I predict that the first round will be pretty boring.
ISLAND REGIONAL
(1) Jack vs (16) Bram
(2) Juliet vs (15) Polar Bear
(3) Sun vs (14) U.S. Marshal Edward Mars
(4) Faraday vs (13) Naomi
(5) Boone vs (12) Roger Linus
(6) Lapidus vs (11) Horace Goodspeed
(7) Jacob vs (10) Mikhael
(8) Libby vs (9) Ilana
Jacob may be powerful, but he's pretty bland for a deity and may or may not be jerking everybody's chain. Mikhael has an eyepatch and is hard to kill. I know my choice.
LOS ANGELES REGIONAL
(1) Locke vs (16) Mr. Paik
(2) Ben vs (15) Goodwin
(3) Desmond vs (14) Cindy
(4) Michael vs (13) Arzt
(5) Richard Alpert vs (12) Paolo
(6) Ana Lucia vs (11) Vincent
(7) Christian Shephard vs (10) Keamy
(8) Bernard vs (9) Widmore
Poor Michael got saddled with the "WAAAALT" storyline, which is actually worse than being blown up by dynamite. Although come to think of it, they both got blown up. Christian Shephard is an intriguing enigma, but I've enjoyed Kevin Durand's performance (much more so than when he was on the island) in the flash sidways so much that he gets the edge. I have nothing against good old Bernard, but Widmore's role in the last few episodes will be too huge to ignore.
SYDNEY REGIONAL
(1) Sawyer vs (16) Dogen
(2) Hurley vs (15) Karl
(3) Charlie vs (14) Abbadon
(4) Claire vs (13) Aaron
(5) Shannon vs (12) Nikki
(6) Walt vs (11) Radzinsky
(7) Rousseau vs (10) Pierre Chang
(8) Rose vs (9) Alex Rousseau
Think we'll ever see Walt again? I almost gave Radzinsky the win, to be honest. He's the kind of asshole you like to see taken down a notch. But part of me holds out hope that we'll find out what made Walt "special." And I'm sorry, Rose, but Tania Raymonde is hot. Plus, I remember her from her small role on Malcolm in the Middle.
ANN ARBOR REGIONAL
(1) Kate vs (16) Pickett
(2) Sayid vs (15) Nadia
(3) Jin vs (14) Sarah Shephard
(4) The Smoke Monster/Man in Black vs (13) Phil
(5) Mr. Eko vs (12) Ethan Rom
(6) Miles vs (11) Eloise Hawking
(7) Charlotte vs (10) Tom Friendly
(8) Penny vs (9) Anthony Cooper
Our first upset-free round. Even the presence of Jimmy Barrett can't get me to shake things up a bit.
As for round two...
ISLAND REGIONAL
(1) Jack vs (8) Libby
(2) Juliet vs (10) Mikhael
(3) Sun vs (6) Lapidus
(4) Faraday vs (5) Boone
This round favors the higher seeds even more than the last round. I have both Sun and Jin bowing out here. Nothing against them, but they're just Desmond and Penny with better cheekbones and less English.
LOS ANGELES REGIONAL
(1) Locke vs (9) Widmore
(2) Ben vs (10) Keamy
(3) Desmond vs (6) Ana Lucia
(5) Richard Alpert vs (13) Arzt
Locke vs Widmore and Ben vs Keamy? Couldn't have planned it better if I'd tried.
SYDNEY REGIONAL
(1) Sawyer vs (9) Alex Rousseau
(2) Hurley vs (7) Rousseau
(3) Charlie vs (6) Walt
(4) Claire vs (5) Shannon
*Yawn* Claire against Shannon is the battle of useless blondes.
ANN ARBOR REGIONAL
(1) Kate vs (8) Penny
(2) Sayid vs (7) Charlotte
(3) Jin vs (6) Miles
(4) The Smoke Monster/Man in Black vs (5) Mr. Eko
Even my preference for redheads isn't enough to put Charlotte over Sayid. And Mr. Eko should've had a better run than this - but you can't fault him for once again falling to Smokey.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Lost Madness: the bracket
Before I start, I should note that This Is Endless did its own Lost bracket, and it's not a bad one. But it's only 32 characters so there's a little room for improvement. I go big or go home. Without further ado, it's time to present my own list of candidates.
