(no subject)
hey there lj friends, apologies for not writing a lot lately, but there are two basic reasons for that, a. i've been kinda busy, and b. every time i've thought about writing, i thought about something else about a split second after. but, here goes; there's an hour before prison break and 24, so i figure i'll make the most of my time.
i got a macbook for christmas, and it's been great. the week after christmas was also great, i headed to nyc with rachel to see company and spring awakening, both of which were excellent. in company, all the actors played their own instruments, which was incredible. raul esparza, who played bobby, was outstanding, and his rendition of "being alive" was heart-breaking. spring awakening was also quite good, it definetly wasn't what i was expecting, but i enjoyed it immensely. there were so many people in the city, it took rachel and i almost an hour to walk around rockefeller center, and the line to go ice skating was up the promanade all the way to saks and fifth avenue. the tree was pretty impressive, although it looks slightly bigger on tv.
my birthday also happened to be the same weekend as the fraternity mid-year leadership conference in charlotte, NC. we left amherst on thursday night and drove to harrisburg PA where we spent the night at some sketched out red roof inn. we got up friday and drove through the rain to north carolina. and it's official, virginia is THE most BORING state in existence. period. it took us SIX HOURS to drive through it. SO boring. once we got to the hotel, nick and i met our roommates who were from georgia. we talked too fast for them, it was pretty funny. after the night sessions, we headed to a sports bar for my birthday, the guys bought me some drinks and we had cake and ish. it was good. saturday was all pi kapp all day...and saturday night at the awards banquet, we got our charter! WOO! but alas, we head to send it back because there were spelling mistakes and a guy on the charter who definetly didn't charter with us. sunday we had a great session with this guy named jon spence, which deserves an update in and of itself...which i will do later. after the session with jon, woody and joe took us to fraternity headquarters, which ended up being pretty awesome. there were a bunch of pi kapp relics there (like the original notes from the meeting on broad street on december 10th, 1903) and we put the umass flag up with all the other ones...woo!! then, ryan leblanc and i hauled ass and drove back to amherst in one straight shot...14 and a half hours later, we pulled into amherst at 4:45 and i finally got into bed back at home at about 6:15.
went to nyc last week with mom during the week which was great...actually, is a trip to nyc ever not great? i dont think so. anyways, we stayed at the marriott marquis right in times sqaure, which was pretty freakin sweet. tuesday night we saw grey gardens which was pretty good, christine ebersole, who was the main character gave an absolutely incredible performance, and has the best actress in a musical tony in the bag. wednesday morning we went to the MoMA, which was pretty cool...there was some stuff there that i'd always seen and was cool to see up close and the real thing. we saw the revival of les miserables in the afternoon and then had dinner at the restaurant on the 48th floor of the marriott. it was called "the view" and it rotated! it was awesome, having a 360 degree view of manhattan. we saw mary poppins on wednesday night, which was excellent, i think my 2nd favorite disney musical after the lion king, a much bigger improvement over tarzan.
and that brings us to the present. i have two (!) job interviews this week, one with a tech company in westboro and one with the museum of science. i'm hoping for the MOS one, because it's in boston, and its a cool place to work, and to say that i work at the museum of science.
ok, so tonight is somewhat like christmas eve for me: oscar nominations are tomorrow morning, announced at 5:38am PT/8:38amET...so i will most definitely be up. and of course, i'm going to throw my predictions into the ring with a brief analysis. i'll also post my tentative top 10 list, there are a few i haven't seen yet (i.e. little children, children of men, letters from iwo jima, and notes on a scandal) so here they are, without further ado and in alphabetical order
honorable mention: cronica de una fuega, flags of our fathers, half nelson, hollywoodland, the last king of scotland, lucky number slevin, paris j'temme, shortbus, superman returns, dreamgirls
2006 Top Ten (plus 1): babel, the departed, the devil wears prada, half nelson, pan's labyrinth, the prestige, the queen, thank you for smoking, the wind that shakes the barley, united 93, volver
BEST PICTURE
babel
the departed
dreamgirls
the queen
united 93 - no guts, no glory prediction
alt: little miss sunshine
if i had a say: thank you for smoking
the top five seems set in stone, with little miss sunshine making the cut instead of united 93. they're all worthy candidates, but i think that little miss sunshine is too clever for it's own good. united 93 was one of the most powerful films of the year, i saw it in an incredible setting (cannes) and the last 2 minutes of the film are some of the most breathtaking images caught on film. and it was an uplifting story of our nations darkest day.
BEST ACTOR
sacha baron cohen, borat
leonardo dicaprio, the departed
ryan gosling, half nelson
peter o'toole, venus
forest whitaker, the last king of scotland
alt: will smith, the pursuit of happyness
if i had a say: aaron eckhart, thank you for smoking
i feel like will smith is going to be up there, and either cohen or gosling will be missing. as much as i despised borat, cohen gave an incredible performance, and it's hard to overlook it. however, i feel that he will get nominated at gosling's expense. his performance as a coked-out teacher was a tour-de-force, and he officially announced his presence as a force to be reckoned with. hopefully smith will get left off the short list, happyness was awful.
