Christopher Street

The Big 6+2

So, "A Beautiful Mind" is the Academy's choice for Best Picture.

Shouldn't be surprising, really. It's the only nominated movie that I didn't see this year. Same thing happened last year, when the only nominated movie I didn't see was Gladiator. Seems I miss all the quality flicks.

Of the four of the Best Pic noms that I did see, I think that I would have voted for Moulin Rouge. It was audacious and took a H U G E risk and pulled it off. I think that a good, risky flick should beat a good safe flick any day of the week. But I am not the Academy. Good thing for all those "Titanic" fans, too.

Anyway, let's take a look at the "big 6+2" as I like to call them:

Best Picture
Noms:A Beautiful Mind, Gosford Park, Moulin Rouge, In the Bedroom, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Winner: A Beautiful Mind
Who I Picked: Moulin Rouge (see above)

Director
Noms:Ron Howard, Ridley Scott, Peter Jackson, Robert Altman, David Lynch
Winner:Ron Howard
Who I Picked: Ron Howard

Hollywood loves an insider, and there is no one more inside than Ron Howard. I didn't see the flick, so I really can't comment on this, except to say that Peter Jackson's vision was what made Lord of the Rings the magical experience that it was. Of all the films, LotR was the one that probably would have been drastically different, had it been made by another director. Moving on to Gosford Park, Robert Altman is brilliant and we all know it. He spends a lot of time making fun of the people who vote, though, which can't really be to his advantage.

Actor
Noms: Russell Crowe, Sean Penn, Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Tom Wilkinson
Winner: Denzel Washington
Who I Picked: Denzel, all the way.

Crowe is too surly, Penn too disrespectful of the Academy, Wilkinson too...foreign and Will Smith, well, too...Fresh . This was Denzel's award all the way. He probably deserved it, if not for Training Day, for a slew of other flicks that he's been wonderful in. Malcolm X springs immediately to mind. Besides, I like him and I am always glad when people I like win. :)

Actress
Noms: Halle Berry, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Sissy Spacek, Renee Zellweger
Winner: Halle Berry
Who I Picked: Halle Berry

Truth be told, I didn't see the Berry performance. I understand that it's brilliant. I liked Sissy and Nicole's performances as well, although Sissy's performance was only brilliant by normal standards; it was fairly ordinary by Sissy standards. And Nicole was great in Moulin Rouge, but the performance was a little slight. And Judi is always brilliant but she has won a lot lately. But Renee was brilliant, too, just brilliant in a less scenery-chewing way. Sometimes, I think it's harder to be brilliant and subtle and funny than it is to be brilliant and screaming and throwing stuff. Maybe it's just me.

Supporting Actor
Noms: Jim Broadbent, Ethan Hawke, Ben Kingsley, Ian McKellan, Jon Voight
Winner: Jim Broadbent
Who I Picked: McKellan

This was the category that floored me. Literally. I sat in my chair with my mouth open, through much of Broadbent's speech. Now, don't get me wrong--I like Jim Broadbent very much. But this really seemed to be McKellan's all the way. The great performance he gave in LotR coupled with the snub for Gods and Monsters a few years back seemed to equal shoe-in. But, this is why I don't ever bet money on the Academy. They are too unpredictable.

Supporting Actress
Noms: Jennifer Connelly, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Marisa Tomei, Kate Winslet
Winner: Jennifer Connelly
Who I Picked: Jennifer Connelly

I don't know--I didn't see the flick, for the nth time. Mirren, Smith, and Tomei were great, so this would have had to be one heckuva performance to be worthy. I guess it might have been. Anything's possible.

Original Screenplay
Noms: Amelie, Gosford Park, Memento, Monster's Ball, The Royal Tenenbaums
Winner: Gosford Park
Who I Picked: Memento

Travesty. Memento was the most original screenplay in YEARS. Travesty.

Adapted Screenplay
Noms:A Beautiful Mind, Ghost World, In the Bedroom, Lord of the Rings, Shrek
Winner: ABM
Who I Picked: Lord of the Rings. I don't think I have any opinion on this category. Or maybe my hands are tired from the typing.

Academy Awards--the Spectacle!

First things first...I was four of six in my predictions of the "big six" awards Sunday night. I will admit that I perhaps picked Moulin Rouge because I wanted it so badly to win rather than because I truly thought it would win, but the Ian McKellan thing floored me. Floored me. If there was a lock going in, I would have thought that that was it. Overall, I was 11 of 24...not bad when you consider that I usually just guess at all the documentary categories.

I will go into more detail on who I picked and why and how I ended up 11/24 on the night tomorrow. Today, we are focusing on the spectacle alone. First: The Fashion!

Best Dressed: Of the women, there were quite a few lovelies. Julia Roberts was elegant and understated. Kate Winslet, Jada Pinkett and Marcia Gay Harding also looked fab. Kate should wear red more often--she looks great in it. Jada's outfit reminded me of the one worn by Calista Flockhart a few years ago at the Emmies...love the casual elegance of the white top with the long, gorgeous skirt. That color yellow is to die for! And I thought that Harding's dress was the lovliest of the evening. However, my personal best-dressed goes to Reese Witherspoon. The dress, the hair, the makeup--it just all worked for me. I thought that she was the fab-est of the fab.

In the "Oh-my-god-what-is-that?"category: Cameron Diaz, Gwyneth Paltrow, the guy with the fringy jacket and Thoth! First, I am on record as thinking that Cameron Diaz is funny-looking. But, what was up with that dress? The matted hair? The blue thing in the hair (which matched nothing on the dress as far as I could tell). Yech.

Where Gwynnie was concerned, I think that she was definitely going for a look, but what an ugly look it was. Wipe off about 60% of that makeup, woman, and hie thee to Victoria's Secret! Whilst there, get thee a bra! And please, do something with the severe hair. If you want to look like a junkie, well, it's working--although as John pointed out, Courtney Love does junkie better, so why bother?

I don't remember who the guy was that had the jacket o' fringe, but I hated it. And I really, really wanted Thoth! to PUT ON SOME PANTS. I was quite uncomfortable watching him on stage. His lack of pants was exacerbated by the fact that he appeared to be wearing garters, like the kind that gentlemen used to wear to hold up their socks. Memo to the academy--maybe you should adopt a "no pants, no award" rule.

Finally, Paul McCartney is worth, what--half a BILLION dollars? And he couldn't wear a tie? ? He couldn't buy his fiancee a whole dress? Or at least a half-dress that didn't make her look like a hooker?

Whoopi-- Wow. I like Whoopi Goldberg. I do. A lot. I usually think she's quite funny. But what dead weight was she on Sunday? If I hadn't read the credits, I would have thought that Bruce Vilanch (comedy writer that usually does the Oscars) wasn't around this year. But he was and Whoopi is usually funny so...gosh what happened? The topical stuff fell flat and the recurring routines about black people in--or not in-- the nominated flicks wasn't funny after the first time she did it. All in all, I wanted Steve Martin back!

As far as the show itself went, wow--4 hours and 23 minutes? That beat my 3:47 estimate by 36 minutes! But what did we get for that? Well, 2, count 'em 2, Honorary awards. Cirque de Soleil. A mini-documentary on New York. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Oh, and that whole "what movies mean to me" thing at the beginning. Were I in charge, I would have cut the Cirque. As much as I love them, and I do (I saw Mystere live a couple of years ago--WOW), they didn't add to the ceremony. I would have also dropped Ben and Owen. It may amount to blasphemy in today's culture, but I don't think that Ben Stiller is funny. Shoot me. I might also have dropped the "what movies mean to me" thing in the beginning, and I don't think I would have used it excerpts from it as bumpers throughout the show, either. Yeah, it was funny and in another year I would green-light it but this year, in light of 9-11, needed the New York documentary more and, frankly, the show just couldn't support both of them. As for the two honorary awards--why? Why 2? I am not sure which was announced first and why the second one was decided on--do we think that Redford and/or Poitier might not be around next year? One honorary award, folks. I don't have the patience for two.

