Now That's Entertainment, 2008 Edition

It’s time for the blog’s annual roundup of my favorite entertainment offerings of the year, with a few regrettable experiences thrown in for fun. I always have a hard time narrowing such subjective lists down to just one, so I’m offering up a few of my most memorable and enjoyable items in each category. I’d love to hear your favorites – and least favorites – too!

***General Spoiler Alert***

Movies

…Sean Penn’s performance and the overall message of Milk

...The "where are they now" updates and continued romantic adventures of our 4 favorite ladies in Sex and the City. This could've been all wrong, an unnecessary coda to a series (see my worst below) but instead really stayed true to the characters and kept their stories alive in ways that felt very authentic. But let's not talk about that bird on Carrie's head.

…The sweet romance and raunchy hilarity – and musical puppets! – of Jason Segel’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall

...The heartwarming, rat-a-tat snarkfest of Juno, even though it has forever tainted my view of the adorable Jason Bateman

…In Bruges, the first movie that finally made me *get* the appeal of Colin Farrell, plus it was just a damn hilarious gangster flick that both kept me guessing and laughing

...Similarly, the shockingly funny latest installment from the Coen Brothers, Burn After Reading, has given me the deliriously enjoyable images of Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand as gym twits and... well, the less said about George Clooney's invention, the better.

Worst: The horrible, almost embarrassing (for all involved) experience that was The X-Files: I Want to Believe. The bigger the expectations, the worse the pain of disappointment.

TV

…LOST’s Season 4, which came roaring back to greatness with the amazing storylines of the Oceanic 6, the mysterious ways of Benjamin Linus, the 4 Island newbies, Penny and Desmond’s epic romance, and – woosh! – the disappearance of the Island!!!!

…Mad Men, the show that has brought back both the glamour and the outrage of the Camelot era, with its highballs, formal dress for dinner, and race and gender politics, plus it’s introduced us to the delectable (and talented) leading man for our generation, Jon Hamm as Don Draper (not to mention Jon Hamm as Dick Whitman).

…my Netflix discovery of the great guilty pleasure series Supernatural, with its monster-of-the-week fun combined with an overarching mythology and 2 hot leads (Dean's my fave), it’s nicely taken its place as the X-Files Light that I’ve needed.

…The pure escapist fun of Chuck, a comedy with more 80’s references than a Gilmore Girls episode and more wacky spy stuff than any hour of Alias

…The Office, still firing on all cylinders with the heartbreakingly sweet Michael and Holly story and the solid PB&J romance, not to mention the awesomeness of Oscar and Andy becoming friends

…HBO’s brilliantly acted, written, directed, and produced miniseries John Adams, which should be required viewing for all history classes and acting schools

Music

I don't buy many albums these days, since I'm now more of a sampler on iTunes. But I did just buy one album that is immediately at the top of my list of favorites -- She & Him's Volume One. Everyone must get it now.

Most of my new music comes in the form of one-off downloads, usually either music I’ve heard in a movie or tv show, or something new by an artist I’ve always liked. My favorite downloads of the year:

…Backseat Nothing by The Del Fuegos (it was in an ep of Rescue Me)

…Sexed Up by the always awesome Robbie Williams

…Skinny Love by Bon Iver (from an ep of Chuck)

…Keeps Gettin’ Better by my favorite bombastic pop tart, Christina Aguilera

Books

…The smart, sassy, guilty pleasure fun of spending 8 books following the adventures, loves and losses of telepath Sookie Stackhouse and all of the very real creatures of the night in Bon Temps, Louisiana in Charlaine Harris’s “Southern Vampire” series (the basis for HBO’s True Blood)

…Neil Gaiman’s American Gods made for not only a great read, but also a great book club discussion. I particularly loved all of the different religions’ gods and symbols that he worked into the book, and it had me consulting my shelf of religion major textbooks from my college years.

…Finally reading the entire C. S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia saga, and both reliving the adventures I’d loved as a child and seeing the symbolism and the sometimes inspiring and the sometimes questionable race and class references with the eyes of an adult.

