Oscar Predictions 2K11

Snow day. I still have a ton of work to do, including studying for my now postponed math test. Blah. So this will be a quick, raggedy post.

FWSF PRESENTS: OSCAR PREDICTIONS

• Best Picture: The Social Network
• Best Director: David Fincher
• Best Actor: Colin Firth
• Best Actress: Natalie Portman (although I'm not that confident)
• Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale
• Best Supporting Actress: Idealistically, Hailee Steinfeld; Realistically, Melissa Leo
• Best Foreign Film: In A Better World
• Best Animated Film: Toy Story 3
• Best Documentary: Exit Through the Gift Shop
• Best Original Screenplay: Inception (I really have no idea)
• Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network
• Best Editing: The Social Network
• Best Visual Effects: Inception
• Best Song: The one from 127 Hours (I am not familiar with any of these songs, not even the one from TS3)
• Best Score: Idealistically, Inception or How to Train Your Dragon (or Black Swan which wasn't nominated); Realistically, The Social Network
• Best Cinematography: True Grit 
• Best Sound Mixing: Inception
• Best Sound Editing: Inception
• Best Costume Design: The King's Speech (c'mon, this is the Oscars, it HAS to be a period drama) (also why was Black Swan deemed ineligible?!?!)
• Best Art Direction: Inception
• Best Makeup: The Wolfman (or maybe Barney's Version which made me scream, "THAT'S Dustin Hoffman?!")
• Best Live Action Short: The Confession (no clue)
• Best Animated Short: Day & Night (easily; one of the best Pixar shorts ever)
• Best Documentary Short: Killing in the Name

Let's see how I do when the Oscars air on February 27th. What do YOU think?

Oscar Nominations 2K11: To Rage Or Not to Rage

You know how Chinese New Year is in February? And how the Jewish New Year is Rosh Hashanah? Well, MY New Year is on Oscar Night. I live for the awards season, and specifically the Academy Awards. A year doesn't really start until you know what the best movie of the previous one was, and so my 2011 doesn't start until February 27th.

Yesterday the Oscar nominations were announced. Yesterday was like my Christmas. I basically have two Christmases, okay? Or three, because of Chanukah. Heck yeah, mixed-religious parenting! Usually award nominations make me pretty upset, but this list seems pretty fair. Let's get on with it, shall we? We shall:

BEST PICTURE

• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King's Speech
• 127 Hours
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter's Bone

There are ten nominees again, obviously. Yay? Not really. The reasoning behind the expansion of this most important category was that, hey! Now we can arbitrarily nominate stupid movies that stupid people liked so that we can actually get some people to watch for once! Like The Stinking Blind Side AKA Proving to Us White Folks Once Again That Black People Are Good For Nothing Except Sports! Starring Sandra Bullock's Wig! (Seriously, that was a wig, right? Just awful.) However, how many of these movies did normal people actually see? Toy Story 3, Inception, and I guess The Social Network? So, congratulations on really capturing that teen girl audience, Oscars. At least you can always count on me watching!

That aside, no real surprises here except for Winter's Bone. I had heard it was really good, and that Jennifer Lawrence's performance in particular was award-worthy, but I didn't expect to see it nominated for Best Picture, of all things. I was also mildly taken aback by 127 Hours, if only because the press machine died kind of early on for that one. I really want to see that movie. Man. Anyway, yes, sound list, sound list. I'm especially pleased that Toy Story 3 made it up there. I love. that. movie. so. much.

BEST ACTOR

• Javier Bardem, Biutiful
• Jeff Bridges, True Grit
• Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
• Colin Firth, The King's Speech
• James Franco, 127 Hours

Boring except for the inclusion of Julia Roberts-sanctioned Javier Bardem. That guy rules, so I'm okay with it. When was the last time one of our best acting nominees was nominated for their part in a foreign film? I think Marion Cotillard back with La Vie en Rose, and she won for that. Cool. I know that Colin Firth has this one in the bag but I'm happy that Jesse Eisenberg and James Franco, who is also hosting and is really, really weird, just saying (this is not to say I don't like him because I do, because who doesn't?), got nom'd, although I'm not surprised. Sort of sorry to see Ryan Gosling left out but his voice bugs me. I still need to see Blue Valentine and pretty much every other movie nominated in some way.

