Happy ShowBiz!*

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!

Predictions? Thought you'd never ask...

1) Picture- Babel

2) Actor- Peter O'Toole

3) Actress- Helen Mirren

4) Supporting Actor- Eddie Murphy

5) Supporting Actress- Jennifer Hudson

6) Director- Martin Scorsese

As you can see, I went with an "Oscar moments" ticket. The idea is that voters only vote for who will make the best moment during the telecast. And the only ones I worried about are the Picture (it could also easily be "Letters To Iwo Jima" because Eastwood is a crowd favorite) and Supporting Actor (Jackie Earle Haley is the great showbiz comeback story of 06), but I think my choices are pretty solid otherwise.

Remember, the awards are never about who should win. That's for the watercooler arguments the next day.

reading/watching/listening...

1)"Heart-Shaped Box"by Joe Hill. Hey, Stephen King's son wrote a book! It's pretty good too, as we watch what happens when a selfish fifty-ish rock star buys a ghost on the internet on a whim. Really creepy in places and moves, which is more than you can say for "Dreamcatcher" (a chase between humvees in a snowstorm? why not snails chasing slugs instead?)

2)"The Illusionist" The other 19th century stage magician movie. This very clever film was fated to make about $2 when "The Prestige" opened within the same month. It's good and you should see it before the other film, if only to be able judge it fairly.

3)"The Prestige" Or Batman vs Wolverine. See this film if only to see David Bowie as Niklos Tesla. Probably my favorite film of the past couple of years and certainly one of the best of '06.

And how are you this week?

*thank you, Matt Weinhold's outgoing message on his voicemail