The Academy Awards of Kevin Bacon

The winners from last night night's Academy Awards were all 2 degrees or less from Kevin Bacon (thanks to FindTheBacon.com for doing all the legwork):

• Best Actor: Colin Firth -> Where the Truth Lies -> Kevin Bacon
• Best Actress: Natalie Portman -> Mars Attacks! -> Jack Nicholson -> A Few Good Men -> Kevin Bacon
• Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale -> Pocahontas -> Gary Sinise -> Apollo 13 -> Kevin Bacon
• Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo -> Red State -> Kevin Pollak -> A Few Good Men -> Kevin Bacon

The other nominees and their degrees:
Best Actor:

• Javier Bardem -> Collateral -> Tom Cruise -> A Few Good Men -> Kevin Bacon.
• Jeff Bridges -> Arlington Road -> Tim Robbins -> Mystic River -> Kevin Bacon.
• Jesse Eisenberg -> The Squid and the Whale -> William Baldwin -> Flatliners -> Kevin Bacon.
• James Franco -> Mother Ghost -> Kevin Pollak -> A Few Good Men -> Kevin Bacon.

Best Actress:

• Annette Bening -> Mars Attacks! -> Jack Nicholson -> A Few Good Men -> Kevin Bacon.
• Nicole Kidman -> Days of Thunder -> Tom Cruise -> A Few Good Men -> Kevin Bacon.
• Jennifer Lawrence -> X-Men: First Class -> Kevin Bacon.
• Michelle Williams -> Synecdoche, New York -> Dianne Wiest -> Footloose -> Kevin Bacon.

Best Supporting Actor:

• John Hawkes -> American Gangster -> Josh Brolin -> Hollow Man -> Kevin Bacon.
• Jeremy Renner -> Mission: Impossible IV -> Tom Cruise -> A Few Good Men -> Kevin Bacon.
• Mark Ruffalo -> In the Cut -> Kevin Bacon.
• Geoffrey Rush -> The Life and Death of Peter Sellers -> John Lithgow -> Footloose -> Kevin Bacon.

Best Supporting Actress:

• Amy Adams -> Catch Me If You Can -> Tom Hanks -> Apollo 13 -> Kevin Bacon.
• Helena Bonham Carter -> Novocaine -> Kevin Bacon.
• Hailee Steinfeld -> True Grit -> Josh Brolin -> Hollow Man -> Kevin Bacon.
• Jacki Weaver -> Cosi -> David Wenham -> 300 -> Michael Fassbender -> X-Men: First Class -> Kevin Bacon.

You and Everyone You Know Is Crazy

Not just crazy, fucking insane.

When I was younger, I remember staring at my friends and classmates, how they acted, and thinking about why they did crazy things. I was thinking about how normal I was acting, and nuts the people were around me.  Sure, it might have been a little pompous, but it worked for me, and I'm sure it worked for many others as well.

I am a bit older now. I've had a few more relationships, and I've come to the realization that I'm just as crazy as everyone else, and I have been for a long time. Crazy is all around us. Men think women are crazy. Children think parents are crazy.  You think that guy in the car ahead of you is crazy. And it turns out, we're all crazy.

That's because everything I do in my day to day life is normal to me.  And I bet you have the same feelings about what you do.  But it's not. I think what you're doing is insane. And you should be thinking the same about me. Knowing that everyone around you is mad as a hatter keeps you on your toes.  It keeps you from predicting what will happen next.

There's nothing wrong with our crazy. It's there, so we should figure out a way to deal with it.  In fact, I enjoy talking and hanging out with some of the craziest people I have ever met.  What I've come to realize about every relationship I've had is that in order for it to continue, I need to keep three things in mind:

• I'm crazy. And I need to recognize that fact, and use it to my advantage.
• The other person is crazy.  They think about things in a crazy way and will act in an even crazier manner.
• The other person either doesn't know that either of us is crazy, or knows that everyone is crazy.  Most people I meet fall into the latter category.

When I think about all my relationships, the ones that I still have seem to flourish on these three basic principles. And like I said before, all of this lunacy is a good thing. Because the main reason I think you're crazy, is because your ideas are so completely alien to me.  When you let your crazy out, I begin to see and understand things in a very different way.  It is a way I would never see in my normal life. And that's the irony of it all.  The people from our relationships make us more crazy, which in turn makes us all feel a little more sane.