Tuesday, March 19, 2024 03:36

?>

Archive for February, 2004

Oscar Fever

Sunday, February 29th, 2004

The Oscars are but a few short hours away, and as I am not nominated this year, I have lots of time to prepare my commentary. I am trying to keep it abgreviated, because, I could go on, and on, and on, and on….
I did surprisingly well seeing films this year, but there are several that the clock just ran out on me for, so I am going to do my best with my picks here.
Best PictureLost in Translation This is the picture that deserves to win, hands down. This is an example of what filmaking is all about. This film makes you feel what the characters are feeling, and is a delightfully human film. Everything from the acting, to the cinematography, to the direction are unified and subtle, allowing the viewers mind to have an active role. What will probably hurt it with the academy is its’ subtlety
Return of the King Would be a wonderful choice here also. This film is less of a director’s movie than Translation, and there are so many elements involved that work together, it is a fine example of epic filmmaking. Unfortunately, epic filmmaking has become vastly underrated in recent years, which may hurt its’ chances. Also, it has no acting noms–ouch! Although, the academy is famous for giving awards based on body of work, and not individual merit, so that may help it.
I have a strong feeling that Mystic River Will win. It is a highly emotional film, and the academy loves that shit. (I thought it was a good movie, well made, but not of the caliber of the previously mentioned films)
Master & Commander was just too full of itself to be a great film. It shouted, “Look at me, look what a great film I should be! I star Russell Crowe! I have ships, and special effects, and a predictable plot! Seriously, look at me!” (BTW, I still want my two hours back)
Seabiscuit I just never saw. Because, I have no desire to sit through it. Namely, it stars Tobey maguire *gag* and if I want to know the heartwarming story of the underdog, I will read the book. Then again, the people love underdogs.
Best Director Sofia Coppola, all the way. Without her, Lost in Translation would not have been what it was. Everything that came out of that film was due to the flawless direction. I can understand it not taking Best picture, but this is a director’s film, it deserves it.
Peter Jackson deserves best picture moreso than director. Granted, he had the vision, but without everyone else, it would not have been the film it was.
Clint Eastwood…the academy loves him, and again, this was just the type of movie that they are all over. He has a good chance…I just think there are more deserving directors this year. Although, of it’s noms, I feel this one would be the second most deserved to win. (Tim robbins and Marcia Gay Harden, made this film)
Peter Weir…see above mentioned pretention. He had so much to work with, and failed to use any of it to its’ full potential.
Fernando Meirelles, I haven’t seen this film due to it’s screen to video ambiguity. I hear good things, but it is hard to say. We could have another Roberto Begnini on our hands, or not.
Best Actor Sean Penn is the favorite here. His character had all of the emotions that the academy loves to see. I felt it lacked the subtlety that some of the other actors delivered…
I would love to see Bill Murray win here. He showed a range and subtlety here that I think few thought him capable of. He really made this character real.
Now for the disclaimer…I haven’t seen the rest of the actor noms. However Ben Kingsley is one of the finest actors of his time, and can do any role with Oscar-worthy quality. Jude Law is beautiful and talented, but from everything I have heard, there is something missing from the performance. Johnny Depp deserves an oscar, and I think if the academy bases his nom on body of work, he will receive one. I think he has deserved noms in his career, I don’t think this is the one.
For Best actress I haven’t seen the films…I think Charlize Theron is the favorite. The quality of the rest of the movie could hurt her. However, this is the type of role the academy loves.
Another strong contender is Diane Keaton. She’s been around, and there’s that body of work thing.
for supporting actor & Actress…Tim Robbins& Marcia Gay Harden Hands down….their performances made Mystic River. These are two talented deserving people…and these are the two statues that are most deserved by this film.
I am praying that Renee Zelleweger doesn’t get a statue, because I really cannot take much more of this woman. Mediocre, at best.
I will probably comment on some of the other categories post broadcast. I have to say that there are some glaring omissions in noms this year. Return of the King should have been nominated for cinematography. None of the noms there truly deserve a cinematography statue, especially Master and Commander. It had everything at its’ disposal and used none of it. Also, I cannot believe that neither Matrix release garnered anything. The technical skill involved in those films was phenomenal. Simply breathtaking. but, it goes to show that the genres of sci-fi and fantasty are highly underrated in the award show world.
Okay, I shall step off my soapbox for now…not being nominated and all, I have lots of other things I could be doing.

