Tuesday, December 14, 2010

And the Nominees are...Golden Globes 2010

This is the time of the year I love most. Christmas music on every radio station, lights hanging on homes and trees, and the best films of the year getting the buzz they deserve. With today's announcement of the Golden Globes I'd like to share a few thoughts and make my picks for the winners.

TV:
I honestly could care less for just about everything in this section. But I will say that besides being nominated for Best TV Series (drama) The Walking Dead didn't get as much respect as it should have.

1. Best Supporting Actress in a series, mini-series or TV movie
Hope Davis, The Special Relationship
Jane Lynch, Glee
Kelly MacDonald, Boardwalk Empire

Julia Stiles, Dexter

Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

2. Best Actress in a TV series, comedy
Toni Collette, United States of Tara
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Laura Linney, The Bic C
Lea Michele, Glee

3. Best TV movie or mini-series
Carlos
The Pacific
Pillars of the Earth
Temple Grandin
You Don't Know Jack

4. Best Actor, TV series comedy
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Steve Carell, The Office
Thomas Jane, Hung

Matthew Morrison, Glee
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

5. Best Actress in a TV series, drama
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men
Piper Perabo, Covert Affairs
Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy
Kyra Sedgwick, the Closer

6. Best Supporting Actor in a series, mini-series, or TV movie
Scott Caan, Hawaii Five-0
Chris Colfer, Glee
Chris Noth, The Good Wife
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family
David Strathern, Temple Grandin

7. Best TV Series, comedy
30 Rock
The Big Bang Theory
The Big C

Glee
Modern Family
Nurse Jackie

8. Best Actor in a mini-series or TV movie
Idris Elba, Luther
Ian McShane, Pillars of the Earth

Al Pacino, You Don't Know Jack
Dennis Quaid, The Speicla Relationship
Edgar Ramirez, Carlos

9. Best Actress in a mini-series or TV movie
Hayley Atwell, Pillars of the Earth
Claire Danes, Temple Grandin
Judi Dench, Return to Cranford
Romola Garai, Emma
Jennifer Love Hewitt, The Client List

10. Best Actor in a TV series, drama
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Hugh Laurie - House

11. Best TV series, drama
Broadwalk Empire
Dexter
The Good Wife
Mad Men
The Walking Dead


MOVIES:
This is the section that matters in my book. Although a few of the categories are a complete joke (Best motion picture, musical or comedy) You can see who I think will come out on top.

1. Best original song – motion picture
Bound to You - Burlesque
Coming Home - Country Strong
I See the Light - Tangled
There's a Place for Us - Chronicles of
Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
You Haven't Seen the Last of Me - Burlesque


2. Best original score – motion picture
Alexandre Desplot, The King's Speech
Danny Elfman, Alice in Wonderland
A.R. Rahmin, 127 Hours

Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, The Social Network
Hans Zimmer, Inception


3. Best screenplay – motion picture
Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, Kids are All Right
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David Seidler, The Kings Speech
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network


4. Best foreign language film
Biutiful, Mexico, Spain
The Concert, France
The Edge, Russia

I Am Love, Italy
In a Better World, Denmark

5. Best animated feature film
Despicable Me
How to Train Your Dragon

The Illusionist
Tangled

Toy Story 3

6. Best Actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Anne Hathaway, Love and Other Drugs
Angelina Jolie, The Tourist

Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right
Emma Stone, Easy A

7. Best Actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy
Johnny Depp - Alice in Wonderland
Johnny Depp - The Tourist
Paul Giamatti - Barney's Version
Jake Gyllenhaal - Love and Other Drugs
Kevin Spacey - Casino Jack


8. Best supporting Actor in a motion picture
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Michael Douglas, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

9. Best supporting Actress in a motion picture
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

10. Best Director – motion picture
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David Fincher, Social Network
Tom Hooper - King's Speech
Christopher Nolan - Inception
David O. Russell - The Fighter

11. Best motion picture, musical or comedy
Alice in Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kids Are All Right
Red
The Tourist


12. Best Actress in a motion picture, drama
Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

13. Best Actor in a motion picture, drama
Jesse Eisenberg - Social Network
Colin Firth - The King's Speech
James Franco - 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling - Blue Valentine
Mark Wahlberg - The Fighter

14. Best motion picture, drama
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

There you have it. It's not a perfect analysis because I have not seen everything nominated, but after few educated guesses and personal opinion that's the way I see it.

FIN

Friday, November 05, 2010

The Royal Journal's Greatest Hits: "Life on Mars?"

Is there life on Mars? Back in January 23, 2008 NASA posted some photos that had me wondering if Big Foot was actually a martian? And I had this to say about it:


This still image, captured by NASA's Mars rover, "Spirit" in 2004, is stirring up a debate around the world these days. Check out the picture and decide for yourself what the controversy might be. A magnified version of the picture, appears to resemble a human form among a crop of rocks. Let's zoom in and see what all the fuss is about.Some say it looks like a rock, others say it looks to be a figure striding across the surface of the planet. This controversy has been all over the news this week and has reignited the debate about life on the Red Planet.

