Gordon Sinclair's 1973 Radio Commentary

After writing my recent article, Americans are the Enemy? I was reminded of this famous editorial by Gordon Sinclair back in 1973 when he responded to anti-American sentiment in Canada during the Vietnam War. Even though this was a popular email item a few years back, I thought given the current situation in the world right now, that it would be timely to reprint it here in ScribeCentral.com.

This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth.

Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it. When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.

The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans. I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States Dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar, or the Douglas 10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American planes?

Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon - - not once, but several times - and safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the American who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.

I can name you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those.

Gordon Sinclair, 1973

Guilds, Globes, and Gargantuan confuse this year's OSCAR RACE

by R. Bobby Umar

The Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday March 23, 2002. There are three new interesting aspects this year. One is Chicago’s ‘sweep-like’ dominance in nominations including its actors. Secondly, Miramax normally puts a ton of marketing behind its nominee, but this year it has three and they have decided to push them in different ways: Chicago for Best Picture, Gangs of New York for Best Director, and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers for technical. Lastly, the pre-cursor awards have been mixed in the last month and so those who were front-runners have now shifted positions. In fact, the only award I would say is almost a sure thing is Chicago for Best Picture.

One trend has continued from the past few years. The major categories do not have to match each other. Best picture could be Chicago, Best Director Martin Scorsese for Gangs of New York, and the Best Screenplays could be two entirely different movies. However, Chicago threatens to bring the sweep factor back again. This has made the Oscars more difficult to predict and thus more exciting!

So why is it more complex now? A few reasons. About 10 years, the best picture winner would ‘sweep’ the other categories. Then about 7 years ago, movies like ‘The Usual Suspects’ would take away the screenplay awards. In recent years, even the best director does not necessarily win the best picture (e.g., Spielberg wins Director but his Saving Private Ryan lost best picture to Shakespeare in Love. 2 years ago, Soderbergh won Director for Traffic but lost Best Picture to Gladiator). This results in bad news for you Oscar pool hopefuls.

I have allocated numbers to the nominees to indicate their percentage chance of winning. I have also put them in order of my confidence. As well, some of the production companies are listed since they can nowadays make a difference. Feel free just to scan down to the ones you are interested in. Again, remember folks, whoever the academy picks is only THEIR opinion of who is deserving and not reflective of what the whole world or certain individual’s think (There are only 6000 academy members). So here goes:

Best Picture
100 Chicago (Miramax)

The Hours (Paramount)

The Pianist, (Focus Features)

Gangs of New York (Miramax)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (New Line)

Chicago has won every major award leading up to Oscar night including the Golden Globe (GG), Best ensemble for the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and the Producers Guild. Any other movie win would be a huge upset, although there is merit for pretty much all of them.

My Pick: Chicago

My Second Pick Gangs of New York

My Preference: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

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Best Director - Motion Picture

60 Martin Scorsese, Gangs Of New York (Miramax)

40 Rob Marshall, Chicago (Miramax)

Pedro Almodóvar, Talk To Her (Sony Classics)

Stephen Daldry, The Hours (Paramount)

Roman Polanski, The Pianist (Focus Features)

Scorsese seemed to be in the lead when Marshall all of a sudden won the Director’s Guild (DG), which is a 90% predictor. Last year, I predicted Robert Altman would win for his lifetime body of work even though Ron Howard won the DG. The same situation exists here but the big difference is that Rob Marshall is a very young first-timer. Miramax supports both but they have been campaigning for Scorsese so give him the slight edge.

My Pick & Preference: Martin Scorsese

My Second Pick Rob Marshall

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Best Performance by an Actor

60 Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs Of New York (Miramax)

30 Jack Nicholson, About Schmidt (New Line)

10 Adrien Brody, The Pianist (Focus Features)

Nicolas Cage, Adaptation (Columbia)

Michael Caine, The Quiet American (Miramax)

Each nominee has won before except Brody so that gives him a good chance. Daniel Day-Lewis' SAG and GG win locks his lead in this race. If Nicholson wins, he will tie Katherine Hepburn for the most Best Actor Oscars with 4. He is a definite runner-up but I am giving it to Day-Lewis.

