Tuesday the Oscar nominees will be known. Some not great movies will be nominated and some great movies will be snubbed. That is the game! Fortunately, there were a lot of great movies from 2017. Hopefully the not so great ones will not win anything. :)
My predictions for the Top 8 awards are:
Best Picture
Call Me By Your Name
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Post
Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (TBOEM)
Next in line: I, Tonya, Florida Project, The Big Sick
Besi Director
Christopher Nolan Dunkirk
Jordan Peele Get Out
Greta Gerwig Lady Bird
Guillermo del Toro Shape of Water
Martin McDonagh TBOEM
Next in Line: Sean Baker The Floria Project
Best Lead Actress
Sally Hawkins Shape of Water
Frances McDormand TBoEM
Margot Robbie I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan Lady Bird
Meryl Streep The Post
Next in Line: Jessica Chastain Molly's Game
Best Lead Actor
Timothee Chalamet Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day Lewis The Phantom Thread
James Franco The Disaster Artist
Daniel Kaluuya Get Out
Gary Oldman The Darkest Hour
Next in Line: Tom Hanks The Post
Best Supporting Actress
Mary J Blige Mudbound
Holly Hunter The Big Sick
Alison Janney I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer The Shape of Water
Next in Line: Hong Chau Downsizing
Best Supporting Actor
Willem Dafoe The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson TBoEM
Richard Jenkins The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer All the Money In the World
Sam Rockwell TBOEM
Next in Line: Armie Hammer Call Me By Your Name
Best Adapted Screenplay
Call Me By Your Name
The Disaster Artist
Molly's Game
Mudbound
Wonder
Next in Line: Wonder Woman
Best Original Screenplay
Get Out
I, Tonya
Ladybird
Shape Of Water
Three Billboard Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Next in Line: The Big Sick
Monday, January 22, 2018
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
My 12 Favorite Cities/Towns to Visit in America!
I spend most of my work vacation time traveling around the USA because it is generally much cheaper to do than paying for expensive international flights. I save for big international trips every few years. Fortunately, despite our very visible flaws, the USA has a lot of great cities and towns to visit from west to east and from north to south. I am more of a city traveler so I haven't included more rural and scenic areas on my list. That list can be composed by someone else.:)
I have chosen 12 cities or towns in the USA that I truly love to visit. It was hard to narrow it down to 12 so don't feel slighted if I visited you and had a great trip but your city or town is not on the list :) . There are a couple rules here: 1. Nowhere in Hawaii is included because Hawaii is the only state I haven't been to. 2. Boston and Seattle are not included on this list because it is a different experience to live in a place than it is to visit it so it doesn't feel right to include them even though they are both great cities! Each city includes a few brief pros and cons to think about if you are interested in traveling to them. I have split the 12 into 4 groups: West Cities, Somewhere in the Middle, East Cities, and Quirky Coastal Towns. Enjoy the fruits of my travels!
West Cities:
Portland, Oregon:
Pros: Great food truck scene, no sales tax, excellent mass transit for such a smallish city, great for a long weekend, and weirdness for days (Portlandia is not that much of an exaggeration). There is also lots of great outdoor activity to enjoy.
Cons: It is not huge so if you go on a long trip you may want to include Seattle and perhaps Vancouver BC (but Portland's small town feel makes it special). The weather can be tough. It gets colder and snowier in the winter and hotter in the summer than northern neighbor Seattle
San Francisco, California:
Pros: One of the best food scenes in the country (you are going to hear about food a lot on this list). Definitely the best food scene on the West Coast. The Mission is one of the best neighborhoods in the country. One of the most progressive cities in the USA which gives it an amazing unique history. Alcatraz is one of the best touristy activities you can do. It is very walkable, but it also has a variety of mass transit options including trolleys but...
