And the Oscar Contest Gift Card Goes To...

Thanks to all who participated in our 3rd Annual Oscar Pickin' Contest. Despite adding categories this year, we had our first ever 6-way tie for first place.

Congrats to our overall contest winner, Emily Dahm, who correctly picked the winner in all twelve categories, and then nailed the tiebreaker, coming closest to guessing the length of the broadcast. Check your email, Emily!


Shout outs also go to our runners up. These five folks correctly picked all 12 categories, but were edged out of the tiebreaker by Emily: Geraldine Rodriguez, Naghmana Siddiqi, Brian Bedard, Preston Nicholson, and Dulcie Holtz.

It was a fun Oscars show with a couple of truly standout moments. Here are my two favorites.

The acceptance speech from Jared Leto - Best Supporting Actor (Dallas Buyers Club).

The acceptance speech from Lupita Nyong'o - Best Supporting Actress (12 Years a Slave).

Thanks again for playing and hope we see you on Oscar night again next year!

The Third Annual Oscar Pickin' Contest

It's on, baby! The 3rd Annual Way Things Turn Oscar Pickin' Contest is underway!

The rules are simple and the contest is free. You may enter only one time. Choose the most correct winners in twelve pre-selected Academy Award categories, and win a $25 Gift Card to the movie theater of your choice.

We've added three categories to amp up the competition: Animated Feature, which could actually be competitive this year, Original Song, and Visual Effects. (I added the latter so my super nerd friends, and you are many, would have a chance to cast a vote for the likes of The Hobbit, Iron Man, or Star Trek.)

To enter the contest, click the link below and mark your picks before the awards show starts at 8:30PM (Eastern) / 5:30 PM (Pacific) on Sunday, March 2nd. After the cutoff time, no entries will be accepted.

Follow me on Twitter (@waythingsturn) or Facebook (Jeff McKown), or check the blog (The Way Things Turn) on Monday, March 3rd to see if you win.

Here's a link to a printable list of nominees in all the categories for your reference. You won't be able to print your completed contest picks from the online survey, so be sure to record your answers to track your progress during the Awards show.

Stay in touch on Twitter, as I'm planning to live Tweet the awards show and hopefully provide contest updates on Sunday night.

Break a leg!

Click Here to Enter Your Contest Picks

Fun Facts and Stats From Our 2013 Oscar Pool

Best Actors: DDL, Jennifer Lawrence
Best Supporting: Anne and Christoph

Marathon movie-watching days, internet articles about the indecipherable politics of the Academy, coffee shop chats about amazing films that were totally overlooked (The Impossible - just sayin').

If you're a mega movie nerd (like me), you need one more day to ease out of Oscar season, and this post is for you.

I've already been online and read the panoply of opinions about Seth McFarlane's performance as host (and apparent offender of some, but not all, women). Now, it's time to nerd out with fun facts from our online Oscar pool.

We didn't totally suck. On the whole, our contest participants did pretty well. If you look at our majority picks, we nailed the winners in seven of nine categories. The two categories we blew were "Best Director" ( 67% of us picked Spielberg, not Ang Lee) and "Best Supporting Actor".

We whiffed on Christoph Waltz. "Best Supporting Actor" was far and away our worst showing. Though a handful of people picked Waltz, as a group we awarded him the least votes in the category, apparently expecting a win from someone in the tried-and-true crowd.

We weren't fooled on Best Picture. Of the nine Best Pic nominees, only three received any of our votes at all.  Some expected Lincoln to sneak the win, and a few thought Silver Linings might pull a major upset, but 76.5% of us correctly picked Argo as the winner.

Optimism usually pays, but not this time. Most of us (foolishly?) expected the Oscar broadcast to run close to its 180 minute time slot on ABC. In our Oscar pool, 92% of participants underestimated the actual length of the broadcast, although one person pegged it exactly. (You killed in the tiebreaker, Beth Peery, now if you could only pick the categories right!)

• Our average guess for the length of show was 190 minutes.
• The actual broadcast ran 215 minutes from opening through the final credits - a whopping 35 minutes over the scheduled time.

Contest math is not for sissies. The spreadsheet I created to track and calculate contest results involved 24 columns of data, 11 different Excel formulas, and one reassuring technical call to Jane Regenstreif.

Overall, I loved this year's crop of Oscar films, and I had a great time putting together the contest. Thanks again to everyone who participated!

Related Posts:

Way Things Turn Oscar Contest Winner

"Way Things Turn" Oscar Contest Winner

Our grand prize winner for the 2nd Annual Way Things Turn Online Oscar Contest is Emily Matthews! Your $25 gift card will be in the mail shortly, Emily!

