Neil Patrick Harris Bombs as Oscar Host

Neil Patrick Harris gave a very un-wait for it-legendary performance tonight as host of the 87th Academy Awards. 

I expected a lot better from the guy who gave the world Barny Stinson. If Harris's performance were a suit, it would be the plainest, dullest suit you had ever seen. The jokes fell flat, some parts were incredibly boring (especially when he's in the audience talking to the Oscar sitters) and the whole bit about guarding his "Oscar Predictions" was incredibly lame. When he said "Oscar Predictions", I thought he meant the predictions about who was going to WIN. But instead, it was predictions of stuff that absolutely made no sense. Oh, and the whole titie whitie bit didn't impress me either. 

When I first heard that Harris would be hosting the Oscars I was excited, for I am a huge fan of How I Met Your Mother. He will always be Barney Stinson to me, the guy who wears suits and teaches everyone how to be awesome. If Harris had given at least half the effort and dedication into his job as host this year as he did in HIMYM, this Oscars might have been very memorable. Instead, his time as Oscar host will be long forgotten, like a suit hanging in a closet, gathering dust. 

Why Philadelphia is an Awesome Choice for 2016 Democratic Convention

In picking the city of Brotherly Love to host its next national convention, the Democratic Party has chosen a symbolism of patriotism as a way to propel their next presidential nominee (most likely Hillary Clinton) to the presidency. 

Although it beat Columbus, located in the most crucial battleground state besides Florida, and Brooklyn, which would have had no problem raising money for a convention bid, Philadelphia was widely seen as the front-runner among the three finalists. The 2016 Republican convention in Cleveland made it harder for Columbus to get the bid because it would have had a tough time competing for donations. Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, champion of progressive politics he may be, has become a polarizing figure nationally, criticizing police officers who turned their backs on him during a cops funeral. The tension between de Blasio and the NYPD may have caused concerns regarding security for the convention (another, though not often talked about reason for not choosing Brooklyn, is that it would have highlighted Mrs. Clinton's ties to Wall Street as she is trying to make income inequality a central issue of her campaign). 

Philadelphia is no stranger when it comes to hosting political conventions, having held either party's conventions a total of eight times. The last time it held a major party convention was when it held the gathering for the Republicans back in 2000, when it nominated George W. Bush for the first time. The last time the city held a Democratic Convention was in 1948, when President Harry Truman was nominated to a full term. 

On the surface, Philadelphia may seem like an odd choice. Pennsylvania has voted Democratic in each of the last six presidential elections, and Democrat Tom Wolf's victory over an incumbent Republican governor was one of the very few bright spots for Democrats last November. But whatever Philly lacks in swing state status it more than makes up for in terms of it's history. It was in Philly, of course, where the Liberty Bell is located, where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, and where George Washington served as our nation's first President. With Mrs. Clinton almost certain to become the first woman to the be the presidential nominee of a major political party, it makes perfect sense for the Democrats to hold their convention in the place where American History was born. 

The city could also help with a party message of equality. Even if the Supreme Court rules this summer that gay marriage should be legal in all 50 states, the rights of gay couples to be wed will certainly be a part of the convention platform. The Democrats will also for sure put in their platform a call for all employees nationally to not be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation, which, quite surprisingly, is still legal in some states. This could in turn help drive millennials, a key part of the Obama coalition, to the polls. 

For decades, the GOP has successfully established itself in the minds of many voters as the party of patriotism and American values. By choosing Philadelphia, Democrats have a chance to show the nation that love of country and the American Flag do not belong to one political party. Rather, that they belong to all of us-all races, all creeds, all religions, and all sexual orientations. 

And what better way for Mrs. Clinton to open her convention speech by saying, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men-and women-are created equal?"

"Project Almanac" is a time-traveling thrill ride

If you're a time-travel nerd like myself, Paramount's Project Almanac is the move you should definitely go and check out to tide you over until the new Terminator movie comes out this summer.

Produced on a $12 million budget, the movie has already surpassed that in it's first two weeks of release. Shot as a "found footage" film (much like 2012's Chronicle) Almanac tells the story of high school senior David Raskin (Johnny Weston) an aspiring inventor who dreams of going to MIT. His dream finally comes true when he gets his acceptance letter in the mail, yet his whole world comes crashing down when he only receives a $5,000 scholarship instead of the $40,000 he was hoping for. In order to help her son pay for his tuition, David's mother (Amy Landecker) decides to sell the house. While going through the attic with his sister Christina (Virginia Gardner) in order to find something their late father (Gary Weeks) might have left in order to help David get another scholarship, they both come across a video camera showing footage of David's 7th birthday. Surprisingly, David finds what appears to be a reflection of himself in a mirror within the footage.

Along with David's friends Adam Le (Allen Evangelista) and Quinn (Sam Lerner) the four of them find blueprints in David's basement for a "temporal relocation device" (AKA Time Machine) that his father had worked on before his death. When David's long-time crush Jessie (Sofia Black D'Elia) goes to a party in the neighborhood, David and his friends use the battery pack from Jessie's Prius to charge the machine and successfully they transport a toy car back in time by a few weeks. Eventually they are caught by Jessie, who decides to join the group.

After naming their experiment Project Almanac and laying a few ground rules (i.e. no one travels alone), the five teens have a bit of fun with their time-traveling device. My favorite time-traveling experiment of all in this film is when Quinn, who failed a chemistry presentation and is doomed to repeat his senior year, goes back to the day of his presentation over and over again until he finally passes. Another really fun moment is when Christina goes back to get back at a few girls who bully her at school by purposefully bumping and spilling drinks on them right after they made fun of the "present day" Christina ("I'm everywhere, bitch!" is the best line of the whole film). The gang even goes back a few months to check out Lallapalooza ("old" VIP passes were just five bucks each on E-Bay) and they event go on to win the lottery, which helps David pay for his college tuition and helps his mom keep their house (as a car fanatic, I love the part when Quinn checks out a Maseratti convertible on the show room floor).

Things start to go disarray, however, when David goes back in time to Lallapalooza by himself (essentially breaking one of the ground rules that he himself created) in order to make him and Jessie a couple. The plan works, but it also creates a ripple effect that causes a plane crash that kills over 700 people. Every time David goes back to try to fix it it causes another ripple effect that causes another terrible thing to happen. This is somewhat similar to The Butterfly Effect in which Ashton Kutcher's character travels to the past several times to correct things over and over again.

In an age of ever-constant superhero movies, Project Almanac is a breath of fresh air of originality. The movie is downright fun, and it's hard not to root for our five heroes whenever they succeed in their time-traveling experiments. Yet because the entire movie is shot camcorder style like the Paranormal Activity movies, the film can sometimes feel a little too jerky and cause a little bit of sickness, especially during scenes when their are running involved. Despite this, however, Almanac is the kind of time-traveling movie that time-traveling nerds like myself really need right now.