For Gus & Anthony...

One will love it, one will hate it

Decadent Decades...

I was watching a period film the other day, based in the 30's, and it dawned on me something that I've never noticed before. Within the past century or so there's been a cycle of clothing styles that changes nearly every 10 to 15 years or so.

In the 20's it was all about dancing & jazzin' it up with some style, the 30's were generally a lot of browns & blacks with sepia tones.

In the 40's, the sepia tones carried over but then to cope with war and to really get the parties goin' after the war, men began to wear jewel toned clothing and the women did what they could to attract the roaming eyes of the returning soldiers at the USO's.

The use of color climaxed in the 50's. If you look at different ads and appliance commercials from that era, people were very excited about colors it seemed. Then the early 60's came and people were sorta settling into their conservative and proper ways, almost to a fault.

But then came the British Invasion...those guitar wielding, long haired, butterfly collared Brits and their psychedilia an experimentation with drugs and trippy colors. Well, by the early 70's they'd nearly all burned out (with the acception of Glam).

And then, we all remember the horrendous styles of the mid 80's to early 90's. The dayglo, neon colors, zubaz pants and bright Ray Bans. We were more desperate than ever to consume and fit in with everyone else that our judgement went out the window.

Then what happened? GRUNGE! Dark colors, plaid and worn clothing was suddenly the big thing. But that was soon replaced by a semi-return to the stylings of the second half of the 70's, with a 90's skater twist.

Things haven't change TOO much since then, but the return of the mullet and hipsters with their accessories leave me hoping that we don't suffer from the same identity crisis that we all faced in the early 90's.

(This blog was not inspired by any reality shows such as Project Runway or America's Next Top Model)

that was an honest disclaimer

I done been tagged...

The 1st player of this "game" starts with the topic, " six weird habits..things about ME", and people who get tagged need to write a blog about their six weird habits..things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next six people to be tagged and list their names.Don't forget to leave a comment that says, " You are tagged" in their myspace comments and tell them to read your blog.

1.) I'm very concerned about how the cuffs of my jeans relate to the pair of shoes I'm wearing that day. Generally I'm happier on the days I'm wearing my Converse Chuck Taylor's.

2.) Almost every night you can find me at 2 am, awake, at my computer or on the couch, actually FIGHTING sleep. I hate sleeping but I love the feeling of not being tired. It's an ongoing conflict.

3.) If you're out to dinner with me and you bite your fork or spoon then scrape it with your teeth, I will murder you on the spot.

4.) People say I'm a pretty good writer, I think I'm a pretty good writer, but I'm also a class act procrastinator with it. I need less distractions, basically.

5.) I prefer going to movies alone

6.) I love food with garlic, if it didn't make me stink I'd eat it all day everyday.

People to be tagged.

1.) Ben
2.) Roman
3.) Ashley
4.) Darcy
5.) Manda
6.) Jeff

"Specialty's" Soups...

They would be soooooooo much better if they learned about a little classic combo called "Salt & Pepper"

Gotta sprinkle that stuff on it everytime!

This is a rant.

If you watched King Kong...

...and wondered where Kong's dong was. Here's an anatomical drawing and explanation of why.



You're not going to see anything that small if it's all covered in fur.

:)

Oscars!

OK, so, the Oscars were last night. I was happy with the majority of the awards, but then there were some that just didn't make sense to me.

Anyway, here are my opinions on most of them:

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Winner: Crash (2004) - Paul Haggis; Cathy Schulman
OK, Good movie, I loved how beautifully it was shot and the performances were great. But the way scenes were constructed, character motivation and dialogue was pretty over the top. True, the overkill was to prove a point, but it was too forced for me to appreciate it enough to make it my pick for best film. "Capote" should have won.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Winner: Capote (2005) - Philip Seymour Hoffman
NO COMPLAINTS HERE! He did a nearly flawless Capote impersonation and was very strong and moving in this role.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Winner: Walk the Line (2005) - Reese Witherspoon
Eh, she was OK, not Oscar worthy in my opinion. Her performance wasn't especially memorable, but I haven't seen any of the other nominees films, so I can't be a great judge of who the winner should have been.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Winner: Syriana (2005) - George Clooney
He gave the most intense and memorable performance of the year. And in a film with so many characters, he stood out the most and brought a lot of weight to that role. Much deserved.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Winner: Constant Gardener, The (2005) - Rachel Weisz
I knew she'd win a lot of awards this year right after I'd seen the film. She was wonderful.

