I know it’s a day late, but I thought it was still worth it to wish George Clooney, activist, actor, writer, messenger of peace and director extraordinaire a Happy Birthday!!In celebration of all things George, here are some classic Clooney moments. Give a watch here and below the fold and be sure to and visit

www.takepart.com/DarfurNow to learn about a charity Mr. Clooney often gives his time to.

Here’s a trailer from what might be my favorite Clooney performance in Out of Sight:

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One more Oscar note before I put the 80th Academy Awards to bed when it comes to blogging. Yesterday everyone was ripping on the Oscars, calling the show boring, flat and complaining that it isn’t a show for real movie lovers. Well duh! It’s a 3+ hour awards show that’s recognizing the best in Hollywood. So of course you get a show that’s long, not too controversial and the movies that win are the best of the best of the mainstream. I’m always surprised when people get angry about this. Of course the films nominated aren’t really the best films of the year (although I thought the Academy did pretty good this year, There Will Be Blood, Michael Clayton and No Country For Old Men, are actually really really good). Of course the host, in this case Jon Stewart, is kind of lame (although I thought he did a really good subtle job myself). What do you expect for a show being broadcast on a major network to tons and tons of people?

So why do I watch and why should you watch the show? Why am I always excited about it? My answers are below:

1. Back in the day really good films were nominated and did win - check out past nominees and winners from the 70’s or the 60’s or the 5o’s etc.. They were amazing films, and I guess each year I watch in hopes that things will again start to shift in American cinema, back to a time where blockbusters and the weekend box office didn’t rule the day. This year saw The Coen brothers winning a lot of awards and you know what Joel and Ethan Coen are really good filmmakers. I would argue that No Country is definitely not their best, but who knows, my guess is that more Americans will be inclined to give Barton Fink and Miller’s Crossing a look now.

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Part of the fun of watching the Oscars every year is listening to the speeches and hoping for words of wisdom, inspiration and of course words that make us laugh from some of most talented folks in the industry.

Below are my Top 5 Oscar Speeches from last night that made the 3+ hour show worth it.

1. Daniel Day-Lewis winning Best Actor for There Will Be Blood : It should be said that I have long been a fan of Daniel Day-Lewis, but that aside, his acceptable speech last night had all the elements - he started off with a simple joke, inspired us with his carefully crafted tribute to the great Paul Thomas Anderson, and then touched our hearts with the thanks he gave his co-stars and his family - all the while keeping calm and not rambling.

And that’s the closest I’ll ever come to getting a knighthood, so thank you.

My deepest thanks to the members of the Academy for whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town. I’m looking at this gorgeous thing you’ve given me and I’m thinking back to the first devilish whisper of an idea that came to him and everything since and it seems to me that this sprang like a golden sapling out of the mad, beautiful head of Paul Thomas Anderson.

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Even though I love Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There and find Cate Blanchett’s performance in the film nothing short of amazing, I was extremely excited to see Tilda Swinton win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work in Michael Clayton last night. I have long been an admirer of Swinton and her work in such films as Young Adam and The Deep End. The first role of hers that made me a true fan was her outstanding performance as the forever young Orlando in Sally Potter’s film by the same name.

Based on the novel by Virginia Woolf, Orlando follows the story of a young man who’s told “Do not fade. Do not wither. Do not grow old” by Queen Elizabeth I. And he does not, he manages to live 400 years and never age a day. Swinton’s turn as the male Orlando is not the only gender-bending performance of the piece, Quentin Crisp portrays Elizabeth I and halfway through the film Orlando adds a letter to his pronoun and becomes a she, proclaiming :

“Same person. No difference at all… just a different sex.”

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As you can probably tell just by scanning through the Takepart Blog, the Oscars are super soon. Even though they usually leave out the films I love and are actually just another way for the studios to promote their films, I always have a few favorites among the nominees and this year some of them have to do with making the world a better place (no doubt a good omen for the future of both cinema and activism). Today and tomorrow I’ll share a few of my favorites with you all.

Three performances that I loved and haven’t got their fair share of buzz are in the Best Supporting Actor category. So read and watch below and be sure to to help support a great theatre company in New York City that shares theatre with the community in hopes of giving people a voice.

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson’s War : Watching Hoffman is always a treat, but his portrayal of CIA agent Gust Avrakotos, is particularly amazing. Gust is a man caught in the system and is unable to do work that means something, that is until he meets Charlie Wilson, a charming Congressman from Texas. Hoffman’s Gust is rough around the edges and doesn’t have a lot of tact, but he’s smart as a whip and driven to use his skills to help the world. Hoffman truly embodies his character and acts as a very effective foil to the charming Congressman. It’s a performance not to be missed. Watch below:

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With the writer’s strike officially over, I can actually start to get excited about The Oscars. And this year there’s actually a lot to get excited about. While I usually have maybe 1 or 2 films or people I’m rooting for amidst of sea of disappointment, this year a bunch of my favs got nominated, and Michael Clayton is definitely one of them.

Michael Clayton deals with 2 men that have spent their professional lives helping immoral, corrupt people and companies stay out of trouble. The film opens with one of them (Tom Wilkinson’s Arthur Edens) violently trying to change his ways and as the film progresses, the other man (George Clooney’s Michael Clayton) slowly realizes he wants to change his as well.

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Check out these Top 10 stories from January 2008 about social action written by our very own TakePart bloggers. From Cadbury to Clooney, these advocacy-oriented stories will encourage awareness and action to create positive changes in our communities and in the world.

1) Clooney Claims Role as Peace Messenger

2) The Reinvestment Fund Helps Low-Income Baltimore Families During Sub-Prime Fallout

3) Ron Hunter Is A Superstar!

4) Great YouTube Video About Burma From Michael Stipe

5) Cadbury Strikes Sweet Deal With Cocoa Farmers

6) Uptown Girls Is Down on Power Lines

7) Greenpeace Persuades Chefs to Support Sustainable Seafood

8 ) BGCI Helps Save Medicinal Plants From Extinction

9) Top 5 Socially Conscious Movie Trailers

10) I Believe That Children See the Future Drawings of Climate Change

I have to say that as each day goes by recently I love George Clooney more and more. His performance in Michael Clayton was one of the best this year (as was the film itself) and now he has been named a United Nations Messenger of Peace in honor of his humanitarian work.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named actor George Clooney, who has campaigned for refugees in Darfur, as a U.N. “messenger of peace” on Friday to promote the world body’s peacekeeping efforts.

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Before people start discussing whether or not the Oscar’s will even happen - I think we should all sit back and enjoy the nominations - they aren’t half bad:Best Picture : Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country For Old Men and There Will be BloodBest Director : Julian Schnabel, Jason Reitman, Tony Gilroy, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen and Paul Thomas AndersonBest Actor : George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Johnny Depp, Tommy Lee Jones and Viggo MortensenBest Actress :

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