Congrats also to our runners up Mike Lee and Rodney Worsham.

Emily, Mike, and Rodney all guessed 8 of 9 categories correctly, but Emily won our tiebreak with her guess of 200 minutes for the Oscar broadcast duration (which clocked in at 215 minutes). Mike - if the broadcast had run one minute longer, the glory would have all been yours. Your guess of 216 minutes was closest, but sadly, not closest without going over. Sorry, friend.

If you missed any of the show, here's a list of all the Oscar winners. I'll update the blog tomorrow with a few more fun facts and stats from our contest.

Thanks to all who participated!

Enter the 2nd Annual Oscar Pickin' Contest!

The 2nd Annual Way Things Turn Oscar Pickin' Contest is open for business! The online survey is linked at the bottom of this post.

Choose the most correct winners in the nine pre-selected Academy Award categories, and win a $25 Gift Card to the movie theater of your choice!

The rules are simple and the contest is free. You may enter only one time, and we can accept only the first 100 respondents. Don't wait until the deadline or you'll miss out!

Here's all you have to do:

1. Click the link below before 6:00PM (Eastern) / 3:00 PM (Pacific) on Sunday February 24. After the cutoff time, no entries will be accepted.
2. Follow the electronic survey instructions and mark your answers for ALL questions listed; provide your name / email in the space provided.
3. Click "Done" after you've answered all 10 questions.
4. Check The Way Things Turn blog site on Monday February 25 to see if you won.

Here's a link to a printable list of nominees in all the categories for your reference. You won't be able to print your completed picks from the survey, so be sure to record your answers to track your progress during the Awards show.

Make sure to follow me on Twitter (@waythingsturn) as I'm planning to live Tweet the awards show on Sunday night. We'll be updating the blog with fun facts and updates throughout the evening too!

Best of Luck!

Click Here to Enter Your Contest Picks

Second Annual Online Oscar Pickin' Contest

On Sunday February 24, ABC will broadcast the 85th annual Academy Awards ceremony.

That's all fine and good, but more importantly, next Sunday we will host the second annual Way Things Turn Online Oscar Pickin' Contest!

Sure, our contest won't have a red carpet or a celebrity host, but we will have live results updates throughout the broadcast (on the  blog and on Twitter @waythingsturn) and a $25 gift card prize for our winner.

And dammit, we'll have fun!

Here are the basic contest details.

• Entry in the contest is free.
• Ballots will be collected via online survey (I'll publish a link a few days before the show).
• Participants will vote on 9 categories (one more than last year):
• Best Picture
• Best Director
• Leading Actor
• Leading Actress
• Supporting Actor
• Supporting Actress
• Cinematography (our new addition)
• Original Screenplay
• Adapted Screenplay
• We'll once again use the Oscar broadcast "end time" as our official tie breaker.

We'll announce the winner on The Way Things Turn website, and I'll mail a movie theater (or Starbucks) gift card to the participant who makes the most correct picks.

Here's a printable list of all the Oscar nominees for your reference. There are nine Best Picture nominees, and a host of other films that received nominations for their screenplays and for the outstanding performances of their stars.

You only have one week left and there are tons of films to consider, so get busy with your last minute movie-watching and stay tuned to The Way Things Turn for updates and the official contest link!

Remembering Actor Michael Clarke Duncan

Actor Michael Clarke Duncan died Monday at the age of 54, having never fully recovered from a heart attack he suffered in July.

Duncan, who at 6' 5" and more than 300 pounds was a hulking and recognizable figure, appeared in dozens of films, but he was best known for his Oscar-nominated portrayal of a convicted child murderer in The Green Mile (1999).

In The Green Mile, Duncan played John Coffey, a character to whom writer Stephen King purposefully gave the initials J.C., and a gentle giant of a man who sits on death row awaiting execution by electrocution.

Duncan played opposite Tom Hanks, the prison guard who learns that not only is Coffey very unlikely to have murdered anyone, he is also a man with a very special and potentially divine gift for absorbing the pain of others.

If you've seen The Green Mile, the clip below will remind you of Michael Clarke Duncan's extraordinary work in the film. If you haven't seen the movie, add it to your Netflix queue tonight.

RIP, Mr. Duncan, and thank you for bringing John Coffey so beautifully to life.

Who Are the 15 Best Paid Authors?

Listed below are the top earning authors of 2011 according to an article recently published in Forbes magazine.

