten days until DSL installation. Do you think it'll actually happen on time, and succesfully, this time around? I'm not so sure... 1/28/2001 09:44:12 PM .:. | Discuss

Thursday, January 25, 2001

I forgot to mention that on Tuesday I was informed that my DSL installation date is set for February 8! If it is indeed that date and all goes smoothly, cross fingers please, then the total time from ordering to DSL will be 36 days which is about a third of the time it took last time. 1/25/2001 11:55:41 AM .:. | Discuss

Wednesday, January 24, 2001

I was a good citizen today and waited out in the cold for the CHP to arrive at an accident I witnessed on the way to work. Brrr... I've had a large number of full moving boxes stacked in various places all over my house. I've found that in emptying said boxes I've not only once again found stuff I've had packed away for weeks but I've also got even more room in my house. My hallway is actually quite large. Same with my living room, bacthroom, etc. What a concept! 1/24/2001 11:37:07 AM .:. | Discuss

Tuesday, January 16, 2001

All done! The big news this go around is that I am officially out of my year long lease, five months early. I handed over the keys and did the final walk through with the landlord yesterday evening. The other thing this means is that absolutley everything is out of the rental house and into my own. Phew! David helped me a lot on Saturday cleaning up the rental and getting the last misc. stuff out of it. Then we went back home and met Bill. It was a lot of hanging out with people I communicate with all but this time in "real life". We took a jaunt down into quaint lil' downtown Campbell and decided to eat at Andy's Barbecue which has been a favorite of mine for years and is now just two blocks away. After stuffing outselves we walked back home and began pouring through my theatre collection of books, videos, DVDs, and audio. Dax joined us, as well, and we all had quite a good time making fun of some really bad (read: dated) historical Tony Award performances. It made me realize I really need to go through, organize, label, and document what I have. I've noticed that my house is much more comfortable than the rental. With little to no use of the heater my house maintains a very comfortably warm temperature as opposed to the rental which was often times drafty, cold, and uncomfortable. And I'm lovin' my Tivo. :} 1/16/2001 05:05:39 PM .:. | Discuss

Saturday, January 13, 2001

I am officially a home owner! Escrow closed Friday evening rather uneventfully. Odd that all that time leads up to closing escrow and yet in the end you don't really do anything. Close escrow? Who closed? Is it someone's job out there to physically close the escrow? What is escrow anyway? Can I go to the store and buy it? What department would I go to and why is it always left open? Can't they just close the damn escrow in the first place? I could have saved so much time waiting for the damn escrow to close if they had just closed it after opening it. Open the refrigerator? Close it. Open escrow? Close it. Phew. Anyway, escrow has closed. Mortgage has begun. FIlm at 11. Oh yes - David is here. He helped move heavy boxes. Bill should get here any minute and perhaps if he's really nice he'll close the escrow on his way out... 1/13/2001 04:13:56 PM .:. | Discuss

Friday, January 12, 2001

The electrician came and all is well in the world. I got two van loads of misc. stuff from my rental house to my condo last night and most of the rest of what's left will be stored in my parent's garage. I'm helping Scott haul some of the stuff he stored in my garage to his place and the rest of our junk in the garage will be dumped. I haven't heard yet about escrow closing so I'm still awaiting that today. More when I know... 1/12/2001 12:54:50 PM .:. | Discuss

Thursday, January 11, 2001

My loan was funded today! The county will record title and all that paperwork neccesary to close escrow tomorrow when I will officially be a home owner. Let the tax breaks commence! The carpet cleaner came to my house to cleanup the mess that The Good Guys' delivery men left when delivering my new TV. I've faxed them the receipt and hopefully will get reimbursed sometime soon. Scott came over last night to help out with the bed. It's all put together now and some of my surround sound speakers are mounted in my living room as well. He'll help me finish that project Sunday evening. A lot more of my boxes have now been unpacked thanks to my bed being all put together, as well. As soon as everything is more in place, unpacked, and cleaned up I'll take some pictures and post them on here... The electrician comes tomorrow morning to do his work and David arrives late tomorrow night! And on Monday I will officially be out of the old rental home. I have house cleaners coming over that day to do some cleaning before I get out of my lease, get my deposits back, and hand over keys. Special thanks to Travis for all his help answering and solving legal questions and problems over the past many months! :) 1/11/2001 04:03:50 PM .:. | Discuss

Wednesday, January 10, 2001

Good news: I have a brand new large TV and Tivo to go with it! Bad news: The delivery men tracked mud and dirt on the carpet. So along with an electrician coming tomorrow to ground some outlets and other minor work, I'm having my carpet cleaned and paid for by the guys at The Good Guys who tracked the dirt in the first place. I still have to get my waterbed put together and filled. In other news, it looks like I'll be meeting up with Bill aka Mermaniac and David aka dlevy this weekend! 1/10/2001 03:50:38 PM .:. | Discuss

