F/N, Oscars and Sales Tax, Oh My!
Frost/Nixon. SO good. I don't know what I can say, really. Even though you knew the outcome, it was still a roller-coaster ride of a film, which is a great thing, a very hard thing to do. Originally written as a stage play, the power of spoken dialogue comes through crystal clear. I'd read in reviews that Frank Langella's performance as Richard Nixon was somewhat overrated, and I kind of agree for the first 3/4 of the film.... but he MORE than makes up for it with Nixon's breakdown at the end. The movie actually talks about the power of the closeup on film... and it can't be any further from the truth. Fantastic performance. I also LOVED Michael Sheen in the film as well, very underrated, come awards-time. Overall, typical Oscar-bait film, sure, with the Oscar-bait director, of course. But when a movie is well-written, well-acted, and overall well-done? Totally fine. I'd say of the five nominees, F/N is my #2, right there with Milk. But Slumdog was still better.
So, to close up my pre-Oscars movie-viewing, my top five:
1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. Frost/Nixon
3. Milk
4. Benjamin Button
5. The Reader
F/N and Milk are VERY close. A I should also point out that those are not my top five movies of the Oscar-year (to use their time frame). Wall-E would be on that list (probably right there with F/N and Milk), and I'd also place Doubt above The Reader, probably even about Benjamin Button (an overrated film). And, in Doubt's case, if the direction weren't SO heavy-handed, I think it'd be on the Oscar list to begin with.
As for the Oscars themselves? Mixed bag. I enjoyed the new format, and Hugh Jackman as host (who I've always loved, even back in his Tonys-hosting days), but I think the show could have used more.... I dont know, tweaking. I know, live TV and all, but the first half or so seemed somewhat sloppy (curtain closing instead of opening, confused presenters, somewhat sloppy musical number, etc). I did enjoy the show, though, but there's always room for improvement!
I enjoy debating with James. Last night, we *somehow* got on the topic of online shopping, pros and cons, or something. Anyhoo, an idea came to my mind that would generate TONS of money for the federal government, not be a huge burden on the taxpayers, and could easily be spun as an all-around good thing, without the government lying. It's a win-win-win situation, really. A federal sales tax on online purchases. Think about it. The government could ban state sales tax on online purchases (only like.... CA charges it now anyway, I think), and institute a small (like, just a tick below the smallest sales tax in the nation.... 3% would be perfect) sales tax on most items (restrictions apply, of course, but most items would qualify). According to Wikipedia, $146.4 billion was spent online in 2006. Three percent of that is $4.39 billion. Hello? How can this be spun, you ask? If I went to a physical store right now here in MA, and purchased a CD that costs $15, after the sales tax it'd cost $15.75. If purchased online, it would be.... $15 (sure, shipping and handling... but discount that). This is an unfair advantage online shopping has over physical shopping in most states, am I wrong? Sure, a 3% tax would still be a discount over a 5% tax here in MA, but not as much. Perhaps all this is too logical for the US government.
I GOT BILLY JOEL AND ELTON JOHN TICKETS. That's all on that.
Finally, I've signed up to be a ChaCha Guide. I figure I'm often home, bored and online, why not answer questions? Sure, could be annoying, but that's when I just stop. Who knows, could be fun.
That's all I have for today. Go B's!
So, to close up my pre-Oscars movie-viewing, my top five:
1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. Frost/Nixon
3. Milk
4. Benjamin Button
5. The Reader
F/N and Milk are VERY close. A I should also point out that those are not my top five movies of the Oscar-year (to use their time frame). Wall-E would be on that list (probably right there with F/N and Milk), and I'd also place Doubt above The Reader, probably even about Benjamin Button (an overrated film). And, in Doubt's case, if the direction weren't SO heavy-handed, I think it'd be on the Oscar list to begin with.
As for the Oscars themselves? Mixed bag. I enjoyed the new format, and Hugh Jackman as host (who I've always loved, even back in his Tonys-hosting days), but I think the show could have used more.... I dont know, tweaking. I know, live TV and all, but the first half or so seemed somewhat sloppy (curtain closing instead of opening, confused presenters, somewhat sloppy musical number, etc). I did enjoy the show, though, but there's always room for improvement!
I enjoy debating with James. Last night, we *somehow* got on the topic of online shopping, pros and cons, or something. Anyhoo, an idea came to my mind that would generate TONS of money for the federal government, not be a huge burden on the taxpayers, and could easily be spun as an all-around good thing, without the government lying. It's a win-win-win situation, really. A federal sales tax on online purchases. Think about it. The government could ban state sales tax on online purchases (only like.... CA charges it now anyway, I think), and institute a small (like, just a tick below the smallest sales tax in the nation.... 3% would be perfect) sales tax on most items (restrictions apply, of course, but most items would qualify). According to Wikipedia, $146.4 billion was spent online in 2006. Three percent of that is $4.39 billion. Hello? How can this be spun, you ask? If I went to a physical store right now here in MA, and purchased a CD that costs $15, after the sales tax it'd cost $15.75. If purchased online, it would be.... $15 (sure, shipping and handling... but discount that). This is an unfair advantage online shopping has over physical shopping in most states, am I wrong? Sure, a 3% tax would still be a discount over a 5% tax here in MA, but not as much. Perhaps all this is too logical for the US government.
I GOT BILLY JOEL AND ELTON JOHN TICKETS. That's all on that.
Finally, I've signed up to be a ChaCha Guide. I figure I'm often home, bored and online, why not answer questions? Sure, could be annoying, but that's when I just stop. Who knows, could be fun.
That's all I have for today. Go B's!