I’ve been thinking more and more about the John Hughes tribute during the Oscars. It is the only moment from the ceremony that I find memorable but more importantly, I really see it as a touchstone moment in the history of Gen X. It really marks the moment where we are all forced to realize that we are adults.
To put this in a little perspective: Molly Ringwald is five years older than me so while she would not have been in high school with me (unless my parents would have relented and let me skip a few grades) but she would have been a classmate of one of my brothers. Same with Anthony Michael Hall. Ally Sheedy and Emilio Estevez are a few years older than that and Judd Nelson is fifty, which is just frightening. So the cast of The Breakfast Club are slightly older than me but not by too much. And Molly and Anthony Michael really are in the core of Gen X.
That is what makes their appearance at the Oscars so important. In part this is almost an acceptance that my generation gets a seat at the big kids table now. Sure, we have our own awards over the years but now we are called upon to honor a director who exemplified our generation. It wasn’t a Spielberg on stage honoring a colleague; it was people my age. I can’t quite remember something like that before.
Even more important though is the fact that this moment showed that we are all adults. One of the wonders of film is that certain stars will always remain a certain age. Molly Ringwald will always be a teenager in our minds and to see her as a true adult, beautiful and confident, takes us a back a little. We all have our own mental age, which is what we feel we are in our heads. For me it is something like 23 or 24. I’m continually in that just out of college stage. But Sunday night showed that is not the case. Anthony Michael Hall looks old in the sense that he looks like me and all my friends. We are old.
But even though Gen X is now old we have created this whole environment where we are perpetual teenagers. The majority of my Facebook status updates come from people I went to grade school and high school with otherwise known as people I have not seen or talked to for nearly twenty years. Most of them I would have no clue who they were if I passed them on the street. But thanks to Facebook I am constantly returned to high school with all of the bad and good that that implies thanks to their comments. I’m not alone on this. We are the John Hughes generation and we never left high school.
It’s strange to think that we have no voice in Gen X that I know of to lead us into adulthood. The boomers made their own show Thirtysomething to deal with it. We have, uh, Cougar Town? I don’t know of any good, mid 30’s television show out there. The voices of our strident college years are all gone, several of which by their own hands. The only music act that is still relevant from my college years is Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder does one hell of a job putting up the good fight (Just Breathe may be as touching and meaningful as anything that I have ever heard.) Still, Dylan always spoke for the Boomers and we seem to have lost or maybe even never had that type of voice. We are a small generation that is no longer a target market. Media doesn’t care about us anymore.
Maybe that is my last take on the group of them standing onstage at the Oscars. They were successful but unsteady, for the most part unsure in their own skin. They all knew that they were adult members of society but the fancy clothes just felt wrong even on someone like Matthew Broderick for whom this is second nature. I think Gen X is scared of taking that step into adulthood. I know I am.
Showing posts with label Oscars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oscars. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Monday, March 08, 2010
Oscar, Oscar
One of my daily tasks at work is to hit the blog so that I can look at my statistics on how many people visited the site the previous day. It is one of those thirty second breaks from spreadsheets that I enjoy. Today I clicked on my bookmark for this page and saw that the corporate web filter had blocked it and listed it under the category “sex.”
Ok, not only have I read everything on this site I have written every word of it. I have no idea how in the world they decided it fit that category. “Nonsensical ramblings written in improper English” sure but the last thing that I would consider this place to be is adult content. Immature is more like it. (Later in the day I wasn’t blocked so I don’t know quite what was going on.)
Anyway, I didn’t live blog the Oscars last night because I couldn’t bring myself to stay up past midnight but I have some comments on the proceedings. Here they are
1) Last night marked the first time that I ever cared when someone mentioned who they were wearing because Meryl Streep was wearing Chris March. Yes, the guy from Project Runway who was famous for making drag queen outfits and won a competition to make an outfit for a WWE diva. Obviously he and Meryl are a perfect combination. He was easily one of the most talented, funniest and coolest people ever to appear on that show so I am happy to see him get a big break.
