2012 Oscar Death Race - It's The FINAL COUNTDOWN!

di da du du, di da du doot doot...

As the last days of the Oscar Death Race wind down, I am very proud to report that as of this writing I have seen 58 of this year's 61 Academy Award nominated films. FIFTY-EIGHT!!! And I only have 2 Oscar categories left to complete.
Back in January when the nominations came out, I thought for sure I wouldn't be able to get even close to 50 movies under my belt. But in just one month's time I have been able to see 28 movies. I don't know if people should be impressed or horrified by that statistic.

As I feared, the Foreign Language Film category has been my undoing. Israel's "Footnote" is supposedly opening this weekend in Seattle so I may be able to knock off another one before Sunday's ceremony, but it's not looking good. The other foreign entry I'm missing is a Belgian film called Bullhead which I have heard neither hide nor hare about whether it will ever show up in one of the art theaters here.
Finally, the other category that I haven't completed is Animated Feature. Damn you Chico & Rita! [Ed. note - I just got an email from a friend that Chico is supposedly available on Amazon on Demand. I will be checking this out tonight.]
So technically, annoying Belgian films aside, I could possibly complete the Death Race this weekend. I don't know if it's more annoying to be one film shy or to be 30.

I'm a film buff and glorified "movie dork", so I know this endeavor sounds crazy or ridiculous to most people. But just as I felt last year, doing the race has exposed me to some great films that I possibly wouldn't have seen or given a chance otherwise.
Last year's diamond was the Australian thriller Animal Kingdom, this year I think it might be the animated short The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Sigh...It was so good you guys.

And my favorite of the 61 nominated films you ask? Hmm, that's tough. It's probably a 3-way tie between Hugo, War Horse, and Pina.

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.

I failed...AGAIN

For the second year in a row I managed NOT to compose a 50,000 word book during the month of November. As usual, I appreciated and valued the challenge and the movitation that I had to even get as far as I did. It really did get my creative juices flowing. But unfortunately, I wasn't able to sustain any momentum and what with work, family stress, and preparing for 2 Christmas concerts, I ran out of steam and out of time.
Unlike my unfinished project from last year, that I quickly abandoned, I will be attempting to complete this year's novel as a gift to my friend Robert for Christmas. So yay, I have 3 more weeks!
One of these years NaNoWriMo, I will conquer you!!!

The 2011 Oscars are 2 days away!!!!

I can't tell you how jazzed I am about the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony on February 27, 2011. Even though a lot of the winners are foregone conclusions (congrats Portman, Firth, and Bale!), the fact that two of the most winsome and fresh-faced entertainers on Earth are hosting can't be bad right? Have you seen any of the promotional ads for the ceremony that ABC's been running this month? So funny.

And supposedly Hathaway and Franco are going to be doing various skits where they recreate scenes from famous movies from the past like Gone With The Wind. Is this why Franco posted behind-the-scenes footage of an homage the two do to Grease? Hey, no complaints here.

For those wondering about the results of my attempt to complete the Oscar Death Race this year, I am currently 8 movies away from the finish line, and although I'll be seeing two more before Sunday, I'm still going to fall short. But hey! I will have seen FIFTY of the 56 movies nominated for this year's ceremony, so I am pretty damn proud and pleased with myself. Sarah Bunting, who started this competition, wrote about her progress/results on NPR.org yesterday. I can't believe she made it so close. Damn Shakespearean movies. And foreign ones from Canada and Denmark! I'm sure that I could probably find at least some of these on an illegal Torrent site, but that's CHEATING so I'm not even going to try.
I'd tell myself "better luck next year" except that I think I was incredibly lucky that I happened to see so many of the nominated films at the 2010 SIFF, and I can't imagine getting that lucky again.

Come Sunday you will find me hanging out with some dear friends, cocktail in hand, snarking on people's outfits, talking about how dreamy James Franco is, and competing to see who can guess the most correct winners of the Oscar's 24 categories. Hope you have a similarly enjoyable experience!

Oscar Death Race 2011 - One week left

As mentioned previously, I'm participating in an Oscar Death Race to see if I can watch all 56 Academy Award nominated films for 2011.
I started out with a good base of 21 of the 56 movies under my belt, and I've slowly made my way to my current tally of 42 movies. I never expected to complete all 56, and even though I expect to knock out a few more in the coming days, I know I won't make it, but it's been really fun getting this close to the goal.
127 Hours*

Alice in Wonderland
Animal Kingdom
Another Year
Barney's Version
Biutiful
Black Swan*
Blue Valentine
The Confession
Country Strong
The Crush
Day & Night
Dogtooth
Exit Through the Gift Shop
The Fighter*
GasLand
God of Love
The Gruffalo
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I
Hereafter
How To Train Your Dragon
I Am Love
The Illusionist
In A Better World
Incendies
Inception*
Inside Job
Iron Man 2
The Kids Are All Right*
Killing In The Name
The King's Speech*
Let's Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, a Journey Diary
Na Wewe
Outside The Law
Poster Girl
Rabbit Hole
Restrepo
Salt
The Social Network*
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
Tangled
The Tempest
The Town
Toy Story 3*
TRON Legacy
True Grit*
Unstoppable
The Warriors of Qiugang
Waste Land
The Way Back
Winter's Bone*
Wish 143
Wolfman