Con: If you have never been to the city before it is hard to know which transit is suited best for which part of the city you are in (aside from using the obvious Lyft and Uber). Fisherman's Wharf is basically SFO's Time Square but with cool sea lions. SFO is hilly. Don't try to climb up to the top of Nob Hill after you have drank too much. I know a guy who did this. :)
Las Vegas, Nevada
Pros: Even though it is known as a gambling and club city (it is Sin City for a reason), most adults can go there and find something to love about it. The food scene on the Strip has invited many great chefs to open restaurants. At any given time there are multiple large and small shows (music, musicals, comedy) that you can attend and the selection keeps getting better and more current (Lady Gaga is going to stay there soon!). If you want to go to gamble and for clubs, have at it. Fremont Ave with it's old Vegas style is supercool and there are amazing hotel rooms on the Strip that would cost you double or even triple in other cities.
Cons: The worst thing about Vegas is that in the summer it is super hot (but it is a dry desert heat). It is over 100 for most days of the summer. You will also find that as you walk through the casinos, people are still allowed to smoke. The Strip casinos have good air filtration systems, but the Off the strip ones generally do not.
Somewhere in the Middle:
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Pros: It is located in one of the most beautiful areas of the country. It has a great art scene as well as some great outdoor markets. It is the city/town on my list that I have had the least amount of time at, so I need more.
Cons: It gets very hot in the summer (again a dry heat). Though I lucked out with my trip in August! It is relatively small, so it is better for shorter trips.
Chicago, Illnois
Pros: It is probably the friendliest major U.S. city I have been to. It is also very much a city of distinct neighborhoods, so you can find some very authentic foreign foods in all its different kind of segregated neighborhoods. It has good mass transit, which you definitely should use. There is a lot of great architecture, and it's an urban haven in the middle of the United States. Oh! Also Deep Dish Pizza.
Cons: The winters are pretty miserable and they don't always end when they are supposed to. I went to Chicago in mid April, and weather wise it was still miserable. I also took a business trip there that required me to rent a car, and I would definitely avoid having a car there if you can. It is a big spread out city so transit is good, but it takes a long time depending on where you are staying in the city. Oh! Also Celery Salt and vegetables on hot dogs! No thanks.
Austin, TX
Pros: It is a strange progressive oasis in the middle of Texas. With Tex Mex, steak, BBQ and more, it is also one of the best food cities in the country. It is a good for inside and outside (except during the summer) activity with many things to do on both fronts. I have been twice for two weeks, and I still feel like I have so much that I have not done there (particularly with the music and arts scene). Shiner beer is everywhere. All the queso! Oh and so many Alamo movie theaters!
Cons: There is not a lot of transit so you pretty much have to rent a car or depend on Uber or Lyft which actually just started there not too long ago. The summer heat and humidity are just gross. Regardless of its progressive nature, you are still in conservative Texas, so watch yourself. That one is the biggest con, I think.
East Cities
Washington DC-
Pros: Obviously there is a lot of history there, and there is a museum for pretty much everything. A lot of the museums and other outings are free. Newseum, which is the museum for media, is probably my favorite museum I have been to anywhere (but it isn't one of the free ones). The city is very walkable, but it has decent mass transit as well. Fall is very beautiful in DC, and it is fun to walk around in some of the fancier neighborhoods and look at the beautiful houses. There is a board game bar there, and this probably exists in other places but I have only found it in DC. There are a lot of hotels so you generally can get a good deal if you are visiting unless it is a big weekend for some kind of major march or rally. The Martin Luther King memorial is also breathtaking while also sobering.
Cons: A very evil man lives there when he isn't golfing in Florida and until he leaves I won't be visiting anymore :(. Georgetown which is a pretty major area doesn't really have good mass transit access, so Lyft away.
Philadelphia, PA
Pros: People are very nice there especially for the northeast which isn't exactly known for its friendliness. It is also a pretty good beer city. But let's be honest, the best thing about Philadelphia is its food. The food isn't stuffy so it doesn't probably get the attention it deserves, which is fine because that just means more cheesesteaks and fried chicken at donut shops for me! The winters are cold, but it is a pretty easy city to walk which is good because...
Cons: Philly's mass transit is amazingly inferior to other major northeast cities such as DC, NYC and Boston. They still use a punch card ticket system for their trains, and it seemed that you could not buy train tickets from a machine. There is so much history there, and I missed a lot of it because I got caught up in the food scene. :) That's not really a con, but it is true.
