Last night was the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony.  I watched it with my entire family and many friends by posting about the festivities on THE Facebook.  There were some high points and some low points.  Makes sense.

Among the high points were the little films that could.  The shut out of Avatar in the non-technical categories may have been a surprise to some, but not everyone.  The Hurt Locker did what few thought it would by making history with Kathryn Bigelow becoming the first female director to win the Best Director Oscar.  The night was capped with her film winning Best Picture.

Jeff Bridges' win and acceptance speech were another highlight.  We had to explain to our daughter that he grew up in the 1960s in California so that's why he kept saying man.  Sandra Bullock's deek of Meryl Streep as she headed to the stage was silly funny.

The Supporting Actor and Actress statues went to deserving but unsurprising winners Mo'nique and Christoph Waltz in great performances by both.

The Tina Fey / Robert Downey Jr. presentation of screen-writing awards was great.

On the flipside, Ben Stiller's presentation dressed as a Na'vi from Avatar was funny for about a second or two.  As he noted, there was an irony that he was dressed as a character that was completely CGI while giving the award for acheivement in makeup.

The low point was sadly the delivery of some pretty clever jokes on the part of hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.  We weren't sure if it was intentional or not.  As the evening went on, it was pretty clear that it was not.

This was the first year that I recall where the best song nominees were not performed.  I missed them.

The biggest problem was the In Memoriam section.  Every year, there are oversites and this year was not an exception.  The problem is the person who was not included was a cultural icon who appeared in many films and was a Golden Globe winner.  They included Michael Jackson who was in one film but left out Farrah Fawcett.  To me, that was the low point of the Academy Awards ceremony.

I have finished my latest composition and it is called Mary.  As I was listening to the backing tracks and trying out melodies, I came up with a melody for the chorus that I liked.  I was trying think of words that fit the melody and lo and behold I started singing Mary.  Fortunately, this gave me instant inspiration for the rest of the lyrics.

Then came time for the guitar solo.  The software I have has build in effects.  I like most of them but don't care for the amp emulators.  They all sound very much like 80's hairbands in the distortion department.  Instead, I plug into my small Marshall Amp when I want a good distortion sound. When I combined that with some chorus, delay and sustain effects, I was very pleased with the sound for the solo guitars.

I'm very happy with the song.  I just home my beloved Mary is as happy with it.  She gives me inspiration in so many ways.

Mary

Things have been a bit quiet on the blog.  It's not because I don't care.  It's because I've been recording.  The latest song is coming along nicely.  I'm almost at the point when I will record the final vocals and guitar solo. 

I have finally set up the ART Tube MP and used it to record the bass, guitars and guide vocals.  It provides a warm signal that sounds so much better than a direct patch into the M-Audio Delta LT100.  Add a new Audio-Technica M4000S microphone and it sounds so much better.

I've got a first take at the lyrics written but think they still need refining.  I like teh chorus but some of the verse lines could be stronger.

The song will be posted to the site as soon as it is ready.

I have started writing and recording a follow up to Open Up.  The working title is Falling Up... hmmm... is there an UP theme in my mind?  I unfortunately tried recording at the same time Little Shop of Horrors was showing on the Home Theater.  I tried recording the bass about 10 times and thought I had it until I recorded the rhythm guitar.  That's when I realized the bass fell out of time with the drums in the second half of the song.

So that brings me to where I am right now.  I will re-record the instruments when I have some silence in the room and can hear the drums while recording.  Until then, here's take one of Falling Up.

Falling Up

My beloved Boilers took it on the chin even thogh they won their game against Minnesota.  They retained their first place standing in the Big Ten but the win came at a significant cost.

The star forward, Robbie Hummel tore his ACL and is gone for the season.  When they lost him last season with a back injury, they went 1 - 3 with 8 fewer points per game.  This is a different season and hopefully the extra year together will give the Boilers the opportunity for someone else to step up and fill in the gap. 

At least they have several gamers before the NCAA Tournament to work things out.

Hang in their Boilers, we're all pulling for you even if The Sporting News is already predicting the worst.

Lastly, it comes as no coincidence that the Boilers lose Hummel on the same day GM loses Hummer.

Tonight I watched the excellent Canada vs USA hockey game at the Olympic Games in Vancouver.  It was a great, tight game.  The USA came out on top 5-3 with an empty net goal in the closing minute. 

