Top Comments 2.22.08 - Tell us YOUR Oscar favorites!

Tonight's diary theme was selected by kath25 who asked for a volunteer to take her place so she could attend a political rally (on the rec-list, as I'm pulling this together). Since I'm among the walking wounded - I accidentally whacked off the tip of my left middle finger - and filling in for her promised minimal typing for me, I agreed to post for her tonight. Come on below and then follow her instructions! Let's see how savvy the TC crowd is re: this year's celebrated films and actors...

Greetings, all. Sorry I can't run this TC tonight -- as you can see, I am a little busy downtown with the Obama rally.

But I wanted TC to have an Oscar contest this year, so please copy and paste the following into a comment and [remove all but] your picks. I will announce the winners the day after the Oscars. Maybe. Maybe Tuesday.

Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Achievement in Directing
Joel & Ethan Coen  /  No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson  /  There Will Be Blood
Tony Gilroy  /  Michael Clayton
Jason Reitman  /  Juno
Julian Schnabel  /  The Diving Bell and Butterfly

Best Original Screenplay
Juno
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
Lars and the Real Girl
The Savages

Best Adapted Screenplay
Atonement
Away From Her
No Country for Old Men
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
There Will Be Blood

Vote for Best Actress
Ellen Page  /  Juno
Julie Christie  /  Away From Her
Marion Cotillard  /  La Vie En Rose
Cate Blanchett  /  Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Laura Linney  /  The Savages

Achievement in Cinematography
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

Best Actor
George Clooney  /  Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis  /  There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp  /  Sweeney Todd
Viggo Mortensen  /  Eastern Promises
Tommy Lee Jones  /  In The Valley of Elah

Best Film Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Into the Wild
There Will Be Blood
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Achievement in Sound Editing
There Will Be Blood
The Bourne Ultimatum
Ratatouille
No Country for Old Men
Transformers

Best Foreign-Language Film
The Counterfeiters
Mongol
Beaufort
Katyn
12

Best Original Song
Falling Slowly  / Once
Raise It Up  /  August Rush
Happy Working Song  /  Enchanted
So Close  /  Enchanted
That's How You Know /  Enchanted

Achievement in Sound Mixing
The Bourne Ultimatum
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma
No Country for Old Men
Transformers

Best Original Score
Atonement
3:10 to Yuma
Michael Clayton
The Kite Runner
Ratatouille

Best Art Direction
Atonement
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood
American Gangster
The Golden Compass

Best Documentary Feature
Taxi to the Dark Side
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
No End in Sight
Sicko
War/Dance

Best Documentary Short
Freeheld
La Corona (The Crown)
Salim Baba
Sari's Mother

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett  /  I'm Not There
Tilda Swinton  /  Michael Clayton
Amy Ryan  /  Gone, Baby, Gone
Saorise Ronan  /  Atonement
Ruby Dee  /  American Gangster

Best Animated Feature Film
Surf's Up
Persepolis
Ratatouille

Achievement in Makeup
Norbit
La Vie En Rose
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Achievement in Costume Design
Atonement
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Across the Universe
La Vie En Rose

Best Animated Short Film
I Met the Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
My Love (Moya Lyubov)
Peter & the Wolf
Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)

Best Live-Action Short Film
At Night
Il Supplente (The Substitute)
Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)
Tanghi Argentini
The Tonto Woman

Best Visual Effects
The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Transformers

Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem  /  No Country for Old Men
Tom Wilkinson  /  Michael Clayton
Philip Seymour Hoffman  /  Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook  /  Into the Wild
Casey Affleck  /  The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

Good luck, and remember -- you're not voting, you're guessing who will win!

-- kath25

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Tonight's TOP COMMENT Nominations!

From Greenchiledem:

Who won Antartica? by Cather, on Dems voting abroad.

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From Land of Enchantment:

By kos no less, in his own thread with the YouTube about how stupid the plagiarism this is. And this is why you all suck --

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From creeper:

lgcap nailed it with this comment - There is an interesting parallel - on the debt outlook for young Americans in bink's diary, "Can You Forgive Her?"

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From Neon Vincent:

WarrenS likens Dick Cheney to Voldemort and provides a 'howler' with Think about it...

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From peace voter:

In seventeen year old high school senior brian71490's excellent diary Hillary Really Ticked Me Off Last Night..., long time dkoser kate mckinnon clearly lays out the evolution of her thinking during this primary season, a refreshing, thoughtful comment to a refreshing, thoughtful diary: OK, I've patiently read all of your comments.

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Note from va dare:
On the topic of plagiarism, do check out today's WaPo column by E. J. Dionne who makes the excellent point that both Obama AND CLinton seem to be channeling the late, great Paul Wellstone.

... Wellstone called for a trade policy that "doesn't just work for the multinationals but also works for the environment, for safe food, for living wages; a trade policy that promotes democracy and the right to organize and bargain collectively."

