(no subject)

[brokenrecord]

I say this every year, but omg I love the Academy Awards. They're just so much fun! I don't even know why, but I just have so much fun watching them.

First off, YAY NEIL PATRICK HARRIS! AND SINGING! I kind of wanted him to host, so this is definitely a great consolation. (Although was it just me, or was the sound off? His voice was super quiet compared to the music, and it seemed like some sort of... sound mixing problem or something.)

The opening joke sequence thing was kind of lame. The whole "Oh look, there's...!" got kind of old. There were some funny jokes (I enjoyed the one about Zac Efron and Taylor Lautner looking like Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin in 5 years, and a few others I can't remember), and others that were kind of painfully bad. They should have just had Neil Patrick Harris sing for longer.

lkjf YES THEY WENT BACK TO CLIPS FROM THE MOVIES. I'm sorry, this is a ridiculous thing to be excited about. But honestly I love the clips they show. I like remembering awesome parts of movies I've seen and seeing a little of films I haven't. And last year's 5-person tributes were just... bizarre and annoying and dragged everything out longer than it needed to be. I mean, it was also just weird because there were some that were like... obviously specially chosen and the presenters obviously put a lot of thought and effort into them, and others that were just... they made no sense. Anyways. I adore the clips, so yay for them. I will probably be the only one saying this.

Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz

I'm not surprised he won at all, but I was very happy about it. Although, to be fair, his was the only performance I've seen. But he hasn't not won an award for that film during the entire awards season, so not surprising in the slightest. And he really was brilliant in it.

Steve Carrell! I would also love if he hosted sometime.

Animated Picture: Up

Awww I really loved how this was presented. It was cute and funny. Especially Doug! I would have liked to see some clips from the films, though, if only because omg at the animation in The Secret of Kells. Up winning is one of the least surprising things ever, but it was very deserving (although I haven't seen The Princess and the Frog or The Fantastic Mr. Fox yet).

Original Song: "The Weary Kind"

I did not care about this category very much. Usually I don't, unless there's the case of something like Falling Slowly two years ago which I would have been devastated if it hadn't won. But in this case, I hadn't even seen any of the films nominated, and none of the songs were particularly my sort of thing. I think "The Weary Kind" was my favorite song based on the snippets that were played of the songs.

I enjoyed Robert Downey Jr. and Tina Fey's presentation a lot. They played off each other well, and it was very amusing.

Original Screenplay: The Hurt Locker

Yay! I really love this film. I was hoping it would win (maybe more for the indication that The Hurt Locker would then win Best Picture and Director). I was a little afraid that Inglourious Basterds was going to win, even though it was certainly deserving, but that would have made me super nervous about The Hurt Locker's chances for other awards. Really, the whole category was awesome (not counting The Messenger only because I haven't seen it. But the other 4 films I really adored and are all in my top 10 of last year).

The tribute to John Hughes made me realize I really haven't seen enough of his films. I've seen half of The Breakfast Club and I saw Home Alone years ago, and... that's it. I was born in '89, so I think I kind of... was born just a little too late to be exposed to most of his really major films? (Also, is it just me, or is it a little weird that they gave him a separate tribute? I mean... it was kind of... arbitrary? I've only really been paying attention to the Oscars for the past 5 years so maybe this is done often, but it did seem a bit like a slight to the other people who died in the past year and didn't get a separate tribute. That being said, it was a really lovely tribute, and it was nice to see clips from his films and the actors discussing him.)

Animated Short: Logorama
Documentary Short: Music by Prudence
Live Action Short: The New Tenants

I haven't seen any of the shorts, but I liked the intro they did, trying to show the value of short films. And the guy who won for Logorama was pretty adorable and amusing in his speech.

Makeup: Star Trek

I'm still surprised that District 9 wasn't nominated and that The Young Victoria was. In any case, I'm not surprised Star Trek won, and I'm glad it did out of the nominees.

I freaking adored Rachel McAdams's whole look. Her dress was gorgeous, and I really loved her earrings and her hair.

Adapted Screenplay: Precious

I expected Up in the Air to win, but wanted An Education (well, of those nominated. If I could choose any film, I would choose A Single Man). I was really not expecting Precious to win, and as it's one of the two films nominated for Best Picture that I have yet to see, I don't really know what to think of it. In fact, I had seen all of the films nominated in this category except Precious. I should have probably seen it already. Soon, I guess?

Supporting Actress: Mo'nique

I was expecting Mo'nique to win, and I didn't really have a preference. I guess of what I've seen, Anna Kendrick, but I didn't care that much. I mean, like Christoph Waltz, she's been winning every award possible all awards season, so it was pretty much just inevitable. The beginning of her speech with the whole "I'd like to thank the Academy for awarding based on performance and not politics" was all... what? Who was she referring to? Herself? Other winners of the night? I don't even know. It was really weird. Like, I totally think they should award on performance of course, but it's weird to hear someone who wins say that, I guess.

