Word of the day: cathexis
: investment of emotional or mental energy in a person, object, or idea
Friday thoughts:
- We need to get to Savannah tomorrow and bad: Back in the Day Bakery is calling out to me!
- Gabriel loves frozen yogurt and pizza again!
- I can't quite figure out if this job opportunity that keeps getting offered me is legit or not!
- I no longer care about Nashville - there just aren't enough compelling storylines
- The Christmas tree lights are going up tonight
- Nothing but mid-60s and 70-degree weather over the next ten days
- Julia has already started stuffing stockings!
- Julia is pleased as pudding that her new I-Pad is here!
Here are my NFL picks for the weekend:
Buffalo over Jacksonville
Detroit over Indianapolis
Green Bay over Minnesota (has ever Aaron Rodgers ever played two lackluster games in a row)
NY Jets over Arizona
Carolina over Kansas City
New England over Miami
Dallas over Philadelphia
Denver over Tampa Bay
Baltimore over Pittsburgh
A tough week to pick gets even dicier with these picks:
Oakland over Cleveland
San Diego over Cincinnati
Houston over Tennessee
Chicago over Seattle
Washington over NY Giants
SF over St. Louis
Last Week: 8-8
Season Record: 111-64-1
Not too much today, guys, since I've already done a post over at http://mybookylife.blogspot.com/. Check it out!
Friday, November 30, 2012
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Pizza Night
Word of the day : garniture
: embellishment, trimming
: a set of decorative objects (as vases, urns, or clocks)
Well, the week's grinding down again. Gabriel and I are going to get fro-yo today (or 'goke' as he mysteriously calls it) and the family will pick up some pizza tonight. It was a cold morning, but the ten-day forecast calls for almost consistent low-70 weather: One thing you can honestly love Georgia for!
There's only one movie of note opening this week (other than the Universal Soldier sequel, of course):
Killing Them Softly New Zealand writer-director Andrew Dominik re-teams with Brad Pitt again (after 2007's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) for this adaptation of the George Higgins novel. Pitt is a contract killer scouring 2008 New Orleans for some lowlifes who robbed a Mob-protected poker game, causing the criminal economy to temporarily collapse; critics like it, but say it's little more than a stylish genre exercise. The cast is full of tough guys: James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, Sam Shepard, and Richard Jenkins.
Verdict: Mildly Interested
*
A pick for tonight:
Hmmm. Let's consider:
The Saints own the Falcons.
The Falcons are nominally the best team in the NFL right now.
The Saints are 5-6 and on the verge of elimination; this is a must-win.
The Saints have already beat the Falcons once this year.
The game is in Atlanta.
Atlanta can sew up the division with a win.
Hesitantly, I'll go...
New Orleans 30, Atlanta 26
*
A selection today for my list of my 500 Greatest Performances of All Time:
Emma Stone
as Olive in Easy A (2010)
Pretty much the movie that made Stone a star, and why shouldn't it have? She's great in it - bubbly, quick-witted, infectious, insanely energetic and sharp, likable. Stone has a great screen face, and she would have been fun to watch in any era of moviemaking. Would it be possible for an actor to not have chemistry with her? More movies by Will Gluck (Friends With Benefits), please!
*
Since I love nature so much, I want to go ahead and start a new feature: Interesting Animal of the Day:
Today, let's give it up for the goblin shark:
Yikes! What a freak! This shark, whose habitat consists off the waters off Japan, Portugal, Australia, and South Africa (although sometimes it drifts into the Atlantic), has a trowel-like protrusion from its head, enabling it to navigate the deep, muddy waters it courses through. It has small eyes, needle-like teeth that the shark can manipulate like a hand or claw. Anything standing in its way that the shark can spot (it has tiny eyes but its other, investigative senses are very keen) is a goner. The species was discovered by a Japanese fisherman at the end of the nineteenth century. It is not endangered, though sightings of this unusual shark are rare.
Images courtesy of:
http://gonewiththetwins.com/pages/2010/screenshots/easya/001.jpg
http://www.greengoblin.com/internal/corner/shark.jpg
Information courtesy of:
http://www.greengoblin.com/internal/corner/shark.html
: embellishment, trimming
: a set of decorative objects (as vases, urns, or clocks)
Well, the week's grinding down again. Gabriel and I are going to get fro-yo today (or 'goke' as he mysteriously calls it) and the family will pick up some pizza tonight. It was a cold morning, but the ten-day forecast calls for almost consistent low-70 weather: One thing you can honestly love Georgia for!
There's only one movie of note opening this week (other than the Universal Soldier sequel, of course):
Killing Them Softly New Zealand writer-director Andrew Dominik re-teams with Brad Pitt again (after 2007's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) for this adaptation of the George Higgins novel. Pitt is a contract killer scouring 2008 New Orleans for some lowlifes who robbed a Mob-protected poker game, causing the criminal economy to temporarily collapse; critics like it, but say it's little more than a stylish genre exercise. The cast is full of tough guys: James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, Sam Shepard, and Richard Jenkins.
