On a Wing and a Prayer

I’m feeling bored and restless, but unfortunately, I haven’t been able to figure out what I want to do since 4:30 this afternoon. It looks like my apathy wins again, because the evening is nearly over anyway.

I did manage to make it to the grocery store, though, and I spent twice what I usually do. So what will we be savoring this week for all that money? Tuna steaks, linguine with white clam sauce, fettucine alfredo with shrimp and fresh broccoli, and Em’s favorite great big fat juicy cheeseburgers (Tuesday night). She never ate a cheeseburger before the age of 14, but now she can’t get enough of them, especially ones made at home.  The gound beef was reduced to such a ridiculously low price that Emily actually asked the butcher if there was e-coli or something in it.  I’m looking forward to making the clam sauce, which I’ve never done before, but I found a recipe on-line, and it looks easy enough to accomplish. I also bought a rather expensive bottle of wine, so I’ll be enjoying that this week, as well.

Now for the continuation of the ongoing saga regarding Em’s academic program at school. She had been asking me to call and see what can be done for her as far as getting her into more stimulating courses, so I called and spoke with her academic advisor. Unfortunately, I don’t think the conversation went well at all. First of all, she seemed to take offense from the start, then she adopted an attitude, while I wondered if no parent had ever called their high school child’s academic advisor before. For all I know, this isn’t done, ever!

So she assures me that there are NO AP courses available for Freshmen, and that Emily has been invited to apply to the school’s new College Program. But we had already discussed the program, and Emily was not receptive to applying, because she doesn’t really care about earning college credits while she is in high school, which I explained to the counselor. To shorten this story, let me just get to the point. Our conversation ended in huffiness on both ends. Still I was able to convince Emily that the College Center looked like the only hope of giving her courses that would be more stimulating than her current academic program, so she applied, reluctantly.

Then a few nights later, in a conversation with one of her friends, she found out that another Freshman was taking all AP courses this year. She came to me crying, worrying that she would be stupid by the time she graduated. I was concerned myself, because she hasn’t been assigned one book to read all year, not one!

So I called the principal. I decided to go straight over the counselor’s head on this one. I did suspect, though, that I made a very early mistake with the counselor, so I began my conversation with the principal quite differently. I said, “First of all, I want to make this perfectly clear: my daughter is happy in all of her classes, she likes her teachers, especially her English teacher, Miss X. She respects her, and I know that if she were to hear that she would have Miss X next year, but in a more advanced class, she would be thrilled, and I would also be pleased. This is not a criticism of any faculty or staff member.” Anyway, we had a productive conversation, and I felt much more satisfied and informed on the school’s programs.

The moral here is that it is perfectly okay for a parent to call their child’s school academic advisor and advocate for their child’s education; in fact, the principal actually said he wished more parents cared enough to call, but the parent must make it perfectly clear from the start that he or she is not calling to criticize a member of the faculty. If the parent is interpreted as complaining about the school or its faculty, then the parent will get nowhere. For example, I’m pretty sure that Emily’s counselor thinks I’m a wicked wench. I'm not, but I would have a difficult time convincing her of that now.  People's minds are never that easily changed.

The program Emily has applied to sounds perfect. It is supposed to provide a healthy balance between academics and after school extra curricular activities, and allow the student time for a social life. I don’t want Emily studying twenty-four seven, and she would never submit to such a program anyway. I hope, for her sake, she’ll be accepted, because I cannot allow her to stay at this school under the current conditions. I may have to enroll her in a private school again, which would be very sad; she’s so happy at this school. But if they are not going to be reading any books, what choice do I have?  This must be the curriculum for Bush's "No child left behind" program.  If no one is required to read a book, no one can be left behind, right?

On a similar note, the Asolo, instead of awarding the Guilder to one particular play, chose to award the theatre company at Emily’s school as a whole. The award is for outstanding achievement for the entire body of work/productions for the school year. I’m very happy that they recognized the entire company, and I hope they continue the same policy in the future, because the entire company deserves to be recognized as a team, an entire unit, and plus it would inspire an entire year of outstanding performances.