COLIN FIRTH. I love him. I wish he would take more amazing roles like the one in A Single Man.

Art Direction: Avatar

I had no idea who would win and didn't really care. I would have maybe chosen The Young Victoria, but Art Direction is one of the few awards that Avatar actually deserves, so I didn't mind it winning.

Costume Design: The Young Victoria

I expected The Young Victoria to win and that would have been my choice as well although... another category that I really didn't care who won. I thought it was super cool that she acknowledged the costume designers who don't do the period pieces, because contemporary work really does never get acknowledged here.

I hate Charlize Theron's dress.

The horror tribute was nice, even though I normally hate horror (only because it freaks me out way too much most of the time). It included Hitchcock, anyways, who is my favorite director (although I consider his films more thrillers than horror. In any case, his films don't freak me out like most horror films do), so I enjoyed that. But really, including a shot of New Moon? Not exactly what I'd consider horror.

Sound Editing: The Hurt Locker
Sound Mixing: The Hurt Locker

I liked them trying to explain what sound editors and sound mixers actually do. I feel like they've done this before, but I can never get it straight. Being reminded was definitely helpful. I kind of want them to rename the categories, because sound editing sounds like what the title should be for what the sound mixers actually do (although maybe that's just me). Anyways, YAY THE HURT LOCKER OVER AVATAR. I want it to beat Avatar in every category they're up against each other (I think this is the first one that that's been the case; Avatar definitely wasn't up for screenplay, and I don't believe The Hurt Locker was up for Art Direction).

Are we supposed to be hearing the announcer's voice, btw? Because I can totally hear someone speaking, but can't make out what she's saying. Either they're doing a terrible job of balancing the music with the announcer's voice, or they're not canceling out the announcer's voice enough. Seriously, the sound throughout this thing has just been awful. Maybe it's just me and it's fine for everyone else.

Cinematography: Avatar

How come we didn't see any clips for Cinematography? We wouldn't have even needed clips, but just like... a few shots. I mean, it's Cinematography. It's so... visual. They had clips for the screenplays, even. Anyways, boo to Avatar winning over The Hurt Locker, but I suppose the cinematography of Avatar wasn't exactly unworthy. I don't really remember who else was nominated because I was so surprised at the lack of clips/shots that I missed hearing who was nominated.

Ugh, they screwed up the beginning of the In Memoriam tribute so we couldn't actually see who the first few people being honored were. Lame. It was great after that, though. Much better than last year when we couldn't really see anything because of all the stupid swoopy camera stuff. I really liked that they had a picture of the person, clips from movies they were involved with, and their name and what they did. I always hate when they just show a picture of the person and their role but not some of the movies they were involved with because most of the time I don't know which producers or editors or what have you worked on what film. Anyways, despite my initial irritation, it was really excellent. (Although if they could stop airing the clapping noise for each person, that would be great, because it gets ridiculous when some people get huge applause and others get very little.)

Original Score: Up

...the dancing to the scores was kind of bizarre. (Seriously, they had time for that but not to show any clips for cinematography?) But whatever. I wanted either Up or The Hurt Locker (if only so it could beat Avatar) to win this category. Really, II wanted A Single Man to freaking be nominated because it was so gorgeous. I'm really glad Up won, anyways.

Visual Effects: Avatar

Ok, this is the one category I actually wanted Avatar to win, because yeah, the visual effects were amazing. And it was obviously no surprise that it won.

Documentary: The Cove

I've seen none of these. I was expecting The Cove to win, though, based on what I'd heard.

Editing: The Hurt Locker

I was hoping for The Hurt Locker since there's some... trend in Academy Awards history about the Best Picture winner getting Editing as well. I don't remember the exact trend, but something to that effect. But besides my whole wanting The Hurt Locker to win everything over Avatar, the editing in The Hurt Locker was really excellent. It managed to stay incredibly suspenseful the entire way through, and a lot of that was due to editing.

...why is Keanu Reeves introducing The Hurt Locker? Some of the people chosen to introduce each picture made sense, and others have just seemed totally random. Did Keanu Reeves work with Kathryn Bigelow previously, or is he great friends with her or something? idk.

Foreign Language Film: The Secret in Their Eyes

The only one I've seen is A Prophet, so I was pretty much rooting for it, although I'm dying to see The White Ribbon, and The Secret in Their Eyes looks interesting, too. A Prophet and The White Ribbon have been taking every other award and I think most people were expecting it to go to one of them, but... the Foreign Film category at the Oscars tends to be bizarre. Like last year when everyone thought it would go to Waltz With Bashir or The Class and then it went to Departures, which like no one had heard of. A Prophet was really excellent, so I'm a little disappointed it didn't win.