Personally, if you ask me, I don't think that it is an alien life form at all. In fact, I think it is just a rock structure that just happens to resemble a living figure. But, I do want to point out something funny that I noticed. Look at the position the so called "figure" is in. It looks awfully familiar, doesn't it? The picture above is a frame taken from the Patterson-Gimlin film. It was allegedly filmed on October 20, 1967 by Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin who claimed the film was a genuine recording of a Bigfoot. Many have called the film a hoax, but it is a unique and interesting piece of film. See for yourself...

There is a reason I have laid out all this info. I want to bring it back to the original subject. I say, if the world really wants to believe this picture is of a distant being, I just want to point out that based on past experiences (see above), it would be more likely that NASA has actually spotted Bigfoot on Mars and not an alien life form. I mean come on, it's a single photograph, it could just be a smudge on the lens (think about it, the rover traveled millions of miles through space before arriving. Something could have easily smeared). It could also be a strange pile of rocks, Jimmy Hoffa or even a piece of beef jerky. In fact, if you think about it, after all that pestering those mischievous hikers did to Bigfoot in those classic commercials I wouldn't be surprised if this picture was just Sasquatch's way of getting his revenge.

or THIS:

The Royal Journal Greatest Hits: Success is it in the Coffee?

Coffee or tea, you ask? Here's a little ditty I wrote back on February 5, 2007 that should help you resolve that dilemma, I hope you enjoy:

Today was a beautiful winter day in Southern California. You know, 70 plus degrees, clear skies, the kind of weather that makes one want to tip back a tall piping hot cup of coffee. Actually, wait a tick, that's not exactly my cup of Joe (wow, that pun wasn't intended, but it works quite nicely), I would in fact, prefer a cool crisp ice-cold water over anything on a day like this. But here in SO CAL folks seem to disagree with me. They drink the hot stuff like its some sort of magic potion that has the power to grant anyone their innermost desires. Whether it's an aspiring actor trying to make it big time, or a recent college grad attempting to break into the industry as a director, producer or even writer. To them this hot beverage is their key to "making it" in this town. That's why I think people, specifically in the entertainment business seem to be piling into the nearest Starbucks. The proof is in the company's logo (right), you can plainly see there is some sort of mystical witch pictured right in the center. She has the long wavy black hair and even appears to be using some sort of meditation or telekinetic power, which must be her devious method in mystifying all the tasty drinks inside each store. And for the price you have to pay for one of these hot beverages, there better be more in that cup than just coffee.

I originally thought the name "Starbucks" was derived from the actual amount of money one would pay for a cup of their coffee. If you break down the name you can get the real meaning. It's just like Dan Brown's best-selling book The Da Vinci Code. Words are symbols and symbols are words. If you split "Starbucks" in half it becomes becomes "STAR" and "Bucks." Everyone knows most stars have 5 points, so if you take the word "STAR" and switch it with the number "5" you get "5 bucks coffee." Is it a coincidence or a just secret code thought up by the company's founders to reveal their true motives?

I am almost convinced that Starbucks is also a cover for an ancient religious secret society that has been attempting take over the world for centuries. I mean, if you really think about it, there is one of these coffee shops on every street corner in every major city around the world. Their world domination plans must not be far from completion. So please, keep going to Starbucks, you never know your wildest fantasies may just come true, even if it's world domination.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Changes coming to the old blog...

Its been way too long since I last posted something to this blog, so the first major change is that I am going to start blogging again. Second, I'm thinking that the "Royal Journal" is outdated and in desperate need for change! That's why over the course of the coming weeks, I am going to revamp the site and christen it with a new name (recommendations welcome, but I think I might know what I'll be calling it). Stay tuned, I'm looking forward to getting more involved. Lately I've been ALL too distracted with Twitter, so I will find a way to incorporate my tweets with my blog. Enjoy your weekend...but not TOO much!

BADNESS!

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

BADNESS Photoshop logo

I spent most of the night creating this on Photoshop. "Badness" is a word that is prominently used in my family, and if you don't know it by now, I am a HUGE Utah Jazz fan.

This will be put on a Tshirt for next seasons NBA season (that's the plan anyway)

What y'all think?

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Greatest Action Movie EVER MADE?

Today could very well be the best day of my life. The first official trailer for the Sylvester Stallone directed action epic The Expendables was released to the world. Besides the fact that this film contains a cast that could conquer the free world on their own, it seems to be an entertaining film.Never in my wildest imagination would I have ever believed that Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Arnold Schwarzenegger & Bruce Willis would have ever appeared in the same movie. But the fruition of this film not only proves that there is a God, but proves that he loves us VERY much! See for your self!



Yeah Sly is getting up there in age, but that didn't stop him from making Rambo 4 and as we all know that movie was action art! With the likes of Schwarzenegger, Lundgren, Rourke and Willis, brought together, these "old men" are defying the odds and showing that "old" is the new "bad ass." Never have I ever looked so forward to old age.


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Saturday, January 02, 2010

Top Five Films of 2009, says I.

2009 has been quite the year, but not exactly the best in theaters. Normally it is very difficult to pick my top five films for the year, but over the span of these 365 days, that task was actually VERY simple. This year it was very much about "quality and not quantity."

My Top 5 films of 2009 are as follows:

1. Moon1a. The Hurt Locker
2. District 93. Inglorious Basterds4. Zombieland5. Avatar