“We have one more award to give out. Is Buffy Summers here tonight? Did she, um... This is actually a new category. First time ever. I guess there were a lot of write-in ballots, and, um, the prom committee asked me to read this. "We're not good friends. Most of us never found the time to get to know you, but that doesn't mean we haven't noticed you. We don't talk about it much, but it's no secret that Sunnydale High isn't really like other high schools. A lot of weird stuff happens here. But whenever there was a problem or something creepy happened, you seemed to show up and stop it. Most of the people here have been saved by you or helped by you at one time or another. We're proud to say that the class of '99 has the lowest mortality rate of any graduating class in Sunnydale history, and we know at least part of that is because of you. So the senior class offers its thanks and gives you, uh, this." "It's from all of us, and it has written here, "Buffy Summers, Class Protector".
Dear Joss.
Thank you for your gifts to me and the rest of the world. For allowing me into your universe of Sunnydale. Thank you for introducing me to your friends Xander, Harmony, Spike, Angel, Dawn, Cordelia, Giles, Joyce, Anya, Drucilla, Tara, Willow and Buffy. For seven all too short years I enjoyed being in your company and for that I will forever grateful. I look forward to being entertained by you and your imagination for years to come. May you have the happiest of Birthdays today.
Well the trailer for "Margot at the Wedding" has hit. I am itching with excitement. This is not just because Nicole isin it, but because for the first time, in a long time, she is playing real. Most of her characterizations has been women either very glamorous, cold and aloof, or ice queens. Perhaps it is the modern day setting, the unkept hair and make up, but this looks like the type of performance I could get lost in. Added to that the chemistry between her and Jennifer Jason Leigh looks very real. Sister rivals. I for one cannot wait.
Another poll. This time the exact same year, but different category. Supporting Actress was pretty much sewn up, but just because it is in the past, does not mean that the decision was right. Have you say and cast your vote for who you think was the best that year.
Choose out of:
Margaret Avery - The Color Purple Anjelica Huston - Prizzi's Honor Amy Madigan - Twice in a Lifetime Meg Tilly - Agnes of God as Oprah Winfrey - The Color Purple
Yes the results are here from my first ever poll. I asked who you felt deserved the Best Actress Oscar back in 1985. The results were hardly surprising, most people agree. So in descending order:
5) With 4% of the votes we have Geraldine Page – A Trip to Bountiful 4) With 8% of the votes we have Anne Bancroft – Agnes of God 3) With 13% of the votes we have Jessica Lange – Sweet Dreams 2) With 27% of the votes we have Meryl Streep – Out of Africa 1) With a whopping 48% we have Whoopie Goldberg – The Color Purple.
Hardly surprising is it? This is one of those many cases where the Academy really messes up everything. Geraldine Page was of course the winner, and she won mainly because she had been nominated seven times before without a win. It was a sentimental vote. (not so for Peter O’Toole) Whoopie Goldberg did win eventually for ‘Ghost’ as a kind of make up award, however that year it was at a loss to one of these amazing performances: Annette Bening - The Grifters Diane Ladd - Wild at Heart Mary McDonnell - Dances with Wolves (leaving out Brocco on purpose)
Can you imagine if they gave it to who was the best at the time? We would no longer have the 'make up award' (Damn you Helen Hunt!!! You stole Dame Judi's Oscar and now she has 'Shakespeare in Love' forever in the history books as her Oscar winning performance).
Anyway, enough of that. Back to the performance that should have won that year.
I remember seeing this movie as a young teenager (13 I think) and never before had an adult movie made be cry like a five year old girl. Until then it had been films like ‘Born Free’ that caused an uncontrollable amount of blubbering. Of course I can see how critics felt it was a little soppy, but I can always see past that, and it is because of the performances that I can.
When Mister takes Nettie away from Celie near the beginning of the film, pounding their hands with his fists as they try desperately to hold on to each other, it just breaks my heart. Their love for each other, and his hatred for that love, are almost too much to watch. From that point to when Celie finds the first letter from her sister I was constantly red eyed and tear stained. (On a side note, the actress who played young Celie was fantastic as well...where did she go?)
Whoppie, for me, became Celie. Submissive, alone and broken. Her heart had been torn out, and she had resolved herself to this life of misery with the hope the heaven would be better and eternal. “This life be over soon, heaven lasts always” she advises Sophia after Sophia was beaten by her husband. This is all she knows of life, the only happiness she had was taken away. When Shug, Mister’s mistress, is bought into her life she begins to open up. Someone loves her, she is worth while.
(How this song did not win the Oscar is beyond me. 14 nominations and not one win!) Hope enters her life with Shug, and the discovery of the fate of her beloved sister and the children that were taken away from her while she was still a child. She beings to strengthen. She stands up for herself and pride takes over. She is no longer afraid of the man who had spent decades beating her for not being who he wanted.
This is the scene when Whoopie shines. Every time I watch this film I am utterly amazed that this was her film debut. For me, no other debut performance has impressed me as much.
“I'm poor, black, I might even be ugly, but dear God, I'm here. I'm here.”
But she lost the Oscar because it was a debut (and because she is black), I guess the Academy wanted to see what else she could do. So much for a fair race.
As much as I love the woman, she has never really bettered this in my opinion. She has come close in movies like “A Long Walk Home” and “Girl, Interrupted ” (her and Brittany Murphy were the best things in that movie imho) I wish she would come back with a serious dramatic performance and remind us of her talent. She has it in spades with both comedy and drama. After her debut she went back to her comedy roots and had great box office success. She would occasionally throw us a drama bone, but these were few and far between and did not ever take away the ease in which she slipped into such a complex character. What she did in “The Color Purple” was nothing short of iconic.