NBC decided the game should be broadcast on MSNBC because they would not have to cut away as they would if it was shown on NBC.  With so many players on all teams playing in the NHL, the league has stopped for the two weeks of the Winter Games.  The games of the Olympics are like All-Star games with the difference being that the players actually play defense here. 

It is great hockey.  Different than the days before the NHL players started playing and the Soviet machine rulled international competition.  Earlier in the day, the Russian and Czech Republic played another great game. 

Olympic Hockey is a great distraction from the long grind of the NHL season.  There is talk that the layoff will be too much for players not in the Olympics and the flow of the NHL teams will be too greatly disrupted.  I disagree.  These teams have played enough of the season that their play will not be disrupted to the extent that critics are concerned about.

A two week layoff for the players who are not in the Olympics will help keep their legs fresh for the end of the season.  I sure hope so, the Blackhawks will need a strong rest of the season if they are to win Lord Stanley's Cup.

Tickets went on sale for what has been announced as the final Crossroads Festival, June 26th at Toyota Park in Chicago.   The show benefits the Crossroads Centre, Antigua, a non-profit, International Centre of Excellence for the treatment of alcohol and other drug addictions founded by Eric Clapton in 1997.

The first festival was a two day event held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.  Then in 2007, it was changed to a one day festival in Chicago.  It returns this Summer with a lineup I could not turn down.  The whole family will be attending.  I got seats instead of GA because this is their first big time, all day concert and I want them to be able to walk around and stretch.

Gates open at 10am with the show starting at noon.  It is still four months off and with a predicted snow storm of up to 10 inches scheduled for tomorrow night, a day of listening to great guitar under the sun sounds just fine.

This is the current confirmed lineup.

• Albert Lee
• Allman Brothers Band
• BB King
• Bert Jansch
• Buddy Guy
• David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos
• Doyle Bramhall II
• Earl Klugh
• Eric Clapton
• Gary Clark Jr.
• Hubert Sumlin
• James Burton
• Jeff Beck
• Jimmie Vaughan
• Joao Gilberto
• Joe Bonamassa
• John Mayer
• Jonny Lang
• Keb Mo
• Pino Daniele
• Robert Cray
• Robert Randolph
• Sheryl Crow
• Sonny Landreth
• Stefan Grossman
• Steve Winwood
• Vince Gill
• ZZ Top

I love baseball.  I love watching and playing (when my body was much younger) football.  The Bears are my favorite team but I no longer have the same passion for football that I do America's Pastime.  There is such a strategy to baseball that no other sport has.  Most other sports are more physical but baseball is more cerebral.  It's about averages and statistics.

There is no sport that is more relaxing and then exciting than baseball.  A low scoring pitcher's dual can be just as exciting as a high scoring game.  The tension and adulation when the closer comes in the bottom of the ninth inning is like no other feeling.

And in the cold northern states, there is nothing that warms us up and reminds us that the warm weather is not that far away like the first news reports from Spring Training and hearing the words "Pitchers and Catchers reported today".

In 2005 when the Chicago White Sox won the World Series, it was the capper to an amazing season.  They played strong and had a 15 game division lead heading into then end of the season.  The Cleveland Indians got hot and cut the lead to one and a half games before the White Sox finished the season with a sweep of the Tigers and Indians.  Little did we know this was a harbinger of things to come.

The first series saw the White Sox sweep the defending World Series champion Red Sox.  Then came the ALCS.  They were in danger of heading out to California down two games to none when AJ Pierzynski and the famous dropped third strike allowed them to win game two and start a streak of complete games by all their starters en route to their first World Series since 1959.

The Houston Astros dropped four straight and all Chicago sports fans felt what it was like to have a World Series in town, the first since 1917. 

That brings us to 2010, five years after that amazing season.  The White Sox have a great pitching staff with the return of Mark Buehrle, John Danks and Gavin Floyd, as well as the what will hopefully be a 100% healthy Jake Peavy.  The only question mark is DH as there is no one power hitter in the position.  Instead, Ozzie is going to conduct a platoon system that will hopefully work out.  Gone are Jermaine Dye, Jim Thome, Scott Podsednik.  Welcome Andrue Jones, Omar Vizquel, Mark Teahen, Alex Rios (we hardly got to know him last year), Juan Pierre and now word of a possible Johnny Damon signing.

Baseball is back and all is right with the world.

This past weekend Drew Brees was Bacchus the king of the New Orleans Mardi Gras parade.  You would think riding a float in that costume would be enough in one week but it is overshadowed by an Oprah Faux-Pas.