New York, New York
Pros: It is the greatest city in the USA, and I dare you to argue that. You have everything here: arts, music, theater, history, great food and drink. More than any city in the USA, you can come to NYC and never run out of things to do. It has the best mass transit system in the country by far (though definitely not perfect). I personally recommend Governor's Island and the Highline in Chelsea as underrated NYC activities over overdone tourist attractions like the Empire State Building and...
Cons: Time Square. Sorry, but there is no reason to go there unless you are going to a Broadway show. The M&M store and knock off superheroes are not cool. Also NYC can be a little hard to handle if you aren't a crowd person because Time Square is not the only crowded place. Don't look out the windows when you are on the subway unless you just want to see many very large rats.
Quirky Coastal Towns:
Portland, Maine:
Pros: All 3 of these represent towns have smallish populations, but at the same time I could go back to these towns again and again and not get bored. Portland, ME has simply the best food scene that I have seen in a city its size. It is also beer heaven. There are great breweries all around. There is also a lot of outdoor activity if you prefer to do your exercising outdoors. There is just one problem with this...
Cons: Portland is sooooooooooooo cold and snowy. I don't know how restaurants stay open during the winter because it is easy to want to stay in when it gets so cold. The city itself is progressive, but not really diverse. It's basically white. I could be wrong on this, but I have never seen a town with this population have such a large homeless population in the downtown area.
Key West, Florida
Pros: After the Keys suffered a terrible summer of 2017 hurricane season, Key West the most popular destination is open for business. It is very walkable, and it has a surprising amount of amenities for such a small town. The night life is pretty great there too. It has a lot of drag shows! The only town that I have seen more drag show options is probably Austin. It is cliche to say, but a lot of the Key Lime Pie is damn good. There is also lots of outdoor activity that involves the water, and the weather is nice enough year round to enjoy it (every day I was there in November it was basically 80 degrees) except....
Cons: I hear it gets terribly hot in the summer, but I didn't experience that. Some of the tourist areas run a bit on the douchebag crowd side if you know what I mean. The only other con is I didn't get enough time there.
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Pros: I did not cheat. It is not Boston. In fact Ptown (for short) makes the "hard to get to know" Boston visitors soften. Boston people often go there to show their friendly side. It is also has beautiful beaches and nice scenic areas to walk around. It has a good amount of restaurants and even if you run out of restaurants to go to (I haven't yet) there are so many you will want to return to. The nightlife, for at least gay guys, is amazing and I hear it is decent if you are not a gay guy as well. There are so many live shows to go to for a town this small.
Cons: Because it is very much a resort town it basically closes down from January to April, so you won't want to go at that time. The weather during that time would deter you as well. Hmm not enough bars serve draught beer which is really the only acceptable way to drink beer. :) It is also not particularly economically diverse for visitors. Things to do and eat and drink can run a bit expensive.
I know I have more U.S. places to explore. Savannah GA, for one, is on top of my list, but I think I have done enough traveling within the USA to give some good feedback!
I have chosen 12 cities or towns in the USA that I truly love to visit. It was hard to narrow it down to 12 so don't feel slighted if I visited you and had a great trip but your city or town is not on the list :) . There are a couple rules here: 1. Nowhere in Hawaii is included because Hawaii is the only state I haven't been to. 2. Boston and Seattle are not included on this list because it is a different experience to live in a place than it is to visit it so it doesn't feel right to include them even though they are both great cities! Each city includes a few brief pros and cons to think about if you are interested in traveling to them. I have split the 12 into 4 groups: West Cities, Somewhere in the Middle, East Cities, and Quirky Coastal Towns. Enjoy the fruits of my travels!
West Cities:
Portland, Oregon:
Pros: Great food truck scene, no sales tax, excellent mass transit for such a smallish city, great for a long weekend, and weirdness for days (Portlandia is not that much of an exaggeration). There is also lots of great outdoor activity to enjoy.
