I'm BAAAACK and I'm better than ever

Oscar season rolls around again, the nominees are in, Leo is jilted (once more), and everything is right with the world. If boys get to watch football playoffs and March Madness, and hockey semi-finals -- well, I have this. The Oscar season.

The finalists are in! And this year, I intend to accomplish my goal, goddamnit. I will see (and blog about?) every single Oscar nominated movie before this year's ceremony. I'm sure you've all seen the list of nominees by now. How dull. No Leo. No Mahky. Very little Benny. Boston was, all in all, woefully under-represented. Not even a single mention of The Ghost Writer, which I had so been excited to watch. But now I have 33 days to see 32 movies and about 15 short films. And because of how dull the list of nominees looks (and how can you really keep track that way, anyway?) I've made my own chart. Alphabetical by film, with the nominations listed beside it and a way of keeping track of how and when I can see these movies.

Anyone know how I can get my hands on Biutiful? I've loved me some Javi since the Before Night Falls days. (In fact, that movie is the reason I'm so in love with Latin American culture, a fun fact I bet you DID NOT know about me.)

CLICK ME to see my handy-dandy chart, as of today. :)

Oscar Run Updates

1. Avatar
2. The Blind Side
3. District 9
4. An Education
5. The Hurt Locker
6. Inglorious Basterds
7. Precious
8. A Serious Man
9. Up In The Air
10. Up
11. The Last Station
12. Julie and Julia
13. A Single Man
14. Invictus
15. Nine
16. Crazy Heart
17. The Messenger
18. The Lovely Bones
19. In The Loop
20. Coraline
21. Fantastic Mr Fox
22. The Princess and the Frog
23. The Secret of Kells
24. Ajami
25. The Milk of Sorrow
26. Un Prophete
27. El Secreto De Sus Ojos
28. The White Ribbon
29. Burma VJ
30. The Cove
31. Food, Inc
32. The Most Dangerous Man In America
33. Which Way Home
34. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
35. Sherlock Holmes
36. Young Victoria
37. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
38. Bright Star
39. Coco Avant Chanel
40. Il Divo
41. Star Trek
42. Paris 36
43. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
44. "China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province"
45. "The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner"
46. "The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant"
47. "Music By Prudence"
48. "Rabbit A La Berlin"
49. "French Roast"
50. "Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty"
51. "The Lady and the Reaper"
52. "Logorama"
53. "A Matter of Loaf and Death"
54. "The Door"
55. "Instead of Abracadabra"
56. "Kari"
57. "Miracle Fish"
58. "The New Tenants"

the films I had seen as of the last update:

1. Avatar
2. Precious
3. Up In The Air
4. A Single Man
5. Nine
6. Crazy Heart
7. The Lovely Bones
8. Coraline
9. Sherlock Holmes
10. Young Victoria
11. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (uh, duh)
12. The Blind Side
13. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
    
14. The Hurt Locker
15. Inglorious Basterds
16. Julie and Julia
17. Fantastic Mr. Fox
18. Star Trek

The films I have since seen

1. District Nine
2. An Education
3. Up
4. In the Loop
5. The Princess and the Frog
6. The Cove
7. Food, Inc

Shorts:

1. Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
2. The Lady and the Reaper
3. A Matter of Loaf and Death

Feature films left to view:

1. A Serious Man
2. The Last Station
3. Invictus
4. The Messenger
5. The Secret of Kells
6. Ajami
7. The Milk of Sorrow
8. Un Prophete
9. El Secreto De Sus Ojos
10. The White Ribbon
11. Burma VJ
12. The Most Dangerous Man In America
13. Which Way Home
14. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
15. Bright Star
16. Coco Avant Chanel
17. Paris 36
18. Il Divo

Short films left to view:

1. "China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province"
2. "The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner"
3. "The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant"
4. "Music By Prudence"
5. "Rabbit A La Berlin"
6. "French Roast"
7. "Logorama"
8. "The Door"
9. "Instead of Abracadabra"
10. "Kari"
11. "Miracle Fish"
12. "The New Tenants"

The best thing about making a list

Is crossing things off of it. (That is, assuming it is a "to-do" or "to-see" or "to-read" or "to-hear" or "to-write".... I think you get it, right? If it's a list of things that ought to be crossed off, a wish-list, or a checklist, the best part is...

Crossing things off of it.