My Pick & Preference: Daniel Day-Lewis

My Second Pick Jack Nicholson

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Best Performance by an Actress

50 Nicole Kidman, The Hours (Paramount)

30 Renée Zellweger, Chicago (Miramax)

20 Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven (Focus Features)

Diane Lane, Unfaithful (Fox)

Salma Hayek, Frida (Miramax)

We literally have quite an exciting three-way race here. First, it was Moore who had all the buzz. Then Kidman started winning the GG and later awards. Last week, Renee Zellweger won the SAG award, which gives even more credence to the Chicago ‘sweep’ theory. Chicago could win everything including Zellweger here and later, Marshall for Best Director. I am hoping otherwise.

My Pick: Nicole Kidman

My Second Pick Renée Zellweger

My Preference: Julianne Moore

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Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

50 Chris Cooper, Adaptation (Columbia)

35 Christopher Walken, Catch Me If You Can (DreamWorks)

15 Paul Newman, Road To Perdition (DreamWorks)

John C. Reilly, Chicago (Miramax)

Ed Harris, The Hours (Paramount)

Chris Cooper just last month was considered a ‘shoo-in’ like Jennifer Connelly was last year because he won every single pre-cursor award. But then The SAG award went to Walken. His momentum may be enough to win even though he has won before. Paul Newman may also get a ‘lifetime’ award but I don’t believe it is well deserved. Also, remember that historically, Supporting Actor has had many surprises over the years (James Coburn, Jim Broadbent, etc)

My Pick: & Preference: Chris Cooper

My Second Pick Christopher Walken

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Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

65 Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago (Miramax)

15 Julianne Moore, The Hours (Paramount)

15 Kathy Bates, About Schmidt (New Line)

4 Meryl Streep, Adaptation (Columbia)

1 Queen Latifah, Chicago (Miramax)

This is the only category where I believe it is quite possible for any one of these women legitimately to win. Zeta-Jones’ SAG further solidifies her bid to win the Supporting Actress Oscar. Moore could win because voters who vote for Zellweger or Kidman for Best Actress may put her down in Supporting instead. It could also split her popularity. Kathy Bates won the GG and had tremendous support earlier on. Streep is loved by the academy and has never won in this category. This finally leaves Latifah, whose amazing performance could win for several reasons. She fits the ‘Ingénue’ theory (e.g. Mira Sorvino, Angelina Jolie, Marisa Tomei, etc), and her win would continue last year’s African-American wins. Lastly, this category also has a history of shockers (Anna Paquin, Marisa Tomei, etc). However, I think the ingénue in this case is Zeta-Jones. After all, she is only 33 years old.

My Pick: Catherine Zeta-Jones

My Second Pick Julianne Moore

My Preference: Queen Latifah

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Best Original Screenplay

50 Far From Heaven, Todd Haynes

30 Talk to Her, Pedro Almodóvar

20 My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nia Vardalos

Gangs of New York, Jay Cocks, Kenneth Lonergan, and Steven Zaillian

Y Tu Mama Tambien, Alfonso and Carlos Cuaron

Bowling For Columbine won the Writer's Guild (WG) resulting in confusion on the Oscar race, as it is not a nominee. Far From Heaven had a major lead earlier but now the nominations may change that, given the two Spanish entries. Pedro is very popular and could easily be awarded here instead of Best Director. Nia Vardalos has a good shot because of her movie’s popularity and that its Tom Hanks production company, but it would be considered an upset if she wins.

