KELLY CLARKSON! KELLY CLARKSON! (also Pentatonix!)

So, back in March, I won tickets off the radio to see Kelly Clarkson, Pentatonix, and Eric Hutchinson in concert. Well, the day of the show has finally arrived and I am beyond excited!

I've seen Kelly and Eric (they like touring together) in concert twice before and they consistently BRING IT in their live shows. Add to this mix the a cappella awesomeness of my beloved Pentatonix, and I am beyond psyched!

I seriously recommend that you all listen to each of these artists' latest albums, especially PTX's Volume III. You'll thank me later.

This will undeniably be me in about 10 hours -


via GIPHY

SUCCESS - I found the YA book I've been looking for almost 20 years!

Book lovers, you know my plight -

You read a book back in your teen years or in your 20s that you loved, or that affected you in some way, and yet the title of said book has maddeningly flitted right out of your brain. And no matter how many web inquiries, bookstore sleuthing, and questions thrown out to the ether asking - "Does anyone know the name of THIS BOOK?", you have come up empty.

Well, have faith dear friends. It may take years, but eventually someone, somewhere, out there on the interwebs will throw you a bone. The Internet is sometimes awesome, is what I'm trying to say.

My two-decades long search ended today when I randomly was on the Goodreads site and wandered into the "What's the name of this book?" forum, a place that I had been several times doing my elusive search for my YA novel. This time I decided to search the "Unsolved" folder to see if there were other people like me searching for this particular book. I did a keyword search of "Woods".

What happened next was something that only happens on internet forums - in response to a poster's inquiry about some book regarding twin teen siblings who get lost camping, a commenter had suggested that the name of the book that they were searching for was something called "Coming Back Alive". And then another commenter had jumped in and said that no, the first commenter was wrong, and proceeded to get into a drawn-out nerd fight over books and who had the most knowledge of YA books from the 80s and 90s.
Sometime during this back and forth one of the arguing commenters had posted a picture:

You guys? It was like the Earth broke in two and shooting sparks flew up into my brain. THAT'S THE COVER OF THE BOOK!! MY BOOK!! I FOUND IT!

So, thanks to a person being wrong about the answer to another searcher's book question, I indeed was able to solve the mystery that's been plaguing me for years. And I ordered the book off of Thriftbooks.com 2 seconds later. It's on it's way to me from Oregon and I can't wait to read it after all of these years.
I'm sure it won't live up to my expectations or remembrances, but I don't care. I've haven't been this excited in a long time!

OOTlander

I don't have Starz. It's pretty much the only premium cable channel that I don't have. And boy, have I really regretted not having it this year; the main reason being that I haven't been able to watch "Outlander" the series this season.
I got to watch the premiere episode of this season on the Starz website where they let non-subscribers watch for free. My friends John and Dan have Starz, and I got to see the second episode, but beyond that, besides resorting to illegal downloading methods - which I refuse to do, I'm going to have to wait months before I'll be able to watch this full series, and I'm pissed about it.

I even tried to buy the full season on iTunes and guess what? It's not for sale! Will it ever be? Other premium cable channels sell their shows, why not Starz? Maybe they're waiting for the full season to be over, which would mean that I would have to wait for some time. Grrrrr...

Meanwhile, the "mid-season" finale just happened this past weekend, and we had this scene:

VERY intense. In other news, Sam Heughan is effing hot!

For the Love of... Taylor Kitsch

 In 2006 I was introduced to Taylor Kitsch and his beautiful face (and THAT BODY) on the TV show "Friday Night Lights". Tim Riggins was the best, and although he rarely cracked smiles like the one he's sporting in the photo below, Kitsch's Riggins was one of the most complex characters written for television for that time period when vacuous reality television was exploding and taking over everything in its path.