James Patterson:  $94 million
Stephen King:  $39 million

Young Stephen King

Janet Evanovich:  $33 million
John Grisham:  $26 million
Jeff Kinney:  $25 million
Bill O’Reilly:  $24 million
Nora Roberts:  $23 million
Danielle Steel:  $23 million
Suzanne Collins:  $20 million
Dean Koontz:  $19 million
J.K. Rowling:  $17 million
George R.R. Martin:  $15 million
Stephenie Meyer:  $14 million
Ken Follett:  $14 million
Rick Riordan:  $13 million

Flavorwire notes several interesting trends and stats about the list.

• Thriller and Young Adult (YA) writers dominate the list (9 of 15).
• Among the top fifteen, there are 9 men and 6 women.
• Everyone on the list is white.
• 10 of the top 15 are at least fifty years old.
• 14 of the authors write fiction (Bill O'Reilly writes "non-fiction" although he lives in a fantasy world).

Having thoroughly reviewed the works of the top-paid authors, I'll be scrapping my current novel to begin work on a story about a quirky teenage detective-spy who lives in a fantastic medieval land, wherein he uses his dragon to solve heinous international murder mysteries each day, before becoming a were-pire (trademark pending) and drinking the blood of adolescent British witches at night.

Turn It Up - Believing In Frank Ocean

Last week, rising R&B star Frank Ocean poignantly announced to the world that his first love was a man. Since then, Ocean has made huge headlines, prompting the early release of his debut album Channel Orange. 

Critics have positively reviewed the new album, and while I enjoyed it too, an earlier single not from Channel Orange still stands out as Ocean's best work.

Give "We All Try" a listen, and then see what you think of Channel Orange.

Young Guitarist Performs With His Hero

Usman Riaz

Usman Riaz is a 21-year old kid who has developed a remarkable mastery of the percussive-style of guitar playing.

He learned to play guitar by watching YouTube videos of Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, and as his talent grew, his video watching expanded to include clips of innovative guitarist Preston Reed.

In the video below Usman and his guitar hero Reed each perform impressive solos using the unique two-handed finger-picking style pioneered by Reed. The two then perform a practiced number together, and they close with a short interview and an unbelievable unrehearsed duet. If you're not up for the entire 16-minute video, at least watch the last 3-4 minutes beginning at the 11:25 mark.

Usman's virtuosity at the age of 21 and the young man's humble and slightly awestruck reaction to performing on stage with his hero are two wonderful things about this video, but there is another reason to watch.

Whether it's the dexterity and focus of a guitar virtuoso, the power and grace of an Olympic gymnast, or the thoughtfully selected words of a favorite writer - excellence in any form is beautiful and inspiring.

(Hat tip to my friend Kyle for sharing this amazing video with me!)

Andy Griffith Sings His TV Show's Theme Song

Did you know the Andy Griffith Show theme song was called "The Fishin' Hole"? And that it had lyrics not just whistling? And that Andy Griffith sang it?

Listening to this song reminds me of the after school reruns of my childhood, and of a generally slower, sweeter, and gentler time. RIP Andy.

Game of Thrones Puts Bush's Head On a Spike

Prop head of President GW Bush,
with medieval wig/hairdo.

If you watched season one of HBO's Game of Thrones, then you looked on in horror as the bastardly and scathingly cruel King Joffrey forced his bride-to-be to gaze upon the severed and staked head of her father.

What you probably didn't notice was the decapitated head of former President George W. Bush a few spikes over.

The shows creators, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, pointed out the appearance of the presidential prop on the commentary portion of the Game of Thrones DVD.

You can see the short clip here where the image of Bush's head makes its acting debut, and you'll hear Benioff deny any political motivation for the use of the former president's likeness. Explained Benioff, with so many beheaded characters in the episode, "we had to use what heads we had around." Riiiight.

NPR's Car Talk Reaches End of the Road

NPR's Car Talk has finally reached the end of the its long and winding road.

At the end of September, Tom and Ray Magliozzi, aka Click and Clack - the Tappet Brothers, will record their final episode and head into retirement, ending the 25-year run of the popular weekly radio show from "Hah-vad Square."

Tom and Ray offer legit (and free) advice on car repairs, but the things that endear us most to the Car Talk brothers are their thick Boston accents, their quick wit, and most of all, their joyful and infectious laughter.

Here's a typical clip from the radio show (along with a You-Tubers added video mashup) where Click and Clack share their considerable auto knowledge, dispense ethical advice, and laugh like over-caffeinated hyenas.

Tom and Ray will be missed. Enjoy your retirement, fellas!

