Star date 9.10.11: On September 8, 1966, the first regular episode of Gene Roddenberry’s TV series Star Trek aired, launching one of the greatest sci-fi franchises in TV and film history.

For true Trekkies who know most everything about Star Trek, there are few surprises in space.com’s infographic that details the series’ first 45 years. But the all-inclusive graphic does show the franchise details in relation to real space travel, and suggests how real life influenced fiction.

Logical.

Image source: SPACE.com

*Quote from Journey To Babel, episode #2.10, written by D.C. Fontana: “It seemed the logical thing to do at the time.” spoken by Sarek.

The curious g readers were so tuned in to predicting the winners. Very smart.

There were also some very creative Oscar^® infographics and stats out there:

• Measurement for Oscar Chatter in Social Media. James Franco took best actor in this event. Maybe it was the NYU dudes.
• Best Pre-Oscar buzz, placed Inception for Best Picture with over 19,000 mentions. Ergo, buzz ≠ bacon.
• My personal favorite: Acceptance Speech Length. Firth wins again at 2:58! Oh, the ramblings of the rich and famous.

The curious g poll results show:

Best Picture: Bingo! Of the 27 votes cast, one-third chose The King’s Speech, with The Social Network a close second. As predicted by nearly everyone.

Actor in a Leading Role: Spot on! Of 31 votes, Colin Firth drew nearly two-thirds, with Jesse Eisenberg coming in a very distant second.

Actress in a Leading Role: You won the trifecta! This was the closest of the three polls with Natalie Portman taking one-third of the 32 votes, and Annette Bening and Michelle Williams on her heels with 9 each.

Until next year… Great job, thanks for participating!

Comedy is funny. It’s hard to define – a gag for one person may not tickle the fancy of another. There are also degrees of comedy. Some films that I enjoy – listed as comedies – produce a smile or a small chuckle, but not a full belly laugh.

Make ‘em roar, make ‘em scream

I’m curious about that all-out, laugh-so-hard-you’ve-got-tears-streaming-down-your-face kind of film that you never forget. Everyone has a handful of those go-to movies. I have five films that without fail, change my mood. On my blue-est day, I turn to one of these films for a laugh-out-loud good time.

In chronological order:

1938 :: Bringing Up Baby

Starring Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn / Directed by Howard Hawks

Plot in 140: Nerdy Dr Huxley unexpectedly joins forces w/flighty Susan Vance for misadventures involving a missing dinosaur bone & a leopard named Baby.

Why? I saw it for the first time when I was about 10. This screwball comedy begins in a dinosaur museum and revolves around a leopard. It’s funny already and I was hooked. It’s a ridiculous plot along with plenty of slapstick. The timing and chemistry of the leads along with Hawks swift direction make it great. One of the scenes that makes me laugh even thinking about: George (dog) is missing and has buried the intercostal clavicle (brontosaurus bone) – Hepburn is tailing Grant calling out in an alternate chorus: “George” “Baby” “George” “Baby”…

1963 :: The Pink Panther

David Niven, Peter Sellers. Capucine, Robert Wagner, Claudia Cardinale / Directed by Blake Edwards

Plot in 140: Master jewel thief the Phantom > on the hunt for world’s largest diamond. Bumbling French Inspector Jacques Clouseau > sent to catch him.

Why? The film features Peter Sellers’ razor-sharp timing as the clueless Inspector, along with an international ensemble as Europeans jet setters. It’s a farce about a heist, with endless pratfalls, and a great final line, set to Henry Mancini’s iconic soundtrack. Sellers wordless participation and bumbling dance in the après-ski scene during the song. Meglio Stasera, consistently cracks me up.

1982 :: Tootsie

Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Bill Murray, Teri Garr / Directed by Sydney Pollack

Plot in 140: Unemployed NYC actor can’t get work. Michael Dorsey will show them all. And he does, except he gets more than he bargains for along the way.