In interviews Kitsch always comes off as sort of a doof. A Canadian muscle-bound dumdum who is very earnest and sincere but sort of an airhead. I actually think he has "Keanu Reeves disease", where his good looks and sort of stoner goof voice make him seem way dumber than he actually is. I kept waiting for him to land a film role that would show the type of depth that he was able to show on FNL. Instead his muscles and face just kept on getting him action hero roles which was fine. (As an aside - John Carter is totally underrated and is a great action/sci-fi movie)
Well 2014 may just be Taylor's year to shine. First, we get to see his heartrendingly raw and captivating performance as Bruce Niles in HBO's The Normal Heart, Ryan Murphy's well done adaptation of Larry Cramer's famous play. When Kitsch as Bruce tells the story of his boyfriend Albert's horrible death...I cried buckets. Also Kitsch was really made to wear those early 80s power suits.

Then last weekend I had the privilege to see Taylor Kitsch stretch his comedic and romantic lead wings in the great Canadian comedy The Grand Seduction, about the residents of a small Newfoundland fishing town who attempt to hoodwink a hot, young Toronto doctor into moving to their small harbor and setting up a clinic practice so that the town can secure the bid to have a big factory build there and bring needed jobs to their struggling community. This is another SIFF film that I think will get a wider release, or at least be available on demand or dvd soon, and I would highly recommend it. Also? It has Taylor Kitsch in it looking like this:

Today's Mood...

Will you look at Nick Rhodes' AMAZING black ruffled, puffy shirt. He was my first crush that made me feel all weird inside because his sexuality was so ambiguous.
BTdubs - Rhodes still looks amazing today in his 50s!

Analyzing this year's Oscar noms

 

The 2014 Academy Award nominations were announced this morning, and due to crippling insomnia, I was actually up at 5:00AM PST to watch them live!

Here’s the full list pulled from the Academy Award main site.

I won’t be participating in the Oscar Death Race like I have the past few years, where the goal is to see EVERY SINGLE nominated film; I am returning to my old tradition of seeing every film for the major categories: Best Picture, all Acting nominations, Best Documentary, Best Screenplay (Adapted and Original), and Best Direction. I'm well on my way to completion. I only have a couple more.

Things that surprised me (Bad):

-          Joaquin Phoenix didn’t get a Best Actor nomination. While I’ve never been his biggest fan, he was amazing in “Her”, and probably deserved the nomination over Christian Bale. As much as I love Bale and think he was great in “American Hustle”, I’m not sure I’d say the role was Oscar-worthy. But then again I feel that way about all of the acting performances from “Hustle”; everyone was good, but there were others that were better.

-          The rampant category fraud going on with some of these acting nominations is irritating. Meryl Streep had the same amount of screen time, if not less, in “August: Osage County” than Julia Roberts did. They both gave powerful performances in that movie that deserve recognition, but they either both should be considered leads or in my opinion, both should be nominated in the Supporting category. This holds true for Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper; if you’re going to give them nominations, which again I’m not sure they earned in this year of bountiful great acting, they both should be for Supporting Actor.

-          Scarlet Johansson wasn’t considered for an acting nom for her voice work in “Her”. She did more acting with just her voice than many did with their whole body on screen.

-          I hate to say this but… Oprah really did deserve a Best Supporting Actress nom for The Butler. Jennifer Lawrence hijacked her Oscar.

Surprises (Good):

-          “Cutie and The Boxer” was nominated for Best Documentary! So excited that one of the best docs I saw last year is getting this recognition. This has been on Netflix for months, please do yourself a favor and see it.

-          “Despicable Me 2” got a Best Animated Feature nomination. After not making the cut for the Globes I was worried.

Things that weren’t surprising but were still great:

-          Jared Leto got one step closer to being an Oscar winner. It’s seriously so surreal.

-          Chiwetel Ejiorfor and Michael Fassbender got their nominations for “12 Years A Slave”. Well deserved. I worry that Chiwetel is going to lose what should rightfully be his Oscar to one of his fellow nominees.

Well, however the results turn out, it’s still my favorite season of the year!

My new favorite show

Last night was the season finale of "The Americans". I couldn't believe how swiftly the season passed and how much I enjoyed every minute of every episode. I knew I was missing Keri Russell from my tv screen, but I truly didn't realize how much.
F/X has quickly become a channel that I can count on for quality programming, airing two of my top 5 television shows from the last decade (the other being Justified).