Emily is preparing for her next role as Jackie in “Postponing the Heat Death of the Universe.” We have no word on who actually wrote the play, but there you have it.

On a sadder note, what a tragic week, what with the massacre at Virginia Tech, NASA, and now I see that a Blue Angels jet crashed during an air show today.  I'm definitely going to take a break from the news tomorrow.  I think I'll just spend the day quietly, reflecting on all that I am grateful for in this life, and keeping my thoughts with the families and loved ones of all this week's victims.

 Adieu!

highlander6246 at 10:49:42 PM EDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Oh my gosh, this song brings back such warm memories.  It was summer, and I was at my friend's house for a sleepover; she was the youngest sister of five.  We were in the bathroom, playing, maybe we were 8 or 9, and this song came on the radio they kept in the bathroom.  All the girls rushed in, picked up hairbrushes and combs, and just started dancing and singing in their underpants, and I did the same.  We sang at the top of our lungs.  Those girls were so cool to me, because they were teenagers, they could drive, and they went on dates with boys.  That memory came immediately to my mind when the song started.

I’ve decided not to announce my candidacy for the US Presidency this time. It’s too bad, too, because my brilliant platform would have highlighted my best idea, which is that the US should offer up Rosie O’Donnell to the Iranians in exchange for the 15 innocent British sailors. I might have thrown in Ann Coulter, as well. These women are nothing but noisy authorities on how to stir up a cesspool and get all things putrid to where they’re stinking so bad, no human can endure the gaseous odors emitted from their loud mouths. I realize my platform may seem a little extreme, and even I admit that I would most likely stop short of action, but I do feel better now that I’ve spoken my mind on the matter. After all, they are entitled to their right to free speech.

And I am equally entitled.

As soon as we arrived home tonight, Emily checked the messages and returned a call from a boy. He told her that him and some friends are going to a movie next weekend and wondered if she would like to go. We’ve been arguing over whether or not this boy asked her out on a date. I say, “Yes,” but Emily said, “No, we’re just friends and other people are going.”

I said, “Let me know what time I’m supposed to have you at the theatre, and I’ll pick you up two hours later.

She said, “Okay.”

I’m surprised that didn’t turn into an argument, or maybe that will come later on. I’m standing my ground, though. She’s not going to be riding around in a car with a boy at age 14. It is not happening.

I’m so proud of her. Her play was in early February, and I was so tickled. She’s such a confident young woman, and her school has been nominated for the Guilder for that very same play. Did I mention she had the starring role. We’re not really thinking beyond the nomination, which means we don’t care whether she wins or not, it is just so cool that her work was recognized, and by the Asolo Theatre. She spent her entire winter break learning about 16 pages of script. The play was based on a short story written by James Clavell, and adapted for the stage by a Peter somebody or other. “The Children’s Story” imagines that the US lost the Cold War, and so the USSR has begun the process of taking over US institutions. Emily played the new teacher of a third grade class. Her role was creepy.

She was also presented an award for Academic Honors; I haven’t received her latest report card yet, but she must have done excellent to have received an award for it. We are now waiting for her very first FCAT scores, which we should receive in May. So far, her school has not been so receptive to the idea of AP classes for her because she doesn’t have any scores on file. They took the Stanford Achievement Test at the Montessori school, and Emily always scored in the 99th Percentile, so I don’t know why they won’t just use those scores for consideration. I also included the results from the college bound SAT that she took in the 7th grade. They were the official scores even, but they don’t seem to care about those either. I believe the FCAT scores must be the only gospel they know.

So high school is going very well for Emily, and I am so relieved, because I worried for the last two years about how this would all turn out. I guess I could have saved my energy.

What’s going on with me? No dates. I did recently receive my teaching certificate. I am certified to teach Humanities, and I can teach English, so long as I take a Speech course over the summer. I passed a speech proficiency at Eckerd in order to graduate, and I did request that they reconsider the whole speech class thing, but no go. It must be that gospel thing again.

