Hollywood Bracket

I'm just realizing now that 1.) March is almost over (2012 is flying by) and 2.) I have yet to supply you with a bracket. Clearly I was a little too caught up in the actual bracket with Syracuse being a pre-tournament favorite. Now that Syracuse has lost, let's get to a bracket.

As some of you may know, I was essentially the committee chairman of this bracket. What you probably don't know is that because of my lunch routine I was a member of the committee for this bracket. It's the second bracket that I'd like to focus on. For those of you that are too lazy to click on my links it's a bracket of actors. The goal of this so-called "Hollywood Bracket" is to find out who the best actor is. The criteria is a bit hazy because it's not the best actor of all time. And it's not the best actor of this very moment. For my purposes, I will make it the best living actor. I've re-seeded the bracket, adjusted the name of one of the regions, and here's what I've come up with.


Marlon Brando Region

1- Jack Nicholson
16- Scarlet Johansson

8- Robin Williams
9- Warren Beatty

5- Sean Penn
12- Angelina Jolie

4- Johnny Depp
13- Jeff Bridges

6- Glenn Close
11- Edward Norton

3- George Clooney
14- Michael Caine

7- Tim Robbins
10- Mark Wahlberg

2- Morgan Freeman
15- Reese Witherspoon


The Humphrey Bogart Region

1- Meryl Streep
16- Kevin Costner

8- Philip Seymour Hoffman
9- Colin Firth

5- Will Smith
12- Ryan Gosling

4- Kevin Spacey
13- Jamie Foxx

6- Gene Hackman
11- Julianne Moore

3- Al Pacino
14- Judi Dench

7- Michael Douglas
10- Russell Crowe

2- Leonardo DiCaprio
15- Natalie Portman


The John Wayne Region

1- Denzel Washington
16- Kevin Bacon

8- Javier Bardem
9- Halle Berry

5- Julia Roberts
12- Paul Giamatti

4- Brad Pitt
13- Hilary Swank

6- Anthony Hopkins
11- Tommy Lee Jones

3- Matt Damon
14- Ben Affleck

7- Harrison Ford
10- Christian Bale

2- Clint Eastwood
15- Michelle Williams


The Jimmy Stewart Region

1- Tom Hanks
16- Anne Hathaway

8- Samuel L. Jackson
9- Bruce Willis

5- Daniel Day-Lewis
12- Daniel Craig

4- Tom Cruise
13- Nicole Kidman

6- Robert Redford
11- John Malkovich

3- Kate Winslet
14- Liam Neeson

7- Dustin Hoffman
10- Penelope Cruz

2- Robert Deniro
15- Benicio Del Toro

I'm sure there were plenty of snubs (some were probably egregious). Feel free to let me know who I unintentionally slighted. I skew young and towards actors instead of actresses. Deal with it. Either way, it's now time for my picks. In some matchups I attempted to briefly explain why one actor/actress should advance. In others I simply used a famous movie quote from either participant. Hopefully you'll be able to follow along.


Marlon Brando Region



First Round

1- Jack Nicholson over 16- Scarlet Johansson- Jack’s taking ScarJo down to Chinatown (1975)

8- Robin Williams over 9- Warren Beatty- Williams’ non comedy acting career is wildly underrated (4 Oscar noms, 1 win).

5- Sean Penn over 12- Angelina Jolie- Jolie might outdo him when it comes to humanitarian efforts (although then again she might not) and media fanfare, but Penn has a lot more range and more accolades. Speaking of humanitarian efforts, if they made a movie about U2 Penn would be a lock to play Bono, right?

4- Johnny Depp over 13- Jeff Bridges- Bridges has been better of late (back to back Best Actor noms in 2010-11), but Depp will Blow (2001) by him.

11- Edward Norton over 6- Glenn Close- They both have outstanding performances, but I like Norton’s (Primal Fear (1996)) more than Close’s (Fatal Attraction (1987).

3- George Clooney over 14- Michael Caine- Caine has the edge in credentials, experience, and longevity, but Clooney has the star power that Caine’s never possessed.

7- Tim Robbins over 10- Mark Wahlberg- Wahlberg is a very successful producer as well as a respected actor, but at his core he’s a wanna be rapper from Boston. Guess what Tim Robbins was doing when he was young? Acting.

2- Morgan Freeman over 15- Reese Witherspoon- Witherspoon has one great performance (Walk the Line), but Freeman has more depth and experience.

Second Round

1- Jack Nicholson over 8- Robin Williams- Closer match up than you’d think, but, “Heeeeerrrrre’s Johnny!” is a little more iconic than, “Gooooooooood Morninggg Vietnam!”

