I am behind on blogging about my favorite tv show (and the only one that’s left that is good enough for me to watch these days!), The Office!  Time flew so fast that the season premiere was a few weeks ago now, and it’s been a great season so far!

The Office is on Season 7 already, and unfortunately for us fans, this is reportedly the last season for the show’s lead actor, Steve Carell.  As a huge fan of the show, I  personally don’t see how it will work without Carell’s lovable idiot boss character, Michael Scott, and I’m hoping that he will change his mind about leaving.  Although he has yet to win an Emmy for his performance as Michael Scott (darn Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock takes it every year!), episode 2 of season 7 of The Office saw the best performance I’ve ever seen Carell give and probably the best acting I’ve ever seen on a tv sitcom!  If you’re a fan, I’m talking about the scene where he is in a counseling session with Toby, and Toby is kind of manipulating him to actually talk to him.  For a few minutes, Michael is actually talking and playing cards with Toby – a man he simply cannot stand.  He even has an “I loathe Toby” face that is priceless.  So anyway, he’s playing cards with Toby, and Toby is actually making some valuable psychiatric headway with Michael…  until Michael realizes it.  Within seconds as he’s realizing what Toby has done, his transformation back into his “I loathe Toby” mode is just…  WOW.  Emmy-worthy material, for sure in my opinion, but only time will tell.

Unfortunately, if you are not already watching this great show, then I can’t recommend you start now in the 7th season – nowadays the show seems to be written for its fan base, and newcomers might not be able to follow the plots which are seemingly being developed around the already established characters.  But I do highly recommend you check out the show beginning in Season 1 – you can do this on dvd or perhaps even on NBC’s website?  That way, you can watch the The Office characters hilariously evolve yourself.  If you work in an office yourself, are looking for a new tv show to watch, or are simply a fan of good tv, talented script-writing, try The Office!!

I cannot wait to see what the 3rd episode of this new season will bring us on Thursday!!

One of the Michael Scott’s (aka Steve Carell’s) famous “I loathe Toby” faces:

This morning, the Academy Award nominations were announced.  The big news this year: the expansion of the Best Picture Category from 5 nods to 10.  As the list proves, this was done in order to pay homage to not only the “good” films but also to the popular films that everyday joes are likely to have seen.  There is also another first among the nominees which I will get to.

And AWAAAAAAY We Go

Best Actress In A Supporting Role:

• Penelope Cruz (Nine)
• Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)
• Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart)
• Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)
• Mo’Nique (Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire)

Best Actor In A Supporting Role:

• Matt Damon (Invictus)
• Woody Harrelson (The Meesenger not for the other big WH movie of the year: Zombieland)
• Christopher Plummer (The Last Station)
• Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)
• Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)

Best Actress In A Leading Role:

• Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side… the sweetheart of this year’s list)
• Helen Mirren (The Last Station)
• Carey Mulligan (An Education)
• Gabourey Sidibe (Precious…, the Dark horse in this race
• Meryl Streep (Julie/Julia… enough said)

Best Actor In A Leading Role:

• Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
• George Clooney (Up in the Air… speculation of a Bridges/Clooney battle)
• Colin Firth (A Single Man)
• Morgan Freeman (Invictus… portrayals of historical figures, hmm)
• Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)

Best Animated Feature:

• Coraline (Henry Selick, director)
• Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson)
• The Princess and the Frog ( John Musker and Ron Clements… Disney’s first classic animation feature since the Pixar revolution)
• The Secret of Kells (Tomm Moore)
• Up (Pete Docter… Disney/Pixar’s best to date)

Best Director:

• James Cameron (Avatar)
• Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker… Mr. Cameron’s ex-wife the first time a former couple has ever been nominated for the award… she could also come off as the first female Best Director winner)
• Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
• Lee Daniels (Precious…)
• Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)

Best Picture:

• Avatar (James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers)
• The Blind Side (Nominees to be determined?  Don’t we know who produced it?)
• District 9 ( Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers)
• An Education (Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers)
• The Hurt Locker (Nominees to be determined?)
• Inglourious Basterds (Lawrence Bender, Producer)
• Precious…(Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, and Gary Magness, Producers)
• A Serious Man (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers)
• Up (Jonas Rivera, Producer)
• Up in the Air (Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman, and Jason Reitman, Producers)

There you have them.  The MAJOR nominees for this years Oscar parties.  Grab your ballots, make your choices, and watch ABC on March 7th when Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin co-host the  81st (or is it 82nd… conflicting details) Annual Academy Awards.  Co-hosts?  For the rest of the nominees, check them out at abc.com

Final Tally:

• Avatar and The Hurt Locker tied with 9 nods apiece
• Inglourious Basterds with 8
• Precious and Up in the Air with 6
• Up received 4 nominations

It’s no secret who one of my favorite popcorn munching, thrill seeking, Saturday afternoon movie actors is. However, like most actors worth their salt, Harrison Ford does have a repetoire that extends far beyond two of the most successful film franchises in movie history and as I have been mentioning in probably half of my posts, he will be returning to the silver screen as a certain globe-trotting, snake fearing, bullwhip cracking, Nazi despising archaeologist. Below is a List of some of my other Ford favorites.

Witness: His first and (so far) only Academy Award nomination and it features a very cool song from days gone by.

The Fugitive: The best motion picture based on a television series.  Tommy Lee Jones’ Best Supporting Oscar winning film.  Excellent cat-and-mouse chase of the on the lam doctor and the obsessed federal marshal tracking him down. Also believed to be based on the actual case of  Cleveland, OH physician Sam Sheppard.

What Lies Beneath: Hitchcockian in its suspense without the blood and gore.

The Jack Ryan duology (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger). Alec Baldwin started the franchise in The Hunt for Red October and Ben Affleck concluded it in The Sum of All Fears.  I know it is another series but Harrison’s two films are the best.

Air Force One: Flawed, cliched, but seriously, would it be so bad if he were our president?  Another good popcorn film.

I know I am forgetting a lot so please feel free to comment on some of your favorite Harrison Ford movies.  Any will do.