Work is as usual. All the salesmen are in recovery programs, and they all tend to leave for meetings at about the same time. I’ve been asked to come up front and help out a few times, but like always, as soon as I started earning a few extra bucks, the salesmen started spacing out their attendance at the meetings. They sure don’t want to be shown up by a woman. The horror of it. I don’t mind since I hate selling anyway.

Well, that is pretty much the gist of everything lately. Oh, we went to Busch Gardens a few Sundays ago. A lot happened while we were there, but I’m pretty sure it is all classified informationby now,so I can’t go into the details.

Adieu!

highlander6246 at 10:39:17 PM EDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

I loved waking up this morning and realizing I didn’t have to rush to get ready and go anywhere. I have nothing but grocery shopping planned for the day. No plans was something I planned early in the week, and I’m sticking to that plan.

As for the Oscars, please! I matched in seven categories, which was more than I expected. Emily matched in 10, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Achievement in Editing. I told her that she won the Oscar for Best Choices, and she had to deliver her acceptance speech. She said, “I would like to thank my mom for taking me to see the movies.” I’m so happy that she recognized me at all. She’s a huge fan of film, and I think she has inspired me to take more interest.

The best film was the most difficult category, I thought. There wasn’t any film that stood so far above the rest, which would have been the obvious choice. I think it was all about what types of films interest whom. If a person loves war epics, then he or she would have chosen Letters from Iwo Jima. I made my choice based solely on the premise of The Queen. Plus I loved that moment of self-reflection, when she spotted the buck and whispered to it to run in order to save its life.  She next meets up with the buck when it is hanging upside down in a move to drain the blood.  The Queen is told that an investment banker shot the buck.  That is when it really hit home that The Queen, through no fault of her own, is like the buck, too aged for her own good, a fish out of water (forgive the cliche) in modern times.  Anyway I thought the film inspired further thought. A woman I talked to yesterday mentioned that she loves mafia movies. She would have chosen The Departed. But the amount of shooting and the availability of such deadly weapons in that film really depressed me. I could say the same about Letters from Iwo Jima and Blood Diamond, but both of those films were inspired by historical events. Children of Men was violent and deadly, and human life was depressingly cheap in that film. The film was inspired by someone’s imagination of the future, the future if we continue on our present course, I think.

Anyway, I hear that the Irish mafia really does exist, so I suppose . . . I really just got tired of all the shooting. There was this man who used to work at the lot, and he was always trying to impress people with his imagined connections to the mafia. Which mafia, I have no idea. But he even used the mafia family’s last name, and while it did a lot to impress some people and make others shake with fear, I kept telling him that if we’re going to grab the surnames of our heroes, then he can just call me Wendy Shakespeare.

I did choose the same cinematography, animated film, costume design and make-up, and visual effects. I knew the special effect that Johnny Depp had on me meant something in this category - Superman was cute, too, but too young. I also chose the same best actress and documentary film, but both of those were freebies. I was very disappointed about the foreign language win, but I didn’t see The Lives of Others, so I’m in no place to brood too much. I’m going to make it a point to see that film and The Last King of Scotland. I also hope I can one day rent The Prestige, but so far it has been unavailable at Hollywood Video.

So that wraps up the discussion of film for the past year, now a little about coming attractions. I want to see Premonition and Namesake, but I‘ll wait until they hit the $1 theatre. Family Law is another film I want to see. And there is another animated movie coming out about penguins. These penguins are surfer dudes. Oh boy, I can hardly wait!

Adieu!

highlander6246 at 10:42:52 AM EST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Happy Oscar Sunday!

Emily and I went to a play last night at the Backlot Theatre. “Warrior,” written by Jack Gilhooley and starring Tamara Flannagan told the story of an Iraq War vet who saw two tours of duty and is suffering from PTSD. She returned home from her second tour to discover that her abusive husband had left her for their daughter’s school teacher. Tamara was a school teacher, as well, until 9/11. Obviously the play was very political. I really enjoyed it.