5- Sean Penn over 4- Johnny Depp- Since 1995 Sean Penn is the only man to win Best Actor twice (Mystic River, Milk) and he leads all actors with 5 nominations.

3- George Clooney over 11- Edward Norton- I love me some Ed Norton, but Clooney was outstanding in The Descendants, Up in the Air, and Michael Clayton. How he didn’t win Best Actor for any of those roles just baffles me.

2- Morgan Freeman over 7- Tim Robbins- I have to give Freeman the edge in the Shawshank showdown because not only was he the one nominated for Best Actor, but I think it also launched his voice-over career.

Regional Semi-Finals

1- Jack Nicholson over 5- Sean Penn- Penn is outstanding, but Nicholson is a legend and he delivered one of my favorite lines in the history of cinema. In As Good as it Gets (1997) Nicholson plays a writer suffering from a severe case of OCD. He’s asked how he writes women so well and he says, “I think of a man and I take away reason and accountability.”

3- George Clooney over 2- Morgan Freeman- You could argue that Freeman has been the better actor (I’d still lean toward Clooney), but Clooney gets the edge because of how well he’s taken to writing/directing. Need evidence? Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) and The Ides of March (2011) both garnered Oscar recognition.

Regional Finals

1- Jack Nicholson over 3- George Clooney- You’re God damn right he ordered the Code Red!


The Humphrey Bogart Region



First Round

1- Meryl Streep over 16- Kevin Costner- She has the most Academy Award nominations of all time. Plain and simple.

8- Philip Seymour Hoffman over 9- Colin Firth- They both have Best Actors Oscars, but Hoffman steals the show in just about everything else that he’s in.

12- Ryan Gosling over 5- Will Smith- Will Smith is definitely a more talented entertainer, but Gosling is clearly the better actor.

4- Kevin Spacey over 13- Jamie Foxx- Spacey was the suave badass in LA Confidential (1997) long before Jamie Foxx came around.

6- Gene Hackman over 11- Julianne Moore- Julianne Moore doesn’t get the credit she deserves, but there’s no way that she’s knocking out Norman Dale.

3- Al Pacino over 14- Judi Dench- Dench actually has a great resume, but I know her best as M in James Bond films. Pacino is best known as Michael Corleone and Tony Montana. Simple as that.

7- Michael Douglas over 10- Russell Crowe- “The point is ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for the lack of a better word, is good,” against, “What we do in life echoes in eternity,” and “Are you not entertained?” Close, but I have to go with Douglas.

2- Leonardo DiCaprio over 15- Natalie Portman- Portman is an Israeli minx with a Best Actress Oscar on her resume, but I like Leo in a rout. Do you concur?

Second Round

1- Meryl Streep over 8- Philip Seymour Hoffman- I was rooting for the upset here, but I just couldn’t pull the trigger on it. I hate Streep (she’s very pretentious) and love Hoffman, but it’s really not even close.

4- Kevin Spacey over 12- Ryan Gosling- “What sick ridiculous puppets we are / and what gross little stage we dance on / What fun we have dancing and fucking / Not a care in the world / Not knowing that we are nothing / We are not what was intended”

3- Al Pacino over 6- Gene Hackman- “Hooah!”

2- Leonardo DiCaprio over 7- Michael Douglas- “When you kill a king, you don't stab him in the dark. You kill him where the entire court can watch him die.”

Regional Semi-Finals

4- Kevin Spacey over 1- Meryl Streep- Sorry Meryl, but Keyser Soze isn’t going down to a female.

2- Leonardo DiCaprio over 3- Al Pacino- I’m obviously biased because I’m only 26 and didn’t get to enjoy Pacino in his prime, but Leo’s performance as Billy Costigan in The Departed (2005) is legendary.

Regional Finals

2- Leonardo DiCaprio over 4- Kevin Spacey- “Well dreams, they feel real while we're in them, right? It's only when we wake up that we realize how things are actually strange. Let me ask you a question, you, you never really remember the beginning of a dream do you? You always wind up right in the middle of what's going on.”


The John Wayne Region



First Round

1- Denzel Washington over 16- Kevin Bacon- “King Kong ain’t got shit on me!”

9- Halle Berry over 8- Javier Bardem- All she wants is someone that can “make me feel good.”

5- Julia Roberts over 12- Paul Giamatti- Paul Giamatti is brilliant, but he can’t hang with this Pretty Woman.

4- Brad Pitt over 13- Hilary Swank- “Fight Club was the beginning, now it's moved out of the basement, it's called Project Mayhem.”

6- Anthony Hopkins over 11- Tommy Lee Jones- Hopkins polishes him off with “some fava beans and a nice chianti.”

