Well I'm not so displeased that my local ABC opted to show the new "Dukes of Hazard" revamp starring Scott Baio and Chris Cornell as the boys and Jarvis Cocker as Boss Hog instead of the Brits as the edited highlights were apparently about as valuable as the Euro. Whoever recommended reading "Ask the Dust" is my new best friend. Such a sadly unknown writer! Oh, and I love Frederick Exley's "A Fan's Notes." One of the best books about failure. And since I missed the brief Oscar discussion last week or so as my computer was throwing up meanness, I'd like to give my own predictions for this, my absolute favorite television-related night of the year: Okay, you're a dick if you don't like the Thin Red Line and don't want it to win. Velvet Goldmine and Rushmore shoulda both been nominated for everything. Judi Dench and Kathy Bates are acid queens. My boyfriend Ralph Fiennes isn't nominated for anything, which automatically makes it a sad, bad year. Pleasantville is underrated, if only for the amazing scene when the tree bursts into flames the first time Joan Allen comes (feminist moment of this sorry year when Gwynny Paltrow and Cate Blanchett both get dissed by a lesser Fiennes). Ed Harris' character is called, um, Christof? Oh, hi, lame metaphor from ninth-grade English. Next. I'd like to see Affliction very much. Saving Private Ryan. Oy Christ. You could light L.A. with the glint from Spielberg's halo. I saw "Life is Beautiful" today. What a weird, creepy movie. What was the pitch? 'It's about the Holocaust, except, um, more uplifting.' There is just so much to worship about the Oscars. The glam! The glittering drunks! Anorexics bloated on air kisses! Versace track marks! The golden calves giving it up for God! If Billy Crystal falls in a forest, does Whoopi Goldberg make an ad-lib? I won a bottle of champage an Oscar bash last year for picking the most winners, though, sniff, now I'm being reminded that I haven't drunk it because I have no one to drink it with. Us list-dwellers may fear B&S capsizing under the weight of impending bigness, but the true terror, I tell you, is some Hollywood hotsie nabbing Stuart Murdoch, a la, Winona Ryder and Dave Pirner. If we don't want to see him dangling like a erudite poodle out of a Prada handbag we'd best be vigilant. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the reborn Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". WWW: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+