I’m recording my choice for best movie since tonight’s the big night . . .

Best Motion Picture of the Year

Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen

Those who know more are calling it a close race between Babel and The Departed with Little Miss Sunshine as the dark horse.

My choice differs. The film I enjoyed the most is the film that prompted me to do a lot of thinking afterwards. The film that explored tradition and change - The Queen. What caused me to think so much about it afterwards is how the film managed to pull me into the middle of tradition, represented by the Queen, and change, represented by Tony Blair. It’s just not possible to close the mind to tradition, because the film is eventually sympathetic to the Queen in the way that it depicts her as a woman of another time. WWII era QEII knows about thrift and she was a mechanic in the war. Who would have guessed? But she accepts that the world has changed, that there has been a shift in values, and she considers stepping down and letting the next generation take over. There is a lot of growth in Elizabeth as the story moves forward. It just reminded me of all the areas where my mind might be closed to another angle of a situation, and if I just allowed myself a glimpse into the opposing view, I might come up with different viewpoints of my own. Nothing is ever so black and white, one side or the other. I mostly related the premise of the film to contemporary politics in the US. And that is why I choose The Queen as my favorite film of those nominated.

I guess Emily and I are going to a friend’s to watch the Oscars, but there’ll be no red carpet, and we won’t be wearing haute couture gowns. We’ll still have a grand time.

highlander6246 at 11:52:26 AM EST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

With only 3 short days remaining until Oscar night, I better wrap up my choices. There are several movies that I wanted to see, but there’s not a chance that I can see them in time.

Achievement in Art Direction

Dreamgirls, The Good Shepherd, Pan’s Labyrinth, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and The Prestige.

I did not see The Prestige, so I have to rule out that choice. I decided on Pan’s Labyrinth at one point, but after thinking it over some more, I decided that Pan’s isn’t really my choice in this category. I choose Pirates, even though the film is probably more commercial, I still think it achieved excellence in the area of art direction, and I don’t want anything to rule my choices, but what I, I, I really liked this year. It is not about what I think others will prefer.

Achievement in Cinematography

The Black Dahlia, Children of Men, The Illusionist, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Prestige.

Again, I did not see The Prestige, but I hear it is a wonderful piece of work. I just wasn’t able to rent it at the video store due to its popularity. Of the four remaining films, I liked the cinematography in Pan’s Labyrinth, which I thought was absolutely stunning!

Achievement in Costume Design

Curse of the Golden Flower, The Devil Wears Prada, Dreamgirls, Marie Antoinette, and The Queen.

I did not see Curse of the Golden Flower, so it is automatically eliminated from my choices. I choose Marie Antoinette. I could not see how the film was about anything other than costumes, food, and shoes, shoes, and more shoes. I loved the dresses! I loved the pretty food! I really loved the shoes!

Achievement in Makeup

Apocalypto, Click, and Pan’s Labyrinth

I love it when the makeup winners take the stage at the Oscars. I don’t ever know who they are, but it’s always a pleasure to see makeup people so happy. I wonder how much they make for dressing other people up.

I didn’t see Apocalypto. I choose Pan’s Labyrinth. I questioned whether the fairies and the fauna were costume achievements or makeup. If they are considered under the makeup category, then the artists really achieved something spectacular in this category.

Achievement in Sound Editing

Apocalypto, Blood Diamond, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, Pirates of the Caribbean

Although I know nothing about sound editing, I choose Flags of Our Fathers. I based my decision on the use of sound in the film to transition the scene from a present time to the memory of the character. It went from fireworks, and then to actual war before there were any visuals. Out of all these choices, it was the only thing I could think of that might be unique in sound. Otherwise, I have no clue. I really don’t have a clue on this one.

