My travel watching and reading lists (and some road trip songs)

 I'm leaving on a big roadtrip and I just wanted to share what I've got on my to-watch list while I'm on vacation, my reading list, and some of my favorite road trip songs. 

Share some of your own movies on your to-watch list, books in your to-read list, or some of your favorite road trip songs.

MOVIES

Sorcerer (1977, dir. William Friedkin)

The Bridge at Remagen (1969, dir. John Guillermin)

The 5-Man Army (1969, dir. Don Taylor)

Panic in the Streets (1950, dir. Elia Kazan)

The Secret Invasion (1964, dir. Roger Corman)

(TW: child death)

BOOKS

The Cthulu Casebooks - Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities by James Lovegrove

Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed

Marx: A Tale of Neglect story by Onrie Kompan (Author), J.M DeMatteis (Editor), Nick Bell (Illustrator), Vassilis Gogtzilas (Illustrator), Dan Dougherty (Illustrator), Kanila Tripp (Illustrator), Ben Dimagmaliw (Illustrator), Ed Dukeshire (Illustrator)

Yi Soon Shin: Warrior and Defender by Onrie Kompan (Author), David Anthony Kraft (Author, Editor), Mort Castle (Editor), Len Strazewski (Editor), Giovanni Paolo Timpano (Illustrator), Adriana De Los Santos (Illustrator), Joel Saavedra (Illustrator)

The Fuhrer and the Tramp by Sean McArdle and Jon Judy

Illustrated by Dexter Wee

Badass: A Relentless Onslaught of the Toughest Warlords, Vikings, Samurai, Pirates, Gunfighters, and Military Commanders to Ever Live by Ben Thompson

DOCTOR WHO AUDIOS:

The Diary of River Song Series 5

Doctor Who - The War Doctor Begins Vol. 1: Forged in Fire 

ROAD TRIP SONGS

Bad Luck - Langhorne Slim and the Law

Bootleg - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Country Love - The Gourds

Into the Great Wide Open - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Movin' Right Along from The Muppet Movie

Sister Golden Hair - America

Still the One - Orleans

Trouble - Sam Outlaw

Vacation - The Go-Go's

2021 Oscar Predictions

Oscar nominations are coming out on March 15. 

Not gonna lie, the past year was not exactly the best for me with movie watching. I think just the general dreadfulness of the pandemic made it difficult to be invested in films. Don't take this as me slamming the films though. 

But I wanted to give out my annual Oscar predictions. Again, for Best Picture, I'm listing ten films though I, again, won't be surprised if they only do eight or nine nominees. 

These choices are made through my own weird talley system. 

While I usually do predictions for all the categories (except short subjects films) this year I'm only doing best picture, directing, acting, and writing. 

Here are my predictions:

Picture:

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

The Father

Mank

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Minari

Nomadland

One Night in Miami

Promising Young Woman

Sound of Metal

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Director:

Lee Isaac Chung - Minari

Emerald Fennell - Promising Young Woman

David Fincher - Mank

Aaron Sorkin - The Trial of the Chicago 7

Chloe Zhao - Nomadland

Actor:

Riz Ahmed - Sound of Metal

Chadwick Boseman - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom*

Anthony Hopkins - The Father

Delroy Lindo - Da 5 Bloods

Steve Yeun - Minari

Actress:

Viola Davis - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Sidney Flanigan - Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Vanessa Kirby - Pieces of a Woman

Frances McDormand - Nomadland

Casey Mulligan - Promising Young Woman

Sup. Actor:

Sacha Baron Cohen - The Trial of the Chicago 7

Chadwick Boseman - Da 5 Bloods

Daniel Kaluuya - Judas and the Black Messiah

Leslie Odom Jr. - One Night in Miami

Paul Raci - Sound of Metal

Sup. Actress: 

Maria Bakalova - Borat Subsequent Moviefilm*

Olivia Colman - The Father

Amanda Seyfriend - Mank

Youn Yuh-jung - Minari

Helena Zengel - News of the World

Original Screenplay:

Mank

Minari

Never Rarely Sometimes Rarely

Promising Young Woman

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Adapted Screenplay:

The Father

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

News of the World

Nomadland

One Night in Miami

What do you think will be nominated?

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Star Wars Post: Cody and Superior Order 66

Not too long ago, one of my favorite TikTokers - @jstoobs - did a post about the villains of Star Wars. Mainly how they seem to fall into two camps: straight-up unredeemable bad guy (Palpatine) and those that see the error of their ways (Anakin). 

But she pointed out how we've never seen a "Superior Orders" villains. In other words, somebody who was "just following orders."

To me, this would be great for Commander Cody in the upcoming Kenobi series. I've always wondered what happened to him in particular after the Clone Wars. 

I could easily imagine him showing remorse after realizing what he'd done. But I could also see him being confronted by Kenobi and he responds with "I was just following orders like a good soldier."

Kenobi realizes that Order 66 was beyond his control. After realizing that his friendship with Cody will never be the same, he offers forgiveness and leaves him.

I could easily see this happening especially since Cody's original actor Temurea Morrison has returned to Star Wars.  

Interesting Movie Facts #1: The Almost Cameo of 'Advise & Consent' (1962)

This a new series I want to do where I highlight an interesting movie fact I've heard or maybe just list off cool facts about a film. 

This was inspired by recent events. Specifically, the recent U.S. Senate special election in Georgia where Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock became the first African-American to be elected Senator from that state.

Senator-elect Raphael Warnock

Otto Preminger directed and produced a political dramas Advise & Consent (1962), based on the novel of the same name by Allen Drury. 

The plot summary from IMDB:

"Senate investigation into the President's newly nominated Secretary of State gives light to a secret from the past, which may not only ruin the candidate but the President's character as well."

Henry Fonda as the controversial Secretary of State nominee

This cast for this movie is incredible: Henry Fonda as the President's controversial Secretary of State nominee; Charles Laughton as the "curmudgeon" South Carolina Senator and Presiden Pro Tem; Burgess Meredith as a surprise witness for the committee; and Betty White making her film debut as a Senator from Kansas. 

The future icon in her first film role.

Also among the senator was 87-year-old Henry F. Ashurst, one of the first two senators to be elected from Arizona. He's in two scenes where he's in a deep sleep and whenever he is awakened from a deep sleep he shouts "oppose, sir! opposed!" Sadly, he passed away a week before the movie premiered. 

"Oppose, sir! Opposed!"

But there's another senator cameo that never came about would've been huge. Preminger offered a cameo as a Senator from Georgia to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Yes, that Dr. King. 

New York Times article about the almost cameo.

This was despite the fact that there were no African-American senators serving at that time. 

HISTORY SIDENOTE: There were African-Americans elected to the Senate prior to 1962. But the next African-American senator (Edward Brooke of Massachusetts) wouldn't take office until 1967.

Apparently, King thought long and hard about taking the part but ultimately declined because he felt it would hurt the civil rights movement.

Oh, also Dr. Warnock is the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He also plans on continuing his duties even when serving as a senator. 

This is the same church that Dr. King performed his pastoral duties with his father. 

So, while Dr. King never got to portray a U.S. Senator, a man who continues to lead his church would go on to become an actual U.S. Senator nearly 60 years after the film was released. 

All images belong to their respective sources.

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