The Queen of Daytime TV had the current King of Football on her show last Friday.  In a moment of "Should've done my homework", O asked who kissed Drew and tried to wipe off HIS BIRTHMARK.  "Who just kissed you?" she asked.

I don't know how long this will be up but until Harpo pulls it, here goes.  Of course, being the class guy that he is, Drew just laughed it off.

Just returned from The Wolfman.  This film is a remake of the classic 1941 movie from Universal starring Claude Raines and Lon Chaney Jr.  This version stars a stellar cast, as well.  Anthony Hopkins, Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving.  With makeup by Rick Baker and score by Danny Elfman, this film should have been a monster.  Sadly, it misses the mark.

THE REST OF THIS REVIEW IS SPOILER FILLED.  SO IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE AND WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS, STOP READING NOW.

This film was originally to be released in April 2009, then it was delayed to November and lastly this weekend.  What went wrong?  I'm not sure how it was changed from the original scheduled release but I do know what they ended up with. 

The pacing was bad, bad, bad.  It moved quickly, then it dragged after Larry's escape in London on his way back to Talbot Manor, then it would move quickly again.  It was just uneven.  The scares were all based on things jumping out at you.  There was no tension built up prior to them jumping out, either.  That's just cheap, short attention span horror film making.  Being Directed by Joe Johnston, who directed Jurasic Park III to a similar fate, likely has something to do with it. 

In the beginning of the film, we find out that Larry Talbot (Del Toro), an actor who just happens to be performing Hamlet in London, is summoned to his family home by his brother's fiance, Gwen Conliffe (Blunt), after he goes missing for a month.  Between the time he is notified and returns to the mansion, his brother's body is discovered.  He has been killed by a beast.  It is thought to be the local gypsies and their trained CGI Bear.  We are told that Larry left his home to live in America long ago.  How does the fiance know to reach him?  Small detail, it moves the story along.

Benicio's acting is very wooden.  I'll give him a break because there are many tips of the hat to the original and maybe he was channeling Lon Jr.  Emily Blunt was just there.  Nothing special about her performance.  Hopkins was good as Sir John Talbot, as was Weaving as Inspector Abberline .

After Larry's first transformation, his father sets him up and he is returned to the Asylum in London.  He is treated with the latest methods so his psychological problem can be cured.  While locked up, he is visited by his Father who tells him he, too, is a werewolf.  As soon as we find out that Sir John was also a werewolf, I knew there would be a fight scene.    

There's a short run around in London which may or may not have been in tribute to American Werewolf In London.  If it was, it was somewhat clever. If not, it should have been.  After the long, dragged out return home, Larry gets ready to off his Father but curses, he's foiled.  His father beats him with a cane that resembles Claude Raines' cane in the original and we get a close up of the handle to show us just that.  Uh-Oh, the moon comes out and it is full. 

This brings us to the payoff... Wolfman vs Wolfman.  As soon as the fight starts, Wolfman Sr tears off his shirt.  Why??? So we can tell them apart, of course.  They battle.  There's some bad CGI and Gwen and Abberline show up.  For some reason, she stops the Inspector from shooting Larry only to shoot him herself at the end.  That is even set up badly as Larry howels at his hunters just to let them know where he is.  Gwen grabs a gun that she has dropped and slowly pulls it on Larry as he conveniently lets her in a laborious setup.

The movie ends with a wounded Inspector Abberline looking up at the moon which would have turned him into a werewolf if only this movie wasn't so bad and called for a sequel.

So is there anything redeaming?  Much like the 1976 King Kong remake, Rick Baker is the star of this movie.  And not just because he has a brief cameo where's he killed by the werewolf.  As expected Baker's wolf makeup is great.  It is worth paying admission alone.  Sitting through this film just to see Rick Baker's makeup job is advised.  It's too bad it was wasted on such an uneven film but it is what it is.

Elfman's score was nothing special.  There was a spot when Larry is about to walk out the door from Blunt's antique shop where the music was a soft tinkering of the piano taht made me think of Bill Bixby's Hulk whenever he would leave at the end of the show.  That brought a smile to my face.

I really hope this doesn't bring an end to making monster movies for a while.  There is still a large audience as demonstrated by the box office success of recent vampire and zombie films.  The problem here is it is a remake of a film that is a classic.  In order to succeed, it doesn't have to be perfect but it at least has to be good.

I give the Rick Baker's work Four Billys.  I give the Wolfman Two and a Half Billys.