Here’s Tim Russell voicing Pope Benedict XVI in a bit from the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” monologue as the former Pope meets Pope Francis in a “Pope Reunion Special: After the Final Pope”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW66QD-Ftmc

Here we are, another year of fine film making about to be honored at the 85th Academy Award Show. The year started out with a couple of movies that really stuck with me: “Beasts of the Southern Wild” was a revelation, and I’m glad it received some Oscar love, though I’m surprised “Moonrise Kingdom” didn’t get more attention. Denzel was terrific in “Flight” and “Silver Linings Playbook”, with it’s wonderful cast, was  my frontrunner in a number of Oscar categories for a good while. I saw “Lincoln” twice and the second viewing sold me on it’s Best Picture chances, it has the best original script and Daniel Day-Lewis deserves the Best Actor honors in a tough race to call, but I’m thinking “Argo” is now a lock as this year’s winner.

The Best Actor will go to Daniel Day-Lewis for “Lincoln”, with Bradley Cooper a possiblity. If Denzel had played a more sympathetic character in “Flight” he’d have a fighting chance, and you have to acknowledge Hugh Jackman’s commitment as Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables”.

The Best Actress nominees were all wonderful this year. Emanuelle Riva was amazing in “Amour” as a stroke victim dealing with her final days, and Naomi Watts left us all wondering how she survived the grueling tsunami production, “The Impossible”, but Jennifer Lawrence will win for playing the flawed and fascinating cop widow in “Silver Linings Playbook”.

The Supporting Categories offer some of the best performances of the year. The Best Supporting Actor nominees are all potential winners, but I’m inclined to go with Robert DeNiro’s obsessive sports fan father in “Silver Linings Playbook” mainly because it’s been awhile since his last win, although I loved the work of Christoph Waltz and Tommy Lee Jones this year.

It appears that nothing will derail the coronation of Anne Hathaway as the Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner in “Les Miserables”, although Sally Field  in “Lincoln” and Helen Hunt  in “The Sessions” are close behind in my estimation.

The Best Director award should be Stephen Spielberg’s if “Lincoln” does win Best Picture. Although if “Argo” wins best picture, and many recent signals indicate that it is now the frontrunner with one win after another this award season, I would be happy if Ang Lee won for “Life of Pi” the most amazing visual treat of the year.

BestActor

The nominees:
Bradley Cooper in “Silver Linings Playbook”
Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln”
Hugh Jackman in “Les Misérables”
Joaquin Phoenix in “The Master”
Denzel Washington in “Flight”

Will win: Daniel Day-Lewis
Could win: Bradley Cooper
Should win: Daniel Day-Lewis 

Best Actress

The nominees:
Jessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook”
Emmanuelle Riva in “Amour”
Quvenzhané Wallis in “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Naomi Watts in “The Impossible”

Will win: Jennifer Lawrence
Could win: Naomi Watts
Should win: Emmanuelle Riva

Best Supporting Actor

The nominees:
Alan Arkin in “Argo”
Robert De Niro in “Silver Linings Playbook”
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “The Master”
Tommy Lee Jones in “Lincoln”
Christoph Waltz in “Django Unchained”

Will win: Robert DeNiro
Could win: Cristoph Waltz
Should win:Tommy Lee Jones  

Best Supporting Actress

The nominees:
Amy Adams in “The Master”
Sally Field in “Lincoln”
Anne Hathaway in “Les Misérables”
Helen Hunt in “The Sessions”
Jacki Weaver in “Silver Linings Playbook”

Will win: Anne Hathaway
Could win: Sally Field
Should win: Anne Hathaway

Best Picture 

The nominees:
“Amour” Nominees to be determined
“Argo” Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
“Beasts of the Southern Wild” Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
“Django Unchained” Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
“Les Misérables” Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
“Life of Pi” Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
“Lincoln” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
“Silver Linings Playbook” Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
“Zero Dark Thirty” Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers

Will win: “Argo”
Could win: “Lincoln”
Should win: “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Director

“Amour” Michael Haneke
“Beasts of the Southern Wild” Benh Zeitlin
“Life of Pi” Ang Lee
“Lincoln” Steven Spielberg
“Silver Linings Playbook” David O. Russell

Will win: Steven Spielberg
Could win: Ang Lee
Should win: Spielberg

Best Original Screenplay

The nominees:
“Amour” Written by Michael Haneke
“Django Unchained” Written by Quentin Tarantino
“Flight” Written by John Gatins
“Moonrise Kingdom” Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
“Zero Dark Thirty” Written by Mark Boal

Will win: “Django Unchained”
Could win: “Amour”
Should win: Anything but “Flight” would make me happy.

Best Adapted Screenplay

The nominees:
“Argo” Screenplay by Chris Terrio
“Beasts of the Southern Wild” Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
“Life of Pi” Screenplay by David Magee
“Lincoln” Screenplay by Tony Kushner
“Silver Linings Playbook” Screenplay by David O. Russell

Will win: “Lincoln”
Could win: “Silver Linings Playbook” or “Argo”
Should win: “Lincoln”

Best Animated Feature

The nominees:
“Brave” Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
“Frankenweenie” Tim Burton
“ParaNorman” Sam Fell and Chris Butler
“The Pirates! Band of Misfits” Peter Lord
“Wreck-It Ralph” Rich Moore

Will win: “Frankenweenie”
Could win: “Wreck-It-Ralph”
Should win: “ParaNorman”, I thought this was  a much better stop-action story than”Frankenweenie”

Best Foreign language Film 

The nominees:
“Amour” Austria
“Kon-Tiki” Norway
“No” Chile
“A Royal Affair” Denmark
“War Witch” Canada

Will win: “Amour”
Could win: “A Royal Affair” Denmark
Should win: “Amour”

A special new release from A Prairie Home Companion!

