A Nation In Temporary Withdrawal

It's going to be short fuses and jangled nerves in the United States tonight folks: coffee conglomerate Starbucks is shutting down all of their outlets between 5:30pm and 9pm tonight for in-store training. All 7,100 outlets will be closed as part of a co-ordinated training blitz as they put 135,00 baristas through a session called "Perfect the Art of Espresso".

Picture it - for 3.5 hours, an entire country can't get their venti latte with double shot and soy substitute. That's a twitchy (and rather well-armed) nation. It would be cold turkey, but it looks like several competitors are taking advantage of the closure, such as Dunkin Donuts, who are offering 99-cent beverages.

I can't picture the ramifications if every Tim Horton's in Canada shut down for a couple hours.

via ALOTT5MA

the2scoops 2008 Oscar Wrap-Up

Like many parties around town and in Hollywood, the end of the writer's strike came too late to plan any proper Oscar get-together. The party I usually go to was cancelled, leading to my first Oscars spent at home in years. The two-weeks notice may have contributed to what felt like, to me, a leaner meaner Oscars. The production numbers were few and host Jon Stewart didn't stray from the stage to perform any "bits" like Ellen DeGeneres did.

Some thoughts on the show and some moments:

No Country For Old Men came in as the frontrunner and claimed a number of prizes, including taking both Best Director for Joel and Ethan Coen (the first co-winners of the award) and Best Picture. I can't recall the last time a picture won both top categories. Javier Bardem and Daniel Day Lewis were the favourites in the Actor categories, while the surprises came from the Actress side with Marion Cotillard winning Best Actress for her portrayal of singer Édith Piaf in the French language film La Vie En Rose, and Tilda Swinton winning Best Supporting Actress for her role in Michael Clayton. Cate Blanchett went home empty-handed, but that happens when you're nominated in both Best Lead and Best Supporting - it splits the votes. It was an Oscar sweep as all four acting awards went to non-American actors - two from Britain, one French and one Spanish. Kind of funny in a year when a lot of the talk was bout exclusion in the Foreign Film categories saw foreign actors taking top acting honours.

I love that Glen Hansard (from the Irish rock band The Frames) and Czech musician Markéta Irglová won for Best Song from the film Once. A truly sweet moment as they took the stage, and a really classy act was to follow: Glenn spoke first and the band played the duo off before Markéta could speak. After the commercial, the show director had Jon Stewart bring Markéta back out to speak. Don't think I've ever seen that before, so really class act there. Story and speech linked here to AP:

"The fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just proof that no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible," Irglova said during take two. "And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream, and don't give up. This song was written from the perspective of hope, and hope, at the end of the day, connects us all, no matter how different we are." - Markéta Irglová

This is a really sweet reward for this little film. You're all urged to go rent it now. Once is a 2006 Irish musical film set in Dublin, but it's not musical comedy like Hairspray. It takes a naturalistic approach to storytelling with musicians Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová telling the story of two struggling performers, set against song composed and performed by them. And there's something nice about a pair of indie musicians beating Disney's film Enchanted.

Speaking of Enchanted, while I enjoyed the performance of Amy Adams, I was surprised the production for "Happy Work Song" was so low-key, with only Amy singing on stage - where are all the happy helping animals and interpretive dancers? But that song from August Rush was well done.

A couple of great moments came in the acting categories: Best Supporting Actor winner Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men) giving most of his speech in Spanish to his mother, and in one of the few surprises of the night, Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) won Best Actress and gave a speech she thanked life and love and seemed truly blown away by the moment. If Wikipedia is to be believed, Marion Cotillard's win marks the first time an Academy Award has been given to a French-language performance.

Terrific that Daniel Day Lewis won Best Actor, but his speech just reminded how deeply he disappears into his roles. There was no trace of Daniel Plainsview (There Will Be Blood.) or Bill The Butcher (Gangs of New York) as this sweet man thanked his father, grandfather, and sons. He is scary good.3

Despite some rumours, there was no tribute singling out Heath Ledger career as he was included in the annual necrology collage.

Bourne Ultimatum won a number of technical awards: Film Editing, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.

The Academy awarded Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody with Best Original Screenplay, which was pretty cool of them. Best Original Screenplay tends to be the "cool award", typically seen as the "you did something cool, your film won't win any big awards, but you earned/deserve something" award. See previous winners: Almost Famous - Cameron Crowe, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Charlie Kaufman and Little Miss Sunshine - Michael Arndt. No, literally go see them, there all favourites of mine. I'll wait here until you're done.