Mix it up

Saturday, February 28th, 2004

So, as inspired by G my 15 random MP3’s
*drumroll*
Dead Can Dance “The Host of 5”
Moby “Natural Blues”
The Cure “End”
Reel Big Fish “Take on Me”
The Clash “Rock the Casbah”
U2 “Walk On”
Nirvana “Stay Away”
Bjork “Army of Me”
Bauhaus “Bela Lugosi is Dead”
Ultrahorse (aka Sci-Fi Lullaby) “Come on”
Barenaked Ladies “One Week”
Matthew Sweet “Altered Beast”
Faith No More “Easy Like Sunday Morning”
Def Leppard “Pour Some Sugar On Me”
U2 “In a Little While”
Hmmm…nothing too embarassing in there, which is surprising, cuz I have some embarassing MP3’s.
And that’s all the energy I have for today…since we spent all day saving money.

Just for fun….

Friday, February 27th, 2004

As part of my lazy Friday, I was all excited to do the Friday Five…but there isn’t one, so instead, I shall do a silly e-mail survey.
1. WHAT IS YOUR NAME? Amanda but you can call me Raven
2. WHAT COLOR PANTS ARE YOU WEARING? Purple
3. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The sounds of the guy installing our new front door, and Days of our Lives in the background
4. WHAT’S THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Three small dairy free chocolate chip cookies, to determine if they were still edible. They were, hence the need to have three.
5. DO YOU WISH ON STARS? There was a time when I did, but I haven’t recently
6. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Magenta
7. HOW IS THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW? Sunny, about 40
8. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? G
9. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT YOU THIS? Is there any doubt?!
10. HOW ARE YOU TODAY? Tired.
12. FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK? Hmmm…I like Madras, cosmos, Guiness, Margaritas, daquiris, good Sangria, Appletinis…
13. FAVORITE SPORT? To watch, I like skating, skiing, pretty much any wintery sport, gymnastics, soccer. To do, I like skiboarding, rollerblading.
14. HAIR COLOR? Red, currently I have some darker red in the back and blonde chunks in the front, I need/want something new, but I don’t know what. Besides, my stylist moved to NY, and that will be one expensive hairdo.
15. EYE COLOR? Green
16. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? nope
17. SIBLINGS? My little sister Alliecat…key word there being little
18. FAVORITE MONTH? OCTOBER!!!
19. FAVORITE FOOD? hmmm…I don’t know….I really like food…
20. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Ummm…I think Get Shorty…but I am not positive.
21. FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR? Halloween, or my birthday, or new years…tough call
22. WHAT DO YOU DO TO VENT ANGER? Throw stuff…yell…curse
23. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD? Paper dolls, my bike, my mall puppy (a big white stuffed dog, that came from the mall…hence the name)
24. SUMMER OR WINTER? Fall, followed by spring. if I had to choose though, it would be tough, for in Winter there is skiing, but in summer everything is green and growing…
25. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs They are snuggly and warm, and you can give or receive them to/from nearly anyone!
26. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Umm…either Breyer’s now retired three bean vanilla, or any of the chocolate delicacies they serve at Grand Old Creamery
27. LIVING ARRANGEMENTS? Hubby, and 3 kitties
28. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? I can’t remember
29. WHAT IS UNDER YOUR BED? boxes, one with sweaters, one with wrapping paper, one with gift bags, one with gift boxes, and one with ribbons and bows. And lots of cat hair
30. WHO IS THE FRIEND YOU HAVE HAD LONGEST? Troll, since birth
31. WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT? Ran errands, cleaned
32. FAVORITE SMELLS? Laundry
33. WHAT INSPIRES YOU? Geoffie
34. WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? failure
35. PLAIN, BUTTERED OR SALTED POPCORN? Butter and salt
36. FAVORITE CAR? I love curvy, roadstery cars, but I want either a lime beetle or an aqua mini right now.
37. FAVORITE FLOWER? I love too many to list!
38. NUMBER OF KEYS ON YOUR KEY RING? I don’t know off hand
39. CAN YOU JUGGLE? No, though I have tried many times…it’s just not my thing.
40. FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK? Sunday, no commitments
41. WHAT DID YOU DO ON YOUR LAST BIRTHDAY? Had a costume party
42. DO YOU OWN A DONOR CARD? Well, I have it on my license, and my family knows my wishes.
Wasn’t that fun????

