Oscar Sunday

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards will air tonight at 8:30pm. I've watched two thirds of the films, read other people's predictions, and made my own. I think James and Anne will make a good duo, and I'm sure there will be lots of hideous dresses (Tilda...), so I'm pretty excited for the show tonight! Also, my apologies for the odd formatting of this post, I don't know why it looks so weird, or how to fix it. Oh well.


Out of the 56 nominated films I've watched 36 (the same amount as last year), and I've seen all the films in 15 out of 24 categories (also the same amount as last year). Trying to watch all the nominated films is a goal destined for failure, as it has been impossible to find all the films (through both legitimate means and otherwise). It also requires a LOT of time- this year I skipped a few films that I found because I couldn't find the rest of the films in their category, just to save time. So that's why next year I'm going to make a more realistic goal: I'm only going to focus on the best picture nominees, and a few other categories that I'll be able to complete easily.

Back to this year's show, I was worried that reading predictions online would be like cheating, but the differences in predictions between sources in some categories is crazy (not so much in others... such as best animated feature- no one thinks Toy Story 3 can possibly lose, and I agree). So I made my predictions by taking into account a variety of sources and the reasons behind their choices, as well as my own understanding of the categories and my opinions about the films.


My predictions are below: the films I haven't seen are in gray, there is one purple asterisk beside my favourite in the category (a lot of categories have more than one favourite... I'm really indecisive, lol) and three asterisks beside my pick to win. How should I celebrate if most of my predictions are correct?? 

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” *

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” *

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”

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” *

Animated Feature Film

·        “How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois *

·        “The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet

·        “Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich  * ***

Art Direction

·        “Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara * ***

·        “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan

·        “Inception” 
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat

·        “The King's Speech” 
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr

·        “True Grit” 
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Cinematography

·        “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique *

·        “Inception” Wally Pfister * ***

·        “The King's Speech” Danny Cohen

·        “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth

·        “True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design

·        “Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood *

·        “I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi

·        “The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan ***

·        “The Tempest” Sandy Powell

·        “True Grit” Mary Zophres

Directing

·        “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

Documentary (Feature)

·        “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz *

·        “Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic

·        “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs ***

·        “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger

·        “Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley - (This documentary looks SO cool!! I couldn't find it anywhere though).

Documentary (Short Subject)

·        “Killing in the Name” Jed Rothstein

·        “Poster Girl” Sara Nesson and Mitchell W. Block

·        “Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon ***

·        “Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger

·        “The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing

·        “Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum

·        “The Fighter” Pamela Martin * (Here's why:  
I know that the real fight and the movie fight aren't exactly the same, but the way the fight is shown in the film preserves enough of the integrity of the real fight while making it serve the purpose of the film as a whole- they got the balance right. In my opinion The Fighter should have been nominated for best cinematography, but since it wasn't I think it should win in this category. However, I don't think it will).

·        “The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar

·        “127 Hours” Jon Harris *

·        “The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter ***

Foreign Language Film

·        “Biutiful” Mexico

·        “Dogtooth” Greece

·        “In a Better World” Denmark ***

·        “Incendies” Canada

·        “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup

·        “Barney's Version” Adrien Morot

·        “The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng

·        “The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey ***

Music (Original 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 * *** 

Music (Original 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

Best Picture <--Click for hilarious gifs from the Best Picture nominees

·        “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers 

·        “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers

·        “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers 

·        “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers

·        “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers ***

·        “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers * (I really liked all the films in this category, but 127 hours just shone a little brighter for me. Unfortunately though, it doesn't seem to stand a chance for Best Picture).

·        “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers

·        “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer

·        “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers

·        “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Short Film (Animated) (These films are all on iTunes, and they're REALLY good, so I highly recommend checking them out!)

·        “Day & Night” Teddy Newton * ***

·        “The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang

·        “Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe *

·        “The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann

·        “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action) (These films are also all on iTunes, and they're also REALLY good, so I highly recommend checking them out as well!)

·        “The Confession” Tanel Toom

·        “The Crush” Michael Creagh *

·        “God of Love” Luke Matheny

·        “Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt 

·        “Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite * ***

Sound Editing

·        “Inception” Richard King ***

·        “Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers

·        “Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague

·        “True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey

·        “Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger *

Sound Mixing (In all honesty I have no idea what the difference is between sound editing and sound mixing, which is why Inception is my prediction for both).

·        “Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick * ***

·        “The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley

·        “Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin

·        “The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten

·        “True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects

·        “Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips *

·        “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi

·        “Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell

·        “Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb * ***

·        “Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

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

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 ***

101 Things in 1001 Days: The Day Zero Project

In December I started thinking about New Year's Eve and resolutions. I decided not to make any- I think that resolutions made just because we are expected to make them are kind of disingenuous, and doomed from the start. If you have a goal that you really care about achieving, you probably won't wait until January 1st to start it.