Exorcist-Style Dancer Surprises and Moves Audience To Tears

SYTYCD contestant Hampton Williams

Last summer, I wrote about how surprised I was when dance performances on the Fox reality show So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) made me cry.

Since then, I've reflected on the moments in the show that I found most emotionally charged, and I detected a fairly predictable pattern: a few weeks into the season, after I've begun to appreciate the contestants and their personal struggles, someone dances a beautifully choreographed contemporary piece that reenacts a devastating heartbreak (like the one linked here), and I get weepy.

None of those of conditions were present during the SYTYCD season 9 debut last week, which is why I was so completely surprised to find myself moved to tears when a man named Hampton Williams performed a routine in his original "exorcist" style of dance.

Hampton's unusual style of movement is difficult to describe, but if you imagine an over-caffeinated drug fiend dancing a ballet-inspired hiphop routine, then you're getting close. The total commitment of every inch of his body to this unique genre is partially what makes this performance work, and the element of surprise he brings adds something too. But more than any of that, I was touched by Hampton Williams' ability to convey something honest and devastatingly painful through his movement, his face, and his eyes.

As one Twitter fan of SYTYCD said of the performance, "I don't even know why, but I was crying at the end."

I won't spoil any more for you, but suffice it to say that after viewing this, you will owe a humble young man named Hampton Williams a debt of gratitude for his willingness to so beautifully put his private pain on public display.

To get the full effect, I recommend that you turn up the sound and click the title bar at the top to view this full screen.

Dan Harmon Fired From NBC's Community

I have a confession to make. I have never watched a single episode of NBC's Community. Not even one. What's even worse? I've never even tried. I know, I know. I should watch, you're right. I just haven't.

I mean, I've heard about Community, and I have more than a few friends who are incredibly passionate about the show.

I read all about the sitcom's huge and loyal cult following, a cult which is apparently large and vocal enough to snatch the show from the jaws of cancellation. I know Community is hip and meta and parody, the cool kind of television that not everyone "gets." What's not to love, right?

But somehow, none of that has piqued my curiosity enough to give Community a shot. Nothing has, until today.

Today, I read that NBC has picked up the show for a fourth season, but that the network and Sony Pictures Television, which produces the show, sort of fired the show's (sometimes asshole-ish)  creator Dan Harmon. I say "sort of" fired, because apparently, they didn't actually fire Harmon, they just stopped calling him.

The network and Sony ended their relationship with the Harmon pretty much the same way sophomore boys break up with their girlfriends. You know how when a high school guy comes to the ambiguous conclusion that his current relationship is just "not working out," instead of having the balls to actually tell his girlfriend it's over, he just shuts down communication until the poor girl figures it out. Apparently, it works the same way in network television.

In response to the network's hasty "breakup" with him, Harmon wrote an incredibly funny and bitingly sarcastic blog post (read Harmon's rebuttal here). It's a pretty brilliant piece, and oddly enough, now that I've sampled his writing, I think I'm motivated to give Community a chance.

Of course, I'll start from the beginning and watch my way forward. I have no doubt the first three seasons, the episodes where Harmon's skilled hand guided the creative process, will be of significantly higher quality than the upcoming fourth season without him. Now that I think about it, maybe I'll watch those first three seasons on Netflix, and then just lose interest and walk away when the fourth season of Community starts on NBC next fall.

Turn Up the Sound - Greg Laswell's Landline

Indy singer-songwriter Greg Laswell

The work of indie singer-songwriter Greg Laswell is my personal favorite musical discovery of the past decade.

Laswell's poignant and personal lyrics, laid down next to haunting piano and acoustic guitar melodies, create the kind of melancholy marriage made in heaven that stirs both my heart and head.

The best songs from his first few records, tunes like "High and Low" and "Marquee," are intense and brutally sad, reportedly coming on the heels of a viciously difficult breakup. On Landline, Laswell's new album which was released on Tuesday, things seem to be looking up a bit for the musician. There are more up-beats, heavier synthesizers, and less blunt force musical trauma.

Landline features several notable offerings, not the least of which is the title track, on which Laswell shares vocal duties with the lovely and talented Ingrid Michaelson. Laswell's voice is filled with yearning and depth, and Michaelson's is...utterly different, but pensive and somber just the same. When they sing alternate verses, their voices are perfect complements to each other, and when they sing together, they produce a harmony that is sweet and comfortable.

In the event that Greg Laswell's music, or my description of it, has left you with the impression that he is an artist who spends most of his days weeping alone in a corner contemplating sharp objects, be sure to check out this witty and entertaining "making of" video clip he made with Michaelson about their recording of Landline.