Friday, February 27th, 2004

Yesterday started out so well. Despite my Auntie Flo arriving into town, I was feeling like the hottie wife I am working so hard to be. I was wearing skinny jeans (okay, maybe they were a little too skinny…but they were actually very comfortable) and cute shoes. I was impermeable.
Then I started my after work errands. First, I forgot to go to K-mart and pick up more $3 shoes. I hope they will still have some left this evening. I would leave right now, but some guy is in the middle of installing our new front door. I can’t exactly leave with a strange guy hammering around the gaping hole that used to be our door.
Anyway, I was erranding. I did get to OfficeMax to use the awesome coupon I got at work. $10 off a $20 purchase. So, I bought the labels I need to mark our junk, er treasures for our spring yard sale, new Sharpies (seriously, whoever invented Sharpies, is a freaking genius! Almost the genius level of inventor of clear duct tape…well, it’s a tie. After all, Sharpies are the clear duct tape of the marker world.) But, I was also able to get a small paper trimmer for scrapbooking. With the coupon, it was like a free bonus just for shopping. I like free bonuses. Bonusis. Bonusi. Bonuses.
I attempted in there to manuever JoAnn Fabrics. What a misnomer. I went because it was convenient, then remembered why I never shop there. They have a whole storeful of nothing. Well, they have lots, but not much of any particular thing. Hence, I was unable to find fabric for any of my projects. I did however get a pattern, long story short, for my atoning.
Finally, I went to the mall. I needed a corset.bra.shaper thing to go under the bridesmaid dress I will be wearing in a few short weeks. The dress is such that nearly anything will show under it. I went to Penney’s…nothing even remotely resembling what I needed. So I went to my favoritest lingerie store ever. Unfortunately, they were out of stock in my size. Finally, I wound of at Hudson’s…no wait…Dayton’s..no wait Marshall Field’s Am I bitter that they lost all of the history of the company…not at all. I walked past all of the beautiful vintage inspired clothing (if only I needed a prom dress) to the lingerie. It took some digging, but I found something, that while not ideal, will work, and it was on sale. *note to retailers. Carry more selection in D cups and small band sizes!!* But to find it, I had to go to the dressing room. You would think that if they want women to buy these wisps of clothing, the dressing room mirrors and lighting would be flattering. No. I lamented that despite all my diet and exercise, I still have cottage cheese butt, and inner knee fat, and that body shapers only make that more obvious.
I went home all depressed, as I usually do after shopping for bras. I tried to get motivated to clean…but didn’t get as motivated as I hoped. I did get the kitchen passable enough for the door installation, and the bathroom clean in case the installer had a reason to use it. However, Recycling day isn’t until Wednesday, and I have several bags of recycling taking over my kitchen, not to mention the huge bag of trash I had G take out this morning, and the ever-growing pile of garage sale treasures. We have enough stuff for a whole commune of people. Hmmm…maybe that’s what I should do with my life. Start a commune. That would be fun.
Anyhoo…to brighten things up, I received a lovely e-mail this morning. As I have been in several weddings this year, it reminded me of what is really important. I hope that everyone takes notice.

(more…)

Yom Kippur

Thursday, February 26th, 2004

Day of atonement. I realize that today is not, in fact, Yom Kippur. I am not trying to offend my Jewish reader base. Well, my reader base period. Do I even have a reader base??
Anyway, this is my day of atonement. Remember the hiatus I talked about? Well, when I took said hiatus, I fucked up a lot of things. Not intentionally, mind you, but yet, I still fucked them up. So now, I am stoning for my sins, so to speak, and hoping for forgiveness.
Jon Stewart talked about it once. “Yom Kippur. The Jewish day of atonement. You don’t eat for one day, and all your sins for an entire year are wiped clean. Beat that with your silly little Lent. Even in sin you’re paying retail. Bargain with the man!”
Which as of yesterday, it is Lent. It probably would have made more sense for me to have titled the post that way…being raised Catholic and all. Then again, I am not practicing anything at the moment…just trying to find my path. So, ultimately, the title and the timing aren’t what is important. I’m really just trying to focus on fixing my fuck-ups, er, uh, sins. Slowly mending the fences as it were. Or tearing them down. Yeah, that makes more sense. See, I went on hiatus rather unexpectedly, hence the fucking up. Then I was too ashamed to face my failures, and became a virtual hermit. The actor in me made every appearance of being a normal functioning member of society. The reality was that I was holed up in a cabin in the woods
So here I am, atoning. If you are reading this, and I have somehow wronged you, I am sorry. I will right it. For you see, I have discovered it is too hard to care about others, when you are too busy not caring about yourself.
Beat that with your silly little Lent. My therapist would be so proud.