Then I stumbled upon the "Day Zero Project," a website where you can keep track of a list of 101 tasks you want to complete in 1001 days. Why 1001 days? Well, the website says:

Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple challenges such as New Year's resolutions or a 'Bucket List'. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips, study semesters, or outdoor activities. 

A list making tool for beating procrastination you say? Realistic deadlines!? Perfect!! So I signed up and started thinking of goals. Unfortunately, the site shut down from December 21st-February 4th, so I took an involuntary hiatus from working on my list. But I slowly added to it after the site came back online, and I finished on Thursday! Check it out: http://dayzeroproject.com/user/sharetheland

It was hard to think of goals at first, but once I really started getting into it last week it became very easy and fun. I tried to choose a variety of goals including: organization; education; fitness and nutrition; my hobbies, interests and skills; saving money; general productivity; doing good; and personal harmony.

True to my organizational nature I grouped the goals together by theme- which was rather time consuming. This is the only flaw I've found about the website, if you want to change the order of your goals you have to edit each specific goal and put in the number you want to change it to, you can't drag and drop. That and actually being able to separate the goals into themes would make the site perfect- to me, anyway.

Too bad "buy a really nice designer purse" isn't on my list! So far I've completed 4/101 goals, and I'm sure I'll add new "to do" goals beyond the 101 over the next 922 days that I have left. I think that this list is a good road map for how I want to live the next 922 days, and what I want my life to be like by August 22nd 2013, the day I am scheduled to finish the list. Wish me luck!

Also, let me know if you make a Day Zero list yourself! One of my goals is to influence someone to make one :)

I'll leave you with some photo inspiration...

Vegan Purses For the Win! ...ners

I haven't used this blog to write about my shopping habits before, but right now I feel that I have to. I've been on the hunt for purses lately, and yesterday I found myself in the Mecca of vegetarian-friendly purses in the most unlikely place: Winners.

Allow me to back up a bit. Around Christmas I went to Winners looking for a dress to wear on New Year's Eve. After being very disappointed with their dresses I browsed their purse section, and was also fairly disappointed. You see, I tend to carry a fair amount of stuff with me all the time, so I need my purses to be a certain size. If I'm not sure about buying a purse I will try to fill it with the contents of the purse I have with me at the time, and if they don't fit I must acquit! Right?

When I went to Winners I found two purses that I LOVED made by a brand called "Sparrow True." Their bags are vegan, made with a whimsically vintage leather-looking really soft material, and their tags say "Inspired by Vintage Treasures of an Undiscovered Past" -loveeeely. One of the purses looked like the picture to the left, and the other was a bucket style with a drawstring and magnetic snap closure at the top, both the same brown as in the picture. But, unfortunately, they were too small!

The urge to purse shop faded, but then came back to me with vigour last week for some reason. I went to a couple of stores, browsed Etsy for far too long when I should have been writing a paper, but didn't see anything that really jumped out at me.

During this search I was able to zero in on exactly what I was looking for. I wanted two purses: one small and one medium sized. Both purses needed adjustable straps that could be long enough to go across my body, and zipper closures at the top. The zipper is because I want to do a lot of travelling when I move overseas soon, and zipped up purses are a recommended way to thwart pick pocketing. Oh and of course they have to be not made of anyone's skin.

Though I left Winners empty handed in December I was optimistic because of the Sparrow True purses, but I had no idea Winners would be able to satisfy my purse needs so exceptionally this time! If by chance a Winners buyer is reading this: well done, and thank you!! Purse shopping is difficult for vegetarians (though not nearly as bad as the hell that is shoe shopping), but this was wonderful! My experience as a vegetarian has been that leather is thought of as a good quality material, so it is assumed that all customers want it. Thus, seeing so many items proud of their conscientiousness, labeled "vegan" or "animal friendly," was amazing! It felt like a revolution, even if just for something as trivial as a purse. Like the world is becoming more compassionate little by little, and it's about time!!

As I walked through the purse section I accumulated several bags, and probably looked a little crazy. I think I had eight by the end, and then narrowed down to three bags from three brands: Matt and Nat, Sparrow True and Rampage. The Rampage purse made it to the end because it was so cute, but it had a drawstring and snap closure, not a zipper, so it got cut. I ended up buying these two lovelies:

I felt like I might have second thoughts about the M&N purse because of the way the straps weirdly attach at the back of the purse, but after putting my stuff in it (it fits everything!!) and carrying it around a little I love it! I also found out that it is made out of recycled bottles, huzzah! As for the ST bag, I thought I might be able to fit my lap top inside but unfortunately it sticks out at the top. I have a Dakine purse that fits the laptop, but doesn't have a zipper at the top, and has short shoulder straps that strain my shoulder, so I was hoping the ST purse would replace it. I'm going to check out the other Winners (yes, Whitby has TWO Winners stores!!) sometime this week and see if I can find something slightly bigger to exchange the ST purse for. Failing that I'll probably keep the ST purse.. it's so nice! Anyone interested in the Dakine purse? (Shown above) Comment below if you are :-)

In conclusion, thank you Winners, I really needed a win this week- even if it's just a silly shopping win.