3- Matt Damon over 14- Ben Affleck- Just like in Good Will Hunting (1997), Damon is the one with all the talent.

10- Christian Bale over 7- Harrison Ford- I'm already bracing myself for some venom coming from my friend Frank, but let me attempt to explain. This is clearly an upset. If logic prevailed Ford would advance in a heartbeat. Here's the thing though, logic doesn't always prevail in the NCAA Tournament. That's why they play the games. Harrison Ford has had a much better career (I mean, he’s Indiana Jones and Han Solo), but he’s never had a performance like Bale’s in The Fighter (2010).

2- Clint Eastwood over 15- Michelle Williams- “Get off my lawn.”

Second Round

1- Denzel Washington over 9- Halle Berry- The first African-American male to win Best Actor against the first African-American female to win Best Actress? I gotta go with “My man.”

4- Brad Pitt over 5- Julia Roberts- She was good in Ocean’s 11, but he was better. “You look down, they know you're lying and up, they know you don't know the truth. Don't use seven words when four will do. Don't shift your weight, look always at your mark but don't stare, be specific but not memorable, be funny but don't make him laugh. He's got to like you then forget you the moment you've left his side.”

3- Matt Damon over 6- Anthony Hopkins- “You’re right Teddy. The ace didn’t help. I flopped the nut straight.”

2- Clint Eastwood over 10- Christian Bale- “You’ve got to ask yourself one question. “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?”

Regional Semi-Finals

1- Denzel Washington over 4- Brad Pitt- “We the only two people up. Me, you and Michael Jordan. That's the only people. Everybody else in the world is asleep.”

2- Clint Eastwood over 3- Matt Damon- “Go ahead. Make my day.”

Regional Finals

1- Denzel Washington over 2- Clint Eastwood




The Jimmy Stewart Region



First Round

1- Tom Hanks over 16- Anne Hathaway- “Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” Well, in this matchup Hanks got a cupcake.

9- Bruce Willis over 8- Samuel L. Jackson- Who’s the one that figured out the water puzzle in DieHard with a Vengeance? That’s right, John McClain.

5- Daniel Day-Lewis over 12- Daniel Craig- Day-Lewis’ (My) Left Foot (1989) is a better actor than the current version of everyone’s favorite British agent.

4- Tom Cruise over 13- Nicole Kidman- Ah, the battle of the exes. Kidman is taller and more talented, but Cruise has a better track record and puts the fannies in the seats.

6- Robert Redford over 11- John Malkovich- Hard to compete with Redford who played the Sundance Kid, started the Sundance Film Festival, and starred in two of my favorite movies of the 2000s (Spy Game (2001), The Last Castle (2001).

3- Kate Winslet over 14- Liam Neeson- Liam Neeson plays the same character in every movie that he’s in. Sure he’s a bad ass, but Winslet is extraordinarily gifted.

10- Penelope Cruz over 7- Dustin Hoffman- Hoffman’s most famous role is in The Graduate (1967) where he has an affair with his neighbor and then falls in love with her daughter. The notion that a girl would run off with a guy that had an affair with her mother is so incomprehensible to me that I’m giving the nod to Cruz.

2- Robert De Niro over 15- Benicio Del Toro- In case you were wondering, De Niro improvised one of his most famous lines (from Taxi Driver (1976), "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?"

Second Round

1- Tom Hanks over 9- Bruce Willis- Hanks knows the tournament motto. Survive and advance, “I had to keep breathing. Even though there was no reason to hope. And all my logic said that I would never see this place again. So that’s what I did. I stayed alive. I kept breathing.”

5- Daniel Day-Lewis over 4- Tom Cruise- You “want the truth”? There Will Be Blood (2007) in this one because Day-Lewis slaughters Cruise in a Best Actor competition.

3- Kate Winslet over 6- Robert Redford- “Too many guys think I'm a concept, or I complete them, or I'm gonna make them alive. But I'm just a fucked-up girl who's lookin' for my own peace of mind; don't assign me yours.”

2- Robert De Niro over 10- Penelope Cruz- “Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.”

Regional Semi-Finals

5- Daniel Day-Lewis over 1- Tom Hanks- “Houston, we have a problem.” They don’t call him “The Butcher” (Gangs of New York) for nothing.

2- Robert De Niro over 3- Kate Winslet- If you mess with the (Raging) Bull (1980) you get the horns.

Regional Finals

2- Robert De Niro over 5- Daniel Day-Lewis- They are both supremely gifted actors, but Day-Lewis can’t touch De Niro’s portrayal of a young Vito Corleone in The Godfather II.