BEST ACTRESS

• Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
• Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
• Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
• Natalie Portman, Black Swan
• Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

This list is extremely boring. I have literally nothing to say about it. I think I'm doing a predication post tomorrow or Friday and that's where this category will get semi-interesting. But for now, yawn.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Christian Bale, The Fighter
• John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
• Jeremy Renner, The Town
• Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
• Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

John Hawkes came out of nowhere to steal a place from one of the deserving Social Network guys, i.e. Andrew Garfield (or Armie Hammer, who kind of looks like the notoriously pandering "critic" Ben Lyons, doesn't he?). Other than that, I'm pretty neutral here. I didn't see The Town so I guess I don't have any right to criticize it, but it really looked a lot like junk. Marketing campaigns are generally terrible if your movie isn't called The Blair Witch Project or The Dark Knight or something, but if that movie was really one of the best of the year then they totally failed to convey that in the trailers. I think it really just had the Star Trek syndrome, as I call it: its consensus was extremely, maybe absurdly, high because no one found it particularly offensive in anyway. Good but not nearly as outstanding as its Tomato-meter would make it out to be. Regardless, I'm sure previous Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner is deserving.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Amy Adams, The Fighter
• Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
• Melissa Leo, The Fighter
• Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
• Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

I am seriously nodding off. Nothing shocking here. Yay, Hailee Steinfeld. You're already more accomplished than me and the majority of people, and you were born in 1996. (Also apparently you are a quarter African-American, awesome!)

BEST DIRECTOR

• Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
• David. O. Russell, The Fighter
• Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
• David Fincher, The Social Network
• Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, True Grit

OUCH. No Christopher Nolan, man. For some reason I had forgotten that Inception was considered a contender, but as I watched the nominations live I realized, "Crud. They didn't call Christopher Nolan. This...will not go over well." And it hasn't. I read somewhere that Christopher Nolan could direct The King's Speech, but Tom Hooper couldn't direct Inception. I didn't see Speech, and I want to, but I can't see how that's anything but true. Inception worked because Christopher Nolan had a vision, and he was able to convey that vision quite well. The movie wasn't perfect but it was darn good, all because of Nolan. At least he got a screenplay nod.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• 127 Hours
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter's Bone

Toy Story 3, man. If that was in Original I think it would actually stand a chance. Even so, I like these picks. I can't explain it, I just do. Although Winter's Bone, I still don't quite get. I guess I have to see it. Was it based on a book, or?

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Another Year
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King's Speech

Seemed like a lot of people were banking on Another Year to get at least one more nod, like Best Actress. I believe that this is the only category it got. Whatever. I don't know what will win in this category. I guess we'll discuss that tomorrow, or Friday.

BEST ANIMATED PICTURE

• How to Train Your Dragon
• The Illusionist
• Toy Story 3

I think this category is perfect. Last year was pretty great for animation, and I wish that there had been enough eligible films for 5 nominations. I would have added Summer Wars and let Tangled sneak in or something. I love HTTYD and TS3, and I still need to see The Illusionist, but 2 out of 3 is pretty great.

So overall this year's nominations are pretty generic and inoffensive. Check back later this week for my predictions, where the real fun begins, hopefully.

"Going Ape, 1981!"

Bromance w/ Michael Cera, Tony Danza & Martin Starr from Michael Cera

Michael Cera, Martin Starr, and Tony Danza randomly get together for Michael Cera's birthday and go see a gallery show of paintings of comedians. Weirdness/hilarity ensues.