2) Whoever decided to let Kathy Ireland be a red carpet interviewer deserves to be fired out of a cannon. There is a reason why she never had a career outside of appearing in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issues. The woman simply cannot speak.
3) Now I am not one to ever question having Neil Patrick Harris appear in anything. In fact, I would put him on every show if I could. But wasn’t it just a little odd to have him be the first person on stage singing a song about the fact that there were two hosts? No fault of NPH there because he went for it with gusto and I love the fact that it cements him as a top tier personality but there seemed to be no point of it.
4) Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were surprisingly unfunny. The monologue went on much too long and had a few too many dead spots. The problem with two hosts is unless they are a comedy team it doesn’t really make sense to do a monologue. They had no timing with regards to passing jokes on to one another and it seemed to be a poor showing by two incredibly talented people.
5) How do you have Michael Jackson in the “applaud for dead people” segment but not Farrah Fawcett? If you don’t consider Farrah a movie star then how could you consider Michael? I’m not a fan of that segment to begin with as it really becomes a popularity contest amongst the deceased but it just shows how poorly done it can sometimes be.
6) No real surprises amongst the acting winners though I still wish that when they hand out the awards that they would mention the winners lesser accomplishments like “Miss Bullock also starred in All About Steve and Speed 2: Cruise Control.” Also, props to Sandra for winning a Razzie and an Oscar in the same weekend. Jeff Bridges deserved an award for lifetime achievement at least so I have no problems with his victory either.
7) Speaking of lifetime achievement awards, how the hell could you not let Roger Corman and Lauren Bacall speak? I mean, it’s Lauren freaking Bacall. She would have thanked Humphrey Bogart in her speech. It would have been an amazing moment. The honorary Oscar is one of the cool moments of the night and they took it away from us.
8) The totally unexpected moment was the tribute to John Hughes. I did not see that coming at all. While he was a great director and essentially created his own genre his style typically does not result in such a posthumous honor. It was amazing to see all of his former stars on stage providing memories of his influence on their careers, which in Judd Nelson’s case appears to be working the late shift at a 7-11. But do you know what this segment really brought home for me? It’s the fact that we are old now. I mean, Hughes films were about teenagers that came out while I was a teenager. Now I look at Anthony Michael Hall and Matthew Broderick and go, wow, they are old. Which means I am old, too. Ally Sheedy may still look great but the fact is that are youth is over. We are adults now and John Hughes is gone so we have no idea how adults are supposed to be.
Ok, not only have I read everything on this site I have written every word of it. I have no idea how in the world they decided it fit that category. “Nonsensical ramblings written in improper English” sure but the last thing that I would consider this place to be is adult content. Immature is more like it. (Later in the day I wasn’t blocked so I don’t know quite what was going on.)
Anyway, I didn’t live blog the Oscars last night because I couldn’t bring myself to stay up past midnight but I have some comments on the proceedings. Here they are
1) Last night marked the first time that I ever cared when someone mentioned who they were wearing because Meryl Streep was wearing Chris March. Yes, the guy from Project Runway who was famous for making drag queen outfits and won a competition to make an outfit for a WWE diva. Obviously he and Meryl are a perfect combination. He was easily one of the most talented, funniest and coolest people ever to appear on that show so I am happy to see him get a big break.
2) Whoever decided to let Kathy Ireland be a red carpet interviewer deserves to be fired out of a cannon. There is a reason why she never had a career outside of appearing in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issues. The woman simply cannot speak.
3) Now I am not one to ever question having Neil Patrick Harris appear in anything. In fact, I would put him on every show if I could. But wasn’t it just a little odd to have him be the first person on stage singing a song about the fact that there were two hosts? No fault of NPH there because he went for it with gusto and I love the fact that it cements him as a top tier personality but there seemed to be no point of it.
4) Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were surprisingly unfunny. The monologue went on much too long and had a few too many dead spots. The problem with two hosts is unless they are a comedy team it doesn’t really make sense to do a monologue. They had no timing with regards to passing jokes on to one another and it seemed to be a poor showing by two incredibly talented people.