Verdict: Mildly Interested
*
A pick for tonight:
Hmmm. Let's consider:
The Saints own the Falcons.
The Falcons are nominally the best team in the NFL right now.
The Saints are 5-6 and on the verge of elimination; this is a must-win.
The Saints have already beat the Falcons once this year.
The game is in Atlanta.
Atlanta can sew up the division with a win.
Hesitantly, I'll go...
New Orleans 30, Atlanta 26
*
A selection today for my list of my 500 Greatest Performances of All Time:
Emma Stone
as Olive in Easy A (2010)
Pretty much the movie that made Stone a star, and why shouldn't it have? She's great in it - bubbly, quick-witted, infectious, insanely energetic and sharp, likable. Stone has a great screen face, and she would have been fun to watch in any era of moviemaking. Would it be possible for an actor to not have chemistry with her? More movies by Will Gluck (Friends With Benefits), please!
*
Since I love nature so much, I want to go ahead and start a new feature: Interesting Animal of the Day:
Today, let's give it up for the goblin shark:
Yikes! What a freak! This shark, whose habitat consists off the waters off Japan, Portugal, Australia, and South Africa (although sometimes it drifts into the Atlantic), has a trowel-like protrusion from its head, enabling it to navigate the deep, muddy waters it courses through. It has small eyes, needle-like teeth that the shark can manipulate like a hand or claw. Anything standing in its way that the shark can spot (it has tiny eyes but its other, investigative senses are very keen) is a goner. The species was discovered by a Japanese fisherman at the end of the nineteenth century. It is not endangered, though sightings of this unusual shark are rare.
Images courtesy of:
http://gonewiththetwins.com/pages/2010/screenshots/easya/001.jpg
http://www.greengoblin.com/internal/corner/shark.jpg
Information courtesy of:
http://www.greengoblin.com/internal/corner/shark.html
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
On the Horizon...
Word of the day : sederunt
: a prolonged sitting (as for a discussion)
... Don't you just love that word?
Here are some things I'm looking forward to between now and the end of the year:
1) Julia's brother David visiting us for two weeks
2) Getting a Kindle Fire
3) Julia getting an I-Pad, Gabriel getting a Mini I-Pad
4) Going to Jacksonville and St. Augustine
5) Going up to Augusta and Beaufort, too
6) Going to the Bluffton outlet malls and Robert Irvine's restaurant
7) Taking David to get another tattoo, maybe to see a few movies (I haven't gone to the theater in a year, people - a year!)
8) Further planning out next summer's European trip
9) Watching Gabriel's face on Christmas Even when he gets his new big wheel, Jake and the Neverland Pirates toys, and tent.
10) Seeing how the seasons of Dexter and Homeland end
11) Waiting to see if Julia has any job interviews lined up when she goes to Seattle
12) Spending Christmas Eve in Savannah
*
One show you should be watching right now:
PBS' Call the Midwife
Julia got me into this show, and I'm just about done with the show's first season (six episodes); the second season premieres soon. It was released in Britain in the wake of Downton Abbey's success and actually averaged more viewers in its first season than that show did in its first season!
Based on a trilogy of memoirs written by the late Jennifer Worth, the series follows a group of nuns and midwives working in London' East End in the 1950s. The main character is Nurse Lee (played winningly by Jessica Raines), one of the newest members of the nursing convent (Nonnatus House), a young woman who quickly adapts to the life: bicycling around the slums and flats, ready to lend a sympathetic ear or capable hand to pregnant young mothers or lonely old men who have no one to talk to. The most memorable of the midwives is Chummy (Miranda Hart), a big, broad-shouldered, earnestly clumsy woman who means well.
What can I really say about the show? It's appealing, nicely acted, often touching and moving, sometimes dryly funny, never boring. There's usually one rather bloody, squeamish birthing scene per episode; the film doesn't skimp on the verisimilitude of the creation process. It's a pleasant hour in front of the TV; oh, yeah, and it's narrated by one of the greatest actresses alive, Vanessa Redgrave.
*
And finally, let's unveil one more selection to my unfolding list of the 500 Greatest (English Language) Performances of All Time:
Denzel Washington
as Rubin "Hurricane" Carter in The Hurricane (1999)
Washington is at his absolute best - steely, magnetic, charismatic, jazzy, impassioned - as the real-life boxer Carter, who, as Bob Dylan sung, "could have been the champion of the world." Carter was, of course, railroaded by some racist New Jersey cops, charged with a murder he didn't commit. Norman Jewison's compelling, absorbing biopic might not be 100% accurate, but enough of Carter's spirit and fire gets across; it's a film that sways and infuriates you. And, really, it's Washington's show the entire way, and he delivers in scene after scene. Denzel is one of those rare creations: a great movie star who is also a great actor.
Images courtesy of:
http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/22/article-1327261735803-11680A8E000005DC-736362_636x407.jpg
http://thumbs.anyclip.com/tFSllztGb/tmb_8166_480.jpg
: a prolonged sitting (as for a discussion)
... Don't you just love that word?
