Twitter, like blogs, have become too public. There. I've said it.
Sometimes people just need to vent. You don't have to ask me what is going on in life. If I want to discuss it, I will let you know. Hell, I will bring it up myself. Otherwise, just let it be. Not all things are meant to be talked about.
I am seriously considering blocking many people from my Twitter, because some of them have no place in my personal life. Then again, there are some, but not many, people who I am considering blocking from Twitter because they are too close.
It's not that I hate these people or dislike them in any matter. Twitter for me is a quick outlet of short, superficial anger that makes me feel better. They're not things I take too seriously. (Unless I post about something ten times. Then that's serious. But other than that, just let me vent.) Don't think it's too important. After all, Twitter is a trivial matter that doesn't mean anything anyway.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Man, this is looooong Academy Awards. There's a color code to this, I promise.
Hey look, I came through with a post promise! Academy Awards predictions before Sunday! Whoo! This is really long and carefully written; I hope it makes up for the lack of posting lately.
Here we go, predictions for this Sunday's upcoming Academy Awards. Code?
Red-red means I strongly think it will win.
Deep red means they might win.
Black is the dark horse.
And white is a no.
Ok I'll admit: For Documentary (Short and Feature), Short Live Action, and Short Animation, I usually guess. By the name. Yup. Hey, I got The Mozart Of Pickpockets right last year. It works.
Mutation Stuff (Things the actors don to appear as not an actor)
Best Make Up: Star Trek. Is there any other?
Best Costume Design: Coco Before Chanel or Nine. I go with Chanel because, uh, it's Chanel. Nine, because Rob Marshall uses fantastic cloth to elongate Nicole Kidman's legs.
Sound Stuff (Not music)
Sound Mixing (different from editing, mixing is putting sounds together to create the effect): This will probably go to Avatar. I mean, nothing was real in that movie, might as well splice the sounds too. I would not be surprised if Hurt Locker won this though. ST and IB are longshots; if Avatar wasn't around, Star Trek would definitely walk away with this one.
Sound Editing (putting those sounds to the film): All films are fantastic for this, but I say HL, based on the sole fact that all the explosions and gunshots were perfectly synchronized. So basically, Avatar wins for creating sounds. HL wins for putting it all together. Though I wouldn't be surprised to see Avatar pull this one. Up is a great dark horse in this; it has some really nice effects. And this is another one ST would take if it were't for Avatar.
Music Stuff (Howard Shore is amazing)
Original Song: The Weary Kind from A Crazy Heart, exceptional. Perhaps one of the sings from The Princess and the Frog. Disney rules.
Original Score: If Avatar/James Horner wins, it would be a travesty and a slap to the face of every single composer in the world. Incredible repetitive. Sounds like all his other crap. On the other hand, Mr. Fox and HL could win- but I see Up flying away with this one. So simple. Achingly beautiful. Really incredible music that doesn't take any sort of booms or epic chaos.
Visual Stuff (Ok first off, I do think that anything visual will go to Avatar- and that is completely biased. Just because it's in 3-D does not mean it's the best in that category. Effects, yes. Editing? Cinematography? No. Though it was mindblowing in terms of effects, I don't see anything special in either of those two latter categories.)
Visual Effects: ... Okay, who didn't hear all the overhype about Avatar and how fantastic James Cameron is? (Sense the sarcasm?) I would LOVE to see District 9 take this one away. Incredibly realistic, not cheesy, very well done; but we know 3-D is the new fad right now. Either way it's a Weta win, and then eventually that ties to Peter Jackson, so I'm not complaining. Weta for the win.
Whoo hoo!!!! No Transformers 2!!!!
Art Direction: Avatar, for creating a world out of nothing. Good job, Weta! You win again! Sherlock Holmes is a strong contender, creating a simply gorgeous old London; IDP is just trippy. They love that stuff.
Film Editing: Mmm. Yeah, this is a good one. Honestly, I think Avatar's big win is Visual Effects; I really do think HL had some great editing in regards to the explosions (opening), action sequences (sniper scene), and even the simple grocery scene. The employment of hand held camera was done in a highly non-nauseting and effective way. As I said before, I think Avatar is a big visual clutter that (just because of it's 3-D blah blah blah) is a mess when you take out the sparkle. I really hope the voters look past that and see that the editing is not that fantastic. Of course, IB with it's multiple storylines is a strong contender. Again, I would love to see D9 take this- they did an excellent job with the flow of live news feed. My vote is going to HL or D9- but don't be surprised if Avatar takes it because people are blind.
