Channing All Over Your Tatum...

From Jimmy Kimmel's post-Oscar special... 

There are no words to describe this, just watch...

Reason 587 To Love Jennifer Lawrence...

Updated with new video.....


I love Jennifer Lawrence...

The 22-year old actress was amazing in Winter's Bone, cool in X-Men First Class, breathtakingly good in Silver Linings Playbook... and oh yeah she played the lead role in a little blockbuster called Hunger Games which I haven't seen yet.

Lawrence is funny and charming and self-deprecating on talk shows, which makes me love her even more.

And she won a well-deserved Oscar this weekend for Silver Linings.

Here is a fun clip that shows her spirit.... love her!

Lincoln...

I loved the movie Lincoln, and yes think it should have beaten Argo for best pic at the Oscars, but this just made me laugh...

The Gay Superbowl: Oscar Picks...

This weekend is the biggest night in entertainment, the "Gay Superbowl" as it is known, and no that's not the Beyonce halftime show... it's the Academy Awards!

While I have not seen all the big nominated flicks, I have seen some, and since when have I needed full info to pronounce judgement on something? Facts are so old school....

Here's my picks and predictions... let me know yours in the comments:

Best Picture: 
Will win: Argo will take it as has all the buzz especially with Ben Affleck not getting a director nomination; I liked the movie, didn't love it, and am turned off by how it plays pretty freely with the facts.
Should win: Lincoln, smart, suspenseful, and surprisingly moving... I loved this one. Also liked Silver Linings Playbook a lot, really funny and touching. Still haven't seen Amour or Life of Pi...

Best Director:
Spielberg for Lincoln. It is both grand and intimate at the same time. Should and will win. Screw you, Affleck....

Best Actor:
Daniel Day-Lewis should and will get it... astonishingly good in Lincoln.

Best Actress:
I would give it to Jennifer Lawrence for her terrific work in Silver Linings Playbook, and she will likely win... although I have not seen Emmanuelle Riva in Amour or Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty, so there may be a surprise here.

Best Supporting Actor:
Should go to icon Robert DeNiro for his touching emotional work in Silver Linings Playbook, will likely go to Philip Seymour Hoffman for the Scientology flick The Master, which I have not seen, or possibly Chirstoph Waltz for Django Unchained, which I also haven't seen. Hopefully Oscar will sail by Alan Arkin for his negligible role in Argo, and the nasty Tommy Lee Jones for his admittedly good work in Lincoln.

Best Supporting Actress:
While the momentum all seems to be with Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables, and I did love Sally Field in Lincoln, best performance of the year hands down was Helen Hunt in The Sessions. She should win... and won't.

Best Song:
Adele. Skyfall. Done deal.

You can see a full list of nominations at Oscars.com... and I'll be watching on Sunday... what are your pics?

Love Your Pet Day...

Today February 20th is Love Your Pet Day...

I love our pets Anderson and Alfred every day, and am actually travelling on business this week so am away from the little guys... of course as the stated purpose of this holiday is to show your dog, cat, tortoise or ferret how much you love them, around our house every day is Love Your Pet Day.

Here are some pics of our babies as I send them long distance love on Love Your Pet Day...

See This Movie: The Sessions

Last night we watched an acclaimed independent film called The Sessions. This smart, funny, touching, grown-up film is easily one of the best of 2012.

The Sessions is about a 38-yr-old almost paralyzed polio-afflicted man (John Hawkes) who has never had sex and wants to to see what it is like; so with the blessing of his priest (William H Macy) he hires a sex therapist (Helen Hunt, Oscar-nominated for this role). We see how they all learn and grow during their brief time together.

The film is based on a true story by Mark O'Brien, a poet paralyzed from the neck down due to polio.

The Sessions tackles difficult and awkward subject matter with great sensitivity and humour. The film is primarily about disability and sex, yet through these themes the film touches upon companionship, friendship, religion, physical and spiritual love, and oh yes a weirdly curved penis.

All the performances are warm and flawless, most especially Hunt, who in a perfect world would be handed the Academy Award right now. She is breathtaking.

The film is written and directed by Ben Lewin, himself afflicted with polio, which might help give the film its realism and its tenderness. Despite its heavy topic, The Sessions is really a simple story of physical and spiritual love, and is surprisingly accessible and light-hearted. 

See The Sessions... and laugh and cry and think.

I am an evil overdressed Ewok...

This weekend we went to the travelling Star Wars Identities museum show, which is comprised of great Star Wars memorabilia like Princess Lea's metal bikini, X-Wing Fighter special effects models, early-stage Yoda sketches, and a Darth Vader suit.