SNL's Backstage With Gotye Parody

Since I raved about Gotye's music yesterday, including his hit single "Somebody That I Used To Know," I had to share this awesome digital short "parody" from last night's SNL. 

Gotye did a nice job with his cameo appearance, playing "straight man" to obsessed fans Andy Samberg and Taran Killam.

Turn Up the Sound - Gotye Reinvents Pop

Photo: Courtesy of Gotye.com

Reinvent (verb): To create anew. To replace with an entirely new version.

**Start the video below now.

Continue reading.**

Gotye, pronounced like Gaultier the French designer, is the professional name of Wally DeBacker, a 31 year-old musician born in Belgium and raised in Australia, whose third album Making Mirrors is dazzling the pop music world and raising the quality bar dramatically.

If you've already heard Gotye's hit single "Somebody That I Used To Know," and chances are you have, you probably initially wondered when Sting reunited with his former bandmates Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers to record a new Police song.

Comparisons between Gotye and The Police are fair and accurate, particularly on tracks like "Somebody" when Gotye sings at the top of his vocal register, but happily, the similarity is just a glimmer on the surface of a deep well of inspired and imaginative pop music.

"Somebody" is firmly entrenched in the 80s, but if you give a listen to Making Mirrors in its entirety, you'll quickly find yourself immersed in a sea of diverse styles and sounds. "State of the Art" blends reggae beats and electronica seamlessly, while at several moments on the track "I Feel Better," the only thing needed to round out the 60's Motown sound is a backup vocal loop from Martha and the Vandellas.

Make no mistake though - Gotye isn't mimicking the past, he is reinventing it.

As you make your way through Making Mirrors, you discover tracks that are simultaneously innovative and familiar, a host of songs rife with recognizable threads sewn together in ways you never imagined. Gotye is like a boy genius who has locked himself in his mother's attic for weeks on end, only to eventually emerge with a stunning original work of art fashioned from boxes of old photos and forgotten family heirlooms.

In a fascinating online documentary short, Gotye described his musical process as stumbling upon the "fortuitous meeting of sounds" that were somehow "meant for each other." Making Mirrors is proof that he has mastered the imagination, instruments, and technology needed to marry those sounds together with awe-inspiring artistry.

With songs that are sometimes reminiscent of so much other music, it might seem that Gotye has stolen something from the music that came before him. If that were true, he didn't steal something - he stole everything. I would make the case, instead, that Gotye has stolen nothing. He has absorbed sounds from the past, allowed them to ricochet and resonate inside his mind, and given them back to us - sometimes as musical cousins of pop music we recognize, and sometimes as something strange and beautiful we've never heard before. Regardless, each track on Making Mirrors is unique and worthwhile.

Don't believe me? Try another.

If you're reading this on Saturday April 14, the day I published this post, you can see more Gotye on television tonight, when he appears as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live.

You can buy Gotye music everywhere, and you can get addicted, as I have, to a wide array of Gotye songs and videos here on his YouTube page.

HBO Kills Third Horse and Euthanizes "Luck"

A third horse has died on the set of the HBO original series Luck leading the network to cancel the underperforming television drama. Two horses were hurt and subsequently euthanized during filming of the first season of the horse-racing centered series, and now with filming of the second season underway, another of the star animals has been put down due to injury. Citing that "safety is paramount," HBO has pulled the plug completely on the project.

Considering that Luck is executive produced by David Milch, who also created and produced the critically acclaimed and moderately popular HBO series Deadwood, I had high hopes for the series.

Sadly, Luck fell far short of crafting the kind of compelling story lines and vibrant characters that populated Deadwood, and the series has been a major disappointment. Critics described Luck as "impenetrable" and "a drag," and based on its ratings struggle, the rest of the viewing world agrees.

If Luck had been a ratings blockbuster, rather than declining to barely half a million viewers weekly, I imagine HBO would have found a way to continue filming while keeping its animal actors safe. As it stands now though, putting the series down is probably better for viewers, and definitely better for horses.

The Soul Train Has Left the Station

Don Cornelius

Don Cornelius, creator and host of Soul Train, has died at age 75 of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Even a suburban white boy from northern Florida remembers those Soul Train Saturday mornings - the legendary musical guests, the plaid bell bottoms, the incredi-fros, the smoove dance steps of the Soul Train "line," and of course the deep rich voice of Don Cornelius.

Wishin' you love, peace, and soul brother Don.

The Soul Train theme song...

Legendary soul greats like Aretha, Marvin, and Stevie all rode the Soul Train.