Tuesday, January 25, 2011

It's that time of year.....

Lo and behold! The coveted 83rd Oscar Award nominations have be announced and the race looks like it's going to be a race! Here are my picks for the winners this year! Majority of the time I'm right or get REALLLYYY close! So let's see...(my picks are in bold!)

BEST PICTURE:
"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"Inception"
"The Kids Are All Right"
"The King's Speech"
"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"
"Toy Story 3"
"True Grit"
"Winter's Bone"


ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:

Javier Bardem in "Biutiful"
Jeff Bridges in "True Grit"
Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network"
Colin Firth in "The King's Speech"

James Franco in "127 Hours"

*Unfortunately, though the other men did well, it will be either Jesse or Colin. I'm pulling for Colin though!! He was gibed last year for "A Single Man" and he DESERVES to win this year!!

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
Annette Bening in "The Kids Are All Right"
Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone"
Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"
Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine"

*Surprise win may be: Michelle Wiliams

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Christian Bale in "The Fighter"
John Hawkes in "Winter's Bone"
Jeremy Renner in "The Town"
Mark Ruffalo in "The Kids Are All Right"
Geoffrey Rush in "The King's Speech"

*If Rush doesn't win then I will doubt the Academy's judgment from now on!

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Amy Adams in "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter in "The King's Speech"
Melissa Leo in "The Fighter"
Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit"
Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom"

*These ladies were TRULY amazing in their roles!! Surprise win may be: Amy Adams

BEST DIRECTOR:
"Black Swan" -- Darren Aronofsky
"The Fighter" -- David O. Russell
"The King's Speech" -- Tom Hooper
"The Social Network" -- David Fincher
"True Grit" -- Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

*Both of these wonderfully directed!! The surprise win out of this category would be "True Grit" if the lame-os at the Academy don't pick one of the others.


FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

"Biutiful" (Mexico)
"Dogtooth" (Greece)
"In a Better World" (Denmark)
"Incendies" (Canada)
"Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)" (Algeria)

*Suffer through subtitles if you don't speak Spanish! It's worth it!


MUSIC (SCORE)

"How to Train Your Dragon" -- John Powell
"Inception" -- Hans Zimmer
"The King's Speech" -- Alexandre Desplat
"127 Hours" -- A.R. Rahman
"The Social Network" -- Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

*I chose both of these because when I decide on a favorite score it has to be something that I'm either humming to myself after wards or just resonates in my head. Both of these scores did that!

MUSIC (SONG)
"Coming Home" from "Country Strong" Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
"I See the Light" from "Tangled" Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
"If I Rise" from "127 Hours" Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
"We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

*These kind of songs tend to win, but if not you know it's going to one of the Disney movies!

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
"How to Train Your Dragon"
"The Illusionist"
"Toy Story 3"

*Tell me you didn't love it?! I'll know if you're lying if you say you don't!!

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
"127 Hours" Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
"The Social Network" Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
"Toy Story 3" Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
"True Grit" Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Winter's Bone" Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

*HAS to win! It was soooooo well written and everything!!


WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

"Another Year" Written by Mike Leigh
"The Fighter" Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
"Inception" Written by Christopher Nolan
"The Kids Are All Right" Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
"The King's Speech" Screenplay by David Seidler


*Would not be surprised if "The Kids" took this one, but just in case! "King's" FTW!!

ART DIRECTION
"Alice in Wonderland"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"True Grit"

*This is truly one that I cannot decide on! They were just all beautiful!

CINEMATOGRAPHY
"Black Swan"
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"The Social Network"
"True Grit"

*Amazingly done!!

COSTUME DESIGN
"Alice in Wonderland"
"I Am Love"
"The King's Speech"
"The Tempest"
"True Grit"

*Google them if you haven't seen any of these amazing costumes!!

MAKEUP
"Barney's Version"
"The Way Back"
"The Wolfman"

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"Exit through the Gift Shop"
"Gasland"
"Inside Job"
"Restrepo"
"Waste Land"

*If doesn't win, I'm stopping everything documentary-wise in the pickings because it was pure amazingness!