5) How do you have Michael Jackson in the “applaud for dead people” segment but not Farrah Fawcett? If you don’t consider Farrah a movie star then how could you consider Michael? I’m not a fan of that segment to begin with as it really becomes a popularity contest amongst the deceased but it just shows how poorly done it can sometimes be.
6) No real surprises amongst the acting winners though I still wish that when they hand out the awards that they would mention the winners lesser accomplishments like “Miss Bullock also starred in All About Steve and Speed 2: Cruise Control.” Also, props to Sandra for winning a Razzie and an Oscar in the same weekend. Jeff Bridges deserved an award for lifetime achievement at least so I have no problems with his victory either.
7) Speaking of lifetime achievement awards, how the hell could you not let Roger Corman and Lauren Bacall speak? I mean, it’s Lauren freaking Bacall. She would have thanked Humphrey Bogart in her speech. It would have been an amazing moment. The honorary Oscar is one of the cool moments of the night and they took it away from us.
8) The totally unexpected moment was the tribute to John Hughes. I did not see that coming at all. While he was a great director and essentially created his own genre his style typically does not result in such a posthumous honor. It was amazing to see all of his former stars on stage providing memories of his influence on their careers, which in Judd Nelson’s case appears to be working the late shift at a 7-11. But do you know what this segment really brought home for me? It’s the fact that we are old now. I mean, Hughes films were about teenagers that came out while I was a teenager. Now I look at Anthony Michael Hall and Matthew Broderick and go, wow, they are old. Which means I am old, too. Ally Sheedy may still look great but the fact is that are youth is over. We are adults now and John Hughes is gone so we have no idea how adults are supposed to be.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Oscar wrap up
A few more points from the Oscars…
1) If I had to choose a word to describe the Oscars last night that word would be, sadly, masturbatory. It’s the only way I can describe the proceedings. Now all award shows have a degree of self-love associated with them given that all they are is a group of people giving each other trophies for how super they think they are. But the more I think about it the way the acting awards were handed out took it to another level. It consisted of five famous people telling five other famous people how fabulous they were for being famous. When people talk about Hollywood being insular this is exactly what they meant.
2) Off the subject but it fits in here. While in one of the many tacky t-shirt shops in New Orleans (which survived Hurricane Katrina completely unscathed) I saw a shirt that read “I’d rather be masterbating.” I’m not sure what would be the worst part about wearing this shirt. It would either a) be the fact that you are crass enough to express that feeling in public or b) be the fact that not only did you buy a shirt referencing masturbation but you couldn’t even find one that spelled it properly.
3) Back to the awards. What really bugged me about the break from tradition in showing clips from the nominated performances is that for many of the nominees I still have no clue who they are or what their movie was about. Face it, Speed Racer got more screen time in the Oscars than Frozen River or The Visitor and both of those had top acting nominees. You would think that after watching the entire show I would have some sense of what those movies are about other than a body of water in a cold climate and someone coming over to your house.
4) I could have mentioned this last night but I didn’t. I have no idea why everyone makes such a big fuss over Angelina Jolie. I don’t even find her that attractive. Yes she is dark and mysterious and seems like someone who in the middle of the night will cut out your kidney. I just don’t find that very interesting. I know there are many people who are still upset that Brad Pitt left Jennifer Aniston for her. Count me in the camp who wonders how Brad Pitt could have left Gwenyth Paltrow for either of them.
5) I’m still at a loss as to how Bruce Springsteen wasn’t nominated for his song in The Wrestler. That seemed tailor made for an Oscar nomination just because it would have gotten some people to tune into the broadcast.
6) As for Hugh Jackman, he did a fine job as host though I was quite upset that he never made an appearance as Wolverine. What is the point of our top scientists spending years working on fusing a human skeleton with adamantium if we do not get to showcase it on the world’s biggest stage? And don’t ask me why but on the list of superpowers that I would like to have Wolverine’s claws are really high on the list. They are surprisingly useless when you think about it (ooh, it is like having a knife you can’t drop) but just seem to rank really high on the coolness scale.
