Countdown to Oscar 2015--Best Supporting Actor

Good afternoon on a very icy day in NYC. Fortunately, it was a pretty balmy weekend. We saw The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water on Saturday, which was cute. Antonio Banderas as the villain was priceless. The familiar jokes of the past were all there: Squidward's sour notes on the clarinet, Patrick's lack of common sense, Plankton attempting to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula, Mr. Krabs's stinginess, etc. I loved the "Avengers" spoof, and the seagulls are cute. I can't believe the franchise has been in existence for 15 years and still going strong. BTW, the film was #1 at the box office this weekend.

Unfortunately, I fell asleep early and missed the Grammy Awards. I was told there were lots of good performances but Prince (as always!) stole the evening with his Album of the Year presentation. Beck took home the prize for that category (yay!). I loved the video of Sir Paul having a good time and dancing when ELO came on stage. Cheers to Jack White, "Weird Al" Yankovic, and Joan Rivers (posthumously) for their wins as well! Click here for a complete list of winners. Rolling Stone also has an interesting list of 20 surprising people who have taken home Grammy trophies. In addition, Jezebel also gives us their take on the red carpet looks. I don't get Rihanna's dress. She looks like a Hostess Sno-Ball.

Walter Brennan

Now it's onto the topic of the day: the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. This category was introduced at the 1936 awards ceremony. Before that time, there was single Best Actor award to accommodate all actors, whether he was in a lead or supporting roles. The Best Supporting Actor category was specifically introduced as a distinct award following complaints that the single Best Actor category necessarily favored leading performers with the most screen time. The winndersreceived plaques until 1943; after that year, they received the gold statuettes. The first Best Supporting Actor recipient was Walter Brennan.

Here are some fun facts about the Best Supporting Actor categories:

• Walter Brennan is also the actor with the most awards in the Best Supporting Actor category with three. 
• The actors with the most nominations is four: Walter Brennan, Claude Rains, Jack Nicholson, Arthur Kennedy, and Robert Duvall.
• The actors with the most nominations without ever winning: Claude Rains, Arthur Kennedy, and Robert Duvall.
• The oldest winner is Christopher Plummer (82).
• The oldest nominee is Robert Duvall (84).
• The youngest winner is Timothy Hutton (20).
• The youngest nominee is Justin Henry. He was just 8 years old!

J.K. Simmons

Here are this year's nominees:

• Robert Duvall, "The Judge"
• Ethan Hawke, "Boyhood"
• Edward Norton, "Birdman"
• Mark Ruffalo, "Foxcatcher"
• J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash"

This seems to be a very strong category, but several sites (e.g,, The Guardian, Indiewire, Rope of Silison), predict that J.K. Simmons will take home the statute for his role as a tyrannical music teacher. Good luck to all the nominees!

Looking for a fun icebreaker for your Oscar Party? Challenge your friends with another offering from our shop, which contains 20 trivia questions about the history of the Awards.

This game, along with all our pop-culture-themed games, is listed in the Books/Music/TV/Movie  section of the shop.

Today's Listmania:

Party Idea of the Day: Valentine's Day is just six days away! However, there are many people who can't stand this "alleged" day of love and exchanging gifts. Instead of wallowing in their misery, they throw "anti-Valentine's" parties. The site Bustle provides some hysterical ideas and tips regarding how to throw such a party. I loved these photo booth props courtesy of Chela Williams on Etsy.

Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff

Black History Month Fun Fact of the Day: As I mentioned on Friday, Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff won the first Grammy award for Best Rap Performance in 1989. They boycotted the awards because the category was barred from television. Mr. Smith has come a long way since then.

Oscar Fun Fact of the Day: With Ed Norton and Mark Ruffalo up for Best Supporting Actor, that makes two Hulks vying for Oscar contention in one year.

Today's Birthdays: Rose Leslie (28), David Gallagher (30), Richard Orr (36), A.J. Buckley (38), Chad Wolf (39), Charlie Day (39), Sharon Case (44), Travis Tritt (52), Judith Light (66), Joe Ely (68), Mia Farrow (70), Joe Pesci (72), Barbara Lewis (72), Carole King (73), Janet Suzman (75), and Roger Mudd (87).

Holidaze: Well the first one on the list doesn't sound like much fun--it's National Toothache Day! I figured one would "celebrate" that after eating all the Valentine's Day candy. This day is to spend figuring out how NOT to get a toothache! If you do have one, call your dentist ASAP.

It's also National Bagel Day--now that's more like it! I happened to have a half-bagel with some seafood salad for lunch. Yum! There is nothing like a New York Bagel because it's all in the water. IMO, the best bagels come from Murray's. Just don't ask them to toast one, because they'll refuse.

Finally, it's Clear Out Your Computer Day. It's time to get rid of your junk and duplicate files and to organize your folders, as well as to uninstall programs that you don't use anymore.


The solution to the Valentine's Day cryptograms will be published tomorrow instead of today. Sorry for the delay!

Tomorrow we'll look at the nominees for Best Supporting Actress.

Have a PRINTASTIC day!

Kathy