Achievement in Sound Mixing

Apocalypto, Blood Diamond, Dreamgirls, Flags of Our Fathers, Pirates of the Caribbean.

I didn’t see Apocalypto, but it probably doesn’t matter, because I don’t know any more about sound mixing than I do about sound editing. I still have to choose one. I choose Blood Diamond for this reason: the film was one chaotic scene after another, and yet at no time did the chaos of the background interfere with the story being told in the foreground. Everything came across clearly. I still think filming chaos is the hardest thing to do.

Achievement in Visual Effects

Pirates of the Caribbean, Poseidon, and Superman Returns

I choose Pirates. Emily accused me of basing my decision on the fact that I like Johnny Depp. But I ask, isn’t Johnny Depp an integral part of the visual effects? The vision of him certainly does have an effect on me, so there‘s the reasoning behind my choice for achievement in visual effects. Emily chose Poseidon, but I have a feeling that Superman will win. But, again, I’m not making predictions here.

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond, Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson, Peter O’Toole in Venus, Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness, and Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland.

I only saw Blood Diamond and Venus. I choose Peter O’Toole, for the mere fact that he’s old and doesn’t have much time left, and Leonardo DiCaprio is obviously going to win plenty of Oscars in his lifetime. His next film is Enron, in which he produces and stars. I can hardly wait!

The only category left is Best Film. To be continued . . .

highlander6246 at 9:47:36 PM EST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

I can't believe this article.  Of course, that the scrotum exists is not a secret to the little male readers, so who the librarians and educators are keeping it secret from are the little girl readers, who I'm sure know more than they're given credit for.

Adapted Screenplay

Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan: Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, and Dan Mazer. Children of Men: Screenpay by Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hank Ostby. The Departed: Screnplay by William Monahan. Little Children: Screenplay by Todd Field and Tom Perrotta. Notes on a Scandal: Screnplay by Patrick Marber.

I liked Notes on a Scandal best. I never did see Borat so I have to automatically rule that one out. I saw Children of Men last night, and I had difficulty following the story because I couldn’t always decipher what the actors were saying. I think The Departed is likely to win, but I’m not making predictions here, so it was not my favorite screenplay for the mere fact that I don’t favor gangster movies. Between Little Children and Notes, I favored Notes more. Both these films had narrators, which I always love in film because it gives the story another dimension. In Notes there’s the inner life of the lesbian stalker, played by Dench, that gives the story even more eeriness, I think. In Little Children, the external actions of Winslet was enough to give a sense of her inner life without the narration.

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original score)

Babel: Gustavo Santaolalla, The Good German: Thomas Newman, Notes on a Scandal: Philip Glass, Pan’s Labyrinth: Javier navarrete, The Queen: Alexandre Desplat

I choose Pan’s Labyrinth. We purchased the entire score from iTunes after seeing the film, and I’ve been listening to it for the last week. I’m listening to it now.

Achievement in Film Editing

Babel: Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise, Blood Diamond: Steven Rosenblum, Children of Men: Alex Rodriguez and Alfonso Cuaron, The Departed: Thelma Schoonmaker, United 93: Clare Douglas, Christopher RouseandRichard Pearson

I choose Blood Diamond. There was more chaos in this film than any other, and I can imagine that all that chaos is difficult to sort out in the editing room. I really don’t know anything about film editing, though.

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Alan Arkin: Little Miss Sunshine, Jackie Earle Haley: Little Children, Djimon Hounsou: Blood Diamond, Eddie Murphy: Dreamgirls, Mark Wahlberg: The Departed

I liked the performances of Jackie Earle Haley and Djimon Hounsou the best. So between, “I’m going to be a good boy,” or “I am the cameraman,” I choose “I am the cameraman,” Djimon Hounsou. I loved the character and I loved Hounsou’s portrayal. He was so perfect for the role. Neither of my favorites are favored by the “buzz.”

To be continued . . .

highlander6246 at 11:54:38 AM EST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

It is very cold outside, and I am happy to be home and in my fuzzies for the evening. I also turned on the heat. Burrrrr!