Here are some things I'm looking forward to between now and the end of the year:
1) Julia's brother David visiting us for two weeks
2) Getting a Kindle Fire
3) Julia getting an I-Pad, Gabriel getting a Mini I-Pad
4) Going to Jacksonville and St. Augustine
5) Going up to Augusta and Beaufort, too
6) Going to the Bluffton outlet malls and Robert Irvine's restaurant
7) Taking David to get another tattoo, maybe to see a few movies (I haven't gone to the theater in a year, people - a year!)
8) Further planning out next summer's European trip
9) Watching Gabriel's face on Christmas Even when he gets his new big wheel, Jake and the Neverland Pirates toys, and tent.
10) Seeing how the seasons of Dexter and Homeland end
11) Waiting to see if Julia has any job interviews lined up when she goes to Seattle
12) Spending Christmas Eve in Savannah
*
One show you should be watching right now:
PBS' Call the Midwife
Julia got me into this show, and I'm just about done with the show's first season (six episodes); the second season premieres soon. It was released in Britain in the wake of Downton Abbey's success and actually averaged more viewers in its first season than that show did in its first season!
Based on a trilogy of memoirs written by the late Jennifer Worth, the series follows a group of nuns and midwives working in London' East End in the 1950s. The main character is Nurse Lee (played winningly by Jessica Raines), one of the newest members of the nursing convent (Nonnatus House), a young woman who quickly adapts to the life: bicycling around the slums and flats, ready to lend a sympathetic ear or capable hand to pregnant young mothers or lonely old men who have no one to talk to. The most memorable of the midwives is Chummy (Miranda Hart), a big, broad-shouldered, earnestly clumsy woman who means well.
What can I really say about the show? It's appealing, nicely acted, often touching and moving, sometimes dryly funny, never boring. There's usually one rather bloody, squeamish birthing scene per episode; the film doesn't skimp on the verisimilitude of the creation process. It's a pleasant hour in front of the TV; oh, yeah, and it's narrated by one of the greatest actresses alive, Vanessa Redgrave.
*
And finally, let's unveil one more selection to my unfolding list of the 500 Greatest (English Language) Performances of All Time:
Denzel Washington
as Rubin "Hurricane" Carter in The Hurricane (1999)
Washington is at his absolute best - steely, magnetic, charismatic, jazzy, impassioned - as the real-life boxer Carter, who, as Bob Dylan sung, "could have been the champion of the world." Carter was, of course, railroaded by some racist New Jersey cops, charged with a murder he didn't commit. Norman Jewison's compelling, absorbing biopic might not be 100% accurate, but enough of Carter's spirit and fire gets across; it's a film that sways and infuriates you. And, really, it's Washington's show the entire way, and he delivers in scene after scene. Denzel is one of those rare creations: a great movie star who is also a great actor.
Images courtesy of:
http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/22/article-1327261735803-11680A8E000005DC-736362_636x407.jpg
http://thumbs.anyclip.com/tFSllztGb/tmb_8166_480.jpg
Saturday, November 24, 2012
PIGS!
Word of the day :
An exciting Black Friday yesterday for the Fischer family: two big pigs, one male and one female, were running loose in the neighborhood! They settled down at our house and stayed in our yard for about two hours! One of them chased Julia around, and Gabriel, who loved them, wanted to ride one of them! Funny things!
I've never encountered anything like it before. The pigs brought the neighbors out and had Daisy hoarse with fury!
*
One movie you should watch:
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2012
Directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, The Debt)
I really enjoyed this one... okay, I loved it. It's a sweater movie - you know, cozy, comfortable, warm, familiar. It's a crowd-pleaser. Heck, it's a movie for all ages, and it stars some of the greatest over-50 British actors on the planet.
Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie, and Ronald Pickup are Brits who, for various reasons, find themselves traveling to India and staying at a faded, adorably ramshackle hotel run by a charming local boy who is something of a likable black sheep in his family (Dev Patel).
Dench is a recent widow forced to sell off her possessions; Nighy and Wilton are, respectively, a man who made a terrible investment and his wife, who finds joy in absolutely nothing; Smith, in her element, is a racist old codger forced to travel to India to have hip-replacement surgery; Wilkinson is a retired judge who wants to return to the land he grew up in; Pickup is an old lothario on the prowl; Imrie is a woman seeking a wealthy man and a new start.
Needless to say, the cast is divine, and the film is well-shot. It's constantly inviting and engaging, touching. It's safe filmmaking, to be sure, but I wasn't expecting a scathing expose on modern India - for that, I'll read (and am reading) Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Adapted from Deborah Moggach's 2004 novel These Foolish Things by Ol Parker, the film moves well and is damn near impossible to actively dislike.
I can't wait for the possible sequel.
*
NFL Picks for the weekend:
(Well, I was 2-for-3 on the Turkey Day games, which I'll take. Other than the Denver-K.C. game, I don't feel good about any of the following picks. I'm going with some upsets this week, for better or worse:
- Tennessee over Jacksonville
- Buffalo over Indianapolis
- Pittsburgh over Cleveland (ehh...)
