this machine will not communicate

Oof, beefed this year's predictions.  I made the bold prediction of Get Out thinking this year might be similar to 2016, when Mad Max and The Revenant were the head-to-head favorites but Spotlight sort of beamed in to win with only an Original Screenplay win.  But if I hadn't gone No Guts No Glory, I would have picked Three Billboards as the likely winner, so it was sort of a double beef.

Also was predicting at least one actor upset, which tends to happen most often in Supporting Actor (see: Adam Arkin, Mark Rylance), but all four categories went right down the line according to precursors.  Ah well.

An okay show.  I was surprised by one of the montages, the sort of overall Movie montage; I'll have to see if it gets uploaded to YT later on.  There was a line of dialogue about how hope (I think it was hope) never dies, that was cut over a shot of Anton Yelchin from Star Trek.  Caught me completely off-guard and out of nowhere; I just started blubbering.

I enjoyed The Shape of Water and am always happy when something of a genre-bent wins big, but I have to admit, it just didn't come together as a film for me.  I think all of the pieces were there except for the actual script itself; there were just some holes, some places that didn't gel.  I always have favorites in the Best Picture race, but it's sort of odd to have a movie I really liked win that I think actually didn't really deserve to win?  I actually only saw three out of nine of the nominees this year, but the other two that I did see - Dunkirk and Get Out - were both better, I think. 

It was awfully cute to see Doug Jones up on that stage, though.

Five years ago, the West Memphis Three walked out of prison.

I first saw Paradise Lost in 2001 or 2002, when I was at USC.  Like a lot of people around my age who'd had a fairly-sheltered, middle class childhood, it was my first real experience with how frustrating and terrible true injustice could be.  I went on to read the book Devil's Knot by Mara Leveritt, getting more obsessed with the case.  I spent more hours than I could ever count on message boards, reading evidence amateur sleuths had uncovered over the years, finding myself convinced by this theory, then that one.  I followed the appeals and motions for years, and every time something new came up - another example of the courts' malfeasance, new exculaptory evidence - I would think, "this is it, this is how they're going to get out," only to have everything go back to square one.  And the whole time, Damien was on Death Row, getting sicker and sicker.  Five years ago, when I checked CNN in the middle of a desk shift at work, I hadn't heard a whisper of what was coming.  Yet there it was, the headline: "West Memphis Three Free."

If you've never seen it, I highly recommend the documentary West of Memphis.  Though the Paradise Lost films are very good, you have to watch all three to get the full story; and honestly, the second one suffers quite a bit in retrospect for suspecting the wrong stepfather.  West of Memphis follows the case from start to finish, from the murders, through the trial, through the painful eighteen years in prison for crimes they didn't commit, to their eventual release.  In fact, I'm planning on watching it (for like at least my sixth or seventh viewing) tonight.

To Jessie, Jason, and Damien: I'm still so proud and happy for you.  All the best.

"The Testament of Dr. Mabuse," 1933, directed by Fritz Lang.  Oh, some would probably quibble with classifying this as horror, but I stand by my choice.
( Picspam under cut... )

I could have sworn I'd posted sometime more recently, but I guess not.

Anywho!  My November final NaNoWriMo word count total was 31,000.  Which I was totally happy with, and is a good, sustainable monthly average for me.  I'm at around 13,000 thus far, which is actually pretty good considering how much time I've spent editing Part One.  Which is still going on, as I decided after reading through it that I needed one more chapter at the end.  Originally it was just going to be 3-4 pages, a character-based chapter rather than a plot-based one, more in the line of an epilogue than anything else.  It's about five times that length now, and I finally finished it yesterday.  So now I need to edit/polish that up, and maybe give a quick once-over to the last quarter or so of Part One.

But it's coming along!  I'm well-pleased.

About halfway done with Christmas shopping.  I don't understand how it, like, sneaks up on me each year.  I've got three stores to hit this weekend, and my goal is to get up early Saturday morning and get going, try to beat the crowds, if that's even possible the weekend before Christmas.  I decided to make gifts for my co-workers, and was planning to be done long before now, but I'll have to finish them up tonight.  Mini-pallet coasters! Though I made mine with popsicle sticks, cut to length and then glued together double or triple thickness.  A box of popsicle sticks is a lot cheaper than buying like actual wood.  A pretty easy craft, even for someone as relatively uncrafty as I am, but it took much longer than I was anticipating.