Continuing what I started in my last entry, my choices for Oscars, I’ve made a few more decisions that I want to record. If nothing else, it will be fun to compare afterwards to see the difference in opinions. I’m not an expert, that’s for sure, but I want to throw in my 2 cents regardless.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“I Need to Wake Up” - Melissa Etheridge (An Inconvenient Truth), “Listen” - Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler, and Anne Preven (Dreamgirls), “Love You I Do” - Henry Krieger (Dreamgirls), “Our Town” - Randy Newman (Cars), “Patience” - Henry Krieger, Willie Reale (Dreamgirls)

I like “Listen.” Beyonce put her heart and soul into the song, but it’s the lyrics that get to me: “You should have listened!” For me, it stands above the rest, and it comes at such a poignant part of the film, right at the moment of the turning point, so the lyrics play an important role in the telling of the story.

Original Screenplay

Guillermo Arriaga (Babel), Iris Yamashita (Letters from Iwo Jima), Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine), Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth), Peter Morgan (The Queen).

I choose Guillermo del Toro for Pan‘s Labyrinth. Wow! This category was the easiest for me to decide. The story switches between the brutal reality of post civil war Spain and a child’s fantasy world, and the amazing feat of the screenwriter was that he managed to incorporate mirrored themes in both realms. I’ve never been so drawn into a film as I was with this one.

Achievement in Directing

Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu (Babel), Martin Scorsese (The Departed), Clint Eastwood (Letters from Iwo Jima), Stephen Frears (The Queen), Paul Greengrass (United 93)

I choose all of them. I guess that’s not allowed, so I’ll have to work by elimination. Greengrass goes first. It looked to me like he accepted the first takes for every scene. Next to go is The Queen, which is an excellent film, but I would have preferred to see a nomination for the director of Dreamgirls instead. Eastwood’s “Letters” would have been my first choice, but it needs its companion film, “Flags of Our Fathers,” in order to really call it “great!” Between Babel and The Departed, I guess I choose Babel, because it seemed less scripted, like the story moved along by itself, and the audience (me) had a window to watch things unfold as they would naturally. Plus Inarritu worked with three separate casts, in three entirely different cultures, which I would think would put more of a demand on a director.

Best Documentary Feature

Deliver Us From Evil, An Inconvenient Truth, Iraq in Fragments, Jesus Camp, and My Country, My Country.

I choose An Inconvenient Truth. It is the only nominee that I’ve seen.

Best Foreign Language Film

After the Wedding (Denmark), Days of Glory (Algeria), The Lives of Others (Germany), Pan’s Labyrinth (Mexico), Water (Canada)

I choose Pan’s Labyrinth for reasons I’ve already given. I would choose this as Best Motion Picture, but it is not a nominee. I should also mention that it is also the only nominee that I’ve seen.

Best Documentary Short Subject

The Blood of Yingzhou District, Recycled Life, Rehearsing a Dream, Two Hands

No comment. I haven’t seen any of these.

Best Animated Short Film

The Danish Poet, Lifted, The Little Matchgirl, Maestro, No Time for Nuts

No comment; haven’t seen any of the nominees, but doesn’t No Time for Nuts sound interesting?

Best Live Action Short Film

Binta and the Great Idea, Eramos Pocos, Helmer & Son, The Saviour, and West Bank Story

No comment.

To be continued . . .

highlander6246 at 8:23:29 PM EST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

How’s my 2007 going?

I suffered another bout of the most god awful flu that’s been circling our workplace for the last few months.

A freakish occurrence with the timing belt on my car took out my motor. Now I have a new motor, after an expense that I don’t even wish to discuss.

I had to replace my stupid washing machine.

What I thought was a simple cavity in Emily’s molar turned out to be a $3400 bill at the dentist office.

Because of these unexpected expenses, I had no choice but to drop my graduate course on Hemingway and Fitzgerald. ) :

The results from my chest x-ray and mammogram came back clean, and that’s why I say, considering everything, things are going pretty swell here.