ISLAND REGIONAL
(1) Jack vs (16) Bram
(2) Juliet vs (15) Polar Bear
(3) Sun vs (14) U.S. Marshal Edward Mars
(4) Faraday vs (13) Naomi
(5) Boone vs (12) Roger Linus
(6) Lapidus vs (11) Horace Goodspeed
(7) Jacob vs (10) Mikhael
(8) Libby vs (9) Ilana
LOS ANGELES REGIONAL
(1) Locke vs (16) Mr. Paik
(2) Ben vs (15) Goodwin
(3) Desmond vs (14) Cindy
(4) Michael vs (13) Arzt
(5) Richard Alpert vs (12) Paolo
(6) Ana Lucia vs (11) Vincent
(7) Christian Shephard vs (10) Keamy
(8) Bernard vs (9) Widmore
SYDNEY REGIONAL
(1) Sawyer vs (16) Dogen
(2) Hurley vs (15) Karl
(3) Charlie vs (14) Abbadon
(4) Claire vs (13) Aaron
(5) Shannon vs (12) Nikki
(6) Walt vs (11) Radzinsky
(7) Rousseau vs (10) Pierre Chang
(8) Rose vs (9) Alex Rousseau
ANN ARBOR REGIONAL
(1) Kate vs (16) Pickett
(2) Sayid vs (15) Nadia
(3) Jin vs (14) Sarah Shephard
(4) The Smoke Monster/Man in Black vs (13) Phil
(5) Mr. Eko vs (12) Ethan Rom
(6) Miles vs (11) Eloise Hawking
(7) Charlotte vs (10) Tom Friendly
(8) Penny vs (9) Anthony Cooper
First four out: Caesar, Helen Norwood, Frogurt, David Reyes
This is a snake-seeded bracket, so that the strongest #1 seed plays the weakest #2 seed and so on. Characters portrayed by the Smoke Monster count as that character. Preference in seeding is given to the number of episodes a character has appeared in, with weighting so that fan favorites and those from earlier seasons get higher placement.
I like some of my flukey first-round pairings; Sayid vs Nadia and Claire vs Aaron are entirely coincidental.
ISLAND REGIONAL
(1) Jack vs (16) Bram
(2) Juliet vs (15) Polar Bear
(3) Sun vs (14) U.S. Marshal Edward Mars
(4) Faraday vs (13) Naomi
(5) Boone vs (12) Roger Linus
(6) Lapidus vs (11) Horace Goodspeed
(7) Jacob vs (10) Mikhael
(8) Libby vs (9) Ilana
LOS ANGELES REGIONAL
(1) Locke vs (16) Mr. Paik
(2) Ben vs (15) Goodwin
(3) Desmond vs (14) Cindy
(4) Michael vs (13) Arzt
(5) Richard Alpert vs (12) Paolo
(6) Ana Lucia vs (11) Vincent
(7) Christian Shephard vs (10) Keamy
(8) Bernard vs (9) Widmore
SYDNEY REGIONAL
(1) Sawyer vs (16) Dogen
(2) Hurley vs (15) Karl
(3) Charlie vs (14) Abbadon
(4) Claire vs (13) Aaron
(5) Shannon vs (12) Nikki
(6) Walt vs (11) Radzinsky
(7) Rousseau vs (10) Pierre Chang
(8) Rose vs (9) Alex Rousseau
ANN ARBOR REGIONAL
(1) Kate vs (16) Pickett
(2) Sayid vs (15) Nadia
(3) Jin vs (14) Sarah Shephard
(4) The Smoke Monster/Man in Black vs (13) Phil
(5) Mr. Eko vs (12) Ethan Rom
(6) Miles vs (11) Eloise Hawking
(7) Charlotte vs (10) Tom Friendly
(8) Penny vs (9) Anthony Cooper
First four out: Caesar, Helen Norwood, Frogurt, David Reyes
This is a snake-seeded bracket, so that the strongest #1 seed plays the weakest #2 seed and so on. Characters portrayed by the Smoke Monster count as that character. Preference in seeding is given to the number of episodes a character has appeared in, with weighting so that fan favorites and those from earlier seasons get higher placement.
I like some of my flukey first-round pairings; Sayid vs Nadia and Claire vs Aaron are entirely coincidental.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Lost, March Madness style: an introduction
March means tournaments. Besides the NCAA men's basketball tournament, RedEye just started its annual Best TV Character Tournament, and it got me to thinking about the Road to Springfield tournament many years back to crown the best Simpsons supporting character (the site doesn't exit anymore, sadly). In turn, I started thinking about whether a similar tournament could be done using characters from Lost.
It turns out that I wasn't the first person to think up such a diversion. The Washington Post held "Lost Madness" in 2008. The only problem, as any good bracketologist could tell you, was the way they seeded everybody: Hurley vs Sawyer and Jin vs Sun are ludicrous first round match-ups. The show has also introduced a few new characters who could possibly make an impact.
Clearly, there needs to be a course correction.
