Today, Boston was in a state of panic when someone reported a bomb planted on a bridge.

This is one of the "bombs":



Some of these "bombs" were already "planted" in other cities weeks before (like this one taken in San Francisco):



There is now a T-shirt spawned by the incident:



America (well, mostly Boston) has found a new adversary in the form of the Mooninites!

Thought I might post my Oscar predictions just before they announced the final nominations tomorrow morning.

BEST PICTURE

My personal picks:

The Departed
Little Miss Sunshine
Children of Men
Dreamgirls
United 93

Others worth mentioning: A Prairie Home Companion, Pan’s Labyrinth and The Queen

Eventual lineup:

Babel
The Queen
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine

BEST ACTOR

My personal picks:

Clive Owen, Children of Men
Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
Gael Garcia Bernal, The Science of Sleep
Peter O’Toole, Venus

Others worth mentioning: Edward Norton (The Illusionist), Richard Griffiths (The History Boys), Aaron Eckhart (Thank You For Smoking), Daniel Craig (Casino Royale), Will Ferrell (Stranger Than Fiction) and Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)

Eventual lineup:

Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Peter O’Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson

BEST ACTRESS

My personal picks:

Ivana Baquero, Pan’s Labyrinth
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Kate Winslet, Little Children
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sherrybaby

Eventual lineup:

Kate Winslet, Little Children
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Penelope Cruz, Volver

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

My personal picks:

Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Michael Caine, Children of Men
Michael Sheen, The Queen
Jack Nicholson, The Departed
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Others worth mentioning: Steve Carell (Little Miss Sunshine), Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine), Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), Jaden Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness), Paul Giamatti (The Illusionist), and Djimon Honsou (Blood Diamond)

Eventual lineup:

Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Djimon Honsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg (or Jack Nicholson), The Departed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

My personal picks:

Catherine O’Hara, For Your Consideration
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Emma Thompson, Stranger Than Fiction
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Toni Collette, Little Miss Sunshine

Others worth mentioning: Frances De La Tour (The History Boys), Charlotte Gainsbourg (The Science of Sleep), Lili Taylor (Factotum), and Claire-Hope Ashitey (Children of Men)

Eventual lineup:

Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine

BEST DIRECTOR

My personal picks:

Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Robert Altman, A Prairie Home Companion
Alfonso Cuaron, Children of Men
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Guillermo Del Toro, Pan’s Labyrinth

Others worth mentioning: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine), Stephen Frears (The Queen), and Bill Condon (Dreamgirls)

Eventual lineup:

Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima (or Flags of Our Fathers)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

My personal picks:

Stranger Than Fiction
The Queen
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan’s Labyrinth
United 93

Others worth mentioning: The Science of Sleep and The Pursuit of Happyness

Eventual lineup:

Babel
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
Pan's Labyrinth
United 93

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

My personal picks:

The Departed
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
A Prairie Home Companion
Children of Men
Thank You For Smoking

Others worth mentioning: Dreamgirls, The History Boys, The Illusionist, The Prestige, and Casino Royale

Eventual lineup:

Little Children
Dreamgirls
The Devil Wears Prada
The Departed
Notes on a Scandal

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

My personal picks:

Paprika
Cars
Monster House

Others worth mentioning: Happy Feet, Over The Hedge, and A Scanner Darkly

Eventual lineup:

Happy Feet
Cars
Monster House

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

My personal picks:

Deliver Us from Evil
An Inconvenient Truth
Jesus Camp
Shut Up & Sing
The War Tapes

Eventual lineup:

An Inconvenient Truth
Jesus Camp
Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple
Iraq in Fragments
Deliver Us from Evil

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

My personal picks:

Water, Canada
The Lives of Others, Germany
Pan’s Labyrinth, Mexico
Black Book, The Netherlands
Volver, Spain

Eventual lineup:

Water, Canada
The Lives of Others, Germany
Pan’s Labyrinth, Mexico
Black Book, The Netherlands
Volver, Spain

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

My personal picks:

Javier Navarrete, Pan’s Labyrinth
Alexandre Desplat, The Queen
Philip Glass, The Illusionist
John Powell, United 93
Susumu Hirasawa, Paprika

Others worth mentioning: John Tavener (Children of Men), Dario Marianelli (V For Vendetta) and Hans Zimmer (The Da Vinci Code)

Eventual lineup:

Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel
Clint Mansell, The Fountain
Thomas Newman, The Good German
Alexandre Desplat, The Painted Veil (or The Queen)
James Horner, Apocalypto

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

My personal picks:

“The Girl in Byakkoya - White Tiger Field”, Paprika
“O Kazakhstan”, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
“I Need to Wake Up”, An Inconvenient Truth
“Till the End of Time”, Little Miss Sunshine
“You Know My Name”, Casino Royale

Others worth mentioning: “Real Gone” (Cars), “PJ & Rooster” (Idlewild), “Upside Down” (Curious George), “Listen” (Dreamgirls), “Love You I Do” (Dreamgirls), “Still” (Over the Hedge), and “The Book I Write” (Stranger Than Fiction)