BEST ACTRESS
penelope cruz, volver
judi dench, notes on a scandal
helen mirren, the queen
meryl streep, the devil wears prada
kate winslet, little children
alt: none
if i had a say: none, but a beyonce upset for dreamgirls would be wild
nothing really to comment on here, this IS the line up, and mirren will win for her portrayal of queen elizabeth. cruz was excellent in volver, and would have probably won in another year.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
alan arkin, little miss sunshine
jackie earle haley, little children
eddie murphy, dreamgirls
jack nicholson, the departed
mark wahlberg, the departed
alt: brad pitt, babel/michael sheen, the queen
if i had a say: ben affleck, hollywoodland
one of the most wide open races, with pretty only eddie murphy a lock, and nicholson is pretty close. if the love for babel is universal, pitt get's in for his moving performance as a conflicted husband, this is where the departed could also pick up multiple nominations. i have a sneaking suspicion that ben affleck gets in there for hollywoodland; the academy loves to reward someone who plays one of their own (he played original superman george reeves) and it was a great comeback for someone who won an oscar 10 years ago for good will hunting.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
adriana barazza, babel
cate blanchette, notes on a scandal
abigail breslin, little miss sunshine
jennifer hudson, dreamgirls
rinko kikuchi, babel
alt: emily blunt, the devil wears prada
if i had a say: shakeera epps, half nelson
usually the race that provides the most surprises, but this one is pretty cut and dry- the words american idol finalist and oscar winner will be uttered in the same sentence; jennifer hudson. it's her prize to lose.
BEST DIRECTOR
alejandro gonzales inarritu, babel
martin scorsesse, the departed
clint eastwood, letters from iwo jima
stephen frears, the queen
paul greengrass, united 93
alt: guillermo del toro, pan's labryinth
if i had a say: pedro almodovar, volver
usually this category matches best picture either 5/5 or 4/5, but im going to guess this is where we're going to see the most surprises. there were so many good films, splitting up director/picture is a way to spread the wealth, athough i'm a firm believer that pic/director go hand in hand...but i digress...
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
babel
little miss sunshine
the queen
volver
united 93
alt/if i had a say: pan's labyrinth
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
the departed
the devil wears prada
little children
notes on a scandal
thank you for smoking
alt/if i had a say: dreamgirls
so hold your breath and see what happens tomorrow morning, i'll update tomorrow with the results.
ok, hopefully that will hold y'all over, i gotta go, it's time for 24 and the end of prison break
later
i got a macbook for christmas, and it's been great. the week after christmas was also great, i headed to nyc with rachel to see company and spring awakening, both of which were excellent. in company, all the actors played their own instruments, which was incredible. raul esparza, who played bobby, was outstanding, and his rendition of "being alive" was heart-breaking. spring awakening was also quite good, it definetly wasn't what i was expecting, but i enjoyed it immensely. there were so many people in the city, it took rachel and i almost an hour to walk around rockefeller center, and the line to go ice skating was up the promanade all the way to saks and fifth avenue. the tree was pretty impressive, although it looks slightly bigger on tv.
my birthday also happened to be the same weekend as the fraternity mid-year leadership conference in charlotte, NC. we left amherst on thursday night and drove to harrisburg PA where we spent the night at some sketched out red roof inn. we got up friday and drove through the rain to north carolina. and it's official, virginia is THE most BORING state in existence. period. it took us SIX HOURS to drive through it. SO boring. once we got to the hotel, nick and i met our roommates who were from georgia. we talked too fast for them, it was pretty funny. after the night sessions, we headed to a sports bar for my birthday, the guys bought me some drinks and we had cake and ish. it was good. saturday was all pi kapp all day...and saturday night at the awards banquet, we got our charter! WOO! but alas, we head to send it back because there were spelling mistakes and a guy on the charter who definetly didn't charter with us. sunday we had a great session with this guy named jon spence, which deserves an update in and of itself...which i will do later. after the session with jon, woody and joe took us to fraternity headquarters, which ended up being pretty awesome. there were a bunch of pi kapp relics there (like the original notes from the meeting on broad street on december 10th, 1903) and we put the umass flag up with all the other ones...woo!! then, ryan leblanc and i hauled ass and drove back to amherst in one straight shot...14 and a half hours later, we pulled into amherst at 4:45 and i finally got into bed back at home at about 6:15.
went to nyc last week with mom during the week which was great...actually, is a trip to nyc ever not great? i dont think so. anyways, we stayed at the marriott marquis right in times sqaure, which was pretty freakin sweet. tuesday night we saw grey gardens which was pretty good, christine ebersole, who was the main character gave an absolutely incredible performance, and has the best actress in a musical tony in the bag. wednesday morning we went to the MoMA, which was pretty cool...there was some stuff there that i'd always seen and was cool to see up close and the real thing. we saw the revival of les miserables in the afternoon and then had dinner at the restaurant on the 48th floor of the marriott. it was called "the view" and it rotated! it was awesome, having a 360 degree view of manhattan. we saw mary poppins on wednesday night, which was excellent, i think my 2nd favorite disney musical after the lion king, a much bigger improvement over tarzan.