Many of you know I do this every year. I love compiling buzz, business, reviews, commentary, precursor awards, etc. and coming up with nomination and winner predictions for the Oscars and Tonys. I have all of my predictions for all Oscar nomination categories at home but as I just moved into my new house I don't have a net connection their just yet so what follows are simply the main categories...
BEST PICTURE Almost Famous Crouching Tiger Erin Brockovich Gladiator Traffic Traffic is my current projected winner though it could easily also go to Gladiator. I would normally not include Almost Famous in my nomination predictions but it has done pretty well with other precursor awards and award nominations so I'm playing a hunch that it might very well be nominated. Quills, Chocolat, and Billy Elliot (in that order) are the next most likely to be nominated in my humble opinion.
ACTOR Javier Bardem, Before Night Falls Russell Crowe, Gladiator Michael Douglas, Wonder Boys Tom Hanks, Cast Away Geoffrey Rush, Quills This is a tight race this year. If I had to say right now I'd predict that Douglas will win though Hanks and Crowe are running tightly behind. These are pretty close to what the final nominations will be though Ed Harris has a slight chance of being nominated upsetting one of the above mentioned.
ACTRESS Joan Allen, The Contender Ellen Burstyn, Requiem for a Dream Juliette Binoche, Chocolat Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich One of the almost sure fire bets in this years Oscar race is Julia Roberts taking this award home on awards night. Burstyn and Linney (in that order) are her only competition. And though it won't happen my hunch for any sort of an upset in nominations for this category is the possible nomination of Renee Zellweger for her work in Nurse Betty.
DIRECTOR Cameron Crowe, Almost Famous Philip Kauffman, Quills Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger Ridley Scott, Gladiator Steven Soderbergh, Traffic Another near sure bet, in my opinion the surest of the major categories, is a win for Soderbergh's Traffic. Trailing far behind him are Lee, Crowe, and Scott in that order. Possible upset nominations not mentioned above are Lasse Hallstrom for Chocolat and Soderbergh again for Erin Brockovich, in that order).
SUPPORTING ACTOR Willem Dafoe, Shadow of the Vampire Albert Finney, Erin Brockovich Benicio Del Toro, Traffic Gary Lewis, Billy Elliot Joaquin Pheonix, Gladiator Finney will win. Del Toro and Dafoe, in that order, trail behind. Possible upset nominations include, in order of possibility: Philip Hofman, State and Main and Gary Oldman, The Contender.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Judi Dench, Chocolat Marcia Gay Harden, Pollock Kate Hudson, Almost Famous Frances McDormand, Almost Famous Julie Walters, Billy Elliot Frances McDormand has a pretty sure fire win locked up in this category. Her competition, in order as always, is Harden and Walters. This category is sure to have some upsets replace some of my above predicted candidates, in order of probability replacement predictions include: Kate Winslet's Quills, Catherine Deneuve's Dancer in the Dark, and Catherine Zeta Jones' Traffic.
ORIGINAL SCREEPLAY Cameron Crowe, Almost Famous Susannah Grant, Erin Brockovich Lee Hall, Billy Elliot Kenneth Lonergan, You Can Count on Me David Mamet, State and Main There are only three players in this field: Almost Famous, Erin Brockovich, and You Can Count on Me. There are only two contenders in this field: Almost Famous and You Can Count on Me. Their is only one front runner and predicted winner in this field: You Can Count on Me. Upset nomination predictions in order are Shadow of the Vampire and Gladiator.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Stephen Gaghan, Traffic Robert Jacons, Chocolat Steve Kloves, Wonder Boys Ted Tally, All the Pretty Horses Doug Wright, Quills Wonder Boys will probably win with Traffic close behind. Thirteen Days may be a nomination upset but it's doubtful.
So that's that. I'll have my Official Oscar Winners Predictions after the actual Oscar Noms are announced. I'll also try to get my Official Nomination Predictions for the rest of the categories soon. Though most of my time is now devoted to closing escrow and moving furniture. :) 1/10/2001 03:49:45 PM .:. | Discuss

Monday, January 08, 2001

Phew! Most of the rental house is now empty. I'll get the rest over the next week and be done, hopefully, with that finally. I started off yesterday morning by walking over to the downtown Campbell farmer's market which happens every Sunday from 9am-1pm. I bought fresh crab, flowers, tangerines, dried fruit, honey, and raspberry jam. Mmmmm... Then After that I went and bought a brand new dishwasher which will be delivered and installed today sometime between 12 and 5. I also bought a brand new, quite large, television which will also be delivered today and a Tivo unit. When cable is installed on the 17th I'll order Tivo service and will be a very happy camper! I put together my tv stand entertainment center unit to be ready for the TV delivery today and rearranged the living room and office furniture. My dad came over to help and really was able to offer some great suggestions which really opened up the living room and made the office a really cool place to do office like activities. About the only major thing left to do at the new place, aside from unpacking all of the boxes, is to put together my bed and fill the waterbed mattress. My large walk in closet has made it really nice to store boxes and random other stuff while needing the floor space to move and assemble furniture. In unrelated news, I was notified today that Pier 39 in San Francisco, the big tourist spot where I used to do live stand-up comedy/juggling shows as a kid, is having an entertainers reunion in April. I am being invited to attend and to perform. I thought it would be fun/funny to perform the exact same routine (same jokes, same costume (with some major hems let out) though will probably only do a few minutes of it. Should be interesting, to say the least! 1/8/2001 10:37:15 AM .:. | Discuss