Final Four

2- Leonardo DiCaprio over 1- Jack Nicholson- I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't think I've seen a better acted scene than this one. I'm not sure how much credit goes to Leo and Vera Farmiga, how much credit goes to Scorsese, and how much credit goes to whoever chose the absolute perfect song to complement it all, but it's outstanding.



2- Robert De Niro over 1- Denzel Washington- They've both played a boxer (Raging Bull/The Hurricane), a gangster (Good Fellas (to pick one)/American Gangster), a concerned father (A Bronx Tale/John Q), and a neurotic, self-possesed man who thinks he's invincible (Taxi Driver/Training Day). De Niro was better in all of them.


Finals

2- Robert De Niro over 2- Leonardo DiCaprio- "Every man... every man has to go through hell to reach paradise." De Niro's just been through the wars and Leo hasn't. Guess how many Oscars Leo's has? Zero. De Niro has endured the snubs by the academy (Taxi Driver being the most notable) and has persevered. We're still waiting for Leo to completely break through.

"It was always burning"

As I've stated countless times, one of my goals in life is to memorize the lyrics to Billy Joel's 1989 hit "We Didn't Start the Fire." Sure the song is on VH1's list of the 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs, but I can't get enough of it.

The lyrics recount many important historical events that took place between 1949 (when Joel was born) and 1989 (when Joel wrote the song). In case you couldn't put two and two together, Billy the Kid is a big history buff. For some reason this notion of chronicling his life speaks to me. As you know, I've seen almost every movie that's been nominated for Best Picture in my lifetime.

Last week as I was driving home from work I decided that it would be a good idea to update Joel's classic hit. I knew that he covered 1949-1989, so I figured that I could write new lyrics based on the events of the past 20 years (1990-2010). I thought that this project would only take a few hours, but I completely misjudged the kind of undertaking that it was. Not only is Joel's tune packed with people, facts, and events, but it's also loaded with half rhymes, full rhymes, and different variations of syllables. So for the past week I've been scouring Wikipedia for significant historical events, counting syllables, and consulting rhyming dictionaries.

I still think that this post needs A LOT of work, but I'm sick and tired of wasting my time on a grueling, voluntary task.

Before we get to my updated version, here's a refresher of the lyrics that Joel wrote more than 20 years ago.


Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, "The King and I", and "The Catcher in the Rye"

Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Josef Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Zhou Enlai, Bridge On The River Kwai

Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California Baseball,
Starkweather homicide, Children of Thalidomide

Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichmann, Stranger in a Strange Land,
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock

Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz

Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire...




And now without futher ado...




Buster Douglas, Motley Crue, John Gotti, Belarus
No apartheid, free Mandela, Windows 3.0

Boris Yelstin, Rodney King, Desert Storm, CNN
Magic Johnson, HIV, Super Nintendo

LA riots, Dan Quayle, Murphy Brown, Real World
Leno, H.W. gags, and the Dream Team reps the flag

Don't ask, don't tell, Hoo-ha, the EU and NAFTA
A Few Good Men, Seles is stabbed, piece of the Aggro-Crag

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

O.J. Simpson, bronco chase, Boyz II Men and Ace of Base
Revolution, Bills still losing, Kurt Cobain dead

ebay, Farrakhan, Oklahoma City bomb
Mid...west....heat...wave, Sandra Bullock sped

Dolly, Deep Blue, Michael Johnson's golden shoes
Derek Jeter, Sheryl Crow, Keyser Soze, Daily Show

Mmm bop, Tony Blair, English Patient, Rachel's hair
Princess Di, Madonna cries, scandal in the white house

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Homeruns hit, Nagano, Michael Jordan, el nino
Seinfeld, He Got Game, Bird to the Hall of Fame

Britney Spears, Y2K, Star Wars I-just ok
rock music gets the blame, Millionaire is our new game

Harry Potter, hanging chads, PS2, Elian's dad
Sydney games, Kim Jong, bubble burst for dot com

Stem cells, 9/11, Google, jingoism
Halle Berry, game on, bankruptcy for Enron

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Russel Crowe, Homeland, search for bombs in the sand
gunman, Clarkson, World Com extinction

Human Genome is complete, Syracuse can not be beat
Iraq, Dan Brown, Martha Stewart locked down

Face-book, Condi Rice, Livestrong bracelets 'cause their nice
John Kerry, flip flopper, Red Sox solve Yankees' stopper

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Writer's strike, Dixie Chicks, prison term for Michael Vick
Mad Men, iphones, gas prices, Juno

Twitter, Spitzer, AIG, hockey moms, GOP
swimming fast and smoking pot, Obama takes top spot

Cash for clunkers, Favre is back, Kobe wins it without Shaq
Michael's late, Jon and Kate, swine, meth, Tiger's mates

Obamacare on the floor, Banking rules without a cure
Jay and Conan late night war, I can't take it anymore

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire...