- Oakland over Cincinnati
- Chicago over Minnesota
- Denver over Kansas City
- Seattle over Miami
- Atlanta over Tampa Bay
- St. Louis over Arizona
- Baltimore over San Diego
- New Orleans over San Francisco
- Green Bay over NY Giants
- Carolina over Philadelphia
Last Week: 13-1
Season Record: 103-56-1
*
Born today:
Well, guess...
Clues:
- post-Impressionist
- a chronicler of colorful and bohemian arisian nightlife, specifically the Moulin Rouge
- due to a congenital condition and bone dysfunction, never grew taller than 5'1
- frequented the social circles of Montmartre, illustrated for magazines, and was a lithographer
- his most famous work was probably the posters he did in conjunction with the opening of the Moulin Rouge:
- became friends with Oscar Wilde
- due to the stresses that accompanied his physical deformities, he was often depressed and frequently battled alcoholism
- was admitted into a sanitarium two years before he died of alcohol complications and syphilis
Give up?
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Images courtesy of:
http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/the-best-exotic-marigold-hotel.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6UUrmINr_gQM2OduGD8Y2WFnfIc5QJPZ3zycdZ_PEjaCEF1Ihnd7Xe_rf37JDeqJGEobGaQL8w_dFrZ4ywnQwp_pY_p9zILxcr28BMmHwN-7zn0kz2oLfVAt1oN1bn_d4VfwVLF0rF7Q/s1600/300px-jane_avril_by_toulouse-lautrec.jpeg
http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/timelines/modern_art_slideshows/p7ssm_img_1/fullsize/Toulouse-Lautrec_2.jpg
http://www.awesome-art.biz/awesome/images/medium-i2/At%20the%20Moulin%20Rouge%20by%20Toulouse-Lautrec.jpg
http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/EUR/2300-2037~Moulin-Rouge-Posters.jpg
An exciting Black Friday yesterday for the Fischer family: two big pigs, one male and one female, were running loose in the neighborhood! They settled down at our house and stayed in our yard for about two hours! One of them chased Julia around, and Gabriel, who loved them, wanted to ride one of them! Funny things!
I've never encountered anything like it before. The pigs brought the neighbors out and had Daisy hoarse with fury!
*
One movie you should watch:
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2012
Directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, The Debt)
I really enjoyed this one... okay, I loved it. It's a sweater movie - you know, cozy, comfortable, warm, familiar. It's a crowd-pleaser. Heck, it's a movie for all ages, and it stars some of the greatest over-50 British actors on the planet.
Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie, and Ronald Pickup are Brits who, for various reasons, find themselves traveling to India and staying at a faded, adorably ramshackle hotel run by a charming local boy who is something of a likable black sheep in his family (Dev Patel).
Dench is a recent widow forced to sell off her possessions; Nighy and Wilton are, respectively, a man who made a terrible investment and his wife, who finds joy in absolutely nothing; Smith, in her element, is a racist old codger forced to travel to India to have hip-replacement surgery; Wilkinson is a retired judge who wants to return to the land he grew up in; Pickup is an old lothario on the prowl; Imrie is a woman seeking a wealthy man and a new start.
Needless to say, the cast is divine, and the film is well-shot. It's constantly inviting and engaging, touching. It's safe filmmaking, to be sure, but I wasn't expecting a scathing expose on modern India - for that, I'll read (and am reading) Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Adapted from Deborah Moggach's 2004 novel These Foolish Things by Ol Parker, the film moves well and is damn near impossible to actively dislike.
I can't wait for the possible sequel.
*
NFL Picks for the weekend:
(Well, I was 2-for-3 on the Turkey Day games, which I'll take. Other than the Denver-K.C. game, I don't feel good about any of the following picks. I'm going with some upsets this week, for better or worse:
- Tennessee over Jacksonville
- Buffalo over Indianapolis
- Pittsburgh over Cleveland (ehh...)
- Oakland over Cincinnati
- Chicago over Minnesota
- Denver over Kansas City
- Seattle over Miami
- Atlanta over Tampa Bay
- St. Louis over Arizona
- Baltimore over San Diego
- New Orleans over San Francisco
- Green Bay over NY Giants
- Carolina over Philadelphia
Last Week: 13-1
Season Record: 103-56-1
*
Born today:
Well, guess...
Clues:
- post-Impressionist
- a chronicler of colorful and bohemian arisian nightlife, specifically the Moulin Rouge
- due to a congenital condition and bone dysfunction, never grew taller than 5'1
- frequented the social circles of Montmartre, illustrated for magazines, and was a lithographer
- his most famous work was probably the posters he did in conjunction with the opening of the Moulin Rouge:
- became friends with Oscar Wilde
- due to the stresses that accompanied his physical deformities, he was often depressed and frequently battled alcoholism
- was admitted into a sanitarium two years before he died of alcohol complications and syphilis
Give up?
