Every news site on the Web is screaming about the Oscars today, so I figured resistance would be futile. I didn’t watch the actual show (they only show it on cable here, and at some crazy ass early hour of the morning), so I was pretty eager to check the Net and see how I did in Kel‘s contest. Being a lazy sort of person, I had put all my faith in Ebert and used his picks for my own. Suffice it to say, we got our ass(es) kicked. I was glad to see how much the awards had been spread around, but I still think “Gladiator” as Best Film is a total joke. My disappointment on that front was thankfully mitigated, though, by the immense glee I got out of discovering that Kate Hudson lost while wearing an atrocious silver fringed gown. It’s all downhill from here, Penny Lane.

Good grief. Am I All Your Base Or Not?

Mama Snookums recommended “The Phantom Tollbooth” to me during our visit and I stayed up late one night reading it. It was fantastic. Coincidentally, I was reading NowThis today and came across a link to an interview with Norton Juster, the book’s author. He sounds like an interesting guy…

Relive the entire adventure. I’m warning you though, set aside a bit of free time before you get started. I wasn’t kidding when I said I took a lot of pictures…

No free taco. My dad will be disappointed.

Matt linked to an interview with Todd Solondz, who made the films “Welcome to the Dollhouse” and “Happiness.” Nothing, I repeat, nothing is as funny as my sister doing the Weiner Dog dance. She’s gonna love this.

I’m actually not a real big fan of either film. “Dollhouse” just hit way, way too close for comfort. To make matters worse, I saw it with a friend who’s a junior high teacher and he guffawed through the whole thing. I just sat there and squirmed. And don’t even get me started on “Happiness.” It’s probably the only film in my life that I’ve ever seriously considered walking out on. I believe that Solondz is a unique artist and that he’s very good at what he does, but I can’t find the humor in such a bleak universe. Other optimists are warned to watch these films at their own peril.

What the heck? When did baseball start? What’s wrong with Mike’s knee? Jeez, you leave the hemisphere for two weeks and suddenly you’re out of the loop! That said, Mets in ’01!

Gael pointed to a great site full of Saturday Night Live Transcripts. My friend Kel and I are having a lot of fun reminiscing about our favorite episodes from college. I especially liked “Tinker Bell’s Revenge” (with Claire Danes), “Celebrity Jeopardy” (I’ll take “The Rapists” for $200, Alex!), another “Celebrity Jeopardy” (the one where Marlon Brando writes “Poop”), Gwyneth Paltrow’s monologue, “Old Glory Insurance” (Are YOU protected against robot attack?), and “Star Wars Screen Tests”.

My dad e-mailed me raving about some Taco Bell promotion to give everybody in the United States a free taco if Mir hits a target in the South Pacific. I figured he’d picked it up from some bogus e-mail forward. Turns out I was wrong. Now I wonder, how do they determine who’s eligible for this? Is it everybody physically located in the U.S.? What about tourists? What about illegal immigrants? In other words, how do I (theoretically, of course) get my taco??

Dark Horizons is running an interview with Colin Firth about his role in “Bridget Jones’ Diary.” You know, Colin, you’re really starting to piss me off with this whole “I’m-not-Darcy-and-I-hate-all-my-fans” thing. It’s like Russell Crowe. If you choose to be a movie star, you gotta accept the consequences and stop bitching about the very people who pay your salary. And what the hell is that bit about fighting Hugh Grant? That’s not in the book! Their characters are never even in the same place! Grrrr…