Saturday, January 06, 2001

I... am... so... tired... Niklas, my dad, brother, and I took the first of two 16 foot truckloads of furniture, boxes, and "stuff" to my new house last night. Four straight hours of that and I was out like a light on my couch in the new place. Why does nobody say "on like a light"? Lights turn on just as easily as out. Why isn't it off like a light? Why "out"? Then I was back at my rental house at 10:30 in the morning to get rid of some of the sold eBay items and begin loading the truck with more furniture, boxes, and "stuff". Scott, Niklas, Kristen, Dax and I loaded up my bed, entertainment center, armoire, and other miscelaneous lighter items and hauled them to my house and then unloaded them. My armoire might very easily weigh around 500-750 pounds. It was not fun. I hadn't checked email in a day and a half as my computer is now at my house which is without DSL for, cross fingers, about three more weeks. After five hours of getting most of the last items from one house to the other I changed clothes and headed to the bowling alley where a number of SoftDevicers met for the second semianual bowl-o-rama. How, dear readers, I was able to actually lift a bowling ball after 10 hours of heavy moving (and weeks of packing preceding) is beyond me. It's probably beyond you. It's no doubt beyond the guy sitting right over there behind you. Ask him about that "out like a light" question from earlier... I thanked all my helpers of yesterday and today profusely as they were doing their helping in words, food, and other bribes. I fear, however, that it wasn't enough so I thank them yet again. And again. You may thank them yourself. As may that guy working on the light question. Next on my list is beyong up and ready at my rental house by 9 in the morning. Two days of heavy moving and yet the next day I'm up by 8am, on a Sunday no less, to see that the till now rented washer and dryer is picked up. I'll also pack the car with most of the rest of the stuff remaining: refrigerator food, remaining cabinet food, remaining dishes and cookware, clothes in the closet, and miscelaneous "stuff". Then I get to work on putting together my massive waterbed and continue unpacking. Then I get to start figuring out the remodeling I'll be doing in the first go around. Probably a new sink, washing machine, and track lighting. But first... I sleep. 1/6/2001 10:46:30 PM .:. | Discuss

Thursday, January 04, 2001

Well, the Uhaul has been reserved. I go with my realtor tomorrow afternoon for the final walk through and will also meet an electrician to discuss some minor fixes and things like installing track lighting. Then the plan is to begin actually moving in later in the evening. A bunch of friends are going to be helping me move in this weekend so I hope to get most if not everything out of here. If I can't I still have quite a few days to do so before I'm finally out of here. In other big boy growing up news, I began investing today. I have an investment adviser and now can check minute by minute to see how much I've made/lost. A mortgage, investments... what next? 1/4/2001 10:37:52 PM .:. | Discuss

Wednesday, January 03, 2001

Things are moving right along. Literally. I've packed a considerable amount more. I've been putting all empty furniture and filled boxes in one of the bedrooms here so aside from that room the house is looking much more like it did before I moved in... which is the point of all of this, I suppose. As well, the furniture and other items eBay'ed a week ago is in the process of being picked up by the high bidders. Escrow on the house is due to close at the end of next week but I was given the opportunity to move in early for a small daily fee. I'll be taking advantage of that opportunity so as to get everything out of this place and me into the new place sooner. This means that in in two days I should be well on my way towards moving in. That being the case, next on the list is getting a truck to haul the furniture, friends to help move, and getting the last of the packing done. I've already begun canceling, transfering, and ordering new checks, gas, electric, water, telephone, cable, etc. The saddest/oddest thing was when I canceled DSL for this house and ordered it for the next. It took over 100 days to get DSL installed here and to cancel it four months after installation (seven months after ordering it originally) was somewhat emotionally difficult. But not really. It appears, not holding my breath though, that it will now only take about 30 days to get DSL installed. PacBell claims only nine days but my provider claims they're hallucinating. 1/3/2001 11:11:02 PM .:. | Discuss

testing "blog this" 1/3/2001 04:52:16 PM .:. | Discuss

Monday, January 01, 2001

It's been an odd weekend. A weekend, perhaps, of transitions. Speaking of which... welcome to the latest millenium! Today, I found myself at the mall taking advantage of some Christmas gift certificates. I saw someone who I hadn't seen in quite a long time. I don't know if they saw me but they must have, though neither one of us seemed to know how to react. Instead neither of us seemed to outwardly react at all. In the split second that I saw this person my lungs felt as if they were attempting to escape by way of the nearest possible exist. It felt like I was jumping off of the tallest skyscraper, my first kiss, and finding out that I just flunked out of school (two of the three, please note, have not really happened... you choose!) all rolled up into one at the same time. For lack of a more logical reaction to said event I immediately hightailed it back to my car. Only then, minutes later while on my way out, did I somehow remember to breathe. As miniscule as the event literally was, this couldn't have come at a better time as the resulting feelings helped to define others I've been (or not been) having recently. In addition to this person sighting and ensuing solidification of feelings in general, I bought a sweater, shirt, and socks. 1/1/2001 09:24:26 PM .:. | Discuss