My Take on the Oscars

Chris and I host and Oscars Party every year, and due to great company, this year was as fun as always.

But Hollywood's biggest night turned out to be an odd combination of the academy trying to fuse “young and hip” hosts with a large mix of older characters for balance. While I applaud the concept, as we all saw, it didn't work out so well. Half of it felt like an Oscars history lesson for those of us under the age of 50 who are expected not to know any of it paired with odd musical numbers and mashups supposedly appealing to a younger generation. Though despite the odd combinations, one of the funniest parts of the night for our group was Kirk Douglas' presentation of best supporting actress. “Colin Firth isn't laughing...He's British.” And Anne Hathaway tried to hold up her end of the “young and hip” bargain and gave a valiant effort with a few funny jokes thrown in the mix. But man, James Franco – total fail.

We all fill out ballots predicting the winners and we play Oscar's bingo where we mark off squares for things happening during the show. I particularly enjoyed the set of bingo cards that I found this year as it was tailored to this particular show and a good portion of the squares did happen – Music cutting someone off, A Facebook joke attempt, Christopher Nolan looking bitter, Someone looking bored (most notably the Cohen brothers). Though noticeably missing were Angelina Jolie looking pissed and Jack Nicholson wearing sunglasses. And it may not have been on the bingo cards – but I was thankful that we didn't have Ben Stiller doing something stupid – as he usually does.

Most of the winners were pretty predictable, and well spread out among the movies. However, I have seen a good portion of the big movies nominated, including The Fighter, True Grit, The King's Speech, Black Swan, The Kids are All Right, Inception, The Social Network, Toy Story 3 and I have to say, it was unfortunate that out of 10 nominations True Grit got snubbed on all of them. It deserved more recognition. And as much as I love Colin Firth, if Jeff Bridges hadn't won for Crazy Heart last year, then he would've won for True Grit this year. Another surprise was on Best Score – Hans Zimmer's score for Inception should have definitely taken this category.

One thing that they did right this year – having each of the nominated songs actually performed on their own– Yay Randy Newman! I hated when they took that part away in previous years.

Overall – even with the oddities, still a fun night, friends old and new! Thanks to all who joined us. :-)

3 Great Albums

So, while it was a rough start to the week, I'd like to plan on finishing it out on a strong note.  Music is always good for helping with this concept...

And I don't know about you, but I rarely find artists whose full albums I actually like.  Usually, I will hit up iTunes for a song here or there, but usually not entire albums.  But here are a few full albums that I am loving obsessed with right now.

Science and Faith By: The Script

Favorite Song: "For the First Time"

Losing Sleep By: Parachute

 

 

Favorite Song: "She is Love" - the acoustic version

Backatown By: Trombone Shorty

Favorite Song: "Something Beautiful"

Check these out, I promise you won't be sorry! 

Do you have any suggestions for artists' full albums?

Project Good Week - Week One: Shining City and Sushi

So now that I have gone through the busy CRAZY first week of the semester...I realized that these last four months are going to go by slowly. Though, I'm sure in four months I will be saying, Where did the time go?! But for now all my brain can think is – how can it only been week 2??

And it's not for lack of enthusiasm for my classes. I actually DO like the subject matter this semester. It's more just an overall lack of enthusiasm for running-around-all-over-the-place-doing-a-million-things-three-jobs-never-seeing-my-husband-and-still-broke.

That's where Project Good Week comes in. I have decided to make a conscious effort to find at least one thing to look forward to every week for the next 16 weeks. Somehow looking forward to something small makes plodding through each day a little easier. Of course, there are good things about everyday. But focusing just a little bit bigger will help, I believe. It's like making weight loss goals, you always gotta start with the small triumphs and then go from there.

So here's what I'm looking forward to this week:

• Shining City at B St Theater tonight! I saw it on Broadway about 5 years ago with Oliver Platt and it was great. Looking forward to seeing it again.

• Going to Taros for Sushi to watch the end of the Superbowl on Sunday with Chris after he gets off. They have happy hour all day. :-)

Look for another installment of Project Good Week sometime this weekend.

The Great Book Challenge of 2011

So I decided to up my book reading challenge to 25 for the year. See Below:

2011 Reading Challenge

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But this is going to include the novels that I will be reading for this last semester as well. These include:



My Antonia By: Willa Cather

Black Boy By: Richard Wright

Daisy Miller By: Henry James

Their Eyes Were Watching God By: Zora Neale Hurston

The Age of Innocence By: Edith Wharton

The Great Gatsby By: F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Sun Also Rises By: Ernest Hemingway

Catcher in the Rye By: JD Salinger



and possibly more... So that's 8 right there. :-)



Plus currently I am reading:
Room By: Emma Donnahue

Shopgirl By: Steve Martin - a re-read. One of my favorite books.

Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat who Touched the World By: Vicki Myron

 

Room is very good. I would highly recommend it to anyone. I will put a full review on here as soon as I finish it.

And Dewey is very sweet. Though Room is overshadowing it in my reading time right now, I hope to get back to it soon.





Pretty good start to the challenge though!



Other books I hope to read over the year include:

The Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50th Anniversary

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much By: Allison Hoover Bartlett

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn By: Betty Smith

Blackberry Wine By: Joanne Harris

Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant By: Daniel Tammet


Any suggestions for others to add to the list??

