On the Way to the Oscars...

This article explains the rationale behind the expansion of the "best picture" nominees category and the origins of the Academy Awards overall.



"The Academy was concerned that the majors were concerned. No one expected any of the majors to take their marbles and go home, but still… The majors spent millions on Oscar campaigns every year, and big studio glamour was very much what made the Oscars The Oscars!!! If, at some point, the Big Guys began to figure all they were doing was putting out a lot of effort – and money – to support what had become, in effect, a publicity platform for a bunch of beret-wearing, pony-tailed, artsy-fartsy competitors… Well, really; what would be the point?"

Let’s look at the just-announced nominees for this year’s Best Picture field:

Black Swan (indie)

The Fighter (indie)

Inception (major)

The Kids Are All Right (indie)

The King’s Speech (indie)

127 Hours (indie)

The Social Network (major)

Toy Story 3 (Pixar – you call it)

True Grit (major)

Winter’s Bone (indie)

Check out the full article for the full analysis. Good stuff.

The Academy Award Nominees

So, I'm not sure why I feel compelled to post the nominees for each of these award shows and try to watch the films each year, but some habits are hard to break. I've seen a few more films in the past couple weeks so I'll mark them off (with red type) as I get them watched. I've already decided that Colin Firth deserves the Oscar for his performance in The King's Speech and maybe Geoffrey Rush, too. Well done!

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network
127 Hours
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening (The Kids are All Right)
Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)
Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)
Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem (Biutiful)
Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
James Franco (127 Hours)
Jeff Bridges (True Grit)

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
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)

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams (The Fighter)
Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)
Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)
Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Best Documentary Short Subject
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

Best Short Film (Animated)
Day & Night Teddy Newton
The Gruffalo Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Let's Pollute Geefwee Boedoe
The Lost Thing Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) Bastien Dubois

Best Short Film (Live Action)
The Confession Tanel Toom
The Crush Michael Creagh
God of Love Luke Matheny
Na Wewe Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143 Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Achievement in Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit

Achievement in Cinematography
Black Swan (Matthew Libatique)
Inception (Wally Pfister)
The King's Speech (Danny Cohen)
The Social Network (Jeff Cronenweth)
True Grit (Roger Deakins)

Achievement in Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland (Colleen Atwood)
I Am Love (Antonella Cannarozzi)
The King's Speech (Jenny Beaven)
The Tempest (Sandy Powell)
True Grit (Mary Zophres)

Achievement in Directing
Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
David O. Russell (The Fighter)
Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)
David Fincher (The Social Network)
Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit)

Best Documentary Feature
Exit through the Gift Shop Banksy, director (Paranoid Pictures)
Gasland Josh Fox, director (Gasland Productions, LLC)
Inside Job Charles Ferguson, director (Representational Pictures)
Restrepo Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, directors (Outpost Films)
Waste Land Lucy Walker, director (Almega Projects)

Achievement in Makeup
Barney's Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

Achievement in Film Editing
Black Swan (Andrew Weisblum)
The Fighter (Pamela Martin)
The King's Speech (Tariq Anwar)
127 Hours (Jon Harris)
The Social Network (Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall)

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Biutiful (Mexico)
Dogtooth (Greece)
In a Better World (Denmark)
Incendies (Canada)
Hors la Loi (Algeria)

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell)
Inception (Hans Zimmer)
The King's Speech (Alexandre Desplat)
127 Hours (A.R. Rahman)
The Social Network (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
"Coming Home" from Country Strong Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
"I See the Light" from Tangled Music and Lyric by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
"If I Rise" from 127 Hours Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
"We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3 Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Achievement in Sound Editing
Inception
Toy Story 3
TRON: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Achievement in Sound Mixing
Inception
The King's Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Achievement in Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours (Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle)
The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)
Toy Story 3 (Michael Arndt, story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)
True Grit (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)
Winter's Bone (Debra Granik and Anne Rossellini)

Original Screenplay
Another Year (Mike Leigh)
The Fighter (Paul Attanasio, Lewis Colich, Eric Johnson, Scott Silverand Paul Tamasy)
Inception (Christopher Nolan)
The Kids are All Right (Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Cholodenko)
The King's Speech (David Seidler)

Selling my Body to Science -- a reflection in poetry

Plasma

My blood spools,
spinning like the dizzy maker
on my childhood playground and
if I think too hard
or stare too long at this whirring machine,
literally playing with my life's blood,
I get the same motionless feeling.
And I start to slump a little to the left
afraid
to embrace that weightless feeling when
as a child I'd hold on like Superman
with my legs spindling out behind me.

And my mouth is a copper penny
as my platelets return.
Welcome home, my own red sea.
I pray I won't feel the shiver
of my vein collapsing
as the cuff's chokehold tightens on my arm.