My Pick: Far From Heaven

My Second Pick Hable Con Ella (Talk to Her)

My Preference: Y Tu Mama Tambien

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Best Adaptive Screenplay

45 The Hours, David Hare

42 Adaptation, Charlie Kaufman

13 Chicago, Bill Condon

The Pianist, Ronald Harwood

About A Boy, Peter Hedges and Chris & Paul Weitz

Adaptation had all the momentum coming in, but then The Hours won the Writer’s Guild plus the scriptwriters’ award. However, similar to last year, it may not be enough to dethrone them. Chicago could win due to a sweep.

My Pick & Preference: The Hours

My Second Pick : Adaptation

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Best Original Score

40 Frida, Elliot Goldenthal

30 Catch Me If You Can, John Williams

18 Far From Heaven, Elmer Bernstein

12 The Hours, Philip Glass

Road To Perdition, Thomas Newman

I like the interesting group here, with Bernstein, Glass, Williams, and Newman. Frida has won two major awards including the GG and so it is the one to beat. The Hours won the British Oscars and John Williams has several Oscars to his credit, and this one is unlike his previous scores. For me, the score should enhance the movie and not take away from it.

My Pick: Frida

My 2nd Pick: Catch me if you Can

My Preference: Far from Heaven

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Best Original Song - Motion Picture

40 "The Hands That Built America,” Gangs Of New York, Music and Lyric by U2

35 "I Move On,” Chicago, Music by John Kander, Lyric by Fred Ebb

25 "Father and Daughter,” The Wild Thornberrys Movie, Music and Lyric by Paul Simon

“Burn It Blue,” Frida, Music by Elliot Goldenthal, Lyric by Julie Taymor

"Lose Yourself,” 8 Mile (Universal), Music & Lyrics by Eminem, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto

U2 won the GG and, along with Paul Simon, had the most momentum here. However, the Chicago juggernaut threatens to take it all away. Someday Eminem will have his day, but not today. U2 has a very Americana song that might help it.

My Pick: The Hands the Built America

My Second Pick I Move On

My Preference: Father and Daughter

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Best Animated Film

80 Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, (Walt Disney)

15 Ice Age (20th Century Fox)

5 Lilo & Stitch (Walt Disney)

Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron (Dreamworks)

Treasure Planet (Walt Disney)

When you read all the people’s preference’s on various website, they all go crazy for Lilo and Stitch, and Ice Age. Noone thinks about Spirited Away, which has won incredible Critical acclaim everywhere. Its only problem is that many Oscar voters may not watch it, and thus not vote for it. If I could give negative points to Treasure Island, I would.

My Pick & Preference: Spirited Away

My Second Pick: Ice Age

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Best Art Direction

40 Chicago

25 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

25 Gangs of New York

10 Frida

Road to Perdition

LOTR won at the Art Director’s Guild, but again Chicago has the broom. Gangs had some very nice sets.

My Pick: Chicago

My Second Pick LOTR: The Two Towers

My Preference: Gangs of New York

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Best Cinematography

50 Road To Perdition

30 Far From Heaven

20 Chicago

Gangs Of New York

The Pianist

Far From Heaven has been winning many pre-cursors and Chicago has the mop. However, Conrad Hall recently passed away and he won the Cinematographer Society award, so he should win posthumously

My Pick: Road To Perdition

My Second Pick Far From Heaven

My Preference: The Pianist

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Best Costumes

55 Chicago

45 Frida

Gangs of New York

The Hours

The Pianist

This usually goes to those movies from a different time. Frida got lovely reviews regarding its innovation with colour, but Chicago had some dazzling displays of cloth and skin.

My Pick & Preference: Chicago

My Second Pick: Frida

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Best Make-up

100 Frida

The Time Machine

Due to a major screw-up in this category, only 2 films were nominated. Incredible that movies such as LOTR are not here. Frida shares being a ‘shoo-in’ with Chicago, although for a lesser category.

My Pick & Preference: Frida

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Best Film Editing

60 Chicago

30 Gangs of New York

10 The Hours

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Pianist

The American Cinema Editors Awards were won by Chicago, and Gangs, but which one holds the bigger broom. Hmmm…

My Pick: Chicago

My Second Pick: Gangs of New York

My Preference: LOTR: The Two Towers

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Best Sound

40 Chicago

25 Road To Perdition

25 Gangs Of New York

10 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Spider-Man

At this point, can I just say that I am annoyed with the idea that LOTR: The Two Tower is ‘so last year…’ Hmmph.

