Grand prize winner...

Stephen Compston, Oskar Winner

Congratulations, Stephen Compston

And the winners of the Oskar Contest are ...

1. Stephen Compston (17 points)
2. Adam Argo (14 points)
3. James Miller (13 points)
James Bushey (13 points)
Andrew Dodson (13 points)
6. Todd Habiger (12 points)
Meredith Argo (12 points)
8. John Schellhase (11 points)
Jessica Bridges (11 points)
Andrew Poole (11 points)
Crosby Hipes (11 points)
Kendall Moss (11 points)
13. Sawyer Beaton (10 points)
14. Spencer Lee (9 points)
15. Jacob Martinka (6 points)
16. Jon Anderson (5 points)

Here were Stephen's picks, I think he cheated:
bestpicture: The Departed (2006): Graham King
bestactor: Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland (2006)
bestactress: Helen Mirren for The Queen (2006)
bestsupportingactor: Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
bestsupportingactress: Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006)
bestdirector: Martin Scorsese for The Departed (2006)
bestoriginalscreenplay: Michael Arndt for Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
bestadaptedscreenplay: William Monahan for The Departed (2006)
bestcinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki for Children of Men (2006)
bestediting: Thelma Schoonmaker for The Departed (2006)
bestartdirection: Nathan Crowley, Julie Ochipinti for The Prestige (2006)
bestcostume: Milena Canonero for Marie Antoinette (2006)
bestmusic: Gustavo Santaolalla for Babel (2006)
bestsong: Henry Krieger, Willie Reale("Patience") for Dreamgirls (2006)
bestmakeup: David Martí, Montse Ribe for Laberinto del Fauno, El (2006)
bestsound: John T. Reitz, David E. Campbell, Gregg Rudloff, Walt Martin for Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
bestsoundediting: Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman for Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
bestvisualeffects: Mark Stetson, Richard R. Hoover, Neil Corbould, Jon Thum for Superman Returns (2006)
bestanimatedfeature: George Miller for Happy Feet (2006)
bestforeignfilm: Laberinto del Fauno, El (2006)(Mexico)
bestdocfeatures: Davis Guggenheim for An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
bestdocshorts: Ruby Yang, Thomas Lennon for The Blood of Yingzhou District (2006)
bestshortanimated: Roger Allers, Don Hahn for The Little Matchgirl (2006)
bestshortlive: Ari Sandel for West Bank Story (2005)

Stephen, send me a picture of you so I can put it here for a week.

Oskar Contest 2007

Hey peoples. If you plan on entering the Oskar Contest, you only have until tomorrow (Sunday) at 6:59pm CST. There have been 15 entries to date. I'd like for there to be at least 5 more to make it 20. You know who you are.

Oskar Contest

when two hearts race, both win.

-dove chocolate wrapper

Tomorrow is my last day at the elementary school where I work! Or, 'have clinicals,' I guess I should say. But I should be getting paid..all in the name of education, right? haha, even though it doesn't sounds like it, I love it there and will miss it very much when I do not go anymore.

There is a movie called 'The best years of our lives' that we watched the other night. I think that it is a great movie. It was touching, sincere, sweetly funny, and it is about three different soldiers who come home from WWII and their families.

I hope everyone is having a great week. Adam is excited that you have been entering his contest.

We love you all.

Adam Argo's Oskar Contest 2007

*Update 2/20* There have been a total of 13 unique entries to the contest to date. 5 days to go.


click here to enter, play, and win!

and, if you'd like to stimulate interest,
post a link on your own blog.

p.s. am i allowed to enter my own contest? the contest outcome is completely independent of my capability, power, and authority. i think i should be allowed to if i post my entry to the general public prior to the official oskar winners announcement has been made via the telecast. i would be interested in your comments.

Man and Wife: It had to be you ...

Happy Valentine's Day

(It's snowing.)

We can make it better ... pull ourselves together ...

Today, I went to the Washington County Courthouse, walked through a metal detector, and assessed my Honda. The clerk handed me a pink slip of paper, steered me down the hall, past the guards, and to the tax officer, where a teller stamped my pink piece of paper and directed me to the Revenue office on Razorback Road. There, I paid for the sales tax, license plate/tags, and registration on the Honda. Ellen was the sweet little lady that helped me there. She and I discussed how when we were children, we didn't give much thought to taxes and couldn't wait until we were "all grown up, because then there would be lots of money everywhere and no bed times." I agreed with a chuckle as I listened to the sound of my hand tearing a check from the book. "Thanks, Ellen, have a nice day." Now, I am an adult.

A gentle touch speaks volumes.

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring

Give a listen: Beirut Lon Gisland EP

I can't tell you how impressed I am by Mr. Beirut, Zach Condon. He's 20 years old, and he's from New Mexico, but now lives in New York. 20!

This is my new car. It's raining so you get a shot from the balcony. It's a 2002 Honda Accord LX. I am excited about it. Freddy Argo went through a lot to help me buy it.

Have a great week.

"Writer's Block," seriously, dude.

It's Friday night and we're going to the movie store. I laugh more often now.