Anyway, if you missed The Americans, there's still time to catch up online or on-demand. I recommend Justified as well, but the fourth season just ended, and it's kind of important to start from at least sesaon 2 with that show in order for it to make sense. But it's worth the trouble!

And this year's Oscar nominations go to...NOT Ben Affleck?!

The 2013 Academy Award nominations came out today. And I'm in a bit of a daze. Not because of the films that got nominations, like the 12 for "Lincoln" and the 11 for "Life of Pi", but for the individuals that didn't get a nomination in categories that they have dominated over these past months in other award nomination fields like the Golden Globes, SAG, DGA, and Critic's Association.

So while there were nominations that were not surprising at all, - I easily predicted 8 out of the 9 Best Picture nominees - like the Academy's continued love over nominating Steven Spielberg and his works, or their aversion to nominate action films (sorry "Skyfall"!), there were far more nominations this morning that knocked me out. Let's analyze those surprises, both good and bad.

Ben Affleck didn't get a Best Director nomination -
Hello? Did Academy members see "Argo"? Well they must have, they did give it well-deserved Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations. But still, Affleck's brilliant direction is what gave this movie its energy and suspense. Anytime I'm on the edge of my seat, biting my knuckles, when I not only know what happened to the real people, but also read the autobiography that was the source material? That's a well directed film that deserves a nomination. Whom among the Direction nominees would I have eliminated instead? Probably David O. Russell. Silver Linings Playbook is great, but not necessarily because of the way it was directed.

Zero Dark Thirty got kind of shafted -
Okay, no it didn't, I'm being dramatic. It got 5 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Jessica Chastain. But still, it feels very strange and very wrong that Kathryn Bigelow didn't get a Best Director nomination. Is it because she already won an Oscar for directing a war film and the Academy voters decided that one was enough? Bigelow should've had the nomination that was given to Ang Lee, or dare I say it, Steven Spielberg.

Silver Linings Playbook locked up ALL 4 acting nominations -
A feat that hadn't happened in over 30 years; the last time being Reds in 1981. Both supporting and both lead acting categories have nominees from this quirky movie. Listen, I loved this film and think that Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence both earned their Best Acting noms. But DeNiro and Weaver? Not so much. I like both of these actors and thought they were very good in their roles, but they weren't Oscar-worthy performances. I mean damn, compare Jackie Weaver's other supporting actress Oscar nominated performance in "Animal Kingdom" to her character work in "Silver Linings Playbook". It's no contest! She was sooo flat in "Playbook". Her nomination should've gone to Nicole Kidman or Samantha Barks.

The Academy didn't neglect Quvenzhané Wallis or “Beasts of the Southern Wild” -
Because I saw this movie way back in early June 2012 at SIFF, it feels so strange to me to be talking about award nominations for it. I just figured that anyone who cared about this movie had blown their trumpets about it months ago and it was largely forgotten by now. But instead it was rewarded with not only a Best Picture nomination, but also a Best Actress nod for Wallis (will I ever be able to pronounce or spell her first name without looking it up 45 times?), and a surprising and yet worthy Best Direction nomination for Benh Zeitlin. Yay!

Amour wasn't too depressing for the Academy members after all -
I have yet to see this movie (doesn't open in Seattle until January 25), but everything I've read about it seemed to be summed up thusly - an amazing film, but depressing as hell, and not in a "moving" way. I thought for sure Amour would get snubbed by the nominators, except for the inevitable Best Foreign Film nod. But surprisingly, not only did Emmanuelle Riva get nominated for Best Actress, Michael Haneke got a nom for direction, and "Amour" was also nominated for Best Picture. Speaking of...why does it irk me so much when films are nominated in both the "Best Picture" and "Foreign" categories? I don't know, it just does!! It's annoying to hog both film categories - The Artist I'm looking at you. Grrrrr

One week away!

Until the opening of the film Prometheus, and some delicious Fassbender hot robot action! Have I mentioned enough times how much I love Michael Fassbender? Oh, I have? Well, I'm telling you again - I love him!

TENNIS! Tennis! Tennis!

