(no subject)
I wrote this a day or so ago, and the lower half during Biology. Here ya go.
No real updates about my life except the books I'm reading, which is basically all I've been doing with my time lately.
So. The Oscars.
I didn't actually watch them, so I have nothing to say about Hugh Jackman or any of the speeches, save one. I'm just going to talk about the noms and wins.
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz for Barcelona. What. The shit. Is that. Amy Adams was AMAZING in Doubt. AMAZING. Even so, Viola Davis deserved it more than Amy did. Her performance was a fucking -shoo in-. What. The shit.
Original Screenplay: Milk. Can't argue with that, really. The only other one I saw on the list was Wall-E, and though that movie was a piece of art, I wouldn't expect the screenplay to be something it was nominated for. Still, more wins for Milk, the better.
Adapted Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire. Okay so I have a special relationship with Doubt and it was fucking amazing, screenplaywise it could've been better. I haven't read the book Slumdog was based on, but it was amazing. The slow transition from spoken Hindi to English, the dialogue, just...ugh. I love this movie so much.
Animated Feature: Wall-E. Duh. Just fucking Duh.
Animated Short Film: Nothing to say, I haven't seen any of these except Presto. You know, the little thing with the magician's rabbit before Wall-E? Cute, but I can see something winning over that.
Art Direfction: Benjamin Button. I still can't believe I haven't seen this movie. I can see all the other movies (Changeling, Dark Knight, Dutchess and Revolutionary Road) winning this one too, however, since they're all very visually appealing and artistic. Button did something special though, so...
Costume Design: The Dutchess. Okay, I'll give you that. What movie has Kiera been in where the costumes weren't fucking gorgeous? I was still rooting for Milk though, because they were just so accurate and amazing.
Makeup: Benjamin Button. Umduh. They're making a guy age backwards, and making it look real. Dark Knight and Hellboy 2 were surreal and had the freedom to look a little overdone (even though the Joker's makeup was genius).
Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire. I just can't believe Milk wasn't nominated for this one. I didn't find anything particularly amazing about the cinematograpy in Slumdog that really stood out, but...*shrug*
Live Action Short Film: Spielzeugland. Haven't seen any of these, but I want to. Especially since two of them are German.
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger. Duh. Even if he had been alive he still would've won I think. That was a work of genius. As I said to some people earlier, no one will ever be able to play the joker again. That's like asking someone else to play Hannibal Lecter after Anthony Hopkins completely pwned my life (Oh wait). I think Josh, Robert and Philip did amazing jobs, don't get me wrong, and Robert was funny as shit in Tropic Thunder. I didn't think Josh Brolin was all that special, but I dunno. Philip Seymore Hoffman was amazing, but again, nothing special. Heath deserved that damn award.
Feature Documentary: Man on Wire. *Shrug* Haven't seen any of them.
Short Documentary: Smile Pinki. Again *shrug*
Visual Effects: Benjamin Button. I can understand why Iron Man didn't win, but Dark Knight HAD A FUCKING 16WHEELER FLIPPED OVER. AND EXPLODE. But wtfever. Benjamin Button had a guy age backwards.
Sound Editing: Dark Knight. *shrug* I don't know how to evaluate this. I feel bad that sound was the only category Wanted got nommed for, and I would've liked to see it win either Editing or Mixing, but I honestly don't know much about the category itself. Wall-E should've won something too.
Sound Mixing: Slumdog Millionaire. Again, I don't get it, but...whatevs.
Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire. WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T MILK WIN THIS ONE. THEY FILMED A SCENE IN A FUCKING WHISTLE. Ugh. Then again, the cuts in Slumdog were brilliant. But again, I didn't find anything particularly outstanding about it. So...
Original Score: Slumdog Millionaire. I found the score for Wall-E okay, but my taste, but fitting to the movie, and Milk's score I barely even noticed I was too busy crying and squeeing. I want Slumdog's soundtrack though.
Original Song: Slumdog Millionaire for "Jai Ho". Again, I want the soundtrack. It was a two out of three chance they would win anyway.
Foreign Language Film: Departures. Couldn't tell ya.
Directing: Slumdog Millionaire. Again, wtf. Milk. They're both amazing though.
Best Actress: Kate Winslet for The Reader. I never found myself interested in the film, but I love Kate Winslet. Meryl Streep is a goddess, but I can see why she didn't win for Doubt. She was amazing, of course, but I found little nitpicky things that I didn't like about her performance. Ah well.
Best Actor: Sean Penn for Milk. He totally deserved that one. I mean seriously. And his speech (the only one I saw) was so cute. I love being a Commie, homo-loving son-of-a-gun. Then again. I also didn't see any of the other films (Visitor, Frost/Nixon, Benjamin Button, and the Wrestler), so my judgement is skewed.