Since it is Lundi Gras and tomorrow is one of my favorite days in the world I thought that I would post some New Orleans music the next two nights. Tonight I’ll go with one of my favorite zydeco performers: Terrence Simien. For the record, I have bowled with his washboard player at a concert that literally took place in a bowling alley. And people wonder why I like New Orleans…
1) If I had to choose a word to describe the Oscars last night that word would be, sadly, masturbatory. It’s the only way I can describe the proceedings. Now all award shows have a degree of self-love associated with them given that all they are is a group of people giving each other trophies for how super they think they are. But the more I think about it the way the acting awards were handed out took it to another level. It consisted of five famous people telling five other famous people how fabulous they were for being famous. When people talk about Hollywood being insular this is exactly what they meant.
2) Off the subject but it fits in here. While in one of the many tacky t-shirt shops in New Orleans (which survived Hurricane Katrina completely unscathed) I saw a shirt that read “I’d rather be masterbating.” I’m not sure what would be the worst part about wearing this shirt. It would either a) be the fact that you are crass enough to express that feeling in public or b) be the fact that not only did you buy a shirt referencing masturbation but you couldn’t even find one that spelled it properly.
3) Back to the awards. What really bugged me about the break from tradition in showing clips from the nominated performances is that for many of the nominees I still have no clue who they are or what their movie was about. Face it, Speed Racer got more screen time in the Oscars than Frozen River or The Visitor and both of those had top acting nominees. You would think that after watching the entire show I would have some sense of what those movies are about other than a body of water in a cold climate and someone coming over to your house.
4) I could have mentioned this last night but I didn’t. I have no idea why everyone makes such a big fuss over Angelina Jolie. I don’t even find her that attractive. Yes she is dark and mysterious and seems like someone who in the middle of the night will cut out your kidney. I just don’t find that very interesting. I know there are many people who are still upset that Brad Pitt left Jennifer Aniston for her. Count me in the camp who wonders how Brad Pitt could have left Gwenyth Paltrow for either of them.
5) I’m still at a loss as to how Bruce Springsteen wasn’t nominated for his song in The Wrestler. That seemed tailor made for an Oscar nomination just because it would have gotten some people to tune into the broadcast.
6) As for Hugh Jackman, he did a fine job as host though I was quite upset that he never made an appearance as Wolverine. What is the point of our top scientists spending years working on fusing a human skeleton with adamantium if we do not get to showcase it on the world’s biggest stage? And don’t ask me why but on the list of superpowers that I would like to have Wolverine’s claws are really high on the list. They are surprisingly useless when you think about it (ooh, it is like having a knife you can’t drop) but just seem to rank really high on the coolness scale.
Since it is Lundi Gras and tomorrow is one of my favorite days in the world I thought that I would post some New Orleans music the next two nights. Tonight I’ll go with one of my favorite zydeco performers: Terrence Simien. For the record, I have bowled with his washboard player at a concert that literally took place in a bowling alley. And people wonder why I like New Orleans…
Thursday, January 22, 2009
No love for Sex in the City?
Well the Oscar nominations came out today so I might as well end the week with a discussion on them. I’ll start with something that most people probably missed, which is who is receiving the honorary Oscar this year. Hold on to your large comical hats folks as this year’s winner of the honorary Oscar will be….
Jerry Lewis.
Yes, that Jerry Lewis. The Absent Minded Professor Jerry Lewis. The very popular in France Jerry Lewis. The less talented half of Martin and Lewis Jerry Lewis. Officially this is for his humanitarian work and you can’t really fault him getting an award for that. But somehow the fact that he is receiving and Oscar is a bit disconcerting.
(Best explanation as to why he is popular in France is this. On the surface Jerry Lewis appears to be the prototypical American. Athletic, handsome, completely self-confident. But when he opens his mouth he is a complete idiot. The French love this.)
On to the real nominations. If you need to bet your life savings on any category take Wall-E for best animated film. It could theoretically lose to Kung Fu Panda but only if the panda lobby offers a lot of bamboo to the voters.
