Golden Globes Part 1: Movies

I don't know if anyone knows this or not, but I love awards shows. I make a big to-do about the Emmy's and the Oscars, and I even enjoy they're less important sidekick the Golden Globes. In fact part of me almost likes it more because you can see the celebrities all getting a little tipsy, and it's fun to see TV and Movie stars in the same place. Sometimes I think the Oscars takes itself too seriously. Anyway, in honor of the Globes show this weekend, I'm going to write down my votes for all the categories. If you want the nominees, look here.

Best Motion Picture - Drama: I've only seen Benjamin Button, and I know I don't want that to win. I get the feeling from what I've heard that Slumdog should win. I really hate all of these overly thinky movies, like Revolutionary Road, and it amuses me that the lead in Slumdog was on Skins.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama: Meryl Streep. Because she's Meryl Streep. If not her, then Anne Hathaway cause I also like her. I wouldn't be disappointed if Kate Winslet won, but as I said I hate the kind of movie that she was in.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama: Again, definitely not Brad Pitt. He was chewing far too much scenery. From all accounts Sean Penn is excellent, but I have yet to watch the damned movie. All of these choices may change as I find more screeners (or more to the point watch the ones I have). Oh, also, I do not want Mickey Rourke to win at all.

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Burn After Reading was simply not funny. You could see where they were trying to go for a satire, but it missed the mark. I blame the crap acting of Brad Pitt and George Clooney. The cast of that movie should have done better. In Bruges was amusing, although very dark. Mamma Mia I thought was excellent but I would be surprised if it won, as it's a bit silly.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Meryl Streep or Emma Thompson, purely because of who they are. Meryl I thought did a fantastic job in Mamma Mia. Frances Mcdormand was horrible. I haven't seen the other two, so who am I to judge.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: I loved James Franco in Pineapple Express. It was so different from his usual brooding self and I really enjoyed it. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson did alright, but they were better as a team than individually. I don't like Javier Bardem after he creeped me out in No Country for Old Men, and I'm over Dustin Hoffman in a general sense.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: I have no idea whatsoever in this category, so I'm going to pick Amy Adams because I like her a lot, and Doubt seems interesting. In general I'm also voting against Vicky Christina Barcelona and The Wrestler just because.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Tropic Thunder was amusing because it was so crazy, but Robert Downey Jr. doesn't really deserve it. Tom Cruise was really amusing, but only becasue he was crass and wore a fat suit, neither of which require a great deal of acting. Heath Ledger was really good in his role, I do have to say, so I would probably like it to go to him.

Best Animated Feature Film: I've not seen Bolt, but I can't imagine it being better than Wall-E, which was one of my favorite films from 2008. Kung Fu Panda was enjoyable, but Wall-E by far is my favorite.

Best Foreign Language Film: I think this is a stupid category, so I'm refraining from choosing. Of all the films in the entire rest of the world, these 5 were deemed the best? It's stupid.

Best Director - Motion Picture: Meh. I have no idea. I love movies and TV like nobodies business, but I hardly ever think "The direction here is fantastic". Lets go with Danny Boyle, just cause. I liked the cinematography of Benjamin Button more than the direction, which I felt allowed Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett to over-act. And the set-up scenes through the years felt obvious and forced. And I feel like the other three movies, I could envision how most of the scenes are set up, which automatically makes the director replaceable.

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture: Not to rail on it again, but Benjamin Button was far too long. That's a sign of sloppy writing. And what the hell was with Katrina in the background? I never understood. I'll split my vote between Doubt and Slumdog Millionaire until I've watched them.

Best Original Score - Motion Picture: Eh? Again, no clue. Lets give this one to Benjamin Button as a consolation prize for being an over-rated film.

Best Original Song: No idea about any of these songs, other than I didnt' like the one from Wall-E. Lets go with "Once in a Lifetime" because Beyonce has gotten all crazy and she might stab me if I don't.

Those are all the movie categories. I'll tackle TV, which I know a hell of a lot more about, at a later date.

I don't think of myself as an extrovert...

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm an Organized Traveling Extrovert

Auditions

It's been about a month and a half since Joseph ended, and I'm already missing the performing and singing. I guess after not doing it for a certain amount of time it's easy to forget how much fun the whole thing is. So I've started looking at auditions in the area, and now I'm six kinds of overwhelmed. Aside: Why is "six kinds of" my new go-to phrase for "very"? I have an audition tomorrow night at the Venus Theater in Laurel, which seems to be a very pro-feminism theater group. I'm excited, but I've never had to memorize a monologue before, and lately every time I read the thing to myself I sound awkward and stupid. And then later in the month there are two auditions, one for "Getting Married" and one for "Honk". It's more a situation where I'm hoping to get one of those because rehearsals would overlap if I got both. But the fact of the matter is these are respectively my fourth, fifth, and sixth auditions EVER, and frankly the most professional ones I've ever gone on. And I'm going to walk in with my almost-blank resume and cheap headshot. It's like a bad Hallmark movie. Hopefully everything will work out for the best, though, I am sure. The real question is if I want to also audition for this video part where I would have to simulate receiving oral sex. Decisions decisions.