My Pick: Chicago

My Second Pick: Road to Perdition

My Preference: LOTR: The Two Towers

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Best Sound Editing

80 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

20 Road To Perdition

Minority Report

Unless this is Conrad Hall night, go with LOTR.

My Pick: A Beautiful Mind

My Second Pick: Lord of the Rings (LOTR)

My Preference: Lord of the Rings

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Best Visual Effects

100 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones

Spider-man

I think Gollum pretty much says it all. He was so good, that people wanted a nomination in Supporting Actor. Spider-man was an excellent movie but the effects were weak in comparison. In addition, at the Visual Effects Society Awards, LOTR won 8 out of 10 awards.

My Pick & Preference: LOTR: The Two Towers

My Second Pick: Star Wars: Attack of the Clones

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Best Foreign Language Film

45 Nowhere In Africa, Germany

25 The Crime Of Father Amaro, Mexico

20 Hero, China

10 The Man Without A Past, Finland

Zus & Zo, The Netherlands

I do not know too much about this category, but there has been some buzz for the first three, especially Nowhere in Africa

My Pick: Nowhere in Africa

My Second Pick: The Crime Of Father Amaro

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Best Achievement in Documentary Feature

95 Bowling For Columbine (UA), Michael Moore and Michael Donovan

2 Daughter From Danang (Cowboy Pictures), Gail Dolgin and Vincente Franco

1 Prisoner Of Paradise (Alliance Atlantis), Malcolm Clarke and Stuart Sender

1 Spellbound (THINKFilm), Jeffrey Blitz and Sean Welch

1 Winged Migration (Sony Classics), Jacques Perrin

Wow, here there is one that many people have heard of! Then again, even Hoop Dreams lost.

My Pick & Preference: Bowling for Columbine

My Second Pick Daughter from Danang

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Best Achievement in Documentary Short Subject

80 Twin Towers

20 Mighty Times: The Legacy Of Rosa Parks

The Collector Of Bedford Street

Why Can't We Be A Family Again?

It used to be that movies about the Holocaust and racial oppression (like apartheid or slavery) were the ones to win. Given 9/11, this is now the new real-life story that everyone, including the Oscars, will recognize and relate to.

My Pick: Twin Towers

My Second Pick: Mighty Times

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Best Animated Short Film

60 Mike's New Car

30 The Chubbchubbs

5 Mt. Head

3 The Cathedral!

2 Das Rad

Mike’s New Car is also another one people have heard of, since it was on the Monster’s Inc DVD.

My Pick & Preference: Mike’s New Car

My Second Pick The Chubbchubbs

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Best Live Action Short Film

50 Inja (Dog)

30 Fait D'Hiver

20 Johnny Flynton

I'll Wait For The Next One... (J'Attendrai Le Suivant...)

This Charming Man (Der Er En Yndig Mand)

My Pick: Inja

My Second Pick: Fait D’hiver

So there you have it. I have Chicago winning 6, but that could easily be 8 or 9, and possibly 3 or 4, but I think it is more likely to go up than down. As for best dressed, Nicole Kidman and Salma Hayek have never been on a worst dressed list so you can count on them to shine as much as Halle Berry. I am also look forward to seeing what Queen Latifah will wear as well as Catherine Zeta-Jones’ maternity dress. I hope that Jennifer Connelly will rebound from her disastrous, unflattering, and anorexic look last year and Gwyneth will stay away from Goth. My guess for the most unique one will probably be Julianne Moore.

Here is the final tally.

6 Chicago

3 Gangs of New York

2 Frida

2 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

2 The Hours

1 Adaptation

1 Far From Heaven

1 Road to Perdition

Good luck, and have fun.

