These are my predictions for who will be nominated for an Oscar in 8 categories tomorrow morning. These are not my preferences but who I think will have their name called tomorrow.
Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis Fences
Naomi Harris Moonlight
Nicole Kidman Lion
Octavia Spencer Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams Manchester by the Sea
Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali Moonlight
Jeff Bridges Hell or High Water
Hugh Grant Florence Foster Jenkins
Lucas Hedges Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel Lion
Best Original Screenplay
Hell or High Water
La La Land
The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea
Zootopia
Best Adapted Screenplay
Arrival
Fences
Hidden Figures
Lion
Moonlight
Best Actor
Casey Affleck Manchester by the Sea
Andrew Garfield Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling La La Land
Viggo Mortensen Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington Fences
Best Actress
Amy Adams Arrival
Isabelle Huppert Elle
Natalie Portman Jackie
Emma Stone La La Land
Meryl Streep Florence Foster Jenkins
Best Director
Damien Chazelle La La Land
Garth Davis Lion
Barry Jenkins Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan Manchester by the Sea
Denis Villeneuve Arrival
and I believe the nominees for Best Picture will be
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Monday, January 23, 2017
Sunday, January 22, 2017
No Chances for Trump!
Let me be clear from the start. What I am about to say is NOT about the fact that I am sore loser and you might not have voted for who I wanted you to vote for. Absolutely not. What I am about to say is about who you DID vote for (if you were a Trump voter).
The nerve some of you have to tell anyone that they should give Trump a chance! Trump had his chance in a very long Presidential campaign, and just when you thought he couldn't go lower he surprised and went even lower. He squandered his chance. No friend ,I will not give this man a chance. When someone shows me their true self, I believe it. And your President showed his true self to me over and over again.
No, I cannot give him a chance because in my gut when I know something is very wrong, I am going to listen to my gut easily over your Fox News fried mind. The thing I keep going back to is wondering when Hitler came to power if the people who supported him also told people to give him a chance. Good job there! History doesn't disappear. Even for Trump.
No, Trump may not be the next Hitler, but again if my gut and history tells me that he may be, I am going to listen to my gut. If you voted for Trump this is maybe the one thing I really want you to read. Whether or not you actually liked him or not and voted for him, you bear a small piece of responsibility for every action he takes during his term just as I did for the last 8 years of the decisions of President Obama. If Trump does great amazing thing, you get to celebrate that, but if he does any of the awful hate filled things that he promised to do, you bear some responsibility for them, and I hope you feel that guilt every time you look at me in the eyes.
I've been most disappointed with some of my Christian friends and let me be clear: I. Am.A. Christian. Too. The hardest part of all of this is that Trump was the Christian choice. Christians allegedly have some grip on the teachings of Christ!
Wait! stop there! Hillary was dishonest because Benghazi and emails and all these things that Rush Limbaugh told me!
No one is perfect certainly, but straight out of Trump's mouth and out of his Twitter account came evil things about Muslims, people from Mexico, and immigrants In general. He belittled women, he admitted to being ok with sexually assaulting women, he surrounded himself with people who mean to harm gay people, and he made fun of a disabled person. It's all there. Rachel Maddox didn't tell me he did these things. I saw or heard him do it. I could go on for days, but if you are a follower of Christ at all then You understand that he did all of those things to God's children. Why do you not have a problem with that? Again, by don't you have a problem with that?
But yes there was Benghazi and those emails and all those other terrible things Sean Hannity told you that Hillary did.
I can answer that for some of you. It's his alleged stance on abortion because for some that is all you care about. And I get it. We may not agree on this issue, but abortion is a complicated matter and it isn't something anyone likes regardless of which side you stand on. But I am going to give you a news flash here: Roe vs. Wade was made law over 43 years ago. In that time there have been now 6 Republican presidents serving all or part of their term and none of them have made significant inroads to overturning in. Now why is that? Because you are a pawn. They know you will keep coming out to vote for them as long as it is law. They aren't really interested in ever overturning it because if they do, your vote may start going elsewhere. Think about that. Please.
I'll close by repeating what I started with. Donald Trump will get no chances from me as President of the USA. I accept the election outcome, but I do not accept him as someone who represents me as an American to the world. I will work with the plurality of Americans to see that his time as President is as short as possible. I will not give him a chance. And my question is: why will you?
History has its eyes on you.
The nerve some of you have to tell anyone that they should give Trump a chance! Trump had his chance in a very long Presidential campaign, and just when you thought he couldn't go lower he surprised and went even lower. He squandered his chance. No friend ,I will not give this man a chance. When someone shows me their true self, I believe it. And your President showed his true self to me over and over again.
