NJADANDMBWHPRESENTTHEOSCARSY'ALL

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Poem Overload, anyone?

Here's a new poem I call "Cucina." A work in progress.

cucina

The wool cap on the stool

Counting teardrops on the wall

Vultures encircle stained plaster

In for the re-kill, the rehash

Of moments when everything went

Wrong, and liquidized

Feelings met the confinements

Of mother’s kitchen.

Take me back to the linoleum anyway,

Take me back to the tomato sauce

And the toaster oven

And the wailings

Of

The tea kettle.

That I may wear the wool cap again

And help it

Count my teardrops on the

Wall

But wait, there's more! I recently also wrote a poem inspired by the art of total deconstruction. It was quite painful.

Groundhog Day

February air

Stings

Like

A cicada

Leaves

Red marks on

Sorry flesh

Buzz of winter

In full

Spring

I've also been writing haiku lately. I love them. It's better than people throwing brownies.

An ornament hangs.

Perfunctory; loose on a

Striking evergreen

Thick rims and a gleam

Hazel almonds briefly blind

An epiphany

Some color my world

In neon and azuline

As I prefer gray

Scoffing at the tree

We dubbed it too willowish

And it gave us fruit

Paper clips must be

Sick of all the warping. I

Dislike those “S”s

Three gentle words, hushed

With the scolding of wind: failed

Communication

When I saw the brush

Ablaze, I waited for God

Or the firemen

Laissez-faire Sundays

Warm Toyota afternoons

Tunes from the Songbook

In spite of the laughs

I dared to think up a place

Of compromised wax

The finger points to

Me and my comrades, we march

On unscathed; shrill cries

Photographs, scraps of

History, yesteryear’s news

And the fire blooms

Tigress carries the

Load of her children on her

Once-glorious back

N_q_t

OSCARS 2011 w000000t

THE NOMINATIONS ARE IN! It's a year of snubs (Mila?! Nolan?! Andrew?!), staying faithful (Jacki, Jeremy, Best Actress nominees) as well as not so faithful (True Grit, Javier, M-Ruffles) to the Golden Globes earlier this month. Where to start, where to start!? How about at Best Picture, no? I'll be giving my predicted rankings as well for some categories. For the lolz.

BEST PICTURE

• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King's Speech
• 127 Hours
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter's Bone

Well, would you look at that. No surprises here, fo sho. Common pre-Oscars knowledge taught us that "True Grit" would definitely be nominated for SOMETHING at the O's this year--unlike at the Hollywood Foreign Press's annual presentation of their shiny spherical trophies. Oh, wait a sec--TEN nominations for "True Grit"? It just may be a contender in this category. Obvious nods include "The Social Network", "The King's Speech", "Black Swan", and "The Fighter". As for "The Kids Are All Right" (don't you just love this whole ten nominees thing? Comedies ahoy! (Asterisk. Some dramatic moments in "TKAAR." But still funny. Lesbians lol.)) and "Inception", their nods were almost just as inevitable. Ho, ho, "Winter's Bone"! Kudos to the biggest (though not so big) surprise in this category--one of four nominations for this well-reviewed film. "127 Hours" also rightfully deserved a spot in this race and racked up a healthy five other nominations--though its chances of winning are slim. As for good ol' TS^3, this season's ultimate tearjerker--I mean really though--, I'm personally glad it was nominated for Best Picture. After last year's grand and glorious "Up"-portunity for Pixar to take it all home (damn you, "Hurt Locker"!), anything less than this animated flick's 5 noms would be criminal. DEAD LIST: None for this category. Perhaps "Blue Valentine" is the most mourned of the axed, but I certainly would have chopped my OWN head off if I saw "The Tourist" or "Burlesque" nominated (0 nods whaddup). But not "Alice in Wonderland", considering its three nods this year and huge profit at the box office. And that's ironic!

