• red carpet

    Are you ready for the Oscars?

    February 28, 2016 / No Comments

    Although I’m a huge movie fan, I could use a couple more weeks to prepare for the 2016 Academy Awards broadcast (which airs tonight on ABC). Alas, I didn’t receive free screeners from the academy — probably because I’m not a member — so I can only make an educated guess about who I think will win. Here are my predictions:

    BOLD – Expected to win
    ITALICS – Want to win

    Best Picture

    The Big Short

    Bridge of Spies

    Brooklyn

    Mad Max: Fury Road

    The Martian

    The Revenant

    Room

    Spotlight

     

    Best Actor in a Leading Role

    Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

    Matt Damon, The Martian

    Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

    Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

    Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

     

    Best Actress in a Leading Role

    Cate Blanchett, Carol

    Brie Larson, Room

    Jennifer Lawrence, Joy

    Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years

    Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

     

    Best Actor in a Supporting Role

    Christian Bale, The Big Short

    Tom Hardy, The Revenant

    Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight

    Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

    Sylvester Stallone, Creed

     

    Best Actress in a Supporting Role

    Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight

    Rooney Mara, Carol

    Rachel McAdams, Spotlight

    Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

    Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

     

    Best Animated Feature

    Anomalisa

    Boy and the World

    Inside Out

    Shaun the Sheep Movie

    When Marnie Was There

     

    Best Cinematography

    Carol

    The Hateful Eight

    Mad Max: Fury Road

    The Revenant

    Sicario

     

    Best Costume Design

    Carol

    Cinderella

    The Danish Girl

    Mad Max: Fury Road

    The Revenant

     

    Best Directing

    The Big Short

    Mad Max: Fury Road

    The Revenant

    Room

    Spotlight

     

    Best Documentary Feature

    Amy

    Cartel Land

    The Look of Silence

    What Happened, Miss Simone?

    Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom

     

    Best Documentary Short

    Body Team 12

    Chau, Beyond the Lines

    Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah

    A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness

    Last Day of Freedom

     

    Best Film Editing

    The Big Short

    Mad Max: Fury Road

    The Revenant

    Spotlight

    Star Wars: The Force Awakens

     

    Best Foreign Language Film

    Embrace of the Serpent

    Mustang

    Son of Saul

    Theeb

    A War

     

    Best Makeup and Hairstyling

    Mad Max: Fury Road

    The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared

    The Revenant

     

    Best Original Score

    Bridge of Spies

    Carol

    The Hateful Eight

    Sicario

    Star Wars: The Force Awakens

     

    Best Original Song

    “Earned It,” Fifty Shades of Grey

    “Manta Ray,” Racing Extinction

    “Simple Song #3,” Youth

    “Til It Happens To You,” The Hunting Ground

    “Writing’s On The Wall,” Spectre

     

    Best Production Design

    Bridge of Spies

    The Danish Girl

    Mad Max: Fury Road

    The Martian

    The Revenant

     

    Best Animated Short Film

    Bear Story

    Prologue

    Sanjay’s Super Team

    We Can’t Live without Cosmos

    World of Tomorrow

     

    Best Live Action Short Film

    Ave Maria

    Day One

    Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)

    Shok

    Stutterer

     

    Best Sound Editing

    Mad Max: Fury Road

    The Martian

    The Revenant

    Sicario

    Star Wars: The Force Awakens

     

    Best Sound Mixing

    Bridge of Spies

    Mad Max: Fury Road

    The Martian

    The Revenant

    Star Wars: The Force Awakens

     

    Best Visual Effects

    Ex Machina

    Mad Max: Fury Road

    The Martian

    The Revenant

    Star Wars: The Force Awakens

     

    Best Adapted Screenplay

    The Big Short

    Brooklyn

    Carol

    The Martian

    Room

     

    Best Original Screenplay

    Bridge of Spies

    Inside Out

    Spotlight

    Ex Machina

    Straight Outta Compton

  • good health

    “The groundwork of all happiness is health.” –Leigh Hunt

    February 21, 2016 / No Comments

    My health, it’s fine: I saw the doctor for a complete physical last week and she ruled that I was in good health. However, now that I am officially middle-aged, she encouraged me to get more exercise and sleep, and to watch my moles for unexplained changes. I asked for tips about how to unwind, mostly because the weight of stress from work has been bearing down on my shoulders lately. Other than encouraging me to do some yoga, she had no helpful advice. For that I will have to look elsewhere.

