The Greats and the Average Greats

It is interesting to see who has the most points, wins, and awards, in anything competitive. This year’s darling at the Oscars,

(English translation: ) boasts a director who has directed three movies so far. THREE! And two of them have been nominated for best picture at the Oscars, with one of them being the favourite to win thisyear. The third one, (2010) is no slouch either. It has a 90% on the a 6.2 on IMDb, and has 2 wins and 5 nominations in a varietyof film festivals. He has also written for (2013) and for one of my favourite 2016 movies,

His name is DamienChazelle. He is 32, but his IMDb pic looks like a twelve-year-old’s smiley yearbook photo. Perhaps he will become one of the greats.

He could also become one of the “average greats.” This doesn’t mean he would be “just average” as a director, but that perhaps he will have the best “batting average.” Kind of like John Cazale: he’d only ever been in 4 movies, but each one was nominated for best picture. Who will ever beat average??

So let’s have some fun and look and some of the greats of our time, and some “average greats.”

MOVIES Jack Nicholson has won 3 Oscars (plus 6 noms), but if you count all wins and nominations in any and all respected award shows and film festivals, he has 68 wins and 56 nominations. John Cazale (see above). William Wyler () has 3 awards with 12 nominations John Ford () has won 4 out of his 5 nominations (That’s an 80% win average!)

TELEVISION

Cloris Leachman (8 Emmys)I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… Audrey Hepburn! She is not only 6-time Oscar Nominee with 2 wins, she is also an Emmy winner. In fact, she’s one of the very few who managed to pull off an “EGOT.” She has won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards.

HOCKEYWayne Gretzky Chris Chelios (most playoff games at 266) and Henri Richard (most Stanley Cup wins at 11). And no, that’s not the Rocket. He’s Maurice. Henri is his brother Scottie Bowman. His # of wins (1,244) almost doubles that of the #2 through #7 spots. Tom Johnson with 74% win average (although this was only through barely 2 seasons and it was with the then-unbeatable Boston Bruins.

BASKETBALL Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with 38,387 career points.

Michael Jordan (can you believe I’m listing referring to his basketball career using the word “average”??) who average 30 points in every game he played.

PRO WRESTLING Though he’s far from my favourite, Ric Flair is often cited as the greatest and has been the World Heavyweight Champion 16 times, amoung other championships. However, the most decorated WWE wrestler is a guy most of you haven’t heard of: Raven with a staggering 32 titles. But to make this interesting again, two wrestlers with the highest win percentages are the Ultimate Warrior and El Torito (a “midget wrestler” who dressed like a bull).

I suppose there are more categories, especially in sports, but really… who cares about anything beyond the above, right?

Congratulations This is your week (perhaps in more ways than one).

And the Oscar goes to…

Best Actress:

 As you may recall, my pick is Natalie Portman, but for this week I’m going to go with Emma Stone. I just love every performance she gives.

Best Actor: Again, my call is Denzel Washington, though from what I’m hearing it’s going to go to Casey Affleck, who is deserving. So let’s go with him this week.

Best Quote: “With the world so set on tearing itself apart, it don’t seem like such a bad thing to me to want to put a little bit of it back together.” — Andrew Garfield as Desmond Doss in

I just finished watching and absolutely loved it. Here is how I would list the 8 of the 9 nominated movies that I have seen so far according to my own taste:

8. Fences

7. Moonlight 6. Hacksaw Ridge 5. La La Land 4. Hell or High Water 3. Manchester by the Sea 2. Lion 1. Arrival