The Royal Academy of Radio Actors presents Sue Scott, Seriously Silly. This CD collection highlights the best of Sue Scott so far, from live broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion. A vocal talent without compare, at any moment Sue can be garrulous, gracious, sassy, sinful, prim and proper, worldly and wise. Here’s Sue as Mom calling her son Duane. As Ruth Harrison, Reference Librarian, with her black belt in biblio-kwon-do. As devastatingly beautiful supermodel Cynthia Maxwell. As private eye Guy Noir’s faithful ex-girlfriend, Sugar. As a blond. A bird. Berniece. Radio starlet Lulu Lane, and more. Here’s Sue Scott with the rest of the cast in 14 sketches, bits, and send-ups.

Tim Russell wrote the liner notes for the CD:

How can one trim body, and flexible larynx, deliver the broad range of human (and sometimes animal), female (and sometimes male) experience? Look no further than Sue Scott for the answer. She literally does it all: adenoidal little girls, teenage brats, breathy femme fatales, 2 pack a day crones, ancient Grammas, birds, flies, cockney urchins, French chanteuses, stern taskmasters, Public Radio correspondents, Southern Belles, overly friendly waitpersons, marble mouthed medical experts, well you get the idea: whatever challenge Garrison Keillor throws her way, Sue Scott is up to the task. If asked to be Steve, the fitness trainer, Sue ignores any gender issue and conjures up the requisite huskiness. If the script calls for a quivering 78 rpm recording of “La Vie en Rose”, Sue’s all over it.

But, you might ask, what is her greatest gift? Timing: comic timing, honed from a background of a theater career full of character types and a natural ear for what’s funny. When armed with a great Keillor script, Sue has a heyday. It has been said that many of the cast members of “A Prairie Home Companion” have faces for radio, but Sue is the exception, putting her stage experience to work for the live theater audience, to animate her characters with great physical exuberance.

Over the years Sue has created a memorable cast of personalities that have become APHC regulars: there’s the overly protective yet somewhat self-absorbed “Mom” and her phone calls to “Dwayne”; “The Story of Bob, a Young Artist” will find her playing Bernice, the cheerful ‘50’s sitcom family cheerleader; you can almost sense the pent up passion and “hair bun yearning to be free” of Sue’s “Ruth Harrison, Reference Librarian”; the bubbly, flapper spirit of Guy Noir’s ex-girlfriend, Sugar; and, of course any number of sturdy Midwestern women.

So, pop in those ear buds and enjoy a few examples of Sue Scott at work as she gives “Sybil” a run for her money.

All seriously silly.

One CD containing more than one hour of highlights.

Track Listing: (from 1996 – 2008)

Mom
Special Report – Linda Wertheimer
Our Neighbors – The Birds
Green
Old Folks
Ruth Harrison
Blonde
Wobegonics
Duct Tape
Couple
Guy Noir
Bob
Communication in Minnesota
Overactors Theater

Sue talks about her new CD and working on “A Prairie Home Companion” in an updated interview from the Prairiehome.org website, check it out

We have one upped Three Dog Knight, thanks to Garrison Keillor, we have been to Spain, and it is beautiful. The recent cruise to Amsterdam, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco was a great opportunity  for the fans of A Prairie Home Companion to see some fantastic sights and enjoy the talents of the many Prairie Home musical guests who joined us this year. Robin and Linda Williams were in fine form as was the Guys All Star Shoe Band, with Dan Newton and Bob Douglas joining the Guys.

A Prairie Home Companion

The Digiollonardo Sisters were everywhere and a real crowd favorite.

Connie Evingson with amazing pianist, Jon Weber gave a daily tone of sophistication to the trip.

Vern Sutton, Sue Scott, and Tim Russell in “Vote For Gracie”

Sue and Tim put together another production: The Classic Radio Theatre presented, “Gracie for President” starring Tim Russell as George  and various celebrities and politicians, and Sue Scott as Gracie. With Butch Thompson at the piano, our songstress of the air, Connie Evingson with Jon Weber and the man of the hour, Vern Sutton as our studio announcer. It was inspired by the George Burns and Gracie Allen radio show from 1940, when Gracie actually ran for President, a perfect opportunity to do a time warping look at politics then and today, with Gracie debating some famous politicians of the past and today. Mitt Romney and Barack Obama going head to head, mano to womano with the guiless Gracie Allen. Gracie is asked how she plans on getting people back to work… what are her plans for reducing the growing national debt… does she really think the country is ready for a woman President…  And of course, she has her Gracie-like answers, which often times makes a lot more sense then the nutty things some of our politicians are coming up with today.

It was a lot of fun to do and thanks to the tireless work of our stage designer, Janis Kaiser and her wonderful graphic enhancements, it became a full fledged off-broadway-like production.

Garrison Keillor’s new book “Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny” is now available as a 4CD Audiobook. Sue and Tim were given a chance to voice dozens of characters, some familiar to regular listeners of “A Prairie Home Companion” , and many, many more created for this new story by Garrison. Rich Dworsky brings the story to life with his original music. We had a great time acting on this project, we hope you enjoy listening to it.