My Annual Academy Award Predictions for 2012

Post your predictions in the comments and let's see who comes closest.

The Academy Awards are tomorrow, so I wanted to get posted my predictions. Before I do, however, I'll give you my personal favorite movies from these that I would highly recommend you see, if you haven't already: The Artists, The Descendants, Midnight in Paris, and Moneyball. Many of the others are also quite good (Iron Lady, Girl w/t Dragon Tattoo, The Help, Hugo, etc.) and definitely worth seeing, but the four I listed as my favorites this year should not be missed.

OK, so on to my predictions:

Best Picture

- The Artist - MY PREDICTED WINNER

- The Descendants

- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

- The Help

- Hugo

- Midnight in Paris

- Moneyball

- The Tree of Life

- War Horse

Best Actor

- Demian Bichir (A Better Life)

- George Clooney (The Descendants)

- Jean Dujardin (The Artist) - MY PREDICTED WINNER

- Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)

- Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

Best Actress

- Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)

- Viola Dais (The Help) - MY PREDICTED WINNER

- Rooney Mars (The Girl w/t Dragon Tattoo)

- Meryl Streep (Iron Lady)

- Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)

Best Director

- The Artist - MY PREDICTED WINNER

- The Descendants

- Hugo

- Midnight in Paris

- The Tree of Life

Best Supporting Actor

- Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)

- Jonah Hill (Moneyball)

- Nick Nolte (Warrior)

- Christopher Plummer (Beginners) - MY PREDICTED WINNER

- Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud & Incredible Close)

Supporting Actress

- Berenice Bejo (The Artist)

- Jessica Chastain (The Help)

- Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)

- Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)

- Octavia Spencer (The Help) - MY PREDICTED WINNER

I feel pretty good about my predictions, with the exception of Best Actor, that one could just as easily go to Clooney, so it was a close one for me there.

Think I'm off? I hope you'll post your predictions in the comments below (or email me with your picks), and we'll see who comes closest.

Kevin

Deja Vu - Mitt Romney Leads in Delegates, Wins, Votes & Money Raised

Mitt Romney won big in Florida last night. I'm happy about that, but not celebrating just yet, and here's why...

Below is a chart I put together that shows the situation currently, following tonight's Florida results.

Romney leads in delegates, wins, votes and money raised.

(Click to enlarge)

As you can see, Romney leads in Delegates, Wins, Votes and Money Raised. Looks pretty promising for Romney, no? Thing is, I made this same chart three years ago, in the 2008 Republican Primaries, and Mitt Romney was in an equally great spot this early on. In fact, after SIX states he was leading in all these same areas but McCain went on to win the nomination.

Here is the chart I made in 2008:

(Click to enlarge.)

See the similarities? They're amazingly stark.

Newt Gingrich has vowed to fight on, and being the historian that he is, why wouldn't he? He knows that if McCain could pull out form behing after 6 states, why can't he after only four?

I do believe there are a few differences this time around than in 2008, so I'm still encouraged that Romney will win. The first difference...in 2008 it was Romney and Huckabee splitting the vote to oppose the "next in line" (McCain), and that split vote is what ended up foiling Romney's chances. This time, however, Romney is the seeming next in line and it's Gingrich and Santorum splitting up the vote. I also believe Gringrich is much less liked than was McCain. Another difference, is Florida is included in the early states this time, and Romney won there, big. Lastly, the calendar for the next several states leans very favorably for Romney.

For these reasons, I still believe Romney will not only be the Republican Nominee, but will also go on to beat Barack Obama for the Presidency. But then again, I was saying the same thing in 2008. Time for all the Romney supporters to step it up and not start celebrating or backing off!

Kevin

What I've been up to the past few years

Some of you may be wondering what I've been up to the past couple of years. I'm proud to say that my company, Dating DNA, has become one of the top developers for Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices. We currently have around 40 apps in Apple's App Store, including many in the Top 40 of their respective charts, such as 3D Animations, CLIPish Pro Suite and Dating DNA.

