In spring hope springs eternal.

There was "Silence of the Lambs"...and that's about it. As a genre, horror gets even less recognition from the Academy than comedy or sci-fi. The 1933 classic "King Kong" didn't even get a single nomination for the Academy Awards for that year. Best Picture went to the maudlin and near-unwatchable today "Calvacade".

A day late and a dollar short...Happy Anniversary to Mr. & Mrs. Walter! Enjoy your Spring Training trip with ebk.

A priceless TV clip. The audience look like the same lifeless euros you see in Led Zeppelin's Danish TV appearance.

Define "struggle".

"Florida Sunshine" and "Orlando Magic"...both sound terrific. Too bad "Celebration Day" is such a tease.

Don't sleep on "England 1978". England 1978 (Live):

Ham and eggs and grits and toast. The best ham in L.A.

Leave it to the Brits to embarrass the Grammys and do a proper Bowie tribute. From the BRIT Awards...

Sharing this with my Seattle/Washington friends. Should be a fun evening.

March entering like a lamb.

Down by 12 in the 4th at the end of a long road trip, the Warriors could have shut it down and just said "get us to the airport". But they dug down and fought back to win the game. These are the types of games Golden State has to win if they are to have a shot breaking the Bulls' 72 win season record. I was a little skeptical earlier in the season. I wondered whether they would have the stamina to keep the pedal to the metal all year. But I am a believer in Golden State breaking the record. Curry is just ridiculous...pull-up threes from near half court. MVP.

Proximity to each other. Same reason USC-UCLA, Lakers-Clippers hate each other.

Leap into your birthday Nutrocker! Happy birthday to one of my favourite people on this forum! Let's see...with leap year every four years that makes you about 12? Hehehe. Have a great day Nutrocker. Leap into Led! And a retroactive belated happy birthday wish to Roger Berlin, who had a Celebration Day on February 17. Glückliche geburtstag Roger! Hope to see your astounding magazine collection one day.

Who's going to save us from disasters now? RIP George.

Every year you can count on two things: 1. The Super Bowl and Oscars will draw the largest TV ratings of the year. 2. People will complain about how boring they were. It's an awards show...people come out and read a bunch of names and announce a winner...not much you can do to spice up the format, save for a song-and-dance routine or two. Curiously, I noticed no big production numbers last night as there usually are at an awards show. I guess Chris Rock did not feel comfortable singing and dancing a la Billy Crystal. For those complaining about the political or racial aspect, wake up...that toothpaste is long out of the tube and it ain't ever going back in. If you keep watching expecting a different result, welllllll...you know what they say. Personally, and also amongst the company of friends and people I was watching the Academy Awards with, we did not mind the politics or racial jokes that much. I thought Chris Rock's opening monologue was funny and his shutdown of Jada and Will Smith was on-the-money. I also liked Tracey Morgan doing the Danish Girl bit. Sascha Baron Cohen was also funny. The Stacy Dash thing was not funny, however, and just plain weird and awkward. Worst of all was Chris Rock's taped bit at the Compton movie theatre...it reinforced every negative stereotype about black people being ignorant ghetto trash. Especially the women...Chris Rock seemed to go out of his way to find the most blatantly idiotic women. Although I was not rooting for them to win, I liked Leo's and Alejandro's acceptance speeches and they drew some of the warmest applause of the night from our crowd. It's funny, with all the chatter about the Oscars lack of diversity, it was amusing to see Alejandro Inarritu win Best Director for the second year in a row. In fact, a Latino has now won Best Director three years running. Number of Best Director Oscars won by Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and Robert Altman? Zero. Black people make up 10% of this country's population and probably even less percentage of the AMPAS membership, so it's not as if we should expect them to win half the Oscars. Not if Tyler Perry and Kevin Hart keep making the drivel they usually make. It's all part of this "victimhood" culture that has run rampant...every kid needs to get a ribbon or their self-esteem will be destroyed. The biggest joke of the night was Sam Smith winning the Best Song Oscar for the WORST BOND SONG EVER for his crappy "SPECTRE" song. That, and him saying he was the first "openly gay" Oscar winner. WTF? Hasn't he ever heard of Elton John? I am fairly certain there have been a plethora of other gay Oscar winners. Both Lady Gaga's "Til It Happens to You" and Antony Hegarty's "Manta Ray" were far more deserving songs. I don't even understand why the Academy only had three of the five nominated songs performed last night. Why wasn't Antony allowed to sing his song? Maybe the Academy should just abandon the Best Song category...it usually goes to the worst schlock. I was 16-8 on my ballot at the Oscar party I was at...after a day of reflecting, I filled my Oscar ballot out a little differently than in my original post. Better than last year but still not up to snuff. I consider any time I finish below 18-6 a failure. But there was a beautiful spread of good food and I got drunk on wine and whiskey. So all in all, it was a fun night. Exactly my sentiments. When Morgan Freeman said "Spotlight" there was a huge gasp of surprise and shock in our crowd. With Leo and Alejandro winning their categories earlier, all signs pointed to "Revenant" winning Best Picture. After we regrouped and realize what had just happened, a rousing cheer went up for the "Spotlight" people as they made their way to the podium. A nice win for the Boston Globe, too! 25 years from now "Spotlight" will still be remembered and recognized as a classic in the "All the President's Men" vein, while people will wonder what all the fuss was about with "The Revenant". Kind of like how today's audiences view "Cimarron". Seriously? You are equating what one guy did to the systematic abuse of thousands of kids? For one thing, there have been several investigations and books already on the Polanski case. By this point, the victim herself is tired of talking about it and would probably would not cooperate with any movie or investigative report.