Fuck Cats. I want LOLWombatz.

Monicur Archibold Carruthers, DDS denies these allegations.

Merlin

This is my official plug for Merlin, the BBC series. The first series of 13 episodes just ended, and if you're resourceful they're easy to find out and about. The story basically is about, obviously, Merlin coming to Camelot and befriending Arthur. This series changes the original myth and has Merlin a young man about the same age as Prince Arthur, and basically tells of their adventures growing into the legends they become. Supporting players include Gwenivere (Sp?) and Morgana, who I really enjoy outside of Morgana's crazy streak at the end of the last episode.

Colin Morgan looking adorable.

I really enjoy this series because it's a fun fantasy tale, but also because of the ridiculous homo-erotic overtones. It actually cracks me up a bit how BLATANT they are about it. It's one drunken night away from being context rather than subtext. Just youtube "Merlin arthur" and see how many slash fan-videos you get. The whole series isn't anything serious, but Colin Morgan is a cutie. Highly recommended if you have a few hours and want a break from the shit that is 90% of TV.

"Wounded soldier and male nurse in a french cathedral" is a new fantasy of mine

I've got a much bigger "TV IN REVIEW" post somewhere inside of me, but it has been slow getting out. So for now I'll just review the two new shows I watched last night.

First up Housewives, which I really enjoyed. It goes without saying the show wasn't perfect, as Housewives is never, ever perfect. But there were some actual laugh out loud moments, and oddly enough Susan was in one of them. My favorite scene of the whole night was when Susan was telling Gaby about her potential one-night-stand with Lee, but being vague about who the guy was, and Bob walks in. Gaby figures it out straight away and starts literally guffawing in the middle of the kitchen, and it had me cracking up, especially "Lee will sleep with anything with a pulse and facial hair". I'm giggling in the middle of the office now just thinking about it. The rest of Susan's scenes were stupid though, thinking she had actually slept with the caricature that is Lee. The dinner with Gaby and Carlos and the job prospect I also thought was hysterical, although I was a little disappointed in Gaby for pushing Carlos so hard. I think she'll come around at the end of the season and realize what a toll this is taking on everyone. Bree I thought did a good job, but she always does a good job. However all the scenes between Andrew and Alex feel fake, and it's beginning to piss me off. I don't get the impression when I look at these two characters that they're head-over-heels for each other, and it annoys me. They don't even appear to be particularly good friends. It seems Andrew went from being an evil sociopath to having a lobotomy. The whole gay in this show is lackluster. Especially when you look at the househusbands who are ridiculous. Did you see their house? And the Kimono? Is Lee a colorblind retard? Is this what Marc Cherry is like at home? Because I know there are lots of gays involved in this show and I can't believe any of them think this is a good idea. I guess I expect more from such a gay-friendly show on such a gay-friendly network. I would be fine if they didn't include gays, but if you're going to include them do it properly.

Brothers and Sisters does a better job of handling it's gay characters, although something felt like it was missing this week. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it felt a bit like Scotty was phoning it in. I did like when he stood up to Nora, and Nora's drunken apology phone call. I think I didn't like Kevin's issues so much, and I really hated Tommy's issues. But then again I really hate Tommy, and I'm counting the days until they write him out of the show. I miss Sarah being around, cause I really like Rachel Griffiths. Kitty was less annoying, too, maybe because she wasn't obsessing over the stupid baby I never care if she has. Justin did a respectable job dealing with moving out, but it's nothing particularly noteworthy. I don't know. I guess I think everyone should have been better prepared for the father drama then they were. Yes you're just jerking off into a cup, but that has repurcussions and you have to consider them beforehand. Sometimes these adults seriously annoy me.

I'm not entirely sure which new shows are starting soon and which aren't. I was hoping to have a few more weeks to catch up on certain things, but I'm not sure I'll get the chance. Anyway, I will probably post again later today since work is so damnably slow.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Thoughts

My first and only thought is, "Why don't they just call it 'X-Men Fanboy: Wetdreams' and get it over with?"

Wolverine is automatically crack for fanboys, so fine, I was expecting some of that. But Gambit? Do they REALLY need to put Gambit in a Wolverine movie? God. My only real knowledge of Gambit comes from the X-Men Animated Series, and I didn't hate him in that, but I do not understand the massive hard-on that all these fanboys have for things. Where is the X-Men: Phoenix movie? That would be AWESOME. That would actually be what X-Men 3 should have been. Damn you Brian Singer and your desire to do that shit Superman movie with the kid. You could have done something absolutely AMAZING. I used to enjoy his movies but the more I think about it the angrier I get at him for not doing X-Men 3 properly.

God knows I'll probably go see the wolverine movie. If for no other reason than Ryan Reynolds is amazing hot, especially when he's weilding swords. And while I'm not quite the obsessed, ridiculous fanboy most of these people are, I am indeed a fanboy.

For the curious but uninformed.