and that brings us to the present. i have two (!) job interviews this week, one with a tech company in westboro and one with the museum of science. i'm hoping for the MOS one, because it's in boston, and its a cool place to work, and to say that i work at the museum of science.
ok, so tonight is somewhat like christmas eve for me: oscar nominations are tomorrow morning, announced at 5:38am PT/8:38amET...so i will most definitely be up. and of course, i'm going to throw my predictions into the ring with a brief analysis. i'll also post my tentative top 10 list, there are a few i haven't seen yet (i.e. little children, children of men, letters from iwo jima, and notes on a scandal) so here they are, without further ado and in alphabetical order
honorable mention: cronica de una fuega, flags of our fathers, half nelson, hollywoodland, the last king of scotland, lucky number slevin, paris j'temme, shortbus, superman returns, dreamgirls
2006 Top Ten (plus 1): babel, the departed, the devil wears prada, half nelson, pan's labyrinth, the prestige, the queen, thank you for smoking, the wind that shakes the barley, united 93, volver
BEST PICTURE
babel
the departed
dreamgirls
the queen
united 93 - no guts, no glory prediction
alt: little miss sunshine
if i had a say: thank you for smoking
the top five seems set in stone, with little miss sunshine making the cut instead of united 93. they're all worthy candidates, but i think that little miss sunshine is too clever for it's own good. united 93 was one of the most powerful films of the year, i saw it in an incredible setting (cannes) and the last 2 minutes of the film are some of the most breathtaking images caught on film. and it was an uplifting story of our nations darkest day.
BEST ACTOR
sacha baron cohen, borat
leonardo dicaprio, the departed
ryan gosling, half nelson
peter o'toole, venus
forest whitaker, the last king of scotland
alt: will smith, the pursuit of happyness
if i had a say: aaron eckhart, thank you for smoking
i feel like will smith is going to be up there, and either cohen or gosling will be missing. as much as i despised borat, cohen gave an incredible performance, and it's hard to overlook it. however, i feel that he will get nominated at gosling's expense. his performance as a coked-out teacher was a tour-de-force, and he officially announced his presence as a force to be reckoned with. hopefully smith will get left off the short list, happyness was awful.
BEST ACTRESS
penelope cruz, volver
judi dench, notes on a scandal
helen mirren, the queen
meryl streep, the devil wears prada
kate winslet, little children
alt: none
if i had a say: none, but a beyonce upset for dreamgirls would be wild
nothing really to comment on here, this IS the line up, and mirren will win for her portrayal of queen elizabeth. cruz was excellent in volver, and would have probably won in another year.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
alan arkin, little miss sunshine
jackie earle haley, little children
eddie murphy, dreamgirls
jack nicholson, the departed
mark wahlberg, the departed
alt: brad pitt, babel/michael sheen, the queen
if i had a say: ben affleck, hollywoodland
one of the most wide open races, with pretty only eddie murphy a lock, and nicholson is pretty close. if the love for babel is universal, pitt get's in for his moving performance as a conflicted husband, this is where the departed could also pick up multiple nominations. i have a sneaking suspicion that ben affleck gets in there for hollywoodland; the academy loves to reward someone who plays one of their own (he played original superman george reeves) and it was a great comeback for someone who won an oscar 10 years ago for good will hunting.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
adriana barazza, babel
cate blanchette, notes on a scandal
abigail breslin, little miss sunshine
jennifer hudson, dreamgirls
rinko kikuchi, babel
alt: emily blunt, the devil wears prada
if i had a say: shakeera epps, half nelson
usually the race that provides the most surprises, but this one is pretty cut and dry- the words american idol finalist and oscar winner will be uttered in the same sentence; jennifer hudson. it's her prize to lose.
BEST DIRECTOR
alejandro gonzales inarritu, babel
martin scorsesse, the departed
clint eastwood, letters from iwo jima
stephen frears, the queen
paul greengrass, united 93
alt: guillermo del toro, pan's labryinth
if i had a say: pedro almodovar, volver
usually this category matches best picture either 5/5 or 4/5, but im going to guess this is where we're going to see the most surprises. there were so many good films, splitting up director/picture is a way to spread the wealth, athough i'm a firm believer that pic/director go hand in hand...but i digress...
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
babel
little miss sunshine
the queen
volver
united 93
alt/if i had a say: pan's labyrinth
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
the departed
the devil wears prada
little children
notes on a scandal
thank you for smoking
alt/if i had a say: dreamgirls
so hold your breath and see what happens tomorrow morning, i'll update tomorrow with the results.
ok, hopefully that will hold y'all over, i gotta go, it's time for 24 and the end of prison break
later