The 83rd Annual Academy Awards

Has it really been a year since I've posted anything to this blog? Whatever became of me? (Facebook, that's what--) I know I wanted to put up a picture of the '86 Chevy Nova junker I was driving after my car died, then post a follow-up on the '90 Honda Civic I got at the impound auction. In the summer I got a roommate--and just last week, she moved out. Very sad.

But, it's Oscar time again, and I'll try to get mini-reviews of the contenders up on my other blog, Russ and His Reviews. Meanwhile, here are my notes from last night (I couldn't blog live, as my laptop no longer does internet).

THE OSCAR TELECAST

5:49pm
Great opening montage sequence of all the Best Picture nominees, followed by a fairly good tongue-in-cheek montage based on INCEPTION, that the hosts are in former host Alec Baldwin’s dream. Off to a good start.

And the first Oscar of the night goes to—ALICE IN WONDERLAND, for Best Art Direction. I’d guessed INCEPTION, didn’t see ALICE IN WONDERLAND. But, a moment later: Wally Pfister wins for Best Cinematography for INCEPTION! I’d picked Roger Deakins for TRUE GRIT, but I’m happy to be wrong on this one.

6:08pm
Kirk Douglas as a presenter? He’s not so photogenic or personable in his 90’s. At times embarrassing, he did redeem himself with his delayed reading of Best Supporting Actress name. And it’s Melissa Leo for THE FIGHTER! As I’d predicted—along with everyone else. She was odds-on favorite, and much deserving. First histrionic speech of the evening, and she even had to be bleeped! That might actually be an Oscar first, I’ll have to check on that.

Best Animated Short Feature went to something I’d never heard of, Best Animated Feature went unsurprisingly to TOY STORY 3.

6:20pm
Best Adapted Screenplay goes to Aaron Sorkin for THE SOCIAL NETWORK. Fair enough, though I’d guessed TRUE GRIT. He started to get played off, and justifiably so. Still, it’s a good win and I’m glad he’s gotten some recognition.

Best Original Screenplay goes to THE KING’S SPEECH. Good and well, I’d hoped for INCEPTION, still have to see what kind of night is developing. David Seidler so far has given the best acceptance speech.

6:35pm
Best Foreign Film goes to IN A BETTER WORLD, don’t know anything about that.

Best Supporting Actor to Christian Bale, much deserved for THE FIGHTER, a movie that I hope does well tonight. He also plugged a .com in his acceptance speech, which I’m pretty sure is an Oscar first.

6:51pm
And now Trent Reznor has an Oscar?!! Fuck yes!! But what the hell: in his tuxedo and lugubrious and all, you wouldn’t guess this is the guy from Nine Inch Nails. In its own way, this is incredible.

Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing both go to INCEPTION. Yes!! Hope this signals some larger Oscar sweep, though that’s unlikely.

7:03pm
Best Makeup goes to THE WOLFMAN. Didn’t see it, but I have no doubt Rick Baker is much deserving.

Best Costume to ALICE IN WONDERLAND, when I thought it might be TRUE GRIT.

7:24pm
Best Documentary goes to INSIDE JOB, no surprise there.

7:37pm
Best Visual Effects to INCEPTION. Fuck right.

Best Editing to THE SOCIAL NETWORK. Fair enough, it was actually my prediction (though I could make arguments for BLACK SWAN or TRUE GRIT or THE FIGTHER as well.)

7:49pm
Best Song goes to Randy Newman for TOY STORY 3. No great surprise there either. Good acceptance speech, though.

7:58pm
And a respectable elegy to those who passed this last year, even if it was by Celine Dion. I drank to Arthur Penn and Dennis Hopper.

8:04pm
Tom Hooper for Best Director for THE KING’S SPEECH? Really? Best call out to mother in acceptance speech, though—

8:28pm
Best Actress to Natalie Portman!!! Damn right. But Best Actor to Colin Firth for THE KING’S SPEECH? Oddly enough, I’d been more for Jesse Eisenberg for SOCIAL NETWORK.