Most surprising nomination: Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder. I’m not saying that he doesn’t deserve the nomination and I am certainly a believer in the fact that comedies are always ignored at Oscar time. But I can barely get my head around the fact that Tropic Thunder pulled in an Oscar nomination. No film that featured Ben Stiller should ever be nominated for anything.
Welcome Back awards: Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei both were nominated for their work in The Wrestler (which I still haven’t seen but really want to. How can you not want to watch a film that features Necro Butcher breaking out the stapler.) Mickey Rourke looks and act the part of a broken down wrestler so well that it is scary. From every scene that I have seen he looks and acts like a wrestler and his in ring work has been praised by actual wrestlers. And Marisa Tomei apparently brings it. I’d like her to win just so she can be the most unlikely person to have two Oscars on her mantle.
Reason I’ll be watching the awards show: Amy Adams. I think that she is my new celebrity crush. Talented, amazingly beautiful and she actually seems to be a decent person.
Trivia that you probably do not know: This is Kate Winslet’s sixth Oscar nomination. The fact that she is two years younger than I am makes that fact slightly depressing. Still, she is one of my favorites and is one of the few actresses in Hollywood who actually looks like a real human being.
Surprise of the year: No Randy Newman song for best original song? Hell, they didn’t even nominate the Springsteen track from The Wrestler. Maybe they realized that they are not going to come close to what happened last year with Once so they’ll just decide to hand it to Peter Gabriel this time.
I’ll try to post something interesting over the weekend. Not sure if it will be another dating story or not. Either way, I’ll try to make it worth your while to stop by on the weekend.
Jerry Lewis.
Yes, that Jerry Lewis. The Absent Minded Professor Jerry Lewis. The very popular in France Jerry Lewis. The less talented half of Martin and Lewis Jerry Lewis. Officially this is for his humanitarian work and you can’t really fault him getting an award for that. But somehow the fact that he is receiving and Oscar is a bit disconcerting.
(Best explanation as to why he is popular in France is this. On the surface Jerry Lewis appears to be the prototypical American. Athletic, handsome, completely self-confident. But when he opens his mouth he is a complete idiot. The French love this.)
On to the real nominations. If you need to bet your life savings on any category take Wall-E for best animated film. It could theoretically lose to Kung Fu Panda but only if the panda lobby offers a lot of bamboo to the voters.
Most surprising nomination: Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder. I’m not saying that he doesn’t deserve the nomination and I am certainly a believer in the fact that comedies are always ignored at Oscar time. But I can barely get my head around the fact that Tropic Thunder pulled in an Oscar nomination. No film that featured Ben Stiller should ever be nominated for anything.
Welcome Back awards: Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei both were nominated for their work in The Wrestler (which I still haven’t seen but really want to. How can you not want to watch a film that features Necro Butcher breaking out the stapler.) Mickey Rourke looks and act the part of a broken down wrestler so well that it is scary. From every scene that I have seen he looks and acts like a wrestler and his in ring work has been praised by actual wrestlers. And Marisa Tomei apparently brings it. I’d like her to win just so she can be the most unlikely person to have two Oscars on her mantle.
Reason I’ll be watching the awards show: Amy Adams. I think that she is my new celebrity crush. Talented, amazingly beautiful and she actually seems to be a decent person.
Trivia that you probably do not know: This is Kate Winslet’s sixth Oscar nomination. The fact that she is two years younger than I am makes that fact slightly depressing. Still, she is one of my favorites and is one of the few actresses in Hollywood who actually looks like a real human being.
Surprise of the year: No Randy Newman song for best original song? Hell, they didn’t even nominate the Springsteen track from The Wrestler. Maybe they realized that they are not going to come close to what happened last year with Once so they’ll just decide to hand it to Peter Gabriel this time.
I’ll try to post something interesting over the weekend. Not sure if it will be another dating story or not. Either way, I’ll try to make it worth your while to stop by on the weekend.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
I'll leave this world of toil and trouble...
Interview Note: Apparently I’m still pretty rusty when it comes to interviews. It wasn’t the worst interview that I’ve ever had but it definitely wasn’t an A+ effort on my part. I didn’t stumble over questions regarding my career aspirations but I don’t have those answers as fully formed as I would like. Hopefully I did enough to break through for a second interview. Otherwise it will be more time preparing for the future. I always hope that someone would hire me for just being smart but apparently they want other skills as well.