My apologies if you couldn't follow some of the rhyming patterns (I tried to spell out how to say/sing some of the lyrics), but you almost need the music to have the words make complete sense. I think the best way to assess my work is to look at it two lines at a time. First read/sing Joel's lyrics (for that part of the song) and then do the same for what I wrote.

That said, here is a year by year explanation of the people, facts, and events that I chose to incorporate in my brief history of the past 20 years.

1990



-Buster Douglas upsets the previously undefeated Mike Tyson on February 11th to become the world heavyweight champion of the world.
-Motley Crue's drummer Tommy Lee is arrested for allegedly exposing his backside during a performance in Augusta, Georgia. He also suffers a mild concussion after falling off of scaffolding above his elevated drum kit during a performance in New Haven, Connecticut.
-John Gotti, a notorious mob boss, is arrested on December 11th.
-Belarus declares its soveirgnty from the USSR on July 27th.
-South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk begins negotiations to end the country's legal form of racial segregation known as apartheid.
-Nelson Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison on February 11th after more than 27 years in prison.
-Windows 3.0 is released by Microsoft on May 22nd.

1991



-Boris Yelstin is elected President of Russia on June 12th.
-Rodney King is is an African-American who was the subject in a police brutality case involving four white LAPD officers on March 3rd. A bystander, George Holliday, videotaped much of the incident from a distance. The footage showed the LAPD officers repeatedly striking King with their batons. A portion of this footage was aired by news agencies around the world, causing public outrage that raised tensions between the black community and the LAPD.
-Desert Storm is the military response to Sadaam Hussein's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. When economic sanctions proved to be ineffective, George H.W. Bush sent American troops into Kuwait to drive the Iraqis out.
-CNN (Cable News Network), the first network to provide 24 hour television news coverage, received unprecedented popularity because of its coverage of the Persian Gulf War.
-Magic Johnson, the superstar point guard of the Los Angeles Lakers, reveals on November 7th that he has contracted the HIV virus. To that point, HIV had long thought to have been an exclusively homosexual disease. Johnson's announcement was huge in terms of awareness for the sexually transmitted disease.
-Super Nintendo is released in Japan. It is the first 16 bit video game console.

1992



-Riots breakout in Los Angeles on April 29th after the four white LAPD officers accused of beating Rodney King are acquitted. Thousands rioted in the streets for six days after the verdict was announced.
-Dan Quayle, the 44th Vice President, gave a speech to the Commonwealth Club of California on May 19th on the subject of the Los Angeles riots. In this speech, Quayle blamed the violence on a decay of moral values and family structure in American society. In an aside, he cited the single mother title character in the television program Murphy Brown as an example of how popular culture contributes to this "poverty of values", saying: "It doesn't help matters when primetime TV has Murphy Brown — a character who supposedly epitomizes today's intelligent, highly paid, professional woman — mocking the importance of fathers, by bearing a child alone, and calling it just another 'lifestyle choice.'"
-The Real World's first season takes place in New York and debuts on MTV on May 21st. The show would prove to be one of the most successful "reality shows" to date.
-Jay Leno replaces Johnny Carson as the host of The Tonight Show on NBC.
-George H.W. Bush vomits into the lap of Kiichi Miyazawa, the Prime Minister of Japan, during a state dinner in Japan.
-The Dream Team or the 1992 US National Men's Basketball team that won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. The Dream Team was the first US National Team comprised of professionals. The roster consisted of Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, John Stockton, Clyde Drexler, Chris Mullin, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Christian Laetner, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, and Scottie Pippen.

1993



-Don't ask, don't tell is a military policy enacted by Bill Clinton in order to prevent the "witch-hunting" of secretly gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members or applicants, while absolutely barring "openly" gay or bisexual people from joining the military, and expelling those already serving.
-Al Pacino won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of the retired, blind, and drunk Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade. Slade's signature phrase is "Hoo-ha!"
-EU, or the European Union, is an economic and political union of (now) 27 countries.
-NAFTA, or the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, is formed between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The agreement creates a trading bloc (free of tariffs) between the three nations.
-A Few Good Men is a military courtroom drama that stars Tom Cruse, Kevin Bacon, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore. Jack Nicholson gets absolutely hosed by the Academy when he doesn't win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Colonel Nathan Jessep.
-Monica Seles, the world's #1 female tennis player, is stabbed in the shoulder during a match in Germany by a crazed fan of rival Steffi Graf.
-Global Guts is a popular Nickelodeon game show where teens compete in physical activities. The winner of each show is awarded a piece of the Aggro Crag, the mountain that the participants had to climb as the final event.