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges

What, are they doing the 5-person presentation thing all of a sudden? At least they showed clips of them first. And limited it to only to 2 categories. And I think last year they did people who had previously won even though some of them had no connection to who they were presenting to, so having people who had worked with those nominated worked much better. And hey, they presented Best Actor before Best Actress! Have they done that before? I enjoy that, because otherwise it makes it seem like Best Actor is like... a more important award than Best Actress, when really they should be equal. It would be great if they alternated which was presented last every year. Anyways. I wanted Colin Firth to win this so freaking much. He made me all teary in only the few short clips shown. I expected Jeff Bridges to win, but (even though I haven't seen the film), it just seems like they're giving it as a career award for him.

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock

Carey Mulligan would have been my choice, but I would have been happy with anyone who wasn't Sandra Bullock. She seems like a nice enough person, but she just did not deserve to be nominated, let alone win. sigh. And how boring that all the winners for acting have been pretty much set in stone since December/January (and some for even longer). It makes for a really boring awards season. The BAFTAs were much more fun, what with Carey Mulligan and Colin Firth and all. At least Sandra Bullock's speech was more fun and more entertaining and more touching than Jeff Bridges's.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

I wanted Kathryn Bigelow here more than anything in any other category. I am so thrilled she won. (Although seriously, how is it not until now that a woman has won Best Director? That's freaking ridiculous. Same goes for an African American having never won.)

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker

This was my pick (obviously), and I'm so happy it won. Thank god. I don't know what else to say! I'm just thrilled.

omg it's so warm all of the sudden! It's wonderful! Last week it was getting warmer, but it was still cold enough that even though a bunch of snow and ice would melt during the day, as soon as the sun set, ice would cover the ground, making it very difficult to walk anywhere at night or in the early morning before it melted again. But now! Oh man, it was 48 degrees at 6:40 PM last night! Last year it got warm around this time, but it was only during spring break, and then it got cold again so I totally missed it. I am definitely enjoying it right now. I'm sure it will get cold again and even snow a few more times, but for now I'm just going to pretend that it will be this warm for the rest of the semester.

I finished North and South last night! I managed to finish what I needed to get done on my paper early, and I ended up reading it during all the commercials during the Oscars and the Red Carpet, so I managed to get through it. There were definitely parts I liked more in the book than the mini-series, but there were also several parts I liked much more in the mini-series than the book, and I think overall I liked the mini-series more, if only because I liked the proposal scene in the mini-series more, and the ending was so much more satisfying (the book ended rather abruptly, and when reading the book, you can't see Mr. Thornton smiling when he sees Margaret and throughout their entire discussion, and how he asks her if she's coming home with him, and it's just so lovely). There are a bunch of Dickens I want to read (namely, Little Dorrit, Bleak House, and Our Mutual Friend), but I think I want to wait at least a week to start any of them because part of the problem when reading North and South for me was that I was so familiar with what was going on from having watched it only a day or so before I started it that I found myself rushing through parts because there was another part I knew I wanted to get to, and I think my ultimate enjoyment suffered from that. So I think I'm going to either read Agnes Grey, Cecilia, or... something by Georgette Heyer (haven't decided what yet).

I've been dreading this week since like... the beginning of last week or so, when I realized how busy I would be, but it's actually not turning out too bad. I'm done with my paper except I still need an intro and conclusion (but those take very little time) and I need to do some editing, but we're doing a peer review of the midterms on Wednesday, so I have 2 days to finish it and make the changes I want. The hard part's done, in any case. And I also have that stupid evolution project podcast promo, but originally it was due Monday and it was pushed back until Thursday, so that's relieved a little of my stress, and I kind of have an idea for what I'm going to do for it. So tonight I'll figure out exactly what I want to say and tomorrow I'll record it and edit it, and theoretically I should be done with it by tomorrow night. And now only 4 days until Spring Break! I can't wait.

Comments

[sunnytyler001.livejournal.com]

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock
See, I'm quite happy she won, because, poor dear! She was very brave accepting in person her razzie award! (the same year she get an oscar!!! LOL)

[http://users.livejournal.com/brokenrecord__/]

I loved her acceptance speech for her razzie, and I think it was super cool that she actually accepted it in person. Her acceptance speech for the Oscar was also one of the best of the night. But I feel like Oscars should be given based on performance and not how nice a person is, you know? And for me, her performance, from what I've seen, was the worst of all that were nominated. But obviously stuff like this is subjective, so I guess some people did see the merits in her performance. But personally, if I could have chosen who got it, she would have been last on my list of those who were nominated.

[likepinkvenom.livejournal.com]

i didn't get to watch it but i'm happy that they brought back the clips of the films! that's the best part! reminds you of why it's good.

i haven't seen the blind side so i can't say if i think sandra bullock should've won - but i agree with you about her speech, i thought that was pretty good.

[http://users.livejournal.com/brokenrecord__/]

I know! I love being reminded of parts of films that are great that I've forgotten or being able to check out ones I haven't. I was so disappointed last year when they didn't have the clips.

To be fair, I haven't seen the film either, I'm just basing my opinion on the clips of her I've seen. I am probably going to see the film this week, though, so then I'll be able to see if my opinion changes or not. But yeah, her speech was a lot of fun.