    M’s health, it’s mending: M caught his second cold of the year last week and was less than thrilled about it. The two of us rarely get sick, which is why this physical setback left him feeling a wee bit grumpy. Thankfully, the cold was a small one, giving him the icks, the sniffles, the sneezes and the tireds rather than the more serious coughs, aches and fevers. We stayed inside this weekend and mostly just read and watched Hulu as he recuperated.

    The tumor, it grows: Sera’s cancer, on the other hand, is getting worse and while my anger about her dying is something I work hard to manage, it occasionally boils over (fuck Cancer). The tumor on her breast has tripled in size since November and it’s clearly taking a toll on her small, furry body. When the cancer reaches her lungs, we will take Sera to the vet and end her ordeal. But in the meantime, she remains in good spirits and I intend to do everything I can to keep her that way.

  • charity

    Social media only works when we view it as a community and not as a competition

    February 17, 2016 / No Comments

    Articles about online etiquette generally offer sound advice:

    * Do share stories/articles about topics that interest you.

    * Don’t post unflattering pictures — of anyone.

    * Do engage with your readers in the comments.

    * Don’t give away too many personal details.

    * Don’t make nasty comments about your boss, ex, the dead, etc.

    Inevitably, however, these well-meaning stories will also include a suggestion that I find utterly baffling: Don’t post lovey-dovey comments about your mate.

    The thinking behind such advice is simple. Publicly sharing thoughts of love and romance can cause the folks who read your Facebook or Twitter feed to roll their eyes in disgust. Or worse, such caring comments will make readers feel bad about their own love lives.

    This is ridiculous.

    The world is so full of meanness. Snarky posts, trolling comments and outright insults are the norm on social media. What is wrong with countering all that cruelty with a bit of kindness?

    Romantic messages aren’t meant to make people feel bad; instead, the very opposite is true. Public declarations of passion may be aimed at one person but they’re revealed to all because when you’re in love, you want to share that wonderfulness with the whole world. You want to spread that love around.

    Such articles also advise against posting images or statuses that focus on vacations or babies or weddings, as if sharing such milestones means you’re bragging (or part of a massive conspiracy to bring down the spirits of the people who lack these things). Pah!

    The people who write these statuses are simply explaining what’s happening in their world and inviting others to enjoy the fun. Rather than opting for jealousy, I say choose to be happy for them. And when you fall in love, take a trip, wed, graduate, land a new job, buy a house, have a baby, get a great haircut, bake the perfect pie or win the lottery, shout it from the rooftops.

    We’ll all be happy for you, too.

    –Photo by Devonyu

  • Strange Calvin dreams

    February 7, 2016 / No Comments

    Last night, I had bizarre dreams, the kind I generally describe as “Calvin dreams.” The description comes from an old “Calvin and Hobbes” comic strip that offered a reasonable explanation for how strange dreams form.

    strange calvin dreamsClick image to enlarge.

    I’m convinced those same dream creators exist in my mind as well.

    I can’t remember all the details of my dreams, of course. That is the curse of traveling to Morpheus’ realm; you can visit any time, but just before waking you must consume a forgetting potion. If you’re lucky, it won’t take effect right away and you can remember a few snippets from your dreams. However, if you slowly ease back into consciousness, the adventures are erased like algebraic equations written in chalk on a blackboard.

    I awoke abruptly today, and what I remember from the dream is this: I was going to lunch with my grandmother, mother, one of my brothers and a stranger. The timing of the dream was recent and I was my current age and position in life, yet the lunch was still scheduled to occur despite the fact that my grandmother is dead and I haven’t had much contact with the rest of my family in years.

    We were planning to eat together at a bar, and just before I crossed the establishment’s threshold, I became distracted by the store next door. It was called Snowmen’s Warehouse, and it contained all types of snow men, women, children and fantastical creatures.

    I left my group, walked into the store and looked around for a while. Then, a saleswoman asked if I wanted a haircut. I said yes, and she led me to the salon area. I sat in the chair, stared into the mirror and watched as the saleswoman, who was now a stylist, cut my hair. She was made of snow, and refused to use a blow dryer or curling iron.

    Me thinks the dream creators mixed up the film strips in my brain again.

    –Comic by Bill Watterson. As always, thanks for the entertainment and inspiration.