Worst: Egad, the mess that was Breaking Dawn. If you ever want to learn how to ruin a series, follow Stephenie Meyer’s wholesome teen vampire romance story. The first three books were enjoyable marshmallow fun, but that final book was so awful it turned me into a Twilight-hater.

Theater

…the exuberant insanity on display in Studio Theatre’s Grey Gardens, which led me to both buy the Broadway cast recording and watch the original 1970’s era documentary upon which it was based. A full-scale cultural experience.

…the colorful, musical, whimsical, accessible, and just damn fun production of Mary Zimmerman’s Argonautika at The Shakespeare Theatre.

…the intense masculine energy of Studio Theatre’s The Brothers Size, practically a black box production with three actors sharing raw, emotional performances.

Museums and Tours and Stuff

…the guided tour of the Washington National Cathedral, which thankfully (for me) focused more on art, architecture, and both local and national history than on capital-R Religion. It’s a great pick for a family visit.

…DC’s many walking tours offer a great, low-cost evening out with friends, and the Embassy Row Walking Tour is another great combination of architecture, local history, diplomatic history, and lifestyles of the DC rich and famous.

Web

…Kudos to Joss Whedon, Felicia Day, Nathan Fillion and the incomparable Neil Patrick Harris for winning the “What I Did While The Writers Were On Strike” contest, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. It’s a brand new day, indeed!

…This year, I gained a new addiction and reconnected with many old friends on the way. Oh, Facebook, what would I do without you? Read more????

Podcasts

…The smarty-snarky-pants trio of John Dickerson, Emily Bazelon, and David Plotz provided me with the enhanced ability both to analyze the week’s news and laugh at it on Slate’s Political Gabfest

…The NPR folks at Planet Money are achieving the nearly impossible task of making the incredible economic stories of our age make sense.

…And, the three nerdy-fun academics at BackStory with the American History Guys, including the Prez of my alma mater, help provide a historical backdrop for the issues of our day, making us all feel better knowing that previous generations of Americans have struggled with and triumphed over the same things we’re going through now, and that history really can be more entertaining than fiction.

Sports

Yes, I have a sports category!

…watching my Richmond Spiders win the FCS National Championship by defeating the Montana Grizzlies 24-7!

…enjoying the great new sight lines, concession stands, scoreboard bells and whistles, and – oh yeah – a winning team (that day) at the new Nationals Stadium.

***So there you have it, my complete (exhaustive?) list of faves of 2008. What are yours???

Our Family Christmas Tradition

We're not really much of a "tradition" kind of family -- there's just the 4 of us, so our holidays are always pretty low-keyed and more about just spending time together.

BUT, there is one activity that my Mom started when we were really little, and even now that we're in our 30's (well, little bro will be in a few weeks) it's still something we look forward to at Christmastime: making fun Christmas-shaped sugar cookies!

It's super-easy... we start with a tube (we each get our own) of store-bought sugar cookie dough. Then, using a knife, we slice the dough and then use our hands to start making some very familiar Christmas shapes.

Here you see two snowmen, an angel with her wings, a Christmas tree, and a jolly little elf with a hat.

When making the cookies, it is best to try to get some uniform size of the dough so it cooks evenly. Snowmen, cuz they're rolled-up balls, are always the gooiest.... YUM.

Here are more snowmen, another angel (with a bigger head this time), and a sad-looking elf. The one shape I forgot to make was a candy cane, but you can picture how easy that is too. I like my cookies plain, my bro adds red and green sprinkles. You could ice them, too, but doesn't that just delay the tastiness???

Deelish!!! I don't know who enjoys this more, my bro & me for making them, or my DAD for eating them! This year, he grabbed one off of my bro's pan so fast he burned his hands, and we laughed reminding him that these cookies do come out at 350 degrees!

Good times. :-)

A Very Dark Knight

I finally had the chance, thanks to Netflix, to see the biggest movies of the year, Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that this is the second installment in Nolan's "reimagined" telling of the Batman saga, starring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman.

Mr. Nolan has brought so much to this series. As somewhat of an auteur, and a director who seems to encourage everyone on his team in front of and behind the camera to bring their very best work to the fore, he's made something that barely even resembles the old 80's/90's series that had an ignoble end in Joel Schumacher's George Clooney-nipple suit extravaganza. (Everyone look away, there's nothing to see here.)

