Current Dirt

Tonight I watched the last two movies on my Oscar list. If I had a ballot in front of me right now here is the order I would rank the following nominees in the following categories. This is not a prediction of the winner, just my picks…

Best Picture: Out of all of these movies I only wanted to see one, Slumdog Millionaire, and yet I was pleasantly surprised with each film. This was a hard category to rank because they were all really good.

1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. Milk
4. The Reader
5. Frost / Nixon

Best Actor: My strongest and most confident Oscar pick by far is Sean Penn. If he does not win best actor for his portrayal of Harvey Milk in Milk I will be sad and disappointed. And it’s not just because he used to be married to Madonna.

1. Sean Penn – Milk
2. Frank Langella – Frost / Nixon
3. Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
4. Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
5. Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

Best Actress: The Reader was the first movie I saw in this category and after watching it I put Kate Winslet at the top of my list and kept her there as I watched the rest of the movies. But I can’t help to think that Revolutionary Road, which is in the best supporting actor category, was sneaked in purely for the voters to see Kate in two vastly different rolls.

1. Kate Winslet – The Reader
2. Meryl Streep – Doubt
3. Melissa Leo – Frozen River
4. Angelina Jolie – Changeling
5. Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married

Best Supporting Actor: I went back and forth with my top pick here as I was impressed with my top two choices. I guess it came down to the fact that Philip Seymour Hoffman really made me feel, well, doubt.

1. Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
2. Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road
3. Josh Brolin – Milk
4. Heath Ledger – The Dark Night
5. Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder (Seriously? No, really, seriously?)

Best Supporting Actress: The category in which I struggled the most. No clear winner here for me.

1. Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
2. Viola Davis – Doubt
3. Taraji P. Williams – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
4. Amy Adams – Doubt
5. Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler

Due to movie overlap there are other categories in which I have seen all of the movies. But am not ranking them due to what I feel is a lack of expertise, especially Best Adapted Screenplay, seeing how I never read the books or plays they were adapted from.

Having watched all of these movies Oscar night will certainly have more meaning for me this year than just best and worst dressed – though I will be paying attention to that as well. And I think this is something I will do again next year. Even though it was pricey and time consuming I did walk away seeing some really great films I otherwise wouldn’t have. And some films I didn’t really care for. In the end it may be watching the Oscars that will help me decide if it was worth it.

One year ago today I reached my goal weight. And since that day I have maintained that weight within four pounds (and I am currently under it by two). The couple of pounds I have gone over usually involved trips to my parents house. They both strongly believe in healthy lifestyles with bi-weekly trips to the farmer’s market, but they also feel very strongly in homemade cookies. Yum. And I’m not complaining.

The past year has taught me that weight maintenance is harder than weight loss. That you can never stop thinking about good old fashioned “calories in / calories out”. That even though I can maintain my weight with more calories per day that I can never go back to the way it was. French fries are back in my diet, but from my husbands plate. Pizza is allowed in the house again but not on a regular basis. A hot meal at lunch slips in during the week but not everyday. Home cooking with real food and consistent exercise are my secrets to success. The support of my friends, family and husband is my motivation.

Here’s to another year of good food, Pilates, belly dancing classes, long bike rides and homemade cookies. Mom, please don’t forget my Valentine’s cutouts!!

My friend is watching all of the Oscar nominated films in major categories this year. There were a couple of movies I wanted to see that happened to be nominated so we’ve been to the movies together a couple of times. And before you know it, I was hooked. I too want to see all the movies by February 22nd. So here is where I stand:

Seen:
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
The Visitor
Tropic Thunder

To be seen:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Viewed since posting)
The Wrestler (Viewed since posting)
Rachel Getting Married (Viewed since posting)
Changeling (Viewed since posting)
Frozen River (Viewed since posting)
Doubt (Viewed since posting)
The Dark Knight (Viewed since posting)
Revolutionary Road (Viewed since posting)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Viewed since posting)

So as you can see I have my work cut out for me. And quite a few more movie tickets to buy. Luckily I live in a city with an artsy theater that is showing most of these. Others are On Demand, or will be by the 22nd. But it leaves us short by one movie. One movie that is not in any local theaters, one movie that won’t be on On Demand or DVD in time. This realization led to a slightly panicked phone call from my girlfriend this morning, “Rachel Getting Married is showing in Syracuse until February 5th. Are you in? I’ll drive.” Crap. I don’t know!

Not to mention The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is almost three hours long and only has 9 PM showings left. Exactly what night do I feel like walking back to my car at midnight?

Has this post led me to throw in the towel? Or do I hit publish and go see The Wrestler?

***
Rachel Getting Married update: We found a local showing! Whew…that was a close one.

Just a quick update to the blog. Tom and I have been ping-ponging a nasty bug between the two of us. I got the worst of it a couple of weeks ago, as in the worst cold/flu thing I have ever had. Really, ever. But I am back to almost 100% just as Tom starts his battle.

But through the coughing and phlegm and other lovely things like that we celebrated our four year wedding anniversary this week. Last night we went back to the seen of the crime and had dinner at the place we met and tomorrow night we will make our annual pilgramage to Caffe Italia. Me and my cold are looking forward to a garlic fest! How romantic.

Hope everyone has avioded the bug better than we have!

My girlfriends and I went to a show* tonight. It started at 7:30 so after work we went for a couple of drinks to pass the time, that and we like going out for drinks, when I overheard this conversation:

A woman asks the bartender for a napkin with soda water on it because her friend spilled her martini on her own coat. To which the friend responds, “That’s not my coat.”

No, no it wasn’t her coat. IT WAS MINE. So I took it off the back of the chair and slinked it across my lap. The women who spilled the drink disappears into the crowd and the woman with the soda water asks for the coat back because she works with fabrics and explained to me how I could fix it when I got home. “It’s the lining of a wool coat, or what I assume is wool.” Bitch. Give me my coat. I have another bar to hit before the show.

Show was fun**. Goodnight.

* Yes, we went to the Pay What You Will showing. What can I say? I like a bargain.
**Ten dollars – that we paid for the tickets – fun.