So, no Cirque, no Ben, no Owen, no Roberto Begnini. Either no Bob or no Sidney. Hmmm--I think that I just cut almost an hour. Imagine--with my guidance, the awards would have been over by...midnight!

It's almost time!

I love movies. I love the expanse of them, the scope, the vision. I love going to the movies. I like paying for my ticket, I love theater seats, I love the smell, the popcorn, the overpriced drinks. I love the anticipation, that moment as the lights dim and the movie still has the potential to be brilliant. I love funny movies and serious movies. I like American flicks and foreign flicks. I like big blockbusters and small indies. I like big stars and nobodies. I just love the movies.

I also love acting awards shows. I clarify that because I am so out of touch with popular music that the Grammies and the American Music Awards don't really resonate...but the Emmies, nightime, daytime, the Golden Globes, the SAG awards, the DGA awards...I am so there. I love the spectacle, I love the drama, I love the dresses. I really love the pretty dresses, but I love the ugly dresses more. It makes me feel somehow superior to these rich and famous people when I realize that, were I blessed with the money that they have, I would have picked a better dress. I also love the acceptance speeches. Most of all, actually. A good acceptance speech is about as close to an expression of raw emotion as you can get without involving birth or death. Good ones stick with me, like favorite scenes from good movies. In 1988, an actor named A Martinez won an emmy for his portrayal of Cruz Castillo in the daytime drama "Santa Barbara". He thanked his female costar thusly: "A, uh, colleage of mine, Roscoe Born, says that working with Marcy Walker is not really work. You just look at her and wait for her to get to you and then she does." Sigh.

So, with my love of movies and my love of awards shows, it should come as no surprise that I love the Academy Awards. Since I was a little girl, I have loved the Oscars. I remember making my dad stay up late to watch the parts of the show that were past my bedtime. He was supposed to leave me a list on the kitchen table of who won what after I bowed out--no Internet back then, and the local papers went to press long before the ceremony was over so if he didn't watch, I might not know who won till the next day! I remember running out the next morning and grabbing that piece of paper, devouring it along with my cereal.

As a grown-up, I have never missed the ceremony. For the last several years, I have watched with my husband and my friends John and Philip. We are sometimes just the 4 of us; we are sometimes joined by others. Adil, Leigh, Brandon, Jerry, Troy, Lisa, Ann...all have partaken of this ritual at some point or another. This year, we will be 5: the regulars plus my friend Adil, whom I hadn't seen in ages. Academy Awards night isn't the best forum to visit, but it will ne good to see him none-the-less.

Anyway, my predictions for the big 6: Moulin Rouge, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Ron Howard, Sir Ian McKellan, Jennifer Connelly.

Back tomorrow with a review!

Connected!

After a long struggle, we are coming to you live from the laptop!

For years, the idea of the laptop has been appealing. I have had them for work for years, and always thought that they were wicked cool. But, there was the issue of connectivity. What I really wanted was a laptop on the network rather than one that I would have to connect via a phone line with.

When we moved into the house, we talked about running cable through the walls into the family room so that we could, theoretically, jack into the network in the comforting blue glow of the TV.

But, as with all the things that we always were going to do and never did, we didn't ever do that. A couple times when I was sick, I would take my laptop and dial in from the couch, but that was rare. We have multitudinous phone lines in the home office, but not in the rest of the house and being dialed in meant that no one could call. Now, for finite periods of time, that's not an issue. I don't answer the phone most of the time in the evenings anyway. However, being logged on for 6, 8, 12 hours in that manner is just not stable, practical or fun.

