My weekend...and other shenanigans

So it was Super Bowl weekend and time for Jayman's annual Super Bowl/Chili party. Unfortunately as all members of the Jayman clan were sick, the party was cancelled. I took the opportunity to watch a screener of the Academy Award nominated film Juno.

As a quick review, let me say simply that it is the funniest, most surprising and most heartfelt movie of the year. As most people know, it is about a spunky 16 year old girl who finds herself pregnant. Now picture the kind of scenes you would imagine in a film with that subject matter. Trust me, none of those scenes will actually go as you would imagine.

The script is the most surprising aspect. The characters of her father and step mother are not what you expect. They are played, against type, by JK Simmons (you know him from Oz and the Spiderman movies) and Allison Janney (you know her from The West Wing). It is the kind of movie that I wish I could watch again without remembering that I had seen it before.

Of course, this film is not for everyone. I love this really negative review from DVD Talk.

Interestingly enough, it is the the third of the 5 Best Picture nominees that I have seen this year (the others being No Country For Old Men and Michael Clayton). It is the first time since 1994 that I have seen that many of the Best Picture nominees prior to the Academy Awards. If you don't remember 1994, that was one of the best years for the Academy Awards in decades. The nominees for best picture were The Shawshank Redemption, Quiz Show, Pulp Fiction, Four Weddings And A Funeral and the eventual winner Forrest Gump.

Other things I watched on the weekend included this tribute that comedienne Sarah Silverman gave to her boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel to commemorate the 5th anniversary of his talk show. She sung a song called I'm F--cking Matt Damon.



If you don't know, this is part of an ongoing fued between Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel. People magazine has outlined the details of this ongoing fued including clips.

Top 5 Matt Damon Films
1. The Bourne Identity
2. The Departed
3. Ocean's Eleven
4. The Talented Mr. Ripley
5. Saving Private Ryan

Anyway, these are things I did as opposed to watching the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, it means I missed some great pop culture moments like the new video by Paula Abdul that was aired during the game's pre-game hoopla...



Tom Petty believing it was still the 80s as his half time show set list included three songs from his 1989 solo album along with the band's big hit from their debut album from 1976. To make matters worse, he has been accused of lip synchinc during that show. Makes this quote of his from a 1978 Chicago Tribune interview a little more interesting...

"I just want us to stay honest, and keep making honest records. To me, an honest record is one that you feel the artist believes in, one in which the artist actually means what he's singing. A lot of people have an image that isn't really them. But I think kids know when that happens. They can tell when it's jive. I don't want to start slagging people and naming names, but everybody knows that rock and roll got very boring the last few years."

And finally, FOX is in trouble for using the Arcade Fire song No Cars Go during the pre-game broadcast. Oh, and apparently the heavily favoured Patriots lost to the Giants during the actual football game. It was buried there within the 14 hours of football programming this past sunday.

Well, I guess the good news is the writers strike looks to be over soon. Finally, it should give me something more to write about.