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Images courtesy of:
http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/the-best-exotic-marigold-hotel.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6UUrmINr_gQM2OduGD8Y2WFnfIc5QJPZ3zycdZ_PEjaCEF1Ihnd7Xe_rf37JDeqJGEobGaQL8w_dFrZ4ywnQwp_pY_p9zILxcr28BMmHwN-7zn0kz2oLfVAt1oN1bn_d4VfwVLF0rF7Q/s1600/300px-jane_avril_by_toulouse-lautrec.jpeg
http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/timelines/modern_art_slideshows/p7ssm_img_1/fullsize/Toulouse-Lautrec_2.jpg
http://www.awesome-art.biz/awesome/images/medium-i2/At%20the%20Moulin%20Rouge%20by%20Toulouse-Lautrec.jpg
http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/EUR/2300-2037~Moulin-Rouge-Posters.jpg
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Turkey Day
Word of the day : pertinacious
: adhering resolutely to an opinion, purpose, or design
: stubbornly tenacious, persistent
Happy Thanksgiving, readers!
Our Thanksgiving week got off to a good start - we spent the day in Charleston on Monday.
Yesterday, we had a good day too - I took Gabriel on some errands. Julia caught up with a new BBC show she likes, Call the Midwife.
Today, well... who knows? But these are things I would like to do over the break:
- start Call the Midwife, maybe even Downton Abbey
- finish this collection of noir stories I've been reading (only three to go...)
- read Katherine Boo's nonfiction book about life in a Mumbai slum, Beyond the Beautiful Forevers
- keep plowing forward in Ken Follett's Winter of the World (I stopped for awhile)
- work a little more on my novel
- take Daisy and Gabriel on plenty of walks
- get caught up on some TV shows
- watch some goof football and college basketball games
There are a few movies opening today:
Life of Pi Ang Lee's hyped, destined-to-be Oscar contender, taken from the all-but-unfilmable Yann Martel bestseller. A young Indian man is stranded on a boat in the Pacific with no one but a Bengal tiger as his companion. A technical achievement, though it has plenty of religious overtones.
Verdict: Interested
Hitchcock Oh, yeah. Sacha Gervasi's fun, amusing look at the making of Psycho - a film for those interested in the iconic director's psyche (though some critics say the filmmakers go about this in a too facile, one-dimensional manner) and for film nerds interested the behind-the-scenes goings-on of a classic. Anthony Hopkins, as Hitch ("hold the cock"), and Helen Mirren, as his wife Alma, are Oscar contenders, and Scarlett Johansson is Janet Leigh. Toni Collette and Jessica Biel are also here.
Verdict: Very Interested
Rust and Bone Marion Cotillard is in the Oscar running too as a whale trainer trying to move on from a terrible accident (involving the whale - take a guess). She starts a relationship with a poor single father who treats her without pity. The story sounds wild, and there are some mood shifts, but critics for the most part say it's an interesting journey.
Verdict: Mildly Interested
Red Dawn Dreadful reviews for this needless remake of an 80's film that stunk to high heaven. The original saw Communists invading a small American town, inciting a ragtag band of high school students to defend the town. Well, the remake has North Korea invading the town of Spokane, Washington... come together, kids! The acting - the cast includes Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Josh Hutcherson, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan - is supposed to be bad.
Verdict: Not Interested
*
Football picks for tomorrow:
Houston over Detroit (though a scrappy, underachieving Detroit team could give a suddenly vulnerable-to-the-pass Houston squad a hell of a challenge)
Dallas over Washington
New England over the NY Jets
I'll be back on Saturday!
: adhering resolutely to an opinion, purpose, or design
: stubbornly tenacious, persistent
Happy Thanksgiving, readers!
Our Thanksgiving week got off to a good start - we spent the day in Charleston on Monday.
Yesterday, we had a good day too - I took Gabriel on some errands. Julia caught up with a new BBC show she likes, Call the Midwife.
Today, well... who knows? But these are things I would like to do over the break:
- start Call the Midwife, maybe even Downton Abbey
- finish this collection of noir stories I've been reading (only three to go...)
- read Katherine Boo's nonfiction book about life in a Mumbai slum, Beyond the Beautiful Forevers
- keep plowing forward in Ken Follett's Winter of the World (I stopped for awhile)
- work a little more on my novel
- take Daisy and Gabriel on plenty of walks
- get caught up on some TV shows
- watch some goof football and college basketball games
There are a few movies opening today:
Life of Pi Ang Lee's hyped, destined-to-be Oscar contender, taken from the all-but-unfilmable Yann Martel bestseller. A young Indian man is stranded on a boat in the Pacific with no one but a Bengal tiger as his companion. A technical achievement, though it has plenty of religious overtones.
Verdict: Interested
Hitchcock Oh, yeah. Sacha Gervasi's fun, amusing look at the making of Psycho - a film for those interested in the iconic director's psyche (though some critics say the filmmakers go about this in a too facile, one-dimensional manner) and for film nerds interested the behind-the-scenes goings-on of a classic. Anthony Hopkins, as Hitch ("hold the cock"), and Helen Mirren, as his wife Alma, are Oscar contenders, and Scarlett Johansson is Janet Leigh. Toni Collette and Jessica Biel are also here.
