For Your Consideration

It’s my favorite time of year, when you root for your favorite, eat all sorts of yummy snacks and lay down odds on the winner. No, I’m not talking about the Superbowl, I’m talking about the Oscars®.

Most years I’ve seen at least half of the nominees. This year I’m batting zero. I haven’t seen a single Best Picture Nominee. I can’t make my predictions. I’ll go this weekend and try to see a couple (probably “Juno” and maybe “Atonement”). But I’m a little surprised at some of the nominations. “Hairspray” failed to receive a single nomination. What was the Academy thinking? Not even for costume or song? “Enchanted” got THREE song nominations?!? C’mon, does Disney own the Academy? I can see one, maybe even two but three of the five? I smell a rat, er, mouse.

Okay, the Academy did get one right. ‘Falling Slowly’ from the film “Once” by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova was nominated for Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original Song). The film was my Number One film of 2007 and this song is amazing. I have it on “The Swell Season” which I rushed out and bought after I saw “Once” at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Will and I were lucky to catch a late screening of the film while were at the fest. But the director, John Carney, stopped the film about four minutes in because of sound difficulties. They were going to cancel the screening if they couldn’t fix the sound (it’s a musical movie, sound is überimportant). While we waited for the technicians we were treated to an impromptu acoustic performance by Glen and Marketa. To say it was magical is a true understatement. We then got to watch the film (yay, Mr. Sound Guy!) and then had an encore after the film. Will got to talk to Glen, lead singer for the Irish band The Frames and I chatted with Marketa and got Glen, Marketa and John to sign my ticket. (Yeah, I suppose it is a bit juvenile, but I wanted a momento.) I also have the song on the “Once” soundtrack and on The Frames CD “The Cost”. Oh yeah, it’s also the ringtone on my phone. Can you say obsessed?

Now, if you see the film “Once”, and I really hope you do, you’ll find a charming little movie that breaks every rule of filmmaking. It’s poorly lit, badly shot, minimally scripted and WONDERFUL. The music makes the film and tells the story and that’s why it, and this song, is so good. Music at its best should be evocative and “Falling Slowly” is incredibly evocative. See the movie, then call me and I’ll loan you the CD.

Now, I implore the Academy for two things. If the show goes on (and it should, c’mon WGA and give us the Oscars®) I want Glen and Marketa to perform the song, without any weird interpretive dance number. Trust me, the song doesn’t need unitard wearing dancers to make anyone understand what’s going on. And the second thing I want is for the song to win. It deserves it, because it made the movie, not the other way around.

Now as we get ready for the roller coaster ride to the red carpet, rent the film “For Your Consideration”, the Christopher Guest & Company film about the hype behind awards season. It’s a terrifically funny film and I, for one, wish I could see “Home for Purim”. Hollywood air kisses everyone!

Let There Be Light

Have you ever done something pretty simple but you were so inordinately proud of yourself? That’s how I’m feeling. I changed a light switch this weekend. Yes, I turned the electricity off first, I’m not that stupid. It was a seventy-eight cent part, I learned how to do it with instructions off the internet and it took me about fifteen minutes to do the job (thirty minutes if you count the trip to Lowe’s to buy the new switch.) And voila, there was a beautiful new light switch that turned the lights on and off - the old switch only turned them on about forty percent of the time. I showed everyone my new light switch and they all feigned great impression with my job, sort of like you give a short bus riding child when they accomplish some minor feat like tying their shoelaces even thought they are already in the sixth grade. But considering I saved myself about a hundred bucks in electrician fees to do the same job, I’m darned proud of myself. Next up, re-sealing the refridgerator!

The Endless Cold

Have you ever had a cold that never went away? That’s how I’m feeling right now. I am on day eleven of this cold. I felt really crappy the first weekend, then just cruddy for the last week. Never getting much better, never getting much worse. I think I’m better, then the cough starts up again, or the cough goes away then the head congestion starts again. I’ve tried Airborne, Zicam, NyQuil, Musinex, orange juice, chicken soup, hot tea, 7-Up, Vicks Vapo-Rub and the power of positive thinking. The only thing that helps is resting a lot, but short of a coma, I have a life I need to tend to. Everyday I think that I should wake up and feel a lot better and everyday when I wake up I feel maybe 1/10th of a percent better. It’s like watching a file download from the internet over a dial up connection. You think, “hey, only 8 seconds more and it’ll be done”, then when you look again the estimated time is 47 hours and you’re wondering how the hell that happened. Ugh. Pardon me while I go hack up a lung. Meanwhile we can send people into space but we can’t cure the rhinovirus? I know where I want my tax dollars spent. But until then, I’m going back to bed. A nice long coma, er nap, sounds good right now.

New Year's Resolutions That Can Change the World

Every year we make New Year’s Resolutions, most of which are broken long before Martin Luther King Day. And the worst part is that most of these resolutions are purely selfish - “I’ll lose weight so I look good” or “I’ll quit smoking so I don’t get lung cancer. Well, I’m going to make some New Year’s resolutions that not only can I keep for more than 2 weeks, but could possibly benefit the entire planet. Yup, I’m that good!

1. I will try to cover my mouth whenever I cough or sneeze, thereby protecting the planet from a possible pandemic which could potentially decimate the world’s population. (You’re welcome.)

2. I will vote whenever possible, and potentially be responsible for electing a leader who can create lasting and effective change. (Stop laughing, it could happen.)

3. I will continue to buy cheap goods from third world countries, helping to support a global economy and feeling good knowing that while I am possibly buying goods made by small children in foreign sweat shops, at least I kept a few of them out of the international sex trade. (I made be made a saint.)

4. I will invest my resources in companies that support efforts to fight homelessness, support global communication and promote renewable energy. (Right now those companies are my landlord, the phone company and the power company.)

5. I will, if possible, allow myself to be bitten by a radioactive spider, so that I am transformed into a crime fighting superhero. (I live in Southern Nevada, near a Nuclear Test Site and Nuclear Waste Repository, this may not be as difficult as in might seem.)

There you have it, my resolutions for world change. Now I’m going to take a nap and conserve my energy for the greater good.