Cinematography: HP's was really great; but I don't think it was good enough to win. IB was nothing too special in this category (except maybe the Mexican Standoff), so I would be surprised if either of those won. Avatar might win just because this is a visual category. However, I think the most successful film is this is HL, which captured the feel of the Middle East in a majestic, yet terrifying way.
Other Feature Stuff (meaning good, but not enough for Best Picture)
Animated Feature: Up. Up. Up. Up. Up. Coraline, ok, stop animation la dee da dee da. Same thing with Mr. Fox. But Up is so lovely to look at, such a beautiful story, so much more meaningful than half of the live action films out there. Up all the way.
Foreign Film: Uh, I dunno. The White Ribbon, because it's the only other film nominated for something (Cinematography). Why is Flammen & Citronen not included!?
Acting Stuff (... You know, those people you watch.)
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique has been getting tons and tons of hype, which she rightfully deserves and she will definitely win. Maggie is adored; Anna is a n00b, which the Academy loves. Sorely disappointed that Amy Adams was left out of this. I don't understand the fascination with Penelope Cruz.
Missing: Amy Adams for Julie and Julia, Melanie Laurent for IB
Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, unless someone rips it right from his Gestapo hands. I think Woody Harrelson is waaaaaaaaaaay over due. I would love to see him win, but Waltz is way too awesome. He's a bingo!
Missing: All the guys from HL, Michael Fassbender for IB, Mads Mikkelsen for Flammen & Citronen
Best Actress: I really don't like Sandra Bullock. I think she's an average actress. I don't think she's done anything special. But she'lll probably win. Damn her. Meryl Streep is very close though. And I think Mulligan is an incredible talent and huge dark horse. This will probably be Sidbe's only nomination; but what a break out performance, so she also might possibly win. Mirren is a space filler. I'll say Bullock just based on hype.
Missing: Emily Blunt for The Young Victoria. She's the next Kate Winslet and will be overlooked at every turn; Zooey Deschanel for (500) Days of Summer, Audrey Tautou for Coco before Chanel. Don't say Zoe Saldana; if Andy Serkis didn't get one, she shouldn't either.
Best Actor: Good race. I would be happy to see Bridges, Firth, Renner, or Freeman win. In that order. As long as it's not Clooney. Jeff Bridges. Overlooked and fantastic. Need I say more? Though I would love to see Colin Firth win. He's also often underrated, so subtley talented; I'd be happy to see either of them win, but I think it will go to Bridges. Renner had such a break out year. So good in HL. Such a young, talented guy; and he was on ANGEL! Would love to see him pull this one out. Clooney can't act his way out of a paper bag. I don't know how he keeps picking these up. Freeman, I love Azeem. In any other year, I would say Freeman, because him as Nelson Mandela is a freakin' dream come true. But Bridges. Phew!
Missing: Can I say Sharlto gorram Copely for D9 nine thousand times? And what about Ben Foster for the Messenger? Two truly underrated performances. Also Joseph Gordon Levitt for (500) Days of Summer, Mads Mikkelsen for Chanel and Stravinsky, Matt Damon (The Informant!). Not Sam Worthington; same rules as Zoe Saldana apply to him.
Writing Stuff (Bias always goes to this- usually given to fantastic, acclaimed movies that were not nominated or will not win in other areas; think Eternal Sunshine, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine)
Original Screenplay: Another fantastic race! This will go to either HL, IB, or Up. Up was wonderfully written and I would love to see it win; but it's already got a big award. HL is going big in other areas, so it probably won't win- though it did have some really snazzy dialogue. IB is the front runner and make up in this area. Tarantino knows how to write, I'll give him that. Though I don't think this was his best work, Waltz had some fantastic, memorable, and quotable lines and the Mexican Standoff was classic QT. A Serious Man is a dark horse, simply because it was written by the Coen brothers. And they're kinda cool.
Missing: (500) Days of Summer
Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air isn't winning anywhere else. I can definitely see Reitman taking this one. He's that darling director that everyone loves. Makes films as amusing as Judd Apatow, but much more meaningful. Would love to see Neill Blomkamp steal this one for D9 though, even though over half the dialogue was improvised by the gorram overlooked Copely. Precious is another that might win this; An Education is a stretch, but I can see why it might win. Gotta give it to UITA though.