Best Film: Slumdog. I'd have to say "duh" on this one. Milk and Slumdog are pretty much a tie in my book of awesome, but I think Slumdog appealed to a wider audience. Like, I'd take my parents to see Slumdog, but probably not Milk. Milk is much more stylized and less mainstream, and I think that's why Slumdog won. But it deserved it,
NOW TALK ABOUT BOOKS
On the weekend after my birthday, I finished a short book called Damned Strong Love by Lutz van Dijk and it fucking killed me. If I was told it was a true story about the history of homosexuals in Nazi-occupied Poland I probably would've been cool with it. But I thought it was a love story! And it is, but only a small portion of it, and that portion is very, very distressing. Just...ugh. I mean, it gave a great insight history-wise, and I'd love to re-read it in the original German (even though, from what I could tell it was very accurately and literally translated). It just made me cry like a baby. I found out recently that the guy it was written about died in 2003, and the author of the book wrote a kind of formal announcement of his death, and I could barely read it my eyes were so blurred over. Killed me.
Afterward I read Silence of the Lambs. Holy fucking shit. It is amazing. I mean, there's a lot of talking and FBI stuff that I didn't fully understand, but I enjoyed that part too. I could not stop reading it. And it's also not as gory as you might think. I mean, it's gory, but only a few parts are. Not so much emphasis on the cannibalism part, so if that squicks you it's not relaly an issue. Then I watched the movie, which I liked. I liked adorable little Southern Jodie Foster but I didn't feel like she was Clarice. I felt like she was too...raw, emotionally for Clarice. She's still an amazing actress though. Anthony Hopkins was also amazing, but of course I also have my own preconcieved notions of Dr. Lecter, but those are more personal taste issues than character interpretation issues. I thought he should be a lot less obvious about his creepiness...but then it's harder to portray the creepiness at all on film. So it could've just been a page-to-screen choice. Either way, genius performance. I'm not even gonna go into it.
I tried reading the book Sybil after I finished SotL, but it didn't work. I don't do well with two uber-serious books in a row, I think. Plus, I found ita tad bit boring, and it was long. I got three-or-so chapters in, and while I realize that some books don't get really going till 100 pages in, the style also kind of turned me off. It felt...kind of exploity. Like I was reading a long tabloid magazine about a woman with 16 personalities. I think I'll just rewatch the movie.
Right now I'm about halfway through The Princess Bride, and it's sooooo goood. Everyone ever should read it. This is not a matter of taste, or whether you read all that much at all. You read this fucking book. Do it, bitches.
Gonna sign off now--I need to understand biology.
No real updates about my life except the books I'm reading, which is basically all I've been doing with my time lately.
So. The Oscars.
I didn't actually watch them, so I have nothing to say about Hugh Jackman or any of the speeches, save one. I'm just going to talk about the noms and wins.
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz for Barcelona. What. The shit. Is that. Amy Adams was AMAZING in Doubt. AMAZING. Even so, Viola Davis deserved it more than Amy did. Her performance was a fucking -shoo in-. What. The shit.
Original Screenplay: Milk. Can't argue with that, really. The only other one I saw on the list was Wall-E, and though that movie was a piece of art, I wouldn't expect the screenplay to be something it was nominated for. Still, more wins for Milk, the better.
Adapted Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire. Okay so I have a special relationship with Doubt and it was fucking amazing, screenplaywise it could've been better. I haven't read the book Slumdog was based on, but it was amazing. The slow transition from spoken Hindi to English, the dialogue, just...ugh. I love this movie so much.
Animated Feature: Wall-E. Duh. Just fucking Duh.
Animated Short Film: Nothing to say, I haven't seen any of these except Presto. You know, the little thing with the magician's rabbit before Wall-E? Cute, but I can see something winning over that.
Art Direfction: Benjamin Button. I still can't believe I haven't seen this movie. I can see all the other movies (Changeling, Dark Knight, Dutchess and Revolutionary Road) winning this one too, however, since they're all very visually appealing and artistic. Button did something special though, so...
Costume Design: The Dutchess. Okay, I'll give you that. What movie has Kiera been in where the costumes weren't fucking gorgeous? I was still rooting for Milk though, because they were just so accurate and amazing.
Makeup: Benjamin Button. Umduh. They're making a guy age backwards, and making it look real. Dark Knight and Hellboy 2 were surreal and had the freedom to look a little overdone (even though the Joker's makeup was genius).
Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire. I just can't believe Milk wasn't nominated for this one. I didn't find anything particularly amazing about the cinematograpy in Slumdog that really stood out, but...*shrug*
Live Action Short Film: Spielzeugland. Haven't seen any of these, but I want to. Especially since two of them are German.
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger. Duh. Even if he had been alive he still would've won I think. That was a work of genius. As I said to some people earlier, no one will ever be able to play the joker again. That's like asking someone else to play Hannibal Lecter after Anthony Hopkins completely pwned my life (Oh wait). I think Josh, Robert and Philip did amazing jobs, don't get me wrong, and Robert was funny as shit in Tropic Thunder. I didn't think Josh Brolin was all that special, but I dunno. Philip Seymore Hoffman was amazing, but again, nothing special. Heath deserved that damn award.