**Update: I ended up returning the Sparrow True purse. It was lovely, but I realized that what I really want in that size of purse is an attractive laptop bag, so the search continues!

If I don't make a change soon...

...I may become a hoarder.

Zoe snubbing Penny

I live with two cats, not 27, so I'm not a crazy cat lady... Not quite anyway, but I'd love to someday have two cats that snuggle with each other. Right now that's not happening (if you've met my parents' cat Zoe, you understand). I think when I get another cat someday I'll have to hold auditions to determine snuggling potential with my cat, Penny Lane. But it could be tricky having to reject kitties that Penny doesn't take to in a snuggly way, leading me to have an obscene amount of cats, becoming a cat hoarder.... Okay, I'm already a crazy cat lady.

My boyfriend already thinks I'm a hoarder because my room, while usually quite tidy, is jammed with stuff- way more stuff than I need. I find it very difficult to purge my material belongings, and I shop a lot, mostly online. My closet and dresser are full of clothes and I probably only ever wear about 3/4 of my whole wardrobe. I'm also very sentimental, and I've kept every ticket stub for every movie, concert and play I have ever attended, as well as just about everything that was given to me as a gift, even if I no longer have use for it, or never did.

I'm conscious about waste and what happens to things I no longer have use for. And yes, I do realize that the environmental and social problems with consumerism are full cycle, not just on the landfill end of things. (Re: The story of stuff). While I do try to make conscientious purchases, I buy way too much stuff I don't need, and I try to make up for that by reducing the amount of stuff I contribute to landfills, which is why,

• My work apron is full of paper scraps I'm saving to recycle at home.
• My old desk is on my parents' back porch because I'm going to put it up on kijiji... someday.
• I have a few bottles of random body lotions sitting around my room that I've received as gifts, that don't fit with my views on animal testing, and I don't know what to do with them (anyone know of a shelter that accepts donations of personal hygiene products?)
• I have a milk crate full of old Spin magazines I'll never re-read, and I think recycling them would be a waste, but I worry that if I scatter them in waiting rooms around my community to broaden the musical horizons of my fellow citizens I may cause them to eventually end up in the trash because I don't know if all the dentists, doctors, and other professionals with waiting rooms in Whitby recycle or not.
• There are two dead plants and a bouquet of dead flowers on top of my bookcase that I'm too lazy to do anything about because I refuse to simply toss them. They must be composted but just... not today. The compost bin is in the backyard, and it's cold outside. Maybe tomorrow. (The dead flowers actually still look pretty. The plants, not so much.)

So I'm lazy, materialistic, sentimental, and conscientious. I really hope that the last trait can counteract the first and balance out the middle.

I need a jolt to get me out of my current lazy funk, and I think I'm going to get it really soon. I took the Global TESOL course in December and right now I'm looking for a teaching job abroad. I can't take very much with me, and I'll be gone for at least six months, so I'm going to do a massive clean out of my cluttered room. There will be 3 piles: going, staying and goodwill. I'm going to do my best to ensure that the third pile is the biggest. It won't be easy, I may cry, but I think it will be an important step for me to really grow up. I'm not going to have all this stuff when I go teach, and I'll have to learn to live much less materialistically. Then, when I'm done my travelling teacher adventure (after however long it ends up lasting), I'll be able to move back to Ontario with less physical baggage, and perhaps less emotional baggage too. Right now I actually feel the weight of all my stuff holding me down, and I think it will be very psychologically freeing to have less stuff.

Before I begin this purge I need to mentally prepare. I will picture myself in another country, enjoying a new lifestyle, taking in new sights, sounds, tastes and adventures. Then I will picture myself in a quiet moment of my new life, looking out the window of my apartment (which in this fantasy overlooks a beautiful valley in Japan) reflecting on home and what I've left behind. It will be bitter-sweet as I will miss my family and friends dearly, but I will be really proud of myself for letting go of my fears, insecurities, and the security blanket of clutter I've had all my life.

I just got an email, it's a job offer. I'm ready :)

Support Our Troops

I just found a video of Noam Chomsky discussing the slogan "Support Our Troops," and I think it's a good (though a little rambling... which may make it even more fitting) follow-up to my blog post about Remembrance Day.