Big Stuff (Just a bit of trivia, Best Director and Picture rarely split! Last time was back in 05 when Crash won for Best Picture and Ang Lee won for Best D)
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Hurt Locker, all the way. She did a phenomenol job. Completely gave the look and feel to this massive piece of art. I can see why James Cameron might win this one; he was the captain of a massive ship; but I think Weta mostly ran that show. The actual work on the screen was sub-par. I would have loved to see Blomkamp get a nomination. Much more than Precious. IB might walk away, because, come on it's freakin' QT. But as I said multiple times, not his best work. Reitman is a long long long (think football field) shot; he'll get one eventually though- look at Scorcese. Bigelow really deserves this and I really want her to win.
Best Picture: I'm glad they upped it to ten. It makes the race a bit more interesting and versitile. Ok, where do I begin? Avatar's visuals were great and made the film; however, outside of those, it was one big sloppy mess. I loved loved loved D9 and am SO glad it made it here. Up and UITA are quiet films that have their own following, but not loved by everyone. IB might have pulled this out during any other year (think the Departed- not too many films I would call amazing that year and it was a make up for Scorcese), but this year, HL just blew everyone away. I hope people look past the hype of Avatar and give it to the deserving winner. I'm frightened that people are getting pulled in a blinded by hype rather than quality. HL derserves to win; it is a completely wonderful piece of work, not just spotted in.
Ok, PHEW I'm done. I'd like to close with two things:
1; The reason why I'm so Anti-Avatar is because as a whole, it's not that fantastic. It's a lot of sparkle. People's breaths get taken away by visuals and they're blinded. Good visuals don't automatically make a good movie; just look at Star Wars Episode II. I won't mind if it gets some visual awards. But to win overall Best Picture, when all of the components didn't flow together hamoniously? I don't think it deserves it; there's better made and written films out there without the CGI.
2; While I think D9 should have made more money than it actually did, I'm extremely surprised and pleased that it made it into so many nominations. It shows me that the film industry is thinking of quality rather than sparkle (otherwise Transformers might have been in there) and this is one of the reasons I think HL (quality) will win out over Avatar (glitz); I think it was woefully underrated by the public. It's anti-Bruckheimer/Bay. No, you don't always need a hot girl/guy. You don't need tons of explosions.
Also, I see a ton of similarites between Avatar and D9; and dare I say I think D9 is the better made film. The CGI isn't breathtaking, but it's scaringly believeable. The story was well written/improvised. There's a startingly real feeling to it. And I enjoyed watching it. Absolute pleasure to watch. It really is a rare, well made sci/fi film. Breaks my heart to see that Blomkamp isn't working on Halo after seeing D9; I wish they had kept him on.
Though I don't think D9 will win any awards, though I would be genuinely shocked and happy to see it do so, I just love the fact that it was nominated for so much. Just goes to show that there is faith in a dying genre and people can prevail on true talent and artistry rather than glitter value.
Until Next year, Oscar!
Here we go, predictions for this Sunday's upcoming Academy Awards. Code?
Red-red means I strongly think it will win.
Deep red means they might win.
Black is the dark horse.
And white is a no.
Ok I'll admit: For Documentary (Short and Feature), Short Live Action, and Short Animation, I usually guess. By the name. Yup. Hey, I got The Mozart Of Pickpockets right last year. It works.
Mutation Stuff (Things the actors don to appear as not an actor)
Best Make Up: Star Trek. Is there any other?
Best Costume Design: Coco Before Chanel or Nine. I go with Chanel because, uh, it's Chanel. Nine, because Rob Marshall uses fantastic cloth to elongate Nicole Kidman's legs.
Sound Stuff (Not music)
Sound Mixing (different from editing, mixing is putting sounds together to create the effect): This will probably go to Avatar. I mean, nothing was real in that movie, might as well splice the sounds too. I would not be surprised if Hurt Locker won this though. ST and IB are longshots; if Avatar wasn't around, Star Trek would definitely walk away with this one.
Sound Editing (putting those sounds to the film): All films are fantastic for this, but I say HL, based on the sole fact that all the explosions and gunshots were perfectly synchronized. So basically, Avatar wins for creating sounds. HL wins for putting it all together. Though I wouldn't be surprised to see Avatar pull this one. Up is a great dark horse in this; it has some really nice effects. And this is another one ST would take if it were't for Avatar.
Music Stuff (Howard Shore is amazing)
Original Song: The Weary Kind from A Crazy Heart, exceptional. Perhaps one of the sings from The Princess and the Frog. Disney rules.
Original Score: If Avatar/James Horner wins, it would be a travesty and a slap to the face of every single composer in the world. Incredible repetitive. Sounds like all his other crap. On the other hand, Mr. Fox and HL could win- but I see Up flying away with this one. So simple. Achingly beautiful. Really incredible music that doesn't take any sort of booms or epic chaos.