Final Oscar Note: I just discovered that former stripper and Oscar winner Diablo Cody went to a rival high school of mine a few years after I graduated. I still don’t know her but at least I now don’t know her in a much more personal way. Or at least I’m pretty sure I don’t know her. I would like to think that I would have remembered someone like her. Oh, and now people younger than me are winning screenplay Oscars. First Ben Affleck wins one and now this. I feel like such a slacker.
I have some very sad news to report tonight. My favorite music magazine of all time, No Depression, is going to stop publishing. This is a tough fact for me to face for a number of reasons. For one thing it was always my goal to write for No Depression though occasionally I’ll claim to have already written for it in order to impress women. (Look, I didn’t start that claim. It was mentioned on a website once and it kind of just took off from there.) I really considered it to be one of the best music magazines out there where the focus wasn’t on rating albums but on just discussing what they meant and how they made you feel.
But the big reason is that I fear that this might be a statement as to the longevity of my favorite music genre, which just happens to be called No Depression. Technically the Carter Family song came first and then the Uncle Tupelo album and then an AOL newsgroup and finally the magazine but in essence almost all of the music that I listen to has been described as No Depression. It was always difficult to describe. I sometimes use the phrase alt-country but that is a bit of a misnomer. Some of it is like Son Volt, country music with a rock tinge, while others are people like Willie Nelson, stuff that is so traditional country that it has become alternative. The No Depression is more of a state of mind than a sound. It’s fiercely independent, true to heart, lyrically brilliant music. Songs that someone can stand on stage in front of twenty people and sing because it truly is what they believe in.
I don’t think that the genre is dying per se (odds are the magazine business is a rather poor one to be in right now) but this is a blow for people like me. I learned about a lot of great bands by reading the magazine. I saw shows solely because of a blurb I read or, truth be told, a picture of a pretty female singer-songwriter in one of the ads. (To this day the only reason I go to see Eleni Mandell in concert is because of a picture I saw of her.) The magazine was run by people who weren’t bound to any corporate viewpoint; they all just loved music. There was no overlying agenda, no “You have to give the new Hootie and the Blowfish record three stars”, just great discussions of often overlooked acts. While Paste magazine has tried hard to reach the same audience I think that this will be a big gap in the music world. No Depression will definitely be missed.
Of course, I can always just rely on Maxim for my music commentary. They apparently gave the new Black Crowes album two and a half stars despite not actually having listened to it. I don’t know about you but even though I haven’t listened to it I would have to say that two and a half stars sounds about right to me.
Final Oscar Note: I just discovered that former stripper and Oscar winner Diablo Cody went to a rival high school of mine a few years after I graduated. I still don’t know her but at least I now don’t know her in a much more personal way. Or at least I’m pretty sure I don’t know her. I would like to think that I would have remembered someone like her. Oh, and now people younger than me are winning screenplay Oscars. First Ben Affleck wins one and now this. I feel like such a slacker.
I have some very sad news to report tonight. My favorite music magazine of all time, No Depression, is going to stop publishing. This is a tough fact for me to face for a number of reasons. For one thing it was always my goal to write for No Depression though occasionally I’ll claim to have already written for it in order to impress women. (Look, I didn’t start that claim. It was mentioned on a website once and it kind of just took off from there.) I really considered it to be one of the best music magazines out there where the focus wasn’t on rating albums but on just discussing what they meant and how they made you feel.
But the big reason is that I fear that this might be a statement as to the longevity of my favorite music genre, which just happens to be called No Depression. Technically the Carter Family song came first and then the Uncle Tupelo album and then an AOL newsgroup and finally the magazine but in essence almost all of the music that I listen to has been described as No Depression. It was always difficult to describe. I sometimes use the phrase alt-country but that is a bit of a misnomer. Some of it is like Son Volt, country music with a rock tinge, while others are people like Willie Nelson, stuff that is so traditional country that it has become alternative. The No Depression is more of a state of mind than a sound. It’s fiercely independent, true to heart, lyrically brilliant music. Songs that someone can stand on stage in front of twenty people and sing because it truly is what they believe in.