Feature Documentary: Man on Wire. *Shrug* Haven't seen any of them.
Short Documentary: Smile Pinki. Again *shrug*
Visual Effects: Benjamin Button. I can understand why Iron Man didn't win, but Dark Knight HAD A FUCKING 16WHEELER FLIPPED OVER. AND EXPLODE. But wtfever. Benjamin Button had a guy age backwards.
Sound Editing: Dark Knight. *shrug* I don't know how to evaluate this. I feel bad that sound was the only category Wanted got nommed for, and I would've liked to see it win either Editing or Mixing, but I honestly don't know much about the category itself. Wall-E should've won something too.
Sound Mixing: Slumdog Millionaire. Again, I don't get it, but...whatevs.
Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire. WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T MILK WIN THIS ONE. THEY FILMED A SCENE IN A FUCKING WHISTLE. Ugh. Then again, the cuts in Slumdog were brilliant. But again, I didn't find anything particularly outstanding about it. So...
Original Score: Slumdog Millionaire. I found the score for Wall-E okay, but my taste, but fitting to the movie, and Milk's score I barely even noticed I was too busy crying and squeeing. I want Slumdog's soundtrack though.
Original Song: Slumdog Millionaire for "Jai Ho". Again, I want the soundtrack. It was a two out of three chance they would win anyway.
Foreign Language Film: Departures. Couldn't tell ya.
Directing: Slumdog Millionaire. Again, wtf. Milk. They're both amazing though.
Best Actress: Kate Winslet for The Reader. I never found myself interested in the film, but I love Kate Winslet. Meryl Streep is a goddess, but I can see why she didn't win for Doubt. She was amazing, of course, but I found little nitpicky things that I didn't like about her performance. Ah well.
Best Actor: Sean Penn for Milk. He totally deserved that one. I mean seriously. And his speech (the only one I saw) was so cute. I love being a Commie, homo-loving son-of-a-gun. Then again. I also didn't see any of the other films (Visitor, Frost/Nixon, Benjamin Button, and the Wrestler), so my judgement is skewed.
Best Film: Slumdog. I'd have to say "duh" on this one. Milk and Slumdog are pretty much a tie in my book of awesome, but I think Slumdog appealed to a wider audience. Like, I'd take my parents to see Slumdog, but probably not Milk. Milk is much more stylized and less mainstream, and I think that's why Slumdog won. But it deserved it,
NOW TALK ABOUT BOOKS
On the weekend after my birthday, I finished a short book called Damned Strong Love by Lutz van Dijk and it fucking killed me. If I was told it was a true story about the history of homosexuals in Nazi-occupied Poland I probably would've been cool with it. But I thought it was a love story! And it is, but only a small portion of it, and that portion is very, very distressing. Just...ugh. I mean, it gave a great insight history-wise, and I'd love to re-read it in the original German (even though, from what I could tell it was very accurately and literally translated). It just made me cry like a baby. I found out recently that the guy it was written about died in 2003, and the author of the book wrote a kind of formal announcement of his death, and I could barely read it my eyes were so blurred over. Killed me.
Afterward I read Silence of the Lambs. Holy fucking shit. It is amazing. I mean, there's a lot of talking and FBI stuff that I didn't fully understand, but I enjoyed that part too. I could not stop reading it. And it's also not as gory as you might think. I mean, it's gory, but only a few parts are. Not so much emphasis on the cannibalism part, so if that squicks you it's not relaly an issue. Then I watched the movie, which I liked. I liked adorable little Southern Jodie Foster but I didn't feel like she was Clarice. I felt like she was too...raw, emotionally for Clarice. She's still an amazing actress though. Anthony Hopkins was also amazing, but of course I also have my own preconcieved notions of Dr. Lecter, but those are more personal taste issues than character interpretation issues. I thought he should be a lot less obvious about his creepiness...but then it's harder to portray the creepiness at all on film. So it could've just been a page-to-screen choice. Either way, genius performance. I'm not even gonna go into it.
I tried reading the book Sybil after I finished SotL, but it didn't work. I don't do well with two uber-serious books in a row, I think. Plus, I found ita tad bit boring, and it was long. I got three-or-so chapters in, and while I realize that some books don't get really going till 100 pages in, the style also kind of turned me off. It felt...kind of exploity. Like I was reading a long tabloid magazine about a woman with 16 personalities. I think I'll just rewatch the movie.
Right now I'm about halfway through The Princess Bride, and it's sooooo goood. Everyone ever should read it. This is not a matter of taste, or whether you read all that much at all. You read this fucking book. Do it, bitches.
Gonna sign off now--I need to understand biology.