You must be the other guy!

Everyone saw them, everyone wrote about it; the 79th academy awards. A plate of mixed feelings. I'll cut to meat & potatoes.

-There was a moment during the telecast when I uttered "Wow, Pan's Labyrinth is cleaning up" only for them to lose out on the next award for best foreign feature, go figure. The german movie filmmakers must feel like everyone who made Crash last year when they "upset" Brokeback Mountain, a collective we got away with murder feeling.

-I thoroughly enjoyed Ellen Degeneres, I have nothing else to add to that other than, I had the same feeling at the end of Finding Nemo.

-Helen Mirren is a snob.

-Peter O' Toole wanted to look upset, except he permanently has the same bewildered expression on his face.

-It's not an award show without Jack, I just wish it was an award show with his hair

-Somewhere a brooding Dakota Fanning is pacing in front of a tv smoking a cigarette watching an interview of Abigal Breslin.

-Same goes for any actress without an oscar at the sight of Jennifer Hudson.

-I never saw Children of Men, I sort of regret that now.

-How about my boy Ennio! Two people called me to say "Hey thats the guy!", yup thats the guy. How two minutes of speaking Italian translates mainly to just, "He says thank you" is beyond me though.

-Alan Arkin, I liked you since So I married an Ax Murderer, good job.

-Word has come out that Eddie Murphy stormed out after his loss to Arkin, as if he were a serious actor, comon Buckwheat, even Bill Murray wouldn't make Norbit.

-If your in one of those minor catagories with two or three other people, wouldn't you arrange some type speaking rotation for the potential win. Instead someone always hogs the mike. Why do they always wing it?

-speaking of wings, what's everyones favorite flavor?, I ordered Jamaican Jerk and Garlic Parm that night.

-I had a blog entry similar to the one about Morricone on the backburner about Thelma Schoonmaker. I'm planing on doing a few entires on obscure or forgotten filmmaking figures that deserve to be recognized, however Thelma won for her editing in The Departed, and got a ton of praise when she went up to the mic. Did you see Martin Scorsese?, only time of the night he had tears. So that sort of renders that future entry somewhat moot. Oh well. But just take my word for it when I say she IS the best editor ever and is my favorite.

-There isn't a man who knows more about film or loves it more than Martin Scorsese. I find it cool when someone who is more film crazy than i'll ever be gets their due. If I could talk film with anyone for just one day, it would probably be Mr. Scorsese. He's 65 and still as fast talking and enthusiastic as day one. I'm glad he finally won.

Which brings us to the best picture winner The Departed, a film that perfectly captures the city of Boston and its surroundings. It meant a lot to me considering I was born and raised in the city, the metro area. As I got older we progressively moved further west. (Even though im still 20 minutes away). At heart i'm a city boy through and through. Those characters in the movie, I grew up with those people, I know them, I still do. I knew those cops who would stop into my Dad's restaurant. We knew those sketchy guys who lived on the Harbor. We spent sundays at the Hay Market and Faneuil Hall. My uncle is as Irish as they come. I'm not talking New England, or even just Massachusetts, I'm talking about the city itself, it's part of me, Boston. When it comes to crime as the movie depicts, i've seen robbings, car theft and people held at gun point before back in the days of the late 80's, early 90's(Not that the city has ever been completely rampant in crime, it's very safe and nice now, later on the area I grew up in was named the safest city in America). I know the importance of Larry Bird, hell, my parents named me after Kevin McHale. I ran down comm ave with a pats flag when we won our first superbowl. I don't have a thick accent or anything, but it's all the same. I'm absolutely no masshole, I'm Bostonian. There's a difference. Who knew, It took a director who made a living off films based in New York to finally win the big one with a film about Boston. Thanks Marty. And thank you Honk Kong of course for the wonderful original. Ironically I shot a short film in the exact same area way before the films release. Those shots on the rooftop overlooking the harbor are identical. Same type of sky and everything. I remember after seeing the premiere with some friends who live in back bay. We went to the Boston Common theater and after walking out, it was awesome because there we were, right on the set itself. The State house to our right, and a walk back home right through the heart of Chinatown. Wicked awesome.