I like that Tony Danza made an Arrested Development reference. "I love that episode! 'There's always money in the banana stand!'" Good episode, that.

US Skins Review

First things first: I have another stinkin' snow day, which really screws me up, ugh. However, intelligently I am using this day to watch an episode of Community on-Demand. It's "Mixology Certification," and the episode is taking place on MY BIRTHDAY, December 3rd, and Troy's birthday is the day after mine! Yay!

This has thrown me off, plus I'm irritated, so this review will probably suck.

Anyway. Skins on MTV.

L to R: Chris, Daisy (Jal), Abbud (Anwar), Tea (Maxxie), Tony, Michelle, Stanley (Sid), Cadie (Cassie), Eura (Effy)

As I mentioned yesterday, I am a fan of the original British series; thus, it was hard not to let bias seep through as I watched last night's "Tony," which was essentially a remake of the very first episode of the original show. I didn't enjoy this pilot: let's get that out of the way. However, I didn't enjoy the original very much, either. The emphasis in both versions of "Tony" is on the intense partying and drug use that the characters participate in. This is undeniable; however, what I like about Skins is that the rest of the episodes focuses instead on character development, studying each character intimately. (Not in that sense.)

Those character study moments were absent from this episode. Characters were either broadly painted (Abbud, the new Anwar; Tony; Stanley aka Sid; even Effy who looked like a 28-year-old drug addict) or flat beyond belief. While this was obviously the pilot, from the previews they showed afterwards it didn't seem that the show was going to get much deeper.

Let's talk about some of the major differences to the characters, because even though this is a transplant largely word-for-word, there are some changes. The obvious one is that Maxxie is now a lesbian, Tea (I keep pronouncing that like the drink instead of Tay-uh, haha). While Tea is accepted into the group, like Maxxie was, it seems like she may not be out of the closet. This changes the character a bit, as Maxxie was out and proud, but because there was less drama there he faded into the background much of the time. Tea also reminds me more of a female Tony than a female Maxxie; Maxxie was sweet and sincere, not one to take authority. Tea seemed confident and strong; this should prove to be a big difference.

Michelle and Tea were similar, I think; Michelle in the British series seemed to live just for Tony's love, and wasn't a very strong-willed girl. The American Michelle was someone who, while watching, kept striking me as very "cool." Her being with Tony in a reciprocated relationship made more sense here, because Michelle was easily the coolest, strongest girl out of anyone we watched. You could see why Stanley liked her so much. (Also she's perfectly cast in that she kind of looks like the original Michelle, weirdly orange hair aside.) Speaking of Stanley, while Sid was a lovable loser who just wanted a girlfriend really, really badly, Stanley was a bland pothead. He was extremely boring, and you could tell that the director really wanted us to root for him. However, his actor was not able to sell me on the character; he failed to make an impression on me, much unlike Sid did.

The acting by everyone was terrible. Evey single one of them. I had read that Tony and Tea's actors were surprising standouts, but when I watched I found them to be just as terrible as everyone else. I'm not sure if it was the direction, the fact that they have to live up to the amazingly strong original cast, or if these kids are just that bad at acting, but at times it seemed like they had learned the dialogue phonetically. This could make sense; it's impossible to completely match the cadence of the original script, with its heavy usage of British slang (that weirdly enough they kept in; the scene when Chris acts for "skins" felt really, really false to me, more than everything else), so for some of them it was a struggle to keep up while the rest didn't even try.

Eventually the episode deviated from the original enough that I no longer had a point of comparison and was forced to watch the show for what it was. This is where I meet some kind of conundrum: at the end of the episode I decided that, had I not known what the rest of the (original) series was capable of in terms of plot and character, I would give up on this show and never watch it again. I really hated this episode; it was boring, I didn't like any of the characters, the acting was terrible, but what if I hadn't known some of the more interesting things that happened later on in the original show? What if I had given up on that after the pilot, too? Because the British pilot was similarly bad, although it was better in that the characters made immediate impressions on me, especially Tony whose cell phone scene in the original was one of my favorite moments in the entire show, just for how well he sold it. So should I keep giving this show a chance?

