Oh So Boring…

My predictions for this year’s noms in the “main” categories. Don’t want to  do writing since I can never remember what’s adapted or original. I’ve tried to figure out the shocker that shows up in categories from time to time. We shall find out how bad I was soon!

Best Picture

1. 127 Hours
2. Black Swan
3. The Fighter
4. The Ghost Writer — Dark Horse!
5. Inception
6. The Kids Are All Right
7. The King’s Speech
8. The Social Network
9. Toy Story 3
10. True Grit

Best Director

1. Ben Affleck (The Town) — Shocker!
2. Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
3. David Fincher (The Social Network)
4. Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)
5. Christopher Nolan (Inception)

Best Actor

1. Jeff Bridges (True Grit)
2. Robert Duvall (Get Low)
3. Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
4. Colin Firth (The King’s Speech)
5. James Franco (127 Hours)

Best Actress

1. Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)
2. Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
3. Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) — Maybe?
4. Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)
5. Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)

Best Supp. Actor

1. Christian Bale (The Fighter)
2. Matt Damon (True Grit)
3. Andrew Garfield (The Social Network)
4. Jeremy Renner (The Town)
5. Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech)

Best Supp. Actress

1. Amy Adams (The Fighter)
2. Helena Bonham Carter (The King’s Speech)
3. Barbara Hershey (Black Swan) — Ooooh, take that Mila!
4. Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
5. Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom) — Heard about her on NPR this morning

Many people think that relativity is some obscure science concept that is only important to academics and nerds like myself, when, in fact, relativity is important on a daily basis. GPS? Without taking relativity into account, they’d be wildly inaccurate on the order of kilometers per day. And recently there was a new bit of science done that shows it’s important in another place: your car battery!

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While I’m being all updatetastic, another question: how is one supposed to buy food at IKEA?

You see, in my nearby IKEA store, you do the whole maze upstairs, then venture downstairs to the smaller-stuff section (kitchen gadgets, pillows, vases, light bulbs, &c.), pass through the flat-pack storage area and get to the checkout registers. So far, so good. But, then, just beyond the registers, you see the little grocery area with the meatballs, the lingonberry preserves, all sorts of yummy food.

After the registers.

So how exactly am I supposed to buy, say, a fancy napkin holder and some meatballs?  Do I buy the holder, grab some meatballs, and then get back in line to check out again? This seems to offend my sense of efficiency.

Or, is there some place to stash my holder before I check out, then get the meatballs, and then checkout? This seems smarter to me because it’s just one trip through the register.

Oh, and I know one answer is: buy the food at the register in the food area. Guess what? In the 10-15 times I’ve been to IKEA the last few years, that grocery register has never been manned. Never ever never ever. I think it’s actually an art installation I don’t get.

Yours in still confused,

Matt