Verdict: Very Interested
Rust and Bone Marion Cotillard is in the Oscar running too as a whale trainer trying to move on from a terrible accident (involving the whale - take a guess). She starts a relationship with a poor single father who treats her without pity. The story sounds wild, and there are some mood shifts, but critics for the most part say it's an interesting journey.
Verdict: Mildly Interested
Red Dawn Dreadful reviews for this needless remake of an 80's film that stunk to high heaven. The original saw Communists invading a small American town, inciting a ragtag band of high school students to defend the town. Well, the remake has North Korea invading the town of Spokane, Washington... come together, kids! The acting - the cast includes Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Josh Hutcherson, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan - is supposed to be bad.
Verdict: Not Interested
*
Football picks for tomorrow:
Houston over Detroit (though a scrappy, underachieving Detroit team could give a suddenly vulnerable-to-the-pass Houston squad a hell of a challenge)
Dallas over Washington
New England over the NY Jets
I'll be back on Saturday!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Oscar Forecast
Word of the day : misnomer
: the use of a wrong or inappropriate name or designation
Well, it's a Saturday in Statesboro... which means the family will search for something to do. We'll try out the International Festival... because there's so many international citizens in this county?
In Thursday's post, I forgot to mention one of the opening new movies, a film I thought opened next week, but officially opened in New York and L.A. yesterday.
Silver Linings Playbook One of the most acclaimed films of the year, hyped-up, and a surefire multi-Oscar contender. Director David O. Russell's adaptation of Matthew Quick's quirky novel casts Bradley Cooper (a Best Actor outsider) as a bipolar man recently released from an institution and living with his parents (Jacki Weaver and assured Oscar nominee Robert DeNiro). Along comes a mysterious woman with plenty of problems of her own; in the part, Jennifer Lawrence is the front-runner for Best Actress. A terrific cast (which includes Julia Stiles and Chris Tucker) in an offbeat movie that mixes romance, silliness, drama, and poignancy.
Verdict: Very Interested
I went looking around at various Oscar-prognostication sites to see what the latest predictions are in the races; nominations are announced January 10. Here they are:
(* denotes a film that actually hasn't been screened by critics yet)
Best Picture
- Argo FRONTRUNNER
- Beasts of the Southern Wild
- *Les Miserables
- Life of Pi
- Lincoln
- The Master
- Silver Linings Playbook
- *Zero Dark Thirty
(Possible: Amour, *Django Unchained, *The Hobbit, Skyfall)
Best Actor
- Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln FRONTRUNNER
- John Hawkes, The Sessions
- Anthony Hopkins, Hitchcock
- Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
- Denzel Washington, Flight
(Possible: Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook; Richard Gere, Arbitrage; Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables; Jean-Louis Trigniant, Amour)
Best Actress
- Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
- Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook FRONTRUNNER
- Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
- Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Naomi Watts, The Impossible
(Possible: Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty; Emmanuelle Riva, Amour)
Best Supporting Actor
- Alan Arkin, Argo
- Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook
- Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
- Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln FRONTRUNNER
(Possible: Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild; Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike; Ewan McGregor, The Impossible)
Best Supporting Actress
- Amy Adams, The Master
- Sally Field, Lincoln
- Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables FRONTRUNNER
- Helen Hunt, The Sessions
- Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
(Possible: Susan Sarandon, Arbitrage; Kerry Washington, Django Unchained; Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook)
Best Director
- Ben Affleck, Argo FRONTRUNNER
- Tom Hooper, Les Miserables
- Ang Lee, Life of Pi
- David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
- Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
(Possible: Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom; Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master; Michael Haneke; Amour; Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained)
I'll be back in about six weeks or so to give my own final predictions on the eve of nominations-unveiling, but if this current forecast holds, it will truly be extraordinary, in the sense that while in a normal year, there are anywhere from six to ten first-time nominees, this year there will only one: the 10-year old Wallis from Beasts of the Southern Wild: though I guess you could say Affleck (Who won an Oscar in the Original Screenplay category) would be a newbie too, for he has never been nominated for a Director Oscar.
Also, if this holds, fifteen of these nominees have already won before; six of them have won twice!
*
NFL Picks for the weekend:
Atlanta over Arizona (Falcons rebound)
Tampa Bay over Carolina (the Bucs can score)
Dallas over Cleveland
Houston over Jacksonville
Green Bay over Detroit (tough game)
Cincinnati over Kansas City
St. Louis over NY Jets
Washington over Philadelphia (I'm done with the Eagles, just done)
New Orleans over Oakland
Denver over San Diego
New England over Indianapolis
Baltimore over Pittsburgh
SF over Chicago
Last Week's Record: 7-6-1
Season Record: 90-55-1
*
Have a good weekend! I gotta go read and walk Daisy!
: the use of a wrong or inappropriate name or designation
Well, it's a Saturday in Statesboro... which means the family will search for something to do. We'll try out the International Festival... because there's so many international citizens in this county?
In Thursday's post, I forgot to mention one of the opening new movies, a film I thought opened next week, but officially opened in New York and L.A. yesterday.
