Sunday!

Maribou and I had the discussion of “Okay… what are we going to watch now that Burn Notice is over?” (well, technically, we have three episodes left but they won’t last the day). Well, her hold for Sleepy Hollow season one had just arrived at the library and, hey, I figured “How bad could it be?”

Well… let’s just say that it’s high camp. The conceit: During the Revolutionary War, Ichabod Crane cuts the head off of a guy in a battle (the guy also manages to wound Ichabod with an axe). Ichabod goes off to the field hospital and wakes up in 2012. It turns out that the guy he decapitated has also recently awakened and is now the Headless Horseman. This is covered in The Book Of Revelation. Ichabod teams up with a local Deputy and, together, they fight crime. (This is also, apparently, a universe in which Washington Irving never wrote his short story.)

When asked if I’d want to watch more of it than just the pilot, I said “the only things that will bug me are the awful theology and the ahistoricity. So, sure. I’ll watch it.” I’ve seen a handful of commercials and it seems that Walter (from Fringe!) eventually shows up. I’m on the edge of my seat already. (I’ll keep you all posted.)

There is also the whole Academy Awards thing going on and we’ve got some best pictures, directors, actors, and actresses to make predictions about. So here are mine:

BEST PICTURE NOMINEES: American Sniper, Birdman, Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Selma, The Theory of Everything, and Whiplash.

I’ve heard that stuff that celebrates Hollywood and the various crafts involved in the whole movie thing are more likely to win than anything else, I’m going to go with Birdman. I’ve not seen it (though it’s sitting next to the television!), but I understand it’s got a handful of swipes against the whole Superhero thing, it’s about actors getting typecast, and about how difficult it is to overcome both of those things. So Birdman. (If I’m wrong about this, it’s because Boyhood gets it.

BEST ACTOR NOMINEES: Steve Carrell in “Foxcatcher”, Bradley Cooper in “American Sniper”, Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Imitation Game”, Michael Keaton in “Birdman”, and Eddie Redmayne in “The Theory of Everything”.

Now does my theory extend to this part of the ballot? Well, kind of. It’s not going to Michael Keaton, though. It’s going to Eddie Redmayne. He’s playing Stephen Hawking and we’re going to watch him slowly succumb to a debilitating disease over the course of a couple of hours and, hey, the Academy *LOVES* that sort of thing. Now, if Birdman doesn’t get best picture, it might go to Michael Keaton here. But I’m guessing Eddie Redmayne.

BEST ACTRESS NOMINEES: Marion Cotillard in “Two Days, One Night”, Felicity Jones in “The Theory of Everything”, Julianne Moore in “Still Alice”, Rosamund Pike in “Gone Girl”, and Reese Witherspoon in “Wild”.

Now, if they give the Oscar to Eddie Redmayne, they’ll have covered the “Debilitating Disease” category pretty well and so won’t give the award to Julianne Moore… but giving it to Felicity Jones would cause a veritable “sweep” and that’s not appropriate either. Which makes me give a dark horse guess to Reese Witherspoon. (Though, if Eddie Redmayne doesn’t win because Michael Keaton won because Birdman didn’t win because Boyhood won, this will totally go to Julianne Moore.)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR NOMINEES: Robert Duvall in “The Judge”, Edward Norton in “Birdman”, Ethan Hawke in “Boyhood”, Mark Ruffalo in “Foxcatcher”, and J.K. Simmons in “Whiplash”.

Robert Duvall already got his Oscar for Tender Mercies. Now, there might be enough people out there who will say something like “I thought he’d have more… He should have more!” and, if that’s the case, they’ll give this one to him as a make-up Oscar (“Sorry about Apocalypse Now”). If he doesn’t get it, it’ll go to Ethan Hawke because if there is going to be something approaching a sweep this year, it’ll be Boyhood.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS NOMINEES: Patricia Arquette in “Boyhood”, Laura Dern in “Wild”, Keira Knightley in “The Imitation Game”, Emma Stone in “Birdman”, and Meryl Streep in “Into the Woods”.

Patricia Arquette. This is probably the only one I’m sure about.

So… what are your predictions? (Also, what are you reading and/or watching?)

(Photo is “Movie Night“, taken by Ginny, used under a creative commons license.)