I don’t think that the genre is dying per se (odds are the magazine business is a rather poor one to be in right now) but this is a blow for people like me. I learned about a lot of great bands by reading the magazine. I saw shows solely because of a blurb I read or, truth be told, a picture of a pretty female singer-songwriter in one of the ads. (To this day the only reason I go to see Eleni Mandell in concert is because of a picture I saw of her.) The magazine was run by people who weren’t bound to any corporate viewpoint; they all just loved music. There was no overlying agenda, no “You have to give the new Hootie and the Blowfish record three stars”, just great discussions of often overlooked acts. While Paste magazine has tried hard to reach the same audience I think that this will be a big gap in the music world. No Depression will definitely be missed.
Of course, I can always just rely on Maxim for my music commentary. They apparently gave the new Black Crowes album two and a half stars despite not actually having listened to it. I don’t know about you but even though I haven’t listened to it I would have to say that two and a half stars sounds about right to me.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Oscar wrap up
Since it’s my blog and I can do whatever the hell I want to do with it I’ve posted Glen and Marketa’s acceptance speeches. A lot of critics considered this the best moment of the Oscars. It wasn’t preorchestrated; it was a genuine instinct of Jon Stewart’s to bring Marketa back on stage and then she gives a rather wonderful little speech. It was the most memorable moment of what was a rather blah night.
I was trying to figure out first of all why the show went quicker than normal. I realized they didn’t show a single clip from the Best Picture nominees. Typically they show a minute clip from each one throughout the show along with an introduction. We also were lacking in production numbers (other than best song). No appearances from Cirque du Soleil or Stomp or Blue Man Group this year. That saved a lot of time.
Still it was the night of montages instead. From what I read since the writer’s strike ended so recently they didn’t have time to create much of a show so they relied on what was the backup plan: all montages all the time. I assume that is why I got to see Price Waterhouse Coopers offices. It did make for a rather boring ceremony. Stewart did his best but there really wasn’t much to work with this year.
As for best dressed I’m going to have to go with Amy Adams. I might be the only person to do this and I’m not sure why. It’s just that if you ask me what I remember besides best song it is that I realized how beautiful Amy Adams is. Plus, she wore green and no one else did. If I have to see another red dress again I am going to be very angry. I don’t really even have a worst dressed as no one came close to Kirsten Dunst’s schoolboy collar of last year. Even I considered that to be a bad idea.
Not much else to report today. Spent time in the office working on spreadsheets. I did listen to Marshall Crenshaw on the way to work. For the record, I look almost exactly like Marshall Crenshaw. That doesn’t say much for my hopes of a music career as the best I can hope for is looking like a guy who was able to play Buddy Holly in a movie once. But he plays nice pop songs so it was still fun to listen to during my commute.
Big news is that I have my first interview tomorrow as I try to figure out the next step my life is going to take. I’m still not sure if I’m qualified for this position or not. According to the job posting I have everything they are looking for and I’m a perfect match. However, that assumes that job postings properly represent what is required for a job and we know that is not always the case. It will be interesting that’s for sure. Wish me luck.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Twin Cinema
Today was an interesting day in the office. See, part of my weekend was spent reconfiguring my MP3 player and making sure that every single New Pornographers song was included. Somehow in that process I also copied over all of these Julie Delpy quotes that have congregated on my hard drive over the past decade (obsession is a wonderful thing). This meant that I spent much of today bouncing between killer pop songs, Neko Case singing and Julie Delpy reciting quotes from Before Sunrise. If you ever wanted to see EC the Happy Employee, this was the day. Nothing can put me in a bad mood with that as my background music.
Just a little Oscar night wrap-up. A few people caught Eddie Murphy’s reaction when he didn’t win, which came just short of him mouthing “Son of a…” on national television. Given that every single person had him winning the award this must have come as a surprise. What you didn’t notice is that he actually left the show soon after losing. Though, let’s face it, I wouldn’t have wanted to stick around that ceremony either. It went on forever and didn’t have any incredibly interesting moments. Nothing horrible, just four hours of blah.