No, I cannot give him a chance because in my gut when I know something is very wrong, I am going to listen to my gut easily over your Fox News fried mind. The thing I keep going back to is wondering when Hitler came to power if the people who supported him also told people to give him a chance. Good job there! History doesn't disappear. Even for Trump.
No, Trump may not be the next Hitler, but again if my gut and history tells me that he may be, I am going to listen to my gut. If you voted for Trump this is maybe the one thing I really want you to read. Whether or not you actually liked him or not and voted for him, you bear a small piece of responsibility for every action he takes during his term just as I did for the last 8 years of the decisions of President Obama. If Trump does great amazing thing, you get to celebrate that, but if he does any of the awful hate filled things that he promised to do, you bear some responsibility for them, and I hope you feel that guilt every time you look at me in the eyes.
I've been most disappointed with some of my Christian friends and let me be clear: I. Am.A. Christian. Too. The hardest part of all of this is that Trump was the Christian choice. Christians allegedly have some grip on the teachings of Christ!
Wait! stop there! Hillary was dishonest because Benghazi and emails and all these things that Rush Limbaugh told me!
No one is perfect certainly, but straight out of Trump's mouth and out of his Twitter account came evil things about Muslims, people from Mexico, and immigrants In general. He belittled women, he admitted to being ok with sexually assaulting women, he surrounded himself with people who mean to harm gay people, and he made fun of a disabled person. It's all there. Rachel Maddox didn't tell me he did these things. I saw or heard him do it. I could go on for days, but if you are a follower of Christ at all then You understand that he did all of those things to God's children. Why do you not have a problem with that? Again, by don't you have a problem with that?
But yes there was Benghazi and those emails and all those other terrible things Sean Hannity told you that Hillary did.
I can answer that for some of you. It's his alleged stance on abortion because for some that is all you care about. And I get it. We may not agree on this issue, but abortion is a complicated matter and it isn't something anyone likes regardless of which side you stand on. But I am going to give you a news flash here: Roe vs. Wade was made law over 43 years ago. In that time there have been now 6 Republican presidents serving all or part of their term and none of them have made significant inroads to overturning in. Now why is that? Because you are a pawn. They know you will keep coming out to vote for them as long as it is law. They aren't really interested in ever overturning it because if they do, your vote may start going elsewhere. Think about that. Please.
I'll close by repeating what I started with. Donald Trump will get no chances from me as President of the USA. I accept the election outcome, but I do not accept him as someone who represents me as an American to the world. I will work with the plurality of Americans to see that his time as President is as short as possible. I will not give him a chance. And my question is: why will you?
History has its eyes on you.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
One on One: My reflections of the life and music of George Michael
I liked George Michael from the first time I saw him. In America it began with Wake Me Up Before You Go Go. And aside from my coveting his Choose Life T Shirt, I found something instantly relatable about him. It wasn't a physical attraction as it was for other gay kids and teens of that time. I was actually more attracted to his Wham collaboratorAndrew Ridgeley. I think it was because for whatevever boldness and honesty he brought out in his lyrics that he always held us at a distance like he had a secret. I think maybe it was his always sad eyes. This was relatable as a fearful gay kid growing up in Wyoming. I always could look into George Michael's eyes in his video and know that there was something about him than was just like me-even if it was unspoken at the time.
When I drove home this last Christmas evening to hear that George Michael has passed away it was devastating but unfortunately not surprising. For all of the obituaries praising him, I remember that it had not always been the case. There were times where the world was very cruel to George Michael. I had actually been surprised this tragedy hasn't happened sooner. There are those in the world that always seem a little bit too sensitive for the cruelty of the world and George Michael despite his tough words in interviews he always seemed to be a bit of a soft and kind soul. The kind that the world often chews up and spits outs.
Almost 10 years ago I was lucky enough to see George Michael in concert in what would be his last tour of the United States. The tour had been the tail end of all the problems he had with substance abuse and his arrest for public indecency. He seems very vulnerable. I frankLy expected that the concert would not happen because his behavior had become somewhat erratic at the time. Fortunately he did performer, and I was able to see this amazing performer live. He did not disappoint.
As we left the show, I heard some concert goers who were obviously unfamiliar with his music beyond the Wham! and Faith hits talking about their disappointment that he didn't sing more of his Wham! output. I really like a lot of his later music so naturally I just rolled my eyes at them. George Michael always tried to live life and his career on his own terms despite the pressure to do other wise. I will definitely miss him.
