Sandwiches make the world go round

Well I just had a fantastic fresh grilled panini sandwich - Turkey & Swiss with lettuce, mayo and ranch dressing. I think I found my new favorite nearby lunch spot. I got it at this little Café/Market on the corner of Manchaca and Ben White which used to be a run of the mill convenience store. I guess it’s been about two years now since they got rid of the gas station and revamped it into what it is now. With free wi-fi, outdoor tables, lots of organic food and snacks, a small kitchen and wide variety of drinks from exotic beers to juices and protein shakes. I’ve been there many times, just to pick-up a six-pack or some munchies but today I decided to grab a sandwich since I was running late during my lunch break and needed to take something back to work. I even had co-workers admiring it and asking where it came from. I highly recommend it if you’re hungry and in the area.

We’re just a few days away from this year’s Academy Awards ceremony and I figured it was time for my revised Oscar picks. I’m only going to present my revised picks for major categories as my original picks for effects, sound, costume, etc. have not changed.

Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

He really does seem unstoppable at this point.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

I originally though Peter Morgan would have the best shot here for an award to come Frost/Nixon’s way, but they’ll just have to settle for all those theatre awards because this is sure to be another win for Slumdog.

Best Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black, Milk

There have been many books and documentaries made about Harvey Milk but Black was able to start from square one and write his own compelling and brave version.

Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Christina Barcelona

Amazing Woody Allen was not nominated for his fantastic script for VCB, but the lovely and talented Ms. Cruz will most likely become the latest actor that Allen has written and directed to an Oscar win and that’s saying a lot with such a strong and wide-open category.

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

The only question that remains is who the Academy is going to have accepting the award on his behalf, we already know that the statue will go to Matilda afterwards and deservedly so. I think Chris Nolan is the right person. He’s the guy pulling all the strings for this great franchise and it’s shameful that he’s not nominated for writing, directing or producing the most entertaining film of the year.

Best Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader

Haven’t seen her performance in this, although I’m a huge fan of hers and thought she was easily deserving of a nomination for Revolutionary Road. I don’t think Winslet is going to have to wait for an honorary Oscar like her fellow countryman, the poor Peter O’Toole. Nope she’s sitting pretty even with Meryl breathing down her neck.

Best Actor: Sean Penn, Milk

It pains me to change my vote her from Mickey Rourke to Sean Penn. Not that I don’t love Penn and his wonderful performance in Milk but it’s hard not to root for someone like Rourke especially when you see how great and touching his performance in The Wrestler was. Plus, I feel that there’s momentum for Milk overall which leads me to….

Best Picture: Milk

Yes, Slumdog goes down. I know Harvey is out there campaigning like a mad man for The Reader but I think just getting that film a Best Picture nomination was a win in of itself. Instead I think Milk is going to pull the upset similar to the way Crash did in 2006. The Academy likes to award great films that are about California and considering the Prop 8 backlash lingering(as it should be) as well as the fact that Brokeback Mountain was the film that Crash beat out in 2006 this could be their attempt to make-up for that. While Milk does have a tragic ending the film itself is still very uplifting and inspiring which should be enough to slightly edge out Slumdog Millionaire.

Tuesday Afternoon Quarterbacking

So now two more of my co-workers are pregnant, which brings the current total to 4. But the really big news is that one of my oldest and closest friends, Chris (AKA “Bubba-Chris”), is going to become a first time father. I am happy for all of them; it’s exciting and overwhelming news at the same time. I was at some children’s theatre performances this past weekend and nearly had a panic attack with all the little ones running around. The pressure coming from my mother is going to be ratcheted up several notches now. She’s got grandmother fever and I don’t think it’s going to go away anytime soon. I love her, but I seriously might have to kill her just to live the rest of my life in peace. I would actually consider going back to….college, if that would suffice in getting her off my back about the whole wife & kids thing.

It’s quite funny then to state that I have jumped into playing a small part in a coarse acting play, Julius and Cleopatra, being directed by the venerable Chester Eitze as part of his Silver 25th anniversary production season at the Bastrop Opera House. There are a few actors I am getting the chance to work with for the first time and a few I’ve hits the boards with before. I play a character named Vasectimo who is described as “a giant black eunuch”; a man-servant to Queen Cleopatra. Yes, I know we have a black president and Robert Downey, Jr. is nominated for an Academy Award for his brilliant satire of a “black face” performance in Tropic Thunder, which in and of itself is a “black face” performance, but I’m no Robert Downey, Jr. so there’s no black face in this show. But I do get to wear super-high soled boots to make me taller and I only have four lines to learn, done, and a chariot race sequence. Then there are some burlesque and vaudeville bits I’ll be doing as well. I think it’s going to be fun. It’s coming up quick, too. We start on February 27th and then play Friday and Saturdays through March 14th. As always check out the website, http://www.bastropoperahouse.com/ for more information.

In “Can’t we all just get along?” news: the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue hit newsstands today. Israeli born supermodel Bar Rafaeli is this year’s cover model. A wonderful choice as she is a very beautiful woman from a very turbulent place. I think the U.N. needs to load up a few supply planes full of this magazine and drop them on the Gaza Strip and let’s see if we have a break in the violence. I say we would. Of course there has been much speculation and discussion in the press about whether the lovely Miss Rafaeli skipped out on her mandatory military service as an Israeli citizen. Which makes me think; if you have to force your citizens into military service then things are pretty FUBAR. I am by no means pro-Palestine or anti-Semitic so don’t start your flame-throwing but I think one of the many things I’d to see from our new Presidential administration is an effort to hold Israel responsible for the part it plays in middle east aggression. We are way past playing favorites.

Speaking of the new administration, last night President Obama held his first prime-time news conference. I was only able to catch some highlights since I was at rehearsal last night but I amazed that some reporter and I want to find out who it was that wasted his question on asking about Alex Rodriguez. I mean, really?! You’ve got the leader of the free world standing there and you ask about baseball. Maybe it’s still too early and the reporter still thinks that it’s Dubya up there and is used to lobbing softball questions like that, pun intended. That’s not to say that the Alex Rodriguez story is not a big story. It is. It’s just a big sports story, with a minor, very minor effect on the rest of the nation right now. Economic stimulus, War, Gas prices raising again…any of this ring a bell Mr. or Mrs. Reporter. Sheesh.

A-Rod. You little wanker. F-you man. F-you big time. You cheatin’ lyin’ son of a bitch. You come down to Texas in 2001 with your $252 million dollar contract and promise of greatness and shit it all down the drain. One MVP trophy and three last place finishes later just run-off and join the evil empire, the New York Yankees, get another MVP trophy and pretty much hand over AL dominance to the Boston Red Sox as you choke the big one in the playoffs. You’re nothing but another stain now. Now when is someone going to turn up some concrete evidence on Barry Bonds? If the MLB has a failed test on A-Rod prior to 2004 then there has to be a failed test from Barry Bonds out there somewhere.