Eventual lineup:

“Never Gonna Break My Faith”, Bobby
“Listen”, Dreamgirls
“Love You I Do”, Dreamgirls
“The Song of the Heart”, Happy Feet
“I Need to Wake Up”, An Inconvenient Truth

BEST ART DIRECTION

My personal picks:

Marie Antoinette
The Science of Sleep
Pan’s Labyrinth
Dreamgirls
Children of Men

Eventual lineup:

Marie Antoinette
Apocalypto
Curse of the Golden Flower
Dreamgirls
Pan’s Labyrinth

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

My personal picks:

Marie Antoinette
Dreamgirls
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Devil Wears Prada
The Illusionist

Eventual lineup:

The Devil Wears Prada
Marie Antoinette
Dreamgirls
Pan’s Labyrinth
Curse of the Golden Flower

BEST MAKEUP

My personal picks:

Pan’s Labyrinth
The Prestige
Click

Eventual lineup:

Pan’s Labyrinth
Apocalypto
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

My personal picks:

Children of Men
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Departed
United 93
Marie Antoinette

Others worth mentioning: Little Miss Sunshine, The Science of Sleep, The Illusionist, A Prairie Home Companion, and The Prestige

Eventual lineup:

Apocalypto
Babel
Children of Men
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Departed

BEST EDITING

My personal picks:

Children of Men
The Departed
United 93
Little Miss Sunshine
The Science of Sleep

Others worth mentioning: Pan’s Labyrinth, Casino Royale, and The Queen

Eventual lineup:

Babel
Children of Men
United 93
The Departed
The Queen

BEST SOUND MIXING

My personal picks:

Dreamgirls
The Departed
United 93
Casino Royale
Children of Men

Others worth mentioning: Cars and Pan’s Labyrinth

Eventual lineup:

Dreamgirls
Apocalypto
Cars
Babel
Flags of Our Fathers

BEST SOUND EDITING

My personal picks:

Children of Men
Casino Royale
Cars

Eventual lineup:

Superman Returns
Cars
V For Vendetta

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

My personal picks:

Casino Royale
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Superman Returns

Eventual lineup:

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Night at the Museum
Superman Returns

This list of my top 25 films of 2006 might still be subject to change in the coming months as I see more films from that given year. I wish I could go on further in explaining my selections, but I'm so lazy to do so for the moment.

1. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
2. Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris)
3. Paprika (Satoshi Kon)
4. United 93 (Paul Greengrass)
5. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles)
6. The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
7. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro)
8. The Science of Sleep (Michel Gondry)
9. The Queen (Stephen Frears)
10. Thank You For Smoking (Jason Reitman)
11. A Prairie Home Companion (Robert Altman)
12. Cars (John Lasseter)
13. An Inconvenient Truth (Davis Guggenheim)
14. Dreamgirls (Bill Condon)
15. Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola)
16. Casino Royale (Martin Campbell)
17. Dave Chappelle's Block Party (Michel Gondry)
18. Inside Man (Spike Lee)
19. The History Boys (Nicholas Hytner)
20. The Illusionist (Neil Burger)
21. The Prestige (Christopher Nolan)
22. Stranger Than Fiction (Marc Forster)
23. Inside Man (Spike Lee)
24. This Film Is Not Yet Rated (Kirby Dick)
25. Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest (Gore Verbinski)

Worth mentioning: Superman Returns, The US vs. John Lennon, Idiocracy, Art School Confidential, For Your Consideration, The Pursuit of Happyness, V For Vendetta, Happy Feet, Monster House, A Scanner Darkly, Lucky Number Slevin, Over The Hedge, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Nacho Libre, Ice Age: The Meltdown

2006 films I still plan to see: Strangers With Candy, Wordplay, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Flushed Away, Venus, The Devil Wears Prada, Shortbus, Fast Food Nation

Of an interesting note is Paprika (#3), which was the first film I saw in a theater before it even premiered in its home country (Japan).

I'm no misogynist but it always bothers me in light of the recent Roman Catholic sex scandal that you always get stories of priests sexually molesting children but not nuns. It was like that there was a double standard thing going on.

Until now.

More photos from the Rose Parade:








I think this was the float with Marie Osmond.


A better view:


The float of the City of Los Angeles:


Llamas on parade!








The Royal Court


And the parade marches on!






The Oak Ridge Boys performing their classic hit "Elvira"


Knights on Colorado Boulevard






Look at those hummingbirds!




Some rope tricks





More to go...

Thought I might start sharing the photos I took during the recent Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena (with more to come).

These were taken before the parade reached my area and showed the huge crowd (most of them have camped overnight in the streets) flocking and giddy with anticipation.








One of those Fundamentalists, perhaps?




A close-up (well, not so close) of the Goodyear blimp:


The parade is finally here!



TO BE CONTINUED...

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!

What ironic way to honor the first day of the new year by reprinting the very last strip of Bill Waterson's Calvin and Hobbes: