Oscar ranting and other tidbits.

And here is where I chatter and bitch about the Oscars, and throw in some other random junk at the end.



Belated congrats go out to Kathryn Bigelow, the Academy Award winning director of this year's winner of Best Picture - The Hurt Locker. Sunday night she became the first female director to win an Oscar. Can I hear a Woot Woot!!

By the way, I did see The Hurt Locker and it was, quite frankly, intensely terrific. It can't not affect you. Pardon the double negative but it's well worth the praise.

Oh, and another special shout out to Bigelow for one-upping her former husband and maker of all things blue and silly, James Cameron. His Avatar was up for Best Picture and he was in the running for director as well. Guess there's a "queen of the world" right about now.
And I have two words for Avatar. Popcorn film.
Two more: Sorry Jim.

Still in the Avatar vein... what the hell was she thinking??? I can't even begin to comment on that. I will say I enjoyed her performance in Star Trek.

And how nice for Sandra Bullock. Much as I like some of her movies I've never thought of her as an Oscar-worthy actress. But I guess she is. And you'd better recognize - or Jesse James will come kick your ever-lovin' ass.

And Jeff Bridges - Dude! He's deserved one of the gold statues for awhile. I haven't seen Crazy Heart yet, but I'm sure it's great. My favorite JB role is, of course, Seabiscuit.

While I'm still ranting about the Oscars (and here comes a big one folks), can I just say that while I appreciated the ode to horror movies I do have a few complaints. First off - the presenters of the clip were Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner of Twilight fame!! Okay, here's the thing. One last time. Twilight, New Moon, and all other forthcoming Stephenie Meyer adaptations are not horror. They are teen angst. Among other reasons, there are no fangs on the vamps and there is no blood. And waaaaaay too much brooding. Not horror. And yes, I feel I AM a horror expert, so you can trust me on that.

Second annoying little piss-off? The Academy forgot about Silence of the Lambs sweeping the Oscars back in 1992. The statement was made that it had been over thirty years since horror was recognized - back when The Exorcist had ten nominations and won two Oscars. Excuse me?
The Silence of the Lambs won five - taking the win in all the major categories including Best Picture. Obviously people like Eli Roth and Quentin Tarentino are not Academy members, or this glaring error would have been corrected. Come to mention it - why didn't those two start the horror clip off???

That being said, the clip wasn't bad but it showed way too much of the same thing. Too much Psycho, The Shining, and (for the love of all that is good and sacred) Texas Chainsaw 4!! While The Shining and Psycho are two of the most worthy additions to be sure, I can't see why we could have had one clip of each and moved on to some of the glaring omissions I noticed. For instance - NO VINCENT PRICE! Sacrilege! NO ITALIAN HORROR! No Argento, no Bava, no Fulci. NO ROGER CORMAN - who incidentally picked up an honorary Lifetime Achievement Academy Award AT THAT VERY CEREMONY not an hour beforehand! NO HAMMER HORROR! At least not that I saw. For God's sake, throw me a bone here.

Instead, they gave us one too many clips of the worst chapter in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre film history just because Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey starred in it (which I'm sure they were super-glad to acknowledge!) and a clip of Jennifer Aniston (pre-nose job) in the stellar film, Leprechaun! I know it's nearly St. Patrick's Day and all, but pleeaaase!

Anyway, here's the clip if you missed it, starting out with a cute Paranormal Activity spoof by hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. And it completely cut out the bad intro by the New Moon stars, so mega-kudos there.



Now...perhaps on to other, less histrionic complaints.

Anyone else slightly disturbed by the influx of natural disasters lately? I'm beginning to think the Mayans may be correct and things are getting geared up. When's the last time you can remember this many killer earthquakes happening so close together? Haiti? Chile? Another one yesterday in Turkey and one hit this morning off the coast of Hawaii. And of course then we have the heinous tsunamis that follow. And all this after the biggie in Sumatra in late 2004. Seems like since that event, things have went downhill. If you factor in all the horrific hurricanes we've had in the last several years (esp. Katrina) you have to wonder if someone is trying to tell us something. So far, this year has been awful. I'm so not looking forward to hurricane season.
As I write this, I notice a massive tornado has hit in Oklahoma. I don't even want to talk twisters. Greensburg, Kansas anyone?

So, Ben Roethlisberger has gotten himself all lawyered up for his most recent legal woes. Who does he hire? None other than the same attorney that defended Ray Lewis back in 2000 for his murder trial. Oh wow, talk about making yourself look guilty, dude. Sounds like it's all "make this go away" to me.
Guess we'll see.

Betty White is going to do Saturday Night Live! Yay! After a viral internet campaign she was apparently asked and has agreed to go on SNL. I'm making a prediction that it will be one of the most-watched-ever episodes! She's hil-arious!





A question has arisen in my mind and I just have to ask. Why do so many women carry such immensely HUGE purses? This has baffled me for some time and I figured I might as well ask.
For example: I have a co-worker that carries a handbag the size of Rhode Island. When I ask her what the hell is in there, she says "stuff". No kidding. But what stuff?
This reminds me of a great segment from The Breakfast Club which I must share.




So, after that - I still ask. What the HELL do you women carry? I mean, as for me, I simply have my wallet, a pen, a pack of gum, some Excedrin, sunglasses, chapstick, and a tampon! And there's still room for my keys. If I had a cell phone, it'd fit as well. Small purse. Not shoulder-crushing heavy or the least bit hernia inducing.

I mean, what the f*** else do you need to have with you? The menu for the House of Hunan? No! Toss it! A bag of 100 calorie mini-oreos? No! Get rid of it. (Well, unless you're diabetic in which case I'll give you a pass.) Mini calendar? Why? Are you really that likely to need to know when Aunt Eunice's birthday is while you're at your kid's soccer practice? If you're that forgetful you mustn't care too much for Auntie in the first place. Speaking of kids - if you've got a diaper (clean or dirty) in there then you are just beyond the scope of my gross-out factor. How about that umbrella you've got shoved in there? How much of you is it going to cover anyway? Wear a hood. Those dog treats in the outside pocket? Unless you're a postal carrier I say ditch 'em. And if your purse is big enough that you're shoving a change of clothes in there? Get a freakin' duffle bag and carry it when you need it. Are you accident prone or something?
I'm just sayin'.

Okay, I'm done ranting.

Just one more thing. Welcome home (well, to their home in Alaska!) to my cousin Jackie's hubby, Aaron - who just got home from another tour in Afghanistan. Thank you, and we're glad you're home safe!!!

Thoughts on Oscar

I'm a little late with my Oscar rant, but hey - such is life.



So, the 81st Academy Awards were on sunday.
As I expected (along with anyone who has seen any awards shows this entire season) - the movie to win Best Picture was 'Slumdog Millionaire'.



No, I haven't seen it.
And no, I really don't have a clue what it's about....something regarding a poor Indian dude who both falls in love and wins a gameshow or something.
Sounds like afternoon television at its best, eh? Game shows and love. Ahhh....
Oh, I'm sure it's a good movie. It better be.


Our lovely host was the Sexiest Man Alive.
No, really.

Hugh Jackman was an apt host, I thought. Much more fun to look at for three and a half hours than say, Whoopie Goldberg or David Letterman, right?

I was in favor of a few other changes they had during the show as well, including when five previous winners came on stage and spoke directly to each nominee. I thought that was appropriate simply because the acting awards are what people actually watch the show for.
Sorry, makeup and documentary short...

I liked the opening montage of songs by Jackman, which kinda hearkened back to the Billy Crystal days...(shedding a tear here) Nowhere near as brilliant as that, but a start.

I also thought the stage looked better than it ever has. The in-the-round effect was much more personable than the stiff theater style that was the norm for so long.

Loved, loved, LOVED the skit by James Franco and Seth Rogen of them reprising their Pineapple Express stoner roles. Them watching clips of some of the best comedies of the year actually made me laugh out loud. More than once.

Liked seeing nervous nelly Robert Pattinson presenting. But hey, that's just me.

And I thought the Jimmy Kimmel commercial with Tom Cruise was freakin' hysterical. Hope you caught it.

Now for the bad stuff :(

Didn't like Queen Latifa singing 'I'll be seeing you' over the In Memoriam pictures. Matter of fact, I hated it. For one thing... dumb song to sing. No, you won't be seeing them. They're dead.
Also: with the cameras doing the wide-out (no offense Queenie), you couldn't even read the names on the screen behind her. I don't know what it was like at the Kodak Theater, but I can't imagine they could see it any better than us.

Hated the stupid production number in the middle of the show with Jackman and Beyonce (does she have to be every freakin' place these days or what?) and the stars of High School Musical (blah) and Mamma Mia. The hodge podge of musical themes being abruptly cut off every two seconds was choppy and poorly planned and executed. So yuck to that. And yuck to Beyonce's huge thunder thighs. Can someone please tell her she's not all that and a bag of potato chips.

And while they spent the time with that musical fluff (and folks, I do like musicals), they completely botched the musical score section - I didn't hear one fluent piece of a congruent tune in any of that crap. And original song? Don't get me started. I can't get past the fact that they snubbed Bruce Springsteen's original song for 'The Wrestler'. Bad academy, bad! Boo!

The winners.

Kate Winslet, Sean Penn, Penelope Cruz

I, for one, was truly psyched that Kate Winslet won Best Actress. I've been a long time fan of hers (yes, even before Titanic) and after 5 nominations, she was a most deserving winner.

And kudos to Penelope Cruz for Best Supporting Actress. She's been around for a long time and has worked hard to get where she is - one of the most respected actresses to come from outside this country. Best Spanish born actress ever, IMHO.

Sean Penn. Best Actor. What can I say? Superior acting skills all around.
Was a bit surprised that Mickey Rourke didn't win, but if he couldn't, then Sean is a worthy substitute.

I have not seen any of the films that these actors won for (The Reader, Vicky Christina Barcelona, Milk -respectively)...but I have, indeed seen Heath Ledger's Best Supporting Actor performance. A tour de force, as I have previously stated on this very blog.

His Joker was some of the best acting I have seen, and not just this past year.

It was heartwarming to see Heath's family accept his award so humbly. It had to be difficult for them.
And if there was anyone out there that actually believed Heath wouldn't win that Oscar, they should eat their shoe.

RIP Heath.

I wasn't too impressed with the fashions this year, but then again, I'm no fashionista myself.
But for me, best dressed (and winning 'most beautiful' as well) was 'Slumdog Millionaire's Freida Pinto.

Kate Winslet also looked nice.

But it seemed like pretty much everyone else was wearing white or a shade thereof.
Or in Angelina's case... a wicked black. Makes sense, right?

So anyway... that's my take.
Soon as I actually see any of the nominated films, I'll let you know.