What a busy day

Wednesday, February 25th, 2004

Sigh…I just remembered reading the above titled book as a child. My sister thought I was so adorable, she tape recorded me reading it in my little voice (which at that time, was also able to accurately reproduce ET’s voice…frightening). She then proceeded to pretend to be a reporter interviewing me. I don’t remember much, except that when describing her, I said she was kind of short and stubby. She may be short, but she sure ain’t stubby. I knew that at the time, yet somehow thought it was a cool thing to say.
The last few days have been full of excitement…well, at least for me. You see, I have been on hiatus for the last year-and-a-half or so. I don’t mean just from one thing…from life. I am finally stepping back in….getting a feel for things…seeing if I want to pick it up full time again.
Friday, my day off. I actually showered, got dressed, and left the house. You see, if it weren’t for work, I would lie in bed all the time. My wardrobe would only consist of Pajamas…nice pajamas. I left the house, acting on my own free will, and went to the bank and the grocery store. I couldn’t tell you the last time I went to the bank before this. I’ve been to the grocery store, but only if G takes me…and he sort of has to force me to go…and I wear my pajamas.
Saturday, G was geeking around, so I joined my friend LaLa for some scrapbooking. I already know what you are thinking…no, I am not a soccer mom with too much time on her hands. I always thought scrapbooking was either for kids who ate paste, or for dorky soccer moms. I thought scrapbook pages were frou-frou things covered with stickers, and pre-fab letters….nothing an artist like myself would ever consider doing. Then I realized, that like every other stinking thing I do…I don’t have to follow what everyone else does. So, I have finally started a scrapbook. I started with the trip I took to jolly old England in 1997. I realize that I can make it me. Anyway, we were at the scrapbooking lady’s home…and she was hawking her scrapbooking tools. Some of which I did need (not only for scrapbooking, but for other artsy functions) and some I chose to ignore (like letter stickers). Despite having been chided previously for including things like airline tickets and other non-archival quality things, I did it anyway. After all, it may be selfish of me, but this scrapbook is for me, for now. If anyone else is into it, cool…but I don’t feel the need to force my memories on anyone else. Anyway, I was very scrapbookish…though I felt outclassed. I do need to get more scrapbook equipped, but I will never be a scrapbooking lady with the scary rolling tote. That’s just going too far.
**Ed note. I am not intending to offend any soccer moms, letter-sticker-users, or rolling tote people, or imply that any of these things are in any way related. If that’s your thang…that’s cool…it just ain’t mine. And I am perfectly content to co-exist with you, for our differences make us interesting**
After spending the night at Las, I left for home. In my pajamas. My halloween pajamas. I proceeded to get gas, in white-bread suburbia, which required me to go into the convenience store to pay, in my screaming orange Halloween pants. It was oddly satisfying.
Somewhere in there, I cleaned my closet. I actually put some shoes in the yard sale box, along with some clothes. I found things that I forgot I owned, and remembered that I should wear some things that were hiding in back. I also discovered that I can wear my favorite jeans again, and am close to getting into those last three pairs of skinny pants. It was satisfying.
Of course, cleaning the closet made room for the bargains I found on Monday! At K-mart, I found super cute Mary-jane-athletic-mules. The were $3. I bought a pair in red. I found them comfy…I shall return tomorrow to buy a pair in black, and one in Brown. The red ones match lots of my pajama pants, and I look forward to wearing the shoes with pajamas and cropped pants all summer long.
Last night, I auditioned for the first time in I don’t know how long. I was terrified, and as usual before an audition, I talked myself out of it, then back in several times. However, I spiffed myself up, and with G dropping me off at the door, I went for it. Fortunately, I ran into a friend, which helped. And despite auditioning with a man who could have been in Waiting for Guffman (he was nice), I thought I did okay. Today consisted of me trying not to vomit from the anxiety of waiting for a callback…but alas, the phone didn’t ring. (well, it did…but it was mostly telemarketers and bill collectors, but that doesn’t count).
Oh well, that’s life. I think I might do this life thing full time.

…and…I’ve got nothing…

Monday, February 23rd, 2004

So, I discovered a couple of new blogs within the last few days. Part of me is excited…new blogs to read…some of them even belong to friends, it’s almost like my old days of journaling! But the more I read, the less my blog measures up. No artsy photographs. No witty writing. I’ve got nothing. When I used to journal, pretty much everyone was at least as mundane as I…but alas, no more. It’s like high school, and I’m the oddball. Only this time I care. I wanna be one of the cool kids now. The mysterious cool kid, the one that no one knows why is cool, but somehow is.
Sigh.

It’s Friday already???