I might, but it doesn't look good. When your central character is so weak and uninteresting, what is there to stay for? Next week should be Cadie (the new Cassie)'s episode, and while the Cassie episode in the original was one of that series' best, that was partially because Cassie was a phenomenally-played character. Cadie? She just seems to be your typical angsty teen, only she's a little "weirder" and has also tried to kill herself multiple times. Cadie was one of the least intriguing characters in this episode. There was no air of mystery surrounding her (ETA: this is also true of the new Effy, Eura, who made me angry beyond belief despite her being in two scenes), and her budding relationship with Stan was abrupt and unbelievable. The scene with the two of them in the kitchen was one of the episode's worst.  Cassie was the most original character on the show; I'm struggling with how I could describe here. Cadie was one of the least compelling here. Differences like these water the US Skins down until it gets to the point where even taken as its own show it's not interesting.

I can see how American teens who haven't seen the original show can get into this; the cast is "pretty," the partying is kind of funny (although they totally ruined "Tabitha's," aka Abigail's, party which was another moment that made the show stand out to me in that first episode, as she had everyone take off their shoes as to not ruin her parents' new rug) and I guess maybe more realistic than parties shown in other shows, there's the promise of tons of relationship drama. But as an American teen who has seen the first two series of Skins, I can't say that there's any reason for me to continue to watch this.

I really did want to give this show the benefit of the doubt. I admit that I thought it looked terrible by virtue of MTV's involvement from the getgo, but I didn't want to hate it as much as I ended up doing. It really just was not my cup of tea, even if there's that small promise of it linearly following the plot of the original show (which I can assure you/me will not happen).

Skins gets one and a half Tony's singing wildly inappropriate songs to repressed schoolgirls out of 5.

Golden Globes Highlights, And More to Come

Last night were the Golden Globes. They were pretty terrible. Ricky Gervais hosted for I believe the second year in a row, and while he was extremely, brutally entertaining, the rest of the show? Meh.


 Here are some highlights and lowlights (but mostly lowlights, because the show was nonsense, as expected):

• Ricky Gervais' scathing opening monologue. I cringed many a time, as did everyone else in the audience. Okay, so Ricky was harsh. But did everyone have to take it so seriously? Who in that room honestly likes Tom Cruise? And it's not like Ricky even mentioned him by name or anything, so why the shock? And that joke at The Tourist's expense was awesome. No one in that room saw that movie other than Johnny Depp (who was probably asleep at the time) and Angelina Jolie (possibly on drugs). I'm sure that Brad Pitt didn't even want to watch it. (Oh, and let me just give a shout-out to everything else he said, including his closing line: "And thanks to God, for making me an atheist." Classic.)
  
  
• My sister and I screamed many, many times, but our loudest moments were: when Chris Colfer won Best Supporting Actor (I like the kid, his speech was great, and Kurt is the second-best singer on the show, but seriously? Seriously?); Jim Parsons successfully paying off the HFPA to give him yet another award that rightfully deserved to either Alec Baldwin or Steve Carell (did you see how excited and happy Steve Carell looked?! I WANTED TO HUG HIM. He deserves all the best); Glee winning Best Comedy/Musical (WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD IT IS NOT "BEST" ANYTHING UGH)
• Andrew Garfield stumbling over his words while trying to introduce The Social Network, which would go on to win Best Drama (something I am happy about). An "aww" was heard from coast to coast. Poor nervous little 28-year-old baby/future Spiderman.
• Funniest non-Brits there? Steve Carell and Tina Fey. I love those people, a lot, and they were appropriately hilarious. Okay, Ricky helped. And RDJ was apparently really funny? I wasn't paying attention during his extremely long speech about the Best Actress - Comedy category. Something about sleeping with the fabulous, blonde Emma Stone? Eh, whatever.
  