One of my favorite things about Summer is all of the Grand Slam tennis! The French Open started this week, and it's already had its share of upsets - Sorry Venus and Serena!
Next up will be Wimbledon, then a break for the Olympics, and then we'll have the US Open closing things out. Yay yay yay!

SIFF 2012 - Week 1 Review

The 38th Seattle International Film Festival kicked off May 18 (techinally May 17 was the opening gala, but I never attend those), and so far it's turning out to be one of the best festivals I've been to in years. I encourage anyone in Seattle to

Here's a look at what I've seen over the past 8 days -

Daas
A Polish costume drama set in the 18th century about the famous religious leader Jacob Frank? It sounded right up my alley, but boy was it convoluted. The two lead actors try their best with a rather annoying script, and it was beautifully shot, but again disappointing.

The Intouchables
This touching, amazing film based on a true story, has become the third highest grossing film in France, almost outgunning Titanic. If the SIFF crowd on Friday night was any indication, I can see why. The theater was packed to the rafters with everyone from the mayor to the random Seattle granny to the young, poor hipster barista in attendance, all laughing and crying their asses off. I fully expect this film to have buzz carry it all the way to the 2013 Oscars.

The Sex of the Angels
A steamy tale of a complicated love triangle, involving 3 young Barcelonians. This film continues my almost annual SIFF tradition of seeing a Spanish film that tackles the subject of ménage a trois. I will say that “Angels” approached the theme in a fresh way; and the sex scenes were HOT. The three leads, especially Alvaro Cervantes, were maddeningly attractive.

Take This Waltz
As I tweeted last Saturday after I saw this, actor turned director Sarah Polley has done the impossible – she somehow made me not only like Seth Rogen, but actively root for him in a film. Rogen as Lou, husband to the lead character Margot, played subtlety by Michelle Williams, was a revelation. He was quiet, and unassuming, and sympathetic in ways that really showed off his acting skills. Yes! Seth Rogen, believe it or not, has acting skills. Sarah Silverman as Rogen’s alcoholic sister Gerry was also great. That said, the two lead characters played my Williams and Luke Kirby weren’t sympathetic at all. I think we were supposed to understand why they’re committing infidelity and be forgiving, but instead I just found them, Williams especially, incredibly selfish and annoying. This movie got a ton of great buzz at Sundance…last year, and then couldn’t find distribution so has kind of floundered. Which is surprising because it deserves to be seen and discussed.

Fat Kid Rules the World 

So far, in my top 5 list of films that I’ve seen in the last 12 months. Amazingly directed, written, and produced by of all people, actor Matthew Lillard, this locally filmed and crewed Seattle-based labor of love was the definition of heartwarming. Newcomer Jacob Wysocki as the lead Troy was outstanding and Billy Campbell, playing Troy’s dad, continues to always knock it out of the park with whatever role he’s given. All of the cast and crew attended the packed screening that I was at, and the movie got a standing ovation at the end. GO SEE THIS!

Trishna
In one word – DEPRESSING. I knew going into it that it was a modern adaptation of Hardy’s Tess of the D’ubervilles, and I read that book back in highschool so I know that it’s not an uplifting story. But DAMN, was this a downer of a film. Freida Pinto was freaking gorgeous however.

The Woman in the Fifth

You guys? This movie was so annoying. And so FRENCH. Which is funny because while it takes place in Paris, it was made by a Polish director/writer. Anyway, this confusing as hell film revolves around Ethan Hawke’s character Tom, an American writer who gained fame and respect with his first novel, then subsequently lost both along with his French wife and their daughter when he did “something” that resulted in him being in a prison mental hospital for an indeterminate amount of time. He arrives in Paris at the start of the film, looking to reconcile with his ex and start seeing his daughter again, when she refuses and calls the police on him, he wanders the streets of Paris on a public bus and ends up being robbed of everything but his passport. And then the film begins in earnest with a confusing story involving Kristin Scott Thomas’ character Margit who may or may not be a ghost and/or a figment of Tom’s imagination? I wanted to punch someone after this thing was over.