So I stuck with desktops and spent an inordinate amount of time at my desk, surfing the 'net, checking email, chatting with friends. I even put a TV in the office so I could listen to baseball games and watch a nightime drama. But then, we finished the home theater setup in the family room andas I started trying to learn a little HTML, and started working on the TiVoGoddess site, I realized that I didn't want my life to be spent at a desk all day and a desk all night. I wanted to be untethered!

So I bought a laptop and decided to connect it wirelessly.

On the surface, wireless looks pretty easy. And really, it is. There's this standard, 802.11, and a bunch of manufacturers that make wireless equipment to that standard. You get an access point (base station) and an access card (receiving station) and you're golden.

Unless you have a bad access card. :(

I had a bad access card and so, for me, the wireless thing wasn't so seamless. John, bless him, spent about 5 hours on the phone with tech support over the course of three days trying to get the card to work. Finally, we replaced it with a new card and it took, oh, about 4 seconds to find the network. :)

I had hoped that I would write more once this issue was settled, but I haven't been. I still write in my head in the car and as I fall asleep at night but I have been really tired for a couple of weeks and not inclined to do much of anything except sleep, watch TV and surf. I know that there are some folks that were reading every day and I appreciate that. I'm trying to put together somesort of "notify me when Lori updates her journal" button for the site so that y'all who are reading don't waste your time looking for new entries when there aren't any.

I always think that I need closure at the end of every entry. It's a lot of pressure, to have some sort of witty, in-conclusion-y statement. So, today, I am absolving myself of the responsibility of thinking one up. Today, I am just going to stop typing and go to sleep.

Once more, into the breech.

Well, you can't say that I didn't warn you.

I have no discipline. I have never had any discipline. If I had discipline, I would have gotten A’s in college rather than B’s. If I had discipline, the $2000 treadmill in the basement wouldn’t be gathering quite so much dust. If I had discipline, I wouldn’t have 17 loads of undone laundry. My closet would be neat and organized. My videotapes would have labels. My dishes would be done more often than the night before--no, make that the morning of the housekeeper’s visit.

And, if I had discipline, I would write every day.

I started this project to see if I could do it, if I could write every day. I wanted to see if I had the chops, if I had the discipline. I thought that maybe, just maybe, if I could do this, I could one day write that book that I always thought I’d write someday. Someday when I had the discipline.

So here I am, feeling guilty for not writing. Every day, I think that I am going to write something. I even have specific things to write about. I had a fabulous weekend a couple of weeks ago. Just about perfect, as weekends go. I thought I would write about that. I didn’t. I might do that tomorrow, though, because as weekends go, it was pretty spectacular.

Then I thought that I would write about my growing dissatisfaction with my job, or about my shiny new refrigerator, bought in protest of my company’s decision to raise prices on all the vending products. Or about how my shiny new refrigerator made all the sodas so cold that they exploded all over the inside and I had to clean it out squatted on the floor of my cubicle in a skirt. I mean, that could be a good story, right?

But, in the end, I wrote none of it. Instead, I went out and bought a new laptop and a bunch of wireless networking gear thinking that I would write, if I didn’t have to do it at my desk. My desk, you see, is very uncomfortable. It’s always hot in the office and I hate my chair and the cats aren’t allowed in because they are very fuzzy and John thinks that the hair is really bad for the equipment. So the whole time I am sitting at my desk, trying to work, Owen sits in the hall outside the office and cries. I am a sucker for my boy and when he cries, it just breaks my heart. So…

So, I bought the laptop and the wireless networking equipment. That first night, I drifted off to sleep with visions of the novel that I want so desperately to be good enough to write dancing in my head. I had the equipment--how could I not be able to write the book?

Except that I can’t. Not yet. But maybe I will be able to someday. In the meantime, maybe I will try to keep plugging away here. Even if it’s not every day. The laptop will help, I think. It may not provide discipline, but it will provide more opportunities to write. I am writing this, for example, in the family room, listening to a repeat of “Good Eats”. I am sitting in a comfy chair and the cats are within petting distance. No one is crying. Combined, these have to be good things.