Why? Just thinking about Dustin Hoffman as a woman is laughable. But hearing him utter the line, “They kill their own” does me in every time. The banter between Dorothy/Michael and Sydney Pollack’s character, George – Dorothy is engaged to Les, while Julie thinks she’s is a lesbian and Sandy thinks Michael gay – is priceless. Part social commentary, part mistaken identity, Toosie boasts a first-rate cast combined with sharp direction, and a terrific script. I’m cheering for Tootsie to succeed and rooting for Michael to figure it all out.

1999 :: Galaxy Quest

Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman / Directed by Dean Parisot

Plot in 140: Washed up TV sci-fi actors get the adventure of their lives when they’re mistaken for the real-deal spaceship crew by aliens with an agenda.

Why? A satire of the original Star Trek series with Tim Allen doing a spot-on send up of William Shatner’s James T Kirk. With smart writing and a great cast, the film works because it lampoons the original series, and then uses those very elements that made it endure for over 40 years. One of my favorite continuing gags is crewman #6 (Sam Rockwell) – as the no-name, expendable character. Anyone who loved the original series and even mildly considers themselves a Trekkie will roar – the sci-fi conventions, the quoting from the episodes, and the general confusion between reality and fantasy. Surrender the laughter.

2006 :: OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (OSS 117: Le Caire, nid d’espions)

Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, Aure Atika, / Directed by Michel Hazanavicius

Plot in 140: Suave but arrogant secret agent OSS 117 foils Soviet/British/Belgian/surplus Nazi & fundamentalist plots, bringing peace to the Middle East.

Why? Spy genre mixes James Bond’s pretentions with Matt Helm’s tackiness to great effect. A stylish parody with a well-assembled cast and an on-target script pays homage to Clouseau, Technicolor, and 50s/60 filmmaking. This film had me from the get-go with its the beautiful opening credits and music. Agent Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath is sent to Cairo, undercover, to head up a poultry business. His complete cultural ignorance should create international incidents, but… Best ongoing gag: De la Bath’s fascination with the light switch and the chickens is hysterical. It’s all very French, in a politically incorrect way, and very funny.

Runners up to the laugh-out-loud 5 > Arsenic and Old Lace, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Some Like It Hot, The Producers, Coming To America, Groundhog Day, and The Freshman.

In honor of awards season, I’d love to hear other favorites. What’s your all time laugh-out-loud favorite comedy?

The big one, for all the marbles. What’s your pick? Did you see a film this year that should be here, but isn’t?

Now for the men. Who do you think turned in the finest performance this year? Or what actor/performance do you think was overlooked?

And we’re off. Which actress wowed you this year? Was someone overlooked for a particular performance?

Superbowl Sunday seemed the appropriate time to finally get this Academy Award blog together. It’s the perfect alternative to football (for many of us.)

Take out your Magic Eight Ball, Ouija Board, tarot cards or any other predictor of your liking. It’s that time of the year to predict the Oscar^® winners. If you’d like to play along nondigitally, here’s an old-fashioned-multiple-choice-color-in the-circle-and-manually-add-up-your-score alternative download.

Here’s the way I see the race shaping up now, but these opinions may shift after the BAFTAs are given out next week. I’m not committing pencil to paper yet.

>> BEST PICTURE

Three months ago, The Social Network had best picture, hands down. But The King’s Speech (TKS) has made huge inroads thanks to the Weinstein PR machine. TKS also won many of the guild awards whose members are academy voters. I’m on the fence.
Status: Still too early to call.

>> BEST ACTOR

Colin Firth, all the way. He missed out last year for The Single Man, he’s been around for a long time with little award recognition, he’s well respected and he’s appeared in many Miramax and Weinstein films over the years. George VI is a real person overcoming an affliction. Academy voters love that. Besides, who doesn’t want to see the definitive Mr Darcy win an Oscar?
Status: I’m sticking with this call.

