March Madness Tourney Begins

This is one of those years where I have no idea who to choose for my bracket. I decided to be as random as possible. I assume not many people would have the same Final Four as I do. Lets's begin with the South bracket:

I have 1 Florida beating 9 Pitt to make the Sweet 16

12 Stephen F. Austin will be my only double digit team making the Sweet 16 beating 4 UCLA to do so.

I was iffy about picking 3 Syracuse to make it to the Sweet 16 because of the backlash of their offense but decided to pick them over 6 Ohio State.

I feel 2 Kansas has enough fire power to make it to the Sweet 16 beating 7 New Mexico.

After that I have 1 Florida making it out of their Bracket by beating 2 Kansas

Next in the West

I have 1 Arizona beating 8 Gonzaga to make the Sweet 16

I recently became a fan of 4 SDSU especially when I went to their campus last year so I picked them to make it to the Sweet 16 by beating 12 North Dakota St

I picked 3 Creighton to also advance by beating 11 Nebraska

Finally I chose 2 Wisconsin to be my 8th team to the Sweet 16

I know that not all number 1 seeds do not make the Final Four, Florida will be my only Number 1 to making it. I chose 2 Wisconsin beating 1 Arizona in the Elite 8.

The Midwest also known as the Wichita State has to prove themselves bracket.

I have 1 Wichita State making it to at least the Sweet 16 beating an 8 seeded Kentucky team.

I see Louisville making another Sweet 16 getting though 5 Saint Louis.

I felt safe picking 3 Duke beating 11 Tennessee to make it to the Sweet 16 for their 28th Sweet 16.

2 Michigan will make their 13th Sweet 16 after beating 7 Texas.

I see 4 Louisville making a third straight appearance to the Final Four after beating Duke

The final section in the East Region goes this way

1 Virginia tops 8 Memphis but doesn't get further than the Sweet 16.

4 Michigan St. will be Ivy league 12 Harvard to make an 18th Sweet 16 appearance

I have my favorite of this region 3 Iowa St beating 6 UNC

Finally I have 7 UConn upsetting 2 Kansas to make it to the second weekend

I chose 3 Iowa State to beat 4 Michigan St even though I know many people probably have them in their Final Game.

Florida will beat Iowa St to make the Championship game and Louisville will return to defend their crown after getting passed Wisconsin

Florida will win 75-68

I am not confident about this bracket at all compared to previous years. I did guess Louisville correct last year but I assume there will be more madness than what I predict here. I didn't pay attention to much college basketball except for the major ACC games and highlights on ESPN./ I just hope that this tourney is as entertaining as last years.

Pretty enjoyable Oscar show

Last night was a fun Oscar night. I went to an Oscar party for the first time and with people who are ambitious to make their way in to Hollywood. I went 18/24 in my Oscar picks, it was better than I expected. I enjoyed Ellen as a host, there was no musical number, all the singing coming from musicians singing for Best Song and Pink's tribute to Wizard of Oz. The famous selfie garnered over 2 million retweets shattering the previous record by Barack Obama. The pizza delivery guy portion was pretty funny, I think it was the smart approach to go with interacting with the celebrities instead the typical jokes all night which usually gets tiring every year. 

Best Picture

I think everyone knew that 12 Years A Slave was going to win Best Picture. The movie won almost every best picture for every award show that took place in the past two months. I really enjoyed Gravity for being short and sweet and the special effects that they put on for show. 12 Years A Slave had so much grit and I enjoy watching movies that can put you in an emotional state. I think that and the historic nature of the film helped it win over the spectacle that Gravity introduced to audiences. 

Best Director

I knew Cuaron was getting this just like Ang Lee received his last year. It would have been a great win if McQueen would have won but it was great to see a Latin American director come home with the prize. 

Best Actor

Matthew McConaughey's character was impressive, the changes he went through going from someone who didn't take the disease seriously and someone who though he was invincible to then team up with Jared Leto's character showed that he needed help in order to survive and would do anything to keep himself from dying. 

Best Actress

I havent seen Blue Jasmine yet but same thing with a lot of the other winners last night, they have been raking up awards the past two months. It was obvious that Cate Blanchett was going to win, I enjoyed that both her Oscars are separated by ten years showing how much she has grown since Aviator.

Best Supporting Actor

If I had a vote I honestly would have picked Michael Fassbender for his grit and realistic portrayal in 12 Years A Slave. I understand why Leto won, he was brilliant in his role and the scene where he meets his dad would probably make anyone cry. Especially anyone who has had their own parental issues and disagreements. 

Best Supporting Actress

Lupita Nyong'o deserved her win here, it was hard not to cry throughout her scenes, the whipping scene, her struggle throughout the whole film and when Solomon Northup is set free and all she can do is collapse because she knows there is no hope she will ever be free. 

One thing I enjoyed from watching the nominees for each actor is there are some movies I still want to watch based on the portion in which they focused on each performance made me consider watching August:Osage County and Nebraska. 

Spike Jonze received many writing awards that he had to win Best Original Screenplay. 

I would have assumed that either John Ridley (12 Years A Slave) or Terrance Winter (Wolf of Wall Street) were taking home the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. 

Gravity picked up many technical awards which is highly deserved: FIlm Editing, Cinematography, Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Original Score. 

Frozen picked up two awards for "Let It Go"-- Original Song and Best Animated Film

I wasn't the hugest fan of the Great Gatsby but Catherine Martin definitely deserved her wins for Costume Design and Production Design. I probably would have picked Michael Wilkinson from American Hustle but I don't have the greatest knowledge when it comes to fashion. 

If there is one thing I would hope for is that Oscars is a middle award show for movies instead of the final one because by the time the Oscars come around you pretty much know who is going to win before the show begins. There weren't many surprises this year even though there were great performances on display this year. I'm intrigued for next year's award show when it is back in February instead of March. 

To another great year of movies.