I finally saw Gravity yesterday.  I'm glad I got to see it on the big screen, and it was a really great movie, and Sandy did a wonderful job, but I guess my expectations were way higher, because I wasn't particularly wowed.  Beautiful, and science-y, and it's nice to see a clear, simple, straightforward story for a change, but it wasn't the technological oh-my-God marvel everyone had blown it up to be.  But still very good, and the clear winner this year for SFX.

Speaking of awards, I'm pretty happy thus far with how the award season is playing out.  I don't really have a favorite I want to win everything, except maybe Cate Blanchett for Actress, and that seems in the bag.  I haven't seen a lot of the major contenders yet, either because they haven't come out (American Hustle, Her), I don't really care (Wolf of Wall Street), or I'm not comfortable seeing it in the theater and will wait till DVD (12 Years a Slave).  I feel like the upcoming Oscar nominations won't have a huge amount of surprises, but this year that doesn't seem to be a bad thing. 

What happened with the Oscar nominations?  I mean seriously, what happened?

• Bigelow and Affleck both get snubbed in Direction.
• I mean the Director lineup just in general.  Fuck David O'Russell.
• Moonrise Kingdom doesn't get a Picture nomination.
• No Looper in Screenplay.
• No John Hawkes in Actor.
• Where the actual fuck did Jacki Weaver come from?  I didn't really think Ann Dowd would get in, but no Ann Dowd and Jacki Weaver instead?
• This isn't a surprise, because everyone knew Alan Arkin would get in, but he would have been the third most interesting supporting performance in Argo, under Bryan Cranston and John Goodman.
• I literally cannot with Editing.
• No Hobbit for Costume?  (But Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman make it in.)  Or for Sound Editing?  Or Sound Mixing?  (Lincoln for Mixing?  Really?  Really.)  No nomination for "Song of the Lonely Mountain?"
• And where are The Avengers' Sound nominations?  Oh right, there are none.
• I literally cannot with Documentary Feature, but I knew that when the first short-list was announced.
• Hitchcock for Makeup over Lincoln?  Anthony Hopkins literally looked like he was melting.
• I fundamentally do not understand Life of Pi getting nominated for Production Design.

Bright spots:

• Christoph Waltz.

I have seriously like been seething this whole morning.  These are the worst.  THE WORST.

In conclusion, GPOY:

I started my new year off by waking up on a futon to an angry cat clawing at the door demanding to be fed, feeding said cat who continued to dislike me, and then I made my own breakfast: chocolate cake in a bowl with milk.  I had a very nice, casual New Year's Eve at a friend's wherein we watched HGTV and Arrested Development, ate pizza and chocolate cake, drank some wine (I had two whole glasses!  Bringing my 2011 yearly total of wine consumption to approximately 4.5 glasses!), and generally just hung out.  At one point we heard distant fireworks and then like half an hour later were like, oh, happy new year.

Today we took down all the Christmas stuff and grilled out, because this weekend was gorgeous.  Yesterday we went for a walk!  In short sleeves! ♥

( December Writing Progress )


( New December Media )

You know how some people proselytize about their religion?  And they're super into it and you can tell it's really important to them and maybe you even think once in a while "hmm, maybe I should try it out if it makes you feel that good"?  And they just keep doggedly bringing whatever up over and over because to not preach is just unthinkable?

I'm like that about the Alamo Drafthouse theaters in Austin, Texas. 

These are the BEST MOVIE THEATERS EVER.  They are THE BEST.  Every other movie theater pales in comparison.  Full menu of really fantastic food, alcohol, very cool special presentations (a sample: Shaun of the Dead with blow-up bats to smack your neighbors during the zombie fighting scenes; Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical sing-a-long; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with all-you-can-eat pizza; all three Lord of the Rings movies lasting all day, served with a "hobbit feast" that is, like, eight separate meals).  Best of all, though, they have a very strict no talking/texting/being annoying policy.  Before every single movie, there's a short reminder that tells you that if you talk or text or annoy your neighbors during the film, they will, and I quote, take your ass out.  They're very creative with this message.  There was one featuring Ann Richards, former governor of Texas, for instance.  Here's a bunch of others.

This is the best one ever, though.  How could you not have the best time ever watching movies at a theater like this?

11:02 pm - The show's been over for awhile.  Am still basking in wonderful TKS-wins glow.  I do think, though, that tonight's show was the second-worst Oscar show in terms of production and pacing that I've seen.  (The worst is still the one where they gave out awards in the audience, or had the technical award nominees all cluster on the stage together, to save time - because God knows things like sound mixing and cinematography are totally unimportant when it comes to making movies.)  Like, everything was just so painfully unfunny, except for the rare few presenters who actually have some natural comic timing and were able to save themselves, if nothing else.  The set was weird, the homages to past films that had won was scatterbrained and confusing, the introductions of the nominees was boring, and on and on.  I mean, is it really that hard to put together an entertaining show, where pretty people in nice dresses win shiny things?