Here is Tori Amos with ‘Bouncing off Clouds’ from her new album ‘American Doll Posse’. It is considered to be the second single from her album – so bring on the remix!!! I was to see Tori live, but unfortunately the tickets I was offered were for the same night as my anniversary. THANKS DAVE!!! Apparently she has performed Kate Bush’s "Running Up That Hill" – MUST GET HANDS ON IT!!
This is the best song from MIKA. The album ‘Life in Cartoon Motion’ does sound a little like the Scissor Sisters being raped by Queen, but it is a fun lovely album to make ya smile. This is my personal favorite ‘Any Other World’. Here is a little known factoid: He chose the name Mika for his professional name because he was frustrated with how often people would mispronounce his name - Mica Penniman (Are people really that dumb?)
You are all probably sick of hearing me go on and on about Siobhan Donaghy but I really do not care, she deserves it. This is the first track off her hotly reviewed second album ‘Ghosts’. It is not particularly original, but it does sound it for some strange reason. Siobhan said this songs main purpose wasn't to chart particularly high; but to introduce people to her music, nice thought, but it should have charted WAY high! I give you ‘Don’t Give It Up’
So I am a big ole fan of the horror animal franchise. I loved "Jaws", "Jurassic Park", and I even really enjoyed "Lake Placid". There is something very very creepy about the water. Mankind knows more about space than it does about water and life inside (or so they say). there is nothing more eerie than going for a swim at night time. This film looks like it could be alot of fun to watch. I know it has been spinning around with a possible DVD only release, but I am glad it is getting a chance to shine in the theaters. I will go (reviews depending) View the trailer here.
Ok, so I did see this a while ago, and it has taken me that long to write the review. Not because I needed time to figure it out, but because the film is long and dense and I really could not be bothered for the longest time. So now I have figured that I would write a very brief review.
In a nut shell this is a movie about obsession and for such a film, one can easily be put off by the two and a half hour running time. This would be a mistake as the entire film is engrossing to the point where you wish it was longer. David Fincher is best know for his thrill style in film making. So it was a great relief that he chose to approach this with a light, but detailed touch. Working from a script by James Vanderbilt, he uses a methodical approach over style. This is a psychological and layered film, so the fact it is shot with such a matter-of-fact style makes the plight of the victims all the more horrible.
The cast of characters has three major players with a lot of supporting players. Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr. in brilliant form) is the San Francisco Chronicle crime reporter who becomes pulled into the case. The Chronicle's cartoonist, Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal, doing quiet obsession to perfection), is an amateur Sherlock who becomes obsessed by the case as the years go on without any substantial evidence. Finally we have homicide inspector Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo). He enters the picture once the Zodiac killings begin in San Francisco, and we see his slow sway from obsession to frustration as the years go on.
The hunt is what this film puts it’s main focus on, but in an entirely different way. The hunt sprawls across years of evidence gathering and clues that lead to dead ends. There are no major chase scenes and the action is played down in favour of a more dialogue heavy film. It is this dialogue, however, that builds up most of the tension. As the film moves from it’s first half to the second, even the violence changes. It moves from physical violence to emotional.
The entire cast is fantastic in their roles (not showy enough for Oscar) but the real star of this film is the screenplay and the direction. You almost feel you are experiencing things as they unfold to you, you are on this journey from horrific beginning to frustrating end. A-
Nicole and I go back a long way. She has been a good friend, and although we have had our ups and downs I will always root for her to succeed and stand by her when she flounders. She has always been lovely, even when we went riding on our BMX bikes together when she was a blossoming teenager. As she grew into a woman she went through an unfortunate boating trip, but as always she pulled through with the help of her friends.
We drifted apart a little during her contractual marriage to a high flying Hollywood type. She always looked lovely when I saw her on TV at award shows, but the sorrow of entrapment behind her eyes was obvious to those close to her. The pretend marriage to the gay, sterile dwarf was causing problems, even sleeping with students, talking Irish, or having her portrait done could not bring back that sparkling diamond.
It was only when she was dumped, (through the press) by the dwarf, that she came running back to me. (you see I am gay and the ex husband could not be tempted in anyway) She sang and danced into my heart again, and we were off, exploring haunted homes, and having deep discussions on suicidal authors. We would sit in café’s having intense talks about how it is humanities inherent nature to exploit others, and the casting of white actors in black roles. We would muse on politics in Africa and the possibility of reincarnation and grief of loss. This year, after trying to stay awake for a long time, we are attending our dear friends, Margot’s, wedding, and I am sure fun will be had by all. Not only is she a good friend, but she is a vision of beauty. Naturally slim, and willowy, and striking. She makes heads turn and hearts flutter. So Nicole, my love, I just wanted to wish you Happy Birthday.
So the Academy has invited one hundred fifteen filmmakers and executives to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
From the Hollywood Reporter:
” The numbers are stabilizing nicely, but at the same time some interesting changes are occurring," Academy executive director Bruce Davis said. "Like the recent lists of Oscar nominees, our last few membership invitation lists have been increasingly international."”
Actors: Jennifer Aniston, Adriana Barraza, Steve Carell, Daniel Craig, Aaron Eckhart, Chiwetel Ejiofor, William Fichtner, Ryan Gosling, Jackie Earle Haley, Jennifer Hudson, Danny Huston, Eddie Murphy, Christopher Plummer, James Rebhorn, Michael Sheen, Maribel Verdu (YAY!!!!!)
Jonathan: 
But whenever there was a problem or something creepy happened, you seemed to show up and stop it. Most of the people here have been saved by you or helped by you at one time or another. We're proud to say that the class of '99 has the lowest mortality rate of any graduating class in Sunnydale history, and we know at least part of that is because of you. So the senior class offers its thanks and gives you, uh, this." 
Dear Joss.