1994



-O.J. Simpson, the NFL Hall of Fame running back and successful actor, is charged with the murder of his wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman. After refusing to turn himself in, Simpson was the subject of a low speed police chase while driving his white Ford Bronco. The chase was televised by all of the major networks.
-Boyz II Men's, a popular R&B group, "I'll Make Love to You" is the #3 song on the 1994 Billboard Hot 100 chart.
-Ace of Base, a Swedish pop band, has 3 songs in the 1994 Billboard Hot 100 chart. #1 The Sign, #9 All That She Wants, and #10 Don't Turn Around.
-The Republican Revolution is what the Republican party dubbed their success in the 1994 midterm elections in which they took control of the majority of Congress for the first time in over 40 years. Newt Gingrich, Rep. Georgia, becomes the Speaker of the House and the most popularized figure of the movement. Bob Dole, Sen. Kansas, becomes the Senate majority leader.
-The Buffalo Bills lose their fourth straight Superbowl. This time it's a 30-13 loss at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys.
-Kurt Cobain, the lead singer and guitarist of the popular grunge band Nirvana, is found dead in an apparent suicide (a shotgun blow to the head) on April 8th.

1995



-eBay, the American company that runs an auction website, forms on September 5th.
-Louis Farrakhan is the national representative of the religious organization known as the Nation of Islam. Farrakhan is the lead advocate for black nationalist interests and helped organize the million man march in Washington D.C. on October 16th.
-Oklahoma City Bombing is a bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that claimed the lives of 168 innocent Americans and injured 680 others. The men behind the terrorist plot are Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.
-A midwest heatwave took the lives of approximately 700 people in Chicago in a 5 day stretch.
Chicago's daily low and high in 1995:
July 11: 73-90 °F (23-32 °C)
July 12: 76-98 °F (24-37 °C)
July 13: 81-106 °F (27-41 °C)
July 14: 84-102 °F (29-39 °C)
July 15: 77-99 °F (25-37 °C)
-Speed is a film starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Reeves plays an LAPD officer who hops onto a bus that will explode if it fails to continue moving above 50 miles per hour. Bullock, in her breakout role, plays the passenger on the bus that gets behind the wheel when the driver is shot. The film won 2 Academy Awards in 1995.

1996



-Dolly is the name given to the first mammal ever cloned. She is a sheep who was "born" on July 2nd and lived to the age of six.
-"Deep Blue" is the name of a chess playing computer developed by IBM that Russian Gary Kasparov beat in February.
-Michael Johnson is the American sprinter who won gold in the 400m and 200m at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. During the competiton Johnson wore a custom-designed pair of golden-colored Nike racing spikes made with Zytel, causing him to be nicknamed "The Man With the Golden Shoes."
-Derek Jeter helps lead the New York Yankees to their first World Series since 1978, beating the Atlanta Braves 4 games to 2.
-Sheryl Crow's self titled album is banned from Wal-Mart stores because of the lyric "Watch out sister, watch out brother/watch our children while they kill each other/with a gun they bought at Wal-Mart Discount Stores".
-The Usual Suspects is a criminal, mystery movie in which Kevin Spacey won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Verbal Kint...and Keyser Soze.
-The Daily Show begins on Comedy Central on July 21st with Craig Kilborn as the host.


1997



-MMM bop is the debut single by pop band Hanson. It becomes one of the biggest debut singles of all time, reaching #1 in 27 countries.
-Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on May 2nd.
-The English Patient wins the Oscar for Best Picture.
-The Rachel is the name given to a popular haircut worn by women during the '90s. The look got it's name from the hairstyle worn by Jennifer Aniston's character Rachel Green in the TV sitcom Friends.
-Princess Diana of Wales dies in an automobile accident in Paris.
-Madonna releases hit single "Don't Cry for Me Argentina"
-President Clinton is accused of having "sexual relations" with 22-year-old white house intern Monica Lewinsky.


1998



-Mark McGwire of the St.Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs chase and break Roger Maris' single season homerun record.
-Nagano hosts the Winter Olympics.
-Michael Jordan retires for the second time after winning his sixth NBA Championship with the Chicago Bulls.
-El Nino is an invasion of warm water into the surface of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru and Ecuador every four to seven years that causes changes in local and regional climate. The most severe of these occurrences took place between 1997-98.
-Seinfeld, the popular NBC sitcome, airs it's final episode on May 14th.
-He Got Game is a Spike Lee joint starring Denzel Washington and NBA superstar Ray Allen.
-Larry Bird is enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachuesetts.