Cons: It is not huge so if you go on a long trip you may want to include Seattle and perhaps Vancouver BC (but Portland's small town feel makes it special). The weather can be tough. It gets colder and snowier in the winter and hotter in the summer than northern neighbor Seattle
San Francisco, California:
Pros: One of the best food scenes in the country (you are going to hear about food a lot on this list). Definitely the best food scene on the West Coast. The Mission is one of the best neighborhoods in the country. One of the most progressive cities in the USA which gives it an amazing unique history. Alcatraz is one of the best touristy activities you can do. It is very walkable, but it also has a variety of mass transit options including trolleys but...
Con: If you have never been to the city before it is hard to know which transit is suited best for which part of the city you are in (aside from using the obvious Lyft and Uber). Fisherman's Wharf is basically SFO's Time Square but with cool sea lions. SFO is hilly. Don't try to climb up to the top of Nob Hill after you have drank too much. I know a guy who did this. :)
Las Vegas, Nevada
Pros: Even though it is known as a gambling and club city (it is Sin City for a reason), most adults can go there and find something to love about it. The food scene on the Strip has invited many great chefs to open restaurants. At any given time there are multiple large and small shows (music, musicals, comedy) that you can attend and the selection keeps getting better and more current (Lady Gaga is going to stay there soon!). If you want to go to gamble and for clubs, have at it. Fremont Ave with it's old Vegas style is supercool and there are amazing hotel rooms on the Strip that would cost you double or even triple in other cities.
Cons: The worst thing about Vegas is that in the summer it is super hot (but it is a dry desert heat). It is over 100 for most days of the summer. You will also find that as you walk through the casinos, people are still allowed to smoke. The Strip casinos have good air filtration systems, but the Off the strip ones generally do not.
Somewhere in the Middle:
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Pros: It is located in one of the most beautiful areas of the country. It has a great art scene as well as some great outdoor markets. It is the city/town on my list that I have had the least amount of time at, so I need more.
Cons: It gets very hot in the summer (again a dry heat). Though I lucked out with my trip in August! It is relatively small, so it is better for shorter trips.
Chicago, Illnois
Pros: It is probably the friendliest major U.S. city I have been to. It is also very much a city of distinct neighborhoods, so you can find some very authentic foreign foods in all its different kind of segregated neighborhoods. It has good mass transit, which you definitely should use. There is a lot of great architecture, and it's an urban haven in the middle of the United States. Oh! Also Deep Dish Pizza.
Cons: The winters are pretty miserable and they don't always end when they are supposed to. I went to Chicago in mid April, and weather wise it was still miserable. I also took a business trip there that required me to rent a car, and I would definitely avoid having a car there if you can. It is a big spread out city so transit is good, but it takes a long time depending on where you are staying in the city. Oh! Also Celery Salt and vegetables on hot dogs! No thanks.
Austin, TX
Pros: It is a strange progressive oasis in the middle of Texas. With Tex Mex, steak, BBQ and more, it is also one of the best food cities in the country. It is a good for inside and outside (except during the summer) activity with many things to do on both fronts. I have been twice for two weeks, and I still feel like I have so much that I have not done there (particularly with the music and arts scene). Shiner beer is everywhere. All the queso! Oh and so many Alamo movie theaters!
Cons: There is not a lot of transit so you pretty much have to rent a car or depend on Uber or Lyft which actually just started there not too long ago. The summer heat and humidity are just gross. Regardless of its progressive nature, you are still in conservative Texas, so watch yourself. That one is the biggest con, I think.
East Cities
Washington DC-
Pros: Obviously there is a lot of history there, and there is a museum for pretty much everything. A lot of the museums and other outings are free. Newseum, which is the museum for media, is probably my favorite museum I have been to anywhere (but it isn't one of the free ones). The city is very walkable, but it has decent mass transit as well. Fall is very beautiful in DC, and it is fun to walk around in some of the fancier neighborhoods and look at the beautiful houses. There is a board game bar there, and this probably exists in other places but I have only found it in DC. There are a lot of hotels so you generally can get a good deal if you are visiting unless it is a big weekend for some kind of major march or rally. The Martin Luther King memorial is also breathtaking while also sobering.