Hmmmm...upon further reflection, my heart wants "Manta Ray", the song by Antony Hegarty (Antony & the Johnsons) for the movie "Racing Extinction" to win Best Song.

Thanks for your picks zepscoda. I would like "The Look of Silence" to win Best Documentary but all I can think is that if Oppenheimer's earlier companion piece "The Act of Killing" didn't win, "The Look of Silence" faces equally tough odds.

Thanks for participating Kiwi! As for "The Revenant", I knew going in what it was about so the bear attack wasn't a problem for me. It is the story of Hugh Glass who really did survive being mauled by a bear while on a fur-trapping expedition in the North of America and left for dead by his companions in the dead of winter. My problem with "The Revenant" is that Hugh Glass story was already told in the 1971 Richard Harris movie "Man in the Wilderness"...in half the time and closer to the actual facts and without the bogus Native American spiritual mumbo-jumbo "The Revenant" piles on to try to give the story more profundity. Oh, and "Man in the Wilderness" did it with 100th the budget of "The Revenant". SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) did not kill Hugh Glass' son. The son wasn't even on the expedition. And when Hugh Glass makes it back to his expedition, he does not kill Fitzgerald or anyone else. He makes peace and forgives them. That is what makes "Man in the Wilderness" far superior to "The Revenant"...its take on the nature of revenge and how to forgive. "The Revenant" is just another silly, bloodlust revenge movie with pretty scenery and pretentiousness.

For those that want to play along, here is a link to the complete 2016 Oscar ballot: http://ballots.latimes.com/oscars-2016-ballot/

I have to be honest...with the seeming inevitability of "The Revenant" and Leo DiCaprio winning big, I am not too enthusiastic about this year's Academy Awards. Kind of like the years when I cringed as "The English Patient" and "Crash" won Best Picture. Just because you suffered making a movie doesn't mean you deserve an Oscar. Otherwise, everyone working on a Michael Bay movie would get one. But the Oscar Pool is a yearly tradition among my circle of friends so I can't flake out now...and someone requested I start an Oscar thread. The first pick I give will be my "head" pick...who I think will win. The second pick will be the one from my "heart"...who I want to win. Good luck with your picks... BEST PICTURE Head: The Revenant Heart: Spotlight or The Big Short or The Martian...or Brooklyn...or ANYTHING but The Revenant, haha. BEST ACTRESS Head: Brie Larson "Room" Heart: Charlotte Rampling "45 Years" BEST ACTOR Head: Leo DiCaprio "The Revenant" Heart: Matt Damon "The Martian" SUPPORTING ACTRESS Head: Alicia Vikander "The Danish Girl" (shame she was nominated for the wrong movie..."Ex Machina" was the better film and performance, in my opinion) Heart: Jennifer Jason Leigh "The Hateful Eight"...but I would be happy with any of the others winning, it's a strong field. SUPPORTING ACTOR Head: Sylvester Stallone "Creed" Heart: Mark Rylance "Bridge of Spies" DIRECTOR Head: Alejandro G. Iñárritu "The Revenant"...maybe George Miller for "Mad Max" if the Academy is in share the wealth mode. Heart: Adam McKay "The Big Short" or Tom McCarthy "Spotlight" ANIMATED FILM Head: Inside Out Heart: Inside Out ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Head: Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy "Spotlight" Heart: Spotlight ADAPTED SCREENPLAY (a real strong category this year...all are great and no Aaron Sorkin) Head: Emma Donoghue "Room" Heart: Charles Randolph & Adam McCay "The Big Short" FOREIGN FILM Head: Son of Saul ( it's a Holocaust movie...they always win) Heart: Mustang ANIMATED SHORT FILM Head: Sanjay's Super Team Heart: Prologue LIVE ACTION SHORT Head: Ave Maria Heart: Shok DOCUMENTARY SHORT Head: A Girl in the River - The Price of Forgiveness Heart: A Girl in the River DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Head: Amy Heart: What Happened, Miss Simone? CINEMATOGRAPHY Head: Emmanuel Lubezki "The Revenant" Heart: Robert Richardson "The Hateful Eight VISUAL EFFECTS Head: "Star Wars" Heart: "The Martian" MAKEUP & HAIR STYLING Head: "Mad Max" Heart: "Mad Max" FILM EDITING Head: Hank Corwin "The Big Short" Heart: The Big Short COSTUME DESIGN Head: Paco Delgado "The Danish Girl" Heart: The Danish Girl ORIGINAL SCORE Head: John Williams "Star Wars" Heart: Ennio Morricone "The Hateful Eight" or Carter Burwell "Carol" ORIGINAL SONG Head: Lady Gaga & Diane Warren "Til It Happens to You" from "The Hunting Ground" Heart: Til It Happens to You SOUND EDITING Head: Star Wars...maybe The Revenant Heart: The Martian SOUND MIXING Head: Star Wars Heart: The Martian PRODUCTION DESIGN Head: The Danish Girl Heart: Mad Max

You've heard wrong.

It's that time of year again, folks! Within the next 72 hours most of the pitchers and catchers will have reported for their respective teams. You can find your team's Spring Training dates here: http://www.springtrainingonline.com/reporting-dates/

My friend is spinning heavy metal at a local bar and we're banging our heads and drinking beer and whiskey.

You're so sweet. How it warms my heart to discover another "Harold and Maude" fan. It's in my personal Top 10 along with "The Godfather", "2001", "Singing in the Rain", "The Great Escape", the Leone-Eastwood Trilogy, and a few others. Like you, I saw it in 1971 when it opened in theatres and was transfixed. Even at a young age it opened my mind about living and death. I was never the same again.