8:39pm
THE KING’S SPEECH wins for Best Picture. I’m disappointed, but not quite outraged.

The fact that they’re concluding this broadcast with a chidlren’s chorus of “Over the Rainbow", however—

The 82nd Academy Awards -- Live!

5:11pm Game time. Red Hook, Black Velvet, and Southern Comfort (for special toasts) fully stocked; sausage and onion pizza and dinner salad from Absolute Pizza up the street. Here we go.

Last minute predictions:

Best Picture: AVATAR
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, CRAZY HEART
Best Actress: Gabourey Sidibe, PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE
Best Adapted Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher, PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIE
Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

Eleven minutes to kick off....

5:53pm Campy opening song and dance number by Neil Patrick Harris, followed by a refreshingly good opening monologue by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. Martin has hosted twice before, first time he was really annoying and second time was pretty good. He's shaping up pretty well this time around.

First Oscar of the night goes to Christoph Waltz for INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, no real surprise there. And presenter Penelope Cruz slipped and said "And the winner is...", not the established "And the Oscar goes to...".

6:07pm Best Animated Feature goes to UP, as I'd hoped--I wouldn't mind seeing it being a spoiler and grabbing Best Picture if AVATAR and HURT LOCKER split the vote. I thought UP was amazing in every way, and it's the nominee that I have the fewest problems with.

Best Song goes to "The Weary Kind" from CRAZY HEART, which I was also pulling for. Though I much preferred "A Hold On You" from the same movie, I thought that was excellent, and I don't much like country music.

6:26pm Mark Boal wins Best Original Screenplay for HURT LOCKER. Interesting, I didn't think it had much of a story. I'd guessed Tarantino for INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, simply because I thought it was novel. No complaints.

And a warm tribute to John Hughes from the brat pack he introduced to audiences. I was never a big fan, but I have to admit he did some good work.

6:47pm I didn't see any of the nominees in the short subjects categories, so I didn't have a pick there. I would've guessed Nick Park, but that's only because he's a known entity, and I don't know the others.

I also haven't seen any of the nominees for Best Makeup, so I can't say whether STAR TREK deserved it or not.

7:03pm YES!! Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress go to PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE (Geoffrey Fletcher and Mo'Nique, resp.). This is a film that deserves more attention, so I'm enthusiastic that they got recognition. I'm hoping this bodes well for a win by Gabourey Sidibe as Best Actress, and builds momentum for a spoiler in the Best Picture category.

Best Costume goes to THE YOUNG VICTORIA, didn't see it but it was a period piece so that's no surprising. I'd've guessed COCO BEFORE CHANEL, simply because it was a movie about costumes/fashion. Didn't see that either, though, so I couldn't say.

7:31pm Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing both go to HURT LOCKER. As they should. And a tribute to horror films that was refreshingly inclusive. I'm just disappointed that the Governor's Award to Roger Corman didn't get more attention.

7:42pm Best Cinematography to AVATAR, and rightly so.

And a great retrospective of those who died in 2009.

8:00pm Best Original Score goes to UP. Cool.

Best Visual Effects goes to AVATAR. Really? Never would've....

8:11pm And Editing goes to HURT LOCKER. Again, no surprise.

8:37pm Best Actor to Jeff Bridges for CRAZY HEART. Most excellent, though I hate the new hagiographic presetation they're doing now, where five presenters get up and laud the nominees. Guess it's a trade off for the fact that they're now allowed to say "And the Oscar goes to..."

9:05pm What an evening! Sandra Bullock for THE BLIND SIDE, didn't see it.

Best Direction goes to Kathryn Bigelow, and Best Picture goes to HURT LOCKER. Excellent!

