Happy Oscar Hangover Day

For starters, let me go ahead and congratulate Natalie Portman, Colin Firth, Melissa Leo, Christian Bale and David Fincher (just kidding, we know Tom Hooper won for directing "The King's Speech," but we couldn't resist, especially since most of us Gen-Xers were rooting for Fincher's film "The Social Network") for their Oscar wins last night.

Even if we disagree with the Academy's decisions (Fincher was robbed!), we respect the great work that went into what they did to win each of their respective Oscars.

Of course, for film fanatics, such as myself, there is nothing worse than the day after the Oscars.

I was up until 1:05 eastern time, USA, (also known as New York time), watching the Jimmy Kimmel special with Tom Hanks last night. Kimmel's show featured a hilarious spoof of "The King's Speech" with Mike Tyson (yes, it was really the former boxer himself) was coaching a George W. Bush impersonator who just couldn't help mess up verbally each and every time he came to the podium.

So, I felt like I did as a 19-year-old kid (my age in 1989) who had just drunk way too much raki in Istanbul, Turkey.

For those who don't know much about the alcoholic spirit, we will give a brief cultural and historical synopsis (with help from Wikipedia), especially for those of you in Eugene, Ore.

Since, those of you in that time zone might well still behind a computer as we are typing this (it's now about 6:30 p.m., New York time) and can't wait to go home to your wife, kid and orange goldfish:


"Raki pronounced rakuu is a non-sweet arise-flavored alcoholic drink popularly consumed in Turkey, Greece, Albania, Bosnia and Bulgaria alongside seafood and mezze. Raki is also known as 'the Lion's milk.' It became popular from 1839-1876 during the 'liberal' period of the Ottoman Empire."

So, if you were wondering how a strong alcoholic drink that can knock you out like a punch from Mike Tyson became hip in a Muslim country, there you have it (we changed some of the wording from raki's Wikipedia entry to make it easier to read and more humorous).

Special Quote of the Week- Muhammad Ali

For Black History Month, we are going to be quipping famous African-American athletes, both past and present, on Tuesdays.

We will start off with a quote from the great boxing legend Muhammad Ali. I recall as a child in 1978, during the years we were living in Turkey, that I got up at 5:30 a.m. to see Ali fight Leon Spinks on the TRT (Turkish Radio and Television).

Initially, we had contemplated a quote from another boxer Mike Tyson, who made a hilarious cameo in the film "The Hangover." But, Tyson's somewhat infamous image made us go with Ali instead.

Interestingly enough, I came across a 1981 Topps baseball card I have from a Mike Tyson, who was a white guy originally from Rocky Mount, NC, who played second base for the Chicago Cubs back in the day. That Tyson turns 61 on Jan. 13.

I must profess that there is a politically perverse side of me which would love to see the Chicago Cubs, the favorite team of conservative pundit George F. Will (my favorite team too though I am to the left of the columnist), play the Detroit Tigers in a World Series on the off-chance that it might lead to Will running into the very liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, who is from Flint, Mich.

On his web site, Moore is wearing a cheesehead so we can confirm that he is rooting for the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl (for those in Uzbekistan, they are playing the Pittsburgh Steelers) as am I, even though I am not quite as to the left as Moore is. He is also promoting the fact that a Wikileaked document revealed George W. Bush's feelings about his films (apparently, there was no White House screening of "Bowling for Columbine").

We have no idea who Will is rooting for in the Super Bowl, but it would be ironic if it were the Packers.

Oh, before we forget (and we did this on a Salvador Dali quote), here is the quip from Ali:

"I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and I was in bed before the room was dark."

Great List From Film Comment

I don't know if Gavin Smith and Chris Chang, editors at "Film Comment," will sue me for millions of dollars for this but the New York-based film magazine has published a great list of the most memorable instances of people playing themselves. I couldn't resist sharing it with you here. Interestingly enough, while putting this together, I found out that Fred Dalton Thompson's 2008 campaign web site is still up even though he didn't even get the GOP nod!

1. The Beatles "A Hard Day's Night"
2. Fred Dalton Thompson (the bobble-head doll here) "Marie"
3. Edward McDonald "Goodfellas"
4. John Malkovich "Being John Malkovich"
5. Fritz Lang "Contempt"
6. Samuel Fuller "Pierrot le fou"
7. Marshall McLuhan "Annie Hall"
8. Babe Ruth "Speedy"
9. Muhamad Ali "The Greatest"
10. Steve Coogan "A Cock and Bull Story"
11. Evel Knievel "Viva Knievel!"
12. Kareem Abdul-Jaabar "Airplane!"
13. Howard Stern "Private Parts"
14. Tom Jones "Mars Attacks!"
15. Bill Murray "Zombieland"
16. Cecil B. DeMille "Sunset Boulevard"
17. Arlo Guthrie "Alice's Restaurant"
18. Mike Tyson "Black and White"
19. Burt Reynolds "Silent Movie"
20. Roger Moore "Canonball Run II"

To see more articles in the current issue of "Film Comment," go to www.filmlinc.com

We wish Kareem Abdul-Jabbar his best with his cancer battle.