MY RANKINGS (1 being most likely to win, 10 the least likely):

1. The Social Network*

2. The King's Speech

3. The Fighter

4. The Kids Are All Right

5. True Grit

6. Black Swan

7. Toy Story 3

8. 127 Hours

9. Winter's Bone

10. Inception

* A statistic tells me that the HFPA has only correctly predicted the Best Picture winner at the Oscars once (Slumdogggggg) in the past SEVEN YEARS! So will "Social Network" be (rest of the world:) "ROBBED" of its statue? Count on "The King's Speech", leading the night with twelve nominations, to take home the gold if Fincher and his accolade-filchers (I kid, I kid) trip at the finish line.

BEST ACTOR

• Javier Bardem – Biutiful as Uxbal
• Jeff Bridges – True Grit as Rooster Cogburn
• Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network as Mark Zuckerberg
• Colin Firth – The King's Speech as King George VI
• James Franco – 127 Hours as Aron Ralston

Javier! Where'd you come from? Haven't seen you in, like, three years. Kind of. I'm all for nominating actors from foreign language films--I bet it makes the Academy feel better in case these astounding artists win. We would have cheered more for Marion Cotillard for "La Vie En Rose" if Tilda, Daniel, and Javier were actually from our country, making us question why we make so many flicks about street dancing and animals who "come to life" when the zoo is closed. But I digress. Javier earns a well-deserved nod, as do Bridges (let's get him on the rebound! Two years of Oscars in a row?! Bridges and Hanks lezzdoooittt) despite no HFPA recognition, Firth (who is actually going to win, so haha) after his heartbreaking loss to Bridges last year (the irony! Would this be the first time it happened?!), and Franco, whose performance has been called one of the best of all time, probably from some website no one's ever heard of but apparently has enough credibility to be cited in a recent commercial for "127 Hours". I guess Eisenberg also did well in "The Social Network"--I mean, it's hard to play a person who's still living and has only aged, like, five years since the film's events. So props to you, Jesse. DEAD LIST: Marky Mark Wahlberg didn't get a nod for "The Fighter"! Oh, poo! But I'm still confused over whether he's even an actor or not. But I digress. Again. A surprising snub of Ryan Gosling for "Blue Valentine" as well--although his counterpart was nominated (see below)! Scandalous! It's like the Globes last year, only Michelle is Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ryan is Zooey Deschanel, realizing that a good movie won't make up for okay acting. And no Paul Giammati for his Globe-winning role in "Barney's Version"?! Come on, Academy, this isn't the late 90s anymore. Comedies need some accolades too.

MY RANKINGS:

1. Colin Firth

2. Javier Bardem

3. James Franco, Jeff Bridges (tie)

4. Jesse Eisenberg

BEST ACTRESS

• Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right as Nic
• Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole as Becca Corbett
• Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone as Ree Dolly
• Natalie Portman – Black Swan as Nina Sayers
• Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine as Cindy

Okay, okay, we all know Portly Preggy Portman is going to win for her breakout turn as a freaky-ass pen who enjoys smashing things. (Can you tell I haven't seen the movie?) But Bening will put up a fight with her moving role as a lesbian muvvah in "The Kids Are All Right". The media seems to believe that the Actress race is solely between these two talented ladies. But the Academy hit the other three spots in the category right on the nose. Nicole Kidman is reportedly stellar in "Rabbit Hole" as Becca Corbett, the role that won Cynthia Nixon a Tony in the 2005 play of the same name. 20-year-old Jennifer Lawrence also completely deserves her nod for "Winter's Bone"--perhaps it is her amazing performance that got the film a spot in the Best Picture race. And Michelle Williams managed to sneak in there for "Blue Valentine", despite Mr. Gosling's snub (see above.) In short, I WISH ALL OF YOU COULD WIN! DEAD LIST: Julianne Moore was also a dream (I had a laugh and a half. A gay old time, I did. Oh wait.) in "The Kids Are All Right", and as long as the Academy wasn't considering joint-nominating her with Annette Bening as some cruel joke, I suppose I can tolerate the fact that she wasn't recognized this year. But combined with last year's snub (thanks to M-Gylz) and her Globes dress, Moore may just be a hopeless case. It was no surprise that Halle Berry wasn't given a nod for her performance in the eh-reviewed "Frankie and Alice", but I do admit that seeing Emma Stone on the above list for her role in "Easy A" would have been just cheer-worthy. I hope she'll be presenting at the ceremony anyway.