Domestic life has been good to us.










Ginger cookies. A little baking soda goes a long way. Don't forget the molasses.

Albums I have recently listened to (alphabetical by artist):
Air Pocket Symphony
Animal Collective Here Comes the Indian, People EP, Prospect Hummer EP, Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished, Sung Tongs
Arcade Fire, The Neon Bible
Beirut Gulag Orkestar
Cat Power The Greatest
Coleman, Ornette Sound Grammer
Deerhoof Friend Opportunity
Deerhunter Cryptograms
Dylan, Bob Modern Times
Explosions in the Sky All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
Knife, The Silent Shout
Loney, Dear Loney, Noir
Long Winters, The Putting The Days To Bed
Magnolia Electric Co. Fading Trails
Malkmus, Stephen Face The Truth
Menomena Friend and Foe
mewithoutYou Brother, Sister
Mountain Goats, The Get Lonely
Music From The Motion Picture, Barry Lyndon
Newsom, Joanna Ys
Of Montreal Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Panda Bear Person Pitch, Young Prayer
Peter Bjorn And John Writer's Block
Rolling Stones, The Beggars Banquet, Exile On Main Street, Sticky Fingers
Shapiro, Sally Disco Romance
Shins, The Wincing The Night Away
Soft Drugs, The In Moderation, Family Of Four
Spektor, Regina Begin to Hope
Springsteen, Bruce Nebraska
Van Dyke Parks Song Cycle
Various Artists Eccentric Soul: The Deep City Label
Yo La Tengo Electr-O-Pura
Young, Neil Prairie Wind
Ward, M. End of Amnesia

Ok. This is number zero, Gary Ervin, shooting the 2. This shot goes in. But that's my head to the right of the basketball. Adam Argo. Front page of the sports section. Right there. Bud Walton Arena. Third row. Boo yah.

today.

7:00- I thank the Lord for the hot water in my shower and for my husband who loves me.
8:00- I arrive at Vandergriff Elementary School. My nurse is not in a good mood, but I feel like I am going to have a pretty good day.
9:15- I teach 120 5th graders about scoliosis and tell all of the girls that they will be getting tested next week. I am able to command their attention fairly well and they listen to me intently. Their reactions to the video are priceless. They all ask me good questions at the end, which hopefully will give me some "good job" points in my instructor's eyes. :)
12:00-I really love these children. After spending so much time talking with them and with my nurse, I have learned many of their stories, and my heart both breaks and fills with love for them.
1:30- An autistic boy in the 5th grade comes to the office in tears because he is scared that he has scoliosis. I almost cry because he is so worried possibly due to something that I had said, and I take him to the back room and check him so that I can help calm his fears. I desperately just want to hold him and tell him it is ok. I want to hold all of them. Everytime one of them comes in, crying over something that is seemingly tearing them apart, I want to hold them.

There are so many children here that need someone to show them love, and what the love of the Father looks like and feels like. I pray that just for the small amount of time that I see them, I can convey that love to them and that they will know there is a Father who loves them more than any person on this earth ever will.

Bob Dylan's "The Man in Me" covered by David Bazan

This is a photo of my fingerprints, for which I paid $5. I am also going to have to pay $47 for a background check to prove that I am not a criminal, in order for me to become a nurse. I hope they don't find out about that time in 1988 when I snuck into Die Hard at the Malco in Jonesboro.





This is a picture of me visiting the coffee mecca earlier this evening. This FLAVIA machine is full of delicioius choices to choose from and is sure to whett the curiosity of the most keen coffee drinker. Even Adam, my coffee loving husband, enjoyed the visit. Thank you, The Cliffs, for not spending all the money you had in erecting the icey ziggurat.

This is evening is full of much cajolery.

Blackgammon

It doesn't bother me that Spencer and I spent the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl playing Backgammon. Because, as John noted after Prince's light show finished, we "got what we came for." I promise this is not a blog about board and card games, but if it were, I would be okay with that. This game is so new and foreign to me, but I love it. You roll the dice, move the pieces, put your opponent "on the bar," and try to move off all of your pieces before your opponent can move her's. The pieces are called "checkers," and each move is called a "pip." So try not to lose all of your pips, genius. Here is a picture of the set I receive for my birthday.

I want to rent Antoniono's 1975 film, "The Passenger." It was re-released recently and The Movie Gallery (of all places) has a copy of the DVD to rent.
Meredith and I have been drinking a lot of tea lately. It's a nice change from coffee for a little while. My favorite kind is Bigelow's Green Tea with Lemon.

NCAA Basketball is heating up. It's February, so that means March Madness is right around the corner. After a disappointing display of turnovers Saturday, the Razorback's tough loss to Kentucky at home, Arkansas have put themselves in a situation that will be an uphill road to 65 from here on out. It may even be an uphill road to the NIT for that matter. We playhost the Auburn Tigers in Walton Arena on Wednesday night. Ticketholders with seats to spare usually stick their extras on the wall outside Bud Walton. I may take my chances with that plan. If not, LFS will have coverage of the game on the ol' ears. Until then, I've got to read some Business Law.