Friday, February 20th, 2004

Just a little Friday Five action on this lazy day…
1) When was the last time you went to the doctor? Hmmm…I really should remember this. I do not know the date, but it was to see my psychologist…and it was sometime early spring of last year. I had to go before our insurance changed and stopped covering such things.
2) When was the last time you went to the dentist? Almost exactly five years ago. Yes, I know I should call 1-800-dentist. But, our insurance sucks, and I brush and floss everyday, so there.
3) When was the last time you filled your gas tank? I don’t know. I only put in $5-$10 at a time, because I never have more cash than that on me. I know it’s a waste of time, but since I don’t put many miles on my car, it’s not a huge waste of time.
4) When was the last time you got enough sleep? Last night. Unfortunately, I have a cold that is fighting to take over my body, so I still feel sleepy.
5) When was the last time you backed up your computer? Technically they belong to G so you’d have to ask him.

I am getting sleepy…very sleepy…

Wednesday, February 18th, 2004

So sleepy that i can’t come up with some sort of bloggish saying…sad isn’t it?
As the queen of procrastination, I have been putting off the daily posts that I think of every day…and now they have been forgotten. So, I guess I will backtrack to Friday the 13th *cue ominous music*…I actually had the day off, and as usual, did squat. Man, I am good at that. A friend I work with (fellow actor also) told me about a Valentine’s related show she and her boy were doing a scene in. It was called “Love Bites” and was various scenes of love gone sour. Also, BIL was in it. So, we went. I dressed festively, in my red and black vinyl corset, a long black skirt, and my red platform boots, and even used a curling iron in my hair (I should mention that I have straight hair. Maybe it’s mean, but I laugh at people who spend money on having someone straighten their hair to be stylish…since no matter what I do…my hair be straight. In the eighth grade, I got a perm. three hours of rolling my hair, two bottles of solution, my hair was straight within about two weeks. Even stylists marvel at my hairs inability to hold curl) to be extra festive, in an attempt to get some sort of cute flip in my hair (and it looked cute, for at least five minutes). Anyway, we went to the show…some people were good, some not so much, but it was enjoyable…and more importantly it was followed by a partay! We paid our five bucks for a cup to drink beer. I know beer isn’t on the plan, but dagnamit, I wanted to party! The apartment hosting said party was three levels, the first of which seemed like a tiny little club. I knew a total of three people at the party, so I mainly chatted with them. My friend and I danced to some great industrial/goth music…and even some other fun music. And, if I do say so myself, we were hot. Later some other friends showed up, and we had a great time. G & I stayed until 3:30 in the morning! I was very proud of us. It was as though we were young & fun! Imagine!
Saturday, we slept in. We were tired. We did go to Olive Garden at about 4. I wore my traditional V-day dress (a red/white striped waitress-style dress, with a red satin collar, and red satin heart, white fishnets and white go-go boots)…we were quoted a half hour wait…so we went to the bar to have an appetizer (we were STARVING) . It didn’t take very long to get seated, and man, did I eat way too much. The appetizer (which could have been called coronary on a platter) was fried calamari, fried mozzarella, and fried zucchini. We had breadsticks, salad, pasta, and dessert (tiramisu, and chocolate lasagna). I even had a glass of wine (which was Riunite Lambrusco. So cheap, but so good)…I figured if I was going to be naughty, I might as well do it whole-heartedly. We also exchanged gifts. I got my DVD! We decided to nix going to a movie after, because it was a)Saturday b)V-day 3) We just didn’t want to deal with a & b. So, we went home. So we aren’t so young and adventurous after all.
Sunday we cleaned. We got rid of a lot of stuff. However, I feel like I am battling the hydra. Every limb I cut off, two more grow back (that’s the hydra, right? something like that?). We have a long way to go, but G did lots of stuff to help the cleaning, and I appreciate it. I only hope that when it comes time to sell out cast-offs at a yard sale, people buy them.
After that, it’s a whole lotta blah, blah, blah…so I’ll spare you. Til next time, hope it’s as sunny there as it is here.

Just another manic Friday…

Friday, February 13th, 2004

Makes me wish it was sunday…whoahawhoa…that’s my blogday….
Okay, today isn’t so much manic as it is lazy. I had big plans for last night, https://buycbdproducts.com instead I just crashed. Today, G is ill…so he’s been sleeping all day. he had a doc appointment yesterday, and they attempted to take blood, and he hasn’t felt well since. Anyway, doesn’t help so much with my motivation.
I made a list yesterday of all the things I wanted to get done, and I haven’t started that yet. It’s twenty minutes after two. We are planning to go to this show tonight (we have friends performing in it, and it’s a v-day fundraiser),which isn’t unitl 8pm, thankfully. Anyway, I have lots to do. I mentioned yesterday that our place is a sty. It seems to continue to get worse instead of better.
I have a PILE of laundry that’s taking over our bathroom. And I want to have our bedroom clean by the end of the weekend. It will be tough with the lump in the bed, but it’s possible…I just need some motivation..isn’t that just the story of my life??