I promised on Friday that I’d have a brief commentary on the Academy Awards last night, and so let me take a very brief moment to talk about the good, the bad and the ugly. The good: This was one of the few years where I genuinely wasn’t upset by any winners. Everything that won deserved to win, including the accolades for “The King’s Speech”. As much as I loved “The Social Network”, it lacked real emotion and conflict for me. We’re supposed to feel some sympathy for Mark Zuckerberg, but him having to give away hundreds of millions of dollars to people suing him while still having billions left over isn’t going to garner much sympathy from me. Nor does his lack of real friends. The bad: What a slooooow ceremony. Of course it always is, with a 3 hour running time and such, but it seemed like several portions really dragged on for much longer than they needed to. Plus, there was a distinct lack of humor by most of the presenters, and at times I wondered if they were left to write their own poor filler dialogue instead of professionally written comedic banter. The ugly: I care very little about fashion, so I’m not gonna mention that. But as Oscar hosts, James Franco and Anne Hathaway did not do a good job. I’d go so far as to say it was poor. They were being touted as younger and hipper but some of their supposed “jokes” felt either way too broad or dated. Franco was the worst offender, and Hathaway did a nice job trying to keep things lighter and more upbeat despite the poor results. Okay, that’s all I’ll say about the Oscars. On to Pick Your Poison. Highlights today include songs from The Alps, The Donkeys, The Holidays and Sebastian Zimmer (aka One In A Googolplex). Also, I love me a good Radiohead cover, and Grand Lake’s version of “The Tourist” isn’t half bad.
The Crackling – The Three of You
The Donkeys – Don’t Know Who We Are
Grand Lake – The Tourist (Radiohead cover)
The Morning Birds – Heart’s Desire
Sebastian Zimmer (One In A Googolplex) – Lilly
The Whip – Muzzle #1 (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)
SOUNDCLOUD