I require
a bit of gauze--a game I play with myself
to pretend there is no 16 gauge needle
thrust into my vein like a ball point pen,
something to squeeze,
my brain immersed in book,
and a blanket, thick to work its warmth
when the saline slams through the tube,
reverse motion washing the coagulant-rich crimson back to shore,
a glacial melt spilling in my veins.

--Carmyn Juntunen


This is a draft... this is only a draft... (that's meant to sound like those TV warning signals. tee hee. )

Two Song Tuesday -- Sam Cooke

This past weekend, my pal Janet got me thinking about Sam Cooke and some favorites from my youth. Yep. That's right. MY youth, you know, in the early 80s. While kids today are gaga for Justin Bieber, I was a few decades behind my classmates stuck in the 60s. I spent much of my preteen angst wallowing in Lesley Gore melodrama and a whole host of K-Tel "electrifying hits" of the 60s and the like. I had a favorite Righteous Brothers album that featured both of these Sam Cooke songs and well, like another of his songs say, they "send me."

The Art of Self-Editing

This is almost painful to watch. Come on, kids, life is about taking risks. It's bittersweet. So dear. So awkward. So unlike reality, in that we're privy to both minds at once in this video. If we only had a God's eye view, it would be so much easier. Of course, at 2 am... with the help of a little alcohol the filter seems a bit less intrusive. :)

On Pins and Needles...

Knitting, for me, is at a bit of a standstill. I am a one trick pony. Washcloths. Sigh. I really need to branch out but for the "sport" to be relaxing it needs to involve a low level of risk and thought. So, for now, I'm just happily knitting some washcloths with the potential for legwarmers, cowl scarves, and sweaters on the horizon.

In the meantime, I am picking up some needles of a different sort. Embroidery. I started in 2008 and didn't make it past the sampler, but I just got a fresh burst of motivation and so I'll see if I can complete this latest project before I show it off. Let's just say if this proves successful, there may be no stopping me. :)

You Tube is a Terrific Time Waster and other things I've learned from my students...

I ran across this video quite by accident but I just love it. So much so, that I felt the need to embed it here for your viewing pleasure. I just love that little kiddo who is so young and singing sooooo earnestly. They seem like they are having such a good time. I love it.





PS It's come to my attention that sometimes when these posts show up on my Facebook page that the formatting or the videos don't transfer there... if you are reading me on Facebook, click through to the original post. I think it's worth it! :)

Music that Matters to Me --a Reprise

A few years ago I wrote a handful of posts about my favorite music -- one of those posts was on Dwight Yoakam. Well, he's been on my mind again lately--ever since last summer when I heard a terrific little acoustic album a friend played for me, though it's not as if Dwight's ever too far from my mind. In fact, since I last paid tribute to Dwight my collection has grown to eight albums. My last post focused just on one album--his 2004 Greatest Hits album, and so this time I'd like to just celebrate a few new faves.

If I could put into words the feeling --the physical, mental, spiritual, all-consuming rush -- some songs give me then maybe I could do the music justice. Instead I'm sure I'll just sound freakin' crazy to say that some times I have a warmth that spreads over me, a general good will to all, a blissed-out feeling that some only feel after sex or possibly after injecting some heroin. Yeah, some music does that.

Well, here are a few songs that fall under the love of Dwight category which lately have me closing my eyes, leaning back and letting the music wash over me.

Buenos Noches From a Lonely Room (She Wore Red Dresses)
Now this one almost doesn't need words... the opening bars just about kill me. But the whole dang song is great--one of those grim story songs that seems almost wrong to love as much as I do. "She wore red dresses and told such sweet lies..." The version I am loving is the one found here.

Two Doors Down
This one is ridiculously sad and so, so, good.
Jukebox full of sad songs + barmaid who serves 'em real strong + heartache + unending memory +bar stool that knows my name + endless waiting + bottle + pay phone that never rings ... I think you get the picture. It's slow suicide in a song bathed in drink, wallowing in self pity. Man, that's how I like my country music!

The Wild Ride
This one is from my first Dwight album, This Time (1993). Wild Ride is a little more rockin' but something about it feels a little sexy and well, wild.

"I looked up, there she stood,
I said 'If you didn't look so great, I'd say you look good.'
Oh, she took her hand, ran it up my thigh
and said, 'Cowboy, you ready for the wild ride?'"

I Sang Dixie
I think this song epitomizes Dwight. Also I do like it when he references California in his songs. I'm weird. I know.

The Back of Your Hand
Not sure why I like this as much as I do. I guess everyone wants to believe someone out there knows him or her like "the back of your hand." This one is a sort of a gentle song and for what it's worth, it makes me smile.