Here are my choices for Twleve of George Michael's and Wham!'s best recordings in no particular order.
Everything She Wants Wham!
Too Funky!
Freedom 90
Careless Whisper Wham!
One More Try
Praying for Time *My personal favorite
I knew you were waiting for me (a duet with Aretha Franklin)
Heal the World
Different Corner Wham!
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (featuring Elton John)
I Can't make You Love Me (remake of Bonnie Raiit's song)
Jesus to a Child
When I drove home this last Christmas evening to hear that George Michael has passed away it was devastating but unfortunately not surprising. For all of the obituaries praising him, I remember that it had not always been the case. There were times where the world was very cruel to George Michael. I had actually been surprised this tragedy hasn't happened sooner. There are those in the world that always seem a little bit too sensitive for the cruelty of the world and George Michael despite his tough words in interviews he always seemed to be a bit of a soft and kind soul. The kind that the world often chews up and spits outs.
Almost 10 years ago I was lucky enough to see George Michael in concert in what would be his last tour of the United States. The tour had been the tail end of all the problems he had with substance abuse and his arrest for public indecency. He seems very vulnerable. I frankLy expected that the concert would not happen because his behavior had become somewhat erratic at the time. Fortunately he did performer, and I was able to see this amazing performer live. He did not disappoint.
As we left the show, I heard some concert goers who were obviously unfamiliar with his music beyond the Wham! and Faith hits talking about their disappointment that he didn't sing more of his Wham! output. I really like a lot of his later music so naturally I just rolled my eyes at them. George Michael always tried to live life and his career on his own terms despite the pressure to do other wise. I will definitely miss him.
Here are my choices for Twleve of George Michael's and Wham!'s best recordings in no particular order.
Everything She Wants Wham!
Too Funky!
Freedom 90
Careless Whisper Wham!
One More Try
Praying for Time *My personal favorite
I knew you were waiting for me (a duet with Aretha Franklin)
Heal the World
Different Corner Wham!
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (featuring Elton John)
I Can't make You Love Me (remake of Bonnie Raiit's song)
Jesus to a Child
Monday, January 9, 2017
Make one big change in 2017!
How are your New Years resolutions going after one week into 2017? Most people have probably forgotten they made them. I don't make resolutions, but I did decide to try something different this year. I think Making one big change is a lot easier to manage than a list of resolutions. I've decided during the work week days to stay away from take out and restaurant food. For personal reasons, I got into the habit of eating out and doing take out a lot in 2016, and I definitely put on some weight because of it. So I am now taking a look to see what a difference it makes if I stay away from those usually unhealthy choices. . I started it last week, and I already had several pounds fall away.
The problem is that if I don't have a healthy option to replace it, I'll likely just go back to my bad food habit. (Especially because I have no intention of giving up beer during the week). So I decided to look into some food delivery services. I tried Blue Apron last summer, and I definitely felt the difference because their food selections is much more healthy than a pub!
However, after awhile I realized that I wasn't going to be motivated to cook a time consuming meal after a long day at work. So I have started looking into services that deliver fully prepared meals. I currently ordered 7 meals from the first one I am Trying this week. It's vegan, and I chose it because it was the least expensive of the ones that deliver to my area. I have no intention of becoming vegan and hope to find a service with meat meals soon. Even if these services are kind of expensive up front, they are still a lot cheaper than a week of eating out.
Regardless, if I stick with it, I am guessing that changing this habit is going to make a significant improvement to my health. Everything else I'm keeping pretty much the same. I'm just making this one big change for 2017!
I will keep you updated as I progress!
The problem is that if I don't have a healthy option to replace it, I'll likely just go back to my bad food habit. (Especially because I have no intention of giving up beer during the week). So I decided to look into some food delivery services. I tried Blue Apron last summer, and I definitely felt the difference because their food selections is much more healthy than a pub!
However, after awhile I realized that I wasn't going to be motivated to cook a time consuming meal after a long day at work. So I have started looking into services that deliver fully prepared meals. I currently ordered 7 meals from the first one I am Trying this week. It's vegan, and I chose it because it was the least expensive of the ones that deliver to my area. I have no intention of becoming vegan and hope to find a service with meat meals soon. Even if these services are kind of expensive up front, they are still a lot cheaper than a week of eating out.
Regardless, if I stick with it, I am guessing that changing this habit is going to make a significant improvement to my health. Everything else I'm keeping pretty much the same. I'm just making this one big change for 2017!
I will keep you updated as I progress!
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