Monday, February 23, 2009

How good were my guesses?

Last night was Oscar Night. Below pictures from our dinner are the results and how right/wrong I was.

We made Chicken with Cranberry Sauce and broccoli rabe for dinner. The chicken recipe is from Martha Stewart.

First I made a flavored butter with salt, thyme, and pepper and smeared it on the chicken breasts before they baked.


Then I made a sauce with grilled onions in butter, cranberries (we used sweetened dried ones), chicken broth, thyme, and salt and pepper.


Then we plated it with broccoli rabe and red peppers.


This was super yummy. The sauce was sweet and savory at the same time because of the onions and cranberries. The chicken was baked well. It might not have been as moist as it should because it was skinless, but it was still very good. Normally I don't like broccoli rabe but with the red peppers, it wasn't so bitter.

Then I made some chocolate chip (well, chunk) cookies for dessert. I'm getting pretty good at these. I finished them in about 40 minutes.


Onto Oscar viewing... We DVRed it so it only took about 2 hours to watch instead of 3.5 hours. I loved the kids from Slumdog Millionaire. How cute were they?

As for my Oscar predictions... out of 12 awards I guessed on, I got 50% right.

My results...

Performance by an actor in a leading role
  • Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor”
  • Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon”
  • Sean Penn in “Milk”
  • Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
  • Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”
(wrong - Sean Penn)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
  • Josh Brolin in “Milk”
  • Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”
  • Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
  • Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road”
(right - Heath Ledger)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

  • Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married”
  • Angelina Jolie in “Changeling”
  • Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”
  • Meryl Streep in “Doubt”
  • Kate Winslet in “The Reader”
(right - Kate Winslet)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

  • Amy Adams in “Doubt”
  • Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
  • Viola Davis in “Doubt”
  • Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
  • Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”
(wrong - Penelope Cruz)

Best animated feature film of the year

  • Bolt
  • Kung Fu Panda
  • WALL-E
(right - Wall-E)

Achievement in directing

  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, David Fincher
  • Frost/Nixon”, Ron Howard
  • Milk”, Gus Van Sant
  • The Reader”, Stephen Daldry
  • Slumdog Millionaire”, Danny Boyle
(right - Danny Boyle)

Best foreign language film of the year

  • The Baader Meinhof Complex”, Germany
  • The Class”, France
  • Departures”, Japan
  • Revanche”, Austria
  • Waltz with Bashir”, Israel
(wrong - Departures)

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Alexandre Desplat
  • Defiance”, James Newton Howard
  • Milk”, Danny Elfman
  • Slumdog Millionaire”, A.R. Rahman
  • WALL-E”, Thomas Newman
(right - A.R. Rahman)

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
  • Down to Earth” from “WALL-E”, Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
  • Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire”, Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
  • O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire”, Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam
(wrong - "Jai Ho")

Best motion picture of the year
  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
  • Frost/Nixon
  • Milk
  • The Reader
  • Slumdog Millionaire
(right - Slumdog Millionaire)

Adapted screenplay

  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
  • Doubt”, Written by John Patrick Shanley
  • Frost/Nixon”, Screenplay by Peter Morgan
  • The Reader”, Screenplay by David Hare
  • Slumdog Millionaire”, Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy
(wrong - Slumdog Millionaire)

Original screenplay

  • Frozen River”, Written by Courtney Hunt
  • Happy-Go-Lucky”, Written by Mike Leigh
  • In Bruges”, Written by Martin McDonagh
  • Milk”, Written by Dustin Lance Black
  • WALL-E”, Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter
(wrong - Dustin Lance Black)

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