It looks like my calls on Best Dressed match up with most of the experts. I gave it to the Cates (Blanchett and Winslet) and most people rank them high. Others liked Jennifer Lopez and I can’t just on general principle. She’s one of those people where I never quite understood the attraction. She wasn’t even the best looking Fly Girl, how could she be the most beautiful woman in Hollywood? The other name people mentioned for Best Dressed was Penelope Cruz and I can’t really disagree. Worst Dressed seems to be going to Anne Hathaway (in my mind, not great but not a horrible look), Kirsten Dunst (agreed if only because I can’t figure out how you make her look unattractive) and Jennifer Hudson (whose wearing a jacket on the red carpet has been viewed as such a faux pas you would have thought she had shown up wearing a swan like Bjork.) Not sure why this matters other than it is always fun to critique the fashion sense of celebrities when you are someone who wore gym shoes with everything until he was well into his thirties.
I have to give a shout out to How I Met Your Mother this evening with what has to be one of their best episodes in months. First off, I would like to thank them for including the scene where they picked up a hitchhiking Waldo. It’s nice to know that they gave me a cameo in the show based on my life. Plus, they did touch on how attached a guy gets to his first car even though it is a piece of junk. It’s what got you through college, a few road trips and even though the cassette player never worked right it still is yours. The first car I owned, a 1989 Chevy Cavalier that I bought in 1993, was famous for having windshield wipers that would turn themselves on in sunny weather and a cassette deck that if it liked a song would rewind and repeat it and if it didn’t it would eject the tape. Seriously, I never touched anything and the car would go, “This song sucks, I’m fast forwarding.” Those memories are hard to give up when you are forced to become an adult. Guess that’s why I’ve decided never to become one.
Just a little Oscar night wrap-up. A few people caught Eddie Murphy’s reaction when he didn’t win, which came just short of him mouthing “Son of a…” on national television. Given that every single person had him winning the award this must have come as a surprise. What you didn’t notice is that he actually left the show soon after losing. Though, let’s face it, I wouldn’t have wanted to stick around that ceremony either. It went on forever and didn’t have any incredibly interesting moments. Nothing horrible, just four hours of blah.
It looks like my calls on Best Dressed match up with most of the experts. I gave it to the Cates (Blanchett and Winslet) and most people rank them high. Others liked Jennifer Lopez and I can’t just on general principle. She’s one of those people where I never quite understood the attraction. She wasn’t even the best looking Fly Girl, how could she be the most beautiful woman in Hollywood? The other name people mentioned for Best Dressed was Penelope Cruz and I can’t really disagree. Worst Dressed seems to be going to Anne Hathaway (in my mind, not great but not a horrible look), Kirsten Dunst (agreed if only because I can’t figure out how you make her look unattractive) and Jennifer Hudson (whose wearing a jacket on the red carpet has been viewed as such a faux pas you would have thought she had shown up wearing a swan like Bjork.) Not sure why this matters other than it is always fun to critique the fashion sense of celebrities when you are someone who wore gym shoes with everything until he was well into his thirties.
I have to give a shout out to How I Met Your Mother this evening with what has to be one of their best episodes in months. First off, I would like to thank them for including the scene where they picked up a hitchhiking Waldo. It’s nice to know that they gave me a cameo in the show based on my life. Plus, they did touch on how attached a guy gets to his first car even though it is a piece of junk. It’s what got you through college, a few road trips and even though the cassette player never worked right it still is yours. The first car I owned, a 1989 Chevy Cavalier that I bought in 1993, was famous for having windshield wipers that would turn themselves on in sunny weather and a cassette deck that if it liked a song would rewind and repeat it and if it didn’t it would eject the tape. Seriously, I never touched anything and the car would go, “This song sucks, I’m fast forwarding.” Those memories are hard to give up when you are forced to become an adult. Guess that’s why I’ve decided never to become one.
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