Click here for a sampling of our more popular apps.

One of the top developers for Apple's App Store.

We have a small, but super talented team, with some of the brightest developers in this space. We're fortunate to have become so successful in this exciting space. Mobile app development is where thing are really happening, and I'm excited to be at the center of it. This is some of the most rewarding work I've ever been involved with. You're only limited by your imagination, and we have more ideas than hours in the day. Let's just say it keeps us all VERY busy, but with smiles on our faces.

Kevin

My First Annual X-Factor Predictions - Season 1 - 2011

As some of you know, each year I would make my predictions for who I thought would win American Idol and in what order I thought the contestants would be voted off. I also invited others to post their predictions in the comments or email them to me. We would then score our predictions each week as contestants were voted off. (Here were the predictions and score results for the AI predictions for the last four seasons: 2011 - 2010 - 2009 - 2008)

I've decided to do the same for the X Factor. Not sure how many of you who have participated in the AI predictions are also following the X Factor, so I may be the only one, but at least I'll be on record with my predictions here.

As I normally do with AI, I'm setting my predictions after the first performance night of the Top 12, which was last night.

Here are my predictions for this first season of the X Factor. As always, I'm not saying these are my PERSONAL favorites, but just how I think America will end up voting. (Although my top two predictions also happen to be my two favorites.) If you haven't been following X Factor, you can still hear how each of these artists sounds by clicking their photos below and sample 90 seconds of their songs from iTunes.

My predictions are:














Click arrow button to sample their performances.
#1 is my predicted winner, and #12 my
prediction as first to be voted off.

As with the American Idol seasons, email me with YOUR predictions or post them as a comment to this thread, and we'll use the same point system used in previous years with AI to see who is winning at the end of each week and how we all did by the end of the season. Don't worry if you miss sending me your predictions before they start voting people off this week, as the point system takes into account when you jumped in with your predictions with a penalty for jumping in late. (You can see the details of how the scoring works below.)

To make it easy to email or post your predictions, here are the contestant's names in text form, so you can easily cut, paste and move them around in the order you predict.

Melanie Amaro
Astro
LeRoy Bell
Marcus Cante
Rachel Crow
Drew
Stacey Francis
Stereo Hogzz
Intensity
Josh Krajcik
Lakoda Rayne
Chris Rene

Let's see who has the golden ears and can spot what America likes.

Kevin

SCORING POINT SYSTEM: Every week, you get 1 point for every number off you were for where someone would be voted off. For example, if you predict Astro will make it to #2, but he gets voted off #4, then you get 2 points. If you guess it smack on, you get no points. Like Golf, the LOWEST SCORE WINS.

BONUS POINTS: Top Three Bonus: You get to deduct 1 bonus point for each of the top three contestants you correctly guessed. Top Two Bonus: You get to deduct 3 bonus points if you guessed the Top 2 correctly. Winner Bonus: You get to deduct 5 bonus points if you predict the winner. (This can matter, so think hard on your top 3!)

PENALTY POINTS FOR LATE ENTRANTS: All predictions must be in BEFORE the performances this Thursday night (November 3rd). If you're predictions come in after that time, you are penalized 4 points OR the maximum points anyone else was off for the first round (when they vote off #12), whichever is higher. If you miss the first two rounds, you are penalized 8 points OR the maximum points anyone else was off for the second round (when they vote off #11), whichever is higher. No more entries after the first two rounds and we are down to 10 contestants.

Court Finds Michael Robertson Liable for Copyright Infringement...Again

Robertson is up to his usual copyright infringement tricks. As per the New York Times...

"On Monday, Judge William H. Pauley III of United States District Court in Manhattan ruled that MP3tunes could be held liable for contributory infringement...and that Mr. Robertson was liable for infringing tracks he stored on his own account. The case will now go to a trial to determine damages, which could run to tens of millions of dollars." ~ New York Times, August 22, 2011

Of course, Robertson is spinning this as a victory. Really? I'm not sure in which universe being found liable for contributory infringement which could end up in tens of millions of dollars in damages is a victory, but ummm, ok. I guess having destroyed MP3.com with copyright infringement just wasn't enough for Robertson, he now will be destroying MP3tunes as well (not that anyone really uses that service =).