• Natalie Portman's speech was funny the first time, but watching it again it was a bit too precious. Speeches I liked: KATEY SEGAL YAAAY, Aaron Sorkin (as a self-appointed "smart girl" I will take his words to heart); Chris Colfer, as I mentioned earlier.
• Speaking of speeches: Robert De Niro! Yay for him. And I also enjoyed Matt Damon's introduction of him. Both Matt Damon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who introduced the ultimate loser Inception) should have been used way more liberally than they were. I didn't even realize they were there!
• Ricky's barb towards Tim Allen and his and Tom Hanks' comeback. He gave Tom Hanks an appropriately lengthy intro and then said "...and Tim Allen!" Tom Hanks said, "We remember when Ricky Gervais was a slightly chubby, very kind man." And Tim Allen said, "Neither of which he is now." See, I took that as a half-compliment, meaning he's no longer slightly chubby! Unless they meant now he's much chubbier. But either way, funny. Also they were talking about Toy Story 3 (the clip they showed for that made me tear up by the way, I love that movie so much) and Tim Allen said, "You are a strange, sad little man and you have my pity." BUZZ LIGHTYEAR QUOTES ARE THE BEST.

So this Globes was pretty terrible, but it's okay because I never expect anything less. Usually they serve as a decent predictor/precursor to the Oscars, but the categories were so nonsensical this year that I am still left satiating for January 25th, which is when Oscar noms are released! The Oscars have always been my favorite awards show, so expect much ranting and raving when the noms are out and the show is aired.

Speaking of ranting: tonight is the premiere of MTV's surely terrible Skins remake. I don't think I've mentioned this yet but I love the original Skins, the raunchy-yet-heartfelt British teen drama. Its first two seasons (or series in British language) were brilliant, and there is no way MTV will be able to top them. I will probably watch and report tomorrow with a scathing review, so get excited!

If you find, if you, if you find out

That song, "Daisy" by Fang Island, is stuck in my head right now. It's largely irrelevant to the non-existent content of this post.

Ummm, so, I have to write a research paper on social anxiety disorder. It's boring and it sucks. I just want to watch The Office all day, all the time. I've been marathoning my Season 2 and 3 DVDs, and man, they are awesome. I even laughed at "Cocktails" and "Phyllis's Wedding," two of my least favorite episodes. Accomplishment!

So, um, that's really all I have to say. I have nothing else to report. This blog post is rather unnecessary, isn't it? Here is how I'll make it worth your/my time:

On the Radio

I don't really listen to the radio very much. We just jam to WNYC in the car in the mornings, and really, that's all I need. I play this game with myself where I have 1 week to figure out which song from my iPod is being used as that week's interstitial music on the morning program. Past "winners" have included songs by Akron/Family and Grizzly Bear. Pretty cool.

WNYC isn't really about music, though, and I have no problems with that. Today, however, they played this song I really liked by some Iranian band called the Mast. The song is called "Wild Poppies."



You can download the song on wnyc.org by clicking on "Culture" and scrolling down some.

This song reminds me a lot of my lovely girls in Warpaint. Here's my current favorite, "Billie Holiday."

One One One One One

You may or may not know that one of my favorite bands is The Dodos. I've talked about them before but it needs to be said again and again: they are great. The band is a duo-turned-trio-turned-duo-again, but they make so much sound between the two of them that it's really quite hard to believe sometimes.

Their last album came out in fall of 2009, and while some of the songs on it were as good as the songs on their previous albums, Visiter and Beware of the Maniacs, like "This is a Business," "Fables," and the lovely "Troll Nacht" overall it was a major disappointment.

However! The wonderful guys who make up the band, Meric and Logan, just announced that their fourth album will be released on MARCH 15TH. Historically that day has been very bad; Caesar was killed that day, and I usually end up getting really sick for some reason. The Dodos are trying to change that by releasing their sure-to-be-amazing No Color.