They should just hire the people on YouTube who make the awesome montages.  And skip the host, and just have people present without dumb scripted chatter.  And actually, like, TALK ABOUT MOVIES.  I swear, that auto-tuned turning dialogue into songs thing about halfway through rivaled Rob Lowe singing with Snow White for I'm Going To Seriously Kill Myself, This is Too Embarrassing to Live moments.

10:45 pm - I'm happy with both lead acting winners.  Natalie is not my favorite actress in the world, but she was amazing in Black Swan.  And Colin Firth of course was brilliant and perfect. 

And The King's Speech wins.  I knew True Grit, which was my other favorite movie of the year, didn't have a chance in hell, so I was obviously enormously pleased with the outcome.  I was still so nervous, though; goodness.  And for the first time since 2003, my favorite movie of the year, and the one I truly felt was the best, actually wins the Best Picture Oscar.  Tonight ended up a whole lot better than it started.

10:08 pm - TOOOOOOOM HOOOOOOOOOOPER FINALLLLY THANK YOU GOOOOOOOOOOOD.

I think some of the happiest moments in my life have been when people I like when awards.

9:57 pm - Hi, Sally!  Bye, Sally.

I'm incredibly glad they turned off the Death Clap-o-Meter for a change.  I still can't quite believe Dennis Hopper is gone.

9:49 pm - Thanks a lot, Oscars, for reminding me that Jennifer Hudson has won one of you.  Also, what is wrong with her boobs.

Those were like four of the worst song nominees ever.  At least Randy Newman was funny?  I just want to know who keeps telling Gwyneth Paltrow she has a good singing voice; it's flat and awful.

9:37 pm - Oh God, The Social Network is going to win, isn't it?  Ughhhhhhh.

Also, WTF is up with Hereafter getting a Visual Effects nomination.  That wave looked like something from a video game from 2002.

9:23 pm - So far, The King's Speech has won a single Oscar, and True Grit has won zero Oscars.

At least Cate Blanchett looked ethereal and perfect and gorgeous.

Also, that Tangled song was the blandest shit I've ever heard.  For this, Jonsi didn't get nominated?  Mmmkay.

8:51 pm - I cannot believe Trent Reznor has an Oscar.  Fucking Social Network, damn it.  This Oscars is balls so far.  Balls!

8:35 pm - Screenplay went as expected, does not clarify the race at all.  I'm happy to see Christian Bale win, even though I would have liked John Hawkes or Geoffrey Rush to win as well.  Helen Mirren's dress was gorgeous and she was stunning, as per usual.  I think she's been in my top three best dressed for about the last five years at this point.

I am so over Oscar hosts and their random, unfunny shtick.  Seriously.  I'd rather have a bunch of random montages; at least they're ostensibly about movies.

8:09 pm - Well, not the best start.  I'm 1/5.  I was hoping this would be the year when the voters realized that the best acting =/= the most crying and yelling, but alas.  No such luck.  And even though I picked Toy Story 3 to win, I wanted How to Train Your Dragon to win - but I knew that wasn't going to happen.  So far, underwhelmed by dresses.  I liked Mila Kunis's color and basic idea, but it was a tiny bit too low-cut for my tastes. 

I refused to watch Melissa Leo's acceptance speech.  I stirred the pizza bites in the oven, and angrily ate some popcorn.  Grr.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!  For the first time in my life, I am working during this holiday season, and it is weird.  I went from being a kid to going to school to working for a school, so I've always had at least two weeks off around this time, so the idea of going to work two days after Christmas hasn't quite percolated through my stupid brain.  Most of my brain, the part I imagine is run by the man who sits behind a help desk and who for the last few years I have imagined looking like Kenneth from 30 Rock, is still pretty sure I will be home in my jim-jams tomorrow, watching Christmas movies and playing Christmas games and eating Christmas leftovers. 

Took my Grandpa to see True Grit today.  It was amazing and flawless.  As always happens when I watch a great film whilst in the middle of writing something of my own, it made me think about what is not working in my own project, what I'm missing, and how I can fix it.

( Yammerings about writering. )

Back home!  I knew I would be busy, but I didn't realize I would be that busy.

( AFF - Panels, Meeting Folk, Etc. )

( Everything else - "We're coming for you, Barbara!" )