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
"Killing in the Name"
"Poster Girl"
"Strangers No More"
"Sun Come Up"
"The Warriors of Qiugang"

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
"Day & Night"
"The Gruffalo"
"Let's Pollute"
"The Lost Thing"
"Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)"

*Loved this short! It's sooo adorable! If you haven't seen it yet You Tube it!!

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
"The Confession"
"The Crush"
"God of Love"
"Na Wewe"
"Wish 143"

*Two words: A MAZING!

FILM EDITING
"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"The King's Speech"
"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"

*Hands down "King's Speech"!!

SOUND EDITING
"Inception"
"Toy Story 3"
"Tron: Legacy"
"True Grit"
"Unstoppable"

*I have no pick for this because I thought all the editing was done superbly...even in Tron, which I hated. I have my reasons....

SOUND MIXING
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"Salt"
"The Social Network"
"True Grit"

*So let's face it majority of the time the winner of this category is an action movie.

VISUAL EFFECTS
"Alice in Wonderland"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"
"Hereafter"
"Inception"
"Iron Man 2"

*"Inception" is going to win because it was the only movie done really well in the visual effects, other than "Alice", "Alice", though COMPLETELY done in CGI minus a few things, didn't do it for me. I wouldn't be surprised though if it won over "Inception".



The Oscar's are to broadcast on ABC at 8/7c on February 27!

Friday, January 14, 2011

The Green Fail....uhhh I mean Hornet

So last night I had the privilege? of seeing Seth Rogan's Green Hornet movie at midnight with a friend. Being a long time lover of the masked vigilante I was more than happy to hear about this transition of the series to the big screen. First, we all thought the wonderful Kevin Smith was going to helm this awesome project but he backed out feeling that he couldn't do the series justice. Now that we are about to embark on the what I deem awfulness that is Seth Rogan's "Hornet" I believe Smith could have done a hell of a lot better.

For those who are unaware of "The Green Hornet" before this adaptation came out here it is in a nutshell. It originally started out as a radio series back in the day that told the adventures of Britt Reid and his faithful sidekick, Kato, who pretended to be the bad guys in order to catch the real bad guys in their own fashion. During the day Reid is the owner of the "Daily Sentinel" newspaper and became such after his fathers death. That's all you really need to know about it in order to understand where this new movie is coming from.

Now Rogen's abomination was a VERRRRYYYY lose adaptation of the story. Yes he had the whole dad death thing and all the characters from the original series, but the way he orchestrated it was very poor and became essentially a very typical Rogan movie. James Franco even makes a cameo in the very beginning that was quite funny actually. It was a GREAT movie until Rogan and his long time writing pal, Evan Goldberg (who co-wrote with Rogan: Superbad and Pineapple Express) screwed it up and added a love/hate fight over a girl scene between Kato and Reid and then it just went down hill.

I won't go any further than that...if you liked it I'm sorry. If you think this review is vauge: sorry. If you want to watch it anyways which I bet you'll do..just do it...but when it comes to that scene and just starts sucking the rest of the movie, and oh! after that point you have an hour and half to go, just remember I told you so.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Oh yeah. Resolutions. Right.

I've been informed by Lydia that I should write my resolutions here for the new year... The thing is, I haven't any! I completely suck at following through on anything. Always have been that way, actually. So here is what my resolution list will look like:

1. Make a resolution list.
2. Stick to it.
3. Find it again in a few months.
4. Promise to stick with it for the remainder of the year.
5. Lose it again.
6. Find it in the year 2012.
7. Use those resolutions for next year.
8. Rinse and repeat!

Okay, in all seriousness, I'll sit here and figure something out. My resolutions for 2011 are:

1. Lose weight. Honestly, this is on everyone's list. However, mine is more due to the fact that my father is very unhealthy with his weight and the fact that he smoked for 20+ years and is currently in failing health. Because of his weight, he can't maintain healthy amounts of oxygen and is in critical condition. So my goal is to become more healthy. I'm not in it to make myself "look better," because honestly, I can get over the fact that I'm a bit over weight. I am not, however, going to be 46 years old and have my health fail because of my weight. I just won't.

2. Begin writing again. I've failed at this for the last semester due to major research papers and whatnot that I have had to finish for grades. Now that I'm finished with college, I'll have more time to focus on things I want to do. I'm hoping to compile some poetry that I've completed into a small book and then start writing my short stories again.