Visual Stuff (Ok first off, I do think that anything visual will go to Avatar- and that is completely biased. Just because it's in 3-D does not mean it's the best in that category. Effects, yes. Editing? Cinematography? No. Though it was mindblowing in terms of effects, I don't see anything special in either of those two latter categories.)
Visual Effects: ... Okay, who didn't hear all the overhype about Avatar and how fantastic James Cameron is? (Sense the sarcasm?) I would LOVE to see District 9 take this one away. Incredibly realistic, not cheesy, very well done; but we know 3-D is the new fad right now. Either way it's a Weta win, and then eventually that ties to Peter Jackson, so I'm not complaining. Weta for the win.
Whoo hoo!!!! No Transformers 2!!!!
Art Direction: Avatar, for creating a world out of nothing. Good job, Weta! You win again! Sherlock Holmes is a strong contender, creating a simply gorgeous old London; IDP is just trippy. They love that stuff.
Film Editing: Mmm. Yeah, this is a good one. Honestly, I think Avatar's big win is Visual Effects; I really do think HL had some great editing in regards to the explosions (opening), action sequences (sniper scene), and even the simple grocery scene. The employment of hand held camera was done in a highly non-nauseting and effective way. As I said before, I think Avatar is a big visual clutter that (just because of it's 3-D blah blah blah) is a mess when you take out the sparkle. I really hope the voters look past that and see that the editing is not that fantastic. Of course, IB with it's multiple storylines is a strong contender. Again, I would love to see D9 take this- they did an excellent job with the flow of live news feed. My vote is going to HL or D9- but don't be surprised if Avatar takes it because people are blind.
Cinematography: HP's was really great; but I don't think it was good enough to win. IB was nothing too special in this category (except maybe the Mexican Standoff), so I would be surprised if either of those won. Avatar might win just because this is a visual category. However, I think the most successful film is this is HL, which captured the feel of the Middle East in a majestic, yet terrifying way.
Other Feature Stuff (meaning good, but not enough for Best Picture)
Animated Feature: Up. Up. Up. Up. Up. Coraline, ok, stop animation la dee da dee da. Same thing with Mr. Fox. But Up is so lovely to look at, such a beautiful story, so much more meaningful than half of the live action films out there. Up all the way.
Foreign Film: Uh, I dunno. The White Ribbon, because it's the only other film nominated for something (Cinematography). Why is Flammen & Citronen not included!?
Acting Stuff (... You know, those people you watch.)
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique has been getting tons and tons of hype, which she rightfully deserves and she will definitely win. Maggie is adored; Anna is a n00b, which the Academy loves. Sorely disappointed that Amy Adams was left out of this. I don't understand the fascination with Penelope Cruz.
Missing: Amy Adams for Julie and Julia, Melanie Laurent for IB
Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, unless someone rips it right from his Gestapo hands. I think Woody Harrelson is waaaaaaaaaaay over due. I would love to see him win, but Waltz is way too awesome. He's a bingo!
Missing: All the guys from HL, Michael Fassbender for IB, Mads Mikkelsen for Flammen & Citronen
Best Actress: I really don't like Sandra Bullock. I think she's an average actress. I don't think she's done anything special. But she'lll probably win. Damn her. Meryl Streep is very close though. And I think Mulligan is an incredible talent and huge dark horse. This will probably be Sidbe's only nomination; but what a break out performance, so she also might possibly win. Mirren is a space filler. I'll say Bullock just based on hype.
Missing: Emily Blunt for The Young Victoria. She's the next Kate Winslet and will be overlooked at every turn; Zooey Deschanel for (500) Days of Summer, Audrey Tautou for Coco before Chanel. Don't say Zoe Saldana; if Andy Serkis didn't get one, she shouldn't either.
Best Actor: Good race. I would be happy to see Bridges, Firth, Renner, or Freeman win. In that order. As long as it's not Clooney. Jeff Bridges. Overlooked and fantastic. Need I say more? Though I would love to see Colin Firth win. He's also often underrated, so subtley talented; I'd be happy to see either of them win, but I think it will go to Bridges. Renner had such a break out year. So good in HL. Such a young, talented guy; and he was on ANGEL! Would love to see him pull this one out. Clooney can't act his way out of a paper bag. I don't know how he keeps picking these up. Freeman, I love Azeem. In any other year, I would say Freeman, because him as Nelson Mandela is a freakin' dream come true. But Bridges. Phew!