Using the tagline What Forces Shape You?, the "identities" part is ten surveys throughout the exhibit, where you make choices to create your own Star Wars "hero"; you choose the alien race, and the rest are situational questions. 

Each visitor has an interactive wristband which tracks the choices that they make as they go through the exhibit.  At the end, you the bracelet to see what your Star Wars character looks like. There are supposedly over 50 million identities possible, and yours is broadcast larger than life in the exhibit.

My character is above, and my profile is below. While this was totally fun to do, I am not sure how accurate the personality profile elements are, though I do like self-direction, and yes I did choose to cross over to the dark side... uh, oops?

I was raised on the ice planet Hoth, where members of my community made their living breeding and selling tauntauns. On holidays my best friend and I would traditionally race tauntauns across the frozen terrain.

My parents required discipline from me but gave me support when I needed it, and I inherited my strong set of intellectual abilities from them. Later on I spent some time with the legendary R2-D2, whose guidance left me with knowledge I still use every day in my job as a merchant.

I remember this one time when I crash-landed on a strange planet. I didn't let this affect me too much, though; instead I became a successful trader of scrap metal and found a home among the Jawas.

People often tell me I’m a generally adventurous and curious person, I also tend to be energetic and social. But the most important thing to me is self-direction: I believe that living in a free world means we all have the right to choose.

I have pretty strong powers with the Force; I guess that's why the Emperor came looking for me. When he offered me limitless power in exchange for my allegiance, I leapt at the chance and turned eagerly to the dark side.

On a totally unrelated note, looking at the Ewok pic gives me a great idea for Alfie's next Halloween costume...

... and a dog named Hitler?

We live in Edmonton, a beautiful northern city of just over a million people. Sure it's covered in snow most if the year, but this rest of the time it is sunny and green and friendly to families and pets and runners and... oh yeah, the people are nuts.

A recent article in The Edmonton Journal gave dog statistics for our city: there are 69,000 licensed dogs in the city, so assuming two out of three are licensed, we have one dog for every eleven people; we have 40 off-leash parks, a dog license is $35 while the fine for not licensing your dog is $250, and there is a limit of three dogs and six cats per household.

There is interesting info to glean from the dog licenses:

The top five breeds in the city are Shi Tzu, Labrador Retriever, German Shepherd, Bichon Frise, and Border Collie.

Our top five dog names in the city are Buddy, Max, Molly, Bailey, and Bella -- so not a whole lot of originality there, and not overly proud of the Twilight twist with Bella.

While we named our dogs with human names as they are our kids (Alfred, Anderson) some people were more adventurous....

Other dog name themes include food (Taco, Popcorn), alcohol (Whisky, Merlot), places (Paris, India), famous dogs (Benji, Snoopy) and celebrities (Oprah, Elvis).

There are also a couple of big FAIL dog names here in Edmonton... we have one dog named Mel Gibson, and two dogs named Hitler. What the fuck, dog-naming people?

Okay some people are morons... doesn't matter I guess, because here are the two cutest dogs in Edmonton:

Paul Newman on Gay Rights

Last week would have been Paul Newman's birthday (he was born January 26). The Oscar winning actor, social activist, philanthropist and business man died in 2008.

Here is an amazing Paul Newman quote...

And an amazing Paul Newman picture...

Ellen Celebrates Portia's Birthday...

I love how Ellen DeGeneres shows and shares affection for her wife Portia DeRossi, and I love this clip from her show.

As a bonus, look for Will and Grace's Sean Hayes and some wedding singer....

Ellen Celebrates Portia's Birthday | EllenTV.com

RIP Dear Abby...

Two weeks ago, legendary advice columnist Dear Abby, aka Abigail Van Buren, aka (real name) Pauline Phillips, died at age 92.

I read Dear Abby as a kid... yes she was a an old lady to me already, and seemed overly quaint and proper, but her advice was warm and caring, and when it needed to be, firm and tough.

As a scared gay kid, her occasional mention of gay people was a beacon of light, as it was always kind and inclusive. As was her embrace of all colours and races, her dismissal or misogynists and rude people (I think she may have hated rude people a bit more). Dear Abby hit with a hammer when she needed to, but she hit gently.

Her style was direct and pithy, as shown in her favourite toast: Fear less, hope more. Eat less, chew more. Talk less, say more. Hate less, love more.

Abby wrote the column from 1956 to 2002, when her daughter took over. Her twin sister was an equally famous advice columnist, writing as Ann Landers.

Great Dear Abby life lessons:

The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good.

The less you talk, the more you're listened to.

It's only work if you'd rather be doing something else.

RIP Dear Abby...