So here's a list of the movies nominated for Oscars this year:

1. Avatar (Best Picture, Directing, Cinematography, Art direction, Film editing, Original score, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects)
2. The Blind Side (Best picture, actress in a lead role)
3. District 9 (Best picture, film editing, visual effects, adapted screenplay)
4. An Education (Best picture, actress in a lead role, adapted screenplay)
5. The Hurt Locker (Best picture, actor in a lead role, cinematography, directing, film editing, original score, sound editing, sound mixing, original screenplay)
6. Inglorious Basterds (Best picture, actor in a supporting role, Cinematography, directing, film editing, sound editing, sound mixing, original screenplay)
7. Precious (Best picture, actress in a lead role, actress in a supporting role, directing, film editing, adapted screenplay)
8. A Serious Man (Best picture, original screenplay)
9. Up In The Air (Best picture, actor in a lead role, actress in a supporting role - twice, directing, adapted screenplay)
10. Up (Best picture, animated feature film, original score, sound editing, original score)
11. The Last Station (Actor in a supporting role, actress in a lead role)
12. Julie and Julia (Actress in a lead role)
13. A Single Man (Actor in a lead role)
14. Invictus (Actor in a lead role, actor in a supporting role)
15. Nine (Actress in a supporting role, art direction, costume design, original song)
16. Crazy Heart (Actor in a lead role, actress in a supporting role, original song)
17. The Messenger (Actor in a supporting role, original screenplay)
18. The Lovely Bones (Actor in a supporting role)
19. In The Loop (Adapted screenplay)
20. Coraline (Animated feature film)
21. Fantastic Mr Fox (Animated feature film, original score)
22. The Princess and the Frog (Animated feature film, original song - twice)
23. The Secret of Kells (Animated feature film)
24. Ajami (Foreign language film)
25. The Milk of Sorrow (Foreign language film)
26. Un Prophete (Foreign language film)
27. El Secreto De Sus Ojos (Foreign language film)
28. The White Ribbon (Foreign language film, cinematography)
29. Burma VJ (Documentary feature)
30. The Cove (Documentary feature)
31. Food, Inc (Documentary feature)
32. The Most Dangerous Man In America (Documentary feature)
33. Which Way Home (Documentary feature)
34. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Art direction, costume design)
35. Sherlock Holmes (Art direction, original score)
36. Young Victoria (Art direction, costume design, makeup)
37. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Cinematography)
38. Bright Star (Costume design)
39. Coco Avant Chanel (Costume design)
40. Il Divo (Makeup)
41. Star Trek (Makeup, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects)
42. Paris 36 (Original song)
43. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (Sound mixing)
44. "China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province" (Documentary short)
45. "The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner" (Documentary short)
46. "The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant" (Documentary short)
47. "Music By Prudence" (Documentary short)
48. "Rabbit A La Berlin" (Documentary short)
49. "French Roast" (Short film - animated)
50. "Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty" (Short film - animated)
51. "The Lady and the Reaper" (Short film - animated)
52. "Logorama" (Short film - animated)
53. "A Matter of Loaf and Death" (Short film - animated)
54. "The Door" (Short film - live action)
55. "Instead of Abracadabra" (Short film - live action)
56. "Kari" (Short film - live action)
57. "Miracle Fish" (Short film - live action)
58. "The New Tenants" (Short film - live action)

It's like a pre-fab "To-Watch" list. No thought necessary, just movies that possess some remarkable quality, even if it's just a performance worth seeing or sound editing that is really, well, out of this world. (Susannah might have just groaned, but I don't care.) So if you look at this list as a "To-Watch" list, then what could I cross off immediately?

Well...

1. Avatar
2. Precious
3. Up In The Air
4. A Single Man
5. Nine
6. Crazy Heart
7. The Lovely Bones
8. Coraline
9. Sherlock Holmes
10. Young Victoria
11. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (uh, duh)

That's, oh, eleven of the forty-three feature length movies nominated and zero of the fifteen short films. But that's eleven instances of instant gratification. In the meantime, then, I had thirty-two films to see before March 7th. (Lists have to have a deadline. "Before I die" for the bucket lists that people make. "To-Read" lists usually get deadlines of "Before my paper is due." etc. This list has Oscar Sunday as a natural endpoint. Success or failure will be determined by whether or not I make my movie-watching deadline.)

Let's see what else I have managed to cross off that list.

1. The Blind Side
2. The Hurt Locker
3. Inglorious Basterds
4. Julie and Julia
5. Fantastic Mr. Fox
6. Star Trek

That is six of thirty-two movies to watch by March 7th, which means I have twenty-six feature length films to watch in twenty-four days. Which, really, if you think about it, isn't that daunting. The only problems I foresee? Movies not yet on DVD, but out of theaters? Foreign films not yet released in America, or at least my part of America? Running out of money? All legitimate concerns, I suppose. But I'm not going to think about that right now, because I'm on a high. I'm still going to say that I can do this, and I'm going to believe myself.

Because it's worth it. I'll keep you updated. Also, I really hope they let Ryan Bingham get on stage and sing his song. And I hope he wears his cowboy hat. Because he was a really good concert and he may be shy in interviews, but the boy knows how to work a stage.

