For Your Consideration: My Oscar Commentary ( In No Particular Order):
Martin Scorcese FINALLY wins Best Director!!! Oh MY GOD!!! Lynnie, Kit and I literally got up and cheered like we were at a sporting event. WOO-HOO! Nobody, and I mean NOBODY has waited far too long for some acknowledgment. I was going to seriously go apoplectic if he didn't win. You should have seen us all waiting for the envelope to be opened: it was dead silent and all of us on the edge of the couch.
As we were for Best Actor, which, fucking hell, speaking of somebody who has waited FAR to long for some acknowledgement, Peter O'Toole still rocks the house at 112 or however old he is, has been nominated what? 4, 5 times and never won? I mean, I wouldn't begrudge Forrest Whittaker a thing, let me tell you. He's awesome. But he's ( comparatively) young still. At this point, Peter is going to be dead and no Oscar. WTF is with that? We all consoled ourselves with the notion that perhaps he would get a lifetime acheivement next year or sometime soon. Seriously, Academy, SOON, because he's gonna keel any second and he deserves to be around to accept it in person. Doncha think?
Why did ( the lovely and talented and deserving) Helen Mirren call her Oscar "The Queen"? I don't get it. Love ya, Helen, but I missed it on that one.
Only 4 hours this year and Ellen was tolerable and at times quite funny. I like John Stewart better, but I did laugh heartily at Ellen's asking Steven Speilberg to take a picture of her and Clint Eastwood "for my MySpace page".
Wow, Jennifer Hudson won for "Dreamgirls". She was the best thing in that damned movie, which I didn't like. ( Eddie Murphy was good, but at times he seemed to be channelling his James Brown impression from "SNL" and I expected him to shout out, "gettin' hot in the hot tub! HEY!". ) Then again I don't like movie musicals very much, as it is. I should clarify: I don't like stage musicals adapted to the screen very often. It's very difficult to do and most of the time just doesn't seem right. I DO like musicals that are originally concieved as movies, like "Singing In The Rain" and more recently, "Moulin Rouge!". Anyway, all to make the point that I'm probably not one to judge whether or not it was worthy. KWIM?
We all misted up when Ennico Morricone got his lifetime acheivement award. What a sweet, humble man.
Alan Arkin is cool. So glad someone noticed it, too. Love him, love everything he's in. He's one of those actors who just make anything bettter by being in it. Sometimes that gets taken for granted, and it's nice to see that sometimes, it gets rewarded, too.
I commented to Kit that I never get to see animated shorts anymore. There used to be this thing in STL every year where they'd do this Festival of Animation over two nights. "Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation"(?) I think it was called,and it had everything worth seeing. Great stuff, like all of Aardman Animation's first stuff ( the creators of "Wallace and Grommit" and "Chicken Run"). I miss that. In a town filled with film, sometimes it is next to impossible to track down any place that's not showing the Latest Studio Big-Money Releases. Maybe that's because we're a high box-office polling site ( meaning that when you see the box-office grosses for the week for some film, certain sites have been selected and polled in particular. It's kind of like the Neilsens: a cross section of ratings have been culled from a group of homes across the country and somehow statistically represent the overall opinion. Anyway, Burbank in particular is a polling site, evidenced by the fact that we have 3- THREE- AMC Theatres within a block of each other. NO, I am not exaggerating for effect. And yes, some of them are even showing the same movies).
I don't know....but it seems harder and harder to track down an independent film in this town, of all places. It's like I have to go into some sketchy neighborhood where they will show the film at random, weird times and ONLY then. There's no REALLY good indie film theatre in all of L.A. Isn't that odd?
Okay, on to fashion:
Ladies, loving the pale, neutral colors: Penelope Cruz, Gwyneth, Rachel Weisz ( how is she so beautiful? It's unreal.), even J.Lo.
Love the aging-gracefully-but-still-looking-damned-great element, too, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton. How nice to see your un-Botoxed faces and your lovely, gorgeous selves in great dresses and jewels. I wanna be an grow into my older years like THAT!
Somebody didn't give Emily Blunt or Nicole or Jessica Biel the memo about the awful, awful colors and odd 80's inspired choices they made. Jessica: it's the Oscars. Make an effort. Emily: you're so pretty, and that dress was such a bad color on you. Fire your stylist immediately. ( BTW: loved your bit with Anne Hathaway- oh, to look like that, in my next lifetime- about Meryl and getting her coffee. Loved Meryl's dead-on, mock Look-of Death. Hilarious).
Nicole: don't even get me started about the giant bow. WTF, is all I can say.