Starting February 1st, you can pre-order it from their website, dodosmusic.net. For now you can check out a cool little video of them working on it in the studio.

I AM SO EXCITED. And hopefully you are too. I'll consider writing a review of it once I get it (through totally legal means! These boys deserve all of the money they can get, darnit, and I want to help!) in March.

My Sucky Life as Sucky Suck Suck Liz (Who Sucks)

Remember that girl whose abnormally large head I bore witness to last summer? Liz Lee is her name. She isn't famous, so if you know who she is then I'm sorry, because this must mean that you are familiar with her show, the existence of which is unwarranted, unnecessary, and makes me slightly more resentful than normal (bear in mind that I am extremely resentful always).

Yes, well, Little Miss Liz "I'm A Nerd! I'm So Weird! Lawl, Let's Go Shop At Urban Outfitters Because They Sell Personalities That I Can Afford With My Rich Parents' Money! Aren't I Such A Witty Little Geek? Star Wars!" Lee has just been rewarded for her thoughtful and worthwhile contributions to the human race by MTV with a second season of her completely, 100% true television programme.

Lee must be having "quickies" with some higher-up over at MTV or something. Either that's how this happened or she really is that pathetic and lives a life unaffected by the infiltration of cameras; this is because she perhaps has no life beyond the one that she creates for the entertainment (or derision; mostly derision) of others. Obviously, the whole reality show genre is huge right now, and I'm not even complaining about that necessarily; I watch more 16 and Pregnant than I'd like to admit. The difference here is that Lee is completely without note: her entire world, her titular "life," is constructed by producers. It is not just one aspect of her self that she is exploiting for us voyueristic 18-34s to watch, mock, and criticize, it is her entire being.

What's sad is that the "self" being projected, labeled as "truth," is highly unlikely to be her real self. A docu-drama about some non-conformist teenage girl, unbiased and without those obnoxious voice overs that MTV likes to sprinkle (or rather, douse) over everything, could be quite interesting if it was without the editing and off-camera direction that so defines Lee's show.

Perhaps my giving attention to this needy, fame-seeking girl is not the smartest thing to do, but you don't come here expecting "smart things," do you? I hope not. I'll leave you with the unfortunate trailer for the unfortunate second season of her unfortunate show, My Unfortunate Life as the Unfortunate "Liz." I would tell you when it's premiering but I don't want you to watch the show and contribute to the girl's ego and ratings. I hope a season 3 is not a forgone conclusion over at Viacom, because this girl needs to develop her real life character instead of handing her blank canvas of a body over to the college grads who are in charge of cultivating and creating her image for her, pasting stickers of indie bands on her forehead, tattooing anime references on her back, doodling Yoda on her stomach, coloring her hair, painting her lips that obnoxious red color, and just generally making her into an intolerable freak hole.

My Life as Liz - MTV Shows

Hey! It's Dawson!

From Dawson's Creek! Hi!

Otherwise known as James Van Der Beek or the Dude Who Plays the Really Whiny Kid Who Still Manages to Be My Second Favorite Character on the Incredibly Implausible Teen Drama, Funny or Die has produced yet another clip of a Dawson alum (the first starring my number one fave Pacey/Joshua Jackson) being hilarious/pathetic.

Vandermemes from James Van Der Beek

I want to make so many bad .gifs of this, I'm shaking with anticipation. Thank you, James Van Der Beek! I knew I could count on you.

P.S. I'm under 20 and I know you as Dawson, as in, not just from that clip of you crying as Dawson, but as Dawson the guy from the show I watched 30 episodes of.

P.P.S. Yes, I managed to watch 30 episodes. It's actually not completely terrible. I have a weird fascination with teen dramas and Dawson's was one of the few that I actually enjoyed in execution and not just on Wikipedia.

P.P.P.S. Happy New Year, I guess. Even though it's the 4th.