Cons: A very evil man lives there when he isn't golfing in Florida and until he leaves I won't be visiting anymore :(. Georgetown which is a pretty major area doesn't really have good mass transit access, so Lyft away.
Philadelphia, PA
Pros: People are very nice there especially for the northeast which isn't exactly known for its friendliness. It is also a pretty good beer city. But let's be honest, the best thing about Philadelphia is its food. The food isn't stuffy so it doesn't probably get the attention it deserves, which is fine because that just means more cheesesteaks and fried chicken at donut shops for me! The winters are cold, but it is a pretty easy city to walk which is good because...
Cons: Philly's mass transit is amazingly inferior to other major northeast cities such as DC, NYC and Boston. They still use a punch card ticket system for their trains, and it seemed that you could not buy train tickets from a machine. There is so much history there, and I missed a lot of it because I got caught up in the food scene. :) That's not really a con, but it is true.
New York, New York
Pros: It is the greatest city in the USA, and I dare you to argue that. You have everything here: arts, music, theater, history, great food and drink. More than any city in the USA, you can come to NYC and never run out of things to do. It has the best mass transit system in the country by far (though definitely not perfect). I personally recommend Governor's Island and the Highline in Chelsea as underrated NYC activities over overdone tourist attractions like the Empire State Building and...
Cons: Time Square. Sorry, but there is no reason to go there unless you are going to a Broadway show. The M&M store and knock off superheroes are not cool. Also NYC can be a little hard to handle if you aren't a crowd person because Time Square is not the only crowded place. Don't look out the windows when you are on the subway unless you just want to see many very large rats.
Quirky Coastal Towns:
Portland, Maine:
Pros: All 3 of these represent towns have smallish populations, but at the same time I could go back to these towns again and again and not get bored. Portland, ME has simply the best food scene that I have seen in a city its size. It is also beer heaven. There are great breweries all around. There is also a lot of outdoor activity if you prefer to do your exercising outdoors. There is just one problem with this...
Cons: Portland is sooooooooooooo cold and snowy. I don't know how restaurants stay open during the winter because it is easy to want to stay in when it gets so cold. The city itself is progressive, but not really diverse. It's basically white. I could be wrong on this, but I have never seen a town with this population have such a large homeless population in the downtown area.
Key West, Florida
Pros: After the Keys suffered a terrible summer of 2017 hurricane season, Key West the most popular destination is open for business. It is very walkable, and it has a surprising amount of amenities for such a small town. The night life is pretty great there too. It has a lot of drag shows! The only town that I have seen more drag show options is probably Austin. It is cliche to say, but a lot of the Key Lime Pie is damn good. There is also lots of outdoor activity that involves the water, and the weather is nice enough year round to enjoy it (every day I was there in November it was basically 80 degrees) except....
Cons: I hear it gets terribly hot in the summer, but I didn't experience that. Some of the tourist areas run a bit on the douchebag crowd side if you know what I mean. The only other con is I didn't get enough time there.
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Pros: I did not cheat. It is not Boston. In fact Ptown (for short) makes the "hard to get to know" Boston visitors soften. Boston people often go there to show their friendly side. It is also has beautiful beaches and nice scenic areas to walk around. It has a good amount of restaurants and even if you run out of restaurants to go to (I haven't yet) there are so many you will want to return to. The nightlife, for at least gay guys, is amazing and I hear it is decent if you are not a gay guy as well. There are so many live shows to go to for a town this small.
Cons: Because it is very much a resort town it basically closes down from January to April, so you won't want to go at that time. The weather during that time would deter you as well. Hmm not enough bars serve draught beer which is really the only acceptable way to drink beer. :) It is also not particularly economically diverse for visitors. Things to do and eat and drink can run a bit expensive.
I know I have more U.S. places to explore. Savannah GA, for one, is on top of my list, but I think I have done enough traveling within the USA to give some good feedback!
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