Except to add that when Lynnie came in and looked at her, she said, WITHOUT any prompting or commentary from me, "She looks like a fish with her lips like that. What has she done?" Kit also commented -- again, no prompting--"Oh, my GAWD. What has she done to her face?" I rest my case about the oddity that is she, supposedly the most beautiful woman in the world. Admittedly, she is model-perfect and in the Years Before Botox, she was absolutely, unequivcably, STUNN-ING.
But as Lynnie when blurted out, "she looks like a Stepford Wife", it just goes to show you how actresses need to be CAREFUL about what they do to their most precious resevior of expression: your face. You shouldn't be giving up "life" in your face because you're desperately holding on to beauty and youth. 'Nuff said.
And no, I'm not picking on her out of my bitterness over her marriage. I just think she's a primary example of Too Much Product and The Unspoken Fear of Aging that is behind all that beauty you see in women in this industry these days. ( Look at Catherine Deneuve. God. So amazing, so beautiful, after all this time. And I'm sure she's had work done, no doubt. But she looks normal, age-appropriate, fully expressive. Gorgeous!)
I'm behind plastic surgery, I'm behind injections, I'm behind doing whatever you can. I'm not, and never really have been, an all-natural gal. I'd get certain things done if I could afford it. But I still want to look like ME. And I want to look like me NOW, not Me When I Was 25 ( that's a dangerous unrealistic delusion to go into any sort of treatment with). And I want to be able to say, "I still look like myself, only like I had a nice long vacation" and smile and laugh and frown and cry. What's life for- or being an actor for- if you can't do that? I rest my case. Off my soapbox now...
....and I'm off to bed. It's now almost 4:30 am, and this working gal has to go some sleep. I have to go and try and make my own road to the Oscars ( God willin', it'll not be trudging through horrendous crap for an excessive, torturous length to get there) one step at a time.....Lynnie, Kit and I vowed to be there by 2010. ( I say, dream big, and hey, don't be ashamed of it or let anyone tell you it's silly!) So I've gotta get on it, including working odd jobs to pay the rent while I do....all a part of a master plan, mwhahahaha! ( LOL! But seriously now...) Refocus, recommit, renew the creativity that was lost to me for awhile back there. Regardless of the outcome, that in and of itself is an undoubtably good thing for me,
So off I go....wish me luck....one step at a time....
Martin Scorcese FINALLY wins Best Director!!! Oh MY GOD!!! Lynnie, Kit and I literally got up and cheered like we were at a sporting event. WOO-HOO! Nobody, and I mean NOBODY has waited far too long for some acknowledgment. I was going to seriously go apoplectic if he didn't win. You should have seen us all waiting for the envelope to be opened: it was dead silent and all of us on the edge of the couch.
As we were for Best Actor, which, fucking hell, speaking of somebody who has waited FAR to long for some acknowledgement, Peter O'Toole still rocks the house at 112 or however old he is, has been nominated what? 4, 5 times and never won? I mean, I wouldn't begrudge Forrest Whittaker a thing, let me tell you. He's awesome. But he's ( comparatively) young still. At this point, Peter is going to be dead and no Oscar. WTF is with that? We all consoled ourselves with the notion that perhaps he would get a lifetime acheivement next year or sometime soon. Seriously, Academy, SOON, because he's gonna keel any second and he deserves to be around to accept it in person. Doncha think?
Why did ( the lovely and talented and deserving) Helen Mirren call her Oscar "The Queen"? I don't get it. Love ya, Helen, but I missed it on that one.
Only 4 hours this year and Ellen was tolerable and at times quite funny. I like John Stewart better, but I did laugh heartily at Ellen's asking Steven Speilberg to take a picture of her and Clint Eastwood "for my MySpace page".
Wow, Jennifer Hudson won for "Dreamgirls". She was the best thing in that damned movie, which I didn't like. ( Eddie Murphy was good, but at times he seemed to be channelling his James Brown impression from "SNL" and I expected him to shout out, "gettin' hot in the hot tub! HEY!". ) Then again I don't like movie musicals very much, as it is. I should clarify: I don't like stage musicals adapted to the screen very often. It's very difficult to do and most of the time just doesn't seem right. I DO like musicals that are originally concieved as movies, like "Singing In The Rain" and more recently, "Moulin Rouge!". Anyway, all to make the point that I'm probably not one to judge whether or not it was worthy. KWIM?
We all misted up when Ennico Morricone got his lifetime acheivement award. What a sweet, humble man.
Alan Arkin is cool. So glad someone noticed it, too. Love him, love everything he's in. He's one of those actors who just make anything bettter by being in it. Sometimes that gets taken for granted, and it's nice to see that sometimes, it gets rewarded, too.