100 (Find You Now)

1. Have blue eyes
2. Be over 6 feet tall - unless your name is Erich Hochstrasser, because then you're perfect just as you are
   
3. Be a baseball fan (or football or hockey -- no New York teams)
   
4. Know Heathcliff without being told
5. Love to cook breakfast and dessert
   
6. Be generous and kind to homeless people
7. Hate rodents as much as I do
8. Tell me when my hair looks silly
9. Have strong hands
10. Walk in the snow. Walk in general
    
11. Take advantage of opportunity; say "no" to very few adventures. Don't repeat them if they weren't wonderful the first time.
    
12. Need a dog in your life -- a big dog, not a little dog
13. Wear plaid
14. Believe in both coincidence and magic
15. Travel
16. Appreciate, even enjoy, my "fifteen year old girl" moments
17. Wear Chucks
18. Don't wear a tie to work
19. Respect my need for you to not watch the Victoria's Secret fashion show
20. Let me trust you without a wedding band
21. Trust me without a wedding band
    
22. Know not to buy me a diamond
23. Know to buy me a dictionary
24. Love children
25. Hate golf
26. Don't be settled with having; have a need to open doors that have never been closed to you for others that have had to break windows to even look inside
    
27. Value independence, both in yourself and in me
28. Love your family
29. Be my Trivial Pursuit partner
30. Don't take yourself seriously or believe you are more important than the moment you exist in
    
31. Read. Don't just say you read. Read.
32. Laugh often, but not without cause
    
33. Never make someone feel stupid or embarrassed
    
34. Laugh at yourself
35. Don't laugh at others
36. Always say "Bless you" when someone sneezes, even a stranger walking behind you on the sidewalk or a train conductor
    
37. Make my brother laugh
38. Introduce me to new music
39. Make me think
40. Fascinate me
41. Confuse me
42. Treat anyone whose job it is to help you not like "help," but like a human being. Understand that mix-ups like lost reservations happen
    
43. Don't value form over function
44. Be of use
45. Understand what "Be of use" means and why it matters
46. Keep an open mind
47. Go puddle jumping with your children (and me)
    
48. Teach your daughter to ice skate
49. Go to your child's plays
50. Be torn between the coldness of mp3 and their convenience over vinyl
51. Appreciate a well turned phrase
52. Wash my dishes for me when my back is turned
    
53. Bring me sunflowers on Van Gogh's birthday
54. Know not to buy me roses
55. Tell me a secret you have never told anyone else
56. Don't try to fix my problems; just be there to hear about them
57. Know that I can re-hang the door or re-grout the bathroom on my own, but do it with me
58. Write me a song, however terrible it is
59. Make me believe I can be better
60. Challenge my assumptions
61. Call me on my lies, my nonsense, my half-assed arguments and devil's advocate "Mary, Mary, quite contrary" moments
62. Aspire to more than mere mediocrity
    
63. Take risks; go sky-diving with me
    
64. Realize how lucky you are just to exist
    
65. Get along with my father
66. Understand that what my grandfathers would have thought of you matters more than what I think of you
67. Teach me something new
68. Let steak, roasted potatoes and green beans be your favorite meal
69. Be kind to your sister above all other girls you might meet
    
70. Don't ever believe in your own superiority, physically, mentally, intellectually, ecumenically, or otherwise
    
71. Love hockey fights
72. Don't be disgusted by boxing
73. Find humor in your flaws and in mine
74. Don't be willing to settle for less than you are capable of becoming
    
75. Never believe we are finished products
    
76. Have convictions
77. Make the world a better place, be it through direct interaction with the world or by providing the world with just a little more beauty
78. Appreciate the importance of beauty in this world
79. Watch Sunday morning PBS with me while reading the travel section from the Boston Globe and eating omelets and bagels
80. Don't be jealous
81. Be a little jealous. (But trust me, too.)
82. Love movies
83. Spend Saturday afternoons at museums of all sorts -- natural history, science, modern art, Renaissance art, etc.
84. Prefer Van Gogh to Monet and night to day
85. Stay up late with me, watch the sun rise and then sleep 'til noon
86. Bring me my hot chocolate
87. Let me listen to you
88. Don't get impatient when I meet strangers on the beach and swap life stories with them until the moon has risen
89. Accept my need to be near the sea
90. Let me teach you something
91. Don't try to understand or change me; just accept me
92. Drive to the beach and watch the full moon rise
93. Climb a mountain. Stay the night. Let me set up the tent.
94. Don't ask me if I need help. I'll ask if I do.
95. Don't need me to fix you; don't need to fix me
    
96. Don't ever act smarter than someone else
    
97. Treat everyone as if they are just as important -- more so, even -- than you
    
98. Engage in ice cream eating contests with me
99. Watch me walk away until you can't see me anymore
100. Don't tell me you love me.