Missing: Can I say Sharlto gorram Copely for D9 nine thousand times? And what about Ben Foster for the Messenger? Two truly underrated performances. Also Joseph Gordon Levitt for (500) Days of Summer, Mads Mikkelsen for Chanel and Stravinsky, Matt Damon (The Informant!). Not Sam Worthington; same rules as Zoe Saldana apply to him.
Writing Stuff (Bias always goes to this- usually given to fantastic, acclaimed movies that were not nominated or will not win in other areas; think Eternal Sunshine, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine)
Original Screenplay: Another fantastic race! This will go to either HL, IB, or Up. Up was wonderfully written and I would love to see it win; but it's already got a big award. HL is going big in other areas, so it probably won't win- though it did have some really snazzy dialogue. IB is the front runner and make up in this area. Tarantino knows how to write, I'll give him that. Though I don't think this was his best work, Waltz had some fantastic, memorable, and quotable lines and the Mexican Standoff was classic QT. A Serious Man is a dark horse, simply because it was written by the Coen brothers. And they're kinda cool.
Missing: (500) Days of Summer
Adapted Screenplay: Up in the Air isn't winning anywhere else. I can definitely see Reitman taking this one. He's that darling director that everyone loves. Makes films as amusing as Judd Apatow, but much more meaningful. Would love to see Neill Blomkamp steal this one for D9 though, even though over half the dialogue was improvised by the gorram overlooked Copely. Precious is another that might win this; An Education is a stretch, but I can see why it might win. Gotta give it to UITA though.
Big Stuff (Just a bit of trivia, Best Director and Picture rarely split! Last time was back in 05 when Crash won for Best Picture and Ang Lee won for Best D)
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Hurt Locker, all the way. She did a phenomenol job. Completely gave the look and feel to this massive piece of art. I can see why James Cameron might win this one; he was the captain of a massive ship; but I think Weta mostly ran that show. The actual work on the screen was sub-par. I would have loved to see Blomkamp get a nomination. Much more than Precious. IB might walk away, because, come on it's freakin' QT. But as I said multiple times, not his best work. Reitman is a long long long (think football field) shot; he'll get one eventually though- look at Scorcese. Bigelow really deserves this and I really want her to win.
Best Picture: I'm glad they upped it to ten. It makes the race a bit more interesting and versitile. Ok, where do I begin? Avatar's visuals were great and made the film; however, outside of those, it was one big sloppy mess. I loved loved loved D9 and am SO glad it made it here. Up and UITA are quiet films that have their own following, but not loved by everyone. IB might have pulled this out during any other year (think the Departed- not too many films I would call amazing that year and it was a make up for Scorcese), but this year, HL just blew everyone away. I hope people look past the hype of Avatar and give it to the deserving winner. I'm frightened that people are getting pulled in a blinded by hype rather than quality. HL derserves to win; it is a completely wonderful piece of work, not just spotted in.Ok, PHEW I'm done. I'd like to close with two things:
1; The reason why I'm so Anti-Avatar is because as a whole, it's not that fantastic. It's a lot of sparkle. People's breaths get taken away by visuals and they're blinded. Good visuals don't automatically make a good movie; just look at Star Wars Episode II. I won't mind if it gets some visual awards. But to win overall Best Picture, when all of the components didn't flow together hamoniously? I don't think it deserves it; there's better made and written films out there without the CGI.
2; While I think D9 should have made more money than it actually did, I'm extremely surprised and pleased that it made it into so many nominations. It shows me that the film industry is thinking of quality rather than sparkle (otherwise Transformers might have been in there) and this is one of the reasons I think HL (quality) will win out over Avatar (glitz); I think it was woefully underrated by the public. It's anti-Bruckheimer/Bay. No, you don't always need a hot girl/guy. You don't need tons of explosions.Also, I see a ton of similarites between Avatar and D9; and dare I say I think D9 is the better made film. The CGI isn't breathtaking, but it's scaringly believeable. The story was well written/improvised. There's a startingly real feeling to it. And I enjoyed watching it. Absolute pleasure to watch. It really is a rare, well made sci/fi film. Breaks my heart to see that Blomkamp isn't working on Halo after seeing D9; I wish they had kept him on.
Though I don't think D9 will win any awards, though I would be genuinely shocked and happy to see it do so, I just love the fact that it was nominated for so much. Just goes to show that there is faith in a dying genre and people can prevail on true talent and artistry rather than glitter value.
Until Next year, Oscar!
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