I commented to Kit that I never get to see animated shorts anymore. There used to be this thing in STL every year where they'd do this Festival of Animation over two nights. "Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation"(?) I think it was called,and it had everything worth seeing. Great stuff, like all of Aardman Animation's first stuff ( the creators of "Wallace and Grommit" and "Chicken Run"). I miss that. In a town filled with film, sometimes it is next to impossible to track down any place that's not showing the Latest Studio Big-Money Releases. Maybe that's because we're a high box-office polling site ( meaning that when you see the box-office grosses for the week for some film, certain sites have been selected and polled in particular. It's kind of like the Neilsens: a cross section of ratings have been culled from a group of homes across the country and somehow statistically represent the overall opinion. Anyway, Burbank in particular is a polling site, evidenced by the fact that we have 3- THREE- AMC Theatres within a block of each other. NO, I am not exaggerating for effect. And yes, some of them are even showing the same movies).
I don't know....but it seems harder and harder to track down an independent film in this town, of all places. It's like I have to go into some sketchy neighborhood where they will show the film at random, weird times and ONLY then. There's no REALLY good indie film theatre in all of L.A. Isn't that odd?
Okay, on to fashion:
Ladies, loving the pale, neutral colors: Penelope Cruz, Gwyneth, Rachel Weisz ( how is she so beautiful? It's unreal.), even J.Lo.
Love the aging-gracefully-but-still-looking-damned-great element, too, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton. How nice to see your un-Botoxed faces and your lovely, gorgeous selves in great dresses and jewels. I wanna be an grow into my older years like THAT!
Somebody didn't give Emily Blunt or Nicole or Jessica Biel the memo about the awful, awful colors and odd 80's inspired choices they made. Jessica: it's the Oscars. Make an effort. Emily: you're so pretty, and that dress was such a bad color on you. Fire your stylist immediately. ( BTW: loved your bit with Anne Hathaway- oh, to look like that, in my next lifetime- about Meryl and getting her coffee. Loved Meryl's dead-on, mock Look-of Death. Hilarious).
Nicole: don't even get me started about the giant bow. WTF, is all I can say.
Except to add that when Lynnie came in and looked at her, she said, WITHOUT any prompting or commentary from me, "She looks like a fish with her lips like that. What has she done?" Kit also commented -- again, no prompting--"Oh, my GAWD. What has she done to her face?" I rest my case about the oddity that is she, supposedly the most beautiful woman in the world. Admittedly, she is model-perfect and in the Years Before Botox, she was absolutely, unequivcably, STUNN-ING.
But as Lynnie when blurted out, "she looks like a Stepford Wife", it just goes to show you how actresses need to be CAREFUL about what they do to their most precious resevior of expression: your face. You shouldn't be giving up "life" in your face because you're desperately holding on to beauty and youth. 'Nuff said.
And no, I'm not picking on her out of my bitterness over her marriage. I just think she's a primary example of Too Much Product and The Unspoken Fear of Aging that is behind all that beauty you see in women in this industry these days. ( Look at Catherine Deneuve. God. So amazing, so beautiful, after all this time. And I'm sure she's had work done, no doubt. But she looks normal, age-appropriate, fully expressive. Gorgeous!)
I'm behind plastic surgery, I'm behind injections, I'm behind doing whatever you can. I'm not, and never really have been, an all-natural gal. I'd get certain things done if I could afford it. But I still want to look like ME. And I want to look like me NOW, not Me When I Was 25 ( that's a dangerous unrealistic delusion to go into any sort of treatment with). And I want to be able to say, "I still look like myself, only like I had a nice long vacation" and smile and laugh and frown and cry. What's life for- or being an actor for- if you can't do that? I rest my case. Off my soapbox now...
....and I'm off to bed. It's now almost 4:30 am, and this working gal has to go some sleep. I have to go and try and make my own road to the Oscars ( God willin', it'll not be trudging through horrendous crap for an excessive, torturous length to get there) one step at a time.....Lynnie, Kit and I vowed to be there by 2010. ( I say, dream big, and hey, don't be ashamed of it or let anyone tell you it's silly!) So I've gotta get on it, including working odd jobs to pay the rent while I do....all a part of a master plan, mwhahahaha! ( LOL! But seriously now...) Refocus, recommit, renew the creativity that was lost to me for awhile back there. Regardless of the outcome, that in and of itself is an undoubtably good thing for me,
So off I go....wish me luck....one step at a time....
posted by Jessica @ 3:33 AM
<< Home