Kevin

Michael Robertson Tries To Spin His Attacks on Former Employees

Robertson blew over a half million dollars unsuccessfully

attacking Linspire Employees, who ended up ahead $217,000.

UPDATE:  For an updated Scoreboard, read here.

As I predicted earlier in this blog, Robertson is taking his massive losses in the courts and trying to spin it as a victory for himself. He lost hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking innocent employees, yet in his most recent Michael's Minute, he tries to justify his greedy behavior by pointing to the few counts that went in his favor, but of course, he leaves out the DOZENS of counts that didn't go his way.

I'm proud of the small amount of damages awarded against me as I fought for the innocent employees. The time, energy and money I spent was DEFENDING good people, and trying to see employees treated with some respect, where as Robertson spent over a half million dollars attacking them. In the end, the court OVERWHELMINGLY sided with the wrongfully accused employees, but you'd never know that reading Robertson's blog.

Some of you have emailed me asking for my response to Robertson's latest Michael Minute, so I'll just refere you to my earlier blog. It gives the FULL story, including what the Judge had to say on the matter. In his final ruling, Judge Taylor summarized the jury's findings, highlighting that all of the funds transferred were authorized, all the employment agreements valid, and that not one penny of money was taken from Linspire inappropriately. Judge Taylor stated that the ONLY portion of Linspire's claim that had "any merit" was that I and the CFO had a fiduciary duty to have informed Robertson when I laid off the CFO (this is what got called by the scary terms fraud and conspiracy). Judge Taylor points out that the jury was fine with my authority in letting the CFO go as well as the severance amount the CFO received and how he received it. Taylor states that the jury simply felt I should have informed Robertson immediately after I laid the CFO off, not a week later. (View full ruling here, summary on page 13.)

Don't just take my word about the REAL Michael Robertson, visit Freespire.com and read the comments from dozens of people who know and have worked with Robertson.

The bottom line is Robertson spent huge amounts of money attacking innocent employees, while I spent my energy defending them, not taking one dime for myself. Oh, and of course, the Linspire shareholders are still waiting to hear from Robertson what happened to their investment.

Kevin

PS: Not surprisingly, given the source =), there were several blatantly false statements in Robertson's blog, which I have pointed out to him.

Thanks for Helping Expose the REAL Michael Robertson at Freespire.com

I wanted to thank the dozens of you who have stepped forward and shared your comments about your personal experiences with Michael Robertson on the Freepsire.com site. Having one site where people can read so many stories from those who have personally been involved with Robertson, is proving to be a great resource for those considering any kind of relationship with Michael Robertson.

Most of the people I know wouldn't have even one or two people share such comments about them, and yet with Robertson, Freespire.com lists several dozen people with comments about him. As the saying goes, "Where there's smoke, there's fire."

Freespire.com's mailing list has made it very easy for anyone considering getting involved with Robertson to first contact those who have had dealings with him previously. Our mailing list has grown to several dozens of names (with contact information) of people who prospective employees, investors, vendors and partners can contact before deciding if they want to have any dealings with Robertson. I have received emails from those of you who have said the site did in fact help you in your information gathering. Everyone I heard from ultimately decided to back away from dealing with Robertson after doing their research. I'm glad the site is helping inform those who are doing their due diligence on Robertson.

Thanks also to those of you who have voluntarily contributed funds to Freespire.com's Google advertising program, to make sure that those doing research on Michael Robertson using Google, get a chance to learn about Freespire.com and the many Robertson stories shared there. (Enough has already been donated to keep that campaign going for over a year!)

If you have a Robertson story that you'd like to share at Freespire.com, just email us.

Thanks,

Kevin