MY RANKINGS:

1. Natalie Portman

2. Annette Bening

3. Jennifer Lawrence

4. Nicole Kidman

5. Michelle Williams

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Christian Bale – The Fighter as Dicky Eklund
• John Hawkes – Winter's Bone as Teardrop
• Jeremy Renner – The Town as James "Gem" Coughlin
• Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right as Paul
• Geoffrey Rush – The King's Speech as Lionel Logue

Hey now! Haj now! With four nominations, the Academy seems to like "Winter's Bone" a lot more than the HFPA did, and so nominated John Hawkes for his performance. And when the Oscars do something like that, it's for a very good reason, right? And yet Mark Ruffalo was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in one of this morning's biggest surprises! No to Moore, but yes to Ruffles? Obviously the Academy sees something in Mark's performance in "The Kids Are All Right", making him a true contender in the race. Perhaps there's more to Hawkes' and Ruffalo's turns than meets the eye. As for the winner, I say it's between Bale (who won the Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture as well as Most Likely to be Mistaken as Jesus or a Neanderthal by drunk Ricky Gervais) and Rush in his fantastic portrayal of Lionel Logue in "The King's Speech". I still believe Rush deserved the Globe, and he makes--nay, performs--only the best acceptance speeches. Jeremy Renner is breaking down barriers with his nomination for "The Town" (he also got a nod by the HFPA), proving that a bad movie can have a good performance. So, like, the opposite of Zooey Deschanel. (Zooey Deschanel reference tally: 2) DEAD LIST: Yo--Andrew Garfield was most totally snubbed for his thumbs-up worthy (if not Oscar worthy) performance as Eduardo Saverin in "The Social Network". Then again, Rashida Jones should have been nominated too. Jokes. I mean Brenda Song. Jokes. I mean Justin Timberlake. Jo--uh, too far? But no one really expected Michael Douglas to be recognized for "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." So why am I mentioning it? And where IS Carey Mulligan? So many questions....

MY RANKINGS:

1. Christian Bale, Geoffrey Rush (tie)

2. Jeremy Renner

3. John Hawkes, Mark Ruffalo (tie)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Amy Adams – The Fighter as Charlene Fleming
• Helena Bonham Carter – The King's Speech as Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
• Melissa Leo – The Fighter as Alice Ward
• Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit as Mattie Ross
• Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom as Janine "Smurf" Cody

Now, we all know how much I want Helena to win for her enchanting performance in "The King's Speech". And she's got a real shot, too, behind frontrunner Melissa Leo of "The Fighter". Amy Adams doesn't stand as much of a chance as these two do, I'm sorry to say. But lo and behold--Hailee Steinfeld! I hear tell she really deserves a Best Actress nod (when will this "It's-a-kid-so-it's-only-a-supporting-role-and-besides-we-don't-want-our-precious-adults-to-be-snubbed-of-their-nominations" attitude end?!), making this one believe she has more of a chance this year than Saoirse Ronan or Abigail Breslin ever did. And Jacki Weaver here just won't leave--she was also given a nod at the Globes for her role in "Animal Kingdom"! I mean, she must have been superb. Erryone's nom'd for a reason, I guess. Maybe an Australian should win this year for the lolz--oh wait, then we'll feel bad about ourselves again. DEAD LIST: Burnnnnnn! In arguably the year's biggest snub, Mila Kunis failed to rack up her first Oscar nomination for her performance in "Black Swan"--though she was nominated by the Globes, the SAG, and won at the Venice Film Festival. Poor MiMi. Blame it on the Academy, but perhaps this all wouldn't have happened if Hailee Steinfeld was nom'd in the Best Actress category or if the HFPA hadn't so misled us by forgetting all about "True Grit".

MY RANKINGS:

1. Melissa Leo

2. Helena Bonham Carter

3. Hailee Steinfeld

4. Amy Adams, Jacki Weaver (tie)

BEST DIRECTOR

• Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
• Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – True Grit
• David Fincher – The Social Network
• Tom Hooper – The King's Speech
• David O. Russell – The Fighter

DEAD LIST: Christopher Nolan for "Inception". Ouch--a huge snub for the highly praised film and director. Enough to give you bad dreams.