1999



-Britney Spears bursts onto the pop music scene with her debut single "...Baby One More Time"
-Y2K is the name given to a computer related scare at the turn of the millenium. In computer programs, the practice of representing the year with two digits becomes problematic with logical error(s) arising upon "rollover" from x99 to x00. This caused some date-related processing to operate incorrectly for dates and times on and after January 1, 2000 and on other critical dates which were billed "event horizons". Without corrective action, it was suggested that long-working systems would break down when the "...97, 98, 99, 00..." ascending numbering assumption suddenly became invalid. Companies and organizations worldwide checked, fixed, and upgraded their computer systems.
-Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is released by writer/director George Lucas and receives mixed reviews.
-The Columbine massacre is partially blamed on the hard rock music of Marilyn Manson.
-Who Wants to be a Millionaire is a game show that debuts on ABC with Regis Philbin as the host.


2000



-Harry Potter is the title character of a popular book series written by British author J.K. Rowling.
-Hanging chads were the subject of the controversial election results in Florida.
-PlayStation2, the best selling video game console to date, is released by Sony.
-Elian Gonzalez is the subject of an immigration/custody battle between the U.S. and Cuba. Gonzalez is ultimately returned to Cuba to be with his father in June.
-Sydney hosts the Summer Olympics. The Untited States leads the medal count, although sprinter Marion Jones won 3 golds and 2 bronzes, which have since been taken back.
-Kim Jong il is the controversial leader of North Korea who has been in power since 1994.
-The dot come bubble peaks on March 10th (the NASDAQ hits 5,048.62) and eventually starts to tank for a multitude of reasons.


2001



-Stem cell research is restricted to those cells that already exist by President Bush.
-9/11 is the date of the most devasting terrorist attack on American soil. Terrorist hijack four airplanes, fly two of them into the World Trade Center's twin towers, one into the Pentagon, and one is overtaken and crashes in a Pennsylvania field. The death total reaches nearly 3,000.
-Google, the internet search engine, increases in popularity and starts acquiring other companies to improve its brand.
-Jingoism refers to the overly nationalistic feeling expressed by Americans after the 9/11 attacks.
-Halle Berry stars in the film Monster's Ball, a role that would win her an Academy Award for Best Actress (the first African American woman to win the award).
-The NFL/MLB return to action after 9/11.
-Enron's books are revealed to have been cooked. The energy company eventually files for bankruptcy and many of their top executive face jail time.


2002



-Russel Crowe appears as the lead actor in back to back Best Picture winners (Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind). He won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Gladiator.
-The Homeland Security Act creates the Department of Homeland Security. The Act includes many of the organizations under which the powers of the USA PATRIOT Act are exercised. Among other things, it creates the new cabinet-level position of Secretary of Homeland Security.
-WMD's become a hot topic as the UN investigates into whether or not Iraq has them.
-Washington D.C. Sniper John Allen Muhammad killed at least 10 innocent people in early October before getting arrested on the 24th.
-American Idol, a popular television show singing competition, debuts on FOX. Kelly Clarkson is the Season One winner.
-World Com, an American telecommunications company, files chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The largest filing in history.


2003



-The Human Genome Project is completed 13 years after it began in 1990. The goal was to determine the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA and to identify and map the approximately 20,000–25,000 genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional standpoint.
-Syracuse University wins the 2003 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship behind the outstanding play of freshmen Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara.
-The Iraq War begins on March 20th when coalition forces invade the Persian Gulf.
-Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is published and quickly becomes a best seller.
-Martha Stewart, a famous magazine editor, TV Host, and author, is indicted for insider trading and obstruction of justice. She would go on to spend five months in a federal prison in West Virginia.


2004



-Facebook, the social network site, launches and quickly finds a massive following.
-Condeleezza Rice is nominated to become Secretary of State by President Bush on November 16th.
-Livestrong bracelets are launched as a fundraising measure for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. They quickly become very popular.
-John Kerry receives the Democratic nomination to run for president. During the campaign, he was pegged as a flip-flopper by Republicans for his stance on the War in Iraq. When speaking about a military appropriations bill Kerry said, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it."
-The Boston Red Sox are on the brink of elimination, down 3-0 in the ALCS and trailing the Yankees 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th inning in Game 4 before scoring a run against Mariano Rivera to tie the game and eventually winning the game in extra innings. They would go on to win the next three games to win the series (the first team to come back from a 3-0 series defecit) and advance to the World Series where they swept the St. Louis Cardinals to win their first title in 86 years.