No, this is not a column about "plagiarism." On the contrary, it's good news that both Clinton and Obama are echoing one of their party's most effective practitioners of egalitarian, grass-roots politics. As the Democratic presidential primary campaign enters its climactic stage, both candidates are focusing like a laser on white blue-collar voters. The language of choice is populist.

This is salutary for Democrats. Middle- and lower-middle-income white voters will be among the most important target groups for both parties this fall, crucial in such swing states as Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa. The economic interests of blue-collar whites largely coincide with those of African Americans and Latinos, yet these groups often move in different directions. When they vote together, they can make their candidates invincible. By competing fiercely for blue-collar ballots now, Obama and Clinton are beginning a coalition-building process that Democrats typically embark on too late.
...
Supporters of the free market often forget that we don't just have a capitalist system; we have a democratic capitalist system. Democracy is what gives those on the short end of market outcomes a chance to talk back and, sometimes, to alter unjust market decisions. Paul Wellstone understood that. A big-hearted communitarian, Wellstone, I suspect, would be perfectly happy to lend Clinton and Obama all the good lines they want to use.

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Here's a handful that I noted late last night:

Well, I do like to see how people ...  by Meteor Blades

This generational stuff sucks ...by Meteor Blades

Love ya, eugene, but I gotta say that ...  by Meteor Blades

Re: WaPo article  by Oxy Moron

she should make some t-shirts  by FireCrow

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TOP MOJO! Courtesy of our fabulous Mojo-hero BeninSC...

Top Mojo - excluding search-identifiable tip jars and first diary comments (top 30 of each plus ties):

1 This says it all brother. by One Pissed Off Liberal - 161
2 this was actually a very smart move by Obama by Great Uncle Bulgaria - 144
3 poor little fishes by scotslass - 113
4 McSame   n/t by egan - 110
5 yep, and then failing to pardon Leonard Peltier. by kate mckinnon - 110
6 Especially since by Rorgg - 109
7 but he was accurate so what is your problem by ronnied - 104
8 Nobody does it better by Dallasdoc - 103
9 "The wheels came off the straight-talk express" by pontechango - 100
10 as I have been saying by Red Wind - 99
11 Mark Penn will have to sleep with the fishes by Dallasdoc - 91
12 they shut down an early voting station at by Irishkorean - 87
13 Even deader by Adam B - 87
14 using an anecdote by AnnArborBlue - 86
15 Is there one now? by Texanomaly - 82
16 I Almost Cried... by brentmack - 81
17 Excuse me by calipygian - 79
18 And this is why you all suck -- by kos - 78
19 It is interviews like this... by StrangeAnimals - 78
20 One time at a party I saw this guy by Wisper - 78
21 It's a gracious comparison by 8ackgr0und N015e - 76
22 I don't give a crap whether her final response... by Brainwrap - 76
23 we had the same reaction by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse - 74
24 I'd offer the same advice to a man by lgcap - 73
25 Surely you got a medal or ribbon or something... by Dood Abides - 71
26 Toldya by reef the dog - 71
27 The Telecom Issues are Huge!!! by serrano - 69
28 Dean's the Boss by Malacandra - 69
29 Your diary is missing something critical... by Mark Warner is God - 69
30 I've posted this in a couple of other diaries... by Sagittarius - 68

Top Mojo - everything included:

1 tipz by dday - 626
2 Tipjar by SmileySam - 408
3 Tips Flames n/t by Vyan - 377
4 tips for my first diary? by Texanomaly - 368
5 I don't have to drive, so help make me tipsy by teacherken - 301
6 Tips for Wisconsin (58-41!) by RobertInWisconsin - 287
7 I Guess by bink - 262
8 I hope this bring attention by Jeffersonian Democrat - 228
9 Tips for the poor by MattTX - 214
10 The lobbyist dealings part of the story has legs by duha - 201
11 tip jar by zenbowl - 193
12 I know this is silly but, by Granny Doc - 178
13 tj    Our troops aren't pawns by FishOutofWater - 172
14 This says it all brother. by One Pissed Off Liberal - 161
15 Obamanos! by kath25 - 161
16 Thank you so much... by Larry Kissell - 160
17 Tip jar by occams hatchet - 157
18 Friday Tip Jar... by Bill in Portland Maine - 157
19 I can't help but feel by calipygian - 152
20 this was actually a very smart move by Obama by Great Uncle Bulgaria - 144
21 I want to send a message by kid oakland - 133
22 For learning to be fiscally responsible. by icebergslim - 132
23 Mojo Mug by TexDem - 129
24 "Plagiarised" as defined by Hillary herself by VirginiaDem - 122
25 My doctor has prescribed by Ex Con - 122
26 Mojo for one and mojo for all. by possum - 118
27 Just keep commenting by TexDem - 117
28 And don't forget by vigilant meerkat - 117
29 poor little fishes by scotslass - 113
30 Maybe we should change this mojo instead by SallyCat - 110
31 McSame   n/t by egan - 110
32 yep, and then failing to pardon Leonard Peltier. by kate mckinnon - 110

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Always the mountains,
va dare