Golden Globes Recap

So, though the Golden Globes are not quite the affair party that the Academy Awards are at our house, it's still always fun to watch the awards and it also gives us a heads up for what/who is likely to show up next week as Oscar nominees. So take note friends who attend our annual Oscar's Party every year. Here are my thoughts/predictions:
Best Actress - Last night this went to Natalie Portman for Black Swan. I believe she will also easily take the Oscar for it. Though, she will probably be joined in nomination by Annette Benning from The Kids are All Right and Michelle Williams from Blue Valentine who also were excellent.


Best Actor - This one went to Colin Firth last night for King's Speech. Though he did a wonderful job in this movie as King George with a speech impediment, I also think Ryan Gosling was fantastic in Blue Valentine, and this may be a toss up at the Oscars. 


Best Supporting Actor - As I predicted, Christian Bale got this for his great performance as a crack addict in The Fighter. Geoffrey Rush was great in the King's Speech, but I really do believe Bale will also get the Oscar.

Best Supporting Actress - Melissa Leo got this for her role as the mother in The Fighter. But I think Mila Kunis was equally fantastic in Black Swan, so this may also be a toss up at the Oscars.


Best Director - Oddly, Social Network swept Director, Screenplay, and best drama at the Globes. While I thought it was a good movie, I was suprised it took this many considering what it was up against. I believe it will be different at the Oscars. Most likely going to Black Swan or The Fighter.



Screenplay - I agree with my dad on this one, the writer of The King's Speech really should take this one for the Oscars. He had to wait SO many years to have this movie made because the King's Family did not want his story shared until after death.


Best Score/Song - I don't have a huge opinion on this one...but I think that Inception's score by Hans Zimmer was probably better than Social Network's. But I plan to watch Social Network again before the Oscars. Song, Diane Warren may take it again for Burlesque.



The Special Effects Catagories (Cinematography, Sound Editing, Visual Effects, Etc.) - I imagine a lot of these catagories will go to Inception.



Best Animated Film - Toy Story 3 was fantastic and should definitely get the Oscar as well. No matter your age, you have to see Toy Story 3!



Best Picture - This, I was very shocked again went to Social Network. Maybe it was because Fighter, King's Speech, and Black Swan were all based more on the acting roles than the movie/storyline as a whole? I think that Blue Valentine also should have entered this catagory. Maybe it will for the Oscars. It's a really tough call this year because there were so many excellent movies! Also, last year there were 10 best picture nominees I believe, so if they do this again, I'm sure we will see movies like The Town, The Kids are All Right and Blue Valentine on the list.



As far as TV shows went at the Oscars, I'm glad that Glee got several nods and that Laura Linney won for Big C.

Movies I Recommend You Should See Before The Oscars!

In Theaters:

Black Swan

King's Speech

The Fighter

Blue Valentine

To Rent:

Social Network

Inception

Toy Story 3

The Town

The Kids are All Right

Movies I haven't seen but would like to before the Oscars:

Another Year

Rabbit Hole

Casino Jack

127 Hours

Nominations are next Tuesday 1/25 Morning!

And the 83rd Annual Academy Awards air Sunday, February 27th!



My Monday Night Project

Chocolate Cupcakes.

 

 

Simply because I could.  And while I am going to give most of them away so as to not sabotage my good workout habits...they were fun to make.  :-) 

My Wonderfully Normal Weekend

What a productive weekend. Productive in a way that kind of makes me sad...and that's only because I miss weekends like this and they just don't happen during the semester. And the dreaded semester is closing in on me. So thank god this is the last one starting here in a few weeks. Insert sigh scream of relief.

This weekend, I spent a quiet Friday evening by myself watching movies. Saturday I have to say was the most productive, I started out by going to both zumba and body pump at the gym. And although getting up before 7am on a Saturday morning was terribly hard to do, it was most definitely worth it. Not being able to hold up my hair dryer this morning proves it! Then I spent some birthday money buying two new pairs of smaller jeans - Thanks Zumba! - as well as some super on sale shoes. :-) I finished my afternoon by visiting both whole foods and trader joes for groceries, cleaning the house, and making dinner for my lovely husband. Here I also discovered my new favorite snack - sourdough toast with marscapone cheese and honey. Yum! These may seem like mundane things to most people, but because my weekends are typically filled with unimaginable amounts of homework and overall busyness, sometimes it's just nice to be mundane once in a while. We also watched Paranomal Activity...which I have to say wasn't all that scary. Fourth Kind was much scarier...Paranormal just got all the hype.


Sunday including cleaning out and organizing a closet that was LONG overdue, laundry, a Degrassi marathon (only my childhood friends get the excitement of this), a little bit of studying for the government exam I am trying to take to pass out of a class for next semester, followed by cooking dinner with the hubby, Pinkberry and watching the new showtime show - Shameless - which we both think is going to be a good show. :-)


So there you have it, boring as it may sound, it was just nice to feel like a normal person having a normal, but lovely weekend.


Now this week it's on to the new job - 3rd job that is - and then 2 weeks till back to school.

Also on the schedule: seeing two friends I haven't seen in a while, one for cooking together, one for ice skating. Girls night in - fondue included Friday! Then dinner out and seeing Blue Valentine with Chris Saturday, and Sunday going to SF for a meeting and lunch with daddy.


Busy but fun week, here we go!