Think you can do better? Sign up for ScribeCentral.com's Oscar Pool . Don't forget you need a Yahoo! ID and the Group #2949 and password: scribecentralop are needed as well.

Or discuss Bobby's picks at the
ScribeCentralBBB .

Santa Fe de Antioquia

Last Christmas I took a trip from Medellin, Colombia to Santa Fe de Antioquia, the oldest municipality in Colombia. It is a small, hot town that conjures images from the novels of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The main square is filled with vendors and restaurant/bars where people sit on the street drinking and dancing late into the night. The architecture is Spanish Colonial and the people are friendly and talkative. A must see for any trip to this region of Colombia.

I thought that I'd share some of the photos from that trip with ScribeCentral.com.

The road to Antioquia is lined with small restaurants and tiendas, but at one particular spot there is a string of Ranchos selling fruit and baked goods. Goods made from tamarindo (or tamarind) are the classics in these stores. My favourite is this candy made from tamarindo and wound into a stick. It actually looks like some kind of hardened animal dropping, but tastes great. The photo itself, I snapped while we were stopped by the police, a regular occurrence along the Colombian highways.

Last June, as I was making the same trip. My friends took a bus, but my girlfriend and I decided to take her car. She got tired of driving, so I took over for a while. Of course, I managed to get pulled over at one of these stops and had a brief conversation with the cop who was wearing fatigues and carrying a big heavy-looking automatic rifle. He informed me that I had been in the country so long that I needed a Colombian licence (here in Latin America they don’t recognize any form of international driver’s permit). I got out of the car to change seats with my girlfriend so she could drive the rest of the way, only to find her immersed in conversation with the police officer. A few minutes, and twenty thousand pesos later, we drove away avoiding the formal hundred thousand peso fine. The cop, my girlfriend said, was pretty adamant at first about not accepting this “roadside fee” because I, being a gringo, would tell on him. She convinced him that of course I wouldn’t, and I haven’t until today.

Antioquia, like every Spanish colonial town is laid out around a central square with the main church on one side and the town hall with the jail and courthouse on another. The square is the social center of the town, usually filled with merchants offering wares unique to that area. The three photos I have here shows two stands selling food similar to what I described above. You can see bottles of tamarindo mixed with water designed for making juices, tamarindo candies, sweetened grapefruit preserves, jars of honey, sweet desserts, and many other flavourful goodies. The third photo depicts a staple in any Latin American marketplace: the black-market CD centre. What the First World record companies just don’t get is that CDs are so overpriced in Latin America (and the rest of the world for that matter) where many people live on ridiculously low wages that many people have no alternative but to buy bootlegged copies of their favourite music. These copies, in addition usually get transferred to enough cassettes so as to service an entire community.

I also made my third trip to the “bus terminal” which has a more traditional style market on its second floor. The first time I was there back in August of 2001, I ran into a group of men coming out of the mountains with donkeys laden with packs of red coffee beans. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a camera to capture the “Juan Valdez” scene and have gone back two times hoping to catch the site again. No luck of course.

This is a picture I found of beans, corn, and rice being sold at one of the stalls. A true collection of the natural staples of Colombia.

I found this poster left over from the Presidential elections five months earlier. It depicts the current and popular President Alvaro Uribe. In the past few months, Uribe has increased security along the highways and in the cities, making his use of a Colombian version of Marshal Law. His efforts to put an end to the decades long civil war which has left the country at the mercy of the terrorists groups of the FARC and right-wing ParaMilitary have been met with mixed success. These last two weeks, for example have been filled with bombs exploding in some of the major urban centers.

This final picture is one of a butcher’s store in the market. After I asked the owner if I could take his photo, I was told that he made some quick efforts to fix his hair when my back was turned. So here's a photo of the handsome guy.

The rest of the trip was devoted to enjoying the warmth and sun and sipping beer in the main square. In the future, I'll share some of those photos with the ScribeCentral.com community.

Sincerely,

The "Ex" Patriot