You guys? Downton Abbey you guys! It was INTENSE last night. Am I right?

SPOILER ALERT: Poor Matthew!!!! And even more so - POOR WILLIAM! I feel only pity for dumb dumb Ethel.

2012 Oscar Death Race - An exercise in futility

The 2012 Academy Awards nominations have arrived, and thus begins this year's Oscar Death Race in full effect!
Day 1 Race Standings:
Of the 61 films nominated this year, I have as of this writing seen 30 of them. And I've completed 5 of the 24 categories.
These stats may change considerably by the end of this day because I am seeing Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy tonight which is one of the few movies nominated for a "major award" that I have yet to see.
I'm counting on my local theater the Varsity to help me by showing the nominated shorts - Animated and Live Action - like they have the past couple of years, so that I can complete those two categories and cross off a lot of movies from the list of 61. It would be lovely if Varsity or SIFF showed the Documentary Shorts which has been one of my death knells in past year's "Races".
This year a surprisingly snag in Race completion has come in the form of the Best Foreign Film nominations. Usually my film festival attendance and general love of movies from other lands has me sitting pretty in this category. But this year's Foreign film noms only have two movies that I've seen. Two of the nominated films I've never even heard of!! Damn AMPAS, help a sista' out.
I frown upon downloading and watching illegally pirated movies, which I consider cheating during the Race. I will lament and whine for the rest of January and February if I can't find a way to see these foreign movies in a legitimate way.

2012 Oscar Nominations and the Oscar Death Race begins!!

"...Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Jennifer Lawrence at 5:30 in the morning. Nine Best Picture nominees tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things!"

That's right, the 2012 Academy Awards nominations were announced this morning. Hugo led the way with 11 nominations, with The Artist a close second, scoring 10 nominations of its own. After all of the hulabaloo over the new Best Picture nom logorithm decision process, in the end a total of 9 pictures met the qualifications to gain nominations for the big prize. Joining Hugo and The Artist are Tree of Life, War Horse, Moneyball, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Descendants, Midnight in Paris, and The Help.
As I did last year, I'm participating in The Oscar Death Race, that Sarah Bunting over at Tomato Nation came up with a couple of years ago, where you attempt to see every film nominated in all categories. This year there are 61 movies nominated. I'll be giving updates on my progress as the weeks go by, but so far I've seen a good percentage of the films nominated this year. That being said however, I'm still pretty sure I'm going to fail the race again this year.
My nemesis category for 2012 is definitely Best Foreign Film. I really thought I had this category in the bag after attending various film festivals throughout 2011 and seeing a crapload of foreign films. But when all was said and done, this morning cute Jennifer Lawrence only ended up naming 2 movies that I've seen:

"Monsieur Lazhar" and "A Separation".

Footnote? In Darkness? In what now? So frustrating. I've been told that a local Seattle arthouse theater is actually going to show Bullhead soon, so I'm hoping to see this nominee soon. But for the others, I'm not holding my breath. Other potential downfall categories include Costume Design (Anonymous? REALLY?) and the Documentary Shorts. Also, I am PISSED that I am being forced to see that fucking Transformers movie. Grrrrr....

Lovely and Amazing

I know everyone already blew up Twitter and the other social media outlets on the interwebs last week talking about Marc Maron's interview with Todd Glass on Maron's WTF podcast, but I want to make my own declaration of love.
Todd Glass has been one of my favorite comedians for decades. I could seriously listen/see Glass or Paul F. Tompkins (both from Philadelphia ironically) do comedy every single day of my life and not get bored.
I've had a little crush on Todd for years, so it was with a small amount of regret that I listened to Todd come out publicly as a gay man to Maron and the world.
But while my celebrity crush was squashed, getting a chance to hear Todd's journey and share his story was such a rare and gratifying privilege. I love you even more Todd Glass! Thanks for your candor and your bravery.
If you get a chance, please download and listen to this conversation.

Post Seattle Snowpocalypse 2012

 First came all of the snow on Wednesday, January 18, 2012. It started around 3:30 AM and kept going and going, snowing a constant blanket of that powdery white that compacts so well and makes for great snow balls. By late Wednesday night the temperature had dropped significantly, and the shit on the ground was freezing and turning into ice.
The next morning we woke to this horror: A world covered in ice. And around 10AM it started to snow again and continued until the afternoon, when it changed to dumping a frozen sleet on the ground.

By Friday it was all over; except for the thaw and the digging out. The amount of shoveling, ice-picking, and glacier removal that I had to do to unearth my car so that I could drive the 2 miles down the road to see my father was ridiculous.
The Seattle side streets today are still a slushy, wet, treacherous mess. But at least one good thing came out of this shut-in week: I watched and cleared out HOURS of programming from my dvr. And I didn't lose power once.
It's the small things.

Golden Globes 2012 Fashion smashes

I liked quite a few of the outfits on the red carpet at this year's Golden Globes. I thought Angelina Jolie was perfection. Natalie Portman and Jessica Alba were also fetching in strapless gowns.

 I thought Kate Winslet looked stunning in this black and cream number. Claire Danes wore a similar look/color scheme but I didn't post her pic because she chose to bring her mom instead of her hot husband Hugh Dancy to the ceremony for me to look at.

Emma Stone and Laura Dern sported two looks that I loved but I know others felt differently.

 Finally, in my opinion Tilda Swinton rocked my world in this ice blue dress and jacket combo. I just think she's amazing.