This Ain't a Scene, It's an Oscar Race

Let's digress to film for a moment. Oscar nominations were announced today, and I have a couple of responses:

(1) I will not be seeing "Letters from Iwo Jima." Will. Not. Twice before, I was suckered by critics renting out the sides of blimps on which to declare the brilliance of the latest Clint Eastwood movie. Off I went, buying my ticket with expectations as high as the Pope's hat, and you know what? I hated "Million Dollar Baby." Know what I hated more? "Mystic River." Both of those mose relied on the mustiest, phoniest storytelling cliches, yet everyone insisted they were these sophisiticated, surprising works of art. I will not be fool again, even though that means this will be the first year since 1992 that I have not seen all the Best Picture nominees.

(2) I will see "Babel," but I'm not excited about it. My friend Maggie said it's more depressing than the thought of Schwarzenegger as governor, yet I feel compelled. Seven... nominations... must... see... movie. Plus, I liked "21 Grams," which is by the same director.

(3) "Dreamgirls" deserved a best picture nomination more than "Little Miss Sunshine." Though I do think "Sunshine" is pretty great.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming...

I love the new song by Fall Out Boy. "This Ain't a Scene It's an Arms Race" starts with a pulsing rhythm that's almost like 80s dance, and then it explodes into hyperspeed rock riffs. It features a large group singing along to the chorus. It does that thing where the audio gets split during certain verses, so that one line comes out of your left speaker, and the next line comes out of the right. Trippy!

So there you go. I dig on Fall Out Boy. Watch out, Radioactive Man!