3. Find a job. This one is a very short-term goal for 2011, seeing as I need a job within the next three weeks. But it's a very important and vital goal. I have to start paying off student loans. Yikes.

4. Speaking of student loans... my next goal would be to get a head start on that. I have broken it down that if I have to, I can make payments of $380 a month and have it paid off in 8 years. I'm shooting for 5 years. So I have to start soon.

5. Have enough money saved up to purchase an apartment and move to another state. I'm shooting for Washington (the Seattle/Tacoma area) or Illinois (the Chicagoland area).

That's really it. Or all I can think of while I'm sitting here at work. Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Happy New Year!!!!!!!

So it’s the sixth day of the new year and I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing and that my issues from last year are now tumbling over into this year. Which is why I’m going to comprise my list of resolutions and actually do them this year!!!

Le list:

1) Keep this blog maintained!!! A lot of stuff is gonna happen and I'm determined to get the ball rolling on this! Andi is too (hopefully!! who are we kidding of course she is!!!) This also means the twitter as well!

2) Take more pictures! I got a camera for Christmas from my dad so I think this is going to be an easy one!

3) See my boyfriend more! First trip up there of the year is taking place in February! And hopefully good fortune will allow us to see each other more than twice this year!!

4) Transfer out of my current school and go to a different on come fall and STAY there until I recieve a piece of paper saying that I am a college graduate!!!

5) Write two books and a screenplay! I have ideas and they just need to get out of my head and typed or written or something!!

6) Get another job! (Have to have income to do half the things I want to do!)

7) Obtain a smartphone! (I have no interwebs or texting on my current phone hence why i’m physically on a computer the majority of my social networking time)

8) Re-launch my Youtube channel? (this may or may not happen…..we’ll see)

9) Work on my French and pick up spanish too.

10) Travel more outside the realm of seeing my man!

11) Perfect my picking at my guitar into actually playing my guitar!!!

I think that’s enough! 11 resolutions for 2011? Sounds good to me! Sweet!

Well this is my list! Hopefully Andi is gonna put her list up too and then we'll all be set! Looking forward to this year most definately!!!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1

I have been waiting for this moment for the longest time and on November 17th I was ready. My friends and I all got together and went out for a drink. Anticipating the movie, we kept singing the song "Mysterious Ticking Noise" from Potter Puppet Pals on YouTube. My favorite part is "Ron, Ron, Ron WEASLEY!" Anyway, I digress.

At 10:30pm, we lined up outside of the theatre and jumped up and down (mostly to regain heat since Kansas was down in the 20s that night) from giddiness. I just wanted in. Finally, the theatre opened the doors and we were in. Because it was so cold outside, the theatre let us in almost 2 hours prior to the midnight release in which we were very thankful for.

The lights dimmed and the previews started. We all became quiet and were hypnotized by the screen. The previews mattered very little. We were hypnotized by the fact that in 15 minutes, we would be seeing the first part of the greatest last movie in a series ever (in our opinion, of course). The WB logo flashed, and the entire audience fell into an eerie hush. The movie had started.

From the first minute, the movie was everything I had hoped for. Because the movie has been split into two sections, the first part was able to follow the book more closely than any other Harry Potter movie before it. The traveling scenes, in which I was actually worried would be too long and too boring, ended up being just what the movie needed. The characters were shown in different locations, walking and camping, but spent little time showing the progression of the traveling itself. This, in my opinion, was fantastic because the book became a bit slow during all of the traveling. I understand that this was to make the reader just as anxious and frustrated as the characters, but I felt like in the movie the characters portrayed this feeling without having to draw out the camping segments.

The dynamic between characters was also something that I had hoped would be better than the last few movies. I felt a different type of connection. It wasn't something that could be taken lightly. The trio's dynamics were intense and when they were sad, I was sad. When they were angry, I was angry. The overall feeling of the movie was there.

I'm definitely not very versed in reviewing movies, but I thought I had to put this up since it dealt with my favorite series of all time. I absolutely love the Harry Potter books and movies, and so this is something that I feel strongly about.