Short Life

Good thing I had this amazingly shot documentary about Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet company to cleanse my palette after the disaster that was “The Woman in The Fifth”. An unflinching, honest look at the life of a dancer at PNB; shot almost 4 years ago. It was great seeing familiar faces. And the dancing was incredible as usual.

The Do-Deca-Pentathlon
A nice, sweet, film. But overall just sort of mediocre. I’d recommend watching it on Netflix on a Sunday afternoon while folding laundry.

Bad Brains: A Band in DC

Growing up in the DC hardcore scene, Bad Brains was a group very close to my heart. This wonderful documentary provided an insightful, and unapologetically honest look at the band from their start in the late 70s to the present. The animation used in parts of the film was inspired!

Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean

Self-indulgent and ridiculous. Beautifully shot, but with the dialogue so poorly written, and acting so wooden, it was a disappointment from start to finish. But James Preston looks so much like James Dean it’s uncanny.

Just have sex already!!

Can you tell that I finally got around to watching the Season 3 finale of Justified? I love Raylan Givens and Boyd Crowder, in equal amounts, to distraction.

Favorite wardrobe props? For Boyd it's that little fitted, black pea coat that he's so fond of wearing. For Raylan? It's the hat, DUH.

When does season 4 start? And hey, they better be bringing that Karen Sisco Goodall character and Carla Cugino back to play her in the fourth season or I'll be mad.

I'm sadder than you can possibly know...

"Don’t send me no distant salutations,

Or silly souvenirs from far away.

Don’t leave me alone in the twilight,

Twilight is the loneliest time of day.

Don’t put me in a frame upon the mantel,

For memories turn dusty, old, and grey.

Don’t leave me alone in the twilight,

Twilight is the loneliest time of day"

American music treasure and touchpoint of my growin'-up years, Levon Helm, lost his fight with cancer this morning in New York City.

I'm in total mourning y'all. I'll just be here in the corner listening to The Band and tearing up. You will be greatly missed sir.

But can we talk about this awesome photo to the right here, that I found online? Levon Helm with the wacky hat, sheepskin coat barely on his shoulders, holding a VOLLEYBALL?! I don't know, you guys. But I love it.

I'm already SO EXCITED for the upcoming 2012/2013 TV pilot season

NY Magazine has a great article on the trends for the upcoming new TV pilot season. ABC has had such success with Revenge that it looks like they've ordered a few new "soapy" dramas for 2012-2013. I of course, thoroughly approve of this decision. And one of the new shows that ABC has ordered stars Chad Michael Murray (ugh) in a...I'm so excited I'm hyperventilating... remake of Scruples, the 1970s best-selling novel by Judith Krantz that they made into an incredible mini-series in the early 80s with Lindsay Wagner. I fucking love the mini-series era from the 1980s and have been wanting someone in Hollywood to come to their senses and start remaking/rebooting them.

How the hell did I miss this news when it first broke back in January?!! And Natalie Portman is producing it?! I'm now even more convinced that if she and I met we would become fast friends for life. Here's hoping that it's super successful and leads to a run on mini-series remakes. Krantz alone has about 4 or 5 that could easily and happily be redone.
Stupid CMM has snagged the role of Spider Elliot, originally played awesomely by Barry Bostwick. And Claire Folani (why won't she go away?) will play the lead character Billy Winthrop.
I'm not kidding people, I am stoked. Especially since Krantz wrote two sequels to Scruples, so there's a rich source for lots of plot storylines.

It's here! It's FINALLY HERE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

The day I've been waiting for, for nearly a year has arrived. The Hunger Games premieres tomorrow (well technically tonight at midnight).

I seriously haven't been this excited for a film to come to theaters since I was a teenager. And maybe not even then. Not only am I seeing "Hunger Games" at the midnight premier tonight, I'm also seeing it on Saturday morning. I am a huge dork. But I don't care.

When I get to Heaven...

This is what I want waiting for me.

ONE MONTH AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

TICKETS HAVE BEEN PURCHASED!

I can't express how excited I am for this movie. Or maybe you can tell my enthusiasm from all of the exclamation points and capital letters?

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 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.