long beach lady bisons

My new fantasy football team

Nana won't agree, but my choice is clear.

Sunday is coming, Oscar Sunday that is. For me this is quite the occasion. I know that many are surprised to have Oscar Sunday come upon them, but for me it's something that I've seen coming for a while. It is a day that is filled with traditions that are only outnumbered by Thanksgiving and Christmas. For me the preparation takes more time than both those Holidays combined because I need to see all of the important films being nominated. A few days before the big event, I enjoy a lengthy conversation with my Nana, a sweet catholic woman in her late 80's. We discuss all the best picture nominees, who we think deserves to win and what performances we really loved. Over the years it has remained a treat; This member of the greatest generation, this woman who helped raise me sees me as an equal and with a deep love for cinema we share our opinions.

Most years we align. Last year we both thought Inglorious Basterds would make waves, Sandra Bullock would get an award for no good reason and Avatar should only be mentioned at that pre-oscar nerd ceremony. You know, the one where they have the pretty girl host and the speeches are in Klingon or Binary Code. For all my nerd friends; 011000010111011001100001011101000110000101110010001000000111001101110101011000110110101101110011

Anyway, this year is shaping up to be a 2 horse race and I fear my Nana and the Academy are going to align in their opinions and I just see things differently. I saw The Social Network on opening weekend and was blown away. It is a great film. It is modern, has something to say about the way people interact and what motivates us. It was beautifully shot, the script was well crafted, this is the kind of movie I want to see studios make. The kind of movie that you walk out of the theater discussing. The kind of movie that is set in the world we all inhabit. I was pretty sure I had seen my best picture. 

Truth be told. this movie came out in October and December is the season of the Oscar Film. Sure enough I kept hearing buzz about a great little film called Kings Speech. It was getting Oscar Buzz before it had even been released to a majority of the country. Everyone that I talked to about the movie walked out saying "Well, that was just great" with a sentimental head tilt. When I walked out of the film, I had the same reaction; just great (head tilt). Not groundbreaking, not inventive, just the story that you expect from this kind of art house picture. The story of a man beating the insurmountable odds, the story of kinship found in an unlikely place, the period piece we've all seen before. King's Speech entertained me, but it didn't wow me.

I fear that a majority of people who receive Oscar Ballots will take the side of my Nana and go with the status quo. I loathe the idea of the academy giving an Oscar to The Social Network because it will bring in the young viewers (the same way I loathe Anne Hathaway and James Franco hosting the Oscars). With that said, occasionally films are made in a time for that time. It is easy to monday morning quarterback, to look back and have a sense of gravitas because you know the outcome. It is another thing entirely to have a film that says something profound about a force that we don't fully understand yet. The film where you find a friend in an unlikely place is common. The film where the guy hosting a 500 million friend party finds himself alone is uncommon. My hope is that a few Sundays from now, the cast and crew from The Social Network will take the stage and take hold of the award they deserve. Because sometimes traditions should be broken, precedence should be defied and my Nana should be wrong. 

less ambitious movies

Usually, I try and avoid a series of tweets in a row because I find them to be obnoxious personally. But I broke my rule after reading my friend Abel on Twitter posting under a topic #lessambitiousmovies. It made me laugh, so I gave it a go. Here's a few that I created tonight; enjoy.

• Meeting Private Ryan
• ehhh, it's a life.
• star skirmishes
• the muggle of oz
• you can see the waterfront from here
• some like it warm
• snow white and the dwarf
• the muppets visit manhattan
• a black guy is coming to dinner
• the oklahoma nail clipper injury
• humming in the wind
• the empire calls customer service
• There will be words
• Happening to stumble upon Happyness
• The Bourne Suggestion
• hugging and the village 2
• the hitchhikers guide to fontana
• bill & ted's trip
• tired man walking
• the hendersons
• Ace Ventura: Pet Owner
• stern warning to smoochy
• do the thing
• dial m for muppet
• kind of looking for red october
• The Grapes of Frustration
• leaving primm

Hope you laughed a little. Leave me a comment here at my blog by clicking the 'word bubble thingy' next to the title of the post. I'd love to hear your favorite.

pixar

Pixar is a collection of GREAT storytellers. This montage is evidence that they definitely know what they're doing and they do it well.

everything I hate about the holidays...

The day after thanksgiving has a few simple traditions for me. I generally sleep at my parents house, I have pumpkin pie for breakfast, I watch movies and if family is over we play games. I avoid one thing like the plague, stores. This year, I enjoyed a little bit of online shopping but that is as far as I go. I genuinely loathe everything about 'black friday' shopping.

It's not the waking up early or waiting in the cold and rain, because I've done that kind of thing for movies or Disneyland rides. I think the video above sums up a huge part of what I loathe; the clawing and trampling to save. Apparently our semblance of civilization can be bought for a mere $30. We come off of a holiday filled with moments of thankful reflection and within a few hours we are out in the cold waiting to charge into the Kohls to grab clothes.

While discussing this with some friends, one mentioned that the economy has an influence on this pursuit  of early morning bargains. That may be true, but let's think about this. The stores put deals on Black Friday for excess merchandise that they want to put on sale, generally it's stuff that people don't really want and so it's being sold at a discount. People in the early morning rush, take a look at the item and make an impulse purchase because they are sleep deprived and have already invested so much time and effort, that they don't want to go home empty handed. The stores aren't celebrating a holiday today, they're doing this for profit. The consumers that line up early in the morning are simply cows headed to the slaughter.

So, if you are exhausted today because it's your day off but you chose to wake up early in search for deals, you may want to rethink your traditions for next year.

That's what I think, what are your thoughts?