Midwinter

What a day. By noon it was warm enough to open the windows in my bedroom and in the living room (I have southern frontage). The Seattle TIMES reports it got up to 57 today. Perfectly clear sky, no breeze. I got out the denim shorts, for the first time since October or so, and took the bike out of storage downstairs, then rode up to the filling station to firm up the tires. Then cycled around for a bit, flexing my quads some, not wanting to overdue it. No jacket, just a flannel over my t-shirt, and a small backpack--I was going down to Fred Meyer's for some sundries, figured I'd do some light shopping. I'm almost out of paper towels; this is only the second roll I've had to buy since My Crazy Ex-Roommate moved out last April, whereas she'd burn through a roll in three weeks. And I've had a hell of a time matching the second light bulb in the bathroom, since I want to switch to those econo-bulbs and I had to replace a tungsten; could never get the color temperature/brightness to match the one I have now. Today, success.

Perfect riding weather today: cool and sunny, but no breeze. Even now, drawing up on 7:00pm, it's too stuffy in here for me not to open a window or two here in the living room. And it's February, technically midwinter here. The east coast and the midwest are buried in snow, and I'm wearing my denim knee-lengths. Don't tell me it's global warming--our summer was fairly mild as well. And to think, someone recently took me to task for preferring "horrible rainy climates". Sure, it'll be down to the 30s overnight, the temperature will drop fairly fast now that the sun is down, but the days will be just fine. That's another thing: first sunset of the new year, I got to watch the sun go down while having a beer on the couch. Bachelorhood at its finest.

Now I'm having leftover almond fried chicken and rice from Julie's Garden, before I walk down to the liquor store for more Black Velvet and Red Hook. Then it's downtown, shoot some pool and get in some pinball. This lion in winter is having a capital time. Ain't life grand?

Pork Windfall

My car is out of commission, so this last weekend my Marxist-Leninist Ex-Roommate drove me down to Tacoma to check out a 1989 Mazda 626 I saw on Craigslist. (I decided not to go for it, but anyway.) While we were down there, he was gracious enough to drive me on a grocery run for my mother, whom I hadn't seen since Christmas (due to my Honda needing a distributor and coil, probably not worth the cost of repair).

As I was loading several bags of Safeway groceries into his car, I happened to notice a shopping cart left up against the lamp post next to us. It had a plastic bag left in it, seems that someone was loading up their car in a hurry and left one of their purchases behind (it was raining fairly hard, so that's not surprising). I looked around, to see if there was anyone nearby who would claim it...no one. I checked the bag: it was a Family-Pak of country-style pork ribs. Almost seven pounds' worth.

OK, found food is one thing. But this wasn't pre-packaged, it was in that butcher department shrink-wrap on a styrofoam tray. Anyway, I grabbed it and took it home.

Upon further inspection, it had a package date of the 24th, the same day I found it, and there weren't any obvious breaks in the plastic. It seemed to be a perfectly good pack of meat, just left behind for a few minutes outside in the rain.

So I got into it: last night I cooked up a pot of garlic rice, and threw two of the ribs into a casserole dish and baked at 425F for a while. Came out great, and was a great dietary boost, since I've had a sore throat the last few days, and could use the nourishment.

Today I stopped at Uwajimaya and picked up the biggest baking potato I could find, made some mashed potatoes while I baked some more ribs. Excellent.

And I called my mother, asked her how she makes that pork rib soup, with the barley. She went over it, think I'm going to try and cook up a pot of that before throwing whatever pork I have left into the freezer (individually wrapped in wax paper).

Pork largesse! Is "porciferous" a word (yet)?

Bring Out the Biker In Me

Did something tonight I've been meaning to do for months: I got My Crazy (Ex-) Roommate's bike from down in the basement, and took it out. It's been fuckin' years since I rode a bike.

Had to inflate the tires, but the seat was at just the right height (MC(E)R being just an inch or two shorter than me). Rode down to 85th and back, then up to 121st. Learned that Greenwood for the most part rises very subtly as you go north, and consequently is slightly downhill on the way south. I used to ride my bike all over Tacoma, right up until I bought my first car in '96, at age 28. Since then, I've kinda fallen out of practice. Had a bike here at the apartment a few years back, but it got stolen. So tonight was kind of a throwback to earlier times; it was great to ride through some of the nearby neighborhoods, the evening cool and dark. Here's hoping I get back into the habit.