>> BEST ACTRESS

The race is between Natalie Portman and Annette Bening. Since I don’t foresee Black Swan winning best picture, the film will be rewarded with best actress award. Bening is a four-time nominee and it would seem to be her time, but Portman is young,  beloved in the Hollywood community, and Black Swan is a higher profile film than The Kids Are All Right. I say it’s Portman’s year.
Status: Today’s theory, but, tomorrow is another day.

For a more scientific analysis of the front runners, take a look at this NYTimes piece.

Upcoming: Stay tuned for the polls, coming this week, and ahead, my Will Win/Should Win predictions.

Image: Captured from the Mattel Magic Eight Ball Demo.

As a follow up to DIY: You’re the US president-du-jour, fix the federal budget, and my feeble attempt to fix the deficit – sans Congress, it seems everyone had to get in on the game.

In Bean Counters to the Rescue!, New York Times columnists David Brooks and Gail Collins take a tongue-in-cheek look at balancing the federal budget. Arguments could be made for their humorous (!) tactics.

There are three givens in life: Death, taxes, and no proper nouns in Scrabble. Listen up – there’s a change a comin’ for some.

“Proper nouns.” If you’re a Scrabble lover – hardcore or casual, you’re probably screaming blasphemy or shaking your head respectively. Relax, it’s not all bad. An option has been presented, not a replacement.

Hasbro controls the rights to Scrabble in the US and Canada. Mattel owns the rights everywhere else. Reports confirm that Mattel will release a completely new UK version of the game in July called Scrabble Trickster. Anything goes – including the use of proper nouns, spelling words backwards, and freestanding placements.

Why? Simple – the bottom line. Recharge the brand and appeal to a new generation of gamers who are immersed in and obsessed with popular culture.

Purists – fear not. Plans are not in place to sell this version in the US at this time, and the original version is still available in the UK and elsewhere.

Look at it this way. The Brits will get a lot more mileage out of certain troublesome tiles. They can now use:

• Q geography and companies ~ Quebec, Qatar, Iraq, Quant, Qantas, Compaq (some even without a “U”)
• X games and comics ~ XBox, XCom, XMen, Lex
• Z rappers and retail ~ Jay-Z, AZ, Zabars, Zappos

Scrabble History Timeline

• 1938: Game invented by New York architect Alfred Butts
• 1948: Entrepreneur James Brunot bought the rights to the board game and trademarked the name as Scrabble.
• 1952: Brunot sold manufacturing rights to Selchow and Righter.
• 1972: Selchow and Righter acquired trademark rights.
• 1986: Rights acquired by Hasbro.

Although various special editions of Scrabble have been created such as a 3-D version and a children’s version, the basic Scrabble game and its rules have been essentially unchanged for 62 years.

Its time has come.

Scrabble’s frequency analysis by Alfred Butts. Butts tabulated the frequency of letters in words of various lengths. This analysis was used to design Scrabble.

Images: Top © 2010 Janet Giampietro. Bottom resides in the public domain. It was published in the US between 1923 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice.

The curious g blog has insightful Oscar^® predictors. The ZipPolls revealed that readers chose the correct award winner in three out of the four categories!

The ZipPoll results:

• With ten films nominated, the 25 predictions were spread thin. Leading with 28% of the votes, The Hurt Locker took the top honors.
• In the directing realm, 55% of the 22 voters knew history would be made by choosing The Hurt Locker’s Kathryn Bigelow, making her the first woman to win the award in this category.
• With 26 votes tallied for Actor in a Leading Role, 38% correctly chose Jeff Bridges’ performance in Crazy Heart as the winner.
• For Actress in a Leading Role, 47% thought Gabourey Sidibe’s turn in Precious would win her the Oscar. Not so. Of the 19 votes cast, 26% chose winner Sandra Bullock for her role in The Blind Side.

Another year is in the books. As always, thanks for participating!