Even if the big show doesn’t take place because of the Writers Strike, you can still enjoy TCM’s annual “31 Days of Oscar” event, which kicks off Friday, Feb. 1. Turner Classic Movies will show 350 Oscar-winning movies during the month including daytime “theme” events. In primetime, Mondays will feature movies from the 1920s and 1930s; Tuesdays, flicks from the 1940s; Wednesdays, movies from the 1950s; Thursdays, movies from the 1960s; Fridays, movies from the tremendous 1970s; Saturdays, flicks from the 1980s and Sundays, movies from the 1990s on.
If the Academy Awards go on as scheduled, thanks to a resolution of the strike, they will take place on Sunday, Feb. 24, 8pm, on ABC.
Here are a few flicks I’m planning to watch (or record) during week one:

Fri. Feb. 1, 10:15pm The Hospital, a satire starring George C. Scott
Sat., Feb. 2, 4:15pm 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
6:30pm: War of the Worlds
11:15pm Atlantic City
Sun., Feb. 3 8pm, Sense and Sensibility
Tues. Feb. 5, 12:15pm, The 400 Blows
6pm, The Sterile Cuckoo
Wed. Feb. 6, 7am Five Star Final
8:30am, The Front Page
Thurs. Feb. 7, 3:15am The Reivers
3:15pm A Farewell to Arms

For the complete schedule, check out the TCM website

I had the great pleasure of interviewing Trace Adkins for my cover story in the 1/24 issue of AC Weekly. It is always a pleasure to chat with Adkins because he has something to say. He is also a talented singer and entertainer. I was able to enjoy his musical side at his concert at the Taj Jan. 26.
Donald Trump was not in the house to see his Celebrity Apprentice co-star, and he missed a great show. The show opened with Justin Moore, a raw talent who will benefit from the tour experience. He finished up his set with a song any country fan would love, “I Could Kick Your Ass.”
Opening act number two is further along on his journey to stardom, Luke Bryan. Bryan did a solid set culled from his debut album I’ll Stay Me, including the title track, “Hey I’m A Country Man,” “We Rode In Trucks” and his current smash hit, “All My Friends Say.” Check out the video of the latter here.
When Trace arrived on the scene the only thing that dwarfed his 6’6’’ frame was the jumbo video screen behind him that shows some video cuts as he sung a bunch of his biggest hits. After his sporting analogy double shot of “I’ve Got My Game On” and “Swing,” Trace kept the party going with “Songs About Me,” “(This Ain’t) No Thinkin’ Thing,” “Every Light In The House” and “I Left Something Turned On At Home.” Some of my personal favorites include “I Wanna Feel Something,” “Rough and Ready” and “Ladies Love Country Boys.”
He finished up the evening with “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” and 38 Special’s “Rockin’ Into The Night.”

I just received my presidential primary sample ballot on in the mail, featuring all the front-runners as well as the also-rans. I hope Fred D. Thompson returns to his acting career and that Ron Paul continues to try and prove he’s really a republican. Mike Huckabee and John Edwards are intelligent, capable politicians and Rudy peaked way too soon.
As for the big three — John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama — Super Tuesday is looking very interesting indeed. New Jersey is a shared delegate state, meaning that if Obama and Clinton are tied, they split the delegates. According to thegreenpapers.com, “70 district delegates are to be allocated proportionally to presidential contenders based on the primary results in each of 20 ‘delegate districts.’

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The Borgata’s new 43-story, $400 million hotel tower, dubbed The Water Club, isn’t opening until later this year, but you can take a virtual tour of the amazing looking facility at the new Water Club Web site.
In other related recent developments, it was announced last week that Chef Geoffrey Zakarian, of the acclaimed Country and Town restaurants in New York City, has been hired to oversee all food and beverage hospitality for the spa, pool, special events and in-room dining at The Water Club.
The Water Club is slated to open in Summer 2008.

Thanks to an e-mail from AC Weekly sports contributer Bill Gelman, we have learned that Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall is bracing for a huge fight in April.

The City of Atlantic City should be deliberate in its on-going discussions about how to sell the Bader Field property and to whom. The recent offer from casino and racetrack operator Penn National Gaming Inc. for $800 million sounds like an attempt to push the city into going for the first offer on the table. Penn National is in the middle of being sold, which could make for an unstable situation. Of course the offer sounded good, especially the $50 million to give the city property tax relief for the coming property reassessment on local residents.

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On top of the news that 25-year-old Brad Renfro had died last week, and the shocking news about Heath Ledger, was the news that two wonderful actresses from TV and film have lost their battle with lung cancer.
Suzanne Pleshette, 70, and Lois Nettleton, 80, were not major stars, although Pleshette was better known thanks to her early film career, and later, her run on The Bob Newhart Show. To those of us who grew up in the ’60s, Pleshette and Nettleton were familiar faces from numerous TV appearances.

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It is always a shock when one of the young and beautiful people dies. Heath Ledger, 28, who recently finished playing The Joker in The Dark Knight and was making another film, was found dead in his apartment in New York Tuesday. While it has not been confirmed, several media outlets have reported that there were pills scattered on the floor around him. If he did indeed die from pills, either on purpose, or by accident, what a tragedy. He has a little girl by his estranged girlfriend Michelle Williams. We won’t find out for some time what the real story was behind this death, but it made me think immediately of River Phoenix and his senseless death. Heath Ledger has fought his entire career against being stereotyped as a pretty boy despite his good looks. He proved he had serious acting chops with his wonderful performance in Brokeback Mountain.
This really sucks.

I did pretty well with my Oscar nomination predictions. I’m shocked and delighted that Jason Reitman was nominated for best director for Juno, and sorry that none of the supporting actors joined Ellen Page as nominees. Laura Linney’s nod for The Savages over Angelina Jolie was a welcome surprise. I was also surprised that Cate Blanchett was nominated for best actress for Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Her nomination for supporting actress for I’m Not There was a given. I was correct on all five best picture nods and best supporting actor. You can check out my predictions elsewhere on this blog site. For the complete list of Academy Award nominations, go here.
Pictured above is Daniel Day-Lewis from There Will Be Blood opening this Friday in the Atlantic City area.

Harrah’s has announced that as part of the casino’s ongoing $550 million expansion, it is opening the “Taste of the Shore” in February. Located on the first floor of the property’s soon-to-open Waterfront Tower, the new food complex will offer food and snacks from Walt’s Original Primo Pizza; Sack O’ Subs; Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream; Philly Soft Pretzels; and Starbucks. The latter is opening in June.
The best part of that news is the Sack O’ Subs. While the legendary White House has always been the best known sub shop in town, I’ve always preferred the subs made by the cousins of the White House owners, the Sacco family at Sack O’ Subs.
In addition, Harrah’s new Reflections 24-hour café will open as part of the food emporium. The food emporium and Reflections café will be located adjacent to The Pool at Harrah’s. Pictured is a rendering of the Waterfront Tower.