"Take a guess where I stand
pick a number one or two
Take a look at the back of your hand
just like you know it you know me too"

Music is Good for the Soul

On Monday I had a ton of organizational type work to do at school and I cranked up my mp3 player and got down to it. There is something so utterly liberating to be alone in a building and to have the music blasting and to SING ALONG and know that no one is listening... no neighbors are clutching their ears and cursing the thin walls... And sometimes I felt such joy in that wild abandon that I found myself unable to keep from dancing like... well, like no one was watching. :)

Here are a couple of the songs that brought on the groove.

Go Bears!

This was a fun football weekend. Like a crazy fool I watched all four games after hooking up my TV's antenna & digital conversion box. I didn't realize how much I missed my NFL until I started watching again. I was having Hollywood Video fantasy football flashbacks and was wishing I could be serving up some trash talk to my pal, Rick! This will be a good year for a super bowl party, I think. Fingers crossed it will be the Bears and some team they can easily beat. I'm pretty sure I have a few friends who would be over the moon happy with that. Go Bears!

The Golden Globes

I am usually much more on top of the whole film scene. Year by year, my ability to keep up with current films depreciates. Still, it wouldn't be right to ignore the Golden Globes this weekend, despite the fact that I've seen a mere handful of the films--literally FIVE of the films and three of them were animated. One of my new year's resolutions is to go easy on myself. Keeping up with the latest new movie should not a race, a competition, or even a reasonable goal, really. That said, here are the film nominees. I rarely get too excited about the TV portion and am focused mainly on the GGs as a preview to the Academy Awards, my favorite award show of the year. (films I've seen are highlighted in red--I don't pretend to have a clue who will win)

Best Motion Picture - Drama
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Halle Berry – Frankie and Alice
Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
Colin Firth – The King's Speech
James Franco – 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling – Blue Valentine
Mark Wahlberg – The Fighter

Best Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical
Alice in Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kids Are All Right
Red
The Tourist

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical
Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
Anne Hathaway – Love And Other Drugs
Angelina Jolie – The Tourist
Julianne Moore – The Kids Are All Right
Emma Stone – Easy A

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical
Johnny Depp – Alice in Wonderland
Johnny Depp – The Tourist
Paul Giamatti – Barney's Version
Jake Gyllenhaal – Love And Other Drugs
Kevin Spacey – Casino Jack

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Amy Adams – The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter – The King's Speech
Mila Kunis – Black Swan
Melissa Leo – The Fighter
Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Christian Bale – The Fighter
Michael Douglas – Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Andrew Garfield – The Social Network
Jeremy Renner – The Town
Geoffrey Rush – The King's Speech

Best Animated Feature Film
Despicable Me
How To Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Tangled Toy Story 3

Best Foreign Language Film
Biutiful (Mexico, Spain)
The Concert (France)
The Edge (Russia)
I Am Love (Italy)
In A Better World (Denmark)

Best Director - Motion Picture
Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
David Fincher – The Social Network
Tom Hooper – The King's Speech
Christopher Nolan – Inception
David O. Russell – The Fighter

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Simon Beaufoy, Danny Boyle - 127 Hours
Christopher Nolan - Inception
Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko - The Kids Are All Right
David Seidler - The King's Speech
Aaron Sorkin - The Social Network

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
Alexandre Desplat - The King's Speech
Danny Elfman - Alice in Wonderland
A. R. Rahman - 127 Hours
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Social Network
Hans Zimmer - Inception

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
"Bound To You" – Burlesque
Music By: Samuel Dixon
Lyrics By: Christina Aguilera and Sia Furler

"Coming Home" – Country Strong
Music & Lyrics By: Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey and Troy Verges

"I See The Light" – Tangled Music By: Alan Menken Lyrics By: Glenn Slater

"There's A Place For Us" – Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
Music & Lyrics By: Hillary Lindsey, Carrie Underwood and David Hodges

"You Haven't Seen The Last Of Me" – Burlesque
Music & Lyrics By: Diane Warren

Vacation Day Four-Twelve -- Mission NOT Accomplished

And then vacation got busy and my reading dwindled...

Oops. I should have known. I did manage to read five books during break:

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini by Paul Fleischman
Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman (audiobook)
White Cat by Holly Black (audiobook)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

I really enjoyed all of them. During break I started three others:
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
Moominpapa at Sea by Tove Jansson
Does Anybody Have a Problem with That? by Bill Maher

While I've still not completed any of those I did take a brief break and read Ender's Game for my RRVWP book club and really enjoyed it. I am hopeful that I'll get back to these three again soon since I am also determined to read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout in the next few days before the Great Reads Book Club at the library next week.

Already January is half done and I managed to pick up another fine stack of tantalizing books when I was at Half Price Books in the Twin Cities over Christmas break.