Since I can't garner the votes necessary for a proper tournament, I'm going to do a mock tournament of Lost's characters, with a properly-seeded bracket that follows the regulations of the NCAA tournament. Upsets won't be as likely, since I'm calling the shots and there isn't much to leave to fate unless I decide an unusually evenly-matched contest with a coin flip. But I think there could be plenty of opportunities for surprises - I'm determining seeding mostly by the number of episodes a character has appeared in, so somebody like Mr. Eko or Faraday could easily sneak into a high round.
It's time to determine our own Candidate.
It turns out that I wasn't the first person to think up such a diversion. The Washington Post held "Lost Madness" in 2008. The only problem, as any good bracketologist could tell you, was the way they seeded everybody: Hurley vs Sawyer and Jin vs Sun are ludicrous first round match-ups. The show has also introduced a few new characters who could possibly make an impact.
Clearly, there needs to be a course correction.
Since I can't garner the votes necessary for a proper tournament, I'm going to do a mock tournament of Lost's characters, with a properly-seeded bracket that follows the regulations of the NCAA tournament. Upsets won't be as likely, since I'm calling the shots and there isn't much to leave to fate unless I decide an unusually evenly-matched contest with a coin flip. But I think there could be plenty of opportunities for surprises - I'm determining seeding mostly by the number of episodes a character has appeared in, so somebody like Mr. Eko or Faraday could easily sneak into a high round.
It's time to determine our own Candidate.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Pre-Oscar Thoughts
Man, I haven't even filled out my Oscar ballot yet. Then again, it's not exactly like filling out your bracket for March Madness. It's even harder to get excited for Best Short Film, Live Action than it is for Kansas vs. the play-in game winner.
Where to begin... I haven't seen any of the Best Documentary nominees, though I'm sure that will change at some point. Food, Inc. is on Netflix Instant Viewing so I'll probably watch it eventually, and one of the other films may catch my eye too. The only problem is that they aren't always released on DVD right away and I lose interest. I liked A Matter of Loaf and Death but it's one of the lesser Wallace and Gromit shorts so there is likely a more deserving nominee in the animated short category. Haven't seen any of the foreign language films, go figure.
Best Animated Feature Film. Up would have to be a lock to win; if it's the only animated film included amongst the Best Picture nominees, it's ostensibly the best animated film. It's no Wall-E, but it's another solid Pixar film. Coraline looked great, and I'm all for more stop-animated films, but its story was a little lacking. I haven't seen any of the other nominees. My personal favorite is actually Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which exceeded all of my expectations. And yes, I do think it's better than Up.
Chalk one up for Avatar for best special effects. For all of its faults, it deserves every technical nomination it gets.
I have heard precisely zero of the nominees for best song. The past few winners have been solid, though. "Jai Ho," "Falling Slowly," and even "It's Hard Out There for a Pimp" were stellar choices.
Nothing really sticks out for best score, so I'll give the nod to Michael Giacchino for Up even though I preferred his work on Star Trek. Other scores of note: Christopher Young's work on Drag Me to Hell, Adrian Younge for Black Dynamite, and Mark Mothersbaugh for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
Browsing through more of the technical awards... hard to get worked up about any of these. Sherlock Holmes got a few nominations. Were any of 2009's blockbusters more forgettable?
Up in the Air is all but assured of winning best adapted screenplay, although the description of the book on Wikipedia sounds more interesting than the movie was. I'm championing In the Loop - my pick for the best film of last year - although it has no chance of winning. Is there any part of that script they can actually air on network television? Best original screenplay I'd give to Inglourious Basterds out of default. Funny to see Up nominated when everyone acknowledges that its best part, and arguably the best scene of the year, is the wordless montage of the protagonist's marriage at the beginning.
The acting awards are all virtual locks but I can hardly comment on them. Nothing to say about Mo'Nique since I haven't seen Precious, but Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga were the best thing about Up in the Air by far. I've seen none of the films involved in the Best Actress race so no argument from me on whether Meryl or Sandy should win. I haven't seen Crazy Heart - sensing a pattern here? - either but Jeremy Renner was good in The Hurt Locker, whereas George Clooney was content to play Danny Ocean for a fourth time in Up in the Air.
With Best Supporting Actor, I've only seen the movie with the odds-on favorite, but at least I can think of other performances I enjoyed. Christoph Waltz sunk his Austrian teeth into his role in Inglourious Basterds and is 99.9% guaranteed a well-deserved win. But I would have loved seeing Fred Malamed get recognition for his role as Sy Ableman in A Serious Man, or Tom Noonan as Mr. Ulman in The House of the Devil. I'd proverbially listen to both of those guys read the proverbial phone book. And although other members of In the Loop's ensemble cast stand out more, nobody was more odious than David Rasche.