MY RANKINGS:

1. David Fincher

2. Tom Hooper

3. Joel and Ethan Coen

4. Darren Aronofsky

5. David O. Russell

OTHER NOMINATIONS: My predictions in bold.

Best Original Screenplay	Best Adapted Screenplay
Another Year – Mike Leigh The Fighter – Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson Inception – Christopher Nolan The Kids Are All Right – Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg The King's Speech – David Seidler	127 Hours – Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy from Between a Rock and a Hard Place byAron Ralston The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin from The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich Toy Story 3 – Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich; characters based on Toy Story and Toy Story 2 True Grit – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen from True Grit by Charles Portis Winter's Bone – Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini from Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
Best Animated Feature	Best Foreign Language Film
How to Train Your Dragon – Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois The Illusionist – Sylvain Chomet Toy Story 3 – Lee Unkrich (duh.)	Biutiful (Mexico) in Spanish and English – Alejandro González Iñárritu Dogtooth (Greece) in Greek – Yorgos Lanthimos In a Better World (Denmark) in Danish, Swedish and English – Susanne Bier Incendies (Canada) in French and Arabic – Denis Villeneuve Outside the Law (Algeria) in French and Arabic – Rachid Bouchareb
Best Documentary Feature	Best Documentary Short
Exit Through the Gift Shop – Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz Gasland – Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic Inside Job – Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs Restrepo – Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger Waste Land – Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley	Killing in the Name – Jed Rothstein Poster Girl – Sara Nesson Strangers No More – Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon Sun Come Up – Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger The Warriors of Qiugang – Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon
Best Live Action Short	Best Animated Short
The Confession – Tanel Toom The Crush – Michael Creagh God of Love – Luke Matheny Na Wewe – Ivan Goldschmidt Wish 143 – Ian Barnes	Day & Night – Teddy Newton The Gruffalo – Max Lang and Jakob Schuh Let's Pollute – Geefwee Boedoe The Lost Thing – Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan Madagascar, a Journey Diary – Bastien Dubois
Best Original Score	Best Original Song
127 Hours – A.R. Rahman How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell Inception – Hans Zimmer The King's Speech – Alexandre Desplat The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross	"Coming Home" from Country Strong – Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey and Troy Verges "If I Rise" from 127 Hours – A.R. Rahman, Rollo Armstrong and Dido "I See the Light" from Tangled – Alan Menken and Glenn Slater "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3 – Randy Newman
Best Sound Editing	Best Sound Mixing
Inception – Richard King Toy Story 3 – Tom Myers and Michael Silvers Tron: Legacy – Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague True Grit – Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey Unstoppable – Mark P. Stoeckinger	Inception – Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick The King's Speech – Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley Salt – Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin The Social Network – Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten True Grit – Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
Best Art Direction	Best Cinematography
Alice in Wonderland – Art Direction: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 – Art Direction: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan Inception – Art Direction: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat The King's Speech – Art Direction: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr True Grit – Art Direction: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh	Black Swan – Matthew Libatique Inception – Wally Pfister The King's Speech – Danny Cohen The Social Network – Jeff Cronenweth True Grit – Roger Deakins
Best Makeup	Best Costume Design
Barney's Version – Adrien Morot The Way Back – Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng The Wolfman – Rick Baker and Dave Elsey	Alice in Wonderland – Colleen Atwood I Am Love – Antonella Cannarozzi The King's Speech – Jenny Beavan The Tempest – Sandy Powell True Grit – Mary Zophres
Best Film Editing	Best Visual Effects
Black Swan – Andrew Weisblum The Fighter – Pamela Martin The King's Speech – Tariq Anwar 127 Hours – Jon Harris The Social Network – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter	Alice in Wonderland – Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi Hereafter – Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell Inception – Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb Iron Man 2 – Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

SO! I hope you all tune in on February 27th. Wait...it's that long away? Oh. Gah.

--nQt....