Though it may sound nerdish of me, I wanted to throw in a few comments on the 2007 Oscars. Thanks to Hollywood 20, I’ve been able to see more nominees. So here are some of my ‘choices’

Best Animated Film

Cars, Happy Feet, and Monster House

I liked Happy Feet. I have no interest in race cars, and the plot seemed to drag at times, but that was probably the result of my lack of interest. Plus the main character was such a jerk throughout most of the story. Monster House was cute. But who would ever believe that race cars can talk and houses can walk. On the other hand, I believe that penguins can sing and dance. ( :

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Penelope Cruz (Volver), Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal), Helen Mirren (The Queen), Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada), Kate Winslet (Little Children)

I choose Helen Mirren, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear Judi Dench’s name called. Both performances were equally brilliant. I know that everyone thinks Helen Mirren is a given; I’m just not that sure. Judi Dench’s character in Notes was so creepy! I also loved Penelope Cruz and Kate Winslet, but experience rules this year. Meryl Streep was wonderful, as always, but I can’t figure out why her role was called a leading role.

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Adriana Barraza (Babel), Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls), Rinko Kikuchi (Babel).

I choose Cate Blanchett.

I’m not sure, but I think Adriana Barraza played the Mexican housekeeper and Rinko Kikuchi play the troubled deaf/mute teenager. I’m eliminating both, but not because I didn’t like their performances. I could actually feel Barraza’s thirst-driven delirium, and I really empathized with Keiko. Breslin was adorable, and I particularly liked the commentary on diet issues in girls so young. She looked beautiful to me. Jennifer Hudson and Cate Blanchett are my first choices, but I need to choose only one. I choose Cate Blanchett. I applauded Hudson’s solo, so did everyone in the theatre, but her dramatic ability didn’t match Blanchett’s, who seemed to ’lack substance’ as another character noted. But then that last scene between her and Dench won me over.

I’m still considering the rest of the categories.

highlander6246 at 11:03:04 AM EST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Emily is miffed at the moment.  I told her it was my turn to listen to music; I need a break from hers, and at least I'm playing something sane and pleasant.  Besides, she's actually humming along, so I suppose she'll get over it!

I sort of started a Myspace, but it didn't go as well as I would have hoped.  It's a skeleton of something that might eventually come to fruition, but that will require Emily's help, and she's a bit stingy when it comes to computer instruction.  At least I have one friend, Tom, who turns out to be the guy who might help me if I ask.

Last night, we went to Columbia's to eat, and I really enjoyed the conversation and just being out.  We split a 1905 salad, and I had a delicious sangria, a house specialty.  Plus, for dessert, we both ordered Godiva chocolate cake, which I'll describe as heavenly sinful.  Two words that typically don't go together, except when they're used to describe Godiva chocolate cake.  The frosting was a chocolate mousse, and there were strawberries just to keep the mouth eternally watering. 

Across the street from Columbia's is Hemingway's, another one of my favorite area restaurants, but I'm saving a trip to there until my Hemingway course is finished.  It'll be a celebration of sorts.  Speaking of Hemingway, two young men set up a barbeque stand on our property at work today.  Their specialty was called the "Tight Burger," which one of the gentlemen explained to me means "cool" or "hip" in hip-hop slang.  I chuckled all day long any time I saw anyone eating a "tight" burger, because in Hemingway's day, "tight" meant drunk, as in I'm a little too tight to get up off this barstool.  The guys evidently did real well in sales and they've promised to come back every day next week.  I won't be eating one of those monstrous burgers everyday, though, which actually consists of two of the thickest burgers I've ever seen, more fries -which are written friez on the menu - than I could possibly consume in an entire week, and a soft drink.  There's way too much food for the bargain price of $6, but it is nice to have such a convenient lunch option, since there isn't much else in close proximity, besides Cuban food. 