ALOTT5MA has their annual Academy Awards wrap-up here. They had some good ideas for improving the show, such as dropping some of the technical award presentations off the broadcast and introducing some viewer friendly categories like Best Debut (actor) and Best First Film (director). Might I re-new my plea for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture like they have at several awards including the Screen Actors Guild? I also agree with Adam that we could have used fewer clips from past awards and more exposure for the nominated Best Pictures.

And that's about it until next year. It was a pleasantly low-key show with no real risk-taking but some amusing moments. Maybe two-weeks notice is all we should give Oscar producers from now on? Drop any thoughts in the comments.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

2008 Oscar Winners and Nominees

Notes from a happy guy with rest of the week off

Observations, lessons learned, and odd things I've picked up during my week of leisure:

• Daniel Day Lewis is my Best Actor pick in the Oscar pools this year. Hell, any year. The man is terrifyingly good in There Will Be Blood - he starts off obsessively ruthless, then he really loses it. Love or hate the movie, the performance is otherworldly - and so is that soundtrack. Composed by Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead), it provokes an ever-present unsettling sense of dread - you know the poem "The Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats, and how he describes a beast slouching towards Bethlehem to be born? I imagine the noise the beast would make would sound alot like Greenwood's movie score.
• My plans to see U2 in 3D in IMAX were thwarted when someone in programming thought that it made sense to have The Spiderwick Chronicles 3D Experience booked this week. I can understand daytime showings, but who the hell went to see a kid's fantasy film at the 10:15pm showing? You couldn't drop one concert film that appeals to those who can stay up past 10pm?
• Carlin Rule #103: if my dining companion spends more than 3 minutes describing her lingerie, I am legally entitled to see it.
• Remember the 90s band Tripping Daisy? They had that one hit "I've Got A Girl" - I had no idea that they eventually went on to form the choral symphonic rock band The Polyphonic Spree.
• I'm pretty damned happy with my new Sony w810i Walkman phone - i just got it through Rogers Wireless and it is sweet - great music player, clear call quality, sharp design, surprisingly good 2mp camera, and an easy to use interface. My only complaint, minor as it is: I can't seem to access any info in my contacts lists aside from names and phone numbers. I can add and edit the info, but can't view it easily. Otherwise, very happy with the upgrade.
• I am definitely in the market for an indie-music loving girlfriend. Tell your friends.
• That trailer for Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull has me hooked - I'm in. And how excellent is this summer movie season shaping up? Hellboy 2, Iron Man, Batman - The Dark Knight, Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, even freaking Speed Racer (way to stick to the original material Wachowskis!) all look like they're going to deliver great entertaining films that are faithful to the source material. I can't recall being so optimistically into a slate of movies.
• And finally, just how much ass is the new season of Lost kicking? Four solid episodes that have been delivering exciting revelations, great character moments, and a quick breathless pace.

bye-bye le boyfriend

Definition of The Boyfriend Yank:

This is a phenomenom noticed at concerts, usually in club venues, wherein a boy has taken the ill-concieved move of bringing a date/girlfriend to a concert, and 3 songs into the set he gets the tap on the shoulder as the date/girlfriend has tired of indulging his musical tastes and asks to leave. And they do. Such a phenomenom is very fulfilling if it happens to the guy who cuts in and stands directly in front of you at a concert.

This was first pointed out to me by K., who recognized a die-hard fan at the final Rheostatics show. The guy apparently had brought his date to share the magical experience of seeing the last Rheostatics gig ever, only to find 3 songs in that she had grown bored and asked that they leave - and the schmuck did.

Teeth on the Dial: WGA Writer's Strike Ends

The WGA Writer's Strike is officially over after 3 months. Production staff, writers and stars are expected to get back to work as soon as tomorrow. So where does this leave your favourite show?

• Late night shows ("Daily Show", "Colbert", "Conan", "Leno") are expected to have their writer's back Wednesday cranking out new material.
• The next big return after that is "Saturday Night Live", which should air it's first 2008 episode on February 23rd (no host or musical guest announced yet). They have a quick turn-around time over there, and I wonder if we'll see any of the material the cast used a live SNL performance they put on during the strike.
• Generally, expect most 30 minute comedies to be able to crank out between 6-10 new episodes before the end of the season. First new episodes should appear in April.
• Most of the dramas like "Smallville", "House", "CSI", and "ER" are aiming for between 4 - 8 new episodes before year end.
  