2007



-The Writer's Guild of America goes on strike on November 5th and demands more compensation for their work. During the strike, many televisions shows are put on hold as new episodes can't air until the writer's write them. The strike is stopped on February 10th of 2008.
-The Dixie Chicks collected 5 awards at the Grammy's including Record, Album, and Song of the year.
-Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pleads guilty to felony charges of operating a dog fighting ring in August. He is sentenced to serve 23 months in federal prison.
-Mad Men, a television drama set in the 1960's premieres on AMC on July 19th.
-iphones, a cell phone/ipod hybrid, is unveiled by Apple CEO Steve Jobbs.
-Record high gas prices plague the nation in the summer of 2007 with prices in some areas topping $4 a gallon.
-Juno is a comedy/drama film starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, and Jennifer Garner. The film receives 4 Academy Award nominations, winning one.


2008



-Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers.
-Eliot Spitzer, the governor of New York, resigns after he is linked to a prostitution ring. The affadavit famously refers to the governor as "Client-9".
-A global financial crisis starts to take shape as the U.S. housing, banking,insurance, and auto industries start to collapse. Hot terms describing the crisis are "bailouts", "too big too fail", and "stimulus package".
-Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, is chosen as John McCain's running mate in the 2008 presidential election. Palin creates a lot of buzz for the GOP with her good looks and everyday language.
-Michael Phelps swims for 8 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics (setting 7 new world records in the process) and is later photographed hitting a bong while visiting South Carolina University.
-Barack Obama is elected as the 44th president of the United States of America.


2009



-Cash for clunkers is a domestic program intended to encourage Americans to purchase new cars in an attempt to stimulate the economy.
-Brett Favre, the future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, returns to the NFL, this time as a member of the Minnesota Vikings.
-Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Orlando Magic to win the NBA Championship. It is the first title for Bryant without Shaquille O'Neal as his teammate.
-Michael Jackson, the pop icon, dies after suffering cardiac arrest on June 25th.
-Jon and Kate Gosselin are consistently a topic on the tabloids after their highly publicized divorce.
-A swine flu outbreak in humans is declared a public health emergency of international concern.
-Crystal meth is a psychoactive stimulant drug that increases alertness and energy, and in high doses can induce euphoria, enhance self esteem, and increase sexual pleasure. It has become increasingly popular in the United States in the 2000s.
-Tiger Woods crashes his Denali into a fire hydrant on November 27th and is taken to the hospital. Shortly thereafter details of Woods' ramped infidelity start to surface.


2010



-The Health Care Reform Bill causes a heated national debate. A new faction of conservatives, known as the Tea Party Movement, ardently oppose the bill which they call "Obamacare". Eventually the bill passes both the House (without a vote?) and the Senate and is signed into law.
-Regulation of the financial industry appears to be the next challenge that President Obama plans to tackle. The call for reform has been expedited in the wake of the SEC charging Goldman Sachs with knowingly selling people investments that were designed to fail.
-Jay Leno kicks Conan O'Brien to the curb and re-assumes his position as the host of The Tonight Show after his 10 p.m. show flops as bad as Vlade Divac.

100 Movie Lines in 200 Seconds

As you all know, I fancy myself a movie aficionado; therefore when I see a link that says 100 Best Movie Lines in 200 seconds, I can't resist. Also, as I've previously stated, we are all suckers for any sort of list/countdown. VH1 has roped me into watching some awful countdowns that I'd rather not admit to viewing. This Movie Lines compilation is actually pretty good. I have to imagine that whoever threw this compilation together is under 40 because they pulled quotes from a lot of contemporary movies. Enjoy.



A few of my personal favorites include:

#12 from The Sandlot (1993)- The entire story that Squints tells is priceless. Also, I'm pretty sure The Sandlot is the movie that I have seen the most times in my lifetime. I want to say that Dumb and Dumber, Rudy, The Shawshank Redemption, and A Few Good Men round out the top 5.

#62 from Wall Street (1987)- Michael Douglas took home the Oscar for Best Actor in 1988 for his role as corporate raider Gordon Gecko. This famous line couldn't be more accurate. Greed is what fuels capitalism. Also, let the record show that I've been on an unintentional Michael Douglas movie binge of late. I can't think of a modern day comparison because we have so many lead actors now, but he was the guy in Hollywood during the late 80's and early 90's.

#79 from Scent of A Woman (1992)- Another Best Actor performance, this time by Al Pacino. I think this is my favorite of the 100 lines because I find myself saying it more and more.


I'm sure you noticed a few actors with more than one line in this list of the Best 100. I could have done my math wrong, but here is what I was able to tally up.

Jack Nicholson- 4
Arnold Schwarzenegger- 4
Tom Hanks- 3
Al Pacino-2
Bill Murray- 2
Brad Pitt- 2