I hope to all who have seen it enjoy it and agree that this movie is the best that has been produced within the series. If you haven't seen it, get ready to be in love with the characters all over again.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

My Five Minutes with Tucker Max

Tonight I had the privilege to be in the presence of Tucker Max. For those who do not know him, Max is the author of I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell and most recently, Assholes Finish First. The books are a retelling of events that have actually happened to him, including everything from awful things he's done to women (mainly bizarre sexual experiences) to random really duchy guy things. In a single phrase, the man truly is an asshole if you just read the books, blog postings on his website (which are what the books originally are), and watch the movie version of his first book.

But when you meet him, it's totally different and exactly what you would expect.

I arrived at the Borders where the signing was to take three hours early. Apparently all the speculation on the Facebook event page was a load of malarkey. They started giving out wristbands to see the order of the line at 10 am, not six, and at four o'clock there were only 10 other people there. Altogether there were most likely 50-100 people there, and who was first in line when they called for line up at 6:30? You guessed it. Me.

As I stood there in line I looked around me, the majority of the people that were there were women, myself of course included. What drew all of these women to this event, nay to read his books in the first place? They all said the same thing. He's hilarious and I agree.

I personally got into Tucker Max at one of my lowest points in my life. I was never happy, I was very pessimistic, I hated everything, my life was literally falling to pieces around me. One day I happened across his book in the store and I read the sushi pants story in IHTSBIH. I have to this day laughed so hard throughout an entire book. Plus the fact that he straight up tells you he's an ass. He makes no apologies for who he is and completely honest, well unless he's trying to get you into bed. =) Now for the past four years I have been addicted to his hilarious and not so moral antics and I can't wait for more.

When he arrived at the store no one really knew it was him walking in until he started talking mainly because the pictures of him do not do him justice. He is soooo much better looking in real life than his photogenic self leads on. Also he's my height! (Which is short for a guy, but okay for me). I felt like a little kid on Christmas Eve waiting for to actually meet him. He was sooooo nice! He really is. He's so great to his fans. They actually took away the post-its for our names to be written in the book only so that we, the fans, could have more time with him when it was our turn!

He signed my books and exchanged small talk. He also poked fun at me because I said I was confused by Facebook after he asked how long I was there. What I really meant was I was confused by the people on the event page saying what time people should get there. But he was so cool and I was totally fangirling it wasn't even funny! When we were done, I started to veer off but then turned back to give him a hug which almost turned into a tackle. I just couldn't believe how happy was to see this guy! The only time I had ever been that happy was when I first saw my boyfriend and I was ecstatic then!

All in all the moral of this story, not all assholes are complete jerks and can be great guys too and Hi, I'm Lydia Hall and I am a Tucker Max fangirl! =D

Friday, October 22, 2010

It Gets Better and Spirit Day

NYAGs wanted to take this time in order to address all of the recent awareness of bullying against gay people and bullying in general. We know that we're a bit behind schedule, but we thought something is better than nothing, even if it were a few days late.

In light of the recent suicides due to bullying, many YouTube stars, Celebrities and other people from all around the world have collaborated a video project called It Gets Better. The project is videos in which gay people (and some straight) provide their own stories and inspiring messages to those who are openly and closeted gay. These stories are a glimpse of the future; that perhaps these stories will give hope and the reassurance needed that bullying in school does go away and that these young people (and any people, really) should stay true to themselves, come out when they're ready, and know that there are people out there who love and care for them no matter who they are.

Because of this project which has hundreds of videos (including faces like Michael Buckley, Chris Colfer, Ellen DeGeneres and even President Obama), Spirit Day was enacted - a day to wear purple, commonly associated as the "gay" color, to remember all of those who have suffered and made it through to pass on their message and all of those who have suffered and never made it.

The fact that this even has to be an issue is heartbreaking. We all - straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, questioning, queer, what-have-you - should come together and embrace our likenesses rather than our differences. Our condolences go out to those families who have lost loved ones because of bullying or harassment in schools and other places, and to those who are struggling in finding who they are in a world that seems so un-accepting.

Further information can be found at:
ItGetsBetterProject via YouTube
The Trevor Project via Youtube
It Gets Better Project via Internet
The Trevor Project via Internet

Bullying is unacceptable in any form. Stop the hate.