Silver Linings Playbook One of the most acclaimed films of the year, hyped-up, and a surefire multi-Oscar contender. Director David O. Russell's adaptation of Matthew Quick's quirky novel casts Bradley Cooper (a Best Actor outsider) as a bipolar man recently released from an institution and living with his parents (Jacki Weaver and assured Oscar nominee Robert DeNiro). Along comes a mysterious woman with plenty of problems of her own; in the part, Jennifer Lawrence is the front-runner for Best Actress. A terrific cast (which includes Julia Stiles and Chris Tucker) in an offbeat movie that mixes romance, silliness, drama, and poignancy.
Verdict: Very Interested
I went looking around at various Oscar-prognostication sites to see what the latest predictions are in the races; nominations are announced January 10. Here they are:
(* denotes a film that actually hasn't been screened by critics yet)
Best Picture
- Argo FRONTRUNNER
- Beasts of the Southern Wild
- *Les Miserables
- Life of Pi
- Lincoln
- The Master
- Silver Linings Playbook
- *Zero Dark Thirty
(Possible: Amour, *Django Unchained, *The Hobbit, Skyfall)
Best Actor
- Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln FRONTRUNNER
- John Hawkes, The Sessions
- Anthony Hopkins, Hitchcock
- Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
- Denzel Washington, Flight
(Possible: Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook; Richard Gere, Arbitrage; Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables; Jean-Louis Trigniant, Amour)
Best Actress
- Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
- Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook FRONTRUNNER
- Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
- Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Naomi Watts, The Impossible
(Possible: Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty; Emmanuelle Riva, Amour)
Best Supporting Actor
- Alan Arkin, Argo
- Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook
- Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
- Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln FRONTRUNNER
(Possible: Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild; Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike; Ewan McGregor, The Impossible)
Best Supporting Actress
- Amy Adams, The Master
- Sally Field, Lincoln
- Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables FRONTRUNNER
- Helen Hunt, The Sessions
- Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
(Possible: Susan Sarandon, Arbitrage; Kerry Washington, Django Unchained; Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook)
Best Director
- Ben Affleck, Argo FRONTRUNNER
- Tom Hooper, Les Miserables
- Ang Lee, Life of Pi
- David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
- Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
(Possible: Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom; Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master; Michael Haneke; Amour; Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained)
I'll be back in about six weeks or so to give my own final predictions on the eve of nominations-unveiling, but if this current forecast holds, it will truly be extraordinary, in the sense that while in a normal year, there are anywhere from six to ten first-time nominees, this year there will only one: the 10-year old Wallis from Beasts of the Southern Wild: though I guess you could say Affleck (Who won an Oscar in the Original Screenplay category) would be a newbie too, for he has never been nominated for a Director Oscar.
Also, if this holds, fifteen of these nominees have already won before; six of them have won twice!
*
NFL Picks for the weekend:
Atlanta over Arizona (Falcons rebound)
Tampa Bay over Carolina (the Bucs can score)
Dallas over Cleveland
Houston over Jacksonville
Green Bay over Detroit (tough game)
Cincinnati over Kansas City
St. Louis over NY Jets
Washington over Philadelphia (I'm done with the Eagles, just done)
New Orleans over Oakland
Denver over San Diego
New England over Indianapolis
Baltimore over Pittsburgh
SF over Chicago
Last Week's Record: 7-6-1
Season Record: 90-55-1
*
Have a good weekend! I gotta go read and walk Daisy!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Sickie, Sickie
Word of the day : unwieldy
: not easily handled, managed, or used
: cumbersome
Well, Gabriel is a little under the weather today, so we'll keep him home... which means he now will have, by my count, eleven days off. Good God! What to do with him? Well, we're gonna take him up to Charleston one day... the other ten? Help!
Here are the new movies opening this weekend:
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part II This franchise, despite how much money its made, just feels over. The usual crew is here - Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning - and director Bill Condon, who did the last one, is back too. Critics say it moves glacially but is self-aware and occasionally rousing. The end. Now we wait for the film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's The Host.
Verdict: Not Interested
Anna Karenina Despite some very talented filmmakers - screenwriter Tom Stoppard and director Joe Wright - critics are saying this bold, modern take on the Tolstoy perennial is a miscalculation, overdirected and overwritten, with some flamboyant touches; too much style and too little substance. The cast is getting pretty good notices - Keira Knightley (the director's muse it seems, after appearing in Pride and Prejudice and Atonement), Jude Law as her aloof husband, Aaron Johnson as the Count she is drawn to, Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Matthew MacFayden (Mr. Darcy in Wright's Pride and Prejudice). It seems as if all the film's Oscar expectations have filtered away.
Verdict: Mildly Interested
Price Check It seems like it has been a long time since Parker Posey has had a plum role and really run with it. Well, she has one here in a slight comedy playing the Boss From Hell, a ruthless, mean, acidic, sarcastic employer who makes life hell for the new guy (Eric Mabius) on his way up the corporate ladder. He doesn't know how far he wants to climb, however, if it means turning into Posey (who's forty-four now; Parker Posey's 44!).
