WBBP post #299

So, as many of you know, I am moving to the Sunshine State. That's Florida for those of you not hip on state mottos.

Specifically, I'll be in Jacksonville, Fla., which is in the northeast. Like, real northeast. Close to the Georgia border. So close that the paper I'll be working for has a Georgia edition.

Side rant: I'm realizing that a shit ton of papers have editions in more than one state. It's not rocket science, it makes sense, but I find it kinda neat.

Anywho, I decided to research the music goldmine that will be my new home. I researched bands and artists not only from Jax, but from all over the Sunshine State.

So, without further ado:

Bands/artists from or affiliated with Florida

For Squirrels
Mase
.38 Special
Mandy Moore (grew up there)
'N Sync
Limp Bizkit
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Gloria Estefan
Yellowcard
New Foud Glory
Dashboard Confessional
Pat Boone
69 Boyz
Quad City DJs
Against Me!
Less Than Jake
Marilyn Manson
Graham Parsons
Creed
Hot Water Music
KC and the Sunshine Band
Sam & Dave
Jim Morrison
Debbie Harry
Exene Cervenka (grew up there)
The Silos
Discount
Sister Hazel
Iced Earth
Tom Petty
Backstreet Boys

As you can see, some of these are better than others and this is not a complete list, though Debbie Harry being from Florida is fucking cool enough for me.

Also, "Wild Things" takes place in Florida and really, that should be reason enough.

The 78th Annual Academy Awards: The Digest

1. Isaac Mizrahi is absolutely fabulous. He's catty, he's shallow and he's totally fake. Perfect as E!'s red carpet correspondent.

2. Ryan Seacrest belongs in porno. He's gorgeous, he just needs to keep his mouth closed. But if he is to indeed do porno, he has to have an open mouth. He just needs to not talk. Ever.

3. Naomi Watts is pretty.

4. Namoi Watts is pretty boring.

5. Naomi Watts need not talk about fuel efficient cars ever again.

6. A lot of people commented on Michele Williams' dress, but I didn't think it was that revolutionary or pretty. It wasn't fugly, but it was certainly not good enough to smack your mama.

7. Not a fan of Heath Ledger's mustache.

8. Felicity Huffman was absolutely wonderful. She was so gracious to the interviewers and when Chris Connelly showed her a video of her "Desperate Housewives" co-stars wishing her well, she started tearing up. "Thanks for making my make-up run!"

9. George Clooney's acceptance speech for supporting actor was probably the best speech all night. Although he had some contenders...

10. Reese Witherspoon's speech showed what fans like about her: her humble, "gee golly" way of speaking and her emphasis on family. Mentioning Tennessee was cute, too.

11. The guys who made "March of The Penguins" had one of the shortest speeches. That was good. They also talked about the political impacts their movie could have, and then they apologized for their accents. They could have come across as cocky but I thought it was sweet. Still have not seen that movie and now I want to bump it to the top of my queue.

12. Isaac Mizrahi thought Kiera Knightly was the best-dressed and I must say she looked beautiful. I don't care too much about the dresses, but hers was pretty and it really brought out her attractiveness.

13. Scarlett Johannsen can do no wrong, with the exception of "The Perfect Score" and "In Good Company." But even in those movies, she looked good, and she looked great last night. Any color looks great on her, and red looked fantastic. If I ever get lost in the ocean, I want to use her lips as a life boat.

14. Ludacris looked sharp.

15. Jon Stewart had a tough crowd with such a reserved audience, but he got them to warm up and he was a good emcee. And he was funny.

16. The opening segment with all the previous hosts was pretty funny. It reminded me of the MTV Movie Awards, actually.

17. The Ben Stiller bit with him in the green suit was pretty amusing, if for no other reason than because it was not the normal Oscar category intro. The text they read off the prompter is bloated and self-important, and it makes us want to puke. Ben Stiller was a great respite. They need more of that.

18. What the fuck was that mass of fabric on Charlize Theron's left shoulder?

19. Those teleprompter intros that ask questions really bug me. It's lazy writing on top of the already shitty copy they're reading. "What is glamour? What is art? What is a lame intro?"

20. Keanu and Sandra have another movie out together?

21. Keanu still has a career?

22. Keanu is still alive?

23. "Don Cheadle couldn't be here tonight." Why the fuck not? What trumps Oscar night? Of course, now that I've said that, we'll probably find out that his mother took ill or that one of his family members was run over by a bobcat.

24. I'm glad I didn't see Star Jones at all. She sucks.

25. "Brokeback Mountain" didn't win as many awards as people expected, but it at least won best adapted screenplay, best director and best score. The movie didn't have the same political dynamics as "Crash" but that was part of its charm. There was nothing preachy about "Brokeback Mountain" and the ambiguous ending has spawned a shitload of conversations about gay identity.

26. The five best picture nominees weren't big box office draws, probably because they were good and kinda artsy. Of those movies, I think "Crash" had the widest appeal and had the potential to speak to the most audiences. It covered the most ground. It had the most dynamic plot. It was the most visually spectacular. "Crash" winning best picture is not an upset, because I think all of the movies were speaking to the same audiences, and so any movie winning best picture would have been a tribute to idealistic liberal artsy kids.

27. Three Six Mafia won an Oscar. Holy fucking shit. That's amazing.

28. Queen Latifah is absolutely beautiful. I think I'd want to be her friend. We could watch "Grey's Anatomy" together, sing Eric B. and Rakim and talk about movies. All while gathering around the good stuff. It would be wonderful.