The Streets Of Seattle

Snoozed for an extra twenty minutes this morning, knowing that my boss would be at a doctor's appointment and wouldn't notice my late arrival (don't say anything...). So I was feeling a little better-rested and more leisurely than average, as I left for the next express bus downtown.

On my way out of the apartment's parking lot, through the alley, I saw a $20 bill, face up right in the middle of the pavement, plastered to the ground in the rain. I peeled it up, soggily--yes, it was a $20 bill all right. And nearby...a $10 bill, also wet and stuck to the ground. I looked around--is this some sort of trick? Somebody laying in wait for me? No...but I did spy a stack of more $20 bills. The streets of Seattle were paved with cash!

Total take: $150, in wet, gritty bills. I checked the area as thoroughly as I could, since I didn't want to miss my bus (it was the last express bus of the morning), but it seems like you can only lose so much in one rainy day, so there was nothing more for me to find. Too bad--both for me, and for the poor bastard who lost all this, now literally poorer for it. I'd put up a sign near the alley entrance, asking if anyone lost any money recently...but I just watched NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN a few nights ago. Object lesson: don't try to do the right thing about found money.

Now I'm feeling extravagant. Was going to Tat's for a cheesesteak at lunch, seeing if anyone would want to go with me...but I splurged on a breakfast sandwich (ham and egg on ciabatta, no cheese, from Specialty Bakery downstairs), so another sandwich would be redundant. I try not to eat the same thing within a two-day period, like to keep my diet varied. Last night I had pasta, linguine al bachelor, so that rules out pad thai or udon noodles today. And for dinner I'm making garlic rice and baked pork ribs, so I don't want fried rice from any of the oriental options here in the International District. Maybe I'll just get a big ol' order of pot stickers from Hing Loon. I don't know. At the moment, I'm not feeling hungry. I am feeling bountiful, though.

Near-Death Experience, April '09

The Universe made another in a long series of half-assed attempts on my life yesterday, further reinforcing my notion that it won't say "Natural causes" in that blank on the death certificate. And as usual, I didn't see this one coming.

I was driving down to Tacoma to see my mother for Sunday dinner and to do her taxes. I-5 southbound was fairly open, with good weather and no trouble in sight, so I was doing about 55. I was just about at the Convention Center when I felt/heard a CHUNK! but didn't know what hit me. Then I noticed in the rearview mirror that the back windshield had shattered (but not fallen in). Our first day of springtime sunshine worked against me, as the bright light caught on all the cracks in the glass, making it blindingly bright. So I had no rear vision.

I managed to exit just past the brewery (what're they calling the brewery now? The roastery, or just The Old Brewery?), turn around and head back to the apartment. Late in the afternoon on a Sunday is no time to be calling around for deals on autoglass. I'm sure I could get one of these 24-hour autoglass repair places to do it, if I had a budget for that sort of thing. No, I don't have comprehensive insurance on this car: I paid $500 for it at an impound auction a few years ago, and it has a bluebook value of zero. So that leaves me to pay this out of pocket. I'm looking to get a used windshield at a wrecking yard, then have it installed. Got a line on a windshield out in south Seattle, for $50, but I'd have to pull it myself. I'll look at my own vehicle tonight, see if that's something I can pull off (no pun intended, now or ever).

Just what the hell hit me I don't know: there was nothing at the site of the impact on the glass, I'm thinking it was something heavy that fell/was dropped from one of the overpasses. When I think about it, had I been travelling any slower, if would've landed sooner and taken out my front windshield, and quite possibly me with it. Even if it didn't kill me instantly, it would still mean a shattered windshield when I was driving 55 or 60 right past all those downtown exits. I almost certainly would've wrecked, maybe taking out one or two other vehicles as well. Not a pleasant thought. Moments like this I try to think of myself as lucky (though annoyed).