Verdict: Mildly Interested
*
A pick for tonight? Well, I need to re-group after a disappointing 7-6-1 record last week. The Dolphins seems like they're fading, and the Bills had a great showing - on a loss - at New England last week. Both teams have very slim playoff chances. I'm at a loss here. It's in Buffalo, where the weather will probably favor the Bills. However, Fred Jackson is hurt, and the Dolphins defense is probably licking its chops after a terrible showing last week against Tennessee. Tough call. I guess I'll give it to the Bills, in a close one, though it could go either way.
Buffalo 20, Miami 17
*
The National Book Awards were announced yesterday. I was glad to see a book I just checked out yesterday from the library, won the award for Best Non-fiction: Katherine Boo's look into the life of a Mumbai slum, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity
The fiction award went to Louise Erdrich's Round House, a unanimously-praised drama/mystery about a woman attacked on a North Dakota Indian reservation. Erdrich has been writing acclaimed fiction for decades - all revolving around modern Native American lives and issues and customs - and this one had been described/pitched as the Native American To Kill a Mockingbird.
*
Finally, to wrap up this Thursday, let's select another one of the 500 Greatest Performances of All Time (according to me):
Gene Hackman
as Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle in The French Connection (1971)
Hackman's first Oscar win and one of the most unsentimental, streamlined, unglamorous, unsettling, lived-in portraits of a police detective ever put on screen. It's an exciting movie and performance - still, forty-one years later - and Hackman never seems to care whether you like Doyle or not; he is who he is - relentless, flawed, racist, and, ultimately, fatally wrong.
Images courtesy of:
http://www.theweeklydriver.com/files/2011/01/hackman.jpg
http://www.characterblog.com/assets/CA-katherine-boo-1.jpg
http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/screencrush.com/files/2012/11/anna-karenina-review.jpg
: not easily handled, managed, or used
: cumbersome
Well, Gabriel is a little under the weather today, so we'll keep him home... which means he now will have, by my count, eleven days off. Good God! What to do with him? Well, we're gonna take him up to Charleston one day... the other ten? Help!
Here are the new movies opening this weekend:
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part II This franchise, despite how much money its made, just feels over. The usual crew is here - Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning - and director Bill Condon, who did the last one, is back too. Critics say it moves glacially but is self-aware and occasionally rousing. The end. Now we wait for the film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's The Host.
Verdict: Not Interested
Anna Karenina Despite some very talented filmmakers - screenwriter Tom Stoppard and director Joe Wright - critics are saying this bold, modern take on the Tolstoy perennial is a miscalculation, overdirected and overwritten, with some flamboyant touches; too much style and too little substance. The cast is getting pretty good notices - Keira Knightley (the director's muse it seems, after appearing in Pride and Prejudice and Atonement), Jude Law as her aloof husband, Aaron Johnson as the Count she is drawn to, Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Matthew MacFayden (Mr. Darcy in Wright's Pride and Prejudice). It seems as if all the film's Oscar expectations have filtered away.
Verdict: Mildly Interested
Price Check It seems like it has been a long time since Parker Posey has had a plum role and really run with it. Well, she has one here in a slight comedy playing the Boss From Hell, a ruthless, mean, acidic, sarcastic employer who makes life hell for the new guy (Eric Mabius) on his way up the corporate ladder. He doesn't know how far he wants to climb, however, if it means turning into Posey (who's forty-four now; Parker Posey's 44!).
Verdict: Mildly Interested
*
A pick for tonight? Well, I need to re-group after a disappointing 7-6-1 record last week. The Dolphins seems like they're fading, and the Bills had a great showing - on a loss - at New England last week. Both teams have very slim playoff chances. I'm at a loss here. It's in Buffalo, where the weather will probably favor the Bills. However, Fred Jackson is hurt, and the Dolphins defense is probably licking its chops after a terrible showing last week against Tennessee. Tough call. I guess I'll give it to the Bills, in a close one, though it could go either way.
Buffalo 20, Miami 17
*
The National Book Awards were announced yesterday. I was glad to see a book I just checked out yesterday from the library, won the award for Best Non-fiction: Katherine Boo's look into the life of a Mumbai slum, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity
The fiction award went to Louise Erdrich's Round House, a unanimously-praised drama/mystery about a woman attacked on a North Dakota Indian reservation. Erdrich has been writing acclaimed fiction for decades - all revolving around modern Native American lives and issues and customs - and this one had been described/pitched as the Native American To Kill a Mockingbird.
*
Finally, to wrap up this Thursday, let's select another one of the 500 Greatest Performances of All Time (according to me):
Gene Hackman
as Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle in The French Connection (1971)
Hackman's first Oscar win and one of the most unsentimental, streamlined, unglamorous, unsettling, lived-in portraits of a police detective ever put on screen. It's an exciting movie and performance - still, forty-one years later - and Hackman never seems to care whether you like Doyle or not; he is who he is - relentless, flawed, racist, and, ultimately, fatally wrong.
Images courtesy of:
http://www.theweeklydriver.com/files/2011/01/hackman.jpg
http://www.characterblog.com/assets/CA-katherine-boo-1.jpg
http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/screencrush.com/files/2012/11/anna-karenina-review.jpg
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