The finer point of my day wasn't the burger; it was when I was handed someone's cell phone and told to get the guy's address, which I did.  Then the man on the phone starting getting himself all wound up to the point he was screaming at me.  At me!  The more he talked, the more testicular he became, so I eventually pelted him back with my ovarian offense.  I definately won the stupid debate.  I figured, "I'm in, and I'm in to win!"  : )  Then I handed the phone back to my co-worker and thanked him for getting the guy all riled up then passing the phone off to me.  But other than this slight bump, I have to say my day was pretty swell, and now I'm going to read a bit, then take a nice, long bath, then to bed.  Does that sound like an exciting Saturday night?

Adieu!   

highlander6246 at 10:19:27 PM EST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

We had a wonderful day Sunday.  After dropping off a prescription at the pharmacy, and being told that it wouldn't be ready until 2, we decided to head to Fye's in the mall.  Then we had lunch, and since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to go for a drive.  I love Sunday drives.  One thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, we were headed south to see Stephen King's home.  I'm not a fan; I like King, but I don't like the genre in general. 

But Emily loves horror, and she particularly loves King.  She's been asking me to take her south for a while now, so off we went.  First of all, the island is beautiful, and I can't believe that as close as it is to where we live, I've never been there.  Of course, we don't actually know which home is King's; we could only speculate.  There are rumors that Oprah is building a home on the island, and we spotted a home in progress that I figure has to be hers if the rumors are true at all.  The home is a castle, and wonderfully Florentine.  Tom Cruise's mother lives there, and that's not a rumor, as well as a Gotti widow, but I don't know anything about the Gotti's, so we didn't speculate too much about where she might live.   

I was hoping to find ice cream, but there didn't seem to be any on the island, so on the way back, we stopped off on St. Armands and walked the entire circle, just leisurely enjoying our ice cream from Big Olaf's and chatting and soaking everything up.  We also spent some time in a shop that specializes in trinkets of American pop culture, which always makes for a fascinating browse down memory lane.

It was late when we finally returned home, and it all started with just a quick errand.  But the errand turned into a very nice day.  I googled King, and in his Wikipedia biography, there's a blurb about a recent award he won and Harold Bloom's comment that King is not literary and that giving him such an award just exposes the "idiocy" of the group that presented the award, which I think is an abominable thing to say about another human being.  I think I like King better now, even though I'm still too chicken to read his work.  My opinion of Howard Bloom isn't very favorable right now, though, so I'll just keep those choice words to myself.  In fact, I think I'll google Bloom right now and see just how much charitable work he's done lately.  My guess:  zilch!

I watched the Golden Globes Monday night.  I had considered going to see Borat, but after Cohen's acceptance speech, I'm glad I missed the opportunity.  Is the film as gross as his description?  I knew Helen Mirren would win; her portrayal of QEII was so damn accurate, it was eerie.  In the beginning of the film, there's a moment when she turns to the camera with the most severe expression, and I think she deserves the Oscar for that moment in the film alone.  I did not like her portrayal of QEI, which I recently rented.  It would be hard to accept any other performance after Cate Blanchett's a few years ago.  I really missed too many films this year to say much more, and I know very little about the television aspect of the awards, since I don't watch much of it.  I did like the speech delivered by the actor from "House."  He said he wanted to thank the wonderful cast and crew.  Then he said he knows everyone calls their cast and crew wonderful, which isn't really logical, because someone somewhere has to be working with drunken thieves.  I raised my hand.  Yep, that would be me.  The next day at work, the service manager came crashing through the door at work, yelling all kinds of expletives, mainly directed at the valet.  "What's wrong?" I asked.  It seems the valet stole his watch a few months ago and sold it to one of the salesmen for $40.  The service manager just noticed it on the saleman's wrist and asked him where he got it.  Thus the story unfolded.  And at least one salesman is off the wagon this week.  So it's me, I'm the one who works with drunken thieves!  God help me.

Adieu!  

highlander6246 at 9:25:53 PM EST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own