Now the one for all the marbles, Best Picture. (If I may talk about snubs for a second, besides In the Loop of course, I thought Star Trek was a lot of fun and would certainly be worthy of a spot) Precious and An Education are on my Netflix queue. I have no interest in seeing heroic rich white people rescue impoverished illiterate black athletes in The Blind Side. That leaves 7 out of 10, which isn't bad. Up in the Air was decent but not spectacular. It wasn't even the best movie with "Up" in the title. Speaking of Up, it's good but I feel its inclusion is partially to atone for last year's snub of Wall-E. District 9 and Avatar are two sides of the same coin, except one is just as good as the other, isn't as cliched, and was produced for a tenth of the cost. That leaves the two war movies, The Hurt Locker and Inglourious Basterds. The former isn't as fresh in my memory, but it was very good and I wouldn't be angry if it won (it's certainly preferable to Avatar). However, I have to give the edge to Inglourious Basterds.
Where to begin... I haven't seen any of the Best Documentary nominees, though I'm sure that will change at some point. Food, Inc. is on Netflix Instant Viewing so I'll probably watch it eventually, and one of the other films may catch my eye too. The only problem is that they aren't always released on DVD right away and I lose interest. I liked A Matter of Loaf and Death but it's one of the lesser Wallace and Gromit shorts so there is likely a more deserving nominee in the animated short category. Haven't seen any of the foreign language films, go figure.
Best Animated Feature Film. Up would have to be a lock to win; if it's the only animated film included amongst the Best Picture nominees, it's ostensibly the best animated film. It's no Wall-E, but it's another solid Pixar film. Coraline looked great, and I'm all for more stop-animated films, but its story was a little lacking. I haven't seen any of the other nominees. My personal favorite is actually Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which exceeded all of my expectations. And yes, I do think it's better than Up.
Chalk one up for Avatar for best special effects. For all of its faults, it deserves every technical nomination it gets.
I have heard precisely zero of the nominees for best song. The past few winners have been solid, though. "Jai Ho," "Falling Slowly," and even "It's Hard Out There for a Pimp" were stellar choices.
Nothing really sticks out for best score, so I'll give the nod to Michael Giacchino for Up even though I preferred his work on Star Trek. Other scores of note: Christopher Young's work on Drag Me to Hell, Adrian Younge for Black Dynamite, and Mark Mothersbaugh for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
Browsing through more of the technical awards... hard to get worked up about any of these. Sherlock Holmes got a few nominations. Were any of 2009's blockbusters more forgettable?
Up in the Air is all but assured of winning best adapted screenplay, although the description of the book on Wikipedia sounds more interesting than the movie was. I'm championing In the Loop - my pick for the best film of last year - although it has no chance of winning. Is there any part of that script they can actually air on network television? Best original screenplay I'd give to Inglourious Basterds out of default. Funny to see Up nominated when everyone acknowledges that its best part, and arguably the best scene of the year, is the wordless montage of the protagonist's marriage at the beginning.
The acting awards are all virtual locks but I can hardly comment on them. Nothing to say about Mo'Nique since I haven't seen Precious, but Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga were the best thing about Up in the Air by far. I've seen none of the films involved in the Best Actress race so no argument from me on whether Meryl or Sandy should win. I haven't seen Crazy Heart - sensing a pattern here? - either but Jeremy Renner was good in The Hurt Locker, whereas George Clooney was content to play Danny Ocean for a fourth time in Up in the Air.
With Best Supporting Actor, I've only seen the movie with the odds-on favorite, but at least I can think of other performances I enjoyed. Christoph Waltz sunk his Austrian teeth into his role in Inglourious Basterds and is 99.9% guaranteed a well-deserved win. But I would have loved seeing Fred Malamed get recognition for his role as Sy Ableman in A Serious Man, or Tom Noonan as Mr. Ulman in The House of the Devil. I'd proverbially listen to both of those guys read the proverbial phone book. And although other members of In the Loop's ensemble cast stand out more, nobody was more odious than David Rasche.
Now the one for all the marbles, Best Picture. (If I may talk about snubs for a second, besides In the Loop of course, I thought Star Trek was a lot of fun and would certainly be worthy of a spot) Precious and An Education are on my Netflix queue. I have no interest in seeing heroic rich white people rescue impoverished illiterate black athletes in The Blind Side. That leaves 7 out of 10, which isn't bad. Up in the Air was decent but not spectacular. It wasn't even the best movie with "Up" in the title. Speaking of Up, it's good but I feel its inclusion is partially to atone for last year's snub of Wall-E. District 9 and Avatar are two sides of the same coin, except one is just as good as the other, isn't as cliched, and was produced for a tenth of the cost. That leaves the two war movies, The Hurt Locker and Inglourious Basterds. The former isn't as fresh in my memory, but it was very good and I wouldn't be angry if it won (it's certainly preferable to Avatar). However, I have to give the edge to Inglourious Basterds.
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