Thu, February 2

Oscar poster—8:45 PM

The Oscars are right around the corner – as usual, the Academy has managed to schedule them at a time that couldn't be less convenient for me, a person who's honor-bound to keep running a live, web-based Oscar pool.

In my mad dash to get prepared, I checked out the promotional poster for this year's awards (since I generally derive my design from it in some fashion). Yerg.

To begin with, it's actually a fairly nice, classic design. But then it gets all ridiculous by featuring a swarm of "classic film moments" hovering, Great Gazoo-style, around the head of the Oscar statuette. This mawkish attempt to associate the awards show with great moments in cinema history is desperate and sad and reminds us how few great movies there are to get excited about these days. (Hence the show's plummeting ratings and its attempt to remind us how much we love Oscar-winning films, even if they don't happen to be Oscar-winning films from the past decade.)

And it's a bit of an epidemic - four of the show's last seven posters have taken this approach. At least this year, they did the smart thing: if you're trying to revert to the Oscars of yore, just call Billy Crystal for crying out loud.

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Sat, January 28

It's a Boy!—9:50 AM

Please welcome Martin Douglas Simmons, born 10:44pm Friday January 27, 2012.

He arrived nearly four weeks ahead of schedule, but he's doing great at a hearty 6 pounds 8 ounces and 19 1/2 inches in length.

Mom and baby are doing well, and already missing the TiVo at home.

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Fri, January 13

I'm Still Geeking Out About It—12:31 PM

Overall, I had a good week at work this week, but Wednesday morning I was dealing with a fairly difficult couple who were making me aggravated. Needless to say, when my phone vibrated and I looked down to see a notification of this, my spirits were lifted considerably!

onebee.com/u/a3j

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Tue, January 10

A Bumper Sticker We'd Like To See—12:03 PM

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Whenever anyone says “I can’t,” it makes me wish he’d get stung to death by about ten thousand bees. When he says “I’ll try,” five thousand bees. (“I can,” one bee.)