Best Achievement in Directing
Winner: Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Ang Lee
Haven't seen it, but I respect Ang Lee and know most of his films are beautifully directed, so there's no doubt in my mind that he was deserving.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Winner: Crash (2004) - Paul Haggis; Robert Moresco
SEE ABOVE regarding dialogue and overkill, "Good Night and Good Luck" should have won.

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Winner: Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Larry McMurtry; Diana Ossana
Again, haven't seen it, but the hype this movie has received and the reviews for how strong the material is are definitely a result of great writing.

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Winner: Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - Dion Beebe
If anything, I hear the cinematography is the ONLY impressive feature of this film. "The New World" was my pick, "Good Night & Good Luck" made a close second.

Best Achievement in Sound
Winner: King Kong (2005) - Christopher Boyes (I); Michael Semanick; Michael Hedges (I); Hammond Peek
I was glad to see King Kong get most of the tech awards, nuff said.

Best Achievement in Editing
Winner: Crash (2004) - Hughes Winborne
What?! Why? There wasn't anything special in its editing. "Munich" or "Constant Gardener" should have been the biggest candidates for this award.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Winner: King Kong (2005) - Mike Hopkins (I); Ethan Van der Ryn
SEE ABOVE

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Winner: King Kong (2005) - Joe Letteri; Brian Van't Hul; Christian Rivers; Richard Taylor (III)
Star Wars Episode III should have been the winner here...but of the nominees, King Kong was my favorite as far as actually creating believeable characters in special effects and also creating a nearly seamless reality. "Narnia" should NOT have been nominated.

Best Achievement in Makeup
Winner: Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The (2005) - Howard Berger; Tami Lane
Again, Star Wars should have won simply for the burnt Anakin makeup.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Winner: Hustle & Flow (2005) - Jordan Houston; Cedric Coleman; Paul Beauregard
- For the song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp".
What!? It's not even a good hip hop song at that! It must have been a joke. This song won for the same reason Schwarzeneggar won the election, everyone just thought it would be funny to vote for it.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Winner: Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Gustavo Santaolalla
Seriously, after hearing that riff from the trailer, who COULDN'T get that theme music out their head?

Best Short Film, Animated
Winner: Moon and the Son, The (2005) - John Canemaker; Peggy Stern
Haven't seen it...and who has? I saw one of the nominees at least, "9", it was really cool. Expect a feature length version in a year or two.

Best Short Film, Live Action
Winner: Six Shooter (2005) - Martin McDonagh
I want to go see the shorts, wanna come with?

Best Documentary, Features
Winner: March of the Penguins (2005) - Luc Jacquet; Yves Darondeau
OF COURSE IT WAS GONNA WIN! It's the only one that there were actually TV commercials for!

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Winner: Tsotsi (2005) - South Africa.
OK, so I'm pissed that France's "Cache (Hidden)" wasn't nominated...but ah well. I really wanna see Tsotsi though.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Winner: Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) - Steve Box; Nick Park
I'm really happy that it won. Corpse Bride was good, but it had some story flaws.

That's it! If you agree, disagree or just wanna discuss, feel free to comment :)

Manah manah!

You know that song they use in a Diet Dr. Pepper commercial? It goes "Manah manah, doo dooooo doo doo doo!" Well, I'm watching the first season of the Muppet Show, and it's a song they sang in the VERY FIRST SKETCH of the show! It's a hairy muppet guy singing the manah manah part, and two horned female muppets singing the doo doo part. I'm pretty sure the original lyrics were "monage et 'trois" "no noooo, no no no!" You be the judge