• "24" won't be back until 2009.

To find out the latest news on your shows, I encourage you to check out Michael Ausiello on TV Guide, who is keeping the page updated regularly as he hears from various shows:

After The WGA Strike, When Will Your Favourite T.V. Shows Return?

On to my favourites:

• In addition to 6 completed episodes, in addition to the 2 that aired, the producers of Lost are expecting to be able to do 5 more episodes, for a total of 13 out of the previously planned 16 episode season. Look for about a 4 week gap between the pre-strike and post-strike episodes, as mentioned in this interview with "Lost" executive producer Carlton Cuse.
  
• "30 Rock" is expected to shoot 5 to 10 new episodes to air in April/May. NBC must be eager to capitalize on recent Golden Globe wins for the show. "The Office", "How I Met Your Mother", and "My Name is Earl" are expected to be back with the same amount of episodes.
• My two favourite 2007 rookie shows "Chuck" and "Pushing Daisies" won't be making any new episodes, but both will be back for full seasons in the fall. This is great news for "Pushing Daisies", which has the full season pick-up, and thanks to the shortened season will not have to compete against "American Idol".
• Looks like "Reaper" caught a lucky break with 5-10 new episodes planned. I hope they can capitalize on the potential I saw in the first episode and only in a few spots here and there after that, like the episodes with Patton Oswalt and Curtis Armstrong. They really need to avoid the "Catch-the-Demon-of-the-Week" formula that was bogging them down like bad Scooby-Doo episodes (aka any ones with Scrappy Doo).
  
• While some ABC shows won't see new episodes during the remainder of the 2007-2008 season, ABC gave some sense of security by announcing fall 2008 pick-ups for a bunch of their shows: "Brothers & Sisters," “Desperate Housewives," "Dirty Sexy Money," "Grey's Anatomy," "Lost," "Private Practice," "Pushing Daisies," "Samantha Who?" and "Ugly Betty."
• "Heroes" won't see any new episodes, but may be getting a jump on the next season, perhaps airing in late summer. Producer Tim Kring is reportedly working on a "show bible" that will outline where the show is headed over the next few years.
• Big question marks over the fate of "Scrubs", who were slated to wrap up the series this year. There were still seven episodes left to go, and producer/creator Bill Lawrence has said in an interview with Ausiello "that he can wrap up all the storylines in four episodes if he needs to". But NBC hasn't been very enthused about giving the show a proper farewell, as it is the bastard stepchild (ABC/Disney owns the show). Worst case scenario would see Lawrence getting the budget from ABC/Disney presumably to produce the final episodes for the final season DVD if NBC won't air them.
  
  sources: What's Alan Watching? and Michael Ausiello at TV Guide
  

looking out the window, thinking of throttling that groundhog...

Having a busy day at work, but tonight I promise updates on:

• The TV Writer's Strike is being settled as we speak - I'll let you know which shows are coming back this season, which are on hold until September, and how my favourite new show has been picked up for next year and managed to avoid being stomped on by American Idol
• It's Oscar season and I embark on my usual round of Oscar Nominee Marathon catch-up

* please note that "Throttling a Groundhog" is not a euphenism for any particular act that you are thinking of accusing me of. Now, if I said "Throttling a Haggis", you could draw your own conclusions.

The Cupcake Experiment

I was the willing guinea pig in an experiment on cupcake shipping - my friend Nikita baked a batch of Pina Colada cupcakes and wanted to see if her shipping method would work. As you can see from the photos, her cupcakes arrived from Ottawa safe and sound and delicious.

The Package arrived safe and sound. Once the box was open I discover a secure interior with foam and newspapers. It's either cupcakes or a brick of ... wait, was "cupcakes" a code word? Let's just open the foil and find out.

They're alive - through the outer casing, it appears the cupcakes are unharmed. Nikita advised me she froze them prior to shipping. Piercing the outer shell... it's cupcake kevlar!



... the cupcakes are whole and un-smooshed.


I've just finished an 16 hour day at work - needless to say, I'm looking forward to this.


First bite, no ice or freezer burn - deeelicious! It's a basic vanilla cupcake and filled each one with a thick and gooey pineapple filling made from ripe pineapple, and topped off with coconut buttercream frosting.




And it's a thumbs up from the judges - the2scoops seal of approval! Thanks Nikita! Cupcakes were delicious and undamaged after one day in transit. Now the next experiment should be to see if you can do it just as safe, but cheaper shipping costs.