I agree with all the critics out there who've lavished praise on The Dark Knight - the script is smart and filled with not-so-subtle allegory about order vs. chaos, the production values are so strong that you seem to feel the darkness of Gotham, and the performances are of a universally high standard, including Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal (a nice change over Mrs. Cruise), and Aaron Eckhart.

But -- of course -- the biggest thing about this movie is that from start to finish, it is Heath Ledger's show. His final performance is so mesmerizing, so magnetically horrifying, that you can't look away... in fact, I often found myself rooting for his anarchist / nihilist Joker. Even after all the hype, and for just now seeing the movie it means I've had about a year's worth of hype built up, he truly amazed me in this role. Any posthumous nominations he received will be well-deserved, and the sad commemoration of a fantastic and interesting career that was just beginning.

Now, given all of these things, I give the movie a solid A.

But, the more I think about the movie, the more I keep coming back to a nagging question. By making The Joker, and to a lesser extent the very intriguing Harvey Dent, such a central character, does The Dark Knight leave any room for Batman himself? All of my favorite scenes featured either Ledger or Eckhart, and their characters seemed to get all the best lines. I didn't clock it, but it even seemed to me that Ledger and Eckhart combined had more screen time than Bale -- with the result that Batman came across as just a dark force in the background of these two colorful, very watchable villains. There didn't seem to be much character or story development for Bruce Wayne or his masked alter ego, and I *hated* Bale's low Batman growl. In the physics of this film, were the villains the "matter" and Batman - the "hero" - the "antimatter" ?

What did you all think? Was this a Batman movie that turned Batman into a supporting character? With the film's symbolism, does that say anything about villains being more complex and interesting? Or about the hero's struggle to find his own purpose? Interesting food for thought, Mr. Nolan!


Photo credit.

Can't Wait to Get Lost Again

Eeeeeeeee!

First Time for Everything

What in the world could possibly make me -- about as unaware of sports as one can be, and the absolute least sports-minded person of my entire family -- stay home and watch an entire football game on my own on a Friday night?

How about the chance to hear these words?

The Richmond Spiders are National Champions!!!

Yes, indeedy, my alma mater scored tonight -- several times, in fact. We defeated the Montana Grizzlies 24-7 in the FCS Championship Game in Chattanooga-ooga-ooga. The mighty Spiders (don't get caught in OUR web!) were led to victory by first-year head coach Mike London, an '83 Richmond grad himself with a pretty inspirational personal story.

This is the University of Richmond's first national championship, in any team sport, ever. The school was founded in 1830. That's a mighty long time, so we'll milk this one for a while. And I'm guessing this gives President Ed Ayers (co-host of one of my favorite geeky podcasts) an even better case for moving the football stadium out of downtown and actually onto our suburban campus.

So... even though I'm the lone non-sports fan of the family, looks like this year *I* will be the one at Christmas dinner with a little something to brag about... how did those Hoosiers do this year, anyway? ;-)

The Semi-Golden Globes

After last year's debacle of the Golden Globes "press conference" during the writers' strike, this year has to be better, right? We shall see.... here's my take on the nominations, for now.

HOLLYWOOD FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION 2008 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS NOMINATIONS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2008

Movies
1. BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
a. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
b. FROST/NIXON
c. THE READER
d. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
e. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Stefanie Says... I haven't seen ANY of these movies yet, but they must be pretty dang good to have all beaten out Milk, one of the best movies I've seen in years. These are all on my must-see list for the next few weeks, though, so hopefully soon I'll be able to judge. All of these do have fairly international casts, especally Slumdog Millionaire of course, so maybe that's part of the appeal to the Globes. Milk may have bee just too "American" a film for the HFPA. At this point, I have no idea which film will win best drama -- but it will be an interesting category to watch.

2. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
a. ANNE HATHAWAY – RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
b. ANGELINA JOLIE – CHANGELING
c. MERYL STREEP – DOUBT
d. KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS – I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (IL Y A LONGTEMPS QUE JE T’AIME)
e. KATE WINSLET – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
Stefanie Says...Again, I haven't seen any of these yet. Changeling didn't look all that appealing, and my guess is that Angelina has the worst odds on winning this one. I'd love to see the always-nominated Kate Winslet finally bring home the gold this year all season long, but I hope the fact that she's in two prestige pics doesn't work against her.

3. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
a. LEONARDO DICAPRIO – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
b. FRANK LANGELLA – FROST/NIXON
c. SEAN PENN – MILK
d. BRAD PITT – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
e. MICKEY ROURKE – THE WRESTLER
Stefanie Says...Sean Penn was he best she's ever seen him playing Harvey Milk, and that's saying a lot. There's a lot of buzz over Mickey Rourke in this "comeback" role, but I hope he'll just feel honored being nominated. As strong as all the other consistently good actors look in this category, this better be Penn's.

4. BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
a. BURN AFTER READING
b. HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
c. IN BRUGES
d. MAMMA MIA!
e. VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Stefanie Says...I have seen two of these, and really enjoyed both Burn After Reading and In Bruges. My guess is that Woody Allen might win this one, since Vicky Cristina Barcelona racked up so many nominations and it also has an international cast and setting. I have it in my queue and really, really want to see it -- Javier Bardem is a hottie -- and I also have Meryl's ABBA extravaganza coming soon.

5.BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
a. REBECCA HALL – VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
b. SALLY HAWKINS – HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
c. FRANCES MCDORMAND – BURN AFTER READING
d. MERYL STREEP – MAMMA MIA!
e. EMMA THOMPSON – LAST CHANCE HARVEY
Stefanie Says...Frances was pretty hilarious as the dim bulb gym rat, and she seemed to embrace a role that was just filled with the neuroses of a middle-aged woman, not something many actresses would do. She gets my vote -- but I haven't seen any of the other performances yet, and I haven't even *heard* of Emma's movie!

6. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
a. JAVIER BARDEM – VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
b. COLIN FARRELL – IN BRUGES
c. JAMES FRANCO – PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
d. BRENDAN GLEESON – IN BRUGES
e. DUSTIN HOFFMAN – LAST CHANCE HARVEY
Stefanie Says...Good for Colin Farrell! This was the first role I've seen him in that really, really made me like him. Stick to comedy, Irish bad boy, and you'll age better than through the brooding dramatic action route. I've heard good things abut James Franco in this role, but I haven't seen Pineapple Express yet. He was great in Milk, and I've been a fan since the F&G days, so I wouldn't mind seeing him winning. Acually, I'd be fine with any of these actors winning, even though I *still* haven't heard of Hoffman's movie....

7. BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
a. BOLT
b. KUNG FU PANDA
c. WALL-E
Stefanie Says... The latter two are both on very long wait status on Netflix, harrumph. But based on all the buzz, this seems like Wall-E's year.

8. BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
a. THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX (GERMANY)(DER BAADER MEINHOF KOMPLEX)
b. EVERLASTING MOMENTS (SWEDEN/DENMARK)(MARIA LARSSONS EVIGA ÖGONBLICK)
c. GOMORRAH (ITALY)
d. I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (FRANCE)(IL Y A LONGTEMPS QUE JE T’AIME)
e. WALTZ WITH BASHIR (ISRAEL)
Stefanie Says...Since Kristin Scott Thomas is getting raves for the French movie, that will be my guess.

9. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
a. AMY ADAMS – DOUBT
b. PENELOPE CRUZ – VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
c. VIOLA DAVIS –DOUBT
d. MARISA TOMEI – THE WRESTLER
e. KATE WINSLET – THE READER
Stefanie Says...This seems like a tough category, with several familiar names from the last few years and Meryl Jr. (I love Kate!), but based on all the rave reviews I'll pick Viola Davis. The HFPA does like to award newer faces, so she may end up getting Doubt's gold for the night.

10. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
a. TOM CRUISE – TROPIC THUNDER
b. ROBERT DOWNEY JR. –TROPIC THUNDER
c. RALPH FIENNES – THE DUCHESS
d. PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – DOUBT
e. HEATH LEDGER – THE DARK KNIGHT
Stefanie Says...There's no question here, it will be a posthumous award for Heath Ledger. The Dark Knight is hopefully coming soon in the queue so I'll finally see this acclaimed performance. Hoffman and Fiennes are always reliably good, and Tropic Thunder has had such mixed reviews I'm surprised to even see it here. But sadly, this is the last chance to honor someone who had been an emerging star, so it will be Ledger's name called in January.

11. BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE
a. DANNY BOYLE – SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
b. STEPHEN DALDRY – THE READER
c. DAVID FINCHER – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
d. RON HOWARD – FROST/NIXON
e. SAM MENDES – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
Stefanie Says...I'm still bummed that Milk was ignored in all of these big categories, because both the direction and the screenplay wer fantastic. But, bygones... so again in considering the big prestige pics I haven't yet seen, I'm going to guess that the HFPA wil honor one of the foreign directors with a more international cast, so Danny Boyle is my pick.

12. BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE
a. SIMON BEAUFOY – SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
b. DAVID HARE – THE READER
c. PETER MORGAN – FROST/NIXON
d. ERIC ROTH – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
e. JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY – DOUBT
Stefanie Says...I haven't heard much about these screenplays yet -- but two are adaptatins from stage plays, at least one (Hare's) is an adaptation of a novel. So when Oscar time comes these likely will be split into different categories. I'm guessing it will fall either to Slumdog Millionaire or The Reader.

13. BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE
a. ALEXANDRE DESPLAT –THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
b. CLINT EASTWOOD – CHANGELING
c. JAMES NEWTON HOWARD – DEFIANCE
d. A. R. RAHMAN – SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
e. HANS ZIMMER – FROST/NIXON
Stefanie Says...Oh, who knows? The trailers for Benjamin Button sound good, I'll pick that.

14. BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE
a. “DOWN TO EARTH” — WALL-E Music by: Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman Lyrics by: Peter Gabriel
b. “GRAN TORINO” — GRAN TORINO Music by: Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens Lyrics by: Jamie Cullum
c. “I THOUGHT I LOST YOU” — BOLT Music & Lyrics by: Miley Cyrus, Jeffrey Steele
d. “ONCE IN A LIFETIME” — CADILLAC RECORDS Music & Lyrics by: Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott McFarnon, Ian Dench, James Dring, Jody Street
e. “THE WRESTLER” — THE WRESTLER Music & Lyrics by: Bruce Springsteen
Stefanie Says...Please God, not Miley Cyrus. And did we really need a new, original Beyonce song in a film about Etta James and other legends? I'm going to vote for the Boss here, but wouldn't be surprised if Peter Gabriel gets the Globe.

Television
15. BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
a. DEXTER (SHOWTIME)
b. HOUSE (FOX)
c. IN TREATMENT (HBO)
d. MAD MEN (AMC)
e. TRUE BLOOD (HBO)
Stefanie Says...Due to the timing of the Globes, it often feels like a lesser rerun of the Emmys - whereas it's more of a preview of the Oscars. Their TV picks are usually a little more unpredictable though, as evidenced here with the freshman hit True Blood. Now, you all know I love vampires, but I don't have HBO so I can't judge the show or In Treatment yet. I'm a season behind on Dexter and growing bored. House is reliable but often just good enough to be background. And so, not just by process of elimination... I say any category that doesn't include LOST has to go to Mad Men. It's one of my favorite discoveries of the past year.

16. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
a. SALLY FIELD – BROTHERS AND SISTERS
b. MARISKA HARGITAY –LAW AND ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT
c. JANUARY JONES – MAD MEN
d. ANNA PAQUIN – TRUE BLOOD
e. KYRA SEDGWICK – THE CLOSER
Stefanie Says...I only watch one of these 5 shows with any regularity. While January Jones is not the best actress in the cast -- why is Elisabeth Moss missing here, when Peggy really came into her own as the next Don Draper this season?? And where's the luminous Christina Hendricks? -- but again, I'm happy for Mad Men to take home any and all awards.

17. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA
a. GABRIEL BYRNE – IN TREATMENT
b. MICHAEL C. HALL – DEXTER
c. JON HAMM – MAD MEN
d. HUGH LAURIE – HOUSE
e. JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS – THE TUDORS
Stefanie Says...Jon Hamm, over and done. He played both Don Draper AND Dick Whitman with a nuance, an intelligence, and a grace rarely seen on the small or large screen these days. He's like old Hollywood come back to life.

18. BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
a. 30 ROCK (NBC)
b. CALIFORNICATION (SHOWTIME)
c. ENTOURAGE (HBO)
d. THE OFFICE (NBC)
e. WEEDS (SHOWTIME)
Stefanie Says...I do watch 4 of these shows, though I'm a season behind on each of the cable series. So in the neck-and-neck battle of the Thursday night NBC offerings, I am solidly in the "The Office is better" camp.

19.BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES –COMEDY OR MUSICAL
a. CHRISTINA APPLEGATE – SAMANTHA WHO?
b. AMERICA FERRERA – UGLY BETTY
c. TINA FEY – 30 ROCK
d. DEBRA MESSING – THE STARTER WIFE
e. MARY-LOUISE PARKER – WEEDS
Stefanie Says...It's the Year of Fey.

20. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
a. ALEC BALDWIN – 30 ROCK
b. STEVE CARELL – THE OFFICE
c. KEVIN CONNOLLY – ENTOURAGE
d. DAVID DUCHOVNY – CALIFORNICATION
e. TONY SHALHOUB – MONK
Stefanie Says...This is a tough one, since Alec Baldwin and Steve Carell are both just brilliant comedic actors. I think Carell is able to work just a little bit more depth into Michael Scott, just a smidge, so he gets my vote.

21. BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. A RAISIN IN THE SUN (ABC)
b. BERNARD AND DORIS (HBO)
c. CRANFORD (PBS)
d. JOHN ADAMS (HBO)
e. RECOUNT (HBO)
Stefanie Says... Both Recount and John Adams were great, but they're like apples and oranges. Adams was by far the more intricate, layered accomplishment, and this trophy will be added to Tom Hanks's shelf.

22. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. JUDI DENCH – CRANFORD
b. CATHERINE KEENER – AN AMERICAN CRIME
c. LAURA LINNEY – JOHN ADAMS
d. SHIRLEY MACLAINE – COCO CHANEL
e. SUSAN SARANDON – BERNARD AND DORIS
Stefanie Says... I hope Laura Linney wears red. She looks good in red, especially when accepting awards.

23. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. RALPH FIENNES – BERNARD AND DORIS
b. PAUL GIAMATTI – JOHN ADAMS
c. KEVIN SPACEY – RECOUNT
d. KIEFER SUTHERLAND – 24: REDEMPTION
e. TOM WILKINSON – RECOUNT
Stefanie Says...Now that the election's over, I wonder what Paul Giamatti will say in his speech?

24. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. EILEEN ATKINS – CRANFORD
b. LAURA DERN – RECOUNT
c. MELISSA GEORGE – IN TREATMENT
d. RACHEL GRIFFITHS – BROTHERS AND SISTERS
e. DIANNE WIEST – IN TREATMENT
Stefanie Says...She's only seen one of these performances, and Laura Dern was uncannily good - and scary - as Katherine Harris. Give her the gold!

25. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
a. NEIL PATRICK HARRIS – HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
b. DENIS LEARY – RECOUNT
c. JEREMY PIVEN – ENTOURAGE
d. BLAIR UNDERWOOD – IN TREATMENT
e. TOM WILKINSON – JOHN ADAMS
Stefanie Says... This is a tough category, but NPH rules the world. If he doesn't win, he might just pull out his Freeze Ray on us.

-----------------
In other news --- I am NOT psyched about Hugh Jackman hosting the Oscars. Why not Jon Stewart? Did Jon turn it down? I'm refusing to call Jackman the sexiest man alive, too. Not as